pain and suffering in various tempos

I did this last year, too, I remember -- posting a meme just to make use of my Caesar/Ides of March icon.

Gacked from vissy:
1. Have your music library ready.
2. Choose one (1) song from your music library whose title starts with the first letter (or number) of your screen name.
3. Repeat this process with each successive letter (or number) in your screen name until you run out of letters (or numbers).
4. Post up your results.
5. BONUS POINTS: Upload your mix (whether it's individual songs or a .zip of all the the songs) and include the mix in your post.

Ariel - October Project
Sweet Religion - Imogen Heap
High and Dry - Radiohead (note: this one is a larger file, about 9mb, because I'm using it for vidding purposes)
I Feel You - Depeche Mode
Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine
Almost - Sarah Harmer
Eyes - Rogue Wave (note: this song was featured twice on Heroes)

I posted a bunch of songs previously for whereangelsfear, and now I'm doing it for Obumbrata et Velata, this time with a cover!


Right-click and save as to download the cover.

( tracklisting )

1) I have so much work to do. Bedroom has been renovated. Need to move back in... oy. Also don't exactly have a bed yet. Just my mattress on the floor. Won't have a bed till Saturday, yay.

2) I hate to break this to the world, but Sarah McLachlan's "Possession" and The Police's "Every Breath You Take" are songs about stalking and obsession. They ain't sexy. They're good songs, yes, but good lord, I'd break up with anybody who wanted to get it on to either of those songs. Then get a restraining order. Of course, I wouldn't ever say this to anybody on a music community or website, but *shudder*. Just *shudder*.

3) Please, for the love of god, can we try to usher in a new era of web design simplicity? Bright red text on a dark red background is awful. Header images that take up half or more of the screen on 1024x768 resolution, and take two minutes to load with a DSL connection really isn't necessary. If I need to scroll a whole page length to see your website, on 1024x768 resolution, I'm outta there. Those blends/banners are beautiful, yes. I envy your mad Photoshop skillz, but can that stuff not be content? It just looks like you're shouting "LOOK HOW BIG MY VIRTUAL PENIS IS". Please stop. Thanks.

4) I was gonna say something really inflammatory here, but shan't. So in conclusion: Jared Leto pretty! Also good actor! Yay!

5) When will James Purefoy do a really, really good movie? Anybody? Or just send him to my house, whichever works.

Here's wishing a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone on my flist who celebrates!

Get out your digital cameras and take pictures of what you got! :D

So, my meagre Christmas gift to you... 20 Christmas songs by some of my favourite artists - non-traditional versions of traditional carols.

Angels of Venice - Carol of the Bells (in all honesty, I'd never heard of them before, but I think this is the most beautiful rendition of this carol that I've ever heard. If you only download one, I'm gonna have to say, download this one.)
Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings
Bif Naked - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Coldplay - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Enya - Silent Night (in Irish. It's strange, because although the language is in no way familiar, I know exactly what she's singing *G*. Also, this is probably the most stunningly gorgeous version I've ever heard)
The Eurythmics - Winter Wonderland (because who doesn't love Annie?)
Keane - White Christmas (sadly, not the best quality, but Keane is one of my newfound favourite artists! *waves to rahalia_cat*)
Loreena McKennitt - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (one of my favourite carols, and one of my absolute favourite artists *waves to deerdancer*)
Loreena McKennitt - Good King Wenceslas
Loreena McKennitt - Snow
The Muppets - Twelve Days of Christmas
Pamplin Music - Christ Child Lullaby (again, I actually don't know the artist. It's instrumental, Celtic-sounding, and gorgeous)
Pamplin Music - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Instrumental again, with bagpipes! Also, have you noticed a trend with this particular song?)
Queen - Thank God It's Christmas
Sting - Gabriel's Message
Sting - I Saw Three Ships
Thurl Ravenscroft - (You're a Mean One) Mr Grinch (no, it's not Burl Ives. No, it's not Boris Karloff, either. The guy who sang this is Thurl Ravenscroft. Thank you.)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo (I'm sure everyone knows this -- it's that fantastic mix of Carol of the Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and from what I understand, the composer never really intended for it to be a Christmas song, but it's wonderful anyway.)
Trans Siberian Orchestra - O Come All Ye Faithful/O Holy Night
U2 - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) (in my world, nothing is ever complete without some U2, for yea verily, Bono is a musical god)

11 days.

So: is AIM being totally wonky for anybody else? For the last few weeks, I have uninstalled it a ridiculous number of times, and it's still having bizarre errors all over the place when I try to log on, and not alerting me when people are online, and not telling me when people get kicked OFFline. Whatsupwiththat?

My Christmas CD:
Trans-siberian Orchestra featuring Metallica - Carol of the Bells/Christmas in Sarajevo
Sting - I Saw Three Ships
Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Little Dummer Boy/Peace on Earth
Loreena McKennitt - White Christmas
Enya - Silent Night
Bare Naked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Charlie Brown Christmas - O Christmas Tree
Loreena McKennitt - Snow
Tracy Chapman - O Holy Night
U2 - It's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
The Ramones - Merry Christmas
Christ Child Lullaby (a very lovely Celtic instrumental piece)
Charlie Brown Christmas - The Christmas Song (piano)
(because it can't be avoided!) Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas song
Enya - What Child is This
Barenaked Ladies - Green Christmas
Mackenzie Brothers - 12 Days of Christmas

Much thanks to everybody who gave their suggestions -- I may not have been able to find everything, but I found a LOT of really great stuff while I was looking. Stuff I'd forgotten entirely about.

