decently annoyed by two things.
1. ordering pizza for a large group. lets say you've got about 12 people and you want to order three pizzas for everybody. that's about two pieces per person. sounds good, especially if you're out at a restaurant and the pizzas are pretty expensive. the problem is when you start ordering toppings. in a group of 12, there are bound to be people who want something a little out of the ordinary, canadian bacon/pineapple, anything with mushrooms, etc. if there are even two people who want a specialty pizza, one of the three pizzas that is ordered will be specialty, and if you're really unlucky, maybe even two of the pizzas will be specialty, leaving the last one to be something relatively normal, like some kind of meat, pepperoni, sausage, etc. when the pizzas arrive, everybody starts grabbing their pieces, but the people who wanted the specialty pizzas very often end up grabbing at least one of the regular pieces, leaving so much less for the people who didn't want anything weird to begin with. just unfair. i think pizzas in large groups should be restricted to normal toppings, mainly meats, unless the greater majority of the eaters want specialties.
2. bowling. one of the more intimidating sports for amateurs. i guess maybe just cause most people are awesome at it, and when it is your turn, it's just you up there, all by yourself, and after you've thrown the ball, you've got about 7 seconds of just watching it roll. there is nothing for you to do but stand and watch. and then you turn around and endure the 6-8 foot walk back to your chair while all your competitors watch you. kind of uncomfortable. you just walk, you're not holding anything and you have nothing to do with your hands. it's a weird feeling.
-jon
Monday, January 19, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
here's some new stuff.
break is almost over. here are a few noteworthy things that have been going on.
- i restrung my acoustic guitar. it was in serious need of it too, not having been changed since before i left for spain.
speaking of spain, exactly one year and a day ago i got on a plane to leave the country for five months. i thanked God yesterday i wasn't doing it again this year.
back to the list.
- colleen's family got a wii. which means i've gotten rehooked on trying to go pro in every sport on wii sports except for boxing, which shouldn't even be counted as a sport in the game. so stupid. also means i really want to buy them guitar hero so i can play whenever i go back to visit.
- awesome christmas presents include:
another great thing i got was the bird clock. great addition to the jam shack. this present was won in the big gift exchange the cooper family does every christmas. i had opened two prior gifts, each a gift card of some kind (i think target and itunes), but each were stolen from me, so i ended up opening another present which was an analog clock, with a different bird for each number. on the hour, the clock chimes the call of the specific bird for that hour. awesome.
i got a turntable. incredible. not just any turntable mind you, this one has a usb hook up which means i can actually record vinyl onto my computer. this opens up a whole new way of listening to music. i bought my first record the other day too, stevie wonder's Hotter Than July. i figure i will start keeping my eyes out for vinyl, anything old and awesome. basically anything pre-80s is a must-buy. i am one step closer to being rob gordon. it felt so cool to put the thing together out of the box; i did my best to be really careful with every little part. it's like i'm handling much more fragile equipment than if i was to put on a cd. records seem to have so much more of a history behind them, a culture associated with them. if i'm not careful with a record than a whole generation of audiophiles will get upset with me. it's really cool.
- my best man joel gave me loads of new music, including adele's 19, rachel yamagata's new album Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart (which wins the award for weirdest album title), kings of leon's newest, and a few more. i've also been trying to do a bit of spring cleaning with my itunes, so i've been getting rid of some of the crap and editing a few things here and there. it's looking better than ever.
- been getting back into sufjan stevens' Illinoise album. what an artist. the whole thing is so richly textured it's incredible. the themes in his music just stop you in your tracks. such a great album. i wish i had more time to listen to all of his stuff.
- colleen and i start premartial counseling on sunday. i'm actually looking forward to it; we're in it with another couple with whom we are friends and it will be a lot of fun i think.
school starts up again on monday. not looking forward to it. i also just realized how horribly organized this post it.
-jon
- i restrung my acoustic guitar. it was in serious need of it too, not having been changed since before i left for spain.
speaking of spain, exactly one year and a day ago i got on a plane to leave the country for five months. i thanked God yesterday i wasn't doing it again this year.
back to the list.
- colleen's family got a wii. which means i've gotten rehooked on trying to go pro in every sport on wii sports except for boxing, which shouldn't even be counted as a sport in the game. so stupid. also means i really want to buy them guitar hero so i can play whenever i go back to visit.
- awesome christmas presents include:
- muppet show: season 3
- pea coat
- digital camera
- 12 pack of mt. dew
- money and m&ms
- homemade stuff for my first place with my wife
- awesome homemade christmas card
- a bird clock (more on this later)
- a turntable
another great thing i got was the bird clock. great addition to the jam shack. this present was won in the big gift exchange the cooper family does every christmas. i had opened two prior gifts, each a gift card of some kind (i think target and itunes), but each were stolen from me, so i ended up opening another present which was an analog clock, with a different bird for each number. on the hour, the clock chimes the call of the specific bird for that hour. awesome.
i got a turntable. incredible. not just any turntable mind you, this one has a usb hook up which means i can actually record vinyl onto my computer. this opens up a whole new way of listening to music. i bought my first record the other day too, stevie wonder's Hotter Than July. i figure i will start keeping my eyes out for vinyl, anything old and awesome. basically anything pre-80s is a must-buy. i am one step closer to being rob gordon. it felt so cool to put the thing together out of the box; i did my best to be really careful with every little part. it's like i'm handling much more fragile equipment than if i was to put on a cd. records seem to have so much more of a history behind them, a culture associated with them. if i'm not careful with a record than a whole generation of audiophiles will get upset with me. it's really cool.- my best man joel gave me loads of new music, including adele's 19, rachel yamagata's new album Elephants... Teeth Sinking Into Heart (which wins the award for weirdest album title), kings of leon's newest, and a few more. i've also been trying to do a bit of spring cleaning with my itunes, so i've been getting rid of some of the crap and editing a few things here and there. it's looking better than ever.
- been getting back into sufjan stevens' Illinoise album. what an artist. the whole thing is so richly textured it's incredible. the themes in his music just stop you in your tracks. such a great album. i wish i had more time to listen to all of his stuff.
- colleen and i start premartial counseling on sunday. i'm actually looking forward to it; we're in it with another couple with whom we are friends and it will be a lot of fun i think.
school starts up again on monday. not looking forward to it. i also just realized how horribly organized this post it.
-jon
Thursday, December 18, 2008
annie hall.
i'm not sure really how i feel about woody allen. as far as i know i think i've only seen like one and a half of his movies, the one being annie hall and the half being scoop during which i fell asleep. he seems like a very smart comedian, if a little too something else. what that something else is i haven't nailed yet.
i'd say annie hall is a good movie. i'd even go so far as to say a really good movie. allen makes really insightful and funny observations on relationships and how men think. the whole movie is metafiction; weaved through the whole thing are plot devices where allen breaks the "fourth wall" and talks to the camera, where he blends well with his own fictional world but keeps referencing the real world outside of the camera. it's really the pre-cursor movie to high fidelity, without all the music savvy and hilarious supporting characters.
i watched it for the first time when i was younger; i say younger but really it was only like two years ago max. i didn't really get it then. i watched it again about a month ago and i understood it a lot better. and i realized that it's a really good movie, yet mildly inaccessible, in a weird way. in a basic way, it's just allen's thoughts on life and love and women and sex and relationships, and nearly everybody can relate to that, but if you listen to half the movie's dialogue, it's all references. and obscure references too, references to literature or weird psychoanalysts and 70s culture. tons of references that i had no hope of understanding. and you know what it reminded me of? freakin' juno. that awful movie about the pregnant teen. i bet when annie hall was released in '77, it was really popular with loads of college douchebags who were really into the latest kurt vonnegut book and who voted for carter. it was the juno of the late 70s. except much smarter and better overall.
it is pretty slow though. there's a good laugh about every 10 minutes or so, and there are some really long takes. at one point annie has a long monologue which is like 5 minutes with no camera cuts, just one long take. so it feels a lot slower than current movies. another reason those freakin' hipsters love it so much. it's feels "artsy".
even though it was probably popular with the indie hipsters of the 70s and nowadays it's so hipster to say it's one of your favorite movies, i still liked it, because it is a really good movie. here's woody's summation of his relationship with annie.
-jon
i'd say annie hall is a good movie. i'd even go so far as to say a really good movie. allen makes really insightful and funny observations on relationships and how men think. the whole movie is metafiction; weaved through the whole thing are plot devices where allen breaks the "fourth wall" and talks to the camera, where he blends well with his own fictional world but keeps referencing the real world outside of the camera. it's really the pre-cursor movie to high fidelity, without all the music savvy and hilarious supporting characters.i watched it for the first time when i was younger; i say younger but really it was only like two years ago max. i didn't really get it then. i watched it again about a month ago and i understood it a lot better. and i realized that it's a really good movie, yet mildly inaccessible, in a weird way. in a basic way, it's just allen's thoughts on life and love and women and sex and relationships, and nearly everybody can relate to that, but if you listen to half the movie's dialogue, it's all references. and obscure references too, references to literature or weird psychoanalysts and 70s culture. tons of references that i had no hope of understanding. and you know what it reminded me of? freakin' juno. that awful movie about the pregnant teen. i bet when annie hall was released in '77, it was really popular with loads of college douchebags who were really into the latest kurt vonnegut book and who voted for carter. it was the juno of the late 70s. except much smarter and better overall.
it is pretty slow though. there's a good laugh about every 10 minutes or so, and there are some really long takes. at one point annie has a long monologue which is like 5 minutes with no camera cuts, just one long take. so it feels a lot slower than current movies. another reason those freakin' hipsters love it so much. it's feels "artsy".
even though it was probably popular with the indie hipsters of the 70s and nowadays it's so hipster to say it's one of your favorite movies, i still liked it, because it is a really good movie. here's woody's summation of his relationship with annie.
after that, it got pretty late and we both had to go, but it was great seeing annie again, and i realized what a terrific person she was and how much fun it was just knowing her and i thought of that old joke, you know, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says "doc, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." and the doctor says "well why don't you turn him in?" and the guy says, "i would, but i need the eggs." well, i guess that's pretty much now how i feel about relationships. you know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd, but i guess we keep going through it because most of us need the eggs.perfect. i should watch more woody allen movies.
-jon
Sunday, December 14, 2008
finals week.
i'm in a random room of prairie lakes bible church, sitting at a table with my friends joel and ryan and pretending to study. prairie lakes opens up its facilities for finals week, staying open until midnight each night, providing lots of study room and tons of free food for the students. it is awesome.
this is why finals week is always great. everybody seems more stressed, but there are cool things like a big church offering help to the college kids. and my take on finals is pretty unstressful; my work all semester is where i'm stressed rather than finals. when finals roll around it's like i've done what i've done, usually my finals are not make or break my grade type important. pulling all nighters is so pointless to me because it's like cramming isn't going to help my final grade at all. so while i still study and get the last few bits of information into my head, i don't let finals get me down.
plus, i'm three days away from being absolutely done with this semester and three weeks long of working at family video (closing christmas eve, opening christmas morning, among others), playing guitar, reading the hobbit/lord of the rings, and beating grand theft auto iv and lego indiana jones with joel. and hoo boy am i excited. it's a bummer that i don't get this excited about what i'm doing with my education because it would be phenomenally easier to wake up and go to class if i was excited about it. instead, i get excited at the end of my school day when i can go home and read things about music artists or discover remix albums or watch movie trailers or blog or anything of that nature. i feel like an hour playing video games with joel is more productive than an hour long class because i am deepening a friendship (no matter how pointless one might think video games are, they can serve as a catalyst for real fellowship) instead of learning about lipids. who gives a crap about lipids? honestly.
why can't there be some major in school which involves blogging. listening to tons of music and telling people about it. playing guitar with other musicians. it sucks. instead i'm learning about the molecular cofactors involved in the electron transport chain and which parts of the brain affect motor function. interesting stuff yes, but to me? not particularly. can't help thinking i've chosen the wrong things to focus on in school.
whatever. i've got another semester-ish to finish and then i can get a job and learn how the real world works. go to work during the day and then come home and have my evenings to myself and my wife. sounds great. in the meantime though, lego indiana jones is pretty fun.
