Nice things.
Today would be the perfect day to whine. Right at this moment, I be watching Jonny Lang performing in New York. But I'm not. Because I've got a stupid job interview for a stupid copyediting position tomorrow in stupid Colchester. The problems with this scenario are legion: I really like Jonny Lang, and hanging out with Laura and Carrie. And I really hate Colchester. And copyediting.
But rather than whining (much), I thought I'd share some random recommendations for nice things that make me happy, and just might make you happy, too:
P.S. I can't deny that this little marvel of a movie is deeply flawed, but I also can't deny that I deeply loved it. In some ways, I feel as if Lydia from Lived could grow up to be Laura Linney's character in it: a sad, middle-aged woman who never really got over the death of her high school boyfriend, who she believes to have been the love of her life.
The movie feels both literary--a dead give-away that it was adapted from a book--and real life--a dead giveaway that it was a good book. An admissions officer in Columbia's graduate art program, Louise's neat, ordered life spirals out of control when she finds an application she's sure was sent in by her long-dead boyfriend, reincarnated in the form of Topher Grace. Ambiguity ensues as the movie dances around the past, our memory of it, and the power both have over the future.
Moment when I knew it was true love: Forty-year-old Louise takes the commuter rail home to curl up in her mother's bed and cry. ("You can still do that at 40? Thank god.")
What I would have changed: The point of the movie, I think, is that our minds can twist reality into whatever we want it to be, but I'd still rather Louise have had something better than Topher Grace to work with. Just looking at her, you can see what the boy should have been: magnetic, entrancing, beautiful. Grace was fine in the role, but what if they'd cast someone with appeal intense enough to match Louise's vision of him?
The Fairy Godmother, by Mercedes Lackey. It's actually hard for me to tell if this book is as fabulous as I think it is: I've been absolutely defenseless against Mercedes Lackey ever since I read The Arrows of the Queen series at 12 years old. The Fairy Godmother is a confection of a story, filled with meta goodness and suburban housewife wish fulfillment, two of my most favorite things in the whole world. It's all magic and unicorns and luscious ball gowns and handsome, if initially creepy, princes. It's like Harry Potter, if Harry Potter were written exclusively for 19 year-old-girls from Topeka who'd grown up on fairy tales and Harlequin novels. Two enthusiastic thumbs up, although I have yet to finish the book myself.
Ham salad sandwiches on white bread with provolone and pickles. Need I say more?
Since U Been Gone, Kelly Clarkson. I am not even a little ashamed to love Kelly Clarkson. Disposable and fun, this song brings to mind the kicky female "rockers" of my childhood: Pat Benatar, Chrissy Hinde, and maybe even a little Debbie Harry.
Passed to me by ctrlaltdelete.
[1] Total volume of music files on my computer?
2322 songs, 6.5 days, 8.68 GB
[2] The last CD I bought was ...
I don't really buy CDs anymore, now that the wonder that is iTunes has entered my life. Cherry-picking is my way, snagging singles I like and leaving the chaff behind. The last complete CD I was actually suckered into buying was probably the latest from Jimmy Eat World, as I was obsessed with that "Pain" song for several weeks.
[3a] The last song I listened to before writing this was ...
"You Belong to Me," Jason Wade
[3b] Song playing right now ...
"Another Horsedreamer's Blues," Counting Crows, picked by my iTunes random feature
<3d> Songs with "death" in their titles...
6, 22.5 minutes, 21 MB
<3e>
Songs with "love" in their titles...
141, 9.6 hours, 544.5 MB
<3f>
Hanson songs...
242 songs, 16.3 hours, 947.7 MB
[4] Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:
1. "Just Wait," Blues Traveler
This song was exactly the pep talk I needed when I started college, one that no one knew how to give me. Without it, I'd probably have dropped out of school and would be working at McDonald's right now. (Gee. There's one place I haven't applied yet.)
2. "God Only Knows," Beach Boys
Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest songs of all time, to me it's nothing less than each and every childhood memory, all summed up in 2 minutes and 52 seconds.
3. "Green Apples," Chantal Kreviazuk
This song is a sweet and reverently beautiful catalog of wonderful things, summing up exactly what we all want in a relationship. When I hear it, I'm instantly transported back to a long, rainy bus ride through the foggy English countryside. (Sigh)
4. "Summer Breeze," Seals and Croft
As unspeakably uncool as this may be, this song gives me goose bumps. I refuse to listen to it between October and June, not wanting any of the magic summer happiness it calls up to be dimmed. Its lyrics are picture perfect, and I can feel them just as much as I can hear them, which to me is proof of something great.
