it should be mentioned:

- the chorus might be stuck in your frontal lobe for weeks.  sorry i’m not sorry, as it is still stuck in mine.

- if your kids like obnoxious music, DO NOT SHOW THIS TO THEM.  they will beg you for it, which you will soon regret. you’ve been warned.

- the overly-earnest informational breakdown sesh at the 2-minute mark is, i feel, particularly awesome.

regardless, i ended up last night watching criminal on youtube, and it was just as disturbing as when i saw it when i was 16, but for (mostly) entirely different reasons.  my best friend at the time was a guy named dan, who LOVED fiona apple. (and poetry, e.e. cummings, guns, working on cars, and having long hair. not your average teenage dude.) he listened to it a lot, and because i had yet to go through my depressing period of time (that came later in seattle) i didn’t connect much to fiona apple’s music, although i rather liked how it sounded.

i particularly liked the song criminal, because, well, it’s a really good song.  i wasn’t allowed to watch MTV at my house, so i avoided seeing the video for a number of months, until it came on over at a friend’s house.

i was…disturbed. i don’t even think i could fully put my finger on it, as nothing really explicit was happening in the video, but it just skeeved me the heck out.  i was a pretty good girl, and it just seemed so dark and twisty and creepy.  and i don’t think the bruises all over her helped.  the guys i knew thought it was both creepy and weirdly kind of hot (the boy confirms this to be true) but i didn’t get that at the time. i was not a dark and creepy teenager, even though i kind of wanted to be.

dark times certainly came later, but creepy always eluded me.

in fact, a few years later, after a little more life lived and boy heartbreak, i dug up my fiona apple CD’s and ms. apple and i got along on a whole new level, but i never saw another video of hers again.

fast-forward to last night.

watching the video again, i was disturbed, but for adult reasons.  the same adult reasons that cause me to balk at shortened text message-speak and give the side-eye to loud kids at a restaurant and go to bed at 8pm like i did last night.

i’m just too old for this business.

i mean, i’m not old, but i’m too old for the entertainment of the young people.

here are my thoughts when watching the video now, as a 30-year-old:

1. sad houses are usually not this nice-looking (i mean, without the dingy-porn-lighting). i mean, this house is remarkably well-furnished (there’s an expensive eames chair and a sports car in the first 30 seconds) for being, presumably, a Lair of Destitution.

2. that red-eye business makes her look like a rat.  how is that attractive?  they should really make a button to remove that from video/pictures.  so unflattering.  oh wait…there’s a button for that.  1997, meet 2011.

3. sleeping on concrete looks really uncomfortable.  why would anyone make a bed on a concrete block?  i thought this house-owner had money.

4. who’s holding the camera in the bathtub? aren’t they afraid they’re going to drop it in the tub?  cameras are expensive.  and, more importantly, someone else’s bath feet are about 2 inches from her FACE.  i’d freak the crap out.  i don’t like other people’s wet feet touching me.  or dry feet touching me.  let’s just make that feet touching me in general.

5. i get the pizza & bottles littering the floor, half-naked women strewn about and cameras…but the vacuum sitting out?  nothing says party like attempting to suck up the crumbs, amiright?

6. and what’s with the oranges in the bathtub?  won’t those go bad?  there’s, like, 8 oranges there — enough to make juice!  that juice would be so tasty. and healthy.

a decade ago i thought she looked so strung out and weird in the video, which i think was the point.

now, she just looks like an urban outfitter’s model.

times i have changed.

okay, that last part doesn’t happen with music.

sometimes i find new treasures while digging for other things at a thrift store or perusing some overlooked corner of the Internet Shopping Mall.

such is the case of the 3-song EP for the band Brother/Sister.  interesting anecdote: Brother/Sister is, indeed, made up of a brother and a sister, Theo and Sasha Spielberg.  and if that last name looks familiar, you would be right in assuming that they are the children of Steven Spielberg.  like that family needs any more freaking talent.  ugh, some people’s kids.

if my finding of their music was represented in a really crappy flow-chart, this is what it might look like:

reading tumblr dashboard —> read post reblogged by zooey deschanel —> post was a video chat karaoke from the site she co-founded called hellogiggles —> watched the video, which made me wonder what other ones were there —> watched a few —> which included one from a girl named sasha spielberg —> which made me remember how much i like the song she sang (brand new key, by melanie, which was nearly ruined for me by its inclusion in the movie boogie nights, which i watched against my will in high school by my then-best friend —> bought brand new key on itunes —> while it was downloading, googled “sasha spielberg” because i’m nosy mcnosystein —> found out that she’s the daughter of steven spielberg, tweets often, as does her half-sister jessica capshaw, and that she formed a band with her adopted brother, theo —> which made me listen to one of their songs on youtube, since i struck out on spotify and grooveshark —> which made me want to acquire all of the songs —> which made me search for it online, finally finding a free download from the website bandcamp.com.

and now you know why i can’t get anything done during the week.

but, these dreamy-three songs are now on my playlist of the week, and will imaginably in heavier rotation this fall winter.  it’s (as my husband says) “totally dreamy-60′s-girlish-pop that my wife would listen to.”  fair warning:  that first track gets in your head, in the positively best way possible.

it’s yours*, compliments of my procrastinatory internet-trolling tendencies. you’re welcome.

Brother/Sister — Opossum

Brother/Sister — Call It What You Want

Brother/Sister — Eli (Why the Charade?)

*as always, to download, just right-click and select ‘save link as’ and follow the directions.

do you want to hear a xylophone in the forest?

yes, of course you do.  click below.

you’re welcome.

[from here]

true story.

despite being featured currently on network television both positively (glee) and humorously (the office), acapella groups will always be endearingly dorky, but dorky nonetheless.  and it’s not because they sound bad (they don’t) or because of the outfits (not always the lamest) or even because of the goofy looks on their faces while they snap their fingers and find their groovy beats (kind of cute, right?).

why, then?

THEIR NAMES.

don’t believe me?

check it out.

but how, HOW, can you not like this (or at least the few minutes i watched before i was so annoyed from childhood flashbacks of the nintendo taking over the television for the entire summer that i had to turn it off)?  i mean they are acting it out.  ACTING LIKE MARIO.  or luigi.  as adults.  not. on. halloween.  while singing the theme song.

okay, they win.

it’s very, very good.  glad i gave it another try after being nonplussed at the one song i sampled of theirs from KEXP song of the day.  and thanks to the boy, for being the musical catalyst for rediscovery.

that should go on a business card.

if you recall, i’ve been looking forward to several movies all summer, and this is the last of the trio that we saw.

oh, it did not disappoint.

it actually ended up being the worst movie i could think of to go to after a particular relationship conversation, me not wanting to see a dreamy relationship set to music that, in that particular mood, seemