Not Today.

This one's based on something from a TV series called "FlashForward". You may well not have seen it - it kinda flopped out before too long. But basically, there was this club that the main dudes went into, where you had to play a sort of mini-Russian roulette to get in. There was only one bullet in the gun, but it was a dud (from memory). Inscribed on the side were the words: NOT TODAY. You're going to die one day, but not today. That's what this song's about.


Not Today


V1:   / Gm / Bb / F / C /
One day I'm gonna die
One day I'm gonna fall into the sea
One day I'm gonna fly
One day I'll know that you're coming back to me

V2:
One day I'm gonna fall and I know no-one's gonna catch me
No-one's gonna catch me

Chorus:   / Gm / Bb / F / Eb /
But not today because today there is no strife
Not today because today I'm gonna live my life
Not today because today I'm coming home
Not today because today I'm not alone

V3:
One day I know the story will end
No make believe, no fairytale, no pretend

Instrumental  / Gm / Dm / F / C /

Chorus




Tis all. It's quite possible that I've violated Rule #3 by now. I haven't really been keeping track of it, to be honest. :P Oh well.

Meet Me Here.

Haven't done a song in this yet at all relating to Christianity or anything, so thought I might do that, given with this one I reach half-way. This one's challenging the "warm and fuzzy" Jesus/God that some Christians seem to believe in. News flash for you guys: Jesus talked to real sinners, feasted with real prostitutes, healed real lepers.
This one's kinda starting off with a nice-sounding chord sequence, then getting more minor/clashing. That "prosody"/word painting stuff that those music dudes like.


Meet Me Here


V1: / A / D / E / D /
Meet me here
At the place where you are free
And love is all around, just spend some time with me
Let's talk, let's live, let's dance and be amazing
My light will be blazing
Through you

V2:  / A2 / D6 / Em / D6 /
And meet me here
At the place where I see you
And all that you are, the good and the bad too
The great, the poor, the best and the worst
I knew you first
All of you

V3: / Am / D / Em / D /
And meet me here
At the place where you are hurt
Where it's hard, amid the blood, tears and dirt
You give, you help, you try but you can't
You just can't
Because you're you

V4: / Am (add 2,4) / Dm (add 2/4) / Em (add 4th)
And meet me here
At the cross where I died
I was pierced in my hands, my feet, my side
Your sins, my pain, your guilt and my divinity
Complete purity
And love of you

Meet me here


That's it. Will hopefully figure out chords for this one and the previous tomorrow at some point.

Idealist.

I'm a bit of an idealist, I've found. I tend to think and believe the best of people, and of things.

I've often thought, for example, of opening a shop where all the prices are rounded down to the closest $5 mark (up to $50 or something), then to the closest $10, $20 etc. And then halved. Just because I think there should be a shop that does that.

Or a restaurant where you pay what you think the meal is worth. I believe that's actually been done a couple of times; I love the idea.

The problem is, of course, is that rationalism and realism kick in. I know that, generally speaking, people have a lot of bad things about them that I don't know about. And that I probably wouldn't be too fond of said things.

But we're all like that. I'm like that. It'd be silly of me to hate people just for the worst of them. Like I've often said/thought/wrote/whatever: one rotten apple doesn't spoil the bunch.

Long Live The Dead

This started off with just the title, a little idea I came up with. And then I got the idea that it could be a bit of a social commentary, if I could do it right. Don't know quite if I have or not, but I'm OK with it. It's based on the idea that some people will just go back to these historical figures, saying they're the best, and ignoring what great things people say about here and now.



Long Live The Dead


V1: / D / A /
Shakespeare's at the shop door
Selling poems fifty bucks a line
And Bach is in the bar
Writing pieces, twenty dollars for a minute of time
Einstein's in the alleyway
Teaching his ideas to whoever's kids are around
Columbus is on the corner
Telling his stories to those outward-bound

Chorus: / G / D / F#m //
Thanks for their wisdom, many thanks for what they've said
Long live the dead

V2:
People still consult Shakespeare
The old Bard never rests
And very many will tell you
That Bach is always the best
Einstein has his followers
Many in number and type
Even Columbus still has a crew
Can you believe the hype

Chorus:  / G / D / G / D A / G / D / A / G / A /
We lord them for their wisdom, and for their ways
We don't hesitate to lay on them gleaming praise
We don't think to instead turn to those here and now
But instead we always bow
To those gone behind and what they've said
We say; long live the dead

Bridge:  / D / F#m / G / A /
Don't ignore what's now by getting lost in what was then
It's not coming back again
Learn from them, yes, but don't make them kings

Chorus: / G / D / G / D / A /
We can learn from their wisdom, and their ways
And apply it to our own days
For we know the wisdom of what they said
But still we will never say long live the dead

Vids for the past few are up, by the way. Can't be bothered linking them all, but they should be some of the most recent here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ijtro

Motivated....not.

I think - I can't remember, I've done too many posts - that I mentioned up here before about my psych essay. I pulled it off in one afternoon, the day before it was due. I had all the ideas and such in my head already, and I had the sources, so technically it was more than just that afternoon, but all the writing was done then.

I got my results back today. 29.8 out of 35. That's just over 85, which makes it a High Distinction.

......

When I saw that, I was thinking two thoughts more or less simultaneously. The first one was heck yes. I mean, probably the most negative comment I got on the essay was "You can't really do this" in response to me positing that the difference between internal and external self talk would be statistically insignificant. (Which was the actual result of the report; the research was done before the report was written.)

My other thought was oh great. Just what I needed. Another assignment that I did at last minute getting great marks. Problem is, I have one due next Thursday, and the assignment that kinda led up to it I didn't do too well on. And I have no damn idea where to start with this one, it's annoying me. "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...." Yes, OK, thanks Julie Andrews.

And of course, doing this post is further procrastination...oh, and I've still got L to do today, don't I? :P I'm a damned expert at this...

Let's Start A Band!

I got a surprised/confused comment from Mozart on my most recent song up, so thought I'd better put up a bit of an explanation.

About a year and a half ago, at one of my friend's birthday parties, they mentioned that they were starting a band up with two of my other friends. (The Bradbury guys I mentioned.) He was doing drums, one was doing guitar, the other bass. I asked them who was going to do vocals, they said the guitar guy was. He's not bad at singing, but I don't know if he's quite a lead singer. (Don't know if I am either, but hey.) So I said I'd sing for them. They said cool. Then I asked them what sort of band it was, and they said it was a bit punky.

And I thought, OK... just in case you weren't aware, punk isn't my typical genre. At that time, I had barely heard any. Green Day was about the extent of it. As such, they asked me to listen to Billy Talent, Rise Against, and a bit more Green Day, to get an idea of the kind of sound they were going for/influenced by. Rise Against was decent, Green Day was alright, Billy Talent not so much.

However, because of this, I started experimenting a bit with writing songs that were a bit more in this style. They weren't really me, more based on some sort of cliched persona. I ran them past the guys - apparently I exaggerated the cliche a bit much. :P Oh well. But I've kept doing a song every now and then it that sort of style, and a few of those will/have cropped up in this A to Z. Just to let you know.

As an aside, the band went/has gone absolutely nowhere. We've had one or two jam sessions, our only attempt at recording was a bit of a flop (their attempt at harmonies was....*shudders*), and we've never had a gig, or tried to get one, as far as I know. And I don't think we have a name, even. But there you go :P

Kill Me Now

This one will perhaps sound slightly familiar if any of the Bradbury guys find this blog...somehow, I doubt it, but you never know. Mainly musical similarities, thankfully, though there are differences as well. It's a bit of a rocky one, maybe even a bit punk. I'm not too good with knowing the genres.


Kill Me Now


V1: / Bm / G A /
It's eating me, inside and out
And you know there's not a shadow of doubt
I need to escape this wretched place
You know there's only one way, so watch this space

Chorus: / Bm G / A /
Yeah, kill me now
Before it starts hurting
Well I'm gonna die
So please do something

V2:
It's bleeding me, bone dry
There's nothing I can do as my life flashes by
You know I don't have much time left
So please grant me this one last request

Chorus


Instrumental


Chorus x3 or 4 (from 2nd/3rd time / Bm D / E / )

Tis it. Vid should be up shortly ish.

Just Another Day.

This one's a bit of a laugh at the standard/average/typical idea that people have, I guess. The second verse is based loosely around the N+7 idea, but it's not consistently 7. It's quite possible that I haven't used any 7s, in fact, I can't remember. I just kinda used the ones that worked. It's a bit of a patter song, so the number of syllables in the line is fairly important. I know, said I'd get chords for the other one up today, and vids and stuff yesterday...meh.


Just Another Day


V1: / Ab / Db Ab / Db Ab / Db Eb /
Get up out of bed make sure your kids aren't late for school
Then you work from 9 to 5 like all those other suited fools
And try to make the marriage work, you put some spice in now and then
And then you talk it all out together or else it is the end

Chorus: / verse / verse but last bar -> / Eb Ab /
It's just another day (rpt ad nauseum)

V2:

Get up out of beef make sure your kilts aren't late for scolding

Then you work from 9 to 5 like all those other suited feet

And try to make the marvel work, you put some spine in now and then

And then you talk it all out together or else it is the englishman

Chorus

Instrumental

Chorus

Time Management.

Said I'd plonk this one up. I made a bit of a list, of all the things I put my time into per week. This is what I came up with:

• Luigi’s (20 hours ish) [work]
• Uni (21 hours)
• Blog (7 hours ish)
• Composing (7 hours ish)
• Playing (14 hours ish)
• Other blogs (7 hours ish)
• Youtube (5 hours ish)
• Facebook (7 hours ish)
• Livestream (5 hours ish)
• Church (2 hours)
• Sleep (42 hours ish)
• Eating (19 hours ish)

The ones in bold are more or less set in stone. The others not so much. The ones for composing and playing are more for how much I'd want to do, rather than how much I do do. The "ish"es are plus or minus an hour or two each. Sleeping particularly plus a few.

Now, here's the gust of it: there's 168 hours in a week. What I've got up there adds to 156. If you add in the "ish"es, you'd probably get over 160. That doesn't have much left over. And realistically, I need close to 20 hours left over. For just random stuff here and there. So I need to take off close to 14 hours. At the moment, I guess you could say I take it out of playing/composing, cause I barely do it.

And so I'm left in a bit of a pickle. I'm not about to give up on my job, sleeping, eating, or church. I love doing this blog, so not giving up that either. I like to keep up with other people's blogs, plus the livestream one of them does. Then there's the Youtube vids that guy puts up and Facebook.

It looks like Facebook and Youtube come in last. So I may be shaving a bit of time off both of those, and try to be playing a bit more regularly. Argh. So much for not being busy...

The five senses.

As an aside, there is actually a sixth sense, called the vestibular. Not too well known, partially because it doesn't seem to do a heck of a lot. Basically, the reason why people can do tightrope walking while wearing a blindfold. Have a look if you like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
However, I'm going to leave that aside for this, and just focus on the other five.

I believe I possibly did a post before on why I preferred hearing to vision. I'm expanding and changing a bit from that in this post, by giving you how I'd rate the senses, from fifth to first. As in, the one I value least to most. Anticipate surprise. Kind of a dichotomy, but anyway...

5. Taste.
This may seem a bit strange to some of you. I mean, without taste - well eating kinda loses all its flavour. Literally. :P But in comparison to the others, I'd probably prefer to lose this one. Though admittedly, this and the next one are pretty close. Which is...

4. Smell.
Partly because I know that most of taste is actually smell. So if you lost your smell, things would taste pretty bad anyway. But if you lost your taste, at least they'd smell pretty nice.

3. Sight.
OK, now you're really freaking out. Generally, people have sight at number one. Numero Uno. Which is fair enough to imagine; sight is such a prominent sense. It's quite in your face, something we use often exclusively. But I think the other two are more important. I'll detail why momentarily...

2. Hearing.
One of my arguments is this: sight you can stop by simply shutting your eyelids. You don't stop hearing. Earplugs generally don't even block it fully. As well as that, hearing is essential for communication. Changes in a person's voice tell you a lot; sometimes more than their face will. Also, I think I could live without seeing someone's face much easier than living without hearing their voice. But now for number 1...

1. Touch.
This is going to seem very weird for most people. But I think touch is the sense that I value the most. Without touch, heat, wet, smooth - none of these have any meaning. Other than numbers or letters on a page, memories in a mind. As well as that, when it comes to interaction - touch is extremely important. Otherwise, things like a handshake, a hug; again, they have no meaning, mere formalities.
Personally, I treasure these things. Probably more so because they aren't something I have too frequently. As the Romantic poet Coleridge wrote; "and sometimes /'Tis well to be bereft of promis'd good, /That we may lift the soul, and contemplate/ With lively joy the joys we cannot share." Or, to put it a bit more simply, as the singer Joni Mitchell sang: "Don't it always seem to go /That you don't know what you've got /Till it's gone," I guess that would be why I treasure touch a bit more than the other senses.


So there you go. That's probably a bit left field for some of you. I think I'll be putting up a post on here soon about planning/prioritisation/time management. Because I'm always doing too many darn things at once.

Instant.

Another one; this time based around the idea that this society is very much one wanting instant gratification. Just not instant change...
It's almost a mini-song. It's a bit shorter than your typical one. Vary it up a bit. Will put chords in tomorrow at some point.


Instant


V1: / G#m B / C#m / G#m B / G#m C# /
One moment it's there, the next it's not
First it's cold, and then it's hot
Dry gets wet, dark becomes light
It was day but now it's night

Chorus: / same /
It happens in an instant, happens in a flash
If it's not right now, we don't want it man
We want things to have happened yesterday
We want things to happen in an instant

V2:
What once was good now is bad
What you wished you could you never had
Things are gone before you know
There ain't nothing that's gonna help ya, bro

Chorus: (x a few)
Cause it happens in an instant, happens in a flash
They don't get how it becomes so real, so fast
They spend all their time wishing for the past
But it's gone . . . . . . . . . . . . in an instant


Tis it.

Half-Life

Not at all related to the game, I'm afraid. I could do that, but didn't in this case. More on the actual phrase, as in half of a life.


Half-Life


V1:
        Em                      Am6
You creep among the shadows
        Em                Am6
You stalk the alleyways
        Em                          Am6
You haunt the swinging gallows
              Em                  Am6
Through all your dying days

Chorus:
Em            D           C                 B
You live a half-life, you've been cursed
             Em          D                    C      B
When it comes to living, you've got it worst
Em                          D          C      B
You're the one who wanted to be first
      Em             D        C                           B
But now you'll be the last...to leave...this world

V1 (using chords below)
V2:
Em                   B
Emotion, it has left you
      C                       B
No pleasure and no thrill
Em                  B
You just try to get through
             C                        B
But can never have your fill

Chorus
Chorus (instro)
Chorus


Fairly simple. I'm guessing I'll get a couple of vids done tomorrow. Possibly.

Go For It!

I'm thinking I'll do these six days a week. Because undoubtedly I'll have some days like yesterday where I just have no time to do these...as is, I'm writing this one at the computer just straight off my head, and it'll be just lyrics for now. I'll plonk the chords in later.


Go For It


V1:
           Am
You're standing, watching
F
Played this scene a thousand times before
      G                               Em
An old record constantly spun
            Am
But it's no use, no help
        F
You fear the possibility of losing
    G                                                       Dm
A penguin afraid of the water in case it drowns

Chorus:
       C  C2     C    C2
Just go for it, go for it
G6    G   G6  G
Jump in, dive in
Dm
Don't live your life afraid of tomorrow
        F                          G
And stuck in yesterday
Yeah go for it, go for it
Stop replaying, start creating
Live your life here and now
Not just thinking it

V2:
You're hesitating, waiting
But chance is gone, muffed it again
Trying to catch a feather while immobile
Quite fruitless, useless
Tactics blown out of the water
An eagle strapping itself to the ground

Chorus:
Just go for it, go for it
Fly in, glide in
Don't live your life afraid of tomorrow

And stuck in yesterday

Yeah go for it, go for it

Move it, don't lose it

Live your life here and now

Not just thinking it

Bridge:

        Am
You may think that's all well and good to say
       Em

But doing it is a whole different kettle of fish
Dm7

Mate, if you went to get anywhere, you need to do a heck of a lot more than wish

Chorus: (x2)

So go for it, go for it

Do it, get to it

Don't live your life afraid of tomorrow

And stuck in yesterday

Yeah go for it, go for it

Don't excuse it, you'll lose it

Live your life here and now

Not just thinking it

This one's probably more for my benefit than anything else. I've probably mentioned it in various ways enough times in my posts that people get what I mean. Vid, hopefully, up within the next few days.

Falling/Flying

Sorry I've been fairly lax with the vids. Busyness is busy. Also, this one will actually be an instrumental improv piece, based on that dichotomous title. I doubt that I'll have any vids up soon - this weekend is looking muchly full.

Edit: OK, stuff's happened and I've managed to get some vids happening. As such, here's this one:
It's loosely come from the idea that falling and flying can seem quite similar, so it goes from one into the other. I still need to write a song for both today and yesterday...I have titles and ideas in my head, but I need to get some actual wordage happening.

Everything Else.

Actually writing this one first here. If that makes sense. As in, I haven't written it down beforehand and copying it over to here. I'm sitting down at my computer, without the keyboard/piano, and figuring this out. We'll see how we go...And if you're wondering, no, this isn't based on personal experience. It's a hypothetical. Or a cliche. Or something like that.


Everything Else


V1:
   Bb                             Dm
It started off so well, but now it's gone
           Eb                                  F
There's nothing left with which to carry on
           Bb                                       Dm
You've taken all of it away, now this memory's all I've got
Eb                                             F
That you went from me and just left me here to rot

Chorus:
      Gm   Eb      F
So this is what I am
        Gm   Eb        F
And this is all that I have
       Bb          Eb                   Gm  F    Eb
You can't complain about the way I am now
Gm    Eb       F        Gm           Eb     F
This is what I am, because you took away
                          Eb Bb Eb Bb
Everything else

V2:
Bitter is my way of life, backwards is my style
Living always in the past, not really moving any miles
Resentment is my drug of choice, it's how I get through
Because all the rest has taken off with you

Chorus

Bridge:
Eb           Bb
Everything else
Eb            Bb
Everything else
Gm              F
Nothing left, cause you took
Eb
Everything else

Chorus x2


Tis it. And yes, I do realise that my structure has been slightly similar so far. Attempted to vary it with a bridge there. A vid will hopefully be up at some point tomorrow. Edit: Vid now up, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F0Rx2AQ-1Y

Discrepancies reprise.

The other day, I got the comments back from the marker on that performance I mentioned in my first "Discrepancies" post. I thought that her notes on Imagination/personal voice (though, as an aside, I thought this fitted better into stagecraft, but anyway):

You are capable of conveying strong emotion in your voice.  Bring this out more.  The song is slightly angry and defiant; can you be more theatrical in the way you carry this off onstage?  There is something about your persona which could gel more with the feel of the song.  It feels like you are sitting a little outside of it as you sing.  Can you lose yourself more in the performance?  Also, think about dress, hair, maybe take off your glasses or wear contacts?  It is a raw, tough song and it would be good to see you in a rawer, less safe and controlled state when you sing it.

I'll do a bit of a deconstruction of this, sentence by sentence pretty much. Just to make it easier to follow, I'll put in on a new line for each sentence.

I know; I had a bit of a cold/cough that day.

I intend to.

Slightly? I would have said significantly, but OK....as for being more theatrical, I can do it, but it does get difficult when I'm constantly in that higher register. Whether I will do it or not remains to be seen.

Err....you really don't know me, so you can't really say that. And there really isn't.

Aye, because I don't really agree with it, and it makes me a bit uncomfortable singing it in front of people who are my friends, who might think this actually is me.

I could, but I doubt I will.

I'm not going to spike my hair or something, if that's what you're meaning. And I really don't wear contacts. Taking my glasses off is OK, but I wouldn't do it.