-jon
this is why finals week is always great. everybody seems more stressed, but there are cool things like a big church offering help to the college kids. and my take on finals is pretty unstressful; my work all semester is where i'm stressed rather than finals. when finals roll around it's like i've done what i've done, usually my finals are not make or break my grade type important. pulling all nighters is so pointless to me because it's like cramming isn't going to help my final grade at all. so while i still study and get the last few bits of information into my head, i don't let finals get me down.
plus, i'm three days away from being absolutely done with this semester and three weeks long of working at family video (closing christmas eve, opening christmas morning, among others), playing guitar, reading the hobbit/lord of the rings, and beating grand theft auto iv and lego indiana jones with joel. and hoo boy am i excited. it's a bummer that i don't get this excited about what i'm doing with my education because it would be phenomenally easier to wake up and go to class if i was excited about it. instead, i get excited at the end of my school day when i can go home and read things about music artists or discover remix albums or watch movie trailers or blog or anything of that nature. i feel like an hour playing video games with joel is more productive than an hour long class because i am deepening a friendship (no matter how pointless one might think video games are, they can serve as a catalyst for real fellowship) instead of learning about lipids. who gives a crap about lipids? honestly.
why can't there be some major in school which involves blogging. listening to tons of music and telling people about it. playing guitar with other musicians. it sucks. instead i'm learning about the molecular cofactors involved in the electron transport chain and which parts of the brain affect motor function. interesting stuff yes, but to me? not particularly. can't help thinking i've chosen the wrong things to focus on in school.
whatever. i've got another semester-ish to finish and then i can get a job and learn how the real world works. go to work during the day and then come home and have my evenings to myself and my wife. sounds great. in the meantime though, lego indiana jones is pretty fun.
-jon
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
808s and heartbreak.
so it's been a little more than a week since kanye west released his latest, 808s and heartbreak. granted, i didn't have loads of time over break to digest it, but i feel at least introduced to the album now. here are my initial thoughts.
actually i want to start by saying that i am excluding pinocchio story from any review i do of this album. that song is so terrible and i'm so confused as to why kanye tacked it on the end. kanye might've said "scrotum" in graduation's closer, big brother, but that tune is far and away better than pinocchio story. so i'm not even counting that as part of the album. moving on.
right off, i knew it was gonna be different. i did my very best not to go into it thinking it was "kanye's fourth album". and it's not at all. the whole thing feels like a side project rather than an album in the "kanye west" discography. obviously as time goes on, as his listeners absorb this album and he releases more, we will find where it fits with the rest of his albums. but right now, a week after it came out, it doesn't feel like it fits anywhere with his previous three records. he sings and makes use of the auto-tune through the whole thing. no real rapping here, at least by kanye. this isn't really a bad thing though, at least it doesn't take away from the album. kanye isn't a good singer (if you've ever heard him live...egh.) but the auto-tune corrects his off pitches and gives him a robotic element that is pretty cool. very importantly though, he doesn't overdue the robot voice like t-pain, so i haven't gotten sick of that.