5. "Where's the Love," Hanson
The song that sold me, forever and ever amen. It's not my favorite Hanson song, and certainly not the one I listen to most often, but it was turning point. Strange but true: "Where's the Love," and my love for it, literally changed my life forever.
But rather than whining (much), I thought I'd share some random recommendations for nice things that make me happy, and just might make you happy, too:
P.S. I can't deny that this little marvel of a movie is deeply flawed, but I also can't deny that I deeply loved it. In some ways, I feel as if Lydia from Lived could grow up to be Laura Linney's character in it: a sad, middle-aged woman who never really got over the death of her high school boyfriend, who she believes to have been the love of her life.
The movie feels both literary--a dead give-away that it was adapted from a book--and real life--a dead giveaway that it was a good book. An admissions officer in Columbia's graduate art program, Louise's neat, ordered life spirals out of control when she finds an application she's sure was sent in by her long-dead boyfriend, reincarnated in the form of Topher Grace. Ambiguity ensues as the movie dances around the past, our memory of it, and the power both have over the future.
Moment when I knew it was true love: Forty-year-old Louise takes the commuter rail home to curl up in her mother's bed and cry. ("You can still do that at 40? Thank god.")
What I would have changed: The point of the movie, I think, is that our minds can twist reality into whatever we want it to be, but I'd still rather Louise have had something better than Topher Grace to work with. Just looking at her, you can see what the boy should have been: magnetic, entrancing, beautiful. Grace was fine in the role, but what if they'd cast someone with appeal intense enough to match Louise's vision of him?
The Fairy Godmother, by Mercedes Lackey. It's actually hard for me to tell if this book is as fabulous as I think it is: I've been absolutely defenseless against Mercedes Lackey ever since I read The Arrows of the Queen series at 12 years old. The Fairy Godmother is a confection of a story, filled with meta goodness and suburban housewife wish fulfillment, two of my most favorite things in the whole world. It's all magic and unicorns and luscious ball gowns and handsome, if initially creepy, princes. It's like Harry Potter, if Harry Potter were written exclusively for 19 year-old-girls from Topeka who'd grown up on fairy tales and Harlequin novels. Two enthusiastic thumbs up, although I have yet to finish the book myself.
Ham salad sandwiches on white bread with provolone and pickles. Need I say more?
Since U Been Gone, Kelly Clarkson. I am not even a little ashamed to love Kelly Clarkson. Disposable and fun, this song brings to mind the kicky female "rockers" of my childhood: Pat Benatar, Chrissy Hinde, and maybe even a little Debbie Harry.
Passed to me by ctrlaltdelete.
[1] Total volume of music files on my computer?
2322 songs, 6.5 days, 8.68 GB
[2] The last CD I bought was ...
I don't really buy CDs anymore, now that the wonder that is iTunes has entered my life. Cherry-picking is my way, snagging singles I like and leaving the chaff behind. The last complete CD I was actually suckered into buying was probably the latest from Jimmy Eat World, as I was obsessed with that "Pain" song for several weeks.
[3a] The last song I listened to before writing this was ...
"You Belong to Me," Jason Wade
[3b] Song playing right now ...
"Another Horsedreamer's Blues," Counting Crows, picked by my iTunes random feature
<3d> Songs with "death" in their titles...
6, 22.5 minutes, 21 MB
<3e>
Songs with "love" in their titles...
141, 9.6 hours, 544.5 MB
<3f>
Hanson songs...
242 songs, 16.3 hours, 947.7 MB
[4] Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:
1. "Just Wait," Blues Traveler
This song was exactly the pep talk I needed when I started college, one that no one knew how to give me. Without it, I'd probably have dropped out of school and would be working at McDonald's right now. (Gee. There's one place I haven't applied yet.)
2. "God Only Knows," Beach Boys
Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest songs of all time, to me it's nothing less than each and every childhood memory, all summed up in 2 minutes and 52 seconds.
3. "Green Apples," Chantal Kreviazuk
This song is a sweet and reverently beautiful catalog of wonderful things, summing up exactly what we all want in a relationship. When I hear it, I'm instantly transported back to a long, rainy bus ride through the foggy English countryside. (Sigh)
4. "Summer Breeze," Seals and Croft
As unspeakably uncool as this may be, this song gives me goose bumps. I refuse to listen to it between October and June, not wanting any of the magic summer happiness it calls up to be dimmed. Its lyrics are picture perfect, and I can feel them just as much as I can hear them, which to me is proof of something great.
5. "Where's the Love," Hanson
The song that sold me, forever and ever amen. It's not my favorite Hanson song, and certainly not the one I listen to most often, but it was turning point. Strange but true: "Where's the Love," and my love for it, literally changed my life forever.