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| Matt's World |
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Good Idea, Bad Idea Kinda liking that you can take advantage of YouTube to link to songs. Anyway, now that it's a legitimate time to listen to Christmas music (not for the last 2 weeks as some radio stations would have us believe,) I figured I might add some "classics." Good idea: A heart wrenching, eye opening, bittersweet melody about the world we live in, by John Lennon Bad idea: A gut wrenching, ear closing, synthesizer experiment, by Paul McCartney Good idea: A dramatic "rock interpretation" of a classic Christmas song by the Trans Siberian Orchestra Bad idea: A dramatic "rock interpretation" of a classic Christmas song by Manheimm Steamroller. (okay I admit the lights display is neat, but did the song really need to be "remixed"?) Good idea: A catchy, original mid 90s song by Mariah Carey. I mean she's had ups and downs, but she's definitely talented. Plus I couldn't think of another mid 90s song to match..... Bad idea: Um.... ba doing a doing??? (skip to 1:00) And a little treat, at least for me :) Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Fun With Anagrams With the second presidential debate just a few hours away, I thought it was time for a little anagram fun. Mainly among the VP candidates though: Joe Biden: Ranging from your more traditional "walk across the aisle" political pleas: Be Joined To your straight-shooting candidate honesty: I Need Job Sarah Palin: Slightly grammatically incorrect, future advice for Biden's male pattern baldness: A Hairs Plan Her, albeit a bit unusual, performance description for the 'talent portion' of the campaign: I Nasal Harp A self-satisfied taunt after a decent performance on the links: Ha! Nails par! Somewhat ironic considering last thursday's debate: A sharp nail No comment: Anal Parish And what the heck, a few Bushisms: A Canadian's response on hearing about Florida in the 2000 election: Bugs Gore, eh? The ultimate foreign policy: Hugs, beer, go! Friday, September 5, 2008 What were they listening to? I've heard before a quote along the lines of "There are no truly original stories. Just great stories retold." Of course this isn't a bad thing, necessarily, as a lot of great newer stories have evolved from old ones (West Side Story from Romeo and Juliet for example.) Nor can this be completely true lest we wander into the "prime mover" argument territory (who came up with the first story.) It's just an interesting way of relating stories, and it works for music, too. Some songs are actually artistic covers, some blatant ripoffs, and some, especially hip hop, sample other songs. Some are a lot more subtle though, and those I find perhaps most interesting. All I wanna do is go straight to hell Not necessarily subtle, but since this song's really big now, check out M.I.A.'s "paper planes" and then listen to "Straight to Hell" off the last album of the original lineup of the Clash. Basically the Clash intro is the riff for the whole M.I.A. song.... Ruby Soho can't fail Somewhere there's a great theory to be made of how all 90s ska/punk bands can be traced back to the Clash, who in turn draw from an amalgam of the Jamaican ska/reggae styles and no frills Chuck Berry rock and roll, which then goes back to when Robert Johnson sold his soul, but whatever. Here's a more subtle Clash "re-telling". The Clash: "Rudy Can't Fail" Rancid: "Ruby Soho" Once again, both great songs, and Rancid even names Joe Strummer in their album "Indestructable." Compare the Clash verse melody to the Rancid chorus. While my guitar is gently electric Okay, and how can you do an entry about song derivations without adding "the most derived band ever"? This is a risk since I haven't heard anyone else compare the songs, but check out Oasis's "She's Electric" then listen to the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". "She's Electric" is already very Beatlesque, but especially pay attention to the choruses. Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:50 PM DST It's the Most Woot. NCAA basketball postseason is underway, and the Pac-10 tournament starts today. -- Editor's Note: Technically the most wonderful time of the year is really next week when I watch the NCAA tourney in HD. Wednesday, March 12, 2008 1:45 PM DST It's the Most Stupidest Time of the Year Stupid Daylight Savings Time. Stupid microwave breaking causing a panic in finding a replacement to the cooking means of 80% of my diet. On a related note, stupid frozen pizzas taking 20 min longer to cook in conventional ovens opposed to microwave ovens. |