the thing right away that was hard for me to get around and i'm still trying to get used to is the music. talk about veering away from what worked for him. kanye was one of the kings of sampling and organic, original hip-hop beats. this is so far away from that. he used a drum programming machine, the roland tr-808, for most of the beats, and instead of actually sounding like a real drum kit, a lot of the foundational beats of this album sound really computery. still, not necessarily a bad thing, but what he layers on top is what i didn't warm up to right away. there's more piano here than his previous work, which isn't bad, but a lot of it is just really repetitive. and that's where i think i go off track with this record. there is so little variation here. almost all the songs are just one chord progression with little difference between the chorus and verses. there isn't enough that draws me in. lots of reviews i've read are saying things like this is a bold move from his previous work and it's a really new original thing for him to do. i'd say it's a bold move, but i wouldn't say it's original. so many of the songs sound like what everybody else is doing right now. with a few exceptions, this could've been an album from t-pain or akon. it's new in terms of kanye's catalogue, but in terms of popular music right now? not at all. heartless is such a bore to listen to for me because not only it is super repetitive, it sounds like a thousand other people's songs. same with robocop (especially robocop) and see you in my nightmare. amazing sounds like it was made 100% by timbaland. street lights sounds like a postal service tune with a black guy singing. it just didn't sound new to me, didn't seem fresh.
i could go through song by song and pick out things i don't like, but i don't really want to do that. i think my biggest critique is that this doesn't seem that new to me. i feel like i've heard songs like this before from other artists of whom i'm not a huge fan. i was hoping for something totally off the wall in terms of not only kanye's music but music in general, not something inspired in any way by lil wayne. there seems to be a lot of potential on this album, it's just not pushed as far as it could go. like love lockdown, it's an awesome song, whenever the african drums are getting pounded. but when they stop it's like are we even listening to a song anymore? this whole album is sparse and i think i was hoping for a little more.
i'm in kind of a rough place cause i don't want to bad talk this album a lot, i don't even want to go as far as to say i'm disappointed in it. cause i kind of knew this is how it was gonna be and this is how i was gonna respond to it. but after my first listen through, there wasn't a single song that i really wanted to go tell colleen about or made me jump around my room. there weren't any flashing lights or good life type tracks. this just isn't exactly my style of music. if this album had been released by anybody i probably wouldn't fall in love with it. kanye hasn't alienated me with this, he just released an album i'm not particularly crazy about.
least favorite track: see you in my nightmare feat. lil wayne
awful. all the way around. sorry, where the heck is the beat? there is nothing solid at all. and that synth. did kanye choose the "mosquito" setting on his keyboard? horrible sound. and lil wayne...man i am still confused where this guy came from and how he is so popular. i guess i never listen to the radio so i never, ever hear his songs, but i feel like he just popped up like 9 months ago and was suddenly the most popular rapper around. whatever, that's something for another blog. what is important is that his verse on this song is not good. this whole break-up theme, "see you in my nightmare" idea isn't good at all. i love break-up songs as much as the next guy, but if you're really gonna complain about your break-up, do it in a way that is engaging. this is not engaging. this is engaging (#4 for the best angry break-up song ever). it's just not an original concept.
favorite track: paranoid. this is my jam. my favorite for sure. super fun beat, great sing along chorus, the chords keep me guessing, it's just an all around awesome tune. thanks for this one 'ye.
-jon
p.s. give me another week and i will like this whole album more than i do now. i started writing this yesterday and listening to the record while finishing this up, i'm liking all the songs even more now than before. so this review only really applies to the first week of listening to the album for me.
actually i want to start by saying that i am excluding pinocchio story from any review i do of this album. that song is so terrible and i'm so confused as to why kanye tacked it on the end. kanye might've said "scrotum" in graduation's closer, big brother, but that tune is far and away better than pinocchio story. so i'm not even counting that as part of the album. moving on.
right off, i knew it was gonna be different. i did my very best not to go into it thinking it was "kanye's fourth album". and it's not at all. the whole thing feels like a side project rather than an album in the "kanye west" discography. obviously as time goes on, as his listeners absorb this album and he releases more, we will find where it fits with the rest of his albums. but right now, a week after it came out, it doesn't feel like it fits anywhere with his previous three records. he sings and makes use of the auto-tune through the whole thing. no real rapping here, at least by kanye. this isn't really a bad thing though, at least it doesn't take away from the album. kanye isn't a good singer (if you've ever heard him live...egh.) but the auto-tune corrects his off pitches and gives him a robotic element that is pretty cool. very importantly though, he doesn't overdue the robot voice like t-pain, so i haven't gotten sick of that.
