4 posts tagged “music”
So i have done almost a full year of not blogging. I have to admit that my last blog kinda put me off the whole thing. I still miss Rory.
Enough about that, though.
So nowadays I have a crazy 2 year old. I am writing pitches
Wait.
I was writing pitches. Then some d00d busted my car window at high noon and stole all my writing notes and my laptop. I am sad to lose the laptop but it is devastating to lose my writing notes. i had one of those 3 subject spiral binders with notes about everything from learning basic japanese to scheduling and producing TV movies to sketched out ideas for animated and kids shows. No back ups for handwriting. I guess I could start scanning pages after I write on them and then i would have backups in iPhoto.
I have gotten into some other pretty cool music, mostly thanks to NPR's All Songs Considered and My man Han
St Vincent's "Actor" is getting good play on my iPod as is Silversun Pickups and Autolux which inspired me to write two different tv show ideas.
Writing is weird. Trying to see if I can really write for comics. Working up some pitches now. Then throwing out some emails and see if I can land me some of those fancy meetings at San Diego Comicon. Taking a class at UCLA by Nunzio Defilippis on how to write comics. I never felt comfortable with the format and I hope this helps me out. I haven't forgotten my TV writing but I hate talking about TV ideas on the Internerd.
Guess that is a good start. Going to Vegas this weekend, which should be full of stories I will never re-tell until my deathbed. heh.
Check out:
MUSIC
"The Strangers" - St Vincent
"God Is Love" - Eleni mandell
"TIA" - K'Naan
"Here Comes Everybody" - Autolux ( I know this is an old track but I just got to it.)
TV
Southland - NBC - I can't sayitis great but I am surprised how much I love following the stories of the beat cops. If the detectives disappeared (maybe not Regina King) I would not be sad.
The Unusuals - Argh more cops. I think ABC felt burned by all their quirky shows and are hammering out the weirdness of this show. But dammit the cast is so good I have to give it a chance.
Harper's Island. - CBS - I have no idea how this got on but it is such a faithful homage to 80s slasher movies and so goofy it is fun that I can't stop watching. It's either the mother or everyone is killing everyone.
Reading
getting Things Done - I am all unorganized. I find that when i follwo a chapters advice I feel a sense of relief. then I mess everything up again and the anxiety returns.
the Road, No 1 Ladies Detective and Audacity of Hope - Books that have been sitting on my beloved Kindle for a while that i thought I should finally read. Weirdly they all kinda flow together into a big meta story...
I find that these albums are stuck in heavy rotation especially while I am writing or driving.
It's nice to have music that has a good beat, can deal with the existence of women and still have bite and sarcasm in it.
Of course that Roots album usually makes me want to drive over people or weep at how wrong the country has gone but what good album doesn't do that?
the checkout tracks?
I Gotcha from lupe
Losing My Way from JT
Here I come from them Roots and hell just pick a track on Jean grae's this week
I Am Music
Last week I was hanging out with my favorite teenager watching an OC marathon of the first 6 episodes, when she reminded me that I promised I would make her a mix of sons she wanted. The problem was that she only wanted three songs and it offends me as a mixtape guy to waste a CD like that so I made her a mix with those three songs included. Now being the teen she is i knew she would ignore the rest of the mix if I didn't disperse the songs thru the disc forcing her to hear the whole thing. So I looked at the songs she wanted and came up with this mix called "Diary of a 16 year Old"
1.
- I start off with this little Instrumental to preface the next three song plus when you hear that opening guitar riff, you just know that something exciting is coming. It seems like that is the way of the teenager, the littlest things will set off the big adventures.
2. C'mon C'mon / The Von Bondies - the first of three songs she wanted. i first heard this song while playing Burnout 3. It is my favorite song to drive to at the moment. More interesting is that it is a look back at mistakes of youth and almost commanding you the listener to maybe examine them. i consider this song and the the last two songs a sort of framing element to the narrative of the mix.
3. Hollaback Girl / Gwen Stefani - 2nd of three songs requested. America's REAL favorite teen sings about not being easy and kicking ass to a cheer beat. To quote the Harajuku Queen "The shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S"
4.
Words And Guitar / Sleater-Kinney - Anyone remember being a teenager and not being able to express anything important without using some music as a reference point? Well the fine ladies sum it up quite nicely to a driving beat of...er words and guitars.
5.
Rebel Girl / Bikini Kill - when you are doing these kind of mixes I find it is always good to throw in a song or two specifically stating the message. What better than a song about a girl envying a girl who has the guts to be different in a conformative microculture of teenage America? This also intros the next section of "teen rebellion"
6.
Tattoo / Petra Haden - Nothing says rebellion better than rock and a tattoo, right? But me being me I had to subvert the whole thing because in truth being a teen ager is rarely about real rebellion so I put in this cover of the Who. It sounds like teen Enya rebelling but um, better.
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit / Tori Amos - no teenage girl is complete without proper angst. So Ms Amos finally gets onto a mix of mine with this quite anthem about choosing a proper deoderant.
8. I'm So Excited / Le Tigre - the third act of Teen Rebellion: SEX!!! Le Tigre's cover of this disco booty shaker is both true to the original and kinda awkward, much like the first time you actually have sex.
9. Dancing Machine / The Jackson 5 - Act Three"Let's fall in love" I tried to capture the feeling and length of the average teen romance in the next 4 songs. Go to a party, hook up, fall into truly epic love, then something dumb and usually peer driven breaks you up. Besides can you really say you don't like this song?
10. I Don't Think We've Met / Nikka Costa - the hook up! i love Nikka Costa she should really be bigger and hotter than all the current teen sensations. She has funky funky beats and everything she sings sounds...hot. It like you are 16 and all you can hear are your hormones telling you "All the cool kids are doing it!"
11. Gigantic / Pixies - I am going to behonest and say that I think I know what this song is about but I could be completely wrong. When I first heard it I thought it was about the teenage girl's side of falling for an older man as told by her best friend watching from afar. I have a friend who believes it is about a white girl having sex with a black guy. I have another friend who says that it is all about naughty sex. Pick one and it still works here.
12. Buddy Holly / Weezer - the world never understands our special love. this leads to fear and fear leads to hatred and hatred leads to getting the crap beat out of you for looking like Buddy Holly and having the nerve to date Mary Tyler Moore. Better we die then let them tear our love asunder, right?
13. Put It Back Together / Fatboy Slim - Uh, that would be a no. but now we get to look back longingly on the love lost and wonder why it can be reformed. Wash rinse repeat until college where you discover the joys of non-committed sex. But that is a whole different mix.
14. We Used to Be Friends / The Dandy Warhols - the 3rd song. Speaking of college, this songs weirdly melancholy lyrics combined with it's catchy refrain makes this the sorta thing you hum to yourself upon seeing an old flame with a new flame and realizing that you are much better off.
15. Lonely Generation / Julia Darling - honestly even as a teenager i knew that part of being one was the whining about how no one gets our generation. So here is an anthem for that.
16. Dan Evans Theme / Rusty Andrews - this has been a quality Dan Evans Production!
What's the one CD that will totally remind you of the Summer of 2006?
I would have to answer
2K6 - The Soundtrack
An excellent collection of hip hop tracks for the EA basketball game that remind you that Hip Hop used to be diverse and that it could be fun without ever having to shoot anyone.
Plus the beats are off the hook.
