ashinae: (Default)
This is the playlist that [livejournal.com profile] linden_jay and I put together for "Small Town". All links lead to megaupload.



Track listing )

music meme

Mar. 15th, 2007 12:01 pm
ashinae: (Default)
I did this last year, too, I remember -- posting a meme just to make use of my Caesar/Ides of March icon.

Gacked from [livejournal.com profile] 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)
ashinae: (Default)
When I was in elementary school, and the first few years of high school, I had a friend named Grant. He was the bestest; we were very close. When Dookie exploded on the musical scene, Grant was all over that album like white on rice.

I enjoyed listening to Green Day with him for the next several years (thought Billie Joe was utterly adorkable, too). Then, over Christmas holidays in 9th grade, Grant got sick. Ended up in the hospital. Two days later, called to tell me that he had cancer and I lost it. He called to tell me because he thought I was our group's "strong one", and that I'd be the best one to tell everybody so he didn't have to make a lot of phone calls he didn't have the strength for.

He remained the most faithful Green Day fan I'd ever met, for the next two years, while he went through chemo, got better, got worse, went through chemo, and over and over. Then, December 27, 1998, my mum came home from work to tell me that Grant had passed away. His funeral was on New Year's Eve... I remember I had to go to work right after the funeral, since he wasn't a family member and also because none of my co-workers wanted to miss their NYE parties just cuz the 16 year old girl had lost one of her very, very best friends. I remember they played Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" at the funeral, and I remember hearing his sister bursting into hysterical tears during that song, when they carried his casket out to be lowered into the ground.

When we got back to school, it was announced over the morning announcements that Grant had died over the holidays. They paused, then, to play Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)".

I was never able to listen to either of those two songs without bursting into tears. Sarah McLachlan, as anybody who reads my journal or talks to me at all should know, has always been one of my very favourite musicians. For some reason, while I always enjoyed Green Day's music, I never really got "into" them, as such, because they were his band. His, and I felt like I was intruding or something.

When [livejournal.com profile] deerdancer and I went to see McLachlan live back in May, it never crossed my mind that she might play that song; I've always done my best just to ignore its existence, or change the channel if it came on over the radio (it came on, once, while I was in the shower. Yes, I listen to the radio in the shower. I thought I could handle it; I ended up sobbing in the shower that morning). Of course, she did play that song, and I sat there, in my seat, with [livejournal.com profile] deerdancer's arm around my shoulders and she held me while I sat there crying as quietly as I could.

For the past seven years, listening to Green Day always made me a little weepy. But as the years passed, more and more I found I could listen to "Good Riddance" and survive the experience, unless I was for whatever reason a little emotionally fragile, and then I'd end up crying anyway.

And then the Green Day boys showed up in the Establishment. I don't know what happened, exactly. I ended up purchasing American Idiot. Enjoy it thoroughly; enjoy Billie Joe and Mike and Tre as portrayed by their brilliant muns.

And I can sit and listen to "Good Riddance" again, though I can't sit here and type all this out without getting really weepy. *g*
ashinae: (Default)
I posted a bunch of songs previously for [livejournal.com profile] 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 )
ashinae: (Default)
This post is dedicated with much love and affection to [livejournal.com profile] rahalia_cat and [livejournal.com profile] esteven. *smooches to you both*

This is a short, but gorgeous Christmas album. Ms McKennitt is one of my absolute favourite artists; she's a skilled lyricist, a brilliant musician, and has a breathtaking voice. She actually performs two of my favourite carols on here, too. :)



Loreena McKennitt - A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season



+ 1 - Coventry Carol
+ 2 - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
+ 3 - Good King Wenceslas
+ 4 - Snow
+ 5 - Seeds of Love

Let me know if any of the links run out. :)
 
ashinae: (Default)
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.
ashinae: (Default)
These are the songs that I have in WinAmp at the moment. They can sorta be seen as a playlist for "Nocturne" (which I truly hope our readers are enjoying so far!). All the songs are atmospheric and moody, and most are a little bit sexy.

All links take you to a YouSendIt download.

Poe - Haunted
Metisse - Boom Boom Ba (for my lovely vamp!Guy -- is just a little bit French)
Sarah Slean - Dark Room (instrumental)
Godsmack - Serenity
Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps
Joseph Arthur - Invisible Hands
The Tea Party - These Living Arms
Mozart - Requiem: Lacrimosa (opera)
Bif Naked - Lucky
Ghostland - Interview With an Angel (instrumental)
Bush - Mouth (Stingray Mix)
Within Temptation - See Who I Am (harder than any of the other songs here, very gothic-like)
Enya - Boadicea (the single creepiest thing in her repertoire. listen to it after watching something scary, or in the dark perhaps -- it can be darn creepy if you're in the right frame of mind!)
Sarah Fimm - Be Like Water (contains profanity)
David Sylvian & Tweaker - Linoleum
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Overground
VAST - Flames
Mythos - Sirens
Melissa Etheridge - The Different (doesn't sound anything at all like anything she's ever done. Even if you don't like her typical music, it's worth a try)
Daughter Darling - Colorblind (cover of the Counting Crows song)
ashinae: (Default)
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 [livejournal.com profile] rahalia_cat*)
Loreena McKennitt - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (one of my favourite carols, and one of my absolute favourite artists *waves to [livejournal.com profile] 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)
ashinae: (Default)
There is something I have noticed time and again. Now, I have no connections with this song to anything else; it is merely another song to me. But, no matter how sexy he might be, or how sexy the music video might be, I absolutely cannot maintain a pr0ny headspace when I hear Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game." I can listen to it if I'm cleaning the room, or driving, or something utterly mundane. If, for whatever reason, I am writing something pr0ny and that song comes on -- either on a huge random playlist or on the radio -- I get a serious fit of the giggles.

Writing collaboratively hasn't been exactly the same sort of experience as writing solo as far as my music goes. I can have anything playing, as the "mood" can shift drastically in a piece you're writing with someone else. There is seldom a set plan for things when [livejournal.com profile] cruisedirector and I write together; things just happen. However, when I was writing on my own, I did have a plan of sorts; the characters had told me in advance what had to happen. So I do sort of have some songs that I used to fall back on a lot to set up a sort of atmosphere. I write to music.

I am going to lay myself open here, and share some songs. I have no idea what any of this says about me. Two of them I am uttelry, terribly embarrassed about, but what's the point in doing such a thing if I can't be seen in a funny light? Heh. All links are through YouSendIt.com (anybody know how long till they expire?)

As I have a few bulletproof kinks, I have two bulletproof pr0n-writing songs:
Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps
Bush - Mouth (The Stingray Mix) -- I almost never like remixes. This one is such an exception. Rrowr.

If the characters are a little bit angsty, this also can work beautifully for me:
Sarah Fimm - Be Like Water -- which is slow, and mellow, and good for yes.

And of course there is:
Melissa Ferrick - Drive -- which is just of the mmm.
Depeche Mode - I Am You -- which also works rather with the angsty
Sting - A Thousand Years -- for the rhythm of the music itself, and of course, The Voice

Oh, the embarrassing. The terribly embarrassing:
Claudia Christian - Taboo -- not. a. word.
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy -- Due South fen, I have only ever, ever, watched "Victoria's Secret" twice, and that was during its original run! So quite gladly, I have no connections with this song to that. Yay!

And as an added bonus, I know there are some out there who, ahem, could so go for this sort of thing (*grin*) I imagine there is also:
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Depeche Mode - Master and Servant
Kidneythieves - s + m (a love song)

ETA:
Sure, I'm not entirely certain about the validity of the song as "sexy" per se, or really, what kind of scene you'd write set to music quite like this, but goshdarnit, I need to share Depeche Mode's "I Feel You", too.

So, what do I want? Spam me. Spam me mercilessly (ooh baby!) with sexy music. What gets you going when you need to be in an erotic sort of frame of mind for writing? I want to know! Use YouSendIt (please feel free to send the songs directly on to ashinae @ gmail.com as well, heh) and leave the link that the site gives you in a comment here. I am curious, and I want to know.
ashinae: (Default)
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 [livejournal.com profile] 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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
ashinae: (Default)
Okay. This is going to be a difficult request to state, but I'm looking for Christmas music. If I have to be inundated with Christmas at work, I'm going to do it MY way. What I'm looking for, are non-traditional type versions of Christmas carols and songs. F'rinstantce, Metallica's "Carol of the Bells" (which I have), or even NON-DIRTY parody type songs. Anybody? I want to make this CD by Saturday night. Recommend... anything!

12 days.
ashinae: (Default)
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.

April 2013

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