It is a raw/tough song, but I'm neither a raw or tough person. Aye, it is a bit of a mismatch between singer and song, but there you go. I had to sing something, and I didn't get anyone asking me, so I had to ask someone. :P

(/rant)

Death-defying

Perhaps a more standardised-ish type. But there you go. Vid should be up tomorrow, hopefully.


Death-defying


V1:
Bbm                   Ab
Standing here on top of the world
Fm                          F#
Looking a quarter k down
Bbm                            Ab
Wind rushing past me, heart hammering
Fm                                  F#
The complete silence of so much sound
Bbm              Ab
Nearly ready for the moment
Fm                    F#
Let's get off the ground

Chorus:
Bbm                   Ab
Death-defying, electrifying
F#                                  Ab
  You know I will be
Bm                   Ab                     F#
Death-defying, feel like flying
           Ab
Come fly with me

V2:
Falling now to the bottom of the world
It's flashing by
All just weightless, feels like floating
For a minute I can fly
I can hold this, keep it longer
Always do, never try

Chorus


Instrumental: (Verse chords) x2

Soft Chorus


Final Chorus (louder):

Death-defying, electrifying

You know I will be

Death-defying, never dying

Come fly with me

Come fly with me

Come fly with me

That's it, hope you like. Edit: Vid finally up, here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJmOoizeNw

Emotion-less.

I believe I've mentioned before that I have a really good imagination, good enough that I can see thousands of different possibilities in a situation equally easy, and as such can't really tell which of them is more/less likely, except by culling those which are a bit fantastical.

I unfortunately get a similar problem with my emotions. If, for example, you present me with a stimuli that would generally cause disgust, I would find it just as easy to display that emotion as I would to display no emotion at all. Or to show over-the-top happiness or something. It's not even something I have to put an effort in to or try to do, just something I have to choose to do.

Thing is, then - how on earth do I know what my real response is to it? If any response I give is a subject to choice? I mean, sure, this isn't always the case, and it's not always a problem. But I know there's a lot of situations where I know that I'm displaying that emotion simply through choice, and I could just as easily do a different one.

I suppose the logical thing seems to be to surprise me with something, and then hopefully the "real" emotion will be the immediate reaction (that is, apart from surprise). Don't know how well that would work, not something I can say I've really tried.

But I guess it's just really disconcerting and annoying - wondering if many of the strong feelings I have about various things are simply a result of choice, and not the feelings that would have arisen had they not been chosen, as such. Though perhaps then I would simply be vacuous. I don't know.

Come In.

This one's much more up my alley. It's a pretty quiet one, with some interesting chords/dissonance happening. Hope you like.


Come In


Intro: Gsus/C Gsus/Ab Gsus/F Gsus/Eb Gsus/D

V1:
Gsus/C
Come in to the place
Gsus/Ab
Where the wind and the rain
Gsus/F
And the sea of voices
Gsus/Eb
All fade away
Gsus/D
All fade away

V2:
And come in to the place
Where the heat and the cold
And the jeering voices
Never can reach
Never can reach

Chorus:
Gsus/C   Gsus/Bb
Come in, come in
Gsus/Ab  Gsus
Come in, please come in
Gsus/C   Gsus/Bb
Come in, come in
Gsus/Ab Gsus
Please come in

V3:
Come in to the place
Where there is rest and peace
And all hurt is gone
Is no more
Is no more

Chorus


Instrumental: (Intro chords) (Chorus chords)


Chorus x2




That's it. Video and link should be up fairly soon. EDIT: Video up, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_C27N01Ozs

Be Heard!

Another different one... I don't know quite what I'd call this one, almost borrows from hip hop or something a bit. I'll try and do one that's a bit more "me" for my next couple, if I can manage it...


Be Heard!


Intro: A G

V1:
A
Jump up, get up
G
Now is the time for you to be heard
A
All around, get down with it
G
Yes, you know the word

V2:
Get out, big shout
You know it all, get off the floor
All in, begin
Time to ask for more

Chorus (x2):
A
If you say nothing, they can't hear you
G
If you don't say something, they're not gonna hear you
A         G  F
 Be heard

V3:
It's loud, be proud
If you can't do it, you're gonna lose it
Be soft, get offed
This isn't the time to un-choose it

Chorus (x2)


Instrumental: A G

Chorus (x2 staccato, x2 loud)




That's it. Won't be any vid today, didn't have time to do it earlier and everyone's in bed, so bit hard to do it now. :P Until tomorrow. EDIT: Vid now up. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckfK9HiuBgY

That annoying question.

"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?"

It's probably a line we've all heard at least once. And if you've watched X-Men, then you've heard it at least twice. But I think a lot of the time it's not that we know the answer - it's that we've already got our answer, and we want someone else to tell us we're right. So we're not always conflicted.

Because we love it when we're right. And we hate it when we're wrong, but we can deal with it, learn from it. But when we don't know, when we're conflicted... that's when it's annoying, when it's difficult. When you're hoping against hope that you're right, or that you're wrong, and dreading to take that first step, just in case it's not what you thought it was...

Some people will never take that step, because they live in fear of the possibilities. I've certainly done it before; I'm a victim of my own hyper-active imagination. You give me any situation, I can give you a hundred variants of it where it turns out ugly at best.

I can remember one situation in particular where I was going to speak to someone, and one such variant was them strapping me down to a table and hooking me up to a polygraph, or pumping me with truth serum until I blabbed about what I was very much trying to cover up.

As you can see, my variants often border on to the fantastical. Needless to say, that particular meeting was uneventful.

But that, unfortunately, never makes it any easier for the next time a decision must be made. And apathy and ignorance are two very easy bedfellows...

Some thoughts to meditate on.

Abacus of Doom

This one is a bit... weird. Don't know quite what genre you'd call it. Perhaps someone can tell me when I upload the vid of it and link it here... Anyway, until then, the lyrics and chords:



Abacus of Doom


Intro:
LH: A (note), then A5, then add octave [onbeat]
RH: C (note), then C5 [offbeat]
First time staccato, second time pedalled

V1:
       A (octave)                  F (octave)
The abacus, the abacus of doom
       A (octave)                  F (octave)
The abacus, the abacus of doom
   C (oct.)        G (oct.)  A (oct.)          E (oct.)
It flies in your faces, in all the world's darkest places
       F (oct.)
The abacus, the abacus of doom

V2:
       C5/A                          C5/F
The abacus, the abacus of doom

       C5/A                          C5/F

The abacus, the abacus of doom

       C5                G              C5/A                  Em

It encourages the repetition, endless darkness and division

       C5/F

The abacus, the abacus of doom

Intro

V3:

The abacus, the abacus of doom

The abacus, the abacus of doom

Eternally it's counting, suspicion it's ever mounting

The abacus, the abacus of doom

V4:

The abacus, the abacus of doom

The abacus, the abacus of doom

Locked within its strict rhythms, I can't escape its dark dominions

The abacus, the abacus, the abacus, the abacus...

