yeah. my bracket is falling apart as usual.
peace dudes,
Michael
Grilled Pizza
15 years ago
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ah crap.
I know, I know. I missed another day. Album 2 will come soon enough, so the 2 people who actually read this need not worry.
Also, I may start using relevant titles for blog posts every so often. Maybe.
Jai guru deva,
Mai
Also, I may start using relevant titles for blog posts every so often. Maybe.
Jai guru deva,
Mai
Monday, March 16, 2009
Man, I'm tired of singin'
I am sick. Again. I was too lazy to think about what to write yesterday, but I'll see what I can come up with now. Ahem. Day 3. Album 3. Oh, and here's #s 5 and 4: Album 5, Album 4.
#3: Parachutes
As great as The Lion King Soundtrack and Thriller are, they weren't enough to keep me from falling back into my "listen to whatever is around me" phase. Without any specific knowledge as to what I was looking for in music, I went through a pop music phase, an oldies phase, a mainstream rap phase, an underground rap phase, and listened to whatever else my friends at the time were listening to up until college. It's not necessarily bad, but I found that when the time came for me to choose what music I wanted to listen to on my own, I didn't really know what to do.
Fast-forward to Sophomore year at Fordham. My dear friend Andy Shea has been my musical guru over the past year, showing me artists that I may like based on the little information I could tell him about my tastes. Weezer. Elliott Smith. Bright Eyes. Damien Rice. Brand New. Some I liked, some I didn't, but at the time I was willing to listen to anyone that would add to my ability of naming artists I was a fan of. One day, Andy found out (unsurprisingly, I'm sure) that I had never heard any of Coldplay's albums (namely Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head). Not wanting to throw too much at me at once, he just gave me Parachutes and asked me to devote enough time to give it a good listen. Like Thriller, Parachutes was one of those albums that made me smile and go, "Cool." However, unlike Thriller, it finally helped motivate me to find an artist that I liked and do more research about him/her/them. "Everything's Not Lost" showed me what a great ending track is supposed to sound like, and left me feeling so satisfied (insert double-entendre here) that it became my favorite song on the album (and my favorite Coldplay song. The Live 2003 version is unbelievable.) It isn't a perfect record by any means (I don't care much for "High Speed" or "We Never Change"), but it's one that I am literally always in the mood to listen to.
Many people prefer Rush of Blood over Parachutes, citing Rush of Blood as an album with more "substance" (even Chris Martin doesn't seem to like Parachutes very much). I guess I know what that means, but substance aside, if I enjoy an album, I enjoy an album. I think that should be a cardinal rule of music; if you like something, then you like it. That's it. I think people make that a lot more difficult than it has to be sometimes. Of course, that doesn't mean someone can't like Rush of Blood over Parachutes; Rush of Blood is a fantastic album as well, it just didn't impact me as much as Parachutes did. I don't even think I've explained very well how and how much it impacted me, aside from gushing about how much I love the album. Long story (really) short, it helped me give me solid ground to stand on in terms of defining my musical preferences, which is something that this and the final 2 albums all have in common.
Yeah!
Mahna mahna,
Mai
As great as The Lion King Soundtrack and Thriller are, they weren't enough to keep me from falling back into my "listen to whatever is around me" phase. Without any specific knowledge as to what I was looking for in music, I went through a pop music phase, an oldies phase, a mainstream rap phase, an underground rap phase, and listened to whatever else my friends at the time were listening to up until college. It's not necessarily bad, but I found that when the time came for me to choose what music I wanted to listen to on my own, I didn't really know what to do.
Fast-forward to Sophomore year at Fordham. My dear friend Andy Shea has been my musical guru over the past year, showing me artists that I may like based on the little information I could tell him about my tastes. Weezer. Elliott Smith. Bright Eyes. Damien Rice. Brand New. Some I liked, some I didn't, but at the time I was willing to listen to anyone that would add to my ability of naming artists I was a fan of. One day, Andy found out (unsurprisingly, I'm sure) that I had never heard any of Coldplay's albums (namely Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head). Not wanting to throw too much at me at once, he just gave me Parachutes and asked me to devote enough time to give it a good listen. Like Thriller, Parachutes was one of those albums that made me smile and go, "Cool." However, unlike Thriller, it finally helped motivate me to find an artist that I liked and do more research about him/her/them. "Everything's Not Lost" showed me what a great ending track is supposed to sound like, and left me feeling so satisfied (insert double-entendre here) that it became my favorite song on the album (and my favorite Coldplay song. The Live 2003 version is unbelievable.) It isn't a perfect record by any means (I don't care much for "High Speed" or "We Never Change"), but it's one that I am literally always in the mood to listen to.
Many people prefer Rush of Blood over Parachutes, citing Rush of Blood as an album with more "substance" (even Chris Martin doesn't seem to like Parachutes very much). I guess I know what that means, but substance aside, if I enjoy an album, I enjoy an album. I think that should be a cardinal rule of music; if you like something, then you like it. That's it. I think people make that a lot more difficult than it has to be sometimes. Of course, that doesn't mean someone can't like Rush of Blood over Parachutes; Rush of Blood is a fantastic album as well, it just didn't impact me as much as Parachutes did. I don't even think I've explained very well how and how much it impacted me, aside from gushing about how much I love the album. Long story (really) short, it helped me give me solid ground to stand on in terms of defining my musical preferences, which is something that this and the final 2 albums all have in common.
Yeah!
Mahna mahna,
Mai
don't trust anyone that...
doesn't listen to bob dylan
doesn't love dogs.
wise words.
pop pop mothafuckas,
michael
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Seaweed Is Always Greener in Somebody Else's Lake
Here we go. Day 2 of My (insert name-related pun here) Top 5 Album Countdown. If you're looking for the first post, which contains the synopsis of the countdown as well as my #5 album (and just happen to be too lazy to scroll down), here you go. Now onto album #4...
#4: Thriller
Before The Lion King, there was Free Willy. I'm sure the Free Willy soundtrack doesn't make many top 5 lists itself, but the album had on it a song called "Will You Be There" by some former motown prodigy named Michael Jackson. Now, these next few sentences may leave me wide open to hackneyed (thank you, SATs) and uncreative jokes, so please try to contain yourselves. Michael Jackson was the first artist I can remember declaring as my favorite artist to listen to, even if I only knew a few of his songs. After stumbling upon a few videos of him performing onstage, I eventually decided that Michael Jackson was the greatest performer of all time (even if he was only one of a handful of performers I had ever actually heard/seen/could recognize). In fact, it wasn't until years after I had decided that Michael Jackson was my favorite artist that I saw him moonwalk across the stage. That video clip still amazes me to this day.
As the Napster era rolled around, music became infinitely times easier to get a hold of, and as a result, my Michael Jackson discography expanded exponentially. All it took was the simple process of typing in "michael jackson" and hitting the search button. But one day, after discussing musical preferences with my best friend, he asked if I had ever heard the album Thriller. Of course, at that point I was still listening to singles and individual songs, and the only albums I owned were Astro Lounge by Smash Mouth and some *NSync and Britney Spears albums (that's a whole other story within itself), so the answer was no. Eventually, my friend burned me a copy of Thriller, and the rest is HIStory (that may be above some of your heads, and for that I apologize). All I can remember is listening to it non-stop after school and thinking, "If other albums are anything like this, then I've really been missing out." Even though the main reasons behind naming Michael Jackson as my favorite artist were pretty misinformed and short-sighted, Thriller gave me the argument I needed to finally back up my opinion. It's only 9 tracks, but I can't remember ever skipping through any of them.
However, what really sold me was happens 3 songs into the album. Tracks 4, 5, and 6 may very well be one of the greatest tracklist trios to have ever been recorded on any album. Thriller. Beat It. Billie Jean. A musical Holy Trinity. While Michael Jackson is no longer the sole owner of my "favorite artist" spot, I'll always remember how he and his music was able to make me stop and think, "Wow." Thriller is what helped me see beyond singles and individual tracks. It helped opened my mind up to the powerful effect that a few songs can have when put together in the right way. It's why I think I fall under the 5% of the population that would have zero qualms about going to Michael Jackson's final tour in Europe. It's why I was so shocked when some people didn't realize Rihanna and Kanye had sampled songs off the album. I'm telling you, he's innocent.
Stay classy,
Mai
Before The Lion King, there was Free Willy. I'm sure the Free Willy soundtrack doesn't make many top 5 lists itself, but the album had on it a song called "Will You Be There" by some former motown prodigy named Michael Jackson. Now, these next few sentences may leave me wide open to hackneyed (thank you, SATs) and uncreative jokes, so please try to contain yourselves. Michael Jackson was the first artist I can remember declaring as my favorite artist to listen to, even if I only knew a few of his songs. After stumbling upon a few videos of him performing onstage, I eventually decided that Michael Jackson was the greatest performer of all time (even if he was only one of a handful of performers I had ever actually heard/seen/could recognize). In fact, it wasn't until years after I had decided that Michael Jackson was my favorite artist that I saw him moonwalk across the stage. That video clip still amazes me to this day.
As the Napster era rolled around, music became infinitely times easier to get a hold of, and as a result, my Michael Jackson discography expanded exponentially. All it took was the simple process of typing in "michael jackson" and hitting the search button. But one day, after discussing musical preferences with my best friend, he asked if I had ever heard the album Thriller. Of course, at that point I was still listening to singles and individual songs, and the only albums I owned were Astro Lounge by Smash Mouth and some *NSync and Britney Spears albums (that's a whole other story within itself), so the answer was no. Eventually, my friend burned me a copy of Thriller, and the rest is HIStory (that may be above some of your heads, and for that I apologize). All I can remember is listening to it non-stop after school and thinking, "If other albums are anything like this, then I've really been missing out." Even though the main reasons behind naming Michael Jackson as my favorite artist were pretty misinformed and short-sighted, Thriller gave me the argument I needed to finally back up my opinion. It's only 9 tracks, but I can't remember ever skipping through any of them.
However, what really sold me was happens 3 songs into the album. Tracks 4, 5, and 6 may very well be one of the greatest tracklist trios to have ever been recorded on any album. Thriller. Beat It. Billie Jean. A musical Holy Trinity. While Michael Jackson is no longer the sole owner of my "favorite artist" spot, I'll always remember how he and his music was able to make me stop and think, "Wow." Thriller is what helped me see beyond singles and individual tracks. It helped opened my mind up to the powerful effect that a few songs can have when put together in the right way. It's why I think I fall under the 5% of the population that would have zero qualms about going to Michael Jackson's final tour in Europe. It's why I was so shocked when some people didn't realize Rihanna and Kanye had sampled songs off the album. I'm telling you, he's innocent.
Stay classy,
Mai
Saturday, March 14, 2009
You don’t have the technology OR the steady hands to pull off a procedure like that
What up thugz,
Well, well, well, It's been a while my good friends. Spring break is upon us! What wonderful news. Midterms are over, and now it's time to lay back, and relax. And by relax, I mean watch college basketball until my eyes decided to divorce my optic nerves/face. My nose would be very lonely.
In other news, I like that this blog has some substance now, maybe it can become one of those really famous blogs that people talk about. Maybe like one that tells people U2 will be playing on a college campus. There's no ceiling here people.
On another condiment related note, McDonald's has the tastiest sweet and sour sauce there is.
