Now is the time for song 4 of my Top 15. This is 'Clark Gable' by The Postal Service, who share their lead singer, Ben Gibbard, with Death Cab for Cutie. i figured a Ben Gibbard song would fit in well on my Top 15 and i discarded several slower, more sentimental ones in favor of this gem. i like it because it's fun, romantic, pensive, frustrated and enthusiastic. And i'm a sucker for 'story songs'. And i like old movies. And back in the day my friends and i would make movies. So, it was kind of a no-brainer. The double clap makes it a fun car song and i love how there's a marker snap sound after he sings 'the marker snapped'. (i know, that sounds incredibly trite and unimaginative, but it still makes me smile.) Here is a fan video, enjoy!
August 25, 2009
August 14, 2009
honorific lane change
i've been debating about this post for a week or so, but someone said 'do it' and that's pretty much all it takes for me to be convinced of something. i'm going to address that oddball little American habit of putting custom vinyl decals on automobiles to memorialize individuals who have died. There are a few out there for Michael Jackson and more than a few for Dale Earnheardt, but i'm referring to the ones for non-famous, regular folk.
i hesitated to blog this because it will follow my rant about the One-A-Day ad and, further down the blogroll, my rant about the failure of people to speak proper English and i'm sure a hundred different rants in the archives. i do not want to be a Ranter. Such prestigious titles are already filled by talking heads and 'personalities' loyal to the Republican Party and i've learned that although squeaky wheels get grease, ranting wheels only get more angry. i do not want to be a Ranter, but i think my common theme is not that people are being stupid, but rather that they are either not following the line of logic or they're not taking the time to pay close attention to what they're saying/doing. It is in this spirit that i rant. Not to chastise, but to encourage everyone to pay attention and to follow the logic down the rabbit hole we call Life.
The more i think about it, this is a piggyback to all my usual language gripes. As a reader/editor/writer/goober, i have the misfortune of choosing the words i use and hearing exactly what words are said to me. Even when i'm casually talking with friends and family i can safely say that i mean probably 90% of the words i use. That may sound like a strange statement in that 'of course i meant it, i said it didn't i?' but i mean them exactly, in their definition, connotation, etc. This becomes a burden when i'm having an argument with someone because i'm not a yeller, i'm one of those that goes stealthy and then produces a precisely worded statement of feeling. The cheif problem is that while i mean exactly what i say, the person with whom i'm arguing may have a more emotional, less precise method or may have a more casual understanding of the language than i do. Yet i assume they mean exactly what they say. Troubles, i tell you. It makes for troubles. (My advice to the singles out there: marry someone who has the same arguing techniques as you.)
The decals. You've seen them. They usually say something like, 'In Loving Memory of John Smith, 1967-2009'. What then, is IN memory? The Ford Fusion? the Ford Fusion's rear window? The act of driving the Ford Fusion? 'Memorial' has two parts of speech, noun and adjective. As a noun it means 'something designed to preserve the memory of a person' and as an adjective it means 'preserving the memory of a person or thing; commemorative.' The Ford Fusion
was not designed to preserve the memory of a person, it was designed to transport humans and their belongings along paved surfaces. A monument is designed to preserve the memory of a person, as is a tree planted in the person's honor. Putting a vinyl sticker on a car makes it no more a memorial than putting said sticker on your toaster.
So the stickers on the cars are thus adjectives of memorial; commemorating. Well, that's a loving gesture, but does it work??? Does a sticker on a car do anything to honor a lost loved one and what they did with their time on earth? or is it more about the car's owner than their loved one? Is it to say 'look at me! i'm grieving!'? i kind of feel like it's more about making other drivers feel sorry or sympathetic, and making the car's owner a worthy recipient of everyone's condolences. Before rotten tomatoes are thrown at the computer, let me say that i do not think people applying the decals are secretly cackling, rubbing their hands together and thinking, 'Now they will all love me for being the grieving parent/widow/sibling!' But i think love and grief are very complicated and the urge and pressure to grieve 'properly' (whatever that even means) makes people do seemingly strange things without following the logic along its course.
