Damien Rice

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So why do you fill my sorrow
With the words you've borrowed
From the only place you've known
And why do you sing Hallelujah
If it means nothing to you
Why do you sing with me at all?

I have been going through a hard core Damien Rice kick. He is amazing, truly amazing.

O

His album "O" came out in 2002. I think that I first heard his song Volcano in 2003 on FUSE (Previously known as MuchMusic). Soon after hearing them, I got the album. It was probably the best $13.99 I ever spent... Okay, maybe not but it is still a great album. I get chills every time I listen to the begining of the opening song, Delicate. It is an album where after hearing practically every song, I go to press repeat but before my finger gets to the button, I hear the begining of the next song and I must stop to listen to it too. Amazing album. I really cannot pick a favorite song either. The production of it is amazing, and it was all recorded in Damien's apartment, not in a fancy studio.

There are a couple songs that I don't care for as much. The song Cheers Darlin' sort of bothers me because it sounds as though he was drunk when he wrote it and he was drunk when he recorded it.

The track list goes as follows:

1. Delicate
2. Volcano
3. The Blower's Daughter
4. Cannonball
5. Older Chests
6. Amie
7. Cheers Darlin'
8. Cold Water
9. I remember
10. Eskimo

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And she's always dressed in white,
she's like an angel and she burns my eyes,
Oh and she turns, she pulls a smile,
we drive around and she drives me wild

9

The Album 9 was a gift I recieved for Christmas. It is a great album. The first track, 9 Crimes, is probably my favorite song from the album. Lisa Hannigan helps with vocals on the song (she has helped quite a bit on all of his music actually. Word on the street: they got in a big fight and no longer play together. Such a shame. She added so much.)

Gilmore Girls Marathon

Oy With the Poodles already!

Ok, so starting at 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve and going all night until 7:00 AM Christmas morning, (with only a brief interlude to slightly upgrade our viewing experience around 4:00 AM), my sister Bridgett and I decided to have a "Gilmore Girls" marathon. For those of you who may not be familiar with this witty show, I will be the first to admit that it is one of my guilty pleasures. The tagline for the pilot episode of this show was, "Life's short. Talk fast." And talk fast they do. In a one hour episode, the characters will usually make as many as 15 references to various literary characters, movies of bygone years, hordes of musical artists and groups, and a myriad of other pop-culture, socio-political icons of the mainstream genre. That part alone is worth taking the time to familiarize yourself with this show. To add onto that, there is also the sarcastic wit and humor that is flying between character interactions throughout.

Now to be fair, to the best of my knowledge, there is no one in the world that could actually talk that fast and come up with that many obscure references on a semi-regular basis, let alone in normal every day conversation. However, it is fun to watch and imagine what it would be like to be a part of the Star's Hollow community.

Now because Bridgett and I are already Gilmore Aficionados, we decided that we would forego the first two seasons of the series and jump right into season 3. This is a critical season in that Rory is applying for college, Lorelai is preparing to open the Dragonfly, and Jess and Dean are pivotal characters in the overall story line. I'll be honest, I don't remember exactly how many episodes we got through, but I do remember during the episodes we watched, Kirk held or inquired about holding the position of 7 different occupations. Granted...it wasn't until Season 4 that he entertained us with the Night Terror Naked Run...but, it was still a good season.

I would chalk this year's marathon up to a "Good Times!" ranking. Both Bridgett and I had ample supplies of Dr. Pepper, Egg Nog, chips, Root Beer, Jalapeño Poppers, pizza and of course, sugar. I look forward to next year's marathon and am, as always, open to suggestions.

I

AM

Legend

This afternoon I took a break from admiring the gift of technology that is Blu Ray and went to the movie theater to check out the latest Will Smith flick. Aside from disdaining and looking down upon the picture quality of the measly THX projector, I really did enjoy this movie.
Without giving away any of the plot line, the basic premise is that Will Smith is the sole survivor of a virus that has wiped out New York City. He and his faithful companion Sam (the dog), have to spend each day struggling to survive. They live in constant fear of those who are left that are infected with the virus.
Overall, there are the expected obvious plot twists that couldn't be more foreshadowed if they held the script up for the audience to read. However, I was pleasantly surprised by several unexpected turns, and the ultimate conclusion of the movie was not what I had been expecting. Will Smith does a fantastic job of his character, and surprisingly, the movie brings God into the picture in a respectful and classy way; a taboo topic amongst many of the big-screen producers that won't approach the theology question with a 10 foot pole.
This was a good movie...but don't feel any need to rush out and see it immediately. Catching it in the Dollar flicks would be just about par for this course.

On a different note: there were quite a few new trailers to movies I am VERY excited to see. Some of the trailers include: Cloverfield - A JJ Abrhams movie (creator of Alias and LOST), that looks absolutely unbelievable, Chronicles of Narnia The Sequel (not the official name...but you get the idea), Rambo (yes...I just typed Rambo), and of course, The Dark Knight...the continuing saga of Christian Bale as Batman...this time with Heath Ledger as The Joker!

2008 is going to be a great year for movies. Now if you will excuse me, I have a sandwich in the microwave and Blu Ray to watch.

Different Random Songs I Like:

Good Riddance (Time of your life) -Green Day
"It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,

I hope you have the time of your life"

Good Riddance has always been one of my favorite songs, like top twenty or thirty. (that doesn't sound like it is saying much, but it is) I really haven't listened to it in a long time, I mean really listened to it. About a month ago I got an urge to listen to Green Day's album: International Superhits! (2001; when Green Day was a happy-go-lucky punk band). I really listened to the words and fell in love with the song all over again. The lyrics quoted above are my favorite. To me it means that, in life, you aren't supposed to know what is going to happen. Sometimes, life is good. Other times, life will be on the more difficult side. But no matter what you have to go through, in the end you should be happy about the experiences you had, because; "in the end it's right."

That Particular Time -Alanis Morissette

"At that particular time love encouraged me to wait

At that particular moment it helped me to be patient

That particular month we needed time to marinate in what "us" meant"

I never really realized how much I really like Alanis Morissette until about two years ago when one of my friends helped me discover her international debut album: Jagged Little Pill (1995). This album was a huge success in her career. It earned 16x platinum in the US alone. It was also ranked 327 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest albums of All Time. Jagged Little Pill had six well-known singles, most albums are lucky to have two or three.

Last week, I thought that it would be good to find out a little more about Alanis Morissette. I knew a couple of her songs on the album: Under Rug Swept (2002) and thought I would give the rest of the album a listen. Although, not the epic album I would have hoped for, the song: That Particular Time was one that I really liked right off the bat. It is very heartfelt, which sounds cheesy, but it is. It describes different points in a relationship when the couple was ready to give up or be patient. I don't think I ever heard this song before last week, so, I assume that it wasn't too popular. So, check out the you-tube video it is linked to. You might like the song.

Tears Dry On Their Own -Amy Winehouse

"I wish I could say no regrets

And no emotional debts

And as we kiss goodbye the sun sets"

When I first got a hold of Amy Winehouse's album: Back to Black (2006), I honestly didn't think I would like it. I was pleasantly surprised to hear it. My instant favorite song was Tears Dry On Their Own. This song sounds like a happy song, ('til you listen to the words) that is a pretty well-written song (written by Winehouse herself). The lyrics are sort of bitter-sweet, about how they had good times but have no choice but to end things. Good song. Give it a listen.

Anyway, just a few songs I have been interested in lately.
P.S. let me know what you all think; do you want more info on bios? more statistics? Trouble with links? let me know.

Using Muses

"You say too late to start, with your heart in a headlock, You know you're better than this" -Imogen Heap, Headlock (2005)

I have always been fascinated with music. I don't know why. All my life, I just haven't been able to get enough of it. I love listening to everything from the popular rock of The Foo Fighters to the not-quite-techno-y sound of Imogen Heap. Growing up, my parents trained me in the ways of listening to Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Joel, and Bob Dylan. My siblings have always made sure I wasn't just listening to tini-bopper stuff and had a more broadened scope of the music world. They opened up the worlds of Oingo Boingo, U2, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Beastie Boys, Patty Griffin, Social Distortion, and so many others.

I recently was thinking about music, as I often do, and was thinking about how a lot of times people ask me about my opinion of different bands or they ask me to help them expand their cd collection with artists they have yet to learn about. I enjoy helping them. I love talking to people about music. So, I thought to myself, "why not keep a blog about it?"

That is what I plan to do...