Posted in Music

Me and Music Tag

Happy Friday, everyone!

I know I’m *primarily* a book blog, but most of what I post outside of bookish content is music related, as apart from being a bibliophile, I’m a major music nerd as well. I found this tag over at Margaret @ Weird Zeal , and the tag was created by Ā Sophie @ Me & Ink.

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Rules

  1. Link back to original so she can see your answers and listen to the tunes
  2. For every prompt you choose to do, name 1-5 songs (you can use my graphics)
  3. Have fun and play your music LOUD

Let’s begin, shall we? (I skipped a prompt or two because I couldn’t find anything for some of them, but here we go…)

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Ooh, lots to choose from…

“Beautiful Freak”–Eels: Aside from the Hellboy II nostalgia, I want this to play at my wedding. VERY badly.

“It’s Oh So Quiet”–Bjƶrk: Nostalgia! NOSTALGIA!

“Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space”–Spiritualized: I mean, what more could you add to a song other than a choir singing “Can’t Help Falling in Love”?

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“Shove It (feat. Spank Rock)”–Santigold: AAAAAAAAA

“Idioteque”–Radiohead: I just listened to all of Kid A the other day…OH MAN…

“Antmusic”–Adam & The Ants: CLASSIC.

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“While My Guitar Gently Weeps (cover)”–Regina Spektor (from “Kubo and the Two Strings”): There’s no way that anyone could come close to the mastery of The Beatles, but this cover always gives me chills.

“Cop Car”–Mitski (from “The Turning”): Honestly, I couldn’t care less about this movie, but man, they got some great artists to do the soundtrack…

“The Moon Song”–Ezra Koenig & Karen O. (from “Her“): Again, another movie that I haven’t even seen, but this song brings back such good memories.

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“I Think You’re Alright (Jay Som cover)”–Soccer Mommy: This song has the sweetest vibes…

“No Surprises”–Radiohead: [ahem] Excluding the subject matter, this one always makes me feel at peace.

Scott Street”–Phoebe Bridgers: Again, depressing subject matter, but beautiful.

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“Kooks”–David Bowie: I think one of my first memories is of being in the car as a baby and hearing the tail end of this song play.

Strange Love”–Karen O.: This was my favorite song for a while… 😭 It’s from one of my favorite childhood movies (Frankenweenie), and the lyric video TOOK ME BACK…

“Bad Believer”–St. Vincent: Unfortunately, I associate this song with middle school, but hey, it’s an awesome song.

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“Declare Independence”–Bjƶrk: If I actually took the time to listen to music while I “worked out,” this would be the perfect song.

(Also, I saw a video of her playing this live and saying something along the lines of “here’s a quiet little song to help you go to sleep :)” and then they just started BLARING THIS)

“Oh! You Pretty Things”–David Bowie: This one always motivates me to write. Also, it’s basically the theme song for the X-Men. Just saying.

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Hmmm, I listen to a fair amount of older music, so let’s see…

“Blowin’ in the Wind”-Bob Dylan: This one’s another one that I remember fondly from my childhood šŸ™‚

“I’m So Tired”–The Beatles: I love most of The Beatles’ work, but this one is criminally underrated.

“Sympathy for the Devil”–The Rolling Stones: On an unrelated note, my brother and I tried slowing this one down in iMovie as a joke, and Mick Jagger sounded ABSOLUTELY CURSED IN THE BEGINNING

IT WAS GREAT

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Oh boy, I listen to a LOT of depressing music…I’ve been thinking about making a post about it, but we’ll see…

No Conclusion”–of Montreal: PLEASE, I AM BEGGING YOU, ONLY LISTEN TO THIS ONE IF YOU’RE IN A GOOD MOOD. 10 SOLID MINUTES OF DEPRESSION.

“Class of 2013”–Mitski: mAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

“Street Spirit (Fade Out)”–Radiohead: I mean, most of their catalog is incredibly depressing, but this is one of their saddest, in my opinion.

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“Dedicated to the One I Love”–The Mamas & The Papas: I’m quite a few decades late on this bandwagon, but a friend of mine recommended this one to me, and I adore it.

“Rabbit Habits”–Man Man: Another one that I had on repeat a week or two ago…

“Cool Waves”–Spiritualized: I went on a huge Spiritualized kick about two weeks ago, and I haven’t completely recovered…

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“Impostor Syndrome”–Sidney Gish: All of her songs are so well-written…

“Nervous Young Inhumans”–Car Seat Headrest: [screams] “EARLIER IN THE SONG I USED THE TERM ‘GALVANISTIC’…”

“Anytime”–Snail Mail: Some of the most well-written sadness I’ve ever come across.

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“Lazarus”–David Bowie: The day that David Bowie died, I remember my dad driving my brother and I to school in silence as this song played.

“Day Go By”–Karen O.: I listened to this whole album while I was in Canada last year, and I remember listening to this one in a hotel in Drumheller.

“Exit Music (for a Film)”–Radiohead: I discovered OK Computer last year, and I remember being curled up at the entrance of the cafeteria, reading a collection of Tennyson’s poems while blasting this through my headphones. (Yes, I am That Kidā„¢ļø)

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“Hunky Dory”–David Bowie: My favorite album of all time, hands down. Perfection.

“Twin Fantasy”–Car Seat Headrest: WHAT AN ALBUM…OH MAN…

“OK Computer”–Radiohead: See above. Pure genius.

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Hmm, let’s see…

“Once in a Lifetime”–Talking Heads: …just watch the video. You’ll see what I mean.

“Life on Mars?”–David Bowie: This was my halloween costume last year…

“It’s Oh So Quiet”–Bjƶrk: Sorry to repeat a song, but this video always cheers me up šŸ™‚

I TAG ANY OF MY FELLOW MUSIC NERDS WHO WANT TO PARTICIPATE!

Since this tag is all about music, consider this entire tag today’s song…

That’s it for this tag! Hope you enjoyed this dip into the weirdness that is my taste in music…

Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

Posted in Book Review Tuesday, Books

Book Review Tuesday (1/21/20)-Half Bad

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Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles!

 

After reading what’s been released of Green’sĀ Smoke ThievesĀ trilogy, I figured I’d delve farther into her works: namely, theĀ Half BadĀ series, which I’ve seen get a lot of praise over the years. However, I personally found it a bit of a slog to get through. Green’s signature world-building and attention to detail was still present, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save the book.

God, I sound like a Chopped judge…

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Sheesh, I haven’t watched this show in ages…

Enjoy this week’s review!

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Half Bad (The Half Bad trilogy, #1)

In a modern, magical London, witches rule the streets. White witches watch over the populace, delivering justice with their healing magic, while the dark Black witches cause chaos.

For as long as he can remember, Nathan has been divided between two worlds. Born of a White witch mother and a Black witch father–and a notorious serial killer, at that–he is on the run from both sides, hunted for his divided identity. Perpetually on the run, he must grapple with his half-and-half identity–and stay alive.

Let’s start with the pros. As always, Green excels with her world-building, creating an intricate society and culture of Witches. The history was thoughtfully explained without much info-dumping. Unfortunately, that’s the one aspect of this novel that I truly liked, other than the descriptive (perhaps a bit tooĀ descriptive?) writing.

The plot was largely character-driven. While that isn’t always a negative thing, I wasn’t very attached to Nathan as he grew older. Sure, I felt a great deal of sympathy for the brutal abuse he suffers throughout the novel (that’s what I meant by “too descriptive”), but he didn’t have much of a personality, and I didn’t quite “feel” for him, and I didn’t feel for any of the characters. The side characters, speaking of which, were overtly expendable; they seemed to pass by in a blur, and you only saw them in groups for a good 100 pages or so before they disappeared completely.

But hey.Ā Half BadĀ is Green’s debut novel. Everyone makes mistakes. Good thing is, she’s come so much closer to mastering her craft since then, producing such gems as theĀ Smoke ThievesĀ trilogy. All in all, I’d giveĀ Half BadĀ two stars.Ā (DNF at about 76%.)

Half BadĀ is part of a trilogy, followed byĀ Half WildĀ andĀ Half Lost.Ā There’s also two prequel spin-offs in theĀ Half BadĀ universe,Ā Half LiesĀ andĀ Half Truths.Ā 

 

Today’s song:

I couldn’t care less about this movie, but I must say, there’s some great stuff on this soundtrack! This, Soccer Mommy (“Feed”), and The Aubreys (“Getting Better [otherwise]”, Finn Wolfhard’s new band)…[happy indie rock noises]

 

That just about wraps up this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a great rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!

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