Peace, Love, and March Madness,
Michael
I Think I'm Getting the Black Lung, Pop
Some people are under the impression that my knowledge of music is somewhat extensive. This is false. I'm pretty sure I missed that entire phase where kids start to develop their own musical tastes. This phase did not happen for me until halfway through my Freshman year at Fordham and is still far from refined. Granted, I understand that many people change their musical opinion every day, and that it never really stops changing for good (unless you're a pretentious tool). However, what I'm saying is that 2 years ago, if you asked me what kind of music I liked, or what my favorite band was, or what some of my favorite albums were, there would be a brief pause followed by me churning out lie after lie about bands or albums that I knew I was supposed to like. To further that point, let me give you an example: before "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," I had only heard of the band Death Cab for Cutie and never any songs by them (or, consequently, Postal Service). As a result, because the word "death" was in their name, I had always assumed that they were a hardcore band. So yes, up until 2006, maybe 2007, I thought Ben Gibbard and Co. were hardcore rockers out to terrify the world. And no, that story was not misrepresented in any way to make it seem more ridiculous than it is.
Mundane rambling (aka "pulling a Pennacch") aside, the main point is that up until now, there are only a handful of albums that I think I could really say are my "favorites," and I think writing down and reasoning out why that's the case would be good for me (and the blog. It's about time someone added some (fake) substance around here). This was partly inspired by that Facebook nonsense about "20 most influential albums in your life," but 20 is far too many for me. I think I'd be able to list maybe 15 if I included albums that I'd just heard and liked. In any case, I have 5, and we'll do this from 5th-to-1st, "worst"-to-first, album-by-album, step-by-step, day-by-day. And yes, this is also because I believe my opinion is so important that you should all have to read about it. So here we go, starting with number 5...
Mundane rambling (aka "pulling a Pennacch") aside, the main point is that up until now, there are only a handful of albums that I think I could really say are my "favorites," and I think writing down and reasoning out why that's the case would be good for me (and the blog. It's about time someone added some (fake) substance around here). This was partly inspired by that Facebook nonsense about "20 most influential albums in your life," but 20 is far too many for me. I think I'd be able to list maybe 15 if I included albums that I'd just heard and liked. In any case, I have 5, and we'll do this from 5th-to-1st, "worst"-to-first, album-by-album, step-by-step, day-by-day. And yes, this is also because I believe my opinion is so important that you should all have to read about it. So here we go, starting with number 5...
#5: The Lion King Soundtrack
It's not a cop-out, I promise. Now, like many of my peers, I have a pretty vast library of Disney songs deep within the corridors of my mind. However, when it comes down to it, there really isn't any Disney album that can even compete with The Lion King's soundtrack (aside from the latest Jo-Bros endeavor, of course). Even if I had no knowledge of any other Disney songs (and hence no childhood), this would still make my list of top albums. Day after day, my mom would put the cassette in as she drove me to school, and day after day, I would go through every song on Side A, singing every word as loud as I could, then flip the tape over to Side B and repeat. It was one of the first times I ever really remember putting that much of myself into anything music-related.
Unfortunately, there is a story related to me singing a song from this album which, coupled with an 8th grade story about me singing with my friend's band at a Chinese retirement home, would scar me for life and leave me feeling as though I never wanted to sing in front of anybody ever again. I've begun the road to recovery over the past 2 years, but I'm still incredibly self-conscious about singing out loud. It's partly because of the fact that I don't have confidence in my singing ability, but mostly that, while I'd prefer it if people would (kindly) let me know if my singing was bothering them or not, most people wouldn't have the heart to tell me, so I'll never know if I'm wreaking havoc on anybody's eardrums. The fact that Mike is a modern-day Liberace doesn't help, either.
There it is. 1 down, 4 to go. Exciting.
Welcome to earth,
Mai
Unfortunately, there is a story related to me singing a song from this album which, coupled with an 8th grade story about me singing with my friend's band at a Chinese retirement home, would scar me for life and leave me feeling as though I never wanted to sing in front of anybody ever again. I've begun the road to recovery over the past 2 years, but I'm still incredibly self-conscious about singing out loud. It's partly because of the fact that I don't have confidence in my singing ability, but mostly that, while I'd prefer it if people would (kindly) let me know if my singing was bothering them or not, most people wouldn't have the heart to tell me, so I'll never know if I'm wreaking havoc on anybody's eardrums. The fact that Mike is a modern-day Liberace doesn't help, either.
There it is. 1 down, 4 to go. Exciting.
Welcome to earth,
Mai
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