Jun

I don’t care HOW shock absorbant this thing is, my iPod is NOT docking in a basketball goal! %-)

http://www.macworld.com/article/139478/2009/03/spaldingihoop.html

  

Jun

Had a HUGE grant proposal due this week, so I am late getting this up…so, this week’s topic is 10 Great Songs from last year. I was tempted to just pick 10 songs off the AT&T Team USA soundtrack they had available during the summer Olympics in Beijing – what great songs! Very uplifting and inspiring, I listened to them over and over. But, for this list, I managed to restrain myself and look at the whole year. There were actually a number of songs from 2008 that still make my current personal “hot 100″ list (in random order):

—Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It (Darius Rucker) – how awesome to see him back!!! I still miss Hootie, but he makes a surprisingly good country singer…
—Love is Free (Sheryl Crow) – fun song AND great concert
—We Run (Sugarland) – ’cause doing what you shouldn’t's half the fun…
—Incomplete (Alanis Morissette) – so good to hear her back, too
—Single Ladies (Beyonce) – I know, I know, but it’s insanely compelling
—Real (Goo Goo Dolls) – just awesome
—In Color (Jamey Johnson)
—I Was Here (Lady Antebellum) – great new group, despite the dumb name; this song was the highlight of the Olympics album
—What If It All Goes Right (Melissa Lawson)
—Crazy Ever After (The Rescues)
—Bad Girl (Danity Kane) – yeah…
—I Don’t Care (Fallout Boy) – the album has the same name as my fav California winery … yay!
—Come on Get Higher (Matt Nathanson) – I know, technically the album came out in 2007, but it was actually the Sugarland cover in 2008 that made me aware of the original … GREAT song
—It’s a New Day (will.i.am) – yes we can!
—What About Now (Daughtry) – I’m a sucker for “seize the day” music…
—Untouched (The Veronicas) – love this group, don’t know why they haven’t been more popular

—note: at the time, I loved Dreamer (Chris Brown), another highlight off the AT&T Olympics soundtrack … but, the whole beating-the-crap-out-of-Rihanna thing now colors this to such an extent I can’t listen to it anymore

I know that was more than 10, couldn’t restrain myself…

  

Mar

Okay, I know I am late, but once I got around to it, this week’s topic took me all of about 30 seconds! I tend to like all sorts of music, BUT, there are some songs that I just absolutely can’t stand. Please note, this is NOT, from my perspective, a list of the WORST songs ever. I don’t think these songs are inherently bad, of poor quality (in most cases) or anything like that … I just hate them. Even more oddly, in several cases I love other songs by the same artist/band. I have no justification, somehow they just rub me the wrong way, I guess. Anywhoo … here’s my list of 10 songs I hate (actually, I couldn’t stop at 10):

1. Hotel California (Eagles)
2. At This Moment (Billy Vera & The Beaters)
3. I Shot the Sheriff (Eric Clapton)
4. Indian Outlaw (Tim McGraw)
5. Heart Light (Neil Diamond)
6. Rico Suave (Gerardo)
7. Truly Madly Deeply (Savage Garden)
8. Satisfaction & Oops, I Did It Again (Britney Spears)
9. Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (Toby Keith) – along with any other small-minded, deliberately misleading song that equates being a good American with being a Republican
10. She Bangs (Ricky Martin … and William Hung)
11. Invisible (Clay Aiken)
12. Macarena (Los Del Rio)
13. She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy (Kenny Chesney)
14. All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You (Heart)
15. Dogs (Pink Floyd) – and this one is hard because Craig LOVES this song!!!

Also, while I’m on the topic, I hate any and all song’s with a person’s name in the title … I know, very odd, but somehow I just can’t relate to them.

I also hate songs about cowboys.

And, like a lot of people I guess, I hate everything ever recorded by: Taylor Hicks, Cher, New Kids on the Block, Jessica Simpson, Kevin Federline, as well as misogynistic rap and virtually anything that has ever been part of a Disney movie.

Oh, and last thing – another oddity – I love to go and hear live music, but I CAN’T STAND to listen to recordings of live music!

I should stop now, all of this is probably just adding to Craig’s secret stash of ammunition in case he ever needs to have me declared legally insane!

  

Feb

There are lists online of the worst songs ever – who knew?!! Wow, what a fun way to waste a few hours, which is what I did this afternoon. It all started because I was making a Valentine’s playlist for Craig – context: he ***HATES*** Valentine’s Day, whereas I do NOT, so this is always a stressful time of year for us! I said I was looking for love songs on iTunes, and he started teasing me about whether or not my songs were on the lists of worst songs ever.

I was skeptical at first, but a little Googling showed me that he was in fact correct – there are TONS of lists of Worst Songs Ever. Here are some that are particularly fun:

1. This year’s “Valentine’s” list from ABC news – why worst songs ever is a news story is a bit beyond me, but the snarky comments make this list very worthwhile (plus, it’s hard to argue with their choices). I guess to balance their “unbiasedness” as a news source, they also include a companion piece on the BEST love songs ever (and that list is MUCH less funny).

2. I had never heard of blender.com before, but this list of the 50 Worst Songs Ever is extremely enjoyable due to their embedded video clips … you don’t have to take their word for it, you can SEE for yourself why the song is so bad. As for the songs themselves … well, it’s a mixed list. While they accurately target things like Clay Aiken’s “Invisible”, Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart”, they also have crazy things like Right Said Fred’ “I’m Too Sexy” and the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” RIGHT BESIDE EACH OTHER on the list! And “Sound of Silence”?!! Seriously, Simon & Garfinkel, Billy Joel & The Doors, even on a bad day, are NOWHERE NEAR the retch-value of Gerardo’s “Rico Suave”, any song by New Kids on the Block or Lionel Richie, and the many, MANY others left off this list (Richard Marx, Spandau Ballet, ‘Macarena”, Ricky Martin, Vanilla Ice, more Country songs than I can count … I could do on all night)

3. VH1′s Most Awesomely Bad Love Songs – first of all, the name of their list is … well, awesome. Plus, they included several that make you go “Duh, how did I forget THAT song?!!”. Such as NSYNC’s “God Must’ve Spent a Little More Time on You”.

4. Some random Seattle blog – interesting because it asks people to list their best AND worst song. Shows nice interesting individual differences.

5. Dave Barry’s Worst Song List – ’cause he’s Dave Barry, and very, very funny.

One thing to note – I think it is important – VERY important, actually – to distinguish between a truly awful song and a song that becomes a hit and then is (some MASSIVELY) overexposed. A worst song ever needs to be a song that was gag-worthy from the very first spin, NOT somethine you just got sick of hearing after the 1,000th time.

In the end, lists of best and worst music are always destined to be controversial. God bless subjectivity. But, I am TOTALLY RIGHT that Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” does NOT belong on a list of worst songs ever!

I think one of the commenters on CNN’s call for nominations of the worst song ever sums it up best:

“There has been so much hideous crap released by record companies that choosing the worst song is like choosing the world’s prettiest snowflake. It can’t be done. The competition is too great. Good luck anyway. (Just to make sure it’s represented, I’ll nominate Paul Anka’s “[You're] Having My Baby.”) — Tim W.

  

Sep

What fun – a topic combining two of my favorite things, movies and music! I had a blast going through iTunes this morning – quite the walk down memory lane. You will be able to tell from my list that I was a teenager in the ’80s – like, totally! Another note: I interpreted “song” as meaning music and words – otherwise the themes from Star Wars & Jaws would’ve definitely been on this list! I also *tried* to focus on songs that were written specifically for movies, rather than songs later co-opted for a soundtrack.

Here are my top 10 movie songs:
1. Footloose (Kenny Loggins)
2. Animal House (Steven Bishop)
3. Flashdance … What a Feeling (Irene Cara)
4. Tonight is What it Means to Be Young (from Streets of Fire; Fire, Inc.)
5. Eye of the Tiger (from Rocky; Survivor)
6. In Your Eyes (from Say Anything; Peter Gabriel)
7. Fame (Irene Cara)
8. This Kiss (from Practical Magic; Faith Hill)
9. Axel F (from Beverly Hills Cop; Harold Faltermeyer)
10. Don’t Worry, Be Happy (from Cocktail; Bobby McFerrin)

okay, actually I couldn’t stop at 10 today, so for this week I have 20 on Tuesday:
11. Danger Zone (from Top Gun; Kenny Loggins)
12. St. Elmo’s Fire/Man in Motion (John Parr)
13. Holding Out for a Hero (from Footloose; Bonnie Tyler)
14. Rhythm of the Night (from The Last Dragon; El Debarge)
15. On the Dark Side (from Eddie & the Cruisers; John Cafferty)
16. Good Enough (from Goonies; Cyndi Lauper)
17. Who’s Johnny (from Short Circuit; El Debarge)
18. A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)
19. Magic (from Xanadu; Olivia Newton-John)
20. Climb On A Back That’s Strong (from As Good As It Gets; Shawn Colvin)

Okay, so today I am obviously being work avoidant. This all got me thinking about soundtracks that are just awesome start-to-finish-, even though none of the individual songs made the list above. So, just for fun, here’s a list of my top 25 movie soundtracks:

1. Saturday Night Fever
2. The Big Chill
3. Good Morning Vietnam
4. When Harry Met Sally
5. Grease
6. Boys on the Side
7. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
8. Forrest Gump
9. Purple Rain
10. Coyote Ugly
11. Pretty Woman
12. Mr & Mrs Smith
13. Pulp Fiction
14. Boogie Nights
16. What Women Want
17. American Graffiti
18. Bridget Jones’ Diary
19. High Fidelity
20. The Lost Boys
21. The Lion King
22. Wayne’s World
23. Risky Business
24. Cars
25. Notting Hill

Whew, I guess that’s enough for today! Possibly I should get some actual work done now…

  

Jun

Well, I just bought my first digital download from Amazon, and I do feel like a traitor. In my defense, it was a song that iTunes actually didn’t have (which is odd given that their catalogue is so much bigger than Amazon’s, at least so far).

Comparison:

web interface — iTunes gets the edge here, though I think Amazon’s site has potential (they do a great job in other domains of making suggestions of things you might like, etc.); also, iTunes is much snappier, the Amazon site was sluggish speed-wise in comparison

price — identical (99 ¢)

the ease of download — iTunes is FAR superior, the Amazon interface is awkward, and not automatic the way it indicates; it’s a two-step process getting the download into my music library – not a huge deal, but notable

In sum, there’s not much risk so far that I will be switching from iTunes to Amazon for my digital downloads.

  

Jun

Wow, I gotta admit, the racket run by the W administration over the course of the past 8 years has me feeling pretty down on the US lately – so, I was glad to get this “assignment”, to help me focus on the positives. And there are a lot! The W regime is so morally bankrupt and utterly disgusting, it is hard to remember that sometimes.

I saw from other people’s lists, most folk were using the entire scope of US history. I decided, though, to focus only on things that have happened in my lifetime. Basically, for the reasons mentioned above – things that I have actually seen, or heard, or even been a part of that remind me of the creativity and drive, the diversity, the strength and resilience even in the face of adversity that sum up “America” for me.

1. Standing in the (very long) lines to donate blood after the 9/11 attacks – it didn’t last nearly long enough, but the absence of partisan politics as usual and the sense of solidarity in the immediate aftermath was amazing.

2. The 1st time the Space Shuttle went back up after the Challenger explosion

3. August 1, 1981: I Want My MTV!
I will never forget sitting (way too close) to the screen in front of our 19″ TV (that still had a dial on it that we used to change channels before we got cable) watching that very first video.

4. Keri Strug’s 2nd vault at the 1996 Olympics – talk about taking one for the team!

5. Roe v Wade – yeah, I was only 2 and don’t exactly remember it, but it was an amazing advancement for women everywhere

6. Bill Clinton being acquitted by the Senate in February 1999, after the idiocy of the House in impeaching him (on my birthday no less!) in December 1998.

7. The day Apple released the iPod

8. The day Apple released the iPhone – possibly the most perfect device ever invented!

9. The world NOT ending as we know it on it @ Y2K

10. The first time I ever heard a Barack Obama give a speech

p.s. On January 20, 2009, this list will change, as the image of W getting on a helicopter and leaving the White House will become my new #1.

  

Apr

Being a big fan of free speech and all…still, pretty repulsive stuff Very hard call. I do really feel, though, like we have to protect the rights of people to say even repulsive things. Hell, W says repulsive constantly, and no one censors that sorry…well, I digress.

  

Apr

The iTunes music store is now the largest music retailer in the US, beating out WalMart, which used to hold that honor.

That’s pretty amazing if you think about it. Go Apple! This makes me really happy (and not just because I hate WalMart with a passion). It means Apple has leverage against the damn record companies trying to screw everything up. Remember that it was the RIAA that insisted on the ridiculous DRM restrictions on the original iTunes songs that Apple has been criticized for, and it is the RIAA that is now leaning on Apple trying to get them to raise prices on the songs. Even in the face of rampant illegal downloading, iTunes works – you’d think those industry execs would get a clue and stop being so idiotic.

As much as I love iTunes, I do hope they keep expanding the catalog. They are great on current (mainstream) stuff (though Craig’s son Aaron tells me not to so much on things like prog rock), but still have some glaring omissions – like The Beatles catalog, for one. I’m not such a huge Beatles fan myself, but it would be nice to have available.

Another couple of things I wish they would fix:
1. The GENRES – OMG, these are ridiculously off most of the time. So bad that they’re useless. And, even worse than just having bad genres, when you import a song into iTunes from another source, iTunes will only find the artwork for you if the genre matches the one they have listed. This is personally very annoying to me, since I like to have the album artwork for my songs.
2. Recommendations – iTunes could really boost this feature. They seem to make recommendations for new artists, etc. based on genres and artist-matching, but there are lots of shareware options (like Goombah, iLike, and The Filter which have moved nicely in this direction.
3. Playlists – Although the iTunes Essentials lists do a good job in this domain, there is, again, a lot of shareware available for building playlists based on the songs you already own. This is important for me, as I have over 12,000 songs already, and it’s growing all the time. But you know most of those 12,000 go unplayed, because they’re not in playlists. Programs like nexTune, beaTunes & Tangerine (which analyze your library based on BPM), and SonicSwap (based on a social networking paradigm) do a great job with this. If anyone knows of other programs of this type, let me know!
4. Fields in iTunes – I have already harped on the genres tags, but iTunes also just needs a uniform field for users to put notes of whatever type they want – right now the “comment” & “description” tabs are overlapping, and there are rumors that Apple will be doing something with them in the future, though it’s not clear what. ALSO, it would be really useful if the “category” field, or something like it, could display for you what playlists a song is in. Then you could make an easy playlist of songs that aren’t in any playlists, so you’d know which ones to target.

That’s all I can think of for now. Doubt anyone from Apple will see this anyway!

  

Mar

OMG, this is the funniest thing I have seen in a while…

Seriously, this Vote for the Worst website – I guess I just don’t get it. I mean, they spend a HUGE amount of time researcher and watching and commenting on this show…yet still claim to hate it. What the &@*% ?!!

Actually, in retrospect, this ad is possibly second in terms of funniness to Sanjaya’s hair – a fauxhawke?!!

I’m comfortable admitting it – I LOVE this show! But in a way, the VFTW people, mean-spirited and jealous though they are, are right in the sense that this show doesn’t really represent “reality”. It’s faux-reality! But watching the drama unfold is HIGHLY entertaining. And, truly, a few of them can actually sing…like Melinda (Craig’s favorite) and Blake (my fav).

  

Dec

Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod dearly. But…seriously! %-)

http://www.atechflash.com/products-icarta.html

  

Aug

Okay, this week’s TOT will reveal the sad fact that, deep down inside, I’m really a top-40 pop-y kind of girl! %-) And that recently I have come to appreciate more and more (gasp!) country music. Who’d ‘ thunk, given where I live and all!

Here are my current favorite 10 “feel good” songs:
1. Summertime (Kenny Chesney)
2. A Girl’s Gotta Do (Mindy McCready)
3. Where the Water’s Deep (Bonepony)
4. Unwell (Matchbox Twenty)
5. All I Want (Toad the Wet Sprocket)
6. Drift Away (Dobie Gray)
7. Man I Feel Like a Woman (Shania Twain)
8. Don’t Worry, Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin)
9. Simple Things (Jim Brickman & Rebecca Lynn Howard)
10. Girls Lie Too (Terri Clark)

  

Jan

1. You are allowed – even encouraged, and sometimes even *required* – to sleep 12 hours a day.
2. You get a whole new wardrobe every single season.
3. You get to have fantabulous birthday parties with a theme of your chosing *every* year!!!
4. It’s okay (or at least understandable) to lay down in the floor and just throw a fit when you feel like it.
5. One word: BUBBLES
6. It’s okay to talk to yourself – even when your self responds!
7. You don’t have to have a job.
8. You get to try gymnastics, soccer, music lessons, art – pretty much anything you can sucker your parents into!
9. You don’t have the weird hangups of adults
10. You still have the tendency to forgive and forget rather than hold a grudge.

  

Oct

I have A LOT of guilty musical pleasures, unfortunately, so this week’s challenge wasn’t hard for me! I like a wide variety of music in almost all genres, and that includes a lot of sappy crappy pop music. Some of it is harder to admit than others, though! %-)

1. Ooh Aah…Just a Little Bit (Gina G)
2. I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys)
3. Afternoon Delight (Starland Vocal Band)
4. MmmBop (Hanson)
5. Fishin’ in the Dark (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
6. I Want You (Savage Garden)
7. Kokomo (Beach Boys)
8. Soldier of Love (Donny Osmond)
9. Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)
10. Footloose (Kenny Loggins)

  

Jul

This week [July 10th] we are going to talk about music. I believe that our favorite music has alot to say about us so therefore, this challenge we are going to write about our
10 CDs I’d want to have with me if I were stranded…okay, I guess that effectively eliminates all sad songs, existential angst songs, and love songs (unless of course I was stranded WITH Craig – and in that case, we probably wouldn’t be listening to music! %-). So, what’s left?

I think if I were stranded, rather than current favorites, I’d want motivational, anthem-y songs to inspire me to build a raft, phone home, make a friend out of a volleyball, or something else to better my circumstances. Post iPod, I don’t really do the whole CD thing anymore – it’s all about playlists for me. So, here’s my Top 10 desert island playlist…

1. Up! (Shania Twain)
2. I Won’t Back Down (Tom Petty)
3. Sail On (The Commodores)
4. What About Now (Lonestar)
5. Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey)
6. I Will Not Go Quietly (Don Henley)
7. St. Elmo’s Fire (John Parr)
8. I Can See Clearly Now (Holly Cole Trio)
9. Brand New Day (Sting)
10. Eye of the Tiger (Survivor)

  

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