This is a call to arms To live and love and sleep together We could flood the streets With love or light or heat, whatever Lock the parents out, cut a rug, twist and shout Wave your hands, make it rain The stars will rise above
The youth are starting to change Are you starting to change? Are you? Together
In a couple years Tides have turned from boos to cheers And in spite of the weather We can learn to make it together
So my bike was parked at the indoor mall parking lot earlier, and in the two hours that I left it there, someone had pried the turn signal light covers off the panel and stolen them. Not the beautiful dual headlights, not the side reflectors, not the easily detachable mirrors, but the bloody LED covers. This was a thief with a very, very specific need. As far as I know there are maybe a couple other Sachs owners in this city, so what bloody use could he have for those? What the fuck, man? Now I have holes on the panel where the bulbs fit (he left those!), and they will collect water when it rains. I do not know if I can even get replacements for these. So yeah, motherfucker, I hope it was worth the effort, and have fun with your two round pieces of translucent plastic.
There's a place I'd love to go Stranger's taken me there Dream about the day I learned to fly
I'm afraid of aeroplanes Even though I like the way It feels to be a person in the sky
But it's alright And it's good This time
I look out and on the ground Really don't believe it Gravity can pull me from this height
One day we'll come crashing down What will I do Never had a chance to say goodbye
Close my eyes and hope that it's A real smooth flight This time Close my eyes and hope that it's A real smooth flight
And it's good This time
I look down and on the ground I look down and on the ground I look down and on the ground I look out, we're going down
--
Reposting this with lyrics. A simple song with elusive depth. The A320 is a brilliant plane, and it is used in a remarkable metaphor here. Feeling this right now, waiting for the chance to find my A320.
Roll me on your frozen fields Break my bones to watch them heal Drown me in your thirsty veins Where I'll watch and I'll wait And pray for the rain
Curl like smoke and breathe again Down your throat, inside your ribs Through your spine and every nerve Where I'll watch and I'll wait And yield to the hurt
And if you don't believe The sun will rise Stand alone and greet The coming night In the last remaining light
Seven moons and seven suns Heaven waits for those who run Down your winter and underneath your waves Where you watch and you wait And pray for the day
And if you don't believe The sun will rise Stand alone and greet The coming night In the last remaining light
Bones sinking like stones All that we've fought for Homes, places we've grown All of us are done for
We live in a beautiful world Yeah we do, yeah we do We live in a beautiful world
Oh, all that I know There's nothing here to run from Cause here, everybody here's got somebody to lean on
Humoring insomnia by re-reading some Douglas Adams this morning, I came across "don't panic" and thought I would put on the Coldplay song. Hearing this song again, it happened to strike me how ironic it was, particularly the chorus and last lines. Even the way Chris Martin sings it - almost like he is just mouthing along with the party line, or trying to convince himself. Subtly sarcastic, but not hard to pick up on, and I wonder why I did not before.
I am not feeling particularly desolate, but I can always appreciate dry witty melancholy to go with the morning coffee. Beautiful song, good morning.
This is a mixed tape (CD) I made for a friend a while back, but since then I have given the same set to other people, so I decided to post it. A sampler of stuff I listen to and I think people would like.
Kat's Set =========
Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl The Strokes - Ask Me Anything Audioslave - Getaway Car The Flaming Lips - Feeling Yourself Disintegrate Foo Fighters - Another Round Youth Group - Forever Young Foo Fighters - A320 Paramore - My Hero Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide Broken Social Scene - Lover's Spit Kaiser Chiefs - Modern Way Low - Murderer Broken Social Scene - Shampoo Suicide Bloc Party - The Prayer The Flaming Lips - The Spark that Bled The Fratellis - Whistle for the Choir Jason Mraz - Who Needs Shelter Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
A set for you! It is a mix of indie rock, post-grunge, and slow rock. A friend gave me a mixed set like this before, and that set off my love affair with rock and music. Hope you like this too. Keep it in the background when you are driving or something, maybe something will stick. Variety and exposure is always good. Here is for your continued rock education.
