Instant Pleasure (Again)

We weren't blogging when we got this e-mail in our inbox:

"i saw and read your blog on "instant pleasure". glad you like the song. i wrote it. seth swirsky --rufus only sang it. all best,
seth"

So we're going to give credit were credit is due: Seth Swirsky wrote the song. And he's written a lot of songs, including "Tell It To My Heart". He also, apparently, has a pretty effin' cool baseball memorabilia collection.

ANYWAYS, I knew this at the time I did the blog entry but forgot to give Mr. Swirsky any credit. The most amazing thing about this song is that it was written for the movie "Big Daddy". That continues to blow my mind. How can a song so good, so 'spot on' some how find its way on an Adam Sandler film soundtrack? It only makes me love the song just a little bit more. But I didn't give Mr. Swirsky credit, so this is me giving him credit. Here is Seth Swirsky's website.

So my apologies to Mr. Swirsky, I didn't mean to slight him in the least. He wrote a kick ass song and Rufus sings it pretty damn well.

Read the original write up of Instant Pleasure here.

Where Is My Mind?

Where Is My Mind? by Pixies



When I broke up with my first love it was a Saturday night. Nothing really seemed real for the next week or so. I don't really remember anything. It was early April, I went to work, I came home, I don't remember talking or anything... all I remember is listening to this song over and over and over and over again on my walk home from work. My entire life had changed... like that... just by breaking up with a girl.

Sure we had dated for two and a half years and a routine is formed during such a long time... and that was gone. And with the end of the routine I sort of thought I was losing my mind. Only I knew I wasn't losing my mind... it's just when you're completely and totally numb to the world, well, you sort of feel like you SHOULD be losing your mind. To me it felt natural to be listening to this song. I kept asking... "where is my mind?" What else should I be asking? What else should I be listening to? So as "Misunderstood" became my break up song with The Lou, "Where is My Mind?" because my breakup song for EBS.

The interesting thing about the breakup song is that, well, it doesn't work for anyone else ever again. For example, I tried to listen to "Where is my Mind?" when the Lou and I called it quits, but it didn't work. It didn't fit. The song was for EBS and only our break up. The same holds true for "Misunderstood". That's for the Lou and only for me getting over the Lou. It can't be applied to or for anyone else.

The song is also the closing song to the "hasn't aged very well and it hasn't even been ten years" "Fight Club". One of the better closing songs to a movie that pops into my head...

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly by MIKA



1) I don't think I've seen a movie which featured Grace Kelly.

2) I have been to Monaco, well drove near it at least.

3) This is a fun song...

4) We're drunk, well actually, she's more drunk than I am. It's early summer. We're walking back from Sheffield's. I'm not sure who we were hanging out with, in fact, it was sort of a weird night where I was too often sort of on my own, attempting to figure out how much she was into me, things were going well but then here she was all over the place. But alas, when it was time to go, and we headed out the door together. Any worries that I had faded those first steps west down the Lakeview street. And then she announced that she wanted to sing. I laughed... "What?"

"Oooooo, I don't know, sing something!" she said in a fun, drunk voice.

And out of no where it came to me: "I can be brown/I can be blue/I can violet sky/I can be hurtful/I can be purple/I can be anything you'd like/Gotta be green/Gotta be mean/Gotta be everything more/Why don't you like me?/Why don't you like me?/Why don't you walk out that door?"

And for the next two blocks we sang the verse over and over. A three minute walk home turned into ten minutes. There was excitement in the air and we were enjoying each other and the moment. No one else existed but us. There were hugs and lifting and looking into eyes and touching and kisses...

From that moment on, every once in a while one of us would burst out into song and we'd both stop and sing, smiles wide on our faces, slowly make our way towards each other, and as we sang "out that door" we'd find ourselves in an embrace. We had no worries when MIKA was being sung, he could make any problem go away.

But in the long run life isn't a MIKA song, it's a Wilco song. But the MIKA songs are out there and they are the ones that you enjoy the most... even if they are bittersweet.

