Ol' Spirituals.

So, I've been checking out some new music lately. I've discovered two artists that, on their own, probably wouldn't rate an entry, but together have enough coincidence that I think, "Hey, I should blog about this."

Functionally, musically, the two artists have little in common. But they do have two notable similarities: First, they both use the word "Spirit" in their band names. The first, out of the UK, is "The Duke Spirit". The second, out of (I think) California, is called "Delta Spirit" -- but that's as indicative of their sound as it is of their location. ... I don't really get what they were going for.

Anyway, the second thing they have in common is that I checked them out because they sound like music I already listen to, or, at least, their front-persons do.

The lead singer of The Duke Spirit sounds just like Milla Jovovich. Even though she isn't. I checked. The lead singer of Delta Spirit sounds just like Alex Greenwald, lead singer of Phantom Planet. I mean, with the voice breaks and everything. He's not, though. I checked.

The Duke Spirit is old-school moody rock. You know the kind that manages to sound angry and anesthetized at the same time? It works for them sometimes, but their big problem is one of my top musical peeves: many of their songs sound exactly the same. Ugh. Still, I granted 5 songs from their album "Neptune" for iPod status. I liked "The Step And The Walk" enough that I corrected the shoddy lyrics floating around the internet; that and "Wooden Heart" are my favorites.

Delta Spirit doesn't have that problem. All their songs on "Ode To Sunshine" sound pretty different, which is awesome, because apparently that's harder to accomplish than I thought. Their problem, though is in their lyrics. They seem to like singing about The State Of Things and unfortunately they aren't as poignant and affecting as they probably think they are. It's like they're trying to mix earnest 60s idealism with self-aware hipsterism, and it's just annoying. You'll hear them start going on about "this world" in pretty much every song. It's okay when they're laying down some solid rock to back it up, which they do on several songs (one such being "People C'mon"). But generally, just ... no. I also synched 5 of their songs up to the pod, though I was probably being generous, because three of those are really great. One of them is a song called "Trashcan," in which the percussion is provided by - wait for it - a trashcan.

And that's it for this episode.

Tim Burton did not direct HBP.

I'm confused too. And hating WB right now.

omg Luna

... huh

It may be that you, like me, assumed that you wouldn't find $10,000+ jewelry in a catalogue.

It turns out we just weren't getting the right catalogues.

Just so you know, I do have other interests!

And I could tell you about those interests! Like what books I'm reading and what things I discovered just today that involve rock bands or kettle-dyed yarn. (I totally still knit!)

But I know that change is scary, so we'll leave it for another day.

Now here's something about That Book Series, You Know The One!

I just found this, and I laughed until I was in excruciating pain. The only thing I could say for five minutes, in-between the wheezing and giggling was: "oh my Christ." In case you were having the slightest twinge of curiosity, I will now save you the trouble of finding out how the Twilight series ends, and what you reaction would be, had you experienced it firsthand: Click!

Things I say in real life, but not on the internet.

In recent times, I have discovered that there are certain words and phrases that I say all the time in spoken conversations, yet rarely use on the internet. I suppose they're kind of like verbal tics, only somewhat longer. Conversely, many of my written tics (I'm looking at you, "totally" and "awesome") rarely find their way into my lingual utterances. (I'm far more likely to say "fantastic.")

In fact, I think the only word I toss out equally in writing and speech is "necessarily." I don't know why I love that word so much, I just really, really do.

Anyway. A list!

nonsense - As in "What is this nonsense?" and "I can't deal with this nonsense right now." Or "This is a lot of nonsense."

business - I actually got this from some post Will made years ago about his "bidness". I reverted it back to proper form and have been unable to give up saying it since. Before I discovered "nonsense" it carried a lot of the pejorative weight I imbue there, but now it's a more general description of any neutral happening. "Once we finish with this business, we can go do something else."

good beans - I have no idea where I came up with this, but I generally use it in the sense that you would use "good egg" and/or "good deal." If someone is kind to you, it is appropriate to say, "Aww, you're good beans." If you are eating a delicious meal, it is appropriate to say, "This is some good beans!" Even if what you are eating is not, in fact, beans.

in life/sometimes in life - This is an interjection on the level of "shit happens." Even though it frustrates my mother, this phrase is never completed with what goes on sometimes in life, or even with an appropriate elliptical tail-off. It just is what it is. Hey, sometimes in life.

absolutement/absolutes - A way to express a concordance of feeling. Does it get a little annoying? Oh, absolutes! Can it sometimes come off a little sarcastic? Absolutement! But then, so can most everything I say.

b-nans, et al. - For some reason, I sometimes want to reduce words to no more than two syllables. This mood usually strikes when I'm talking about foodstuffs. B-nans, to-mates, po-tates, etc. Stress is usually on the first syllable. Sometimes it makes what I'm saying incomprehensible, since I'm usually doing it on the fly.

HP is srs bsns.

JK Rowling wins copyright case.

Yay!!! I know I haven't talked about this at all, but I am really really happy right now.

Fuck you, Steve Vander Ark. Fuck your classifications, and fuck your Peter Pan syndrome.

Something I never imagined saying, yet did.

"I am honest to God not shitting you about the time-traveling cannibal mermaids."

I've heard this one doesn't suck.

But I don't actually know, so don't hold me to that. If you know, fill me in.

Some random (though generally entertaining and enjoyable) people on the internet have recommended the Gemma Doyle series of books. I've heard of that before, but I'm not terribly familiar. Apparently it's about a boarding school for witches. A movie is in the works (of course). I've been assured that the quality is ridiculously superior that Those Works Which We Do Not Name.

I kind of want to read it.

My desire stems mostly from wanting to see how close it is to the Story I've Never Written. Which ... I realize isn't very specific. At present I have between 5-10 stories I've never written at various stages of brewing inside my head. But this one is different.

When I was about 6-10 I had a series of dreams that were, basically, about a boarding school for witches. It was in one part clearly based on my experiences in summer camp, in another part clearly based on watching The Worst Witch too many times, and in a final part composed of my subconscious's unknowable fathoms. (If I've ever blessed you with one of my dream transcripts, you know.)

Anyway, I had a whole bunch of dreams about this. I don't usually have repeat or sequel dreams, and I've never had a dream series go on for as long. A story developed and scenes happened and it was generally kind of awesome.

But, um. A boarding school where you learn witchcraft? Not exactly a novel novel concept. Even though my story was totally nothing like Harry Potter. It may be like this series, though. I don't know! We'll see. Maybe.