thought of the day, 14: transformed

Sometimes a haircut and a pedicure are enough to make you feel like the best version of yourself again. Even if nobody else notices.

Team Leading, what what!!

After a very relaxed "interview," which basically consisted of me asking a couple questions and talking about my management skills, I received confirmation that I would be brought on board with New York Cares as a Team Leader! Easy peasy!

The way it works is there are weekly lists of projects in need of leaders. I've already looked at one, on which none of the projects interested me, but there are talks about launching a drama project, and hopefully I can be included in that. It's also a possibility I'll be able to co-team lead the music project I've been working on.

It's all very exciting. And I walked home smiling at everyone and everyone smiled back. It was kind of magical.

Now, if I could only figure out what the hell to eat for dinner tonight.

Vinnie, we hardly knew ye!

Did anyone else know that this guy and this guy were the same age?

Personally, I was mouth-agape-shocked.

Arcade Fire: Funeral

I must begin with a disclaimer. There seems to have been a misinterpretation of my intentions with this “column.” I am not, in fact, going to purchase new music every week and write about it here so you all will know whether or not to buy it. I just do not have the funds for that activity, sadly. Rather, this is a chance for me to write about the music I already have in my life because there’s plenty already here that moves and inspires me. Unfortunately, that means that several of my most faithful readers already own the music they will be reading about. Hopefully, that will not deter them.

My love affair with Arcade Fire began around the winter of 2006, when my brother stuck his iPod earphones in my ear and played me the ridiculously brilliant tempo change in “Crown of Love” from their album, Funeral. I admit, I wasn’t convinced just from that listen.

Somehow the entire album came into my consciousness. The first track, “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” grabbed me from its first airy piano notes and ascending guitar. The piano sounds like its being played underwater. Or is water. And then I started listening to the lyrics: “And if the snow buries my…my neighborhood. And if my parents are crying. Then I’ll build a tunnel, from my window to yours.” Later in the song, the lyrics tell of letting their hair grow long and living out in the snow. It’s reminiscent of Postal Service’s “Brand New Colony,” illustrating a powerful need to escape from life with someone, but here he’s singing about it with a passion that is somehow melancholy.

This album is sort of a smorgasbord. It careens from arena-anthem-like chants in “Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)” and “Wake Up,” which apparently U2 plays in their intermission, to near whispers in “Une Annee Sans Lumiere” (one of the bandmates originates from Haiti) and the use of haunting strings and a perfectly tuned tea kettle in “Neighborhood #4 (Kettles).”

“Crown of Love” is the crown jewel of the album, in my opinion. I didn’t quite understand the full resonance of it until I listened through the entire song and I continue to be floored by it. The song made me want to write epic novels, fall in and out of love, and run through the rain in summer all at the same time. It’s a stunningly orchestrated song, complete with violins that sneak up on you, vocal whispers in the background, a piano that cannot be contained, heartbreaking lyrics (“They say it fades, if you let it. Love was made to forget it. I carved your name across my eyelids. You pray for rain; I pray for blindness”), and a driving, suspenseful refrain that explodes into near-frenzied proportions. I think they must refuse to play it live because everyone would just spontaneously combust.

The album’s denouement begins with one of the band’s most famous songs, “Rebellion (Lies).” It begins with a driving drum beat, the kind that instigates a crowd to begin jumping up and down. I think it’s a song about an illicit affair; I don’t really know. But the star of that song is the key change within the chorus. It cuts like a knife. Every. Single. Time.

I must admit ignorance to the meanings of most of these songs and, being such an analyzer, that’s a difficult admission. But this is one of those albums in my world that I love because the music just grabs me in the first seconds and makes me die inside. And that’s a good thing.

Arcade Fire Stole His Basketball

This is some of the funniest commenting I've ever read. I had to link it here for all you music fans.

Again, read the comments.

You're welcome.

Sweet Relief

Quotes from the World of GChat:
"When I'm as tired as I am today, I have to go to the bathroom on a regular basis just to have an excuse to
a)walk around and
b)close my eyes for a few seconds."

A Self-Inflicted New Assignment

I'm blogging about my own blogging assignment. How meta of me.

I had two requests within about 10 minutes for a new regular blogging column. My roommate pointed out I hadn't blogged in almost a week, and my brother told me he missed my American Idol column. I've missed it too, truth be told, but I've been without inspiration to start anything I could write about as regularly as everyone's favorite show, American Idol. And I just realized that blogging about TV shows besides American Idol is hard because AI is a show one doesn't really have to WATCH to write about. Unlike So You Think You Can Dance, for example. Or even House. Although I do love those shows and watch them faithfully enough to write about, I think live-blogging them would sort of decrease the experience for me and, thus, for you. And nobody wants that.

So, my brother suggested I write about an album a week. And considering I have 5 days' worth of music on my handy-dandy iPod, this project could go on for YEARS.

Expect the first one tomorrow evening. I know you're excited.