Is there anyone else out there, who works in retail hell, who finds that the Christmas season makes them all jaded and bitter? I mean, the blatant commericalism of all Christian holidays really bothers me, but this one in particular. The decorations, the endless Christmas music in malls and stores -- it is NOT about holiday cheer, my friends, no no, it is about blackmailing and manipulating you into spending money. Trust me, I have had this conversation with my mother many times and I doubt it's that different anywhere else. It may get hidden behind a "Whee! It's Christmas! It's time to decorate!" facade, but really, it's all about getting everybody to spendspendspend.

It makes me sad. This time of year is supposed to be about peace and joy and yet everybody is so bloody bitchy this time of year. It's unbelievable. I haven't witnessed any of it on my friends list, but reading cruisedirector's post this morning made me feel all icky, what with all the negativity and fighting and whatnot that's going on. It's probably a mirror of what's actually happening out in the real world: people are really frelling CRANKY and they're taking it out on everybody here. I know pretty well what is going on in regards to a certain movie and all the other things that generall do go on in fandom, but everybody always seems to blow everything way out of proportion this time of year.

I've been sitting in a horrid funk for a few weeks -- which I blame on the drastic changes in weather, the crankiness being shoved in my face, and a particular instructor I have -- but this, too, shall pass. And hopefully all the anger and negativity will pass. Repeat after me: it's just a few weeks/it's just a story/it's just a movie. Take a deep breath, cope, and go balance your chequebook (checkbook for our American friends *g*).

In the spirit of This Special Time of Year, I'd like to take a quick moment and add one last thing, and maybe everybody should share this and we can spread some joy around:

The best Christmas present I ever received.
I am, without a doubt, very spoiled. Youngest in the family and all that. While I have received some really awesome toys and gadgets as gifts, there is one present I will cherish much, much more than any of these expensive toys.

The drawing of Boromir that hangs above my dresser, that sara_elf gave to me last year. Framed and everything, and it is just so indescribably lovely. She didn't have to frame it, but she did -- had she not framed it, it wouldn't have really cost her a penny save for whatever bits of pencil crayon she used and the paper.

This is the most wonderful gift ever. She put time and effort and heart and soul into it, and that, above all else, is why it is precious to me.

From the May 9th issue of "Entertainment Weekly", which I finally sat down to read:

"'Anyone can sit down and write some boring artistic song,' says Britney Spears. 'Pop music is the hardest s--- to write.' Which is what Britney's hard at work on for her as-yet-untitled fourth album, due this fall. 'The subjects are really out there. It's about general things that teenagers go through that are real but nobody talks about.' (Unlike her new hair color, which is the source of much debate.) 'I really don't think that many people from my core audience will get it,' she says of her new material--including one song in which she raps. 'But I would rather somebody either really love it or really hate it. I don't want anything in between.'"

Um.

Okay, look, hon. There isn't a single song by U2, Jann Arden, Sting, Sarah McLachlan, Blue Rodeo, Bif Naked, Coldplay, Nightwish, Depeche Mode, Erasure, Dido, October Project, Enya or the Corrs that I don't understand. Well, except for the Enya songs that are in a language I genuinely don't understand. Honestly, here. You've put out, what? An album almost every year, maybe every other year, since "...Baby One More Time"? Give me a break. You are not working that hard. The people who are working hard for you are the people who alter your voice, choreograph your dances, and write and perform all the background music. Oh, and let's not forget the people who have written all your other songs.

So, obviously, you are simply not capable of creating the same standard of work that these people are. But can I be frank for a moment? How do you expect real artists to take you seriously, or even to respect you, if all you can do to justify the medocrity of your own work, by insulting theirs? These are people who work for years to put out albums. People who write, and sing, and can play a few different instruments. People who have worked a whole hell of a lot harder than you. People who actually sound the same on their albums as they do when they sing live -- oh, but, wait, you don't do that, do you? My mistake.

It makes me a little angry, you know. Honest-to-god artists, people who fit those first two dictionary definitions -- "One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value, especially in the fine arts" and "A person whose work shows exceptional creative ability or skill" -- can't get work. Can't get paid. Don't get the kind of respect they deserve. And people who rise to fame on the hard work of others, get all this fame and recognition. I. Don't. Fucking. Get. It.

And I would like to add that yes, I know what it's like to be up on stage. I know. I've performed in many, many school plays. I played Rosalind in As You Like It, and I'm sorry, but theatre is so much more genuine than what these soda-pop performers do. When you're up there, and you're saying your monologue, and your voice carries to the back of the the theatre without the aid of a microphone, or without it being pre-recorded and all you have to do is move your lips to match the words; when you're wearing a fucking corset, when you don't have flashing lights and throbbing music making up for your lack of talent, it is all. about. you. And the gifts you have. Or perhaps, the gifts you don't have.

* * *

In other random news, I tried to take the pictures for my storyboard for my school portfolio, but halfway through, the battery died. I thought, "Never fear! Will hurry to the mall and get a replacement!" But then I realised, "Oh shit. This is Canada. It's Victoria Day. Nothing's open. Fuckity fuck!" And then I huffed and I puffed and sat down for a good long sulk.