Even Better Than The Real Thing

Even Better Than The Real Thing by U2



The title of this song always taunts me. "What's better than the real thing?"

I don't know. I can't really think of anything that isn't real that's better than the real thing. Coke is better than Pepsi. Non-lite beer is better than Lite Beer. Real mayo is better than Miracle Whip. I can't think of anything that is worse than the real thing.

But at the same time... I don't think that's the point of the song. But if it's hard for me to believe that in 1990 U2 had a firm grip on virtual reality. I know Bono is a progressive dude and all, but would he really be thinking about the effects of virtual reality on society?

'Oh, you're totally off here, the song is about a girl and love.' Yes, I realize this, but knowing how U2 loves to be obviously unobvoius, I'm onto Bono's tricks. I think deep down, he's trying to be Radiohead BEFORE Radiohead existed... he's being obviously unobvious by writing a song about virtual reality disguised as a song about a girl.

So maybe Bono is being totally progressive and he's worried about the effects of virtual reality on love. But I say, he's a day late and a dollar short. Porn has already totally fucked up real love by allowing people, if they wish, to consume and indulge themselves in virtual reality. After all that's what porn is, virtual reality. A sick, twisted, fake, lustful, submissive, and misogynistic resperentation of reality. Porn is 2D and isn't real, you can't touch it or even have what is taking place. It is a virtual reality.

And that's the interesting thing about virtual reality. We've always had it... virtual reality has always been somewhere in the back of man's mind. Fantasies and fiction were really the first virtual reality machines... then came pictures and porn... and then the video, then the video game, and finally the actual things/boxes that you can go into and consciously shed yourself of all reality and live in a virtual world that you can see and hear (but not touch). We have, as a society, surrounded ourselves with machines that allow us to live in a virtual reality—apparently modern society is so ugly and such a grind we'll do whatever we can to not think about it and not even live in it.

So, say what you will about Bono and U2, but I'll give them credit here... nothing is better than the real thing.

Karma Police

Karma Police by Radiohead



Is Radiohead the hardest band to write about it?

For me... yes. I mean what do you say? For the most part, their lyrics are ambiguous. Yorke has admitted as much—his words mean little to nothing, just pieces or lines of the thousand of words he's written. If the words fit... then they go into the song. So even though I'm not a lyric guy, it's next to impossible to be literal with Radiohead.

Then their is the sound, which is so complex, imo, that attempting to explain it is fruitless (especially considering you can just friggin' listen to the song).

So what you get are amazing songs, that mean nothing, sound great, and attempting to jump start the memory... just doesn't happen for me. I can't say that Radiohead has ever been a soundtrack to any part of my life... because if I'm listening to Radiohead, I'm listening to effing Radiohead. That's it. I'm not making out with a girl or cruising with the windows down and a good friend next to me. Radiohead isn't that kind of band. Just as the Blues Brother's Band wasn't the type of band that wrote letter's to you in prison, Radiohead isn't the type of band that you have on in the background.

GfC

GfC by Albert Hammond, Jr.



This song just came out like two weeks ago, I like it, but I have nothing else to say about it, but...

The other day a few friends and I were hanging out. Sitting on a porch, enjoying a perfect night, drinking some beers, talking about whatever it is we talk about (music, movies, and policy). Anyway, some how we started talking about a guy that we all know. I casually mentioned how he had hooked up with a few girls (again, we knew all these girls). This guy had dated someone about a year ago, and a friend of the ex was there with us. Who knows if she knew about the hook ups, but she asked some further questions about it. Nothing big, just more confirming what everyone already knew.

Here's the thing though: no one would have said anything about this guy if his ex was there with us. But his ex obviously wanted and wants to know what he's been doing.

I only point this out because it's true with pretty much everyone I know. After we break up with someone, we want to know what that person is doing. Only no one will ever tell us what that person is doing. We have to go out on our own find out and then ask others if what we think happened happened. It's as if our friends are scared to tell us what they know about our exes... even though we're obsessed with knowing what our exes are doing.

Now, when this occurs, are our friends protecting us? By not saying anything to us, are they protecting us or are they doing us a disservice? If we ask for an update—why is it then okay to tell? And by asking for an update on an ex, we feel like we're obsessed nut jobs who appear to be unable to get over an ex. So we don't ask. No one wants to tell us what they know out of fear of... Lord knows. And we don't want to ask because we don't want to come across as obsessed "I can't get over her" whack jobs.

Forget about the Prisoners Dilemma—someone figure out the Ex Dilemma.

Born To Run

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen



I've never been asked what the most American song of all time is, but let's pretend.

Mag: What is the most American song of all time?

Me: That's not tough. It's Springsteen's "Born to Run". It's completely over the top. Despite coming out of the gate with it's engines roaring, the song still some how manages to build up over time. There is a saxophone solo, which is quite amazing when you think about it, since in a weird way this rock song weaves jazz into itself.

The lyrics are not only in your face and completely unapologetic about it, but they aren't all that sophisticated either. And it tells a brash story of two young lovers who hit the road or want to hit the road, I've never really figured that out, but either way it doesn't get more American than the road.

And Springsteen sings the song so urgently that by the last verse you actually sort of want to run off with your lover. You want to escape whatever it is your doing and hit the road... so even when Bruce sings "Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims/And strap your hands across my engines" you can't help but smile even though they might be two of the cheesiest lines in music history. I mean, everything about this song screams tacky: the sax solo to the piano and the bridge and then finally the lyrics "Tramps like us baby we were born to run"... and in many ways America is tacky. Everyone on Manhattan and the morons in D.C. always forget this—but America is unbelievably tacky. We're loud, brash, careless, big, and unsophisticated; but Americans are also not idiots. We're comfortable with our fast food and simple plot lines.

But in the end, this song is the American Dream. For Springsteen the song was a last ditch, all-or-nothing shot at the big time, which is probably why he sings it so well. The song is really about him and his last chance of getting out of Middle-of-nowhere, New Jersey. If this song doesn't make it, then he's forever stuck. So it's all or nothing for Bruce. It's the American Dream in one 270 second song.

Bruce Springsteen may be cheesy and bizarrely pretentious, but he's also livin' the American Dream and that's the whole point of America isn't it?

Mag: Come on, of all the Springsteen songs, let along all the songs ever written about America, "Born to Run"?

Me: Yes. I dream of the day where I'm driving a Ford F-150 down some road in London or Paris or Moscow with the windows down and "Born to Run" blasting from the stereo. How great would that be? And that's my point... the greatest American song has to be something that combines the American Dream, tackiness, and, in the end, a fuck you to the rest of the world. Bruce Springsteen did this. We should give him more credit for that accomplishment.

Across the Universe

Across the Universe by the Beatles



I'm sure there are bands out there who changed as much as the Beatles did in terms of song writing, style, and even ability over the course of their career. But no one has ever done it as well as the Beatles. Think about it—the Stones pretty much kept writing the same style song over and over again. Even when they 'broke away' like on "Exile on Main Street", really it's just stripped down Stones songs off of other albums. The Who tried different means of writing (the rock opera), but Townshend never really changed his style, he always wanted to rock out. U2 claims they have, but they really haven't and when they really did they didn't do it nearly as well. As R.E.M. and Pearl Jam matured, they weren't nearly as good. Bruce Springsteen didn't even bother to even try to change. Marvin Gaye did on "What's Going On" but then went back to being Marvin Gaye (only more sexual). And every singer song writer just keeps writing the same type of song over and over again. The only band I can come up with is Radiohead. Early Radiohead and Radiohead of today is like two different bands. And the same is true for the Beatles.

The Beatles were a pop band, and they remain the greatest pop rock band. But, and I'm not breaking any new ground here, in the mid-60s the Beatles basically said "fuck it" to pop and set out to write killer songs—even Paul (once in a while). John was the most ambitious, and sometimes it didn't work, but much of the time it did (thanks, apparently to Paul, who was the best thing ever to happen to John Lennon, only John Lennon sort of forgot this/never realized this. Even though I think every music critic would disagree, John needed Paul more than Paul needed John. This is probably because Paul is a pretentious bore and wasn't murdered by a rabid fan, therefore we give John the benefit of the doubt. But most great Beatle songs seem to have Lennon as the main author, but it was Paul's subtle influence that put many of these songs over the top).

Like Across the Universe. Paul's influence is limited, but like all songs by the Beatles, someone was saying something to these guys in the studio. Who it was and what it was is always sort of a mystery, but it's obvious it was going on since neither Lennon or McCartney even came close to writing songs during their solo career that can compete with their work with the Beatles.

Pictures of Lily

Pictures of Lily by The Who



"Pictures of Lily solved my childhood problems/Pictures of Lily helped me sleep at night"

It's line likes these that make Roger Daltrey the most under appreciated vocalist in rock'n'roll. Daltrey had the privilege of singing so many of Pete Townshend's lyrics. Usually this wasn't too big of a deal and Daltrey even at times make Townshend's words and ideas his own (see Tommy).

But then there were times like with "Pictures of Lily"—a nearly three minute ode to masturbation. Daltrey (sheet metal worker turned one of the greatest font men ever) sang the song anyway, even though this, like most Who songs, was all Townshend. I've always wondered what Daltrey did when he got a really twisted song from Pete... did he say anything? In all the biographies and other things I've read on The Who and Daltrey, I only know of one time where Daltrey refused to sing a Townshend song ("However Much I Booze"). Daltrey must have been comfortable and understood that he was just Pete's messenger, not his editor.

As a pop song, it's pretty awesome. Townshend's greatest pop songs always seem to have a real dark or twisted side to them ("Blue, Red, and Grey" and "I Can See for Miles and Miles" come to mind). Catchy with a great hook, you're humming the song and tapping your foot to it from the get go. Just another example of the twisted genius that is Pete Townshend.

Dyslexic Heart

Dyslexic Heart by Paul Westerberg



Fun! The lead song of "Singles"! And who doesn't love "Singles"? Despite "Reality Bites" efforts, "Singles" really is the defining GenX/early 90s movie. "Singles", while uneven and even over the top, doesn't get annoying like "Reality Bites". Therefore I give "Singles" the nod. The only lesson anyone can take from the movie is that every girl is looking for a guy who says "Bless you" after she sneezes. Oh, and that totally bizarre Xavier McDaniel cameo where he couldn't have delivered the line any worse... Who can forget that?



Plus I've always sort of wanted to live in that apartment complex in Seattle.

OK, so if "Singles" is the defining movie about GenX, that's a pretty poor representation of Generation X. I'm no GenXer, but I'd have to say the definite piece of art that fully captures GenX is David Eggers "A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius". Sure, people have their problems with it, but think back to when you read it (or go read it) and you can't help but feel the GenXness oozing out of the memoir, starting with the title (a somewhat ironic title that was probably lost on most people). I'm sure when we look back, 20 years from now, we'll view GenX the much like the lost generation. Stuck between the Cold War and the War on Terror. A generation lost in Seattle but who recolonized New York City at the same time (and to a lesser degree Chicago, and San Fran?).

But back to the song, what exactly is a dyslexic heart? It's not a heart that's backwards or understands people the wrong way. Westerberg, apparently is frustrated by all the single women out there giving him so many signals, and he apparently is always reading these signs incorrectly. Therefore his heart is dyslexic. This then makes pretty much every male on Earth dyslexic—we never read women correctly, especially early on. I've got to admit, a fun but disappointing song considering that Westerberg was the leader of the Mats.

Not Even If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth

Not Even If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth by the Dandy Warhols



For the first few years of college I really liked the Dandy Warhols. Now... I haven't listened to them in years. I was totally disappointed by their third album and never bothered to buy another one after that.

This song is over 10 years old now, and I'm trying to figure out if it could even be called cutting edge at the time. As Courtney Taylor-Taylor sings over and over again, "heroin is so passe". I guess... but I've never thought of heroin as an old trend, which is what passe means after all. LSD is probably passe. But heroin? I don't think so... but maybe it is... I don't know, I don't do drugs.

So what is passe? I alway say New York is passe just because so few trends actually start there. New York thinks it's cool, and it is, but it isn't the coolest.

Hipsters are passe.

Socialism is passe.

I could go on and on and on, but lists are passe too.

Theme

Theme [from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind] by Jon Brion



That sound that you may be hearing? That's my heart being ripped out with those first bass notes. But let's start at the beginning...

My search for this song began years ago while listening to This American Life. Every once in a while during the show, between parts in one of the many stories they tell, they would sometimes use this song. And I loved it. And a search began to find this song... Google was used, websites looked at... but nothing.

And then, two months ago, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind found it's way to the top of my Netflix queue, I brought it with me to Florida over Memorial Day, I popped the DVD in and... there were those bass notes, followed by that haunting instrument, I'm not even sure what it is, but that sort of whistling/swirling sound... and then the piano begins. And I had found that sound that I had been searching for for months.

Then I watched the movie... at first I was lukewarm, but as I look back, it has moved it's way into the top ten movies I've ever seen. Why? Because I'm still thinking about it two months later.

[Spoiler Alert]
I liked the idea and how the movie explored the whole "is there only one person in the world for everyone" subject. Even after Joel and Clementine's memories are erased, they end up meeting each other and begin to fall for each other all over again.

I love that thought. Even after they have tried to wipe the other from their mind, Joel and Clementine have too much chemistry, too much attraction, too much likeness. As the Great Spaniard Enrique Iglesias once sang: They can run, they can hide, but they can't escape their love.

I like the thought that there is only one person for me and I'm going to be that one person for someone. I guess that's egotistical, but that's better than just 'falling' into someone at different points in ones life. I like this idea more than thought that love occurs when it's convent and socially acceptable. That the person you meet, when you're single and 25 isn't the person you love and end up with because you're single and 25, but because that IS the person you're supposed to be with.

But the flip side of all this, of course, is the break up. If you love someone, and then you break up, whatever the reason... that love doesn't go away over night or over a week or even over a few months. Love dies slowly—if ever at all. So why is it that when we break up with someone we love that we try and pretend that we didn't? Or why do we do whatever we can to forget about that person? Why don't we just embrace our love and try and make things work? Why don't we surrender to our own love? Is the pain too great? Is loving someone that painful? We have to realize that we can't escape our love.

So I say embrace our love for one another, live with that love, and let it decide everything. The pain hurts, the rejection of love is truly tragic. But as time passes, that love for the girl (or guy) will abate. I'll meet new people, I'll fall in love. The person I fall in love with will be the one I was meant to be with. Love will win the day.

It just may take a few days...

As the movie played on, and Joel ran from his memories, my relationship with the Girl was the only thing I could think about.

And that's why, the song, ever so slowly rips out my heart. Each bass note slowly pulls a string that rips my heart out of my chest, little by little, bit by bit, over 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

Portions for Foxes

Portions for Foxes by Rilo Kiley



I am always surprised by this song. I've never thought of Rilo Kiley as the type of band/artist who could write lyrics that seem like they come from a Chuck Klosterman book or something. Any fan of Mr. Klosterman* might take that as a sort of cheap shot at him... but it's not indented to be. The song is just sort of a dumbed essay that Chuck has probably written...

The song isn't all that complicated. For some crazy reason, the people who are the worst for us are the ones we want and can't be without—that's the song. "And you're bad news/My friends tell me to leave you" we've probably all been told this, I've been told this, and I sure as hell have said something like that to a bunch of friends. But despite this, we stay with this person or if we're without this person we're pulling our hair out and thinking/realizing about how easy it would be to be as insane as Rob Gordon. Sometimes the ones who are the worst for us are some how the best... or we tell ourselves this.

Of course there is a fine line, anyone that leads you to self-destructive behavior is someone that you should leave high and dry. But I've never thought that this song went down that path... it's more the selfish girl or the guy who can sweet talk his way back into your life, only to stop calling you after a few months of hanging out once again. Why do we stay with these people let alone let them back in our lives? I'm it has to do with some sort combination of sex, potential, passion, and belief that we can change the other person.

Which brings me to the one part of the song that I don't like—that somehow sex removes all the mystery of a person... Umm, no. Not at all. That couldn't be more untrue. If anything, sex only makes someone MORE mysterious. Assuming of course, the person you're sleeping with is someone you actually, you know, love.

* I am a big fan of Mr. Klosterman's work.

Rise Up With Fists!!!

Rise Up With Fists!!! by Jenny Lewis


According to Jenny Lewis, trying to change someone is like cleaning the ocean... and she's right. It seems odd that changing would be so difficult, but it really is. Sure we change how we dress and who we hang out with, but changing who one is... well that, for whatever reason, is really effin' hard to do.

But why? Why is it so hard to change? Why are we so set in our ways and our personality? Why is it that we can't actually make the necessary changes to be a better person? Why is it that we all too often continue with self destructive behavior? And why is it that we think we can change other people, or at the very least, our loved ones? And why is it that change, if it does occur, a gradual process that takes months or years for it to happen?

Most people that I know are at least somewhat self aware—they know what their vices are and most people are conscious of their negative personality traits be it pride, stubbornness, arrogance, or whatever... so if we're aware of these negatives, why is it that we constantly continue to fail or fall into the same negative behaviors? Why is it, that whenever I get a bit frustrated in a relationship my gut reaction is to bolt and get away... not necessary break up, but get out of the situation at the moment? Why don't I stick around and get going with the toughness?

(Okay don't answer that, that can be summed up to immaturity).

But just because I know this and know that I can't and shouldn't do this... well I have a history of doing it. And this isn't good. And I want to change it, I'm going to change it, but will I change it?

At some point I'll have to—if I don't... well we all know.

So why is change so hard? And why can't I change my negative traits?

And here's the real kicker about change and relationships... the right person? That's the person you have to change with at the same time and at the same rate... but that's another day.

Hallelujah

"Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley



One of my general rule of music thumbs is that the original song is always better than the cover. Otis Redding's "Respect" is, imo, better than Ms. Franklin's, Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love" is better than the U2 cover. I'll even take Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" over the Hendrix version.

But there are two notable exceptions:
1) Goat's cover of Fall Out Boy's "Sugar, We're Going Down" (when I finally write about this song, I think the post will just be me staring at the screen for 45 minutes).
2) Jeff Buckley preforming Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

I was going to say, Buckley totally makes this song his own and that it's nearly perfect... but I've been beaten to the punch:

"No one has made a cover this much their own since Hendrix made people think Dylan was covering him. Buckley's voice is more haunting than on any of his own tunes. His voice soars to hit notes that Cohen couldn't quite reach, giving the song life that Cohen surely intended but couldn't achieve."

Buckley had great lyrics to work with, the opening verse alone is probably one of the best in all of music:
I heard there was a secret chord/That David played and it pleased the Lord/But you don't really care for music, do you/Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth/The minor fall and the major lift/The baffled king composing hallelujah

When you're working with words like that, it's hard to mess up the song, as countless number of artists have proved. Cohen, as noted, never quite can sell me when he sings the song, but with Buckley you feel just about everything that Cohen was probably hoping to get across. The song is about making music and love... and Buckley gets this across just that little bit better than Cohen.

A beautiful song, a powerful song, one where the imagery that the lyrics gives us... of David playing for the Lord and then his later affair with Bathsheba... well it's great. And Buckley wows making this is own song, leaving us singing Hallelujah long after iTunes has moved on to the next song.

Babylon

Babylon by David Gray



I bought my sister this album for Christmas in 2000. It might have even been a Friday night, going no where, when I bought the album. I spent much of the fall of 2000 walking around Georgetown. This was my Friday and Saturday nights, I'd eat at 6ish, while reading a book, then take the Metro to DuPont. I'd then go west along P Street into Georgetown, then criss crossing the side streets where some of the rich and famous of D.C. live. Usually I'd stop at the Barnes & Noble on M Street and sit for a half hour or so, listening to a few albums in the process. With no where to go, I would eventually make it to Georgetown University and walk around the campus a bit taking in the boys and girls rushing off to whatever party or bar they were running off too. Then it was time to go back, this time east down Q Street... just to change things up a bit. I'd get back to the dorm between 10 and 11, right after the roommate had left for a night of drinking and hitting on girls (he had a decent success rate).

I was lonely, but I didn't entirely mind it at first. I was 18 or 19 and a freshman in college surrounded by East Coasters whose ignorance amazed me. I wasn't really making friends, so long walks in Northwest DC was what I did. It wasn't until right before Thanksgiving that I actually got lonely—and that's when I started making friends.

Over the next three and a half years, once in a while I'd still take a night to walk around Georgetown. I love the area still today and while I don't miss those nights, almost ten years ago now, walking around, I am a bit nostalgic for those nights alone, where my only worry was loneliness.

All I Want Is You

All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar



The scary thing about art are those times when you're looking for it to answer current life situations. When life is good or status quo this isn't much of a problem. You watch the movie, take in the song, read the book without much thought about how life is or isn't like whatever it is your consuming. When things are good, you can enjoy the art for what it is. This is why art imitates life.

But when things are bad, well... life starts to imitate art. Art becomes another answer or insight to one's current position. Underachieving? Flip on "Good Will Hunting" and suddenly you ARE Will Hunting. You identify with everything Will is going though, sure he's a math wiz, but that's not the point when you're underachieving. Only Will Hunting knows how you feel. When you snap out of whatever funk you're in, you realize that this is outrageous—you aren't Will Hunting because Will Hunting only exists in a movie.

Right now I'm in one of those, life imitates art stages. When I saw "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" I tried to find meaning in my own breakup with The Girl—why couldn't we be Joel and Clementine? (well maybe not those two, but the true loves who couldn't run from love and fate). And then I saw Juno last night... and well I couldn't help but think of about a few people.

Juno WAS The Lou.

The world sees The Girl as Vanessa, which is unfair and made me sad. I know better than that, I know about her complexities, passions, and how she's oh so much more interesting and real...

I could and may very well probably become Mark.

I even saw the Girl and my relationship in Mark and Vanessa. Mark gave up so much for her, everything really, and he discovered that he didn't like it. Mark's immaturity lead him to the alter with Vanessa (irony!). Personally, the Girl and I didn't break up for the same reason, I hadn't compromised everything, in fact I wouldn't allow her to censor me. And that's why we broke up (of course it's much more complicated, but you catch my drift). As much as it sucked then and now maybe it means I won't become Mark...

Anyway, as the post-breakup shit unfold it eventually led the Girl to tell me something that no one had ever told me: "I'm not the right woman for you, Bobby."

And now when I think about what The Girl said, Mac's words to his daughter seemingly are coming out of the Girl's mouth at that moment. The Girl had seen Juno about a week or two before.

Life imitates art.

Elephant Love Medley

Elephant Love Medley by ummm, Moulin Rouge (Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor & Jamie Allen)



One of the better ideas of the last few years has been these mash ups that litter the Internets. From the Grey Album to half the non-whata-be-on-Pitchfork-someday bands on My Space, mash ups seem to be all the rage. And they're cool, fun, and interesting. Mash ups get a thumbs up in my book.

This classic from Moulin Rouge may be the best 'mash up' yet, even though one would never think of it as a mash up, but that's what it is. It takes a bunch of songs and combines them it to a wonderful ditty to the ears then call it a medley (or a mash up). Only a bitter cynic or a "player" could dislike Elephant Love Medley.

And I love this song, hopeless romantic that I may be, I like it all from love lifting us to where we belong to being heroes, just for one day... it gives me hope. That yes, love can win the day and will win the day. And what's wrong with that? Love and hope can get us though pretty much anything, and that's a wonderful thing. Ewan's eternal hope and quest for love is something we should all strive for in our lives.

EBS' best friend, Patty, and I would sing this drunk in DC five years ago now. I'd take the Ewan parts, she'd take the Nicole parts and it was always fun. Always.

She Moves in Secret Ways

She Moves in Secrete Ways by Polly Paulusma



I'm not sure where I found this song or even when I first heard it, but some how I ended up with this song on iTunes in the last few years. Now that I think about it, my best guess is that The Lou gave it to me on some mix CD three years ago...

Anyway, I have no clue who Polly Paulusma is or any of her other works, but she gets it done here. The song meanders and appears to be in no rush to get anywhere, just like a walk between two people who have known each other for a few weeks and are thinking about maybe, just maybe sticking around. Polly's pretty voice takes us though the lyrics, peaking whenever she sings "she moves in secret ways".

The romantic/pop culture fool in me pictures this song being played during some scene in a movie - a kiss and she walks away, just a few feet in front of the guy as he smiles sheepishly at first, but then grinning like luckiest man on Earth. You know, one of those moments that we all dream of and wish that could happen to us... and if they do it's always in a memory, often bittersweet, thinking back at a time when something similar to this happened...

Random thought: I sort of wish I could hear Jeff Buckley do this song.

Violet Hill

Violet Hill by Coldplay



Is Coldplay the most obvious unobvious band ever? On the face of it, just raising this question seems inane—the number of bands who are marketing creations would seemingly bump Coldplay out of contention right away. But think about it, Coldplay wants to be U2, they act like U2 in commercials where they're trying to look like U2. Coldplay is copying a band who set out on being the most obvious and pretentious without being pretentious band over 20 years ago. The only time that U2 didn't do something obvious was probably in the late 90s when they stuck with the whole "Pop" era stuff. Both 'shifts' in U2's career were actually fairly obvious:
1) Achtung Baby was really not all that big of a musical shift when you listen to the album. The biggest difference between Achtung Baby and previous U2 ablums is that Bono didn't try to write any obnoxious, yet lovable, songs like "Pride" or "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".
2) All That You Can't Leave Behind was really the only album U2 could make after "Pop". Call it a return to U2's roots or just call it an album that hasn't aged well AT ALL even though it was released less than 8 years ago.

Right after (or right when) All That You Can't Leave Behind came out, Coldplay struck it big with Yellow. A one hit wonder they were not since once one heard "Shiver" you knew Chris Martin and friends weren't going away. They had talent. And they backed it up with their second album which while maybe not as good as some fans claim, it's not as bad as some critics claim either. On their third album, Coldplay tries to sort of do what they did on their first two albums, only they don't, and aside from the bridge on "Speed of Sound" the album has more throw up moments than anything else ("My song is love" the first line of "A Message" is the worst line in music history and I will not argue this, even with Bill Simmons).

So what does Coldplay do to follow up? They hire Brian Eno to produce their next album—I'm not even making this up. Hiring Eno was the most unobvious obvious move a band like Coldplay could make. The thinking must have been, "If we hire U2's producer he'll make sure we don't sound like Coldplay!" Instead what Coldplay told the world was: "We're a poor band's U2, only we don't cover U2 songs and we never talk about Jesus." (BTW, I'd pay good money to see Coldplay cover U2 songs for two hours. It's also pay good money to watch Oasis cover Beatles songs. And I think it'd be awesome if Jet actually covered the songs they ripped off on "Get Born").

Anyway, back to Coldplay, their fourth album, Viva la Vida something and it goes on, is completely and totally underwhelming. Why? Because it is so friggin' unobviously obvious that it can't be any good. If it was obviously unobvoius I might be able to take it, but it's the other way around, and therefore I'm left listening to the same four tracks.

And good tracks they are. This song is surprisingly good, maybe it's because I totally relate to the song, always dangerous, but true at the moment. "So if you love me, why'd you let me go?... If you love me, won't you let me know". Sometimes love just doesn't go the way it's supposed to go. As U2 sang, and the Beatles too, pride can be a very very bad thing and unfortuntally gets in the way of love.