Foo Fighters A320 Another Round
Foo Fighters have been around a while. Very powerful music, from lead songwriter Dave Grohl, formerly drummer for the grunge band Nirvana. These songs are a couple of their slower ones. Very nice. In the dark of the night, in the face of the storm, you can rest assured that these guys will ever be out there, fighting foo.
Broken Social Scene Shampoo Suicide
Lover's Spit
Broken Social are a Canadian indie band that, well, just totally rule all. I love watching their performances - they have like two dozen people up there on the stage, haha. This is the face of rock you would not likely see on MTV, but they contribute to pushing the genre forward, always experimenting, shocking, performing. Their song Lover's Spit was on the Wicker Park soundtrack, and Shampoo Suicide is the perfect song for when you are already drunk or feeling high.
Jet Are You Gonna Be My Girl
Jet! Jet are an Australian band that recently made it huge in the mainstream, jumping on the throwback-to-old-rock-and-roll bandwagon ("band", get it? haw). Not the most innovative music, but this song in particular is impossible to ignore. Rock you can really dance to. :-)
Audioslave Getaway Car
Audioslave are a very mature post-grunge/hard rock group, formed by Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and the guys from Rage Against, and it really shows in their music. This song is proof rock does not have to be fast or fancy riffy to be good. Cornell has that trademark powerful voice too.
The Strokes Ask Me Anything
The Strokes are one of my favorite bands. They have been around for a while, and continue to make very innovative music, though it is still mostly appreciated by the indie crowd. I pick this song for the witty-weird lyrics. :-)
The Flaming Lips The Spark That Bled
Feeling Yourself Disintegrate
Look up the word euphoria in a dictionary and you will see a picture of The Lips. They are another established indie band, and their songs make feel like I am standing in a windy meadow with a marching band playing behind me.
Bloc Party The Prayer
Bloc Party are an indie band from the UK. Their work is in a lot of TV soundtracks, and they have been getting pretty mainstream lately. Nice unique music too.
The Fratellis Whistle for the Choir
One of the most romantic rock songs there are. :-) The Fratellis are an indie band from Glasgow, Scotland. They do Rolling Stones-esque fun rock and roll, very nice throwback album. Gotta love these weird English folk.
Jason Mraz Who Needs Shelter
This is not my usual thing, but this song stands out - a genuinely sweet and original single by witty songwriter Mr Mraz. A favourite of movie soundtrack directors.
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
Classic 60s Floyd. One of my fave songs. Psychedelic sweet.
Smashing Pumpkins Landslide
The Pumpkins are a staple in modern rock. This is the Pumpkins cover of Landslide, originally by Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Haunting cool.
Low Murderer
Low are another creative indie band. Their style of music is being called slowcore. They have very nice lyrics and excellent vocal blending.
Paramore My Hero
Paramore are a young band who have very quickly risen to fame and major label record deals. Their name comes from paramour, French for secret lover. This song is a cover of one of my very favourite songs, My Hero by Foo Fighters. A lot of people hear this and think it is Avril singing; hell naw, Hayley Williams is much better.
Youth Group Forever Young
Youth Group are another rocking Australian indie band. They do excellent guitars and songwriting. This song, originally by Alphaville, is another fave of mine. "Let us die young or let us live forever. Don't have the power but we never say never. Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip, music's for the sad man."
Kaiser Chiefs Modern Way
Another UK indie band. Their sound is kinda like Strokes or Franz Ferdinand (whose songs I was unable to include here; maybe next time). I choose this song for the cowbells!
Fighting a losing battle with insomnia yet again, I find myself listening to MP3s I had from the dorm in college, from an old hard drive, and having memories from those before times rush back in. Counting Crows, Aimee Mann, David Bowie and Queen, Norah Jones. This stuff reminds me of meaty Pizza Hut pizza and watching movies in the dorm server room, or walking with good friends around the serene Ateneo grounds in the dark. John Mayer's Room for Squares. Sophie Hawkins, Our Lady Peace, early Linkin Park and Incubus, timeless Foo Fighters and Coldplay, Garbage, Afghan Whigs, Barenaked Ladies, Alien Ant Farm. Haha...
