Friday, December 31, 2010

My Top 40

I should be reflecting, like I said yesterday, but there isn't too much to be said. pretty boring, yeah, life goes on. I'll regret this decision when I'm feeling particularly nostalgic later tonight, or tomorrow. but oh well.

the rest of the fam are watching a movie in the other room. .today was really really cool, though not a lot happened. had dinner, played a game, relaxed. just savoring the days until this beautiful time of year must be over. Wow I love the holidays.

yes, I am doing a Top 40 of 2010 because I'm an obsessive organising freak. also a music freak. there go, end of year top 40 Singles lists are perfect for my slightly odd brain. it's also good, because these say a lot about my year without me having to go off on endless rambles about things. so here we go.

40. All These Things - Darron Hanlon

Put simply, this song is adorable. it's cutesy boy-girl folksy stuff in one of the best forms I've yet to find. plus aussie accents and some pretty creative, interesting lyrics. also, ukuleles and horns. reminds me of the blogging world. always good.

39. Hannah - Freelance Whales
I can understand why a lot of people would dislike Freelance Whales, but I myself am quite the fan! Yes, the follow an overused formula; multi-instrumental folktronica, nostalgia coming out of the band members' ears. however, the music in this song provokes a very vibrant, topsy-turvy colorful world, and a nice little story of meetings on spiral staircases, to an addictive melody with gentle electronic vocal affects. very nice!

38. Skinny Genes - Eliza Doolittle
Eliza's been is the newest addition to the ever-expanding Kooky British Female Singers clan, and good for her. her sound isn't all uninteresting, as you perhaps might expect. on top of being unabashedly summery, the production in Skinny Genes is minimalistic, yet creative and lovely. also, the slightly risque lyrics clash with Doolittle's sugar sweet voice.

37. Wonderful Life - Hurts
Another new band for 2010! And yes, Eurotrash they may be, but an interesting group to watch they still are. this is a pretty basic pop song in form, however they create a very sleek sound, and some catchy melodies. like taking the best of the 80s and the worst of today and throwing them together. then randomly becoming huge in all of mainland Europe in six months and getting a seven foot opera singer to perform with you live.

36. Upside Down - Paloma Faith
the production on this is one of the best on Paloma's debut; shiny, shimmering, bright, and abundant in steel pans and Paloma's frankly, quite fantastic voice. it'll make you want to sing along. and dance. and lose all sense of reality. in other words, perfect pop.

35. Memories - Weezer
when the rest of the world was least expecting it, Weezer's charm returned. in the form of a traditionally simple chord change, uninteresting lyrics, super catchy melody, and nerdy joy. and painfully nostalgic lyrics. also, is that a harmonica in there somewhere?

34. Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
Hey, another newcomer. Weird. This is one of my favorites from Ellie's album. the melody, format, and lyrics of the song are worth attention. plus, the production values are endless, and the layout of the song really stands out from most pop/electronica combination music at the moment. really good!

33. Resistance - Muse
it is physically impossible for Muse to not appear somewhere on these lists whenever possible. for one thing, this is Muse. classic muse. muse all over. need I explain? Must I explain? It's just the perfect guitar song for the Masses, a la Muse.

32. Hollywood - Marina and the Diamonds
gosh, female pop singers, they never stop. personally, I do believe Marina to be one of the best of the group this year. on top of having a stunning voice and being a really cool person(who wears cool clothes...), the quality of the music is most definitely there. the melody and the chords flow really well, and an interesting choice of synths were used.

31. Talamak - Toro Y Moi
Because basically, every one in a while, there is an actual hipstertronica band with talent. this band is basically a song for late August, early September--must see the music video. something about it is very haunting, though it is not in the least a depressing song. it's pretty catchy, and the sounds are interesting.

30. Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine
I'm a Florence fan yes. And I do like basically all of the songs on her album, though this finds itself near the top of that list. Florence's gorgeous voice coupled with some gorgeous music and really vivid lyrics and a nice melody proves for some really, really interesting music. Florence has just generally been a good thing for the last couple years.

29. Ambling Amp - Yasayer
trust Yaesayer to create one of the most catchy, danceable singles of the year, right? plus, the sounds they used were interesting, and very ear-catching. caught a lot of attention when it first came out.

28. Ghetto Stars - Tricky
I love Tricky. as far as pure musical and lyrics talent, I believe him to be one of the best at the moment for both. this is classic for him--and by classic, of course I mean very, very good indeed--but somehow doesn't fail to spark interest in the listened. didn't catch as much attention as it should have, which is a shame, for he is amazing.

27. Zorbing - Stornoway
pfft, Mumford and Songs? Those idiots? No, I am most definitely Team Stornoway. for one thing, folk in 2010 never sounded so unique. it's very lofi, though never fails to impress, and the layout of the song is different from most of it's contemporaries. plus, his voice is amazing. plus, they hate Mumford too(good!).

26. Born Free - M.I.A.
Now we're done with the recent M.I.A. backlash, I can say this, right? Good. It's not Paper Planes and it's not lyrical gold, but it's good. really good. somehow, M.I.A never fails to catch my attention, even when shooting ginger kids or threatening to murder my eardrums with its boundless energy. regardless, she's good.

25. Drunk Girls - LCD Soundsystem
Again, I love LCD Soundsystem, I think they're great, in their light weight, almost satirical, summery kind of way. this is very much the height of this band's ability. it'll make you want to sing along, every single time. and dance, of course. and watch the video, you must. it's all fun fun fun.

24. Flash Delirium - MGMT
as far as pretentious art-physcadelica-electronica-whatthefucishness goes, you can never, of course, forget about MGMT. personally, I do believe this song is in the leagues of Kids and Time To Pretend. it's just as melodic and easy to sing along to(trust me) yet the layers of the music are more interesting, and ever more weird. pan pipes? cool!

23. New York - Paloma Faith
as far as British Top 40 goes, this is honestly one of my absolute favorite songs of the year. like I said before, I love Paloma's voice, and the power that I seem to find in this song with every single listen. plus, I genuinely thought the storytelling in this song was really interesting. really a level above a lot of people around at the moment.

22. Blah Blah Blah - Kesha
Kesha is on this list. just so you know, Lady GaGa isn't--I like her, but not always her music. I apologise! I must be soooo stupid, right? well, good, because that's part of the reason I wound up actually liking this girl. because everyone else thought it was moronic to do so, and did their best to make this clear whenever possible. if this wasn't by Kesha, this song wouldn't be half as good. oh, you noticed padlocks don't zip, feel so smart now, do you? Gonna call her a whore now on no basis, are you? well, this song is a blatant fuck you to all of that and to the entirety of pop music in general. plus, it's super catchy.

21. Love The Way You Lie - Eminem
Eminem's lyrics are decidedly simpler to what we're used to, but regardless it still holds all of the power and the aggression and the emotion we've come to expect. the verses till an important, complicated tale and is both dark and fiery. the choruses, featuring Rihanna, provide an interesting contrast in their lightness, yet somehow, it works. really, really good.

20. Only the Young - Brandon Flowers
so basically this is the vastly underrated sibling over the overrated Crossfire, which I'm sure you're all familiar with. the musical and lyrical ability of the two songs are similar, though that synth line in this song...wow, it just kinda pops. very Day And Age. good work, Brandon.

19. Vlad The Impaler - Kasabian
Genuinely one of the finest songs from one of the best albums I own. like every other song on this record, their sound is completely unique, very catchy, and musically, required a serious amount of talent to create. it is my belief that everyone should own this record. just saying.

18. Hammock - Howls
this really is an interesting balance between light and colour in a way I'd never really seen before. their sound is really nice, as I said, the production values are good, and the melodies and singing in here are very, very good indeed. shame they're not more popular, but they're a new band, what are you gonna do?

17. High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive - Pulled Apart By Horses
to some it may just be uselesss noise or the typical Jo Whiley hyped-up band. but to me, this is one of the best songs in the 'alternative rock' genre of the year, if not the best, simply for the fact that it just doesn't care. at all. it's the perfect balance between loud and quiet, rock and pop, catchiness and screaming, incoherent lyrics and hipster-ness. I love it.

16. Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes
Chances are you hate this, think it's really boring, and one of the most trite, overrated songs of the year. right? However, I disagree with you on every single point. the song really builds, is somehow very sweet, the lyrics are stylized and cool and while this band may just be a hippie freeforall most of the time, this song is very nice and I love it nonetheless.

15. Echoes - Klaxons
Finally, Klaxons return--and they don't disappoint. I've heard this album is amazing, and if this song is anything to go by, it must be. the sound and production on this is just fantastic, and is lacking in all the random horns that made up the last Klaxons album. somehow, it's kinda spacey too, but very pop. very very good indeed.

14. Celastica - Crystal Castles
a return for another spectacular band. again, this is just what I expect from Crystal Castles, especially them being one if the finest electronic bands around, if not the absolute best. alice's haunting voice is everywhere on this, on top of bubbly, synth lines that build and beats from a more dub step background. plus, it positively oozes gothicness at every corner.

13. Bloodbuzz Ohio - the National
Best song of High Violet? Absolutely! like always, the music is there, in all its dark glory. the lyrics are there--absolute nonsense, since we all expect nothing else. and as always, Matt Berninger sounds like he's drunk to the point of collapsing. plus, it just sounds...good.

12. You - Gold Panda
finally, some good, and I mean really good, chill tronica/chillwave. this song is like nothing I heard this year. desperately catchy, very melodic, endlessly fun, and extremely unique. another randomly good hipster. hoorah!

11. Animal Arithmetic - Jonsi
I was kinda obsessed with this song for about a week. something about it. it's so lightweight and yet it manages to be a really interesting sound. and oh, the drums! those drums! it has percussion to kill! plus, its lyrics are very nostalgic. and there's Icelandic in there, too, which one can never get too much of.

10. Clay Bodies - Zola Jesus
Perhaps the best new female artist of the year! It's like synth rock, synth pop, again with fabulous percussion, a wonderful voice, and gothy artsy darkness absolutely everywhere. unlike anyone else around right now, and definitely someone to watch.

9. Walking Far From Home - Iron and Wine
finally, the random return of Iron And Wine, and it is absolutely incredible. it sounds like winter, in a very cold yet magical, beautiful kind of way with some of the most intrinsically poetic lyrics of the year. plus, what sound continued throughout the song, I haven't a clue--but I love it. a lot.

8. Go Do - Jonsi.
a journalist once said that if Sigur Ros were the sound of glaciers, Jonsi solo would be the sound of snowflakes. and the moment I heard that I had a sort of "whoa, that's exactly correct" moment. this song is so, so beautiful, so much so than almost any music I've heard in my life. it's very delicate, very graceful. the production is gorgeous and the instrumental choices are wonderful. it's so wintery. I love it.

7. Zebra - Beach House
my favorite new band of 2010 by quite a ling way. in contrast to a lot of their other material, this is very springlike, very bright, and somehow very spooky at the same time. the music is great and they have a ton of really interesting influences. part chillwave part lofi part alternative rock, part I don't know what. regardless, it's so good.

6. Friend - Cheyenne Marie Mize
part bluesgrass, part folk, kooky, nice voice, pretty, interesting lyrics--what more could you want, right? and yet it's remarkable how almost no one is familiar with this girl--oh well, people will find her, eventually. you heard it here first.

5. Sylvia - the Antlers.
The Antlers. put simply, I love them. Hospice is the absolute favorite of all the records I own. it's powerful beyond belief, with some genius lyrics along the way that will, seriously change you forever. this song is none of my favorites. Perhaps one of the most pop songs on the album, and still some of the most amazing lyrics and music on the whole record. brilliant.

4. Na Na Na - My Chemical Romance.
One of the biggest moments in music this year was when MCR randomly become trendy. yes, it was an odd experience for us all, when they ditched the knee-length jackets and eyeliner for red hair and space outfits, but it's all good when they had this hyper, electric, uber energetic music to match, pop rock that was just unabashedly fun and yet anarchic in its own special way at the same time, which is just great.

3. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
yes, I am a victim too...I mean, I tried to resist. I wanted to hate Win Butler, I really did, but The Suburbs, wow, it just pulled me in. and now I'm stuck. these fucking hipsters are musical genuises. songs of nostalgia and teenage years, very autumnal, with a really nice chord change. very unique. very good.

2. Norway - Beach House
this song is absolutely phenomenal. it's very wintery and chilling, and yet it just bursts into imaginary colorful...things. anyway, the music in this, as chill wave as it is, is unlike anything else I've heard this year, honestly. it's nothing short of beautiful and you must, must listen to it if you haven't yet.

1. Fuck You - Cee Lo Green
Internet phenomenon gone wild. song screamed in my school's auditorium, despite everyone's best efforts to censor it. I guess, at the end of the day, that is the core of this song. Try as you might to censor it, it will never, ever work. especially when you're mixing a really cool voice, fantastic lyrics, mo town, jazz, blues, pop, and rock all into one massive pot and throwing it out to the universe which will hungrily obsess over it given half a chance. which is amazing. and as all singles go, it did its job; it's loud, it's proud, and it got the work out there. a perfect pop song, through and through, and one we'll remember for a very long time coming.

thank you.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

You Mean Everything To Nothing But Me

Manchester Orchestra on really loud on the CD player, at night, it's not that late but everyone else has gone to sleep. I have concluded this album is amazing. It's a relatively basic, straight forward formula. I usually veer away from the term 'alternative rock', as we all should, unless of course you don't wanna have a music discussion. ie someone asks what music you like, just say alternative rock. such as at the dentist the other day. I realise I don't classify things by genre much lately. I just list bands. or songs. I'm a one track person. anyway, Manchester Orchestra are alternative with a bit of country, and a kinda delicate-yet-somehow-very-fulfilling-at-the-same-time production.



note to self; naming more than, like, three producers somehow makes you the god of music knowledge in this mad world. must remember. in addition, don't become so tired that you can't spell 'manchester' first time round.



I've been watching DVDs. Getting On series 1 is probably my TV hi light of the year. Or was it last year? that would make sense. Also, Mitchell and Webb continues to be absolutely extraordinary in a way I totally wasn't expecting. Heart David Mitchell. which reminds me, good god, as of tomorrow I'm gonna be behind on two episodes of Peep Show! It also means that tomorrow marks the end of Peep Show for another year. it went by so fast! Not fair! Every American show runs for like 3/4 of the year and a lot of Brit shows get 6 weeks(suppose we've got more stuff to fit in, as opposed to endless reruns of unfunny sitcoms and dramas so dull I question why anyone watches them at all. just saying). I'm on more of an anti-US TV rampage than I normally am. I apologise.


we got like a foot if snow, though not the 20 inches we were told of, and it was pretty fun. I love having my aunt here--I got silly vintage trinket things for no reason and went to the MFA. One of my trinkets is a skeleton key. and there was a coffee shop near the trinket place. dun dun dun. oh oh oh, and there was a Richard Avedon display at the MFA and it was sooo cool. I wasn't actually familiar with him beforehand but like everyone else I am a sucker for fashion photography and sleek art deco Parisians, so put together it was pure bliss. And I figured anyone who kinda revolutionised that is good in my book. I must look further into his 'work'(*shakes head in pretentious shame). my sister tells me I am a parsnip. today, I played an overly competitive game of Settlers of Catan for about five hours.

Everyone should listen to i Can Feel A Hot One. because it just came on and it's legitimately(sorry, I mean, 'like legit') one of my favorite songs.

so tomorrow is the last day of this year. oh this year. Tomorrow I'm gonna do a Top 40 which will actually take up enormous amounts of time, but I suppose I'll fit in some overly sweet nostalgia somewhere along the lines. Personally I'm a believer in The Music Speaks For Itself. 'tis a soundtrack of my 2010. can't say it's been a particularly good year or bad year. Was miserable through most of january. then I discovered Peter Doherty in february and he become an obsession. then I started wishing it was summer. then I saw Muse in concert. then, March slipped away. then, I saw Biffy Clyro. then somehow Biffy Clyro led into a few weeks of wishing really badly it was spring. then, it was spring and I slipped into that euphoria. then, school slipped by. then, I saw the Antlers. then I discovered Tim Minchin and listened to him for most of the summer. then, England happened. then, V happened. then, high school happened. then, stress happened. then, concerts happened. then christmas happened. then now.

that all sounded really depressing. trust me, I'm happy, in my own special way.

but tomorrow's gonna be amazing, though I'm frequently filled with a sense of impending nothingness afterwards. my aunt has to leave on Saturday. I love her to death and she kinda holds my turbulent family together these times. I won't see her again until July. then school starts Monday and it feels like it barely ended. I'm dreading it. Wow oh wow, am I dreading it. I normally like school until about now, and then it all comes tumbling down. I can't deal with the work load or the stress. and fucking hell, science! I'm gonna fail! like, seriously. no time off till february ugh, I dislike it rather a lot. I still feel half dead. wow.

I should go.

Monday, December 27, 2010

and a happy new year

I'm not a nice enough person to spread the Christmas cheer nor am I creative enough to post a pretty picture with some cutesy lyrics, so we might as well jump into the List Of Stuff That I Got.


