My Music Collection 1

Episode 1 “Lighthearted”

This is part of an ongoing series where I explain why certain songs that I like are important to me. Music rules my life and powers me through the toughest day. These are the songs that I can’t help but sing a long to when I’m alone or driving in my car. So sit down and listen to some of my favorites.

This installment is full of songs chosen from my MP4 Player that I like and are off a comedic bent.

Experimental Film by They Might Be Giants

This is a song I first heard off of the homestarrunner.com website where they have a music video for the song. I’ve always liked the TMBG sound and lyrics. Their sound is playful and their lyrics are often smarter than they seem. This song is about a guy trying to put together an experimental film but he’s not really sure what he’s doing. This is how I feel about my writing most of the time. I love the act of creation but I’m not always sure what the destination is.

Rocking the Suburbs by Ben Folds

Ben Folds is a great musician and a great song writer. You’ll hear that statement from me a lot. This song is an anthem of… nothing really. It’s about how the white suburbanite really has nothing to rebel against and doesn’t have much of an identity. It’s about not taking oneself too seriously. I have to keep reminding myself not to take myself too seriously.

Code Monkey by Jonathan Coulton

This is a song by singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton also known as JoCo to his fans. He’s a funny guy and plays a pleasant tune. This is a song about the day to day operations of a computer programmer. This song reminds me that I’m lucky not to be in a 9 to 5 job where my creativity would not be welcome. On the hard days I have to remind myself that being in showbiz is my dream and being in an office would be horrible for me.

Paint the Line (two songs) by Kristofer Straub
(Scroll down to “Cuts from the Original Soundtrack”)

I can’t and will never be able to say enough good things about Kristofer Straub. He’s a writer, a webcomic creator, a comedian and a great musician. I could go on and on (hmm blog entry idea!) but I will focus on his music here. The good thing about Kris’ music is that he seems to be playful and creative with it. Believe it or not, these songs are about ping pong and following one’s dreams. But really, it’s just a fun and funny couple of songs that I can’t help but sing a long to.

(PS I am in no way affiliated with Penny Arcade. Sometimes I wish I was)

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Royal Casino

(THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS OF A 3 YEAR OLD MOVIE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
(Written in IRC and thus contains timestamps and a response from Swashtech and TP)

I heard a lot of people raving about Casion Royale (2006) when it came out. I didn’t think that much about it at the time because there’s always a lot of hoopla surrounding a Bond movie. They’re blockbusters after all. I hadn’t heard of Daniel Craig who was kind of an unknown at the time. At least he was to me.

I told myself I would get around to watching the movie eventually. Finally, I sat down and watched the movie the other night on my laptop. I got a little snarky but I liked the movie quite a bit and I do recommend it.

(12:28:41 AM) KingMengi: Apparently this torrent is in black and white
(12:30:00 AM) KingMengi: Ok there’s some color
(12:30:20 AM) KingMengi: Well… many colors now
(12:30:42 AM) KingMengi: I don’t know how many drugs you have to take to come up with a Bond title sequence
(12:30:49 AM) KingMengi: A lot is my guess
(12:31:22 AM) Swashtech: I think Casino Royale had one of the best Bond opening songs ever.
(12:31:34 AM) KingMengi: It’s a fairly good song. Trippy but good.
(12:32:34 AM) KingMengi: Bond is ambushing people from behind the maths
(12:33:15 AM) KingMengi: Definitely shouting “YOU KNOW MY NAAAME!” over and over
(12:35:57 AM) KingMengi: Good times
(12:36:11 AM) KingMengi: Mongoose vs. Snake III… this time it’s personal!
(12:36:55 AM) KingMengi: And somebody just got a text message from a grouping of punctuation marks
(12:38:55 AM) KingMengi: When you dropkick somebody off a construction site they really get dropkicked
(12:40:16 AM) KingMengi: Out of bullets. Time to use Crane Style… on a crane
(12:41:15 AM) KingMengi: It’s true… white man can’t jump
(12:47:09 AM) KingMengi: Did he just say “weeping blood”?
(12:48:11 AM) KingMengi: “Christ, I miss the Cold War!”
(12:54:25 AM) KingMengi: …and Bond is now into grand theft auto
(12:57:52 AM) KingMengi: Random horse
(12:57:58 AM) KingMengi: with random girl
(12:58:42 AM) KingMengi: M is so hilariously exasperated all the time
(1:01:03 AM) Swashtech: It’s cause Judi Dench is too old. :P
(1:01:58 AM) KingMengi: I don’t think so. I think she’s awesome.
(1:02:15 AM) KingMengi: And Bond bankrupts the bad guy… movie over?
(1:02:31 AM) TemporalParadox: oh, no. not at all.
(1:02:44 AM) KingMengi: Yeah it’s only 35 minutes in
(1:03:05 AM) KingMengi: And Bond hasn’t gotten laid yet
(1:04:44 AM) KingMengi: God, Bond goes after slutty women
(1:05:42 AM) KingMengi: Bond is all “Let me get up in them guts” and the girl is like “Well, I’m married but ok”
(1:06:42 AM) KingMengi: Bond is a slut
(1:08:07 AM) KingMengi: Oh dude! Body Worlds! Best exhibit ever!
(1:09:36 AM) KingMengi: Still chasing that elusive set of punctuation marks
(1:19:27 AM) KingMengi: Wow… this truck scene is on par with the Raiders truck scene
(1:23:21 AM) KingMengi: Judi Dench had him tagged… thankfully not bagged
(1:27:49 AM) KingMengi: “James Bond, you’ve emotionally wounded me. Take me to bed now”
(1:29:24 AM) KingMengi: A woman delayed in going to bed with him? WTF?
(1:30:13 AM) KingMengi: Stephanie Broadchester hah!
(1:35:13 AM) KingMengi: And the prize for snarkiest Bond girl goes to…
(1:38:13 AM) KingMengi: Movie only half over… feels like it should almost be done
(1:41:57 AM) KingMengi: The villain has asthma?
(1:51:28 AM) KingMengi: Lady Macbeth reference
(1:51:36 AM) KingMengi: segued into seduction
(1:54:37 AM) KingMengi: Not since Maverick has Poker been so cinematic
(2:00:07 AM) KingMengi: America: We’re effing rich

