(no subject)
A lot has happened since I last posted an entry. Kind of.
One: I tried archery. I was just curious about it (um...from having seen The Avengers, TBH) and it was actually really fun. Seriously. I took a beginner's class at this place and I almost got a bull's eye at one point. I'm thinking of going back, maybe when school is over, and shooting some more arrows, because it's a seriously fun and awesome sport to do.
It's also therapeutic, in a strange way. Not 'yoga' therapeutic but therapeutic all the same.
Two: I tried tai chi (at the yoga studio I said I signed up to take classes at). It was very awesome. And totally not like yoga at all and something that I want to try again. I was hoping to go this last Saturday but I had a cold and was feeling all crappy (and all I wanted to do was read Avengers graphic novels and X-Men) and I just wasn't up to going to tai chi. But I'm hoping to go this upcoming Saturday. (I'm also feeling better. I think there's a bug going around at school making people have colds and things and I just happened to get it over the weekend.)
Speaking of The Avengers, that movie has probably taken over my life, the same way Inception had.
And Clint/Coulson? My new favorite pairing. Seriously. It's like when I discovered Arthur/Eames and I bookmarked all this fanfiction about them and now I'm bookmarking all the fanfiction regarding Clint/Coulson.
And the funny thing is I don't even know how I got obsessed with them. I think it was the combination of me reading lots of fanfiction about them and being curious about them that made me fall in love with the ship.
Also, it has sort of inspired me to be creative again--I made a desktop wallpaper last night to honor the awesomeness that is Clint/Coulson. As well as because there was a lack of wallpaper in the world that honored them and I figured why not make my own.
I'm watching Kolchak: The Night Stalker for the first time and it's really good so far. Unlike Jim Backus whom I only saw as Mr. Thurston Howell III even in Rebel Without a Cause (that film is hard to take seriously when he's in it, despite James Dean also starring in it), I can actually take Darrin McGavin seriously in Kolchak. He totally owns the role. (And I don't see him as the father from A Christmas Story.) I like the whole supernatural/paranormal angle it has. I like urban fantasy so the show is just totally right up my alley to watch.
Anyway, I just realized I still need to do post #2 of the whole '100 Things I Love' which, you know, I forgot because these past few weeks I've just been busy with life.
Anyway, for post #2 I'm going to change it up and talk about one of my favorite bands.
Which, if anyone doesn't know, is Jethro Tull.
I could probably go on forever as to why Jethro Tull is one of my favorite bands, but I'm just going to list six reasons why.
1. Ian Anderson--he's been with the band since it started, and he's sung almost every song (except for the one on the first album, which was weird), he's been involved in the creative process of every song, he can play the flute.
Yeah, the flute. Actually, when I was young and playing the flute Jethro Tull was one of inspirations for actually starting the flute as an instrument. (Seriously, no lie.)
Which brings me to point #2.
2. The flute--if you don't think flute can be used as an instrument in a rock band and accompanied beside an electric guitar, you've never heard of Jethro Tull (or heard a song by them). There are so many songs they did that uses the flute in accompaniment with the electric guitar. Like Locomotive Breath. Or Cold Wind to Valhalla. Or Minstrel in the Gallery. There are plenty of more songs but I'm just going to leave it at those three.
3. The style of music--Jethro Tull isn't just a rock band. I mean I know they did Aqualung (which, BTW, the song is totally overrated) but they're more than just a rock band, and I attribute that fact to Ian Anderson's song writing abilities. I mean they did folk albums (Songs from the Woods, Heavy Horses), concept albums (War Child, A Passion Play, Too Old to Rock n' Roll), some blues albums (This Was, Benefit, Stand Up, Catfish Rising)--I just love that they have a wide range of styles that are exemplified in many different songs. I mean Jack in the Green is totally different from When Jesus Came to Play which is totally different from The Third Hoorah which is different from Skating Away.
4. A Passion Play--Thick as a Brick may have been their first concept album (and they actually did it to make fun of all the concept albums coming out at that time) but A Passion Play is just totally my second favorite album of theirs. It's like Dante's Inferno. There's just so much symbolism and allegorical meanings in the song it's astounding (and there's a website dedicated to understanding the lyrics). The thing that makes me sad is that A Passion Play received a lot of criticism when it came out. It wasn't as popular as Thick as a Brick with the fans and the critics, which I just really don't understand. I mean Thick as a Brick is great in its own way and A Passion Play is great in its own way. They can't really be compared with each other since they're both so different.
Another album of theirs I really like is The Minstrel in the Gallery. Baker St. Muse might be the best song they ever did, as well as Minstrel in the Gallery, but I just like Baker St. Muse even more. It's 15 minutes long, but it goes through so many different themes.
5. Thick as Brick 2: I couldn't understand why Ian Anderson would want to follow up with Thick as a Brick and I had my doubts it would work but it does work. Amazingly well, might I add. Sure, there's no Martin Barre (who's been with Jethro Tull as the guitar player since the second album) and it's labeled as an Ian Anderson album rather than a Jethro Tull album but it's great in its own way. There are connections to Thick as a Brick, which I really like, and the songs are quite good on the album. I particularly like the songs Old School Song and Kismet in Suburbia, and A Change of Horses is just astounding. I love that one so much.
6. Ian Anderson's clothing styles--this man? Rocked. Back then. Back in the 70's when he wasn't old and he was still able to pull off all his different styles. I mean come on, I love his red bowler hat in the Skating Away video. I love his costume during the whole New York concert. I love his enthusiasm (and Jeffrey Hammond, the piano player) on stage during Locomotive Breath. And this version of Minstrel in the Gallery is astounding and I like his outfit that he wears. Now that he's older he's less 'rocker' and more laid back and that's one of the reasons why I sort of don't want to see him live in concert (although, at the same time, I kind of want to do). I wish I had been around in the 70's so I could have actually seen Jethro Tull live but I'm content with the videos of past concerts of theirs.
In other news, I have pulled out this old typewriter from the closet. It used to be my parents', but they stopped using it, and so I was all, 'Hey, I'll take that!' because I like old/antique things (one of my wishes is to have a juke box, but considering how big they are, and how much room I have in my room, which isn't a lot, then I won't get one. Also, because, you know, they don't seem to be sold a lot in antique stores nowadays. The only working juke box I know is at this drugstore and soda fountain place near me where they actually filmed this Tom Hanks movie at one time in the past. And the place actually looks like a '50's diner, like Back to the Future style, with a working juke box and everything. And malted milk shakes).
Anyway, I found a place for the typewriter to live in my room. Where it shall always reside and then I'll probably use it when I feel the need to be all 'author-ly'. Which doesn't happen often because my muse has gone away for the moment, but I'm hoping it'll return around November when I do NaNoWriMo.
One: I tried archery. I was just curious about it (um...from having seen The Avengers, TBH) and it was actually really fun. Seriously. I took a beginner's class at this place and I almost got a bull's eye at one point. I'm thinking of going back, maybe when school is over, and shooting some more arrows, because it's a seriously fun and awesome sport to do.
It's also therapeutic, in a strange way. Not 'yoga' therapeutic but therapeutic all the same.
Two: I tried tai chi (at the yoga studio I said I signed up to take classes at). It was very awesome. And totally not like yoga at all and something that I want to try again. I was hoping to go this last Saturday but I had a cold and was feeling all crappy (and all I wanted to do was read Avengers graphic novels and X-Men) and I just wasn't up to going to tai chi. But I'm hoping to go this upcoming Saturday. (I'm also feeling better. I think there's a bug going around at school making people have colds and things and I just happened to get it over the weekend.)
Speaking of The Avengers, that movie has probably taken over my life, the same way Inception had.
And Clint/Coulson? My new favorite pairing. Seriously. It's like when I discovered Arthur/Eames and I bookmarked all this fanfiction about them and now I'm bookmarking all the fanfiction regarding Clint/Coulson.
And the funny thing is I don't even know how I got obsessed with them. I think it was the combination of me reading lots of fanfiction about them and being curious about them that made me fall in love with the ship.
Also, it has sort of inspired me to be creative again--I made a desktop wallpaper last night to honor the awesomeness that is Clint/Coulson. As well as because there was a lack of wallpaper in the world that honored them and I figured why not make my own.
I'm watching Kolchak: The Night Stalker for the first time and it's really good so far. Unlike Jim Backus whom I only saw as Mr. Thurston Howell III even in Rebel Without a Cause (that film is hard to take seriously when he's in it, despite James Dean also starring in it), I can actually take Darrin McGavin seriously in Kolchak. He totally owns the role. (And I don't see him as the father from A Christmas Story.) I like the whole supernatural/paranormal angle it has. I like urban fantasy so the show is just totally right up my alley to watch.
Anyway, I just realized I still need to do post #2 of the whole '100 Things I Love' which, you know, I forgot because these past few weeks I've just been busy with life.
Anyway, for post #2 I'm going to change it up and talk about one of my favorite bands.
