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Jan. 19th, 2006 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Meme. Tagged by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lenine2. Memes are more interesting when you've had a bit of Scotch, which I have, on top of a bit of Turkish coffee, which I have. Yay!
I am also doing this one in cooperation with Z, because it's more interesting and easier that way.
5 Albums that changed your life:
1) Hole-- Live Through This.
One of the first pop-culture-ish CDs I owned, given to me by my sister. Courtney Love is so bad, but so good. Nobody screams "FUCK YOU" quite the way she does. [I Think That I Would Die: 2:45 seconds into the track.]
2) Morphine -- Yes
This one's Z's. He persuaded his older sister to buy it, and then bought it himself as well. "It didn't change my life, per se, but it changed my musical tastes."
More significantly, among the first things Z ever sent me, back when our relationship was almost exclusively e-mail with a smattering of snail-mail, was a mix tape of Morphine titled "freaky sax" because I had expressed a dislike of saxophones, which saddened the sax-playing Z. (Not that he's played since high school, but... I played clarinet in high school, which meant that I was next to the saxophonists, and that's enough to make anyone hate alto sax with a blinding passion. Morphine, however, can undo that.)
3) the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack
I don't even own this one, but I liked the songs on it enough to start looking up the artists on it elsewhere. I got way into Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, and mostly, just learned to sing some really odd little songs about being drunk and not in love. (note: Z hates both Lucinda and Gillian.)
4) B. B. King -- Boxed Set
Z went to see B. B. in Syracuse and it was incredible. It was a really great venue, too. He was still able to stand, then. He had to sit, by the end, but he could still kinda rock out, back then. Now he just has to kinda mellow out in a grandfatherly sort of way, which is still cool, but different. B. B. got Z into blues. A full third of the iTunes library we share is blues.
5) The Chieftains -- The Chieftains 7 (Buonaparte's Retreat)
My dad had this record when I was a kid, and listened to it once in a while. Actually the Clancy Brothers were probably more of an influence on me-- I learned to sing by singing their songs to the horses, because Tiger would get really excited when he heard the feed bin open, but if you sang really loud he wouldn't hear you and wouldn't mug you.
I was actually quite the singer, in high school-- I was in two a cappella groups. And for both auditions, I sang Clancy Brothers songs. But, sadly, I only had tapes, and tapes haven't made it to mp3, and I really don't listen to the Clancy Brothers anymore. But I could probably sing you most of their stuff. Want me to do a phone post? I will totally dial LJ up and bellow you a good old Irish Song of Rebellion.
5 songs that changed your life:
Confession: I'm just using this as the music post I was practicing for this morning. This is pretty much just 5 songs I think y'all should have. Where possible, or practical, they're off the above albums, but not always.
1) I Think That I Would Die, by Hole. YouSendIt link, will expire. This is a very good example of the sort of world-ignorant angst I experienced at age 15.
2) I'm No Heroine (Live), by Ani DiFranco, off her live set, Living In Clip. Someone left this CD in the player at the place I worked freshman year, and it did totally change my outlook on a lot of things. I hate the studio version of this song, but this is a good version, especially the quiet debate at the beginning about torturing her drummer.
3) Away With Ye, from the Chieftains' album Buonaparte's Retreat. For those who care, this is an excellent example of the early revival of Irish folk. It was these guys who changed it from something old people did in the country to something young people listened to in the city, and this is a nice example to contrast with more modern examples of neo-Irish-folk like Danu's The Beauty Spot/ The Maid Behind The Barrel (that link won't expire; that's my personal site. Right-click to download.)
4) Morphine -- Empty Box (link to personal site: right-click to download). A Morphine song kicking around my server-- one of their good, moody, mysterious ones. A review once criticized them for having shallow lyrics, but you know, the lyrics aren't the point, the voice is just another instrument and they're all about the mood.
5) Cordero-- Vamos Nenas-- Cordero Live Cordero and Big Lazy were two bands that Z often would take the train into Manhattan (and over to Brooklyn) to see, when he lived alone in Jersey. I went with him to see Cordero once. They rocked. I danced onstage. I! Danced onstage! (I don't dance.)
5 films
Eh. I don't watch movies, much.
I own Scotland, PA; Tampopo (a Japanese flick about ramen noodles; watch it sometime); the LoTR trilogy EE version by Jackson; The Price of Milk which is notable mostly for being a Magic Realism flick starring Karl Urban that got him the part of Eomer in the above; and the boxed set of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. I don't buy films unless I really, really like them, so there's your list, I guess. Films don't occupy the place in my head that they do in that of most people. I think they take over too much of my brain.
5 books
1) Lady Gregory: Cuchulain of Muirthemne. Her 1905 classic, the first translation into English of the 4th-century Irish Ulster Cycle of myths. I read this in 11th grade.
O Emer, the man is yours, and well may you wear him, for you are worthy; what my arm cannot reach, that at least I may wish well to.