(Note: This is where it got so awesome that I forgot to be snarky)

(2:31:29 AM) KingMengi: And the movie’s still going past 2 hours
(2:43:12 AM) KingMengi: Ok.. there’s CPR and there’s frenching a dead girl… they’re not the same thing
(2:47:30 AM) KingMengi: lol… that’s the best ending
(2:47:40 AM) KingMengi: Of any Bond movie ever.
(2:48:48 AM) KingMengi: “Mr. White? We need to talk” *Shot in leg*
(2:49:09 AM) KingMengi: It sure beats the pants off the Christmas Jones ending

Falling Down: Now and Then

Like most human beings I am affected by the force of gravity and thus I have a tendency to fall at inoportune times. Of course, this can be both hilarious and traumatizing. Usually traumatizing and then very funny after I’ve realized that I’m ok. I’ve become fairly good at falling over the years as most people do. At least, I hope most people do. Hell, I may just be abnormal in that respect. I am, in fact, somewhat clumsy although I can never gauge whether I’m more or less clumsy than others.

When I was in elementary school, around first grade I believe, I fell off a piece of playground equipment. I fell like a stone, of course, right down to the woodchips that covered our Narnia-sized playground. This piece of playground equipment has been torn down much like many pieces of equipment from my generation. Which is a shame because I can only remember two big injuries being caused by it.

Anyway, I didn’t just fall off what we called the “Old Ship”, I fell with consequences. See, I fell facing a vertical ladder. My forehead bounced off of the steel rungs once by one and when my head recoiled, the back of my head slammed into a heavy bulkhead. I fell to ground, landing on my feet but immediately fell onto my rear. My companions, Marie Graf and Rachel Gormley, hastened to my side as I sat down heavily on a well-worn piece of wood.

“I’m fine.” I said, cutting off their inquiries before they came. I reached back to rub the back of my head and my hand came away red. I think my heart stopped as I heard female screams. I think I was too stunned to scream myself. Someone must have gotten a grownup because before long I was in the nurse’s office and then the emergency room. I got two stitches, the first in my life.

That moment came back to me recently because I fell again. Now before you jump off your chairs in worry for my safety I didn’t need any stitches this time. I merely bruised the side of my left knee and, of course, my behind. Basically, I fell off of a ladder.

I arrived at my job in the morning to see my boss ready to work on the porch roof of the house we had built for Proof. He needed help so I grabbed a ladder and set it up on the porch and grabbed a battery-operated screwdriver that I will refer to as a “Screwgun”. Anyway, I climbed up the ladder quickly without realizing that the ladder was not fully on the platform. One of the back legs slipped off the edge and the ladder fell backwards with me on it.

Time seemed to slow down, as cliche as that is, and it seemed to take a minute to fall about 7 feet. This is what convinced me that I’ve learned how to fall because I didn’t freak out much and I spread out the contact. That way the impact was spread out over my body. The only reason I bruised my knee is because it landed on a bucket. I got off light this time and it made me actually laugh out loud and carry on with a jolt of adrenaline. I’ll keep you all informed.

Bonus: This song by Ben Folds reminds me of my epic fall from the “Old Ship” every time I hear it and yet a few people know it is one of my favorite songs.  It’s about when Ben Folds fell off the stage at a concert in Japan.

Ben Folds – Hiroshima