Month: August 2014

Music Monday: Thirty Seconds to Mars, “Do or Die”

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know I’ve already featured Thirty Seconds to Mars, but long before I ever conceived of the Music Monday feature. Hands down, they’re one of my favorite bands. Author Karin Lowachee unintentionally unleashed their music on me with the “Beautiful Lie” video, and I’ve been absolutely hooked and enthralled ever since.

There’s two reasons I’m sharing this particular song today. The first is that this video gets to me. I mean, really gets to me. Maybe it’s because of the head-space I’ve been in this year, but I listen to this song and I watch this video and I get choked up, every time. All of the band’s videos are very cinematic, a production of sorts, but this one isn’t telling a story: it’s testimonials from the fanbase intercut with footage from concerts around the world. And it gets me EVERY. TIME. The music preceding the concert footage and after the concert footage isn’t part of the song itself, but it is part of the album LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS.

The other reason you get this song today, that you get to hear this band? Because tomorrow I get to see them perform live for the very first time, and I absolutely cannot wait. I traveled miles and miles and miles to see them perform. And while there are so many songs that I absolutely adore by this band (indeed, don’t be surprised if I continue to inflict their music on you), this song has become something of an anthem for me this year.

Enjoy.

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Reminder: Music Monday is about the music, not the videos. Videos are just the medium I’m using to share the music, and some videos aren’t actually videos at all. Enjoy the songs, but if YouTube forces you to watch some sort of advertisement before you can get to the music, please be patient.

Music Monday: The Devin Townsend Project, “Numbered!”

~ Shara ~ 1 Comment

Devin Townsend, the singer, is bizarre and prolific and utterly talented. Talents ranging from the real heavy metal of Strapping Young Lad to the weirdly comical concept album Ziltoid the Omniscient to this operatic, progressive rock that utilizes not just Townsend’s impressive vocals, but also female singer Anneke van Giersbergen. This particular album, Addicted!, is a favorite of mine, but this song in particular features everything I love about it in one song.

I should also note, as an aside: I had the luck*** of seeing The Devin Townsend Project perform live a few years ago, and I’ve never been to a concert where the front man comes out on stage during the sound check, tinkers around, interacts with fans in the theatre, and then when the lights go down and the concert starts? It was like someone flipped a freaking switch: this man was on, the kind of on that makes you understand what makes someone a performer at heart, and Devin Townsend? Is a fantastic performer (and musician, because seriously, the breadth of his stuff and his range and his talent is amazing to me. Music Literature professors of the future should take note of him. He’s that kind of impressive).

So here’s “Numbered!” I promise, for this coming off of a progressive rock album, it’s not that hard. Believe me, once you get to the chorus, you’ll know what I mean. Oh, and this isn’t a video, just a still, so you can push play and listen while you do something else. 🙂

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Reminder: Music Monday is about the music, not the videos. Videos are just the medium I’m using to share the music, and some videos aren’t actually videos at all. Enjoy the songs, but if YouTube forces you to watch some sort of advertisement before you can get to the music, please be patient.

*** = I say luck because I’m still shocked he actually performed within driving distance for me.

Fiction Friday: “Dear Owner of This 1972 Ford Crew Cab Pickup” by Desirina Boskovich

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

For this week, I decided to do something a little different. Partially because Hugo voting is over, and partially because I haven’t had time to read any new shorts in a while (everything you’ve been reading the last month has been scheduled out weeks in advance). But fortunately for me and this column, author Lane Robins shared the below story on her Facebook, so I took a few moments to read it and get appropriately chilled and creeped out.

“Dear Owner of This 1972 Ford Crew Cab Pickup” by Desirina Boskovich was published in the August 2014 issue of Nightmare Magazine and you can read it in its entirety for free on their site. I’ve never read Boskovich before, and honestly, I don’t follow the horror genre all that closely, but after reading this story, I realize I should be paying more attention to this site! Click the link to read this story at Nightmare and see if you don’t agree with me!

Click here to read DEAR OWNER OF THIS 1972 FOR CREW CAB PICKUP for free

Cover Art by Reiko Murakami
Cover Art by Reiko Murakami

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Robin Williams: 1951-2014

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

My first R-rated movie in the theater was The Birdcage. The very first movie my husband and I saw together for a movie date was Patch Adams. We always think there’s something immortal about celebrities, especially those who play a part in our most prominent memories, and it’s terrifying to see them gone. It means that they’re only human, they’re fallible, and that one day they will fade. And it’s a terrible analogy to our own lives, on a host of levels. I know some people don’t get why there’s an outpouring of grief for one comedian when there’s so many terrible things happening in the world, but celebrities can represent so many parts of ourselves, and the good ones leave an indelible mark. Whatever Robin Williams meant to you in your life, in your memories, in your day-to-day, remember the most important lesson of all: Carpe diem. If he taught us anything, it’s that.

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Culture Consumption: July 2014

~ Shara ~ 8 Comments

I know, I know! THIS IS SO LATE! But here it is, better late than never! As always, I’ll post a list of what I’ve read/watched over the past month, and in some cases, provide some commentary. If there’s anything you’re interested in or curious about, don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments, and I’ll be happy to talk further!

July wasn’t very ambitious reading-wise, sadly. My comic pile is suffering too, and I’m reading at Sunday driver levels of speed. But hey, I’m catching up on some great television, and also, some great movies.

Continue reading →

Music Monday: Tom McRae, “Mermaid Blues”

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

So this is really, really different, and for two reasons.

1) This is a link to a song file on MySpace, and not a video. I did find some videos on YouTube, but they were either abbreviated versions of the song that lacked some of the instrumentation that really makes the song stick out, and/or they were tribute videos that I felt would be distracting from the lyrics of the song. One thing I hate about music videos is that they tend to tell you a story rather than letting you create your own story for the song, and since nothing appealed here, I decided to go a different route.

2) First Music Monday featuring a male vocalist! I don’t know why Tom McRae’s been on my brain lately, but I remember when I first discovered his music: back during the heyday of Alias fandom and a lot of its fan art pulled from McRae’s lyrics. A friend I made through Live Journal sent me a mix CD of his work, and when I decided to buy the albums, I discovered this song and freaking fell in love with it. There is one thing I can tell you about Tom McRae lyrics, and I don’t say this often because I don’t often pay ATTENTION to lyrics, but it’s this: they’re poetic, poignant, and thought-provoking.

So in lieu of a video, click the link below to visit My Space and click play on the song. Please. I’d love to hear your thoughts. And since there’s nothing for you to look at, I’ve pasted the lyrics below the link.

Click HERE to listen to Tom McRae’s “Mermaid Blues”

Tom McRae, Just Like Blood

And now for the lyrics, behind the cut:

Continue reading →

Fiction Friday: “Night’s Slow Poison” by Ann Leckie

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

This week, I’m done posting Hugo-nominated stories from the 2014 ballot. Instead, I come with a story that I really, really wish was eligible for next year’s Hugo’s, but alas, it is not.

“Night’s Slow Poison” by Ann Leckie is set in the same world as her debut, Nebula-winning and Hugo-nominated novel, Ancillary Justice, but trust me when I say you need NO KNOWLEDGE of that book to read and enjoy this short story, which was originally published in 2012 by Electric Velocipede and reprinted in 2014 on Tor.com. Below, should you be so inclined, is the Tor.com link.

Click here to read NIGHT’S SLOW POISON for free

Illustrated by John Harris
Illustrated by John Harris

“Night’s Slow Poison” is from the same setting as Ancillary Justice, and tells a rich, claustrophobic story of a galactic voyage that forces one guardsmen to confront his uneasy family history through the lens of a passenger with his lost lover’s eyes.

 

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Music Monday: Johnny Hollow, “Mary”

~ Shara ~ Leave a comment

When I remembered Ilya, I remembered Johnny Hollow. I popped in their debut album the other day for a refresher and I have to say, it’s no wonder I took to Lindsey Sterling’s music so quickly! The debut album is very abstract in some senses, but the music is moody and atmospheric, and when “Mary” started, I remembered how much I loved this song.

And of course, there’s no music video for this song. Johnny Hollow is one of the more interesting bands you’ve never heard of, but someone besides me has heard of the band, and took this song and made a fan video for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Be still my heart, because I enjoyed the hell out of that show when it was on.

If you’re not a fan of the show, that’s fine. Enjoy the music. If you are a fan of the show, prepare to geek out to how the lyrics fit. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, prepare to see Lena Headey kick-ass as Sarah Connor before she was Cersei!

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!

Reminder: Music Monday is about the music, not the videos. Videos are just the medium I’m using to share the music, and some videos aren’t actually videos at all. Enjoy the songs, but if YouTube forces you to watch some sort of advertisement before you can get to the music, please be patient.

Friday Fiction: “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling” by Ted Chiang

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

Are your Hugo ballots in? I hope so, because yesterday was the very last day and now all that’s left is waiting to see who wins what award!

In the meantime, here’s one more story from the 2014 Hugo Ballot to read, notably for those who haven’t read it yet. Technically a novelette, “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling” by Ted Chiang was published by Subterranean Press Magazine in the Fall of 2013. Now that voting’s over, I can safely say that while this was a tight category, this story hit me and it hit me hard, so I want to make sure you get a chance to read it. All you have to do is click the link below!

Click here to read THE TRUTH OF FACT, THE TRUTH OF FEELING for free

Cover Art by Ken Laager
Cover Art by Ken Laager

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Sound off below!