A nice reminder of how old I am getting: talking to my 14 year old cousin about his barkada's current music trip -- 90s rock. Alanis, Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins, Allison Krauss, Bush, Fuel, early Silverchair, and the advent of nu metal. 3 Doors Down, Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis. Eraserheads, early Parokya, even Aqua. The 90s are apparently a thing now, fancy that.
Memories can mess with you in funny ways sometimes. I still have the occassional nightmare about having to take an exam the next morning, which I did not study for, or having to wake up early so I do not overcut my 7:30 Filipino class. I wake up in cold sweat, reminding myself that dude, you already graduated.
After a week of having a copy of The Man from Earth on my computer, I finally took the time to watch it today. I would like to write in length about it, but I find myself almost at a loss, partly because of the sheer brilliance of this movie, to which I am afraid I will be unable to give justice, and also because I would hate to say anything that would rob anyone of the pleasure of watching it, having read a bit of the premise beforehand myself, and regretting it after.
After what seems like a slow start, this movie, remiscent of, but far surpassing, 12 Angry Men, erupts into an indulgence of the intellect, with blatant academic discussions, raw human emotion, and a painful peek, or depending on where you stand, a raging, epiphanous ride, into the depths of faith and being. Science fiction at its purest. I would think twice before recommending this movie to just anyone, but to those with enough daring, intelligence, and an open mind, I hope you can watch and enjoy it as I did, and I would love to sit down and have a long conversation with you afterwards.
The rules are simple. Comment and I'll give you a letter; then you have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Afterwards, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own.
In the interest of saving the universe from annoying redundancies, please maintain a Hamiltonian distribution tree: only give letters to people who have not yet done this.
I would like to consider myself a movie buff, and I suppose I own and watch a good amount, but next to some people I know, my own collection is meager at best. So I will just say I like movies a lot.
Mike linked me to a list of 2007 films, and I was compelled to go over it too, to count those I have seen.
300
3:10 to Yuma
American Gangster
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Beowulf
Bourne Ultimatum
Bridge to Terabithia
Enchanted
Evan Almighty
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Good Luck Chuck
I Am Legend
I'm Not There
The Invasion
Juno
Knocked Up
License to Wed
Meet the Robinsons
Mr. Bean's Holiday
Music and Lyrics
No Reservations
Ocean's Thirteen
Once
Ratatouille
Sex and Death 101
The Simpsons Movie
Shrek the Third
Superbad
Surf's Up
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Transformers
Most of these films are fine, some I wish I could un-watch (hello Good Luck Chuck), but there are some real gems from 2007. There are movies I liked so much that I wish I could forget them, so I could enjoy them all over again. (Not that I do not watch enough movies over and over again anyway.) This tends to bring down my appetite for watching new films. However,I am happy to say that some new ones have brought back my faith in the future of the film industry. Juno is nice, 3:10 to Yuma glorious, and Once is an instant classic. I'm Not There is a tribute film to the one and only Bob Dylan, where six different actors portray different aspects of him. It is not something I think will show in cinemas here, and if you are not a fan, it is a bit hard to keep track of what is happening, but it is quite an accomplishment. I wish I had the time and faculty to write full reviews to do these films justice.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ratatouille too, and Knocked Up, Superbad, and Sex and Death 101 were surprisingly good.
Thirty-one movies in a year does not sound much; I am a bit disappointed. At one point when I lived in Makati and Greenbelt was so accessible, I would go to the theater, sometimes two films in succession (and mostly alone (though I saw Transformers three separate times with different groups)). Going over the list, I also found some I missed and would like to see, like the The Man from Earth. Those plus my catch-up-on-the-oscars queue (and aside, a planned tribute-to-heath-ledger marathon) gives me quite a bit to look forward to.
pmv
PS also enjoyable, writing about stuff you like. I have not blogged in a while. Glenstorm lies in the dust. Maybe an indie rock entry next.