2) Thomas Kinsella, The Tain. This is a 1960s re-translation of the above, by a poet: where the Victorian-era lady removed the mentions of shit and fucking, Kinsella revelled in them, and this is a far more readable, less-ethereal, earthy delight that I return to again and again. (I read it in 12th grade, and then again my junior year of college. And then of course again and again and again after that.)
"If you came any closer," Cuchulainn said, "I would have to kill you, and that would be a pity."
3) The Two Towers, by JRR Tolkien. Specifically, Book 1. I never read the second half. I love the first part; love the camaraderie and horror of the Hornburg, love Eomer's mercurial enthusiasm, love Treebeard's nascent environmentalism and far grimmer understanding of the brutal ways of nature. And yes, Boromir's death scene, and Aragorn's beautiful insecurity. That was so important to me, at eleven: he didn't know what the fuck he was doing, and knew lives were hanging in the balance, but all he could do was soldier on as best he could.
4) Neuromancer, by William Gibson. One of the first cyberpunk novels, and the novel in which the Internet was first (theoretically) invented.
5) Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, by Bill Watterson. Both Z and I read this book, a collection of Watterson's early Calvin & Hobbes comics, when we were slightly too young, and it was part of our consciousnesses as we developed consciousnesses. (I know it's the second book, but it's the first one my family bought. It's got a better title than the first one.)
It traumatizes both of us that there are people our age and younger who do not know who Calvin is. Or Hobbes. And who don't laugh at the jokes. "HEY! Wake up, you stupid cretin! You wanna sleep while I get eaten?" Pure art.
I'm supposed to tag people, I guess, but the few times I've actually done so, most of them have ignored me. Still, chosen at something of random:
Hmmm, who would be interesting? and who don't necessarily know each other, and so won't see this otherwise? Hmm...
I tag:
jennnlee
radaromalley
kkatowll
silverwerecat
But, of course, only if you want to. I'll have forgotten I tagged you in about two hours. ^.^ It's just lame to do the thing and then forget the end bit, like i always do.
lenine2. Memes are more interesting when you've had a bit of Scotch, which I have, on top of a bit of Turkish coffee, which I have. Yay!I am also doing this one in cooperation with Z, because it's more interesting and easier that way.
5 Albums that changed your life:
1) Hole-- Live Through This.
One of the first pop-culture-ish CDs I owned, given to me by my sister. Courtney Love is so bad, but so good. Nobody screams "FUCK YOU" quite the way she does. [I Think That I Would Die: 2:45 seconds into the track.]
2) Morphine -- Yes
This one's Z's. He persuaded his older sister to buy it, and then bought it himself as well. "It didn't change my life, per se, but it changed my musical tastes."
More significantly, among the first things Z ever sent me, back when our relationship was almost exclusively e-mail with a smattering of snail-mail, was a mix tape of Morphine titled "freaky sax" because I had expressed a dislike of saxophones, which saddened the sax-playing Z. (Not that he's played since high school, but... I played clarinet in high school, which meant that I was next to the saxophonists, and that's enough to make anyone hate alto sax with a blinding passion. Morphine, however, can undo that.)
3) the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack
I don't even own this one, but I liked the songs on it enough to start looking up the artists on it elsewhere. I got way into Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, and mostly, just learned to sing some really odd little songs about being drunk and not in love. (note: Z hates both Lucinda and Gillian.)
4) B. B. King -- Boxed Set
Z went to see B. B. in Syracuse and it was incredible. It was a really great venue, too. He was still able to stand, then. He had to sit, by the end, but he could still kinda rock out, back then. Now he just has to kinda mellow out in a grandfatherly sort of way, which is still cool, but different. B. B. got Z into blues. A full third of the iTunes library we share is blues.
5) The Chieftains -- The Chieftains 7 (Buonaparte's Retreat)
My dad had this record when I was a kid, and listened to it once in a while. Actually the Clancy Brothers were probably more of an influence on me-- I learned to sing by singing their songs to the horses, because Tiger would get really excited when he heard the feed bin open, but if you sang really loud he wouldn't hear you and wouldn't mug you.
I was actually quite the singer, in high school-- I was in two a cappella groups. And for both auditions, I sang Clancy Brothers songs. But, sadly, I only had tapes, and tapes haven't made it to mp3, and I really don't listen to the Clancy Brothers anymore. But I could probably sing you most of their stuff. Want me to do a phone post? I will totally dial LJ up and bellow you a good old Irish Song of Rebellion.
5 songs that changed your life:
Confession: I'm just using this as the music post I was practicing for this morning. This is pretty much just 5 songs I think y'all should have. Where possible, or practical, they're off the above albums, but not always.
1) I Think That I Would Die, by Hole. YouSendIt link, will expire. This is a very good example of the sort of world-ignorant angst I experienced at age 15.
2) I'm No Heroine (Live), by Ani DiFranco, off her live set, Living In Clip. Someone left this CD in the player at the place I worked freshman year, and it did totally change my outlook on a lot of things. I hate the studio version of this song, but this is a good version, especially the quiet debate at the beginning about torturing her drummer.
