top 10 and my life in song thingy

Top 10 Songs (these are subject to change at any time)

1(tie). David Bowie - Heroes
1(tie). Bruce Springsteen - Backstreets
1(tie). John Lennon - Imagine
4. The Beatles - She Loves You
5. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
6. Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
7. The Flaming Lips - My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
8. Oasis - The Importance of Being Idle
9. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
10. The Killers - All These That I've Done

Pick an artist, and using ONLY SONG TITLES from only that artist, cleverly (preferably) answer these questions. This is harder than it seems! ADDITIONAL RULE: You cannot use the same artist I did, or duplicate song titles even if they were performed by another artist.

The Beatles
1. Are you a male or female:
Nowhere Man

2. Describe yourself:
I Am the Walrus

3. How do you feel about yourself:
I Feel Fine

4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:
Hello, Goodbye

5. Describe your current boy/girl situation:
And I Love Her

6. Describe your current location:
Yellow Submarine

7. Describe where you want to be:
Magical Mystery Tour

8. Your best friend:
With A Little Help From my Friends

9. Your favorite color is:
Strawberry Fields Forever

10. You know that:
I Should Have Known Better

11. What's the weather like:
Here Comes the Sun

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

13. What is life to you:
Tomorrow Never Knows

14. What is the best advice you have to give:
all you need is love

15. If you could change your name what would it be:
Mean Mr. Mustard

Still bored

So I lied about paying attention in class. I attempted for two minutes and I need to do something to keep myself from falling asleep. So I pose this question to you, you get to plan a three day music festival and you can get any band you want, providing that as of day they are still a group, however you are allowed one reunion (providing all the members of still alive), you get 7 acts a day. Rank them from Closer to Opener.

Friday

• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
  
• The Killers
  
• The Arcade Fire
  
• Wilco
  
• The Hold Steady
  
• The National
  
• The Coral
  

Saturday

• David Bowie
  
• New Order
  
• Radiohead
  
• Depeche Mode
  
• Secret Machines
  
• TV on the Radio
  
• Kasabian
  

Sunday

• Paul McCartney
  
• Oasis
  
• Arctic Monkeys
  
• The Flaming Lips
  
• Last Shadow Puppets
  
• The Enemy
  
• The Rascals

Direction, reaction, and creation

Since the wireless internet is conked out in my classroom I am severely bored at the moment. It feels like time is at a standstill, one minute feels like 50. Today's topic of discussion is emotions, where they come from, how we express them, why we express them, etc. this morning started off well, I had my weekly morning show on wqfs, time was just flying by, right now it feels like I am in some level of hell, I want to scream and shout, I feel trapped, because it's always a trap. If I could connect to the internet I would be playing pop it, reading the news, checking email, watching a video of moss growing on you tube, a thousand things far more fascinating than what is going on at the moment.

Life in Greensboro is pretty much the same. Life is good. I got great friends, wonderful roommates, a semi-decent job, a loving girlfriend, I couldn't ask for anything else. After this class is done, the weekend begins! Sadly, nothing is going on this weekend other than work and seeing Aoife at some point. This evening my buddy Kevin is flying in for several days which will be nice. Other than that there are no real thrilling events on the horizon until the Wilco concert in April.

After Wilco, it's Boss time at the Greensboro Coliseum, followed by The National concert in Raleigh, then in October U2 will hopefully come to Raleigh, hopefully with Muse as their opening act (fingers crossed). Speaking of Muse, I can't wait to hear the new album from them which is due out sometime in late August/early September. Other than Muse, there are many new albums that I am anxious to hear, next week there is a live Hold Steady CD/DVD titled A Positive Rage as well as Neil Young's new album Fork in the Road. Then there is Wilco's new album which comes in sometime in June, as well as a new Flaming Lips album, a new Sonic Youth album, and more importantly a new Jarvis Cocker record. Other artists/bands that have new albums coming out soon are The Dead Weather (Jack White's new band), The Enemy, Kasabian, U2 (yes, another one), Coldplay, Arctic Monkeys aside from a new album there is a live CD/DVD coming out May 5th, Graham Coxon, Gorillaz, Elvis Costello, Depeche Mode, Babyshambles, Bob Dylan, The Killers, and who knows who else? I definitely didn't realize how many I was anxious to hear until I typed them all down, oy vey, I'm going to go broke, especially if they all come to North Carolina.

I can't believe it is already April, I still thought it was May, I can't believe how fast time flies. I went to Quiznos yesterday and saw the new Torpedo sub. When I saw it I generally believed it to be an April Fool's joke, but Jason was right, it is a four dollar breadstick. Fuck your torpedo sub Quiznos. I'm out of stuff to say at the moment, so I guess I'll go back to paying attention to my teacher.

Love, peace, and hope for the future,

Ben

everyone else is doing it

Soundtrack of My Life
Here's how it works:
1. Open your library
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For the first question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button twice.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...just type it in.
7. Tag people, and they should do it too!


IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Opening Credits: New Order - Blue Monday

Waking Up: I'm your Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters

First Day at School: Girl Done Gone - Graham Coxon

Falling In Love: Laser Love - T.Rex

Losing Virginity: Sam's Town - The Killers

Fight Song: October - U2

Breaking Up: Breaking Glass - David Bowie

Prom: October - U2 (I hope I can incorprate the prom and fight scene together)

Life: Give Peace a Chance - John Lennon

Mental Breakdown: Beat Surrender - The Jam

Midlife Crisis: Sentimental Heart - She and Him

Driving: Sunday - Bloc Party

Flashback: Alison - The Pixies

Getting Back: The Paris Match - The Style Council

Wedding: I Wish - Babyshambles

Birth of a Child: Backwards Traveller - Paul McCartney and Wings

Senility: Let's Spend the Night Together - The Rolling Stones

Final Battle: All my Love -Led Zeppelin

Death Scene: Do You Remember the First Time? - Pulp

Album Review: U2: No Line on the Horizon

It has been five years since U2's last album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb", which is the longest gap between albums in the band's career. The big question here is, was it worth the wait? The short answer is yes, in this reviewers opinion it is their best since 1992's "Achtung Baby", but the album does have its flaws. The lead single, "Get on Your Boots" is the biggest flaw on the album. It is catchy, bombastic, loud, and everything else a lead single should be? Yes, but the song lacks some real memorable lyrics and a good chorus. I'm sorry but to me, "Sexy Boots/ Get on Your Boots/Yeah, is a failure of a chorus, out of the three mega producers (Steve Lilywhite, Daniel Lanais, and Brian Eno) working on this album should have told Bono to go back to the drawing board.

Speaking of Bono, we now come to the big flaw of the album, his lyrics. Now, I love U2, I have every album, every DVD, and I stick up for the man as best as I can. This time around I have to call him out a few of lyrics, like those in "Boots". Track seven on the album, "Stand up Comedy" is a terrific rock song; it has loud drums, a pounding bass line, and an epic guitar riff. However, the song is nearly done in by Bono with a few of lyrics, especially at the end of the song with the line, "Stand up/ then sit down/ for your love". The song is a great U2 stadium anthem but to include the line, "then sit down" makes no sense to me, as it is not sung anywhere else in the song, it isn't even sung meaningfully as the rest, Bono mumbles it as though he is ashamed of it.

My least favorite track on the album is "Unknown Caller". In Q magazine the band describe the story behind the song, saying it is a man who is lost, with no cell phone reception, and it is talking into his phone. While it is certainly a new concept for a song, the lyrics fall flat, the chorus is just the band shouting random things like "Password/you enter here/you are free to go". It is a song that takes itself far too seriously, if it was a bit looser, it really could be a fun song. There are two songs that I enjoy but they don't move me that greatly, "Fez/Being Born" is the first.

It is one minute of ambient music, thanks of course to Brian Eno, whose pretence is everywhere on this album, but then it turns into a mid tempo rocker. The lyrics are good, but not that good. While I didn't see eye to eye with a very large amount with the recent Time Magazine review of the album, I have to agree with that fact that the song isn't as brilliant as U2 thinks it is. The second song I am that is just ok, is "White as Snow" which is a ballad about a soldier in war. It is fine lyrically and sonically, it is just boring after the two minute mark.

Throughout the album there are lyrical missteps, but the album contains some of the best songs U2 have ever written such as, "Moment of Surrender" and "Breathe". "Moment of Surrender" is the longest tracks on the album, clocking in at 7 minutes and 20 seconds. It is a gospel sounding ballad with great lyrical imagery, brilliant guitar work from The Edge, and reminds of me of a mixture of "One" and "Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For". "Breathe" should have been the lead single from the album, it is the most lively U2 song on the record, it also happens to be the best on it. Brian Eno said in Q magazine that it is, "the best thing that have ever recorded". I wouldn't go that far, but it is one of the best things they have done this decade.

The opening track "No Line on the Horizon" is a terrific rocker. It grabs you from the moment you hit the play button, while I honestly can't say what the concept of the song is suppose to be about other than a girl "whose like the sea", it has a great chorus and it has Bono's signature "oh/ooh/Oooh's". The leads right into the rumored 2^nd single, "Magnificent" is just that, magnificent. It is a rousing love song, probably written to Bono's wife Ali. The hopeful 3^rd single "I'll Go Crazy, If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is the best pop song U2 have ever written, it would be an instant number one should they ever release it as a single.

This brings us to the closing track, "Cedars of Lebanon". It is a rewrite of a Brian Eno song, "Against the Sky", which I have yet to hear. The concept of the song is about a report giving his perspective about the war. The song is honestly a spoken word track and contains the brilliant closing lines "Choose your enemies carefully because they will define you/in some ways they remind you/they aren't there in the beginning but when your story ends/going to last longer than your friends" and with that the album closes in a haunting fashion. This album isn't perfect but it is daring, creative, and different for them. There are tracks that could have been reworked or even omitted, but at the end of the day U2 are back after five long years and they are in tip-top shape, and that is a wonderful thing.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

 

Forget about what I Said

So, I lied, I forgot Aoife's apartment doesn't have internet and I also didn't get around to update this last night because I went with Grant to see Oldboy which went until 1230am. Then I quickly fell asleep once I got home. With that said, Oldboy, is an amazing film with one of the best all time ending twists I've ever seen, but be warned it is all in Korean subtitles. Tonight is movie night once again, the midnight showing of Watchmen! Hopefully, it will be loyal to the original material, and hopefully there will be NO sequel and/prequel, fucking Warner Brothers. Stuck in sociology class for a bit more but she is about to talk about the exam, so I'm off but I'll be back later on.

Cheers,

ben

The Joys of Having a WORKING Laptop

Hello everyone, I'm back after having a very long blogging hiatus. My laptop under when a near tragic death but thanks to dell and accident insurance, it is all repaired. I hope everyone has been well and I am sorry for not updating this thing as well as I promised. Nothing really to exciting is going on in Greensboro these days. I still have a weekly radio show at WQFS every Thursday morning from 8-10am, I'm still going to UNCG, and I got a new job at the Fresh Market bagging food which is as dull as it sounds. The big thing this week other than the excellent new U2 album (which I will review and post sometime this week, if I don't hit me) is the midnight showing of Watchmen! The more reviews I read and the more clips I see, the more excited I get. At the moment I believe it is Jacob, Michael, Tavis, Grant, Melissa, and I, of course. Then next week it is the big event, Morrissey at the Durham Performing Arts Center! If you haven't checked out his latest release "Years of Refusal" you should, it's the best album he has released this decade. I'll bit checking back in later this evening, until then it's time for Spanish class.

Cheers,

Ben