Recommended songs #3
Music | July 25, 2009
Way back when I blogged on my own domain, I did a few song recommendation posts (1, 2 — those are mekana.wp.com crossposted backups). I think I’mma continue doing that, because I love sharing and I’d like to think my music taste isn’t completely sucktastic (though I think music taste is personal and no one’s taste should be judged as “sucky” just because it differs from someone else’s, but that’s neither here nor there). So here’s this month’s fare:
Air – Photograph (listen) (download)
Air is the type of band you listen to not because their music contains catchy beats or meaningful lyrics, but because it’s just so mellifluous and pretty. “Photograph” has lyrics, but they’re fairly repetitive and blend in with the music, so they’re not the focus. If you want a song that’s entirely instrumental, you should try “Femme D’Argent.”
As if you were awfully made for life
As fortune favor fools like candle light
Within Temptation – Memories (listen) (download)
Within Temptation reminds me a little of Evanescence, only a million times better. “Memories” has gorgeous instrumentals and high-pitched notes, which I love.
All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments, imagine you’d be here
All of my memories keep you near
Your silent whispers, silent tears
Taylor Swift – Cold as You (listen) (download)
This is my favorite Taylor Swift song. It’s not as clichéd as “Love Story” (though that song is my second favorite TS song), and it’s not entirely about high school relationships and teenage infatuation like a lot of her other songs are. I think it’s severely, severely underrated.
Oh, what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Every smile you fake is condescending, counting all the scars you made
And now that I’m sittin’ here thinking it through
I’ve never been anywhere cold as you
Think of this as a mini mix CD if you will, a parting gift from me to you all because I’ll be leaving for a week in the Appalachian mountains (I cannot wait to go hiking)!
The life of a pack rat’s daughter
General, Photos | July 23, 2009
My mother is quite possibly definitely the worst pack rat ever. It’s especially bad with paper products; I swear, she’s kept nearly every single newspaper, magazine, pamphlet, flyer, receipt, business card, and piece of mail from the past five years. She also makes me keep old schoolwork, which is fine, since I’d like to keep some of my old work too (I’m a little of a pack rat as well, having inherited the pack rat genes), but I do not need every handout and workbook page dating back to my elementary school days!
So, unlike all the other sensible high school seniors who’d throw away all the college crap they received in the mail, I still had literature from a hundred different colleges because mi madre just wouldn’t let me throw it away, even if I didn’t apply and had no intention of ever applying to half of those schools. Now that it’s summer, however, and I know where I’m going in the fall, she’s finally letting me get rid of all of it, so that’s what that picture above is — a giant junk pile of viewbooks, letters, and pamphlets sent from colleges during my senior year. Just looking at it makes me cringe a little (partly because it’s only a fraction of the junk we have lying around the house, partly because college application season was rough, and partly because I can’t even imagine how many trees colleges kill sending out pamphlets people don’t read).
And that’s not even all of it. I did some more cleaning out and organizing, and there’s now a stack of letter-sized paper (from flyers, letters, old schoolwork, etc.) higher than all three of the stacks in the first picture:
That’s not even all of it. I still have a ton of cleaning out to do, and then I’ll need to somehow haul all of it to a recycling center. I don’t mind, though; I like cleaning!
Drag Me to Hell
TV & Movies, Thoughts | July 21, 2009
Why, hello darlings! Yes, my blog has moved to a new location, thanks to the lovely Clem. Nothing has changed from the way it was at mekana.wordpress.com except for the new look and an archives page. I’d like to move things along and not do any more of a clumsy introduction than I’m already doing, but if you see any bugs I should fix, let me know!
So that’s that. Last night I saw Drag Me to Hell at the dollar theater. I don’t normally like horror movies, but I thought this one was pretty good, although I hated the ending. Right after the movie ended, I was making fun of it because it had some absurdly funny parts, and my brain was still reeling from it, but looking back on the movie from a day later, I liked it. Tell me I’m not the only person who gets that feeling?
To sum up the story (spoilers from here on!): Christine Brown works at a bank as a loan officer, and she has an adorable and supportive boyfriend who teaches psychology and collects rare coins. Christine is vying for the position of assistant manager at her bank against her manipulative coworker. One day, an old woman comes to the bank asking for an extension on a loan. Christine, trying to show her boss she can make firm decisions, refuses because the woman has already been granted several extensions. The old lady resorts to begging because she’s about to be kicked out of her house; she grabs Christine’s skirt, so Christine yells for security. Later, when Christine gets in her car, the old lady, who had somehow hid in the back seat, assaults her and puts a curse on her.
By the way, I should mention that the old woman was completely creepy and disgusting — she kept on picking at her mouth, adjusting her dentures, and coughing up stuff that was all kinds of gross colors. She also threw up on Christine at one point. Basically, there were just all kinds of nasty things going on with her mouth. I kept on gagging whenever the old lady would do anything, so that probably contributes to why I didn’t like the movie all that much while I was watching it…
It was an intriguing enough story — it followed Christine’s life as the curse played out on her and eventually dragged her down to hell. At the end of the movie, she was meeting her boyfriend at the train station to go to his family’s vacation cabin where he was planning to propose to her, but she fell off the platform and onto the train tracks, where a demonic hand pulled her down to hell.
What really got to me was the way Christine didn’t deserve anything that happened. She was just doing her job, but that stupid gross old lady had to curse her for no apparent reason at all. Gah. Curses and things that only happen in fantasy/horror movies aside, the old lady angered me so much because she was taking her personal life out on Christine, who had no relationship to her whatsoever and was only being fair and doing her duties as a bank officer.
I suppose I just like stories with happy endings where everyone gets what they deserve. All the same, it was an entertaining movie!