Dreamy Music Videos

Do you ever sleep when you dream?

Many days now, I have this wonderful 'dead' time betwixt class and work, or class and class, or class and skipping class. Anyhow, I've been using this time for naps, or as some might call them 'mid-day slumbers.' Long story short, I lay down, crank up some tunage, and let the music do what it do. And recently 'what it do' has been making me have music video dreams. The beauty of it is that they're all so incredibly different. Most of the time, they're very abstract; but today I had one that changed me a bit (in a totally superficial, possibly deep way).

Today, the song "Hard Candy" by the Counting Crows was somehow meshed into another dream of sorts and created this coherent whole of a story. I've tried and failed at recapturing any glimmers of the dream, but I can tell you it was awesome. The lyrics became a mix between dialogue and narrative. All I know is that it was powerful. I thought the song was just okay before the dream, now I can't seem to get enough of it. I get faint glimpses of the dream every time I hear it.

Anyhow, dreams have been messing with me a lot lately.

Random PS: I figured I'd throw this out there randomly. No idea where the thought came from, but High School relationships are dumb. Stop me if any of this rings true to you.... It may have just been me, but my High School relationship was so much like every romance movie I've ever seen, it was uncanny. And I honestly believe that every immature relationship sounds just like a chick flick. It's really sad that as youth, we get all our dating/relationship cues from the movies and TV. Let me tell you a little about my past. It's been a while since High School, so I laugh at it now. Every time I tried to tell her how I felt, I was waxing poetic. It was bad. I'm not saying that none of it resembled the truth; I'm just saying that it was waaaaaayy exaggerated. Talk about freagin mushy stuff, man. Everything had to be so dramatic. It had to be one way or another. It was crazy. It was mad dashes to the airport to say goodbye one last time. It was 7pm on Lifetime, only I wasn't a stalker or abusive or a dishonest rapist... okay, maybe not off of the Lifetime network (which I might add... if 'male' was a race, Lifetime would be the most racist network on the planet). But, it was 100% chick flick material. My love letters alone could write 2 or 3 scripts. Okay, enough of that. Feel free to leave some love about your High School 'movie' relationships... or wacky dream music vids.

Top Tens

Yeah, I realize my last post was a bit lackluster. Hopefully I can make it up to you. I was reading through Brett's blog and it occurred to me to make a list. Sure, some day I might post my top ten songs of the now, but for now you get the better list. Here it is folks:

Top 10 Songs I Can't Stand: And The Women Who Love Them (okay, not the women who love them, but possibly an explanation to my disdain)

Frankie J - More Than Words: How could Frankie do this to me? If you're going to take a timeless classic from a rock powerhouse like Extreme, you'd better not sound like a soprano possum in a blender.

Creed - My Own Prison: And every single other Creed song. I played this card (and by card I mean song) because it more accurately describes how I feel when I hear it.

Black Eyed Peas - My Humps: Does anybody else think this sounds like a song about breast cancer? I've been told they wrote the song in 15 minutes making fun of current pop music. However, it is now current pop music. That's fine if it's a joke, but they are way better than that. And they have ruined the radio for me.

P!nk - Stupid Girls: I heard this stupid song on the radio the other day, and it confirmed that I should never listen to the radio ever again. Somehow, it's currently number 9 on iTunes top downloads today. How? How? How? This song alone makes me realize why other countries hate America. Not only do we put up with crap like this on the radio, but people actually buy it. Hey, I've got a song idea. It goes something like this, "I'm sitting on my computer and writing a song. It's really dumb and I've got no talent. But guess what, you suckers'll buy it anyways if I throw in a nice beat and manage to play it on the radio. And they'll play anything these days. I win."

Kids Bop CDs: Yeah, I know this isn't a song, but the whole idea gives me nightmares. Typically, I like music until I hear my kids that I work with singing it. I don't know what it is about it, it just gets under my skin. I've had too many of my favorite songs just bludgeoned to pieces by the youth of our day. Actually, I do know what it is. Kids have the worst taste in music. If it's on the radio, on their station, they like it. If not, they hate it. I was the same way... I used to love absolutely dreadful music. So, they've got awful taste in music, they soil my songs by singing with the same dirty lips they just put on that P!nk song.

Trace Adkins - Honky Tonk Badonkadonk: If you've ever heard of Cross Canadian Ragweed, they were passed up by the record label that thought this was a good idea for a song. Needless to say, Ragweed got the better part of the deal. Can you imagine such musical masterminds placed in the same frame of reference as this rubbish. If you've never heard the song, you don't need to. The title speaks mountains. Lesson to any country artist: please, please don't use urban terms. You can't pull it off. Especially years after the term has perished. Dear Mr. Adkins, Big & Rich nearly killed their hit by using the phrase 'bling bling,' learn from their mistakes.

Eminem - Encore Album: Save 2 or 3 tracks, this album was a waste of money. This album was just plain offensive... and I'm not talking about the content. When I say offensive, I'm talking about the effort. No matter what you think about the guy's life, his decisions, his subject matter, you have to admit that this guy has some serious talent. I have been a fan since well before his first single "Hi! My Name Is." He's clever. He's smart. And he's willing to take risks. But his latest effort was absolute drivel. There was no wit. Or, I guess his new version of wit: fart and gay jokes.... and even worse, not clever or funny. The only difference between this CD and a big fart joke is that I actually laugh at fart jokes... or admire their wit to say the least. Heck, I still laugh when somebody pulls a finger, but this just doesn't cut the mustard.

Wow, I thought I could actually get 10. I've got three left... chances are I'll hear all three when I turn the radio on in the shower. Moby nearly made the list, but techno is not music.

So, there you have it. These are the tracks that give me that feeling I had in my tummy the night I tried anchovy and cream cheese pizza.

Trains

I had this thought the other day. "If you're not on the right train, you had better not be on the right track." You might think to yourself, 'Dang just another stupid Nick quote that means absolutely nothing.' And you'd be close to right. There's something good in there and I'll let you figure it out for yourself. It's kinda like the surprise in the middle of a blo-pop. You break through that fancy candy coating and you've got one delectable treat on the inside.

And as far as trains go, I want to share a travelling game with you all. You can do it at home, but it's way better on vacation. It's a little game I like to call "Background... Check." Essentially, you find yourself in a tourist hot spot. From there you look for people getting their picture taken. Then, your job is to get in the background of the picture and act like they were taking the picture of you. Big smiles and body language go a long way in the game. While it's better to not get caught, don't count it as a total loss. To better play the game, think about how great your subjects will feel when they get their photos developed... or see them larger on the computer... and find your beautiful happy face in the background. The main rule of thumb is to be energetic and happy. You don't want to bring them down when they see you. Do it often and be creative.

Another camera game you can play is to go up to people with a camera, and act like you are going to ask them to get a picture of you. Instead, ask if you can get a picture of them. Okay, it's not a great game, but it's fun to do to nice old people.

Ointment.