I’m in the midst of two very long posts, the Best in Fandom 2009 post and the Music of 2009 post. Not the best music of 2009, you understand, just my music of 2009. Both of those are going to be long, and in the meantime, I have Vitally Important Life Events to share with the internets.
1. I am still pretty happy with the Palm Pixi as a phone. It does exactly what I want — it texts, runs a Twitter app, checks and sends email, and looks up webpages. On Thursday morning while I’m teaching school to one kid while the other is in swim class, I can read the latest Fantastic Fangirl essay posted by one of my compatriots! From my phone!
2. The Christmas presents are arriving at the house, ready to be placed in stockings. At my house, we give gifts with a couple rules. No more than $50.00 can be spent by the household on any one person. And ALL the gifts for a person must fit in their stocking. So this means a selection of small, thoughtful things for each person each year. (Larger requests from the children are parceled out among family and friends.) So, I think everything is here. Perhaps tonight, after the kids go to bed, we’ll fill their stockings. It is, after all, only twelve days until Christmas.
3. This week at work I’m running the non-radar problems I was talking about designing a few weeks ago. This means another controller and I go up to the lab and set up the problem, then try to see if it’s possible to do. We’re getting through about six problems a day, which puts us ahead of schedule.
4. I am obsessed with a playlist I made. Here’s the tracklist:
“Rude Boy,” by Rhianna
“Bad Romance,” by Lady Gaga
“Rockstar 101,” by Rhianna
“Monster,” by Lady Gaga
“Weekend Without Makeup,” by The Long Blondes
“Dance in the Dark,” by Lady Gaga
“Night Watch,” by Tegan and Sara
“Once and Never Again,” by The Long Blondes
“The Cure,” by Tegan and Sara
“Te Amo,” by Rhianna
“Heaven Help the New Girl,” by The Long Blondes
In my head, this is a narrative. A story. Which is what I do with all my music, makes stories out of it. In this playlist, the protagonist falls for a guy because he’s powerful and possessive and controlling and he wants her. He wants her because she’s beautiful and talented, and she slowly recognizes that he wants to possess those qualities in such a way that prevents her from owning her own life, her own self. Then the abandonment and emotional abuse kick in. During this time of decision, the protagonist of the playlist is invited by one of her close female friends to leave the guy and be with her. The protagonist turns that offer down, but does leave the guy and goes off to get over him with the female friend — who may or may not be controlling and possessive as well.
This, this is what my head is doing when I am listening to music. When I’m driving to and from work, listening to Lockheed on Random Play, I am doing this. Putting the songs together and trying to make sense out of unrelated things. Humans are pattern-making mammals — we’ll make sense and meaning where none previously reside. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the definitions of art.
Filed under: Autobiography, Music, Technology, Work Tagged: | christmas, phone, playlist narratives
That is an intriguing definition of art. I don’t care for Lady Gaga Much, but I do love Tegan and Sarah and The Long Blondes.
It occurs to me that you might like Laura Nyro, a powerhouse singer/songwriter from the 60/70′s with wonderfully subversive gender role flopping lyrics.
Laura Nyro? I’ll see if I can find her stuff on Zune, thank you!