- Infinity Land by Biffy Clyro
- Kings and Queens by Jamie T
- In The Aeorplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
- Kid A by Radiohead
- Germfree Adolescents by X-Ray Spec
- Cast of Thousands by Elbow
- Teen Dream by Beach House
- Two Suns by Bat For Lashes
- Mean Everything to Nothing by Manchester Orchestra
- Boxer by the National
- an end has a start by editors
- ihome
- new black converse(old ones are worn out and were low-tops. i still need new shoes.)
- Money
- bluey gray fingerless gloves
- a sort of weird picture of a tree by a local artist. it's kinda post-apocalyptic in a weird way.
- an alarm clock
- a jigsaw puzzle
- The Fast Show complete collection
- Getting On series 1&2 on DVD
- Fried Green Tomatoes on DVD
- Mitchell and Webb series 1-4 on DVD
- etc.

yes, I am spoiled. here's to commercialism. hey, it's my parents who get this stuff, not me. my mom was worried I wouldn't have enough stuff so she over purchased. I didn't ask for half the DVDs! regardless, I love my parents for getting M&W, because I've watched all of series 1 and some of series 2 and it's brilliant. I was never overly impressed with the more recent episodes I've seen on TV but these early ones are just great. especially all the Numberwang stuff. Must. Watch. Obsessively. and we'd tried to get Getting On before but to no luck. I do love Jo Brand! and the Fast Show I'm not familiar with, though obviously I've heard of it.



plus, my dad got Black Adder on DVD and I cannot wait. now I just need to get into Faulty Towers and the Office(UK version duh which, if you were born in the US of A, you probably aren't aware is the original Office). When will my rampage through British comedy end?(never).


as for music, it all sounds great through my parent's big CD player which I never get to use because it's always playing Simon and Garfunkel or ironic Lady Gaga remixes as of late. Biffy Clyro's is an obsession--my God they were amazing back in the day. rip biffy clyro's good music. screams and guitar that changes tone completely every thirty seconds, yes yes yes! Neutral Milk Hotel is as my mom repeatedly tells me "quite good, but a bit folky". Elbow and Bat For Lashes as expected. Manchester Orchestra good but with an abundance of talk of God(speaking of that, I'm giving Dawkins another chance and reading God Delusion. just started. not bad.). Beach House is very good indeed. plus, elbow finally have a new album out in march I just discovered, and they had better tour this country. I looooove 'em.



christmas day in itself just rocked. I watched the queen's speech for the first time! I opened presents and watched DVDs the entire day and listened to music. boxing day, ie day after if you're not British, I went for a walk, realised I was under dressed, came home, watched DVDs, and ate. christmas cheer indeed! We got about a foot of snow and it was super windy.



today, I braved it and went out in the snow. my aunt wanted to see some of the inane American book shops and craft shops that may or may not have been mentioned in conversation recently. I got a box, a new Spin, a new Q, and we got a board game of some sort. also, pretty colorful buttons. jesus, too much stuff on december 27th of all days. then a donut and dunkin donuts trip. *shrugs* it's interesting the things one picks up on when they're new to the country. yeah, I should know. but I'm pretty used to this whole country now, to some extent which doesn't involve the crap I get about my accent at school, minus the food and the TV. I eat Pot Noodle and haven't watched US TV for pleasure in months.


anyway, christmas warmth and all that. it's been a really, really good christmas as enthusiastic as I don't sound! I love my aunt being here and I love the food. we're still fighting our way through the turkey, which is nearly done, I can tell, because it smells amazing. it's fun being totally lazy sometimes, right? just being at home with the family and doing fuck all. I'm going to go away back to this jigsaw puzzle we're doing, which is minus a picture(it's a mystery etc.). then, I'm gonna eat my body weight in things with higher sugar content, then I'm gonna play Cluedo, then I'm gonna read, then I'm gonna watch the color purple, then I'm gonna go to bed.



rest of the week, probs to Museum of Fine art, eating out, sledging given the chance, Concord, what have you. busy week. oh, it's like being a tourist again.



so, yeah, good night to you all.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

silent night

I'm waiting for my aunt to get here and I'm thinking, oh snow, how you torment me. There's a good...powdering of the stuff out there right now. Capturing my attention and my hope(in vain) of a properly white christmas. Europe stole it, I have concluded. A foot of snow, England, really? Kinda want it back now. Dunno if you heard, but heathrow were having problems with it. Yesterday's Virgin Boston flight didn't go and things were looking pretty worrying back there for a while. Luckily BAA(or whoever is dealing with this gigantic nightmare) pulled through for us, and my aunt's in her way. apparently heathrow was quiet--hard to imagine, right?-- since like two thirds of flights were cancelled. I feel bad for those people.

Can't wait to start the Christmas traditions tomorrow. Came home from school in said irritatingly minimal snow, looked in my kitchen and wow, what's this? Orange juice? Iced tea? Pot noodle? Fancy Whole Foods hippie yogurts? Foreign chocolate? Must be a dream. I love my parents. Tomorrow's my last school day of 2010 and on Friday I'm gonna go shopping and bake and blog and eat baked potatoes. In many ways I prefer Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, I realise. Plus, duh, Saturdayy, gonna rock. We got our tree up and it's all decorated and super pretty, and there's only one present under the tree. For me. From my sister. because she's cool. plus, mum got me this big book of Christmas songs too play on piano. I can play water down versions of all of the basics, except We Three Kings seems to be missing. I have a very very simple copy somewhere. Anyway.

So last week of school--a science quiz(90%, thank god), another science partner quiz, a math quiz, a spanish quiz, another spanish quiz, and a math test. WHAT IS THIS? oh yeah, and a science presentation tomorrow. to quote jez of the new(and wonderful, naturally) episode of Peep Show, everything is "triple fried fucked". everybody's presentations are better than mine will be because my topic's boring and I'm scared in front of crowds and my partnerias vile and has to be reminded to do things like capitalize the bulletpoints on slideshows. ugh. and he didn't do a damn bibliography for his pictures. stupid.


I wrote that all that two days earlier. Sorry. where was I?

Oh yeah, presentation sucked. My geometry teacher's pissed at me. Spanish wasn't super straightforward. throughout the week, I've basically been falling asleep, failing stuff, watching nothing interesting go on, be the only one I know with serious amounts of homework. gym was cool this week. first, because Tuesday we played matball against the juniors and seniors and God knows I like to see cocky fourteen year old boys go all embarrassed and shy after someone beats them at sports, so I basically had a field day. we played pick up sticks in spanish, too.

THEN, last day of school last block, was absolutely incredible. There was this giant matball game that I don't think anyone watched, and I found out we didn't have to be there. there was some concert going on elsewhere, so me and a friend kinda walked off with some people to see that. then, I found this other friend in my gym class and she's like "Martin Johnson's here! martin Johnson's here!" all fangirlish. He's the singer in Boys Like Girls and he went to our school and yes I'm aware that gives away where I live, but no one who reads this cares. So, while everyone else went in to see the concert, my friend saw this group of people hanging around down the hallway so we walked over to them. And lo and behold, we look into the band room, and there he is. Bearing in mind, I don't actually like this band nor was I particularly familiar with his appearance, and I'm not ordinarily bothered when someone finds an English book with his name in it. But truth is yes, I'm very very pathetic, and yes, I did suddenly develop a desire to meet someone I dislike because they are a famous musician who is reasonably attractive and he was, y'know, right there. don't judge me. he walked out and all these other girls crowd around him. out comes my friend's phone. everyone's kinda gone fangirl/ape at this point, a real famous musician in the flesh! I was so in that mood to if I'm honest. my friend talks to him first, asks for a picture. My being me, I have to prep myself for five minutes to say a word to him. and then I'm like "Can I have a picture with you?" and he said "of course you can". DID YOU HEAR THAT? Wow wow wow wow wow! And fuck yes I got a picture. With him. Oh my god, how amazing is this?(only downside being I'm gonna have to start pretending I like his shit band)

Now that that's all out of the way, I'm going to have to state the obvious; it's Christmas eve! My 2nd favorite day of the year! Now that my aunt's here, things are going great. It was amazing finally getting out of school and sleeping. I feel totally awake which has become such an odd sensation. Yesterday after school we went into town with my aunt to this gift shop, because we go there with her every year and it's always closed. I got a necklace with a creepy moon thing on it, and I love it to death already, somehow. After dinner, I watched a musical version of A Christmas Carol which I've always loved, and nearly fell asleep to it.



And today was of course, fantastic. My family and I made a gingerbread village in the morning, then we made the icing for our cake, and iced it. (so much food). after lunch, we made paper chains--too many in fact-- andfinished decorating our gingerbread village. I made one I penned The Jackson Pollock of Gingerbread Houses, which my aunt similarly penned The House Of The Village Eccentric. It was so much fun to make. Then, we drove around our town looking at the pretty lights, which I love every time. then we made yule logs and mince pies. in essence, another perfect christmas eve. I loooove this holiday, so much. currently I'm sitting around with my family, at the moment, and it's wonderful. my sister is trying to paint a pineapple. yaaaaaay.

I'm not very interesting tonight but I wanna get back to what I've been doing. so I apologise. I'll get back to you on Boxing Day I hope when I'm all excited-out.

Good night.

Oh yeah, merry christmas, of course.

Friday, December 17, 2010

like a house of leaves moments before the wind

I'm here singing along to my All Time Low CD. Not very cool but I'm not bothered--easy listening, i guess. that and Blah Blah Blah by Kesha and Villagers' debut. I wish I still had time for music.

This week I got a D on a math test and a C on a science test. If it was possible for one's self esteem and/or confidence to be bi-polar then mine would certainly be just that. Simply put, not a good week in that respect. I do technically know the math stuff, really. In my math class my teacher just started doing Plus Quizzes and Tests, which she's given about five kids in the class. I'm kinda the bottom of the top, shall we say. the test was hard, really it was. or I'm dumb. either way, I fuck up on this test and I go from a ninetysevenfuckingpercent to an A minus and I had a quiz today which I didn't do well on. that wasn't even plus. dammit. And science was simply a disaster. Hello, B Minus. Goodbye high honors. And I was prepared! But I got a 75! Grrrr! Then I had to fuck up my science essay. my dad likes this stars stuff and in the end he was like, okay I'll just do your citations go do your math homework, which works out very well on my part. still, I was too tired to move and so was he--goodbye good grade. and maximum 150 points on that project, my God, I'm so screwed. gotta throw a presentation together by Wednesday. anxiety returning. hello old friend.

My mom's annoyed at the school 'cause of the homework load. can't say I disagree. all I do after school is piano once a week and guitar on the weekend, and I'm up all night doing homework. no wonder I'm fucking up on a semi-regular basis now; I'm tired. Tired beyond reason. Not a normal fatigue, no, just a general exhaustion at the overwhelming magnitude of...stuff. yes, because that's so eloquent, right Naomi? well, you get my idea. I want to be done with this last week before Christmas, because physically doing anything is killing me. It kinda feels like I've no time for anything anymore, not even music or books or TV, which is pretty sad because I've been rocking that whole premature middle aged "my life is slipping away" thing at the moment, and this only makes it worse. Sigh. High school.

Shining light of hope is a possible snow day on Monday. At the very least, yes, we get snow! I've gotten so adapted to white Christmases it'd feel weird without one now. to think I was worried--bah. around eight inches. lovely. and a day off school, please.

I finally got round to getting a Christmas sheet music book. Can already play simple versions of a few songs. I used to be able to play Walking in The Air but I need to re-remember. speaking of that, my mom got The Snowman DVD for me, last copy in the store, and I was pleased because A.) I didn't think such a find would be possible and B.) the film is beautiful. That was one of my favorite songs when I was younger. I was more musically oriented than I was aware when I was younger. that and Brother Bear and Kaiser Chiefs. anyway, point being, it's starting to feel like christmas. We're getting our tree tomorrow(none of that plastic crap. see my last post.) and I see lights everywhere and there will be snow. I'm seeing my aunt on Wednesday. this time next week I'll be watching a DVD with my family and eating baked potatoes and making mince pies. traditions. whoever says Christmas is overrated in the name of their angst is moronic--Christmas is the best.

oh, I saw Weezer on Tuesday. basically amazing. I do love Rivers Cuomo and his fantastic nerd rock. The place I saw them is this spectacular crumbling wannabe opera house. It has these little balconies with a name I don't know that stick out from the sides. those little boxes, you know the type. and at one point Rivers climbs on top of them while singing Pork and Beans, and then he climbed from these boxes to the balcony(or, was pulled up. the gap was like his whole body length.) and then sang all of Beverly Hills in the balcony, where I, on the floor, couldn't see him. it was wonderful. They played hits, had an intermission, made some guy come up with a power point of Weezer's history( total nerdgasm right there) and then played the blue album back to front. I've never seen a band perform an entire album, and it was interesting. sadly I was falling asleep for some of that. Dammit high school, you ruin so much. But I got to walk through Boston in my River Island concert boots and my mom's old jacket like I'm from My Chemical Romance pre good music. It was snowing a bit then, too.

relaxing week apart from all that, although in fairness the stress was about 95% of my week. gym was super great today. teacher read my tired mind and let us do anything. we played four square and blasted christmas music. I still dislike girls in my class but oh well. Me and these people in study are reading my crumbling copy of the Color Purple which I'm rereading because I love it to death, and they just end up grimacing. it's disrespectful, and funny in a sick way.

OH, House of leaves! It's a book my Mark Z Danielewski who wrote Only Revolutions. I went fangirl briefly about it in October. Fact; OR is awful compared to this book. it's 700 hundred something pages long, rather crazy, and took more than two weeks for my slow brain to finish. the day before last, I closed the book with some sadness. It was the sort of book that i would love to go on forever. the book's super complex, very deep, very interesting, very weird, very, well, good. and so beautiful. as much a horror story as a love story and deeply fascinating. plus, the guy's such a poet. title quote.I don't know, I like it. read it. you won't regret it.

I'm gonna spend my evening with Guy Garvey's sultry tones(did I just say that) and my latest obsession that is fashion blogs. like everyone else.

good night.

Friday, December 10, 2010

I Never Want to Know of Stars Again

It's true.

I came home from school at like 2:25, 2:30 yesterday, and worked--without Facebook or TV etc.--until 11:15. Oh. My God. AND, I found out a few days ago it's double spaced not single spaced and I was like, oh yeah, thanks Mrs. Teacher, how about putting that on thee rubric next time? And I worked the entire week anyway, completely neglecting everything else, subsequently lowering my science grade a few other percents to the point where I'm .1% away from a B+, not my beloved A- which I've worked so hard for this year. It was one lab, maybe two labs okay, that I completely fucked up on because I'm basically asleep when I'm doing them. And oh yeah I'm sorry my writing isn't legible. I'd rather it be weird looking and slightly eccentric than use that enormous bubbly girly handwriting every female person in the developed world has seem to have adopted for no reason I can find. You could be the smartest person in the school; if you write like that, you look ditsy.

I have a test on Tuesday and I don't understand anything and I really need it to be at least an A- and I've got two graded labs to do, and I'll probably end up, like, wearing sterile gloves and doing ten drafts on one-word sentences, because if I lose even the slightest fraction of a point, I am fucked for good. PHYSICAL SCIENCE, PLEASE END. YOU ARE KILLING ME. IT IS A FRIDAY EVENING AND I AM FOURTEEN YEARS OLD AND YOUR GRADE IS ALL I SEEM TO THINK ABOUT.

Bam, there went my so-called sense of calmness for, like, forever.

Speaking of that, here's an interesting thought, why am I apparently prone to being stereotyped and generalized? And I mean, more than most people it seems, but of course that's a hugely self absorbed thing to suggest, but for today, I will anyway. This week, in particular, this has happened frequently. First in Geometry I'm at my table and I'm not talking, because I don't want to. And really, there's no sizeable reason for any of this. They're talking about something I don't want to talk about or have anything to say about. is that such a crime? Well apparently in this world, yes it is, but actually no it isn't but that's sort of an angry mini-rant in its own right. And then out of the blue someone at my table starts talking about me being quiet. It's partly an English thing. She knows I'm British, she thinks I'm gonna be like Matt Bellamy's personality clone. Oh, how I wish I was. Trust me, I'm not that interesting or whatever, but even if I was, leave me to be quiet. And then my Geometry teacher starts talking about how she wrote in my progress report I'm too quiet. I may be the quietest, but I've also got a 97% in that class(in case you haven't noticed, my brain is 95% numbers right now) so apparently it isn't killing me. People in study and gym call me 'cute' and the way you might call a baby cute and I'm like, why? You don't know me that well. I don't understand it. Someone told a sub-par 'perverted' joke the other day and I think I smiled. They were no Frankie Boyle, but I smiled. And then someone's like "oh, look at Naomi. She's like 'I shouldn't be laughing at this but i am anyway'".

Excuse me, but when did I ever say that or suggest anything to that extent? By not talking? By being quiet? Somehow, that and my sense of humour don't really add up. Do you assume that by my thinking that a lot of jokes I hear are sexist or xenophobic or distasteful or racist or offensive to someone, somewhere? By the way, I do have a sense of humour--and it is frequently quite dark. you don't know that, you don't know what I think. And let me tell you, dark is not necessarily the same as disgusting. It's everyone else who doesn't know that. People in gym are annoying. I'm always the last left in the game because no one wants to get the kid who isn't a threat out, right? So then I keep running the length of the gym in whatever stupid game we were playing, and these girls are like 'look at her, she's so cute'. In Spanish today, which mind you was a total waste of time minus the sweet tea(since when did I like sweet tea?) we spent nearly an hour assigning traits to people. We're comparing people and using the superlative but the whole thing falls flat to gossip after a few minutes. for example, when people aren't there, we don't get 'he is the funniest in the class' and 'she is the prettiest in the class'. No, we are as inhibited as to say 'he's the most childish in the class' and 'she's the most freakishly skinny in the class'. And the teacher doesn't do a damn thing, you just stand there being examined head to toe and in your brain, not that they know what goes on in there. I eventually got 'she has the best accent in the class'. I'm trying to work out whether that's better than Naomi You're So Quiet, but this really is another matter, so I'm stopping that.

This whole thing does lower you as a person as a tiny bit. I guess it happens to everyone, but if you're ever so slightly off to one side of the imaginary bell curve of normality, people think they know the inner workings of your brain. Or is it me? if so, why? Is it a physical thing? My being awkward? My not wanting to run? Just being...not as talkative as is maybe within social convention? It happens and I hate it. But tell me the answer, because I really, really want to know.

I never thought in a free country one would have to make a sort of liberal bullshit-ridden 'stand' about how much they speak, but if I have to, I will; Introverted And Proud. Hardly a complicated thing to discuss, anything but, yet apparently we have to. Separate your minds and your mouths and let others do the same. and don't boast about how not to judge people while simultaneously judging the quiet kid. that's just nonsense.

This wasn't supposed to be a rant post, I haven't gotten a chance to write all week. I'm exhausted, by my standards, and am going through a Friday Night rampage of fashion blogs, David Mitchell clips on YouTube, Sweeney Todd, men's clothes in Sweeney Todd(honestly my favorite period male fashion wise, not that I know a single thing of it. Ditch the too-skinny or too-baggy jeans and baseball caps, boys.), and House of leaves by Mark Danielewski. I haven't read in forever too and it's a breath of fresh air. Marry me, Mr. Danielewski. You and your perfect illustrations of teenage angst and your random half empty pages and your fetish of all things whimsical. Love it.

I think I'm writing like his main character anyway. I'm no grail of coolness in terms of how my blog is, but I'm writing ever so slightly weirder than normal.

also, apparently, I'm so 'normal'. You know, I'm not your fucking parameter for how weird you are. You and your uggs and yoga pants and American Eagle sweaters and your paramore songs on your ipod and your so-called hilarity and your hoards of friends and your normality. yes, it is certainly logical for you to be the weird one in this situation. because you talk more. which is normal. MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, YOU KNOW?

I tend not to have a problem with most of the above list, other than it's sorta boring, but don't claim to be God Of Diversity because of it, kay?

I think my mom thinks I'm going to have an aneurysm because of my homework, or something, so she wants to go out of her way to make this weekend relaxing. I made cookies after school and I'm gonna look for more Christmas sheet music tomorrow. I'm seeing Weezer on Tuesday. Christmas in 15 days. Hey remember when I hated winter and didn't want it to snow yet? Haha, yeah...*blushes* I'd die without my white Christmas, and it had better hurry up, like, now.

Since this is a hate post, let me add something; thing I hate #286. Fake Christmas Trees. Oh my God we don't live in Mexico, it's fairly simple to go out and buy a tree. And yes it'll go off. That's why you're not supposed to put it up the day after Thanksgiving. These are the same people who meticulously clean leaves off their lawns the first day of october. you people depress me. live a little. ironically listen to Mud and sing even though you can't. contradict yourself fairly regularly.

what am I talking about?

I'm not even trying to be all allovertheplace indie. I'm not. That is why these posts are so long.

At risk of turning away anyone else at the endless list of slightly irritating things I've written about, I'm going to leave and watch Buzzcocks. Good day.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Dude, I have a science project.

Hey.



I should be doing homework right now. I've a ton of science homework this weekend--we were supposed to have none so we could work on our project(which--shit--I need to actually work on, like, now, to get a first drat together by Friday) but then she's like, oh hey here's an ENTIRE LAB for you to do for Monday. And I'm like, oh dear, because I am gonna fail this project and I NEED a good grade because my test/quiz grade, which is a big part of the overall grade, is only an 88% and I need like a 90%-ish. And the project is huge and I haven't even researched enough and I just realised the whole thing is such a mess.


Also, there's no way to change the massive title picture a far as I currently know. So live with it. Because I'm not an artist and it's the best blog design I've ever done. Although what with all the tinkering around with the layout, that wasted up an enormous chunk of my weekend. You know what I should have done? RESEARCHED STARS. But no, I really needed to meticulously study every shade of gray Blogger has to offer for text for fifteen minutes. That's totally a good use of time.



Did you hear about Peter? Like, it was crack this time. I'm sorry Peter. there's so many cheap jokes bloggers like to use about you, when actually you're a lot smarter, creative, and interesting than the rest o them. So I won't do that. BUT, it's a shame, because I've been randomly itching for some more 'Shambles stuff lately. Also, his jewelry line! Heard about that. Albion Trinkery. I like it. I like unisex jewelry. And his whole Albion shtick. And he's such a male model. It's Peter so it's a bit messy but nonetheless I like it.

This weekend is basically me watching Shooting tars, eating Pot Noodle, doing homework, and getting bored. Oh, have you seen the Tim Minchin Buzzcocks episode yet? It was love times ten. Noel and Paloma are so adorable. And so is Tim, but that much was already known. When tim and Paloma got on the table and danced to Too Many Broken Hearts for like fifteen seconds, I was an explosion of emotions. Everything between "Tim, you are fantastic" and "Paloma, I wish I was you", all the Ural things. and then was Noel's ramble about Tim moving in on his wife, and Noel calling Tim a Goat in A Waistcoat. Wonderful. And, amazing moment, when Paloma was like 'Chris martin's a scientologist" and Tim says "Really?" and Paloma says "No". I died laughing. Classic Buzzcocks, Tim's a genius, and everything else in this series so far doesn't even come close to this episode.

The new Peep Show isn't up yet. I really wanna know about superhans' new band, Man Feelings. And the baby! It seems the baby won't be in the series that much, but nonetheless, a baby's a baby. And a Mark Corrigan baby is bound to be super amazing.

I love Christmas music. I can play a few songs on piano, but I'm gonna get some more stuff soon. My favorite one is Silent night, no question. I enjoy the classics.

Oh, yesterday I bought a little kinda lizard snake mythical statue thing. Tiny but adorable, and rather gothic in a kinda toned down way. I love it and thought it might be worth mentioning in a really pointless sort of way.

Spanish fashion how was possibly the worst experience of the year to date. I hated what I was wearing, everyone stared, everyone laughed, and some girl made me put on fucking millions of neon bracelets that made the whole experience just gruesome. We modelled, and I couldn't do anything so I walked and didn't even point to my clothing. Part of it was me having a heartbeat like a jackhammer that stopped most normal functions, another part was that I really dislike my airhead of a teacher. Apparently we are getting graded on our 'modelling skills'. Excuse me? Our modelling skils? you mean, those which are completely disconnected from SPANISH? Oh yeah, those, that makes since. Give me a D, I don't care, I'd rather get a D and have the grace of a hamster and speak Spanish, than get an A for being Kate Moss and not know how to construct a single sentence in Spanish, and anyone who thinks otherwise is frankly downright moronic. Including her. I like this semester, but this class is the cornerstone of all my rare unhappiness about it.

That and oh yeah, STARS. And a partner who doesn't check his e-mail or write notes or do anything. Or me, who apparently does nothing either. Oh dear, this whole horrible mess.

Since this whole thing basically ties back to superstressnovas, I'll leave you with some pseudo post-apocalyptic space stuff.




Yay.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Leaves the Unbearable Music And Then Goes(He's Like The 1980's)

I finished NaNoWriMo. successfully. 50,004. Yaaaay. I'm pleased and a friend owes me a cookie for it. I was getting so tired of it. Now, I just have to get through Oh My God I Never Want To Write A Single Word Ever Again December. OMGINWTWASWEVD.



My first day of the month was met with a headache, a piano lesson, two tests, a weird gym class, too much homework, and an advent calender. Hey guys, 24 days until Christmas! it's shame I'm in the mood now, I'll be all vibed-out by the big day. I just don't want snow yet. The place I used to live in England got snow already, albeit a few centimeters and everyone's going so crazy. I love how the adults are all like "There is NO CONCEIVABLE WAY I can get through this inch of snow to get my kids to school!". they won the snow race for once. Good for them. They can take it. White Christmases are wonderful, but white Marchs are not.



So that's my thoughts on Christmas. Oh goodness, I want Peter Doherty's Book Of Albion. I'd die for it. That and, oh wow, I want a new romantic jacket. I found a purple one in my mom's closet(we're doing a fashion show in Spanish and our them is 80s. But that gets a whole other paragraph, nach) and it was cool, but of course I can never wear it for fear of humiliation. Because I'm dumb. At least I cannot wear it at school and whatnot. I want a black jacket with gold button things. OR a Libertines one, but those are probably super rare thanks to them. And I want high top Converse, either navy or olive. And, whoa, LEGWARMERS. I've no excuses for that. Why am I rambling?



I had the best piano lesson today--it was pretty fun, my teacher said I'm doing really well. So that's something. On the way back from that, it was raining hard and I listened to Peter's Grace/Wastelands. My rainy day music, but it rarely rains 'round here, since we're lacking in atmosphere( those sound like really shit lyrics in the first verse of a first song of an imaginery record. All happy-like). I like his chord changes.



my favorite keys are, major--F sharp. Minor--F sharp. I realised this the other day and I was like, hey, that's a bit odd. F sharp is both one of the happier majors and one of the sadder minors. They do their job. See Tim Minchin's F Sharp for more slightly self indulgent music nonsense.


Anyway, oh yeah, I saw Brandon Flowers on Friday and it was AMAZING. He played the entire album, which I believe is a first in a live show, and he looked amazing, and he's an amazing performer. And the whole flamingo hotel room stuff is silly, but lightly fascinating. I love him live--seriously, there's just so much energy in him when he's live, it makes the whole thing completely spectacular. Plus, he played Losing Touch, the first verse of Human, and BRIGHTSIDE. I wasn't expecting Killers songs, honestly, so I was in awe when I heard those. It's been nearly two years since my first Killers show. To hear Brightside live again is just weird. part of me is telling me that this is the song that kinda kickstarted my entire middle school music tastes, and that it's euphoric hearing again. Another part of me treats it as a totally different song, because so much has changed between now and then. Brightside is basically a song of memories for me. A Memory Song. They're so odd to hear live. Overall, awesome. I have photos to add somewhere when I have the time.

And I fiiiiinally saw Harry Potter.There are many other internet people to give your more interesting critiques, go read these. I thought it was overall quite good, generally true to the book, all the usual stuff was fine. The book's boring bits were in the first half, I thought, so it suffered from that. There were too many random awkward bits to try to lighten the incessantly dark mood. Also, I miss Hogwarts and all its various people. But overall not bad, not bad.

All I've done so far in school is almost fail two tests(probably), learn that my Spanish teacher's going to talk endlessly in Spanish, and suffer through gym. Fashion shows. In Spanish. Oh, hell. And 80s? I mean, come on, is there anything more boring? 70s pretty please, that's the best decade. Punk and disco and salmon pink, yesyesyes. And everyone in my group hates me because a.) I don't have half that neon crap and b.) If I did, there's no way I will willingly wear it in front of twenty other people. Mark Corrigan has talked before of "not wanting to die of anxiety" and it makes me smile, but that's my exact headset--this thing needs to happen without my anxiety killing me. And everyone's like "wear a leotard...and tights...and leather jackets...and those poofy shoulders" and I end up staring daggers and raising my eyebrows. Like, really? You expect me to wear those? No fucking way. Nooooo way. Growl.

And of course there's gym when I lately become treated as almost sub-human for not talking as much as other people. The Curse of the Introvert. Hey, I am kinda almost normal too. I do have a brain. So shut up. Four square and swear words under my breath.

Oh my God, Peeeepp Shooooww!! Oh My God oh my god oh my god oh my god oh wwooooooooowww. There aren't enough words to say my feelings on this. One, David Mitchell is still fucking adorable. Two, Jez and this new girl will be super interesting to follow. Three, SUPERHANS, I HAVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH. Four, International Superhans Day should totally be an actual thing. Five, Superhan's Birthing Tips made my day. Six, I'm weird for knowing that the burger king scene was the first scene they filmed. Seven, the title is from the show and I love it. Eight, why is it when you think you know a lot about birth, there's always so much more out there to be learned? Nine, Sophie gets weirder every series. And finally, that last scene was wonderful. I've never seen mark happy...ever! It was so beautiful like that. I can't believe it. Made my day yet again.

Also, go watch the new Killers vid. Pleeeassse.

Happy December. 24 Days.