Music & Lyrics

Just listening to my iPod this evening while doing some chores and two songs came on right in a row. Beautiful songs that I hadn't listened to in a while. And I just had to stop and repeat them a few times, because it's funny how they both sort of relate to my life right now. Well, a part of Coppertone always relates to me. There are so many ways to interpret that song that I feel like it relates to pretty much every big situation I've ever had in my life. And you can't just look at the surface of the song to interpret it, because then it's pretty lame. You have to go deeper then what it's saying on the outside.

But anyway, some songs for thought:

Wheel
John Mayer

People have the right to fly
And when it gets compromised
Their hearts say "Move along"
Their minds say "Gotcha heart"
Let's move it along
Let's move it along

And airports
See it all the time
With someone's last goodbye
Blends in with someone's sigh
Cause someone's coming home
In hand a single rose

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And I won't be the last
No I won't be the last,
To love her

And you can't build a house of leaves
And live like it's an evergreen
It's just a season thing
It's just this thing that seasons do

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now
And you won't be the first
No you won't be the first
To love me

You can find me, if you ever want to give
I'll be around the bend
I'll be around the bend
I'll be around,
I'll be around
And if you never stop when you wave goodbye
You just might find if you give it time
You will wave hello again
You just might wave hello again

And that's the way this wheel keeps working now
That's the way this wheel keeps working now

You can't love too much, one part of it (repeat then fade)

I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me
I believe that my life's gonna see
The love I give
Return to me


Coppertone
The Academy Is...

Do you think you're up for this?
Are you ready to get undressed
Undressed in your evening best?
Besides, every heart is like a house on fire
With escape routes in every room.
These are the trials of our youth

But this charade is never going to last
So pick the poison and pour yourself a glass
I still feel the same
No one's to blame

I will be waiting outside if you're ready to go
Your sundress reflects in the headlight glow
Besides, every heart is like a house of cards
When the walls break down on you
These are the trials of our youth

But this charade is never going to last
So pick the poison and pour yourself a glass
I still feel the same
These are the fast times
These are the fast times

But this charade is never going to last
So pick the poison and pour yourself a glass
I still feel the same

These mistakes are just a part of the ride
And if we choke on the next tongue that we tie
I still feel the same
These are the fast times
These are the fast times
These are the fast times
These are the fast times

The end of Lost... and other things

I can't believe Lost is over. This season I seriously procrastinated watching the episodes, because I felt like if I watched them at the time they aired, the show would somehow go away quicker. Dumb logic, I know. So I finally finished the series the other night and I'm both happy and sad. Sad because it's over, but so happy that they actually remember being on the island together. I think my biggest fear was that they were all going to just forget each other, and after all they've been through, that would have sucked.

I cried like a baby when Jack died though. It was so sad. Definitely sadder then any of the other deaths on the show. And who else was expecting Richard to just disappear when they were on the plane leaving the island. Well, I thought he would either disappear or would suddenly become some kind of crazy skeleton in his seat. Glad that didn't happen.

Anywho... True Blood season 2 came out, and of course I went right out to buy it. I saw it when it was originally on TV, but that hasn't stopped me from sitting down and watching the episodes one after the other like a big freak. I also have gotten my mom hooked on it. She think the vampires are seriously gross, but watches because it freaks her out so much. Haha. I got the latest Sookie Stackhouse book too, and just haven't had a chance to read it yet. I've been reading Nicholas Sparks, which TOTALLY is NOT my thing normally. But my grandma gave me The Last Song, and I read it just because it was there, and then I wanted to see the movie Dear John, but Sarah told me to read the book first because it's so much better, so now I'm some kind of weirdo Nicholas Sparks fan. I even went out and bought another one of his books because I was told it was really good. I am oddly ashamed of my sudden love for his stories, but oh well. I can't help that he pulls at my heartstrings.

Today I got this weird thing from Netflix that allows me to put a disc into my Wii and play some of the movies in my queue straight from the Wii/internet/TV/whatever. It's pretty nifty, and I can also watch some TV shows. The selection isn't wonderful, but it's pretty good considering that I could watch those streaming movies all day and night, and it won't cost me any extra. Danielle's really excited, because we were just talking about the Witches of Eastwick this morning, and she turned it on and it was one of the first movies to come up. Pretty cool.

I've been falling in love with Lost in Pacific Time all over again, and I've started writing again. Two events that are not-so-related, but really make me feel good.