V4:

       Am                             F

The abacus, the abacus of doom

       Am                             F

The abacus, the abacus of doom

C                          G                       Am                  Em

Locked within its strict rhythms, I can't escape its dark dominions

C5/F

The abacus, the abacus, the abacus, the abacus of doom

Instrumental (verse + intro, 8va)

And that's it. A little different to my usual fare, not quite sure where this came from. Guess the title kind of ran away with my imagination. But there you go. Vid should be up pretty soon. Edit: Vid now up. Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvZukIzdfNw

Waste.

Doing this for tomorrow, so I don't swamp the blog with posts...what can I say, I'm in a posting mood.

This is one I've been sitting on and ruminating around for a while, ever since back in - year 9 I think - when I was on kitchen duty on a school camp, and they had heaps of desserts made. And there was leftovers, lots of leftovers. For those who've worked in a kitchen at all, you know what happens next. The bin. All of it.

And I suppose trying out for this job in a kitchen has really hammered this point a bit with me - so, so many plates come back unfinished, some less than half eaten. All of it has to go in the bin. That's a lot of food. That could've been eaten by somebody else. It's a waste, such a big waste. And I suppose it's kind of weird for me because I've always been brought up to basically finish whatever's on the plate. And I'd ask others, please, do the same. Don't let all this food go to waste.

Thankfully, there are some organisations that actually act on this, like this one: http://www.ozharvest.org/

Songwriting A to Z.

As I've mentioned, for this next A to Z, I'm going to be writing a new song each day starting with the letter for that day (starting tomorrow with A), putting the lyrics/chords up here, and doing a video and putting that on Youtube and linking to that from here. (Though the vids may be up a bit slower in some cases, particularly because we've gone over our downloads at the moment... :P )

When I'm writing the songs, I'll also be sticking to the following rules:

1. Can't use an old song of mine and just say, "Hey, I wrote this today!" No.
2. If someone makes a suggestion for any of the songs, I have to use it. Any sort of suggestion, be it genre, lyrical, musical, etc. Unless it's rude/crude/etc. But I don't think we'll have that problem.
3. Within this series, once I've used a chord sequence, I can't use it again for another song. I can do variations, but not the same one. Not even in a different key. Could do it without this, but thought I'd challenge myself.
4. By the end of this, need to have songs that could be put in at least seven genres.
5. No parody songs.
6. An 'A' or 'The' at the beginning of the song title doesn't count for the letter, because that's how iTunes does it :P

Think that's it. I'll be starting off tomorrow (because in just over an hour I'll be busy for the rest of the day), probably with Abacus of Doom, or something like that. I'm attempting to do it so it'll be first in alphabetical order on any playlist :P Cause at the moment the first one on mine is annoying me. And that's Abandoned in Place, so "Abacus" was the only word that worked before that. :P Yeah, planned that much. No, I haven't actually written it yet, so I'm not in violation of Rule 1. Just a couple of musical ideas for it, bit of a different thing...should be interesting. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow :P Apparently that's going to be a bit busy as well.

A word on swearing.

Said I'd plonk this up, so I am. I've found that I have virtually no problem with other people swearing. You could swear at me using the dirtiest and foulest language you've got until you're blue in the face, and I wouldn't really care that much. I'm not going to restrict your "freedom of speech" that is so valued by people.

But I tend to regulate my own speech a fair bit. Generally, I've found, according to the expectations of the people around me. Meaning that most of the time, I won't swear very much at all. But when I'm with someone who swears a lot, I'll do so a bit more. When I'm by myself, I'll swear actually fairly frequently. There's some words that I just don't use, but I've surprised myself at how frequently I'll swear when I'm alone at home.

When I'm singing, I'll very much pay attention to what I'm saying/singing. I don't write swear words or sexual references into any of my songs - to the degree, in fact, that I recently wrote out the worst word I have used (groin) in one of mine. And if I play a cover (which I've only done twice; but take it as a hypothetical), I either wouldn't use a song if it had swear words, or would change it. I know, that sounds bad, changing a song that's not yours - but I think that the impression you present is very important, and I don't want people after my gig thinking that I swear a bit, whether they think it's good or bad. I don't want people getting a wrong impression of me, basically. Plus, there's often kids at the gigs I've played at. :P

Zathura

I know, finding Z but not finding Y, seems strange...so shoot me. Don't really.

Think of this as a spacey-type remake of Jumanji, because that's essentially what this is. Plus perhaps a little more kids oriented, but debatable. Thing is, Jumanji didn't really need a remake. I get that perhaps the developers were trying to make the idea more accessible to this generation, but really?

It's not a @#$% movie, but it certainly holds no candle to the first. You do very much get the feel that it's trying to be one of those "nice moral stories for the kids", and the actual storyline doesn't have a heck of a lot that's original. One interesting point is how they changed up the person coming in from the game a bit....but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it. Though whether it's worth seeing it just for that... it does have fun moments to it, and it is fairly likeable, but it's definitely no masterpiece.

But then, I guess, it was never meant for a heavy analysis. Not that this really is one.
That's the conclusion of this A to Z, minus my Q and Y posts (which I'll be putting it later, hopefully). The next one will be starting up either tomorrow or Sunday. Possibly Sunday, because tomorrow is going to be a bit packed for me. I'll have a post up before then detailing a bit more about it.

Clumsy.

I believe I've mentioned before that I'm not a fantastic pianist/keyboardist. That's mainly due to me getting fairly clumsy once I start to go faster. When I go slowly, I usually don't have any problems. But this world doesn't like slow. It likes something done, and done five minutes ago.

And the thing is, I'm clumsy with pretty much anything done fast. Which isn't usually a problem, I just go a bit slower. But when it gets to doing a job....yeah. Particularly with this job I'm attempting to get, which is in a kitchen, where they need things done fast. I'm not doing too well at that. Basically, today I had a 5 hour shift when I should have been finished in three and a half. Not the best.

Hopefully, it's something I can work on a bit. I'm hoping that I'll go a bit better on the night shifts, because then there's another kitchen hand there to keep you accountable, sort of thing. Keep you on top of things. That's the idea, at least. We'll see how it goes...

It's a bit annoying, though. Because these "normal" types of jobs, that have more to do with getting things done quickly and repetitively, I'm not so good at, but I get paid for. The kind of jobs that are a bit more self-regulated/creative, I'm good at, but I wouldn't want to get paid for.

:P

Discrepancies.

Yesterday, I did a performance of a song by a friend for the Performance unit of my course. It went pretty well from a performance perspective, but I thought I'd make a few quick remarks about the actual lyrics and such. Mainly, I suppose, because I didn't want people thinking that was me. Because those lyrics aren't.

I probably shouldn't put the lyrics up here, since I don't have the guy's permission, so I won't. If you're at uni with me, you'll probably hear the final version anyway. In short, however, it's essentially saying this: I don't care what you say, what you think, this is me. Get used to it. (The line that he actually said was probably the most core and essential to it was "F@#* you all". And yes, I sang that. I'll probably do a post about swearing as well, soon. Pumping these posts out like a machine. XD )

That's not me. That's so not me, in fact, that it's not funny. Why? Well, because we're different people, obviously. I suppose I'd say that I don't think along those lines because I know that I'm imperfect; and as such, people will see mistakes in me, and I need to be willing to change and become a better person. Doesn't mean the other guy's not; that's something you'd need to ask them.

But I guess "I don't care" really isn't one of those phrases that I use a lot. And when I do, more than half the time I don't mean it. Because it's very rarely true. I do care. I'm a very empathetic person; almost any situation, any person, I can relate somehow. That's probably also partly due to a very good imagination. That doesn't mean I've gone through what everyone's gone through, or I can always completely feel the depth of what they're feeling; but I can get where they're coming from, and I can relate to that.

That might seem strange to some that know me, who probably wouldn't see me as a very feely sort of person. But I guess it's not really something I show very much; but then again, I don't really show anything much. :P There's a heck of a lot more to me than most would know, and more to me than anyone could probably ever find out. Certainly a lot more to me than I know...

Plans.

I often have a lot of plans. They tend to crowd into each other a lot. So many different possibilities, so many different things to do....
I thought I might plonk down a few for even just the blog here.

- Reviews
I've been doing a few in this A to Z, and I'm liking them a bit. So I'm thinking that I might do a few more here and there in the future. Perhaps have a review day each week. Heck, I could have a sort of schedule for this....now that's a thought....somehow, I doubt I'd be able to stick to it though :P

- Guest posts
Borrowing from my good friend Mozart who had a couple of these earlier on in his blog, getting someone else to do a post every now and then. Because I know a fair few people with opinions about stuff, so that'd be interesting to look at. Which leads on to...

- Interviews
Similarly to above. Though I guess it could work either way; people could ask me questions, or I could ask them some. Or both, though maybe that might be a slightly lengthy post.

- Songs
I've already mentioned that I'm planning to do an A to Z of compositions after this A to Z. Quite possible that I'll put up some more songs now and then.

- More religious misconceptions
Haven't done them for a while, so I'll probably get back to that....err....at some point.

- Vlogs
I've had an attempt at doing vlogs once a week for my Youtube. Don't think I'm doing that ridiculously well; I'm not particularly the most exciting face to look at. That's something I could try to change by getting a bit more theatrical and such, but I dunno :P I try to do it fairly impromptu, so it's not so much of a set in stone thing. I'm thinking perhaps not doing a weekly thing for Youtube any more, but instead just doing one every now and then for the blog, since I'm pretty much just talking about a lot of the stuff I do here. So you might be seeing some of those up.

Think that's about it. Fair bit of stuff, but we'll see how we go.

X-Men: First Class.

OK, straight up warning: for those who watched/are going to watch this expecting it to fall in naturally with the other X-men movies, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. Because it's quite clear in the movie that some plot elements don't line up with the original series, particularly in reference to the flashback sequence in X3. (Case-in-point: by the end of First Class, Xavier is in a wheelchair with a full head of hair, but in the flashback in X3, he is bald but has no wheelchair.) It's not too much of a stretch to largely ignore these, however.

The movie is based in the time of the Cold War; and it is suggested that one particularly dangerous mutant, Shaw, wants to start a nuclear war, which he believes will destroy the humans while breeding more mutants. Charles, of course, wants to stop this, and he happens to run into Erik, who wants to stop Shaw. He then works to gather a team of mutants to fight against Shaw.

For those who are familiar with the original series, this film particularly explores the interesting interaction between Charles and Erik in much greater detail than the original trilogy. Of particular interest is the satellite dish scene, which explores part of Erik's character that most would be surprised by.

Though it can at times feel like a new mutant overload just to keep the fanboys happy (I believe there's eight that are new to the movie series), I don't think that's the intention. I think it's a pretty decent movie, really. Maybe that's just because I'm a bit of a Marvel fan, I dunno. Any other opinions?

Watership Down.

In this one, I'm going to talk about the movie, not the book. For those who haven't read it, it's a fantastic book, but certainly not a light read. The movie's a bit easier to get through, I guess.

Watership Down is one of those classics, both of book and film - even though it is only a cartoon. Honestly, in this case, I don't think it would have been done at all well if it wasn't one. After all, if it's a story about rabbits - well, they're a bit difficult to get to do your specific things you want them to do and such. And yes, for those unfamiliar with it, I know, it seems a bit strange. A story about rabbits. Bear with me.

The basic story is this: these rabbits are living fairly cosily in their den, but one of them (Fiver), who is somewhat prophetic, foresees that there will be death coming to the warren, and they all have to leave. Some do, some don't. The rest basically details their journey to this "Promised Land", as such, which is Watership Down, a great hill where you "can see the whole world" from. Oh, and their attempt to then get some females, because they didn't bring too many along.

It's got some great plot elements to it, and some interesting animation when it comes to some of the rabbit mythology, particularly in relation to Lord Frith, their "god" of sorts. It's a good drama, which has some great elements of adventure, but also a bit of comic relief, particularly with Kehaar the gull.

If you haven't seen it, do. Seriously, do. It's an amazing film. And if you haven't read the book, I'd suggest that to you as well, particularly for the more avid readers. It details some of the mythology and language a lot further, which can be quite interesting.

Getting a job.

I felt like I should explain a bit about why I'm interested in getting a job of some description.

Firstly, much as I hate to say it, in this world you can't get many places if you don't have the cash. I drive to uni three days a week, so just petrol costs me about $50 a week. Ish. Thankfully, I don't really have that much else to pay for at the moment.

Secondly, I'd really like to be independent. I hate having to ask my parents for money each time I want to do something. And I think that it will really help me to develop as well, being independent like that.

Also, a job can give you a lot of skills. Depends a bit on the job, but usually you'll learn something new, or get better at something you could already do.

And, hopefully, it'll be something that interests you. For me, at least, I only ever looked for one of two jobs; a job that I'd have no problem with leaving, or a job I would have no reason to.

And it sucks that I'm having to take out my family's time to help me with catalogue distribution. :P

That's my main set of reasons there for attempting to get a new job. And, hopefully (as long I don't majorly stuff up), come next week, I'll have one! :)

(As an aside, if anyone can think of some movies/TV shows/books they'd like to see reviewed for these last few letters, let me know. There aren't as many for these ones...)

