Come On In, Outsider

I am often reduced to the stereotype of an angry teenager. I feel like I'm not apart of that moody, hormonal sensation, but I probably am. I just don't feel like I fit in, not even with the people who don't fit in.
To make you believe such a thing I'll let you in on a few things:
1. I don't drink
2. I don't smoke (any cigarettes or any drugs)
3. I don't like parties or fun
4. I don't do well in big groups
5. I hate small talk
6. I like intimate conversation
7. Hopefully on more important or controversial topics
8. I like music and movies that specifically target a drinking, smoking/drug doing, party, have fun audience

That's a bit more than a few, but you get the point: my interests clash with my life choices (I couldn't find another way to put that). It doesn't help that I don't open up easily either. I am constantly holding my personality back, filtering all of its contents to adjust to who I am with.

Well. At least I'm not this guy..

I'm pulling your leg. Marilyn Manson is the shit.

That's better.

Although Marilyn is probably anything but new I needed to pay tribute to this man. I happen to very much adore him and you may be thinking to yourself right now, "This chick probably wears black nail polish, Tripp pants and weird makeup while she hangs around the mall on Fridays." And you'd be right if I was still fourteen! But since growing out of that phase I have not outgrown the Manson. Unfortunately for me the rest of the world has. Back in the day he was everywhere defending his image, music, and antics. 

Revisiting #6 & 7, I love this type of interview and Marilyn Manson was the perfect figure for it.
But enough about him and more about his music. I think people immediately write him off because of this badass metal musician image. I don't listen to much anything I might head bang to, but I can totally dig his stuff. It's nothing too hardcore and it's pretty catchy.
Listen and learn.

My Friend, The Brain.

My self esteem just got the living life kicked out of its arse-hole and then eaten by grizzly bears. I mean, I had my first set of finals this week.
 In high school I always ignored finals allowing myself to fail because I had done so well throughout the year, however college won't let me continue that process which is truly a shame because that really worked for me. I gave it my best shot. I did. And if my Film & Video Analysis final is any indication on how I've done so far I don't think I want to experience a second set.

On that note, let's talk about a show that's fictional characters majorly fuck up all the time! 

Nip/Tuck

Yes! In comparison the character's in Nip/Tuck will make you feel like a nun, a nun that enjoys watching nasty sex and questionable content. Nip/Tuck is based around two plastic surgeons in Miami. Sean McNamara is the moral, rational character, while Christian Troy is the whore. 

The show has at least one surgery scene that makes my stomach turn and, like stated earlier, most of the content makes you wince. 

And if you're waiting for something good to happen, you'll be waiting for a long time. I won't ruin any of the twists, but I will encourage you to be entertained by this absolutely, ridiculous program.

A scene from the first season. 

If you want to check it out all six seasons are on instant play on Netflix and re-runs play on Logo. 

I'm going to put on a episode for myself right now.

Foreshadowing

I had more dreams.
I was a wizard in one. And I slit my enemy's throats with magic through my wand.
The other one I was an undercover transsexual in a gang of transsexuals including Winona Ryder and Ashton Kutcher.

So for weird, let's get it going about SPARKS!

Sparks, originally part of the 70's Glam Rock movement, have survived into the Millennium. They put Exotic Creatures of the Deep in 2009 which was their twenty first album! The founding members are the Mael brothers (shown above). Who now look like...

Still pretty awesome right?

I'll be completely honest, of all their albums I have three and listen to one. Sometimes they're even weird for me. You either get it or you don't,  but I adore they're bold style and I adore Kimono My House. 

Great band live, he hits all the high notes and the complicated timing. Not to mention the dancing.

Back Then.

And Now.


Few favourites off of Kimono My House:
Here In Heaven
Equator



Also!
I've started to upload playlists to 8tracks so hopefully from now on there will be links to some playlists in my posts that you may or may not enjoy! Something to get excited about!
Click on this to get your daily dose of vitamins

Like Evil Care Bears.

I don't understand my dreams. Most people don't, but for some reason I feel mine are a tad more twisted than the average dreamer. I don't even know when to call them nightmares anymore.


I always dream the absolute worst things. Like an alternate universe of how life would be if everything was bad. Yesterday I took a nap and my cat was brutally beaten. (I'll quickly add that my cats are my life. I love them more than any human...)

 She was on the verge of death and I was running around begging my mother and sister for the number of the vet while running back to my cat to see if she was still alive. The image was so awful, every time I looked over at her she cried blood, not to mention her fur was already drenched in blood. No one else cared, my sister and mother shrugged it off as if her death was just inevitable.

Snakes and spiders tend to make it into my dreams often.
I wish someone could tell me why my pessimism has seeped into my subconscious so grimly.

I suppose this is the most appropriate time for The Horrors.

I first saw them in NME, when I could still find NME and pretend I was british. It wasn't their look that caught me, but you cannot deny their look is eye catching. I read something about the music video "Sheena is a Parasite" that was interesting, which I just looked into again to remember since this video premiered back in 2006. The video was the director, Chris Cunningham's first music video in seven years. Apparently obsessed with the song having found it on myspace (remember this was 2006). The video featured Oscar nominee, Samantha Morton who I don't really know by name. Anyhow that information drew me in so I looked it up and liked the tune, liked the tune, got the album.

I love how deep and raw his voice is. There are so many sissy boy voices as of recently (ex. Fall Out Boy, PATD, etc. (I guess that isn't all that recent. Fall Out Boy broke up didn't they? Pete Wentz had to raise his child with Ashlee or something. Maybe. I don't know.)) However all the live videos I viewed weren't very good, so I don't know how talented of a singer he actually is.

"She is the New Thing"
  Strange House



Now compare.
The new improved Horrors, a lot less spastic, a lot more drone (even a bit Joy Division-ish in the video below). They released Primary Colours in 2009, and received pretty good reviews. My favourite track off the album is "I Can't Control Myself".

"Who Can Say"
Primary Colours

Christmas Ought to Be Better.

Everyone is enjoying the lovely food downstairs while I'm up here lying in bed. I have a headache and no appetite. I wish I could trade my body in for one that works better.

I'll take this time to discuss, and by discuss I mean post cool videos by, a very grooving band.

Primal Scream.

Primal Scream is an interesting band for me in particular. They are the bridge between my two very favourite genres of music; 90's Brit-Pop and Noise/Psychedelic/Rock (I never know how to explain it. Genres have become so complex.). The thing about Primal Scream is they do not limit themselves to any genre. They've certainly evolved. Screamadelica (right) won the Mercury Music Prize in 1992 and is their most popular album. I mean even before I knew Primal Scream, I knew this image. It was a strange thing always seeing it and ignoring it. Anyhow I listened to Screamadelica hoping to fall in love and I was completely thrown off by the beats and the sampling. I already had an idea of what they would sound like and house/techno/gospel was not to be considered. Eventually the album grew on me and I adore its unique character.

I read a review on Pitchfork for their latest album Beautiful Future and found this quote from Stuart Berman was strangely accurate.

"Taken as a whole, Primal Scream's scattershot, trend-spotting discography doesn't so much represent a search for new sounds as a search for the best drugs: ecstasy (1991's epochal acid-house address Screamadelica), weed (1997's dubtronic odyssey Vanishing Point), speed (2000's explosive XTRMNTR), coke (2002's totally wired Evil Heat)..."

Here is a little insight into Primal Scream's evolution.

The Beginning

The Height of Success

Later on

I could have kicked myself for missing them when they were touring around me around a year or two ago. Now I'll have to wait and hope they'll tour again sooner than later

It's a little late.

This week was pure disaster. Beginning with Tuesday. I was totally late to a group project presentation that  I had already felt I did shitty on. Then today I became so stressed I couldn't even nap. Understand napping is my drug. I do it to forget bullshit and visit dreamland even if dreamland sucks (which there is a fifty percent chance of) And even if dreamland sucks it was not real. I love that. Anyhow I got my group project grade back. Twelve out of Twenty, talk about bombing it. I just hit the point where I feel like my effort is wasted. I did however finish a paper, which cured my massive funk. I hope to finish another tomorrow to get me really feeling good.

In Eliseland music has been strange. I just became incredibly intrigued by Rihanna's "Only Girl (In The World). Liked the tune, LOVED the video. I'm a music video person. I love a good music video, I know a lot of people who completely ignore this aspect of the music world. I adore music videos.
This video in particular is just gorgeous. The colours, wardrobe, setting, movement, everything is just perfect.



 I was completely unaware Rihanna had put out another album, but I remember her sporting red hair for a bit now and if Rihanna sporting a new do you can be sure there's a new album. I was correct, Loud is her most recent album and I was glad to know she recovered from Rated R (the music and the hair).

Pilot

This is my very first blog. It will be dedicated to music, maybe a movie or television show here and there. But most of the time music. Don't expect there to be a certain taste or type of music because that'll just be disappointing. I loved the Mamma Mia! soundtrack and I loved the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World soundtrack so you get the point. 


I'll explain myself briefly: I am so that embarrassing girl who does embarrassing things and sometimes someone sees it, but I'm so quiet and invisible I get away with being really fucking awkward. Just to explain that further, yesterday I found a leaf in my hair. I understand it's Autumn, but I wasn't jumping around in leaf piles I was just walking to and from class. I also tend to run into almost everything. I've even run into doors I've opened myself. So there's an idea.


Also you might have guessed, I adore music! and sometimes when I find something so fantastical, so brilliant, so extraordinary I go a little nuts trying to find people to share this with. Hopefully this blog will be the placebo to that disorder (and by placebo I mean I'm putting this out there for people to read while also knowing that I'll be lucky if someone stumbles upon it.)


I'll begin this blog with Elliott Smith. 

Everyone loves Elliott Smith and I am no exception. Yesterday and today I couldn't stop myself from searching for live performances and reading about him. His music is so simple, and absolutely beautiful. It's unique and it's a challenge to be unique with just an acoustic guitar. His lyrics are the best part. Listen to Elliot when you're moody, satisfaction guaranteed.


It's just so sad that no one will ever see a live performance of Elliot Smith again. I read that by the end of his years he was so fucked up that he messed up on most of the songs anyways. It's certainly a waste, Elliott Smith died at 34 in 2003 from two stab wounds to the heart. Which, until my ex-history teacher pointed out his method of "suicide", didn't seem odd. He was openly depressed and already attempted suicide. But come on, I have never heard anyone stab themselves. It's a strange way to do it especially considering its difficulty. There has been much debate about Elliott Smith's alleged suicide. Even some pretty solid homicide theories. The post-it note Elliott left is said to have spelled his name wrong, there might have been defense wounds on his hands, and as I mentioned earlier the difficulty of stabbing.


While writing about his death just now I got uber creeped out. I was listening to him on my iTunes and the melody was starting to get to me so I checked the song and it was "Bye."  Enough of that. 


Anyhow. Elliot Smith produced an abundance of brilliant music. I just downloaded Figure 8 and his self-titled. Watching his interviews aren't as satisfying as his live performances. He seems so much more open and honest with his music (then again you hardly find a musician who actually talks in an interview.) I read he had awful stage fright, I can't imagine what he felt when he performed at the Oscars next to Celine Dion. He was nominated for his original song "Miss Misery" off of the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. What a strange thing to be nominated for an Oscar as a little known singer-songwriter. Unfortunately Celine Dion took the cake for Titanic.


If you're new to Elliott Smith here's a little something.



Also.
Angel In The Snow



Also Also. 
Krispy Kreme's new bakery just opened today in Philadelphia. 

                                                  (That is a direct picture of myself)
I am beyond thrilled, but need to find out how to get there so I can see the true beauty that is a glazed, iced, and cream filled doughnut. Not that bullshit Dunkin' Donuts tries to fool Americans with. The only kind of cream filled doughnut you can get at Dunkin' Donuts is a powder doughnut. I cannot stand this. First of all, a cream doughnut is already messy. You are bound to get cream all over your face (avoid thinking about that statement out of context). Then add powder which you might avoid getting on your face but you will not avoid getting it everywhere else. And besides the mess, powder doughnuts are just mediocre. I just hate that an establishment who's name has the word doughnuts in it but hardly specializes in making a tasty doughnut. Wawa has tastier doughnuts! Anyhow. I've sure missed you, Krispy Kreme.