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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Invalid Item" "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
 | Day 17 | "Crazy Angels" by Carrie Underwood I really like this song and think it's probably one of the better examples of Carrie Underwood's songwriting abilities. The lyrics are great, and I like her more upbeat stuff. The only thing I'm really not a fan of about this song is how she's trying to sell it as a brand during her performances. At numerous performances, she's defined a "crazy angel" as a "good girl who likes to have a good time," which kind of feels like one of those things that someone else can say about you but is a little forced when you try to use it to define yourself. And, man, is she pushing that identity hard. Other than that, though, I really like the song. Good lyrics, good beat... this is the kind of country music that I gravitate toward. I'm less of a fan of country ballads and slower songs, so this has been a fun one to listen to since it was released in 2022. |
| Day 16 | "You Keep Hope Alive" by Mandisa & Jon Reddick See, 🌸 pwheeler - love joy peace  ? I told you I had a Mandisa track on my playlist this year!  I've been listening to this song a lot over the past year, it's probably my most listened-to worship song aside from "Battle Belongs" . I actually found it on YouTube of all places, on a recommended mix playlist after I had been listening to some Christian songs for a few days. I had never heard of Mandisa (or Jon Reddick) before that, but instantly fell in love with their voices and the collaboration they've put together.Mandisa is actually from my hometown. She was born and raised in Citrus Heights, which is only about 20 minutes from the Sacramento suburb where I grew up. It was actually where we went to see movies until I was a teenager and a theater opened in a closer suburb. I also didn't realize that she was a contestant on the fifth season of American Idol, where she came in ninth. I also learned (courtesy of Wikipedia) that Simon Cowell apparently fat-shamed her for most of the season, resulting in this remarkable story: Idol judge Simon Cowell made several comments about Mandisa's weight after her successful audition. He first quipped, "Do we have a bigger stage this year?" Then, when Paula Abdul commented that Mandisa had a "Frenchie" growl to her voice, Cowell responded that a more apt comparison would be to France itself. When Mandisa presented herself to the judges prior to the final cut-down to the season's 24 semi-finalists, she told Cowell: "What I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody. I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you." Cowell told Mandisa that he was "humbled" and apologized to her immediately. |
| Day 15 | "Digital Love" by Larkins This is a song that I just discovered toward the end of last year, so I haven't had a chance to really get into the other music that Larkins has done to this point, but I love this song and I'm excited to check it out. I also really love the video for this song, which it notes at the beginning was "shot on February 17, 2021 between 12AM and 6AM in Central London on an iPhone." The empty streets and sidewalks and storefronts are a really powerful reminder of this pretty remarkable time in history when almost the entire world was sheltering in place for literally months and months. In other news, today (February 15th) marks the 20th anniversary of the day I joined Writing.com. It's hard to believe it's been twenty years; thinking back I realized that I signed up for this site while I was still in college, less than a year into my move from Sacramento to Los Angeles to pursue film school... and I can't even begin to count how many poems, short stories, and scripts ago. It's pretty remarkable; I've joined and left dozens of online communities in that span of time, but I've always considered Writing.com a kind of home. Somewhere I could work on my writing and build friendships no matter what else was happening in my life. I'll do a more detailed post reflecting on my time here, but... yeah... 20 years as of the 15th of this month...  |
| Day 14 | "Slow Song" by The Knocks (feat. Dragonette) This is another one-off song that was recommended on a Spotify playlist. I haven't really taken the time to listen to much else by The Knocks OR Dragonette, but I really liked this song and added it into the regular rotation of my listening last year. This past year, I've really gotten into electronic (especially electronic pop) music and have just been enjoying finding these standalone songs even if I'm never going to do a deep dive on the artists and explore their entire music catalogues like I might do with a singer/songwriter. The music features Aquaria as the central character, who was the winner of the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2018. |
| Day 13 | "Ghost" by Justin Bieber On the thirteenth of this month, I was actually in the Sacramento area for a dedication ceremony for my mom. After her passing in November 2020, the county fire department approved plans to build a memorial at my parents' local firehouse with a bench, plaque, and a free "little library" where people can come to borrow a book and return it, or take one and replace it with another one. My parents had been instrumental in starting the local fire safe council (a nonprofit that helped the community raise funds for clearing dry brush, fire awareness education, etc.), and my mom was an avid reader, so it felt like a really nice opportunity to celebrate her, especially since my dad has no plans to do a formal memorial service. This was a song I listened to a lot over the past year since its release, and I'm also including it because Justin Bieber was just in the news for selling his entire music catalogue to a private equity firm for $200 million. And, on the face of it, $200 million is a whole lot of money (I think it might even be the biggest sale of a musician's catalogue (Bob Dylan's sold for $150 million, I think). But Bieber is also a relatively young artist and it seems to me like the catalogue might be more valuable in the long run if he has years and years left of making music, touring, etc. I can understand why older artists might sell toward the end of their careers (it's easier to enjoy and then bequeath cash rather than music publishing/licensing rights to your descendants) but I'm really curious whether $200 million will end up being a steal for the equity firm in the long run, if Bieber keeps performing and making music. Strange times we live in, where bankers are buying music rights from artists. Then again, they're trying to buy up pretty much everything else (real estate, trademarks and other intellectual property, naming rights, etc.) so why not music catalogues as well?  |
| Day 12 | "I Hate Myself For Loving You" by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts My other "blast from the past" song for this year's "The Soundtrack of Your Life" playlist is from Joan Jett. While "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" is probably their most famous song (and also one of my favorites), I rediscover this one from time to time. The last time was in 2018 when it was featured on the soundtrack of Ready Player One and I listened to it a bunch back then. It popped up on my Spotify suggestions playlist again this year, and I found myself listening to it a lot this past year. I love Joan Jett's voice and the band's whole sound. They have a number of really iconic songs (this one included), and whenever I go through a classic rock phase in my listening habits, at least one of their songs is almost always featured on my playlist. |
| Day 11 | "Since You've Been Gone" by Rainbow I hadn't heard this song for years, until it popped up in the trailers for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3. I had completely forgotten about it and I'm pretty sure the last time I listened to it was back when my mom used to drive me to school in the morning and we would listen to the local classic rock radio station on the drive. Say what you want about James Gunn, but he does know how to pick great songs for his movies. The thing I love most about this song is that my three (almost four!) year old daughter loves it. I was reviewing some trailers one night and she asked me what song it was. I told her it was by a band called Rainbow, and she loves rainbows, so she asked to see the music video of the song, and to add it to her playlist that we play in the car on the drive to and from her daycare. She'll literally get buckled into the car some days now and go, "Daddy? I want to listen to Rainbow." And when it comes on without her requesting it, she'll say, "Oh, that's my favorite song!" So this song definitely got a lot of play late last year and early this year since our family rediscovered it. |
| Day 10 | "Hold My Hand" by Lady Gaga While I do like this song a fair bit, I'm including it in my playlist this year more for the movie that it's from. Top Gun: Maverick was a real surprise for me; a decades-later sequel that actually felt like a movie worth making, rather than a cash grab, an attempt to play on nostalgia, a half-hearted remake, or all of the above. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and thought they improved on the original in a lot of ways. I'm not sure it's quite Oscar Best Picture nominee material, but never bet against the Academy's cynical efforts to stay relevant.  One of my favorite things about the movie is actually a popular fan theory. SPOILER ALERT for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet. The fan theory goes that, during the prototype test flight at the beginning of the film, Maverick actually dies (ejecting out of a hypersonic jet at 10Gs is... not something someone is likely to survive), and the rest of the movie (from his convenient landing back in the USA after going partway around the world, to a storyline where he reconciles with Goose's son, finds love with a long-lost acquaintance, and helps a new generation of fighter pilots succeed in a generic mission against an unspecified enemy, including a beach sports game as a high point of his bonding with them, just like when he was younger in the original film) is his subconscious working through his unresolved issues and giving him peace before he finally dies. The reason why I love this fan theory is because it actually explains some of the convenient moments in the movie better than just assuming they're all random.  Anyway, Lady Gaga has a great voice and always manages to create compelling songs. But the reason this one is on my list this year is because Top Gun: Maverick also happens to be one of my favorite films from last year. |
| Day 9 | "I'm In Love With You" by The 1975 Even though I used a song from The 1975 from a previous year ("It's Not Living If It's Not With You" way back in 2019), I had somehow completely forgotten about this band until this song popped up in my Spotify recommendations again this year. In reading through that earlier entry, apparently I made the exact same mistakes as back then, assuming they were an older band (their sound is very 80s). I also made a comment about how great their album titles are and that streak continues... since that blog post in 2019, they did release Notes on a Conditional Form and this song is from their 2022 album called Being Funny in a Foreign Language.The lead singer Matty Healy has apparently found himself in hot water recently for an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show podcast where he apparently made several disparaging comments about multiple racial/ethnic groups, and implying that Harry Styles is queerbaiting his fans. This probably shouldn't come as a surprise from someone who has inciting strong responses to his antics in the past... he's also known for kissing audience members during his concerts, once sucked on a fan's thumb, and often makes weird statements and commentary between the songs of a set. So there might very well come a day where he's just too weird or controversial to keep seriously following... but in the meantime I really enjoy his band's unique throwback sound. Every time they put out a new album there's at least one or two songs on it that make me feel like I'm reliving my childhood in the 80s and early 90s. |
| Day 8 | "Visions" by Rozzi I have a handful of artists who were featured on my playlist last year and just happen to be making another appearance this year because I found another song that I really enjoy from them. Rozzi's song "66 Days" was the one I listened to last year, and this year it's "Visions." The first song was more about discovering a new artist with a unique sound... I featured "66 Days" because it was kind of old school funky, with a good beat and something that I could listen to pretty much anytime I wanted a pick-me-up."Visions" is from the same album (Bad Together, her only full album), but there's something a little deeper and more sophisticated to it. I found myself listening to this song a lot when I was feeling a little melancholy last year; I find myself gravitating to songs like these more and more over the years, where I can really appreciate a song that blends a little hopefulness and hopelessness together. Someone who understands how to make music that reflects the often bittersweet nature of the world. I've been listening to Rozzi's full album an awful lot, and I'm really excited to see what she comes up with next. I think she has a really unique sound and what I hope is a bright future in music. |
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