i think the loved one smiling down from heaven, or from their perch on a branch after they've been reincarnated as a squirrel, would rather the $20 be given to a charity than stuck on the window of an SUV. If it's about having the reminder of a loved one 24/7 then engrave a bracelet or tattoo your eyelids. Don't make it public. Don't make it about what you can afford to drive or how you drive it. That doesn't say anything about the injustice of your loss or the goodness of the one you lost. i may be insensitive, but that's not my intention; i'm just questioning whether the efforts are accomplishing their noble goal. i've never truly lost anyone so i can't fathom how logic even fits in to grief, but i'm guessing that wherever it does is for the better for everyone involved.
i hesitated to blog this because it will follow my rant about the One-A-Day ad and, further down the blogroll, my rant about the failure of people to speak proper English and i'm sure a hundred different rants in the archives. i do not want to be a Ranter. Such prestigious titles are already filled by talking heads and 'personalities' loyal to the Republican Party and i've learned that although squeaky wheels get grease, ranting wheels only get more angry. i do not want to be a Ranter, but i think my common theme is not that people are being stupid, but rather that they are either not following the line of logic or they're not taking the time to pay close attention to what they're saying/doing. It is in this spirit that i rant. Not to chastise, but to encourage everyone to pay attention and to follow the logic down the rabbit hole we call Life.
The more i think about it, this is a piggyback to all my usual language gripes. As a reader/editor/writer/goober, i have the misfortune of choosing the words i use and hearing exactly what words are said to me. Even when i'm casually talking with friends and family i can safely say that i mean probably 90% of the words i use. That may sound like a strange statement in that 'of course i meant it, i said it didn't i?' but i mean them exactly, in their definition, connotation, etc. This becomes a burden when i'm having an argument with someone because i'm not a yeller, i'm one of those that goes stealthy and then produces a precisely worded statement of feeling. The cheif problem is that while i mean exactly what i say, the person with whom i'm arguing may have a more emotional, less precise method or may have a more casual understanding of the language than i do. Yet i assume they mean exactly what they say. Troubles, i tell you. It makes for troubles. (My advice to the singles out there: marry someone who has the same arguing techniques as you.)
The decals. You've seen them. They usually say something like, 'In Loving Memory of John Smith, 1967-2009'. What then, is IN memory? The Ford Fusion? the Ford Fusion's rear window? The act of driving the Ford Fusion? 'Memorial' has two parts of speech, noun and adjective. As a noun it means 'something designed to preserve the memory of a person' and as an adjective it means 'preserving the memory of a person or thing; commemorative.' The Ford Fusion
was not designed to preserve the memory of a person, it was designed to transport humans and their belongings along paved surfaces. A monument is designed to preserve the memory of a person, as is a tree planted in the person's honor. Putting a vinyl sticker on a car makes it no more a memorial than putting said sticker on your toaster.So the stickers on the cars are thus adjectives of memorial; commemorating. Well, that's a loving gesture, but does it work??? Does a sticker on a car do anything to honor a lost loved one and what they did with their time on earth? or is it more about the car's owner than their loved one? Is it to say 'look at me! i'm grieving!'? i kind of feel like it's more about making other drivers feel sorry or sympathetic, and making the car's owner a worthy recipient of everyone's condolences. Before rotten tomatoes are thrown at the computer, let me say that i do not think people applying the decals are secretly cackling, rubbing their hands together and thinking, 'Now they will all love me for being the grieving parent/widow/sibling!' But i think love and grief are very complicated and the urge and pressure to grieve 'properly' (whatever that even means) makes people do seemingly strange things without following the logic along its course.
i think the loved one smiling down from heaven, or from their perch on a branch after they've been reincarnated as a squirrel, would rather the $20 be given to a charity than stuck on the window of an SUV. If it's about having the reminder of a loved one 24/7 then engrave a bracelet or tattoo your eyelids. Don't make it public. Don't make it about what you can afford to drive or how you drive it. That doesn't say anything about the injustice of your loss or the goodness of the one you lost. i may be insensitive, but that's not my intention; i'm just questioning whether the efforts are accomplishing their noble goal. i've never truly lost anyone so i can't fathom how logic even fits in to grief, but i'm guessing that wherever it does is for the better for everyone involved.
August 05, 2009
what year is it again??
i'm in the middle of cramming episodes of season 2 of one of my favorite shows, Mad Men, before season 3 commences on August 16th. For the unexposed, Mad Men is set in 1960s New York and follows a Manhattan advertising firm and the men and women involved therein. Gender politics is a chief plot point- husbands and wives, execs and secretaries, the glass ceiling, etc. Oh, and it's GENIUS writing and acting. And it's on AMC, not HBO, so if you have cable you can set your DVR.So it was in this context that i viewed a commercial for One-A-Day vitamins. In particular, it was pushing the One-A-Day vitamins for teens. (they have different vitamins specially formulated for the needs of women (bone strength/breast health), the needs of men (heart health, blood pressure), expectant mothers, etc) The teen vitamins are different for boys and girls. For boys, it promotes muscle function. For girls? Healthy skin.
i immediately felt like the One-A-Day ad was written by the knuckle dragging ad men of 1960.
Why are adolescent boys assumed to need muscle strength for strenuous activity and adolescent girls are assumed to need healthy skin to look pretty? i seem to remember my female friends
being warriors when we were teenagers- playing as many school sports as they could and snowboarding and wakeboarding on the weekends. i also remember a fair amount of my male friends having some pretty gnarly acne, and even a few that could've cared less if they had a varsity letter on their class ring.What the hell, One-A-Day? Have females not progressed any further in the last 49 years than to care only about looking cute while the males do all the working and playing? And, for their part, are males not allowed to care about what they look like? Aren't they allowed to progress beyond being the jock?
To quote a badass lady: "Blerg." One-A-Day can count me out of its customer base until it can catch up to the current calendar year.
August 03, 2009
song 5
Oh boy, poodles, we're in the top 5! (i can feel your excitement.) Here's a recap of songs 6-15:
6. Heart of the Matter, India.Arie
7. Mo Ve' la Bella Mia da la Muntagna, Matteo Salvatore
8. Walk Away, Ben Harper
9. Square One, Tom Petty
10. This Year's Love, David Grey
11. Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles
12. Use Somebody, Kings of Leon
13. Cello Suite No. 1, Yo Yo Ma
14. Motorcycle Drive By, Third Eye Blind
15. Feelin Good, Nina Simone
We're going to Georgia again, but not in our minds this time. No, we're taking the midnight train AND we're bringing the Pips! This Gladys Knight gem wasn't in the original Top 15 i made in January, but the more i listened to it, the more i realized i really truly loved it. The song strikes a balance between heartbreak and sweet devotion: the heartbreak of the man whose dreams refused to come true and the alienation of being a simple southern boy living in the nightmare that is Los Angeles, and on the other side the commitment of the woman who loves him so much she'll follow him to Georgia because she'd "rather live in his world than live without him in [hers]." It's also two songs in one: You have Gladys singing the main lyrics, and the Pips singing a very advanced version of back-up lyrics. You can pick which song you want to sing and it makes for a really fun one to sing with someone else. And how many songs include a harmonized train whistle "whoo whoo!"?? NOT ENOUGH, if you ask me. Here's a good version, but doesn't feature the Pips' sweet background dance moves, so if you need those you can find the other YouTube versions. Enjoy song 5, "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
6. Heart of the Matter, India.Arie
7. Mo Ve' la Bella Mia da la Muntagna, Matteo Salvatore
8. Walk Away, Ben Harper
9. Square One, Tom Petty
10. This Year's Love, David Grey
11. Georgia On My Mind, Ray Charles
12. Use Somebody, Kings of Leon
13. Cello Suite No. 1, Yo Yo Ma
14. Motorcycle Drive By, Third Eye Blind
15. Feelin Good, Nina Simone
We're going to Georgia again, but not in our minds this time. No, we're taking the midnight train AND we're bringing the Pips! This Gladys Knight gem wasn't in the original Top 15 i made in January, but the more i listened to it, the more i realized i really truly loved it. The song strikes a balance between heartbreak and sweet devotion: the heartbreak of the man whose dreams refused to come true and the alienation of being a simple southern boy living in the nightmare that is Los Angeles, and on the other side the commitment of the woman who loves him so much she'll follow him to Georgia because she'd "rather live in his world than live without him in [hers]." It's also two songs in one: You have Gladys singing the main lyrics, and the Pips singing a very advanced version of back-up lyrics. You can pick which song you want to sing and it makes for a really fun one to sing with someone else. And how many songs include a harmonized train whistle "whoo whoo!"?? NOT ENOUGH, if you ask me. Here's a good version, but doesn't feature the Pips' sweet background dance moves, so if you need those you can find the other YouTube versions. Enjoy song 5, "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips.
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