3) Away With Ye, from the Chieftains' album Buonaparte's Retreat. For those who care, this is an excellent example of the early revival of Irish folk. It was these guys who changed it from something old people did in the country to something young people listened to in the city, and this is a nice example to contrast with more modern examples of neo-Irish-folk like Danu's The Beauty Spot/ The Maid Behind The Barrel (that link won't expire; that's my personal site. Right-click to download.)
4) Morphine -- Empty Box (link to personal site: right-click to download). A Morphine song kicking around my server-- one of their good, moody, mysterious ones. A review once criticized them for having shallow lyrics, but you know, the lyrics aren't the point, the voice is just another instrument and they're all about the mood.
5) Cordero-- Vamos Nenas-- Cordero Live Cordero and Big Lazy were two bands that Z often would take the train into Manhattan (and over to Brooklyn) to see, when he lived alone in Jersey. I went with him to see Cordero once. They rocked. I danced onstage. I! Danced onstage! (I don't dance.)
5 films
Eh. I don't watch movies, much.
I own Scotland, PA; Tampopo (a Japanese flick about ramen noodles; watch it sometime); the LoTR trilogy EE version by Jackson; The Price of Milk which is notable mostly for being a Magic Realism flick starring Karl Urban that got him the part of Eomer in the above; and the boxed set of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. I don't buy films unless I really, really like them, so there's your list, I guess. Films don't occupy the place in my head that they do in that of most people. I think they take over too much of my brain.
5 books
1) Lady Gregory: Cuchulain of Muirthemne. Her 1905 classic, the first translation into English of the 4th-century Irish Ulster Cycle of myths. I read this in 11th grade.
O Emer, the man is yours, and well may you wear him, for you are worthy; what my arm cannot reach, that at least I may wish well to.
2) Thomas Kinsella, The Tain. This is a 1960s re-translation of the above, by a poet: where the Victorian-era lady removed the mentions of shit and fucking, Kinsella revelled in them, and this is a far more readable, less-ethereal, earthy delight that I return to again and again. (I read it in 12th grade, and then again my junior year of college. And then of course again and again and again after that.)
"If you came any closer," Cuchulainn said, "I would have to kill you, and that would be a pity."
3) The Two Towers, by JRR Tolkien. Specifically, Book 1. I never read the second half. I love the first part; love the camaraderie and horror of the Hornburg, love Eomer's mercurial enthusiasm, love Treebeard's nascent environmentalism and far grimmer understanding of the brutal ways of nature. And yes, Boromir's death scene, and Aragorn's beautiful insecurity. That was so important to me, at eleven: he didn't know what the fuck he was doing, and knew lives were hanging in the balance, but all he could do was soldier on as best he could.
4) Neuromancer, by William Gibson. One of the first cyberpunk novels, and the novel in which the Internet was first (theoretically) invented.
Night City was like a deranged experiment in social Darwinism, designed by a bored researcher who kept one thumb permanently on the fast-forward button. Stop hustling and you sank without a trace, but move too swiftly and you'd break the fragile surface tension of the black market; either way, you were gone, with nothing left of you but some vague memory in the mind of a fixture like Ratz, though heart or lungs or kidneys might survive in the service of some stranger with New Yen for the clinic tanks.
5) Something Under The Bed Is Drooling, by Bill Watterson. Both Z and I read this book, a collection of Watterson's early Calvin & Hobbes comics, when we were slightly too young, and it was part of our consciousnesses as we developed consciousnesses. (I know it's the second book, but it's the first one my family bought. It's got a better title than the first one.)
It traumatizes both of us that there are people our age and younger who do not know who Calvin is. Or Hobbes. And who don't laugh at the jokes. "HEY! Wake up, you stupid cretin! You wanna sleep while I get eaten?" Pure art.
I'm supposed to tag people, I guess, but the few times I've actually done so, most of them have ignored me. Still, chosen at something of random:
Hmmm, who would be interesting? and who don't necessarily know each other, and so won't see this otherwise? Hmm...
I tag:
jennnleeradaromalleykkatowllsilverwerecatBut, of course, only if you want to. I'll have forgotten I tagged you in about two hours. ^.^ It's just lame to do the thing and then forget the end bit, like i always do.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-20 05:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 03:32 am (UTC)I absolutely love the scene where the cowboy and the dude in the paperboy hat just punch the shit out of each other until they're too tired and then they're like best friends. It's just awesome.
Also the scene with the office boy sitting in on the luncheon with all the bigwigs, and they all order a heinekin and some fish thing, and the boy's like inquiring about the chef's training and the like and the waiter's getting all happy and excited about how knowledgeable he is.
And oh, the scene with the etiquette teacher and the society girls and the spaghetti...
I really ought to watch that movie again sometime.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 03:57 am (UTC)I was thinking the same thing. I have put it on my list. I saw it in a theatre and was so overcome with food lust I had trouble paying attention.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-26 01:49 pm (UTC)I totally agree, the man's voice is fantastic! I took all the songs, but haven't listen to them patiently since I had to listen to the 'Empty box' most of yesterday's evening. Good choice, though I don't know many of their songs. But here the voice goes so good with the music, another instrument - as you say :)