the thing right away that was hard for me to get around and i'm still trying to get used to is the music. talk about veering away from what worked for him. kanye was one of the kings of sampling and organic, original hip-hop beats. this is so far away from that. he used a drum programming machine, the roland tr-808, for most of the beats, and instead of actually sounding like a real drum kit, a lot of the foundational beats of this album sound really computery. still, not necessarily a bad thing, but what he layers on top is what i didn't warm up to right away. there's more piano here than his previous work, which isn't bad, but a lot of it is just really repetitive. and that's where i think i go off track with this record. there is so little variation here. almost all the songs are just one chord progression with little difference between the chorus and verses. there isn't enough that draws me in. lots of reviews i've read are saying things like this is a bold move from his previous work and it's a really new original thing for him to do. i'd say it's a bold move, but i wouldn't say it's original. so many of the songs sound like what everybody else is doing right now. with a few exceptions, this could've been an album from t-pain or akon. it's new in terms of kanye's catalogue, but in terms of popular music right now? not at all. heartless is such a bore to listen to for me because not only it is super repetitive, it sounds like a thousand other people's songs. same with robocop (especially robocop) and see you in my nightmare. amazing sounds like it was made 100% by timbaland. street lights sounds like a postal service tune with a black guy singing. it just didn't sound new to me, didn't seem fresh.
i could go through song by song and pick out things i don't like, but i don't really want to do that. i think my biggest critique is that this doesn't seem that new to me. i feel like i've heard songs like this before from other artists of whom i'm not a huge fan. i was hoping for something totally off the wall in terms of not only kanye's music but music in general, not something inspired in any way by lil wayne. there seems to be a lot of potential on this album, it's just not pushed as far as it could go. like love lockdown, it's an awesome song, whenever the african drums are getting pounded. but when they stop it's like are we even listening to a song anymore? this whole album is sparse and i think i was hoping for a little more.
i'm in kind of a rough place cause i don't want to bad talk this album a lot, i don't even want to go as far as to say i'm disappointed in it. cause i kind of knew this is how it was gonna be and this is how i was gonna respond to it. but after my first listen through, there wasn't a single song that i really wanted to go tell colleen about or made me jump around my room. there weren't any flashing lights or good life type tracks. this just isn't exactly my style of music. if this album had been released by anybody i probably wouldn't fall in love with it. kanye hasn't alienated me with this, he just released an album i'm not particularly crazy about.
least favorite track: see you in my nightmare feat. lil wayne
awful. all the way around. sorry, where the heck is the beat? there is nothing solid at all. and that synth. did kanye choose the "mosquito" setting on his keyboard? horrible sound. and lil wayne...man i am still confused where this guy came from and how he is so popular. i guess i never listen to the radio so i never, ever hear his songs, but i feel like he just popped up like 9 months ago and was suddenly the most popular rapper around. whatever, that's something for another blog. what is important is that his verse on this song is not good. this whole break-up theme, "see you in my nightmare" idea isn't good at all. i love break-up songs as much as the next guy, but if you're really gonna complain about your break-up, do it in a way that is engaging. this is not engaging. this is engaging (#4 for the best angry break-up song ever). it's just not an original concept.
favorite track: paranoid. this is my jam. my favorite for sure. super fun beat, great sing along chorus, the chords keep me guessing, it's just an all around awesome tune. thanks for this one 'ye.
-jon
p.s. give me another week and i will like this whole album more than i do now. i started writing this yesterday and listening to the record while finishing this up, i'm liking all the songs even more now than before. so this review only really applies to the first week of listening to the album for me.
Monday, November 24, 2008
BEST WEEK EVER.
this week will be the best in a long time. for many reasons, but very much because of music. here's what i'm talking about.
