This blog is mostly about music. This picture was taken in Las Vegas during a show. Her boyfriend is the one on the right, clearly not having fun, and she had been sitting silently with him for an hour until she finally got up and gave him a lap dance. He pushed her off, and instead of starting a fight, making a scene, or getting embarrassed, she just found her own space, and used it wisely.
The mystery of human shame over fun is one of the many I will never understand. Since I was in elementary school, I've been listening to whatever makes me feel good, watching movies that inspire me to be a better me, and reading books and magazines that whisper constant little jokes, the sarcastic, obvious, corny, hilarious, and real. My first album was by Tina Turner. From then on, it was nothing but good news.
When I say "a better me", what I mean is not a person who goes to bed early, finishes her homework, reads nothing but autobiographies and classic novels, and expands her vocabulary to things like fine cutlery or statistics of various causes of child idiocy. No. It's not like that. Some of these things are parts of my life, and I'm perfectly happy to read or get a good nights rest, but the part that I'm very VERY okay with is the Care Bear Share rainbow blast that has potential to knock people out of their chair and onto the dance floor. I believe in the power of rock 'n roll, pop music, good jokes, and the beauty that is the movement inspired by all three. That is, rocking out.
There are friends I have who don't understand how I could possibly go see High School Musical 3, or have so much fun watching Hairspray. It's true that I'm a bit closet-y about my harboured love of musicals, but I a love a good movie, and to create a good one with song and dance is a real challenge. Dreamgirls? Bad. Across the Universe? Sorry, but...bad. Both of these movies lacked something very important, and that was the combination of decent plot with decent noise. If you're going to make a catchy pop song, there are three essentials: story! beat! And deadly hooks! Movies are similar, they require three essentials as well: story! pace! And good twists! Thinking about it, combining these two is difficult. It doesn't matter if it's a G movie or a NC-17, if it can make these things fit together and still keep it's form by the end, then they've done well.
There is also the stuff that I could just never say no to. Do you know I've met people that claim to hate the Beatles? This is the worst way to try and become different from the crowd, because it's not very honest. If someone did hate the Beatles, it's probably because they have an ex that listened to a lot of them. Bands and artists like Prince, The Knack, The Pippettes, The Shangri-Las, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, the Gin Blossoms, Vampire Weekend, Billy Joel, The Tough Alliance, Missy Elliot, The Smiths, or Teenage Fanclub, these have sides, and specific moods. People can like them or not. When I hear these bands, there if a direct instruction to sing along and move my feet, but this is my personal translation. Some just don't go for it...I just hope it's for good reasons, is all.
Shame in good times is killing humanity. I say that with all the seriousness I can find in my mellowyellow self. I've made mistakes. I have. I've listened to music in the past that did nothing for me in an attempt to divorce myself from who I am. I love my old friends, the Jack Kerouacs and the Jim Beams, but these things bring no noise, bring no funk. There were a lot of inner voices at play during this time. The little adult said, "Baby One More Time is rotting your brain." The little angst-ridden hippie punk said "don't give in to the man, dude." The ugly poet in my heart told me, "stop being selfish, what's all this dancing doing for the world." And then there was me, the real one. I was in constant question but went along with my alternates thinking they could be right. I've since said bye to them.
"some call it vain,
others say vanity
comes from the heart
and not the head.
And it may be insane
but what is insanity
if not a cry for the truth
to be truthfully told..?" - Neil Diamond
Sunday
In Defense of Fun
This blog is mostly about music. This picture was taken in Las Vegas during a show. Her boyfriend is the one on the right, clearly not having fun, and she had been sitting silently with him for an hour until she finally got up and gave him a lap dance. He pushed her off, and instead of starting a fight, making a scene, or getting embarrassed, she just found her own space, and used it wisely.
The mystery of human shame over fun is one of the many I will never understand. Since I was in elementary school, I've been listening to whatever makes me feel good, watching movies that inspire me to be a better me, and reading books and magazines that whisper constant little jokes, the sarcastic, obvious, corny, hilarious, and real. My first album was by Tina Turner. From then on, it was nothing but good news.
When I say "a better me", what I mean is not a person who goes to bed early, finishes her homework, reads nothing but autobiographies and classic novels, and expands her vocabulary to things like fine cutlery or statistics of various causes of child idiocy. No. It's not like that. Some of these things are parts of my life, and I'm perfectly happy to read or get a good nights rest, but the part that I'm very VERY okay with is the Care Bear Share rainbow blast that has potential to knock people out of their chair and onto the dance floor. I believe in the power of rock 'n roll, pop music, good jokes, and the beauty that is the movement inspired by all three. That is, rocking out.
There are friends I have who don't understand how I could possibly go see High School Musical 3, or have so much fun watching Hairspray. It's true that I'm a bit closet-y about my harboured love of musicals, but I a love a good movie, and to create a good one with song and dance is a real challenge. Dreamgirls? Bad. Across the Universe? Sorry, but...bad. Both of these movies lacked something very important, and that was the combination of decent plot with decent noise. If you're going to make a catchy pop song, there are three essentials: story! beat! And deadly hooks! Movies are similar, they require three essentials as well: story! pace! And good twists! Thinking about it, combining these two is difficult. It doesn't matter if it's a G movie or a NC-17, if it can make these things fit together and still keep it's form by the end, then they've done well.
There is also the stuff that I could just never say no to. Do you know I've met people that claim to hate the Beatles? This is the worst way to try and become different from the crowd, because it's not very honest. If someone did hate the Beatles, it's probably because they have an ex that listened to a lot of them. Bands and artists like Prince, The Knack, The Pippettes, The Shangri-Las, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, the Gin Blossoms, Vampire Weekend, Billy Joel, The Tough Alliance, Missy Elliot, The Smiths, or Teenage Fanclub, these have sides, and specific moods. People can like them or not. When I hear these bands, there if a direct instruction to sing along and move my feet, but this is my personal translation. Some just don't go for it...I just hope it's for good reasons, is all.
Shame in good times is killing humanity. I say that with all the seriousness I can find in my mellowyellow self. I've made mistakes. I have. I've listened to music in the past that did nothing for me in an attempt to divorce myself from who I am. I love my old friends, the Jack Kerouacs and the Jim Beams, but these things bring no noise, bring no funk. There were a lot of inner voices at play during this time. The little adult said, "Baby One More Time is rotting your brain." The little angst-ridden hippie punk said "don't give in to the man, dude." The ugly poet in my heart told me, "stop being selfish, what's all this dancing doing for the world." And then there was me, the real one. I was in constant question but went along with my alternates thinking they could be right. I've since said bye to them.
"some call it vain,
others say vanity
comes from the heart
and not the head.
And it may be insane
but what is insanity
if not a cry for the truth
to be truthfully told..?" - Neil Diamond
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