The Voice.

Probably not a book that a great deal are familiar with. The book centres around the idea that the voice of God could somehow be recorded, through something called Cosmic Background Radiation. Basically, they take rocks from where God's spoken, do stuff to them, and they've got God's voice. That's the idea.

Thing is, obviously this project isn't so popular with some. Especially since they found that the same voice said it was God and said it was Jesus Christ, which some people wouldn't be too happy about. As such, the two working on it are captured, and their deaf daughter seeks the aid of her uncle, an ex-Special Forces Agent. Who is himself being tailed by an FBI agent. Who was herself not told the whole story. You get the idea.

It raises some interesting moral/religious questions, even venturing into ground such as whether people from other religions (such as Islam) will go to heaven or not. But as well as that, it's also a pretty decent action/adventure, with some good comedy lines thrown in there - "'Crap', that's like a G-rated word." Ah. Kids. :P

Up.

OK, yes, I really didn't have a lot of choice for things starting with U.

Up is yet another animated offering from Pixar, and probably one of their better efforts. It has a fairly interesting storyline, some likeable/funny characters, and some decent graphics.

Part of the basic premise of the movie - that an old man uses an inordinate amount of helium balloons to go floating away - is something that I think a lot of younger kids could relate to. They might often see balloons disappearing into the sky, and think, "Wow! Wouldn't it be cool to do that?"

Of course, while physics and Mythbusters would have a field day with this one, that's not the point, and it isn't meant to be. It's a kid's movie, of course there's going to be some things that are a bit - well, not very real world. The other particular example in this movie is the dogs' speaking collar. (Which provides a fair few laughs, particularly with Alpha and squirrels.)

All in all, a decent movie.

This Moment.

First one of my reviews on a Christian album. Thought I'd put one in there; and, since this is going to be the last of my albums (because I don't have any more for the subsequent letters), thought that it had better be this one.

This one's by good old SCC - Steven Curtis Chapman. It's a good CD, with some great lyrics and great sounds happening.

It starts off with Miracle of the Moment, one of the best on the album, easily. It then continues on with Broken, a solid song, and on to Cinderella. We then hear Yours, and Something Crazy. One of the better songs on the album. We go through Children of God, One Heartbeat at a Time, and My Surrender, all decent songs, and go onto You Are Being Loved, again, one of the good ones on the album. It finishes off with Definition of Me and With One Voice.

A pretty good album, though you can get the feeling that there is a bit of the same sound happening here and there. But that's something I'd be willing to overlook, personally.

Requiescat In Pace.

The latin for "Rest In Peace", just in case you didn't know.

I've noticed a few times that I've never heard of people - at all - until they died. Yes, this is partly because of my lack of interest in news and such, but still... People seem to be a lot more well known in death than in life.

For example, before he died, I had no idea who Peter Brock was. Not a clue. As well as that, sad as it sounds, before yesterday I had never heard the name Steve Jobs. I mean, yeah, I knew someone was the head of Apple, but had no idea who it was. And when I heard the name, I didn't know who they were talking about; I didn't recognise the face, didn't get why everybody was making such a fuss.

Of course, now I do. And it is quite a loss to the world, as an aside - we haven't had a Mac for that long, but it was the computer that they had both at high school and now at uni. Plus things like the iPod, iPad, iTunes, etc - Steve Jobs has had a pretty big impact on the world of today. But that's an aside.

And it got me thinking - despite this phenomenon being largely due to the mass media, I think a very similar thing would've happened back in Jesus' time. Lots of people knew him during his lifetime - but I bet so many more knew him after he died (and particularly after he was raised again). And I bet a lot of people were feeling similarly then to what I was yesterday in regard to Steve Jobs - "Who on earth is this Jesus guy?" "How come everyone's talking about him?" "What the heck did he do that makes him so special?"

And, maybe similarly to me, they felt similarly once they did find out about him. And they did get it.

Stormbreaker.

The book, not the movie. Just because you'd get a similar story to when I did Eragon, so I'll do the book this time. No, the movie wasn't that much of a fail in comparison, but it was a little disappointing. Anyway, doing the book.

Think James Bond meets Spy Kids, because Alex Rider ain't no kid. He's a rough and ready teen, trained for the job by his uncle, whom he only ever thought was a banker. Turns out he was actually a spy, and Alex only found out after he died. He subsequently gets reluctantly recruited by MI6, who use him to check out a too-good-to-be-true guy, Herod Sayle. He has just built a revolutionary new computer platform called the Stormbreaker, and plans to gift one to every school in the UK. But Sayle has a few tricks up his sleeve, and Alex will learn more about his uncle than he ever knew...and even come face-to-face with his killer.

It's a good action novel about a reluctant teen who just gets caught up in things he doesn't want to be. He wants to go home and live a normal life, but he can't sit idly by and just let things happen to him. And MI6 have threatened to remove his housekeeper/friend, Jack, due to a near-expired visa. But neither is he your average kid - he has a black-belt in karate, is an experienced diver, and speaks multiple languages; he has also engaged in many extreme sports.

But the thing about Alex Rider is that the author makes you think that, if things had been a bit different, you might have turned out quite similarly. And that's the charm of the series, I think, coupled with some good action and interesting ethical difficulties (though that's more in the latter books than this one). But anyway, a pretty good book.

The Ruins of Gorlan.

I know, I didn't do a Q. I was hoping for a book, but I couldn't find any books starting with Q that I actually knew. So I've skipped it. :P I might do a delayed post later, if I can find something decent.

This one is the first book in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. It's probably targeted at a slightly younger audience than me, but I still like it.

Once again, back in medieval times. (I seem to be saying that a bit.) An orphan called Will strives to become a warrior, but is just too small. Instead, he is taken under the wing of Halt, one of the King's elusive and mysterious Rangers. Over time, he learns their skills of stealth and subterfuge, and even befriends his childhood rival-come-Warrior-apprentice, Horace. But bigger things are threatening the kingdom of Araluen, and Will is going to need to use all he has learned as a Ranger, not just to protect himself, but also his friends...

And yes, I wrote that, I didn't copy it. :P I've always liked the books/movies etc that were based on characters that were really focussed on stealth, it's just something I've always found interesting. As such, this is a series I find quite interesting - but it also has elements of adventure, comedy, a bit of action; it's a good mix, and I really quite like it. You do get some slightly cliched characters that fit into very easy slots; but they're also very likeable characters, and I think it works well.

The series does go on for a number of books, but this one's just good as a stand-alone if you'd prefer not to get into another series.

Sharing.

Something I realised recently is this; when you see/hear/do/whatever something really, really interesting/great/amazing, you inherently wish that person XYZ could see/hear/do/whatever it too. It's just an automatic response, almost. And sometimes person XYZ is someone specific, and sometimes it's just that you wish you could share this experience with someone. But I think it's always there.

And, of course, I could go and say something along the lines of why don't we do that with God and all that sort of thing, but you've probably heard that a million times before. So I won't.

Instead, I'll share this picture with you, which I saw ages ago.

(As an aside, that's a black hole.) And ask this question: who do you want to share these sorts of amazing experiences with? I don't ask because I want to know; I ask so that you will think about it. Because if they're worth sharing amazing things with, they're probably worth thanking for being amazing as well. :)

Stories from the Stump.

Thought I'd post up here a few things relating to Black Stump.

Firstly, this was the first time I've gone, and it was absolutely epic. Highly suggest it to anyone interested in next year's one. :)

Also, the donuts were ridiculously good, and the comedy debate was hilarious :D "Social Networking Is Anti-Social" was the debating point. As you can imagine, they had a ball with it. :)

Aside from the comedy and the donuts, however, the big thing for me was the sermon that the guy gave for the sunday night worship. And wow. What a sermon. It started off being about the different things that we worship (as a point of interest, he said that the three of this age are materialism, sexuality and individuality), and then he went around to describing this dance - because apparently that's how the old church originally defined the Trinity, when they sat down to do all this. The word they came up with, from the Jewish or Greek or whatever it was, means the dance of life, or the dance of joy. And the idea was that if you loved someone, you danced around them - rather than you wanting everything to go around you.

And he gave us this scene from his friend's life where he was attending this Jewish Orthodox wedding - and the thing they did, after the wedding, was have a dance. And they had the men on one side, and the women on the other, and a guy ran and put a wine glass in front of the bridegroom. The groom brought his foot down on top of it - and they all started madly dancing, wildly dancing. And this guy's friend couldn't make head or tail of it. And then, suddenly, there's the groom, pulling him in to the dance floor, a Western man at a Jewish wedding - and he starts to dance with the best of them.

And he said that that was one of the best metaphors for the Bible he'd ever heard. God is having a massive dance, and his Son invites us in. And sometimes people might think we're crazy, or lunatics, or downright weird. But if it's like it should be, then they certainly won't think we're boring.

That struck me. That's what I'm going to try and do. :)

The Princess Bride

I know, I know. You're probably thinking, "Oh great, he's gone and done a soppy love story." It is a bit of that, but above that there's more. I will elucidate...

If you're not familiar with the movie, I'll give you a quick run down. It's back in medieval times, and the main girl and the main guy fall in love. Guy goes away...actually, no, do me a favour and look it up on Wiki if you haven't seen it. Save me ten minutes writing it out. :P

OK, now that you've done that. Firstly, I love some of the comedy in this. The giant is just hilarious, but overall the movie just has lots of laugh-out-loud parts to it, which I love. And it's just a really great, feel-good story, the kind of one that has you smiling the whole way through it and for a while afterwards. I like that. :)

This is a tad short, because of my lack of synopsis - so I'll write about my next A to Z. I'm planning to do songwriting as my next one - as in, for each letter I'll write a song starting with that letter, do a video of me singing/playing it and plonk it up on Youtube, then put the lyrics and link to the vid up here. Should be cool. :)

Ocean Eyes

You've probably heard the song Fireflies. Well, this is the album that made it a hit.

Owl City is a bit hard to categorise. iTunes calls it electronica, Wiki expands on that and plonks in pop, indie, new-wave and alternative as well. I'd say that's probably about right. Not too good with categories and such, so I let other people do it for me. :P

One interesting thing you may notice by Owl City (which may seem evident by the title, but anyway) is it uses a lot of animal metaphors, and indeed just metaphors in general. If you're familiar with their late single, Alligator Sky, which has been seeing a bit of radio time, you'll know what I mean.

It starts off with Cave In, a decent starting track. It then goes on to The Bird and the Worm, which I reckon is probably the best one on the album after Fireflies. It also includes the Nemo joke. (If you don't know what I mean, here is the vid.) It then goes on to Hello Seattle, a pretty good one as well. It then does a couple more, then over to Dental Care. Finally, a song about dentists :D The next one is Meteor Shower, a fairly short one that I'd say goes back to Adam Young (who is Owl City, more or less)'s Christian faith. (Though that's just my guess.) It goes on over to Fireflies, which you've already heard enough about, most probably. It goes on for a couple more good ones, then a remix of Hello Seattle (which is actually pretty decent, for a remix), and finishes off with If My Heart Was a House, a bit of a nice, bit quieter end to the album, with the fade out at the end.

It's a good album, first off. It's pretty quirky, and a bit different. Owl City very much has it's own unique sound, which is very recognisable. (Thinking about perhaps taking a leaf or two from their book in making my own music a bit more unique.) And there really aren't any songs in it that you'd go, oh, I didn't really like that song. They're all decent songs. If you're thinking you don't have enough for the album - then I'd suggest The Bird and the Worm and Hello Seattle. (I'm guessing that you'd have Fireflies already.) Other than that, listen to the samples and make your own call, but I'd say you'd definitely want a few from Owl City in your collection.

NCIS

Today I thought I'd do another TV series, haven't done one in a while.

I know, you're thinking, "Oh, another crime series..." and if you've watched it, it's quite possible you've had that response to it as well. You've got the egotistical smartass handsome guy plus the good-looking foreign girl, the geeky guy and the tech/goth girl, the medical examiner who's also a shrink, and the boss guy who's a man of few words. Cliche cluster time, evidently....

If it was just that, it probably wouldn't do that greatly. But it's not - it takes the mickey out of itself, to some degree. It does have a laugh with the different types of characters it has, which is good.

I, admittedly, haven't watched it for a while, so I suppose that does tell you that it's grown a bit old for me. Out of the different ones that I've seen, though, I think it'd be top 4. Worth a look at.

Men In Black.

Sorry about the late post, I lost track of the time.

First off, this one is an absolute classic. If you haven't seen it, do.

This one is a from a few years ago, back when they didn't have quite so many special effects to make everything look flashbang. And it still managed to do pretty well. Admittedly, the main bad guy in the movie is simply a giant cockroach, but they managed to pull off everything pretty well.

Feeling a bit like the CIA meets Alien Invaders, Men In Black provides an interesting mix of sci-fi, comedy and action. With their unilettered names, and wiped identities,the MIB attempt to establish Earth as a neutral zone that aliens can live peacefully in. Obviously, however, not all aliens are completely happy with this, and so some friction arises. And so they get a Bug, which they have to clean up.

Both J and K provide their fair share of laughs; J as the wise-cracking new guy, K as the poker-faced veteran. A nice few gags also come from Frank the pug, who we are told is an alien as well.

The plot is sound, the comedy is good, the effects, visual and sound are all quite reminiscent of that era of movie-making. A classic movie that is highy recommended.