- 808s and heartbreak. remember when i wrote about my favorite artists releasing music? tomorrow is one of those days. kanye west is dropping his fourth studio album, and i'm all sorts of excited/nervous about it. excited cause it's kanye, nervous because he doesn't rap. we'll see. either way it's something to get amped for.
- tonight i stopped by the cedar falls public library to grab the hobbit (hopefully will have that finished by the end of the week) and i happened to glance at their cd collection, which last time i was there consisted of lots of classical, babyface's mtv unplugged, and timbaland presents: shock value. this time was much better. i found john mayer's where the light is and joss stone's introducing joss stone, two albums interlibrary loan said they couldn't find. super exciting. exciting because the joss stone album is executive produced by raphael saadiq, who is awesome, and joss has a great voice so they will be a great mix, and also exciting because i finally have a legitimate version of john mayer's cover of free fallin' (so incredible.) and also his first released version of in your atmosphere, one of my original favorite songs of his. and even though i've got tons and tons of live jm shows, whenever he releases anything legitimately recorded, i get excited. i'm listening to free fallin' right now and it sounds so so good. the guy sure knows how to record an album. so these two are super great.
- ok as i was writing this next paragraph, i realized that coldplay's new ep, prospekt's march, is actually being released tomorrow (monday) like kanye's album. which means it is 2:43 am and i could go to wal-mart right now and buy the ep if i wanted. holy cow. it's so late but man do i want to hear the ep. i just checked websites of wal-mart, target, and best buy, and target for sure has it the cheapest so i think i'm gonna wait until tomorrow to pick it up. anyway. the ep consists of 8 tracks, 6 new recordings, 2 redos, and i am really excited. over the last five months viva la vida has become possibly my favorite coldplay album, and hearing material that almost made it on the record is really exciting. it's gonna be great.
- saturday night. my fiance and i are seeing al green live. LIVE. a legend. some adults talk about how they saw frank sinatra, after saturday i get to say, for the rest of my life, that i saw al green perform. i am ecstatic. he is playing at an old theatre in downtown kansas city, a real place with a bar in the back and nice seats. we will probably sit and watch. maybe get a drink. it will be a magical night.
what a week. i can't wait to write more about all this music. in the meantime, here's this gem.
nobody sings melody variations like john mayer.
-jon
- 808s and heartbreak. remember when i wrote about my favorite artists releasing music? tomorrow is one of those days. kanye west is dropping his fourth studio album, and i'm all sorts of excited/nervous about it. excited cause it's kanye, nervous because he doesn't rap. we'll see. either way it's something to get amped for.
- tonight i stopped by the cedar falls public library to grab the hobbit (hopefully will have that finished by the end of the week) and i happened to glance at their cd collection, which last time i was there consisted of lots of classical, babyface's mtv unplugged, and timbaland presents: shock value. this time was much better. i found john mayer's where the light is and joss stone's introducing joss stone, two albums interlibrary loan said they couldn't find. super exciting. exciting because the joss stone album is executive produced by raphael saadiq, who is awesome, and joss has a great voice so they will be a great mix, and also exciting because i finally have a legitimate version of john mayer's cover of free fallin' (so incredible.) and also his first released version of in your atmosphere, one of my original favorite songs of his. and even though i've got tons and tons of live jm shows, whenever he releases anything legitimately recorded, i get excited. i'm listening to free fallin' right now and it sounds so so good. the guy sure knows how to record an album. so these two are super great.
- ok as i was writing this next paragraph, i realized that coldplay's new ep, prospekt's march, is actually being released tomorrow (monday) like kanye's album. which means it is 2:43 am and i could go to wal-mart right now and buy the ep if i wanted. holy cow. it's so late but man do i want to hear the ep. i just checked websites of wal-mart, target, and best buy, and target for sure has it the cheapest so i think i'm gonna wait until tomorrow to pick it up. anyway. the ep consists of 8 tracks, 6 new recordings, 2 redos, and i am really excited. over the last five months viva la vida has become possibly my favorite coldplay album, and hearing material that almost made it on the record is really exciting. it's gonna be great.
- saturday night. my fiance and i are seeing al green live. LIVE. a legend. some adults talk about how they saw frank sinatra, after saturday i get to say, for the rest of my life, that i saw al green perform. i am ecstatic. he is playing at an old theatre in downtown kansas city, a real place with a bar in the back and nice seats. we will probably sit and watch. maybe get a drink. it will be a magical night.
what a week. i can't wait to write more about all this music. in the meantime, here's this gem.
nobody sings melody variations like john mayer.
-jon
Thursday, November 20, 2008
we're marley and marley....whoooooaaaaa!
it's november 20th. at work, i've taken to putting on christmas movies when i have a chance, and i have been hearing some serious grumbling from customers about it.
"isn't it a little early to be putting on christmas movies?"
"we haven't even had thanksgiving!"
etcetera. and it's annoying to me. you hear this every christmastime, people get so annoyed that businesses start putting out christmas merch really early and people are putting lights up too early and so on. honestly though, it's always bugged me, and a few weeks ago i finally realized why.
when i was a kid, december would roll around and man would it go slow. like seriously the slowest month ever. it just took so so long to get to christmas. and as a kid i didn't know how to appreciate the season at all. and nowadays, as i get older, time goes so much faster. my weeks have been flying by so quickly. and all i want to do is hold on to feeling you get during december. it is such a great feeling and comes only once a year, why wouldn't we try to grasp onto it as long as we could?
i understand some people don't like the commercialization of the holiday and all that, and i concede that wal-mart did have a gigantic christmas tree up literally on november 1st, but that's not gonna stop me from putting on the 'a charlie brown christmas' album while i study or watching christmas movies at work.
by the way, Top Five Christmas Movies To Play At Work:
5. Elf
4. Jingle All The Way
3. I'll Be Home For Christmas
2. The Santa Clause
1. Muppet Christmas Carol
home alone, home alone 2, and a charlie brown christmas are all excluded from this list even though they are all very near and dear to my heart. the home alones aren't on there because everybody everywhere thinks they are great and for me, watching them more than once a year is too much, and a charlie brown christmas is too sweet to put it on and not give it your full attention.
in two days when i open at work, i'll probably play each of the movies on my list at least once. and thanksgiving is still a week away. bring on the cheer.
-jon
"isn't it a little early to be putting on christmas movies?"
"we haven't even had thanksgiving!"
etcetera. and it's annoying to me. you hear this every christmastime, people get so annoyed that businesses start putting out christmas merch really early and people are putting lights up too early and so on. honestly though, it's always bugged me, and a few weeks ago i finally realized why.
when i was a kid, december would roll around and man would it go slow. like seriously the slowest month ever. it just took so so long to get to christmas. and as a kid i didn't know how to appreciate the season at all. and nowadays, as i get older, time goes so much faster. my weeks have been flying by so quickly. and all i want to do is hold on to feeling you get during december. it is such a great feeling and comes only once a year, why wouldn't we try to grasp onto it as long as we could?
i understand some people don't like the commercialization of the holiday and all that, and i concede that wal-mart did have a gigantic christmas tree up literally on november 1st, but that's not gonna stop me from putting on the 'a charlie brown christmas' album while i study or watching christmas movies at work.
by the way, Top Five Christmas Movies To Play At Work:
5. Elf
4. Jingle All The Way
3. I'll Be Home For Christmas
2. The Santa Clause
1. Muppet Christmas Carol
home alone, home alone 2, and a charlie brown christmas are all excluded from this list even though they are all very near and dear to my heart. the home alones aren't on there because everybody everywhere thinks they are great and for me, watching them more than once a year is too much, and a charlie brown christmas is too sweet to put it on and not give it your full attention.
in two days when i open at work, i'll probably play each of the movies on my list at least once. and thanksgiving is still a week away. bring on the cheer.
-jon
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