Oh, BTW, I am so excited about this Peg Connolly Scholarship. I get to go out to Spokanel, WA in September, and while I'm out there I'm going to spend a few extra days and head out to Seattle for the end of the week and into the weekend. I love traveling, and I have always wanted to go out to Washington, so this is the perfect excuse.

Life Update

So many things have been happening lately, and I haven't written a blog in so long.

First of all, Colin is here!!!! Yay! He arrived on Thursday night, and I got to spend the rest of Thursday and some of Friday morning with him before he ran off to Reading for a family party. And he would have come home tonight if now for this snow (now he's coming back tomorrow).

So speaking of the snow... it's insane. Today I waited outside in this blizzardy weather for one hour waiting for the 107, and it never came. So my mom decided to get up early and give me a ride to work. Then once I got there (20 minutes late), I called my boss who told me to leave at 2:00 or whenever I felt comfortable (I was supposed to leave at 5). I hung in there until 2:10. It was crazy. I have to be there tomorrow from 10-5, but it's supposed to keep snowing until 11AM tomorrow, so we'll see how things turn out. I'm definitely going to make it in... I'm just not sure what time it will be.

In other news, school's out for winter break. It was my last semester of class... ever! So now I'm free except for this pesky 600 hour internship coming up in mid-January. I'm kinda excited about it. I mean, at least it's not class. And I enjoy working, so it's not THAT big a deal.

Christmas is in six days. Well like five now in two hours. I still have to do like half of my Christmas shopping. I just haven't had any time, and I NEVER leave it off this late normally. But Colin never told me what he wanted (still hasn't, so any outside ideas would be much appreciated), and I just haven't gotten to the store to get my mom's gifts, although I know exactly what I'm getting her.

In February, on the fifth, there is going to be a special concert to celebrate the 5th anniversary of The Academy Is' debut Almost Here. Super exciting, except for the fact that it's in Chicago :( I wsh I could go to that. It would be so much fun. I wonder if they're going to play all of the songs from Almost Here. Tom should make an appearance. That would be pretty funny. I can't believe it's only been five years. It seems like ages and ages ago when I first started listening to them.

Another 5 year reunion is coming up: my high school reunion. Yikes! The prospect of a reunion makes me feel really old. I haven't decided for sure if I'm going yet. We'll have to see. I have a lot of stuff that night, including an invitation to the MLMs album release party. I'm not sure which is more important to me at this point in time, since there are approximately 10 or 11 people who I graduated with who I actually want to see again. Not that I'm NOT open to seeing the other again, but really, if I didn't, it wouldn't be a huge deal.

FINALLY!

http://thewilliambeckettblog.com/post/192565399/saturday-night-music-club-42-something-corporate#disqus_thread


Finally he came out and admitted it. I'm so happy for William and his little family. This is amazing news.

Also, loving the choice of SNMC. It's about time he chose something I know. Something Corporate has my heart always, even though I love Jack's Mannequin to death.

I can't wait for the new TAI EP on Tuesday!

I <3 Re-blogging

I always re-blog the nerdiness that is Bill doing a Rubik's in 2 minutes. My favorite part is the unsuspecting woman in the background at the end whose all "Find a place where that would be applicable in the real world." hahaha, if only she knew who exactly she was talking to. And she tried to tell him that he should go into computers, because he has a ton of "potential".

Rubik's Race For Chile (2nd attempt) from William Beckett Jr. on Vimeo.

Ok, I'm done being a fangirl now.

[edit] my mom just watched this video, fascinated by Bill's nimble fingers and the way he spins the layers around so quickly. Then she got all defensive of him when the woman came on saying stuff about applying it to the real world. I think it's because from the first time I met William, she's thought he's adorable. Ha, it was pretty funny listening to her go off about it for a minute though, "That woman needs to get a grip! What's her problem? Doesn't she know that she's speaking to WILLIAM BECKETT?!" ROFLMAO

Some Random Things

First of all, this morning I took one of those lame-o IQ quizzes on Facebook and it said my IQ was 145, which is in the 96th percentile. Apparently I'm a fucking genious. The questions were all really simple though. Like, 'who was the 16th president of the US?', and 'which continent is Canada located on?' and 'what is the capitol of California'. So I know that my score is totally bogus, but it compared it to other people who went to my high school who took the test, and they all scored between 94 and 125, so it at least made me feel smarter then them.

And this is extremely random, but I was walking down Broad Street the other day and noticed a bus for the Academy Bus Company and thought to myself, 'wow, that logo really looks familiar'. Then I forgot about it until a few days later when Danielle said to me, "Today at Temple I saw an Academy bus and it had the same logo as TAI". Look at these:




I wonder who came up with TAI's logo, because I looked up the bus company and they've been around since 1968 or something. On the other hand, I don't know if they know about the bus company, since it's based in New Jersey.

The other night was fun. Rachel and I went to a Kabab (sp?) house on 5th street, right off of South, and it was delicious and affordable food. Then we hiked up to Chestnut street between 2nd and Front (in my 3-inch heeled boots I might add, which is a little difficult when dealing with the cobblestones of Old City) to Triumph Brewary. We were told (via text from Rob) to tell them that we were there for Temple Med. Unfortunately a girl we go to school with was at the desk, and she’s in our major so we obviously couldn’t lie and say that we were in med school. So we tried dodging out of her sight and up the stairs to the private party, but she followed us and pinched Rachel (yes, she actually pinched her to get her to turn around) and was all, “You guys can’t go up there, it’s a private party.” But we were just like, “whatever, we know its Temple Med and we were invited, so we’re going anyway.” But once we got there it was really fun and crowded and just kinda crazy because most of the people knew each other, and then there was our little group of friends crashing the party (we weren’t really crashing, because Rob and Jen’s roommate Franklin actually is a med student at Temple and he invited them and they invited us. Besides, Rachel is interning this semester at Temple Hospital and we are both in the Temple University College of Health Professions, so we had every right to be there, imho.)

The only really sketchy part about the night was the co-ed bathroom with the frosted glass doors. I couldn’t help but think about how many people had probably had sex in there, which was pretty skeevy.

40 Steps

Dear William,

Please stop wearing your shirts tucked into your pants. Especially if you're going to belt the already tight pants. Honey, it makes you look fat, and you  are by no means overweight.  It's just not a good look.

But this is one of my favorite songs of all time. I'm so glad that Michael showed up at this show to make it even better.

40 Steps live at Chain Reaction 3.15.09 from William Beckett Jr. on Vimeo.

FTABH Record

I just received my shipment (as in more then one copy) of Fast Times At Barrington High on vinyl.  It looks awesome and the blue marble vinyl is extra hot.  I haven't listened to Tokyo Bay yet because my record player is broken, but I'll listen to it soon. Don't you worry. For Christmas we got my uncle a record player that makes your records into mp3s, so I'll make it into an mp3 at some point in the near future.

The only complaint I have is that Fueled By Ramen obviously has very little experience with putting records together.  The paper sleeve is a weird paper that sticks to the record and makes it very hard to get the record in and out without touching it on the tracks.  They should've used a parchment paper instead of a shiny paper.

It's good stuff though.

And I did really great on my test.  I'm sure that I got at least a B+.

The Other Boleyn Girl

I just finished watching The Other Boleyn Girl.  I decided to watch it today because I just finished the book, which took me FOREVER.  The book was amazing... the movie not so much.  In fact, I pretty much hated it.  They leave out about 80% of the actual story, and then they twist around the parts that they left in.  For instance, Anne Boleyn lived in the French court for most of her youth, and eventually moved to the English court later to join her sister Mary as one of the Queen's ladies.  In the movie, everyone lived in England at Rochford (even though their house was at Hever really), and then the King visited them for 2 days, which never happened, and invited Mary and her husband William Cary back to court because he wanted her for his mistress. And then later in the movie, Anne is banished to France.  Never happened.

William Cary is another thing.  They have Mary marry Sir. William Cary in the beginning of the movie, then at the end it says that she married William Stafford, which happened, but they left out the whole part about William Cary dying of the Sweating Sicknes so it looks like Mary just went off and married someone else.

AND Mary had two children by the king: Catherine and Henry, and then another child later by William Stafford.  In the movie, she had one child.  Ridiculous.

AND Anne Boleyn never ever asked her brother George to sleep with her. And if she did there was no actual evidence of it. Anne was convicted of Witchcraft and Adultery, but in all reality, the charges were all based off of hearsay, and were not only centered around George.  Sir Francis Weston (George's lover), William Brereton, and a few other men in George's circle were also killed.

Plus, in the movie they make Anne, Mary, and George's mother some kind of compassionate feminist.  There mother didn't care about them at all!!! She always pretended she wasn't related to them when there was a scandal, like a miscarriage, or George and Anne being thrown in the tower. 

Arg.  Next subject...

Tomorrow is The MLMs show at Dr. Watson's Pub on 11th street.  May be hitting it up with Rachel and Devon.  Fun times.

And of course I had to add this next little gem.  My favorite movie and one of my favorite songs of all time merged together:

Almost Famous vs. TAI
by taivid

Big Words, Recycled Phrases

Two posts, one right after the other. I had to post two, because they're so different.



Today while I was coming in to work, I was listening to some tunes, and I was just struck with the amazingenss of some of them. This is a little random, so bear with me.



Do you ever hear a lyric or a string of lyrics and you're like, "omg, my life exactly!"? Well, I have to say that when it comes to my love life, the lyric that 100% completely defines it is:

I can be your boyfriend, and you can pretend not to know me

From the song Ship Out At Sea by Phantom Planet. It's the last lyric of the song and every time I hear it I can help but think about how all of my relationships have been like this. Damn embarrassing boys.



Then I decided that I wanted to listen to The Academy Is... because believe it or not, I haven't listened to their music in a few weeks ( :-O --I know). So I had a nice shuffle mix going, and I started off with After the Last Midtown Show from Fast Times at Barrington High, because it tugs at my heartstrings and I'm always so filled with love after listening to it. Then, Checkmarks came on and I found myself completely overjoyed to hear it. You know, as much as I love Fast Times, the one thing it's really missing is that angry hard rock song that you can just rock out and dance like crazy to. That's why Checkmarks will always be my favorite TAI song. I think everyone thinks I'm a little crazy for thinking that, but it's so good for everything. When I'm pissed off I listen to it and make sure to sing along to the lyrics, "take your cold, cold heart and drown, and don't forget to take deep breaths." I think it's the mix of the anger and the sexual feelings in it that really attract me to the song. For those who don't know, here are the lyrics to the song so that you know what the hell I'm talking about:

So there you are, and here I stand

As far as I remember, you weren't half bad

Your bedroom behavior was never more then checkmarks on bedposts

For I remember we never had

You get me out of the rain, you get me out of my clothes

Hope I don't make a sound, you hope that nobody knows

Get me out of the rain, get me out of my clothes

Hope I don't make a sound, you hope that no one...

So suck your so-called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

So suck your so called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

So don't explain

'Cause I know exactly what you're going to say

Big words, recycled phrases

And the bittersweet taste of other boys on your lips

So now just sit here and talk about how you wanted it all

Now just sit here and talk about how you wanted it all

Get me out of the rain, you get me out of my clothes

Hope I don't make a sound, you hope that nobody knows

So suck your so-called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

So suck your so-called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

Do you miss looking up from the floor

at my face on a stage in a crowded room?

Well it's not the same

I bet you're still a sucker for those famous faces

Downtown, looking down, down, looking over the crowd

I hope you're out there looking at me now

Well it's not the same

Just look at how we've changed

So suck your so-called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

So suck your so-called pity down

Hey, that's not so bad, is it?

So take your cold, cold heart and drown

And don't forget to take deep breaths

The funny thing is though, that I've seen them live so many times that I now have the live version of the song forever stuck in my head, which is slightly different from the album version. When I sing it, I have a tendancy to add things they say in concert. For instance, after Your bedroom behavior was never more then checkmarks on bedposts / For I remember we never had, Will always says "Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-show me!" and the nerd that I am, always adds that in there and people look at me funny.

I don't know... that song just gets me going I guess. I love it so much that I could probably write another 20 or so paragraphs about it, but I'll spare you all.

And you know what? Now I remember that Fast Times does have it's crazy rock song in the form of Crowded Room, but somehow it's not quite at hard rock as Checkmarks, or anything on Santi.

And so starts my first actual blog that doesn't pose as another type of website.  Unless you count livejournal.  Does that count?

I'm going to pick up where I left off on my myspace blog.... I don't exactly know where that was.  I haven't written in it in quite some time.  I wrote a post in the first few days of 2009 that was Aurora's best of 2008, and it covered music but nothing else.  I haven't finished every section of it yet, and maybe one day I will and I'll actually post it, but until then I'll just post my top 8 albums of 2008, which is all people really care about anyway, right?

1. Fast Times at Barrington High - The Academy Is...

2. The Glass Passenger - Jack's Mannequin

3. Raise the Dead - Phantom Planet

4. Pretty. Odd. - Panic at the Disco (although sometimes depending on my mood, this becomes number 3)

5. Sweat It Out - The Pink Spiders

Honorable mention goes to Ivy League for This Is Ivy League and The Hush Sound for Goodbye Blues.

I give serious props to Greta of The Hush Sound for taking vocal lessons or whatever it was that she did to change her voice from the sweet little girl voice, to the amazing, womanly voice that we hear in songs such as Honey and Medicine Man: