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!

All Day...

I've had these two songs in my head. And then I decided to listen to them on my iPod, and I couldn't stop and ended up listening to Geronimo and Dropped by Phantom Planet all day. I don't know if it's the incredibly raw sexiness of Geronimo or the funky beat of Dropped, but I'm stuck with these songs in my head 'til the end of time, I'm afraid.

lyrics:

Dropped
I can swear I can feel the beating of a cold cold heart
Or there's a chill, 'cause it's showing through your clothing
And as far as I can tell
There's nothing underneath your v-neck tee
I'm begging, I'm begging, I'm begging you please
Now

Tell me that you want me
Tell me that you need me
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know

Won't you stop teasing me
Won't you take It easy
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know
You're never gonna go

Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now
Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now

Everybody knows the way the eye goes
Moving like a curtain closes over the finale
From your head down to your toe
Up and down checking you out now
Beyond a doubt

Make a copy in the office for the dest with the windows
In the ivory dome
You've made it your home
See you in the sills
Smiling ear to ear
Never gonna go

Do you want me
Tell me that you need me
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know

Won't you stop teasing me
Won't you take it easy
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know
You're never gonna go

Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now
Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now

Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now

Tell me that you what me
Tell me that you need me
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know

Won't you stop teasing me
Won't you take it easy
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know
You're never gonna go

Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now
Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now

Drop
Whatcha
Got
Now

Tell me that you want me
Tell me that you need me
Tell me 'cause I'd like to know
Now


Geronimo
Just one touch
That's enough
And it's like pushing comes to shove
I think you like this way too much
I think you're way fucked up
Four hands fight
Two hands tied
One wrong never felt so right
You don't want to make me blush
You want me unconscious

I scream bloody murder
Why don't you call me something dirtier?
Never thought this harmless crush
Could be so dangerous

Trading looks
Back and forth
You just make me want it more
I know soon we'll be trading blows
Getting on all fours and tearing of clothes

I can't belive this is happening...
You knock the wind right out of me
You don't want to make me blush
You want me unconscious

Just take me down
Come on, put me to the ground
Yeah, I want it now
Get on top of me
I can't stop thinking of
Pummeling you
For another full minute or two
When i get, when I get next to you

GERONIMO!

I can't stop thinking of
Pummeling you
For another full minute or two
When I get, when i get next to you
Come on, I want you to
Take me down
Come on, put me to the ground
Yeah, I want it now
Jump on top of me

GERONIMO!

To Whom It May Concern????

Straight from the PATD website:

To Whom It May Concern…

July 6th, 2009

Ryan Ross and Jon Walker will be leaving Panic at the Disco to embark on a musical excursion of their own. Though the four of us have made music together in the past, we’ve creatively evolved in different directions which has compromised what each of us want to personally achieve. Over the years, we have remained close and honest with each other, which helped us to realize that our goals were different and that parting ways is truly what is best for each of us. We are all excited for the future, you should be too.

-Ryan & Jon

Stay posted to the Panic site for updates on Ryan and Jon’s new project, as well as a message from Brendon and Spencer who will continue on as Panic At The Disco. All touring and album plans for Panic will continue as previously announced.

Well you know what? It concerns me and just about every other fan of Panic. I mean, who the hell is going to write the music if Ryan's not there? Panic at the Disco is pretty much defined by Ryan Ross, which sucks wayyyy too much. Arg. WTF Jon? I'm going to miss your flip floppity ways. Well, until you start a new band with Ryan.

This is heartbreaking news.

I found a fatal flaw in the logic of love...

My favorite singer covering one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands.

Gone For Good from William Beckett Jr. on Vimeo.

Singer: William Beckett
Song originally by The Shins

Photography

If you enjoy photography, check out http://www.cbeckettphoto.com/ for Courtney Beckett's new portfolio. She does food and drink campaigns as well as photographs of people she knows, which are pretty neat. Click on the samples below to link straight in to her page, because she's awesome.





Also, I want to say that whoever took/photoshopped this picture of Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco) is my favorite. There's something about this shot that I just love:

Warning: This Entry Has No Point

I'm procrastinating right now, just so you know. I just got done a test, and now I have to work on my 20 minute presentation for tomorrow. Hopefully it will go well. I have about half of the slides done, but I finished all the easy ones first, so now it's time to actually do all my research.

In my procrastination I checked out all my usual sites, then headed over to the FBR Secrets LJ. It's always good for a laugh. I agreed with a lot of them, and disagreed with a lot of them too. Then I fell upon #56, and now I need to scour my brain to get the extremly disturbing mental image out! I'm not going to go into it excep to say that it was an extremly graphic dream that a young man had about two members of the label, and it made him realize that he was gay, which isn't the disturbing part; it was the graphic language used by a 13 year old boy that was disturbing.

Also, Bill got a tattoo. Waiting on the picture proof still, but from what I hear it's all about Snakes and Suits. I don't know why he would get a tattoo depicting the clothing line he's involved in. Sounds silly to me. A very strange idea for his first tattoo. I was expecting something more along the lines of a GDB or a Santi or something.

If anyone wants to put on an Aurora costume and go to my class tomorrow to present on "Implementing Appropriate and Meaningful Art Groups for People with Dementia", please email me. It's the first day (eek!) and I'm following Mitesh who's bringing in the Wii to talk about Wii Therapy... a hard act to follow.

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.

Possibly

I have a test tomorrow and I most certainly did not do all of the studying I should've done. Oops! Well, there are 7 more where that came from, so I'll just have to make up for it then if I do poorly.

Also tomorrow I have to work. 4-8. This later shift really actually sucks. No one comes in after 6:30, so maybe I'll have time to eat some dinner if I take it (I'm thinking a Lean Cuisine Southwestern Panini).

THEN, tomorrow night I'm possibly going to take the R5 train into center city and then the R6 train to East Falls, where I may possibly be seeing a band called Pawnshop Roses with Rob and possibly some other people. I have no idea what is actually going on here, except that I was invited and I said I may go.  Waiting on the details to see if it's actually going to be a possibility. I kinda hope it is. I like going out on these Thursday night outings. I have nothing going on on Friday, so why not?

Just some stuff

Tonight I'm finally getting to watch Lost, so maybe some Lost series theories tonight or tomorrow. I didn't post any last week, because honestly I didn't get that usual Lost feeling after watching the episode. Normally when it's over I'm like, "what the f--- just happened???" and there are 5000 new things brought up that I have theories about. Last week that just didn't happen, and I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, it feels nice to kinda know what's going on once in a while, and on the other hand, I'm pissed that it was almost a little boring.

I have had a headache for two days. It kinda sucks.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to make fun of 16 year old boys wearing white sparkly star belts:

ROFLMAO! Thank you for being ridiculous in your youth, Bill. ♥ ♥

Media Week in Review

Some stuff I've seen/heard/read lately and want to share/review.

Coraline - This was an amazing movie. I don't see many movies in theatres because I think it's a waste of money to spend $10-$12 of my hard earned dinaro's on something that I could get on my Netflix for $10/month (and I usually get 4-6 movies/month). But seriously, if you haven't seen this yet, which counts out approximately half of my blog readers (Danielle and Emily), then you must see this. In 3-D. If you don't see it in 3-D you're missing out. Not only was the story intriguiging and original, but the visuals were fantastic.

I'm Reed Fish - This is a movie that I bought after seeing it a few months ago on my Netflix. It's an independant flick, but it has Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls) and I love her. Anyway, the story is about a young guy whose parents are both dead, but he has his entire life laid out for him: he's inherited his father's radio news program and all of his parent's stuff, and he has an amazing fiance. He lives in a really small town and everyone knows everyone else's business. One day a girl who he used to have a crush on in high school, returns to the town on summer break from college... and I'm not going to say anything, because it would kinda ruin the movie. It's not really a chick flick, because the main character is a guy and it's all told from a guy's perspective, but it's interesting, and everyone should check it out. Plus, it's based on a true story.

Yesterday I started a book called S. by John Irving. I'll have to let you know how it is when I finish, but it's my train book, so it may be a while. So far it's really good though. It's written all in letters, and it's about a housewife in her fourties who leaves her husband because basically he's a prick. But I'm only about 25 pages in, so we'll see how it goes...

symphonysoldier.com This is the blog of Alex DeLeon a.k.a. "Singer". He's the lead singer from The Cab. If you want to see pretty much the ugliest animated picture of someone ever, you should check it out just to see his header. I love The Cab's music and I don't know much about it's members except their names and little bits that I've heard from other people, but this blog is pretty funny. I love how the blogs of the Fueled By Ramen crew drip with all of their self-important, arrogant bullshit all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love reading the stuff they post, but you can tell just by looking at some of the stuff they write, that they truly thing that they are the coolest, funniest, most clever guys around. Men are so silly. Oh, and if you want to see the UGLIEST band t-shirts ever made, check out the 2/6 post.

Folie a Deux - Fall Out Boy I finally got this CD. I was extremely resistant to getting it, because I really didn't like their last CD, Infinity On High. But it seemed that everywhere I went people were talking about how great it is. And it got excellent reviews in all of the media, so I figured that I would pick it up finally. Anyway, I popped it into my CD player and I had the whole love/hate thing going. In order for me to really love it, I have to pretend that it's not written by Fall Out Boy, because it is so drastically different then their other material. When I remove the band's name from the music, it's actually pretty great. I love dancing to it, and I think that tracks 2, 3, and 4 ("I Don't Care", "She's My Winona", and "America's Sweethearts") is probably one of the best track line-ups I've heard in a long time. When I relize it's FOB materical again, I want to rip my hair out.

A lot of people don't understand this I bet, because I think that most people only know what they've heard on the radio of Fall Out Boy. This probably includes, "This Aint A Scene" and other songs from Inifinity On High, and possibly "I Don't Care" and "America's Sweethearts" from the new CD. If you haven't listened to them from the beginning (not that I've been listening from the beginning, but at least from when their first two CDs came out), you won't hear the changes. I really really love old FOB. In fact, today I had my iPod on shuffle and some old FOB came on and it made me smile to hear the good old stuff that I used to rock out to. But the new stuff is good too. I have to learn how to be more open to change.

But you can hear the changes for yourself. Below I posted a few new FOB songs, and a few old ones.

I Don't Care (*NEW*)


America's Sweethearts (*NEW*) This is only a link, because embedding is disabled on ALL of the YouTube videos, but this is one of the best songs, and the video is really freaky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc-wM6g-Oio

Saturday (*OLD*) from their first CD Take This To Your Grave


A Little Less '16 Candles', A Little More 'Touch Me' (*OLD*) From their second CD, From Under the Cork Tree. This one is a little bit of a movie. A vampire movie to be exact. You have to go into it a little ways for the actual song. Fellow FBR labelmates, Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco), Travis McCoy (Gym Class Heroes) and William Beckett (The Academy Is), and Mike Carden (The Academy Is) also star.

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+.

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: