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No Title For Joo!
Apr. 12th, 2003 12:10 amSo I stayed up late reading "Dreamland Chronicles". I also read a lot more on two online comics, RPG World and Okashina Okashi, both last night and this morning.
Today was a Johnny Cash day. I'd heard a lot of good things about his new cd and so I picked it up on the way to work. Which I didn't really need to do, I've spent a lot of money lately on cds and books and stuff. But anyway, I'm glad I did. It's an excellent cd.
He does a lot of covers... some of them are very well-known songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Desperado" and "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". I think it's the mark of a great musician when you can take songs like those and pretty much make them your own, which he does. The more odd covers are of songs from Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chilipeppers, and Depeche Mode. I guess the NIN/Trent Reznor song "Hurt" has been played on MTV and radio a lot, but it really is excellent -- strange to realize that Trent can really write well, at least when he's not writing about copulating like animals. And "In My Life" is a really nice song too.
The Depeche Mode song is "Personal Jesus", and it's funny to hear Johnny Cash turn a song about sex told through religious imagery into a straight song about religeon... but really, it gets old after a couple of listens. Even though I liked the original song, it's not what I would call a great song. Probably Depeche Mode have written some songs that really are well-written songs that can stand the test of time -- like maybe People are People, or Policy of Truth, or Strangelove, who knows? -- but I don't think Personal Jesus is really one of them, it feels more like a novelty song than something that really has something to say.
Not like the NIN song "Hurt". I can tell that this song could be covered a hundred times and it will still be a good song. It's all about regret and self-loathing and desire for redemption, a wish to go back and fix the past somehow... universal themes that anyone can understand, no matter where you're coming from.
But anyway, good cd. Johnny Cash is one of those people, he can be 100% country and 100% up front about his faith, and yet he's still very cool.
I felt extra stupid about picking it up because as I left the house, the mail arrived and I got another cd I'd ordered online. This one was "Hot Madras" by Mynta, an Indian/Sweedish folk rock jazz group. I really like their cd "First Summer" and I'd collected one of their two earlier cds, and this was the other one, but their earlier stuff isn't as interesting. I listened to it at work, and it was okay, but I knew I probably wouldn't listen to it a lot. It would just go on my shelf along with all my other hundreds of cds. And I started to wonder why I bought it in the first place... I mean, it's nice to say I have all of Mynta's cds now, but if I'm not going to listen to it more than a few times, why bother? I guess maybe I was hoping to find a great song like some of my favorites from their newest cd? But I didn't. And I was feeling kind of stupid for buying things that I really didn't need...
...but then I remembered, the main reason I picked it up: it was $3.99. You know, for that price, it's worth listening to a few times and shelving it. If I find a new favorite tune, cool. If I don't, oh well, it's not like I wasted a lot of money on it.
I don't have a clue what's going on this weekend. Is it Jeri-Lynn's birthday, or did I miss that? I need to buy presents for my niece and my dad and get a big package of stuff in the mail for my family. I need to buy presents for some of my other friends... like Gene, Jeff, etc. You know, because I'm still trying to buy Christmas presents that I didn't get at Christmas. But I got no ideas at the moment...
Norwescon next week. I probably need to have things done before the con, but I got no idea what...
Today was a Johnny Cash day. I'd heard a lot of good things about his new cd and so I picked it up on the way to work. Which I didn't really need to do, I've spent a lot of money lately on cds and books and stuff. But anyway, I'm glad I did. It's an excellent cd.
He does a lot of covers... some of them are very well-known songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Desperado" and "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". I think it's the mark of a great musician when you can take songs like those and pretty much make them your own, which he does. The more odd covers are of songs from Nine Inch Nails, Red Hot Chilipeppers, and Depeche Mode. I guess the NIN/Trent Reznor song "Hurt" has been played on MTV and radio a lot, but it really is excellent -- strange to realize that Trent can really write well, at least when he's not writing about copulating like animals. And "In My Life" is a really nice song too.
The Depeche Mode song is "Personal Jesus", and it's funny to hear Johnny Cash turn a song about sex told through religious imagery into a straight song about religeon... but really, it gets old after a couple of listens. Even though I liked the original song, it's not what I would call a great song. Probably Depeche Mode have written some songs that really are well-written songs that can stand the test of time -- like maybe People are People, or Policy of Truth, or Strangelove, who knows? -- but I don't think Personal Jesus is really one of them, it feels more like a novelty song than something that really has something to say.
Not like the NIN song "Hurt". I can tell that this song could be covered a hundred times and it will still be a good song. It's all about regret and self-loathing and desire for redemption, a wish to go back and fix the past somehow... universal themes that anyone can understand, no matter where you're coming from.
But anyway, good cd. Johnny Cash is one of those people, he can be 100% country and 100% up front about his faith, and yet he's still very cool.
I felt extra stupid about picking it up because as I left the house, the mail arrived and I got another cd I'd ordered online. This one was "Hot Madras" by Mynta, an Indian/Sweedish folk rock jazz group. I really like their cd "First Summer" and I'd collected one of their two earlier cds, and this was the other one, but their earlier stuff isn't as interesting. I listened to it at work, and it was okay, but I knew I probably wouldn't listen to it a lot. It would just go on my shelf along with all my other hundreds of cds. And I started to wonder why I bought it in the first place... I mean, it's nice to say I have all of Mynta's cds now, but if I'm not going to listen to it more than a few times, why bother? I guess maybe I was hoping to find a great song like some of my favorites from their newest cd? But I didn't. And I was feeling kind of stupid for buying things that I really didn't need...
...but then I remembered, the main reason I picked it up: it was $3.99. You know, for that price, it's worth listening to a few times and shelving it. If I find a new favorite tune, cool. If I don't, oh well, it's not like I wasted a lot of money on it.
I don't have a clue what's going on this weekend. Is it Jeri-Lynn's birthday, or did I miss that? I need to buy presents for my niece and my dad and get a big package of stuff in the mail for my family. I need to buy presents for some of my other friends... like Gene, Jeff, etc. You know, because I'm still trying to buy Christmas presents that I didn't get at Christmas. But I got no ideas at the moment...
Norwescon next week. I probably need to have things done before the con, but I got no idea what...
