Like Poison You Can't Seem To Get Out

I've been listening to a lot of The Hunger Games fanmixes lately, and this one in particular caught my attention. I dedicate this song to my friends, Fluttershy and Kleenex, with the hope that someday those silly boys will finally be out of their veins. I do apologise for my very short posts recently. I'll make it up to you one of these days.

Blogging from Weirdo's place.

Derp.

So I've been checking out random bands on YouTube and I wasn't satisfied with anything until I listened to this. To those who know my music taste really well, you'd understand why I love this.

Hungry Ghosts - I Don't Think About You Anymore, But I Don't Think About You Anyless

Damn beautiful song. Then there's this:

No Clear Mind - Static

I swear I just love being on this weird part of YouTube.

Last song.

Explosions In The Sky - Magic Hours

See, the weird part of YouTube isn't so bad. And for those who ask me how I find new bands, this is an example of how I do it. I just go on YouTube and watch random videos. That's it. No complex Maths problem, really.

Oh, and for Day 3 and Day 4 of the Brightside Challenge:

Day 3

Seeing friends win their respective awards for the Literary and Visual Arts competition. Girls' Day Out with Mystique and Delirium. Literally handing over Hogwarts castle to Haku, who is actually Voldemort in disguise. Haku's Charles Xavier ring and my Erik Lensherr ring.

Day 4

Drive. Successfully reading a John Donne poem (The Relic) in class. Pseudo-picnic with Weirdo. Getting to spend time with Weirdo and Mystique for a while. Bumming at Weirdo's place and giving his latest poem a critique.

Will elaborate later.

Hasa Diga, Eebowai: Because Misery Loves To Laugh

A warning: If you live in a conservative place, please do yourself a favour by either turning the volume of your speakers down or wearing headphones instead. The lyrics of this song are rather controversial, and your religious friends might find it offensive. So yeah. Your call.

In order to take a break from all my depressing posts, I shall present to you a song from a play recommended to me by Persephone. This song is called 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' and it is from the musical entitled The Book of Mormon. This musical is by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. If the names sound familiar to you, that's probably because Parker and Stone created the show South Park whilst Lopez co-wrote and co-composed Avenue Q. With this combination, I'm sure you'd know what to expect from this musical by now.

To be honest with you, dear reader, I have yet to watch the play and listen to the other songs, but putting this song on repeat got me inspired to 'close read' the song in relation to human instinct regarding survival. Please do note that I have never written such a post before seeing as how I'm too self-centred for intellectual shit, but since writing is supposed to be my university life then I might as well do this. Another disclaimer of mine is that I critique music the informal way for the lack of knowledge regarding music theory jargon. So please forgive me if I sound so un-scholarly or whatever.We cool? We cool.

I'd like to start with the music—its beat, the genres that influenced it, and more importantly the tone of the music. Upon  hearing the song for the first time, I was struck by how it sounded much like a Disney musical song. Think 'Hakuna Matata' meets 'Under The Sea'. In fact, the more you listen to it the more it begins to sound like a parody of 'Hakuna Matata' (And it is perhaps no coincidence that the latter is mentioned in the song). Like the famous song from The Lion King, 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' incorporates element of African folk dance with Broadway-style big band complete with a chorus of girls chanting 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' in the chorus. From this combination of musical styles along with a beat you can dance to, 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' without the lyrics could present itself as a very optimistic song about life in the wild.

The interesting part comes when you consider the song lyrics as juxtaposed with its music. Without lyrics, 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' would most likely sound like a mere rip-off of 'Hakuna Matata'. Needless to say, it probably wouldn't be as interesting. The fun part starts when the actor starts to sing, for this is when your eyes perhaps widen a bit and then you nod slightly whilst mouthing, 'Oh, it's a satire.' And that's when you realise how effective the song is, and how the writer(s) and/or composer(s) managed to create a fun and yet sad song to listen to by maximising on how huge 'Hakuna Matata' is as a symbol amongst our generation. And given how easy people can relate with both the angst of the lyrics and the nostalgia brought upon by a 'Hakuna Matata'-sounding like song, the song becomes even more memorable for us.

So what exactly makes the lyrics memorable?

Let us first look upon the structure of the lyrics. If you haven't listened to the song yet, please do so now because I am a lazy ass and I do not fucking want to cite lines for you. Good? Good. Okay, so with the Youtube video buffered, please skip to the time given to you in the text.

At 0:44, that is where you will see the 'Hakuna Matata' reference in the lyrics. That's pretty neat. (See what I did there?) The good thing about this song is that it unfolds like a story. When the character asks the main singer in the song about the song's meaning, the main singer only says 'Kind of'.' He doesn't give us a clue regarding what it actually means. From this point on, we're led to believe that the phrase 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' is an optimistic phrase, and the way it is sung by the chorus only adds to the 'This sounds like an optimistic song' fuel. The pitch and beat of the song immediately plants the idea in the listener's mind that the song is supposed to be celebratory. However, one can note that despite the optimistic sound of the song it is actually extremely sad due to the lyrics (starting from 0:53).

{to be continued}

{too tired}

Eyelids Shutting Faster Than A Blink Of An Eye

Currently listening to: Sister Named Desire - Tori Amos

So I just got back from a party and I don't really know what to write/type here lol. I suppose I could tell you guys about the five-hour drive to a place that's actually supposed to be just more or less forty-five minutes away, but I'm actually really sleepy right now and I just want to get a few things off my chest/system/whatever.

1. I think Haku and I have been improving a lot lately, both as friends and as... well, that. I was finally able to be more honest with him thanks again to the influence of 'Veritaserum'! I wonder what would happen to my honesty without it. (As I type this, Tori Amos's voice is really making me sleepy. Oh dear lord, please help me.) Anyway, I really enjoyed my time with him tonight, especially since it's been a while since we got to hang. I'd also like to give special thanks to a friend whom we shall call Delirium even though she doesn't even know about this blog.
2. I'm starting to lose interest in Brendon Urie. On the other hand, I've got this huge crush on James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender now. And I ship them as a couple. I've actually been thinking of making fanvids for McFassy, but I'm so lazy and I've got much to do before I could actually have enough time to go through the tedious process of montage-making using this laptop. Whatever—I'll get around to doing it someday and maybe I'll even send it to them as fanmail by sending them the CD copy of it.
3. I really, really, really like making lists.
4. I'm sleepy now.
5. The song's too... calm, I suppose. Perhaps I should listen to a chirpier one.
6. So now I am listening to Halestorm's Bad Romance, which is a pretty badass cover of Lady Gaga's single.
7. I think I've finally found a guy (Aside from Nephilim) who I could ship with Mystique. Ish. I still like Nephilim better, but given Nephilim's distance right now it would be really hard to 'set it up'.
8. Yeah I should probably sleep now and just do this tomorrow.

Good night!

xoxo,

Chihiro

PS

Oh by the way, if you're into hard rock then I'd suggest you listen to Halestorm. They're a really cool band. Love them so much. <3

Just What My Spirit Needs

So I've been listening to the Spirited Away score all morning and I don't think I've ever felt so many mixtures of emotions in my life. I think this film pretty much summarises what I went through this year in a very symbolic way. Never have I been so affected by a film, I swear. I think I'll be watching it tonight again to celebrate the New Year. (Yes, I know, I have such a loser way of celebrating New Year's Eve but, look here, I don't give you grief over how you celebrate yours.) It's Spirited Away or a night of non-stop gaming and I don't really want to start the year casting spells on undead minions. As much as I love gaming, I think it would be fitting the end this year and start the new year by watching something that has reminded me of the inner power I have over my life and how I can grow from inside despite all the frightening things I encounter. This is how I can say I've grown up—two months ago I would never be able to admit that I've got a lot of fears, even if it's rather obvious that I do. Now I can easily say that I fear a lot of things, but I know in my heart that I can face them as long as I've got faith.

I may or may not make a 2011 gratitude post later depending on my mood and energy. For now, Happy Almost New Year!

My favourite piece from the score:

Music Box version:

xoxo,

Chihiro

Well, At Least I Procrastinate The Fun Way

So I'm supposed to be writing this 10-page short story that I'll be submitting to Haku later for editing and critiquing, but I'm lazy as fuck and I haven't even started page one yet. (Well, for what it's worth, I've written down the outline.) I know I should start writing soon, but music has captivated me yet again and so instead of writing I am now just chilling whilst currently listening to music. (At least it's good music.)