1901-Phoenix

This is my favorite song right now. As you can see, it changes quite a bit. The song is so bright, with synthesizers and guitar that really makes you wish that the summer wasn’t coming to a close. I’m actually mad that this song is getting radio play 3 months too late because this is a great summer song. Right before the infectious chanting of “fold it, fold it, fold it”, at the end of each chorus, a synthesizer skyrockets up like an air horn. That’s the sound of your minds being blown. At least it was for me. :) Enjoy. I couldn't find a video of it so I just posted their performance of it on Letterman.

Pitchfork's Top 20 Songs of the Decade

This entire week, Pitchfork, a music review website has been counting down the greatest songs of the decade. Their list is actually 500 songs, but I thought I would just type out the top 20 for my sanity's sake. Do you agree or disagree? What do you guys think?

20. The Walkmen- "The Rat"
19. R. Kelly- "Ignition (Remix)"
18. Hercules and Love Affair- "Blind"
17. Annie- "Heartbeat"
16. The Rapture- "House of Jealous Lovers"
15. The Knife- "Heartbeats"
14. Jay-Z- "99 Problems"
13. LCD Soundsystem- "Losing My Edge"
12. OutKast- "Hey Ya"
11. Gnarls Barkley- "Crazy"
10. Arcade Fire- "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)"
09. Animal Collective- "My Girls"
08. Radiohead- "Idioteque"
07. Missy Elliott- "Get Ur Freak On"
06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs- "Maps"
05. Daft Punk- "One More Time"
04. Beyonce ft. Jay-Z- "Crazy in Love"
03. M.I.A. ft Bun B and Rich Boy- "Paper Planes (Diplo Remix)
02. LCD Soundsytem- "All My Friends"
01. OutKast- "B.O.B"

It should be noted that Pitchfork is a music site that gears themselves towards mostly underground or non-mainstream music which might explain why you probably haven't heard of a lot of these. It should also be noted that I called half of these songs in the top 20. :)

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

I stole this idea from Amber. This is my favorite song right now. It's called "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" by Radiohead. Harry Patch was the oldest surviving combat soldier of WWI and he recently passed away. He died at age 111. He never spoke about the war and what he'd seen there, until at age 100, he started talking about it and became very opposed to that war and all wars in general. All the lyrics of the song are taken from things he said. He lived through the war, lived to see 2 wives and another female companion pass away, and even lived longer than both of his sons. It's a touching song, heavy on the strings and the heart-strings. Enjoy.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

I decided I'm going to try harder to have more small blogs instead of long epic ones all the time. So, with this in mind, here is the trailer for the new movie called The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It stars Heath Ledger (in what I think was his last role), Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and Tom Waits as The Devil (which is absolutely perfect for him). The visuals look amazing and it was directed by Terry Gilliam. It kind of looks like Ledger, Depp, Farrell, and Law are all the same person which actually might work considering it's a fantasy tale. It was no doubt probably done in lieu of Ledger's death.

You Gotta Believe in Something

Nene recently posted a blog about movie quotes. Later on, after reading her blog, I was thinking of the predicament that I'm currently in and after thought led to thought, a movie quote popped into my head: "Still, you gotta believe in something." The quote, spoken by the great Alan Arkin in the movie, "13 Conversations About One Thing" is something I've never written down even though I have a personal book of my own where I keep my favorite quotes. I have also only seen this movie once. I remember hardly anything about it. I didn't even think it was that great of a movie. But for some reason this quote has always stuck with me.

It is curious that something so insignificant can come to mean so much to a person. Throughout my life, I've often pondered why people are the way they are, why they do the things they do and more importantly, why I'm the way I am. It's a strain of thought that never has an end because it has no answer. And yet, this quote always comes back to me, "You gotta believe in something."

The more I think about it, the more powerful the statement becomes. Fear can cripple a person and there are different kinds. There's the fear that you could die at any moment. There's the fear that you're doing something that you're not supposed. And there's the fear that you're turning into somebody you never wanted to be. I'm guilty of that one. Fear is not always something that suddenly grabs you. Sometimes it's so quiet that you don't even notice it until you realize you're trapped by it. What can you do? How do you motivate yourself? Well, my friends, you gotta believe in something. Whether it's a religion, a belief in a lifelong dream you have, a belief that the world's gonna end in three years, a belief that money's the key to happiness, a belief in the Loch Ness monster, or just believing in yourself, the only thing you can do is believe in something so strongly that your fear is no longer a problem. You replace your fear with something much more important and it doesn't mean that you're no longer afraid, just that you've realized that you can't waste any more time because your belief is so strong it has led you to action.

In the movie, the quote is nothing significant to the rest of the film. It is spoken simply, without fanfare. I don't remember exactly what Arkin was talking about but I'm pretty sure he was talking about an old friend of his who had found some crazy religion and after ridiculing him and poking fun at his friend, he has the simple realization, "Still, you gotta believe in something." It's a quote I think I will contemplate for the rest of my life. I'm at least going to put it into my quote book.