Which, if anyone doesn't know, is Jethro Tull.
I could probably go on forever as to why Jethro Tull is one of my favorite bands, but I'm just going to list six reasons why.
1. Ian Anderson--he's been with the band since it started, and he's sung almost every song (except for the one on the first album, which was weird), he's been involved in the creative process of every song, he can play the flute.
Yeah, the flute. Actually, when I was young and playing the flute Jethro Tull was one of inspirations for actually starting the flute as an instrument. (Seriously, no lie.)
Which brings me to point #2.
2. The flute--if you don't think flute can be used as an instrument in a rock band and accompanied beside an electric guitar, you've never heard of Jethro Tull (or heard a song by them). There are so many songs they did that uses the flute in accompaniment with the electric guitar. Like Locomotive Breath. Or Cold Wind to Valhalla. Or Minstrel in the Gallery. There are plenty of more songs but I'm just going to leave it at those three.
3. The style of music--Jethro Tull isn't just a rock band. I mean I know they did Aqualung (which, BTW, the song is totally overrated) but they're more than just a rock band, and I attribute that fact to Ian Anderson's song writing abilities. I mean they did folk albums (Songs from the Woods, Heavy Horses), concept albums (War Child, A Passion Play, Too Old to Rock n' Roll), some blues albums (This Was, Benefit, Stand Up, Catfish Rising)--I just love that they have a wide range of styles that are exemplified in many different songs. I mean Jack in the Green is totally different from When Jesus Came to Play which is totally different from The Third Hoorah which is different from Skating Away.
4. A Passion Play--Thick as a Brick may have been their first concept album (and they actually did it to make fun of all the concept albums coming out at that time) but A Passion Play is just totally my second favorite album of theirs. It's like Dante's Inferno. There's just so much symbolism and allegorical meanings in the song it's astounding (and there's a website dedicated to understanding the lyrics). The thing that makes me sad is that A Passion Play received a lot of criticism when it came out. It wasn't as popular as Thick as a Brick with the fans and the critics, which I just really don't understand. I mean Thick as a Brick is great in its own way and A Passion Play is great in its own way. They can't really be compared with each other since they're both so different.
Another album of theirs I really like is The Minstrel in the Gallery. Baker St. Muse might be the best song they ever did, as well as Minstrel in the Gallery, but I just like Baker St. Muse even more. It's 15 minutes long, but it goes through so many different themes.
5. Thick as Brick 2: I couldn't understand why Ian Anderson would want to follow up with Thick as a Brick and I had my doubts it would work but it does work. Amazingly well, might I add. Sure, there's no Martin Barre (who's been with Jethro Tull as the guitar player since the second album) and it's labeled as an Ian Anderson album rather than a Jethro Tull album but it's great in its own way. There are connections to Thick as a Brick, which I really like, and the songs are quite good on the album. I particularly like the songs Old School Song and Kismet in Suburbia, and A Change of Horses is just astounding. I love that one so much.
6. Ian Anderson's clothing styles--this man? Rocked. Back then. Back in the 70's when he wasn't old and he was still able to pull off all his different styles. I mean come on, I love his red bowler hat in the Skating Away video. I love his costume during the whole New York concert. I love his enthusiasm (and Jeffrey Hammond, the piano player) on stage during Locomotive Breath. And this version of Minstrel in the Gallery is astounding and I like his outfit that he wears. Now that he's older he's less 'rocker' and more laid back and that's one of the reasons why I sort of don't want to see him live in concert (although, at the same time, I kind of want to do). I wish I had been around in the 70's so I could have actually seen Jethro Tull live but I'm content with the videos of past concerts of theirs.
In other news, I have pulled out this old typewriter from the closet. It used to be my parents', but they stopped using it, and so I was all, 'Hey, I'll take that!' because I like old/antique things (one of my wishes is to have a juke box, but considering how big they are, and how much room I have in my room, which isn't a lot, then I won't get one. Also, because, you know, they don't seem to be sold a lot in antique stores nowadays. The only working juke box I know is at this drugstore and soda fountain place near me where they actually filmed this Tom Hanks movie at one time in the past. And the place actually looks like a '50's diner, like Back to the Future style, with a working juke box and everything. And malted milk shakes).
Anyway, I found a place for the typewriter to live in my room. Where it shall always reside and then I'll probably use it when I feel the need to be all 'author-ly'. Which doesn't happen often because my muse has gone away for the moment, but I'm hoping it'll return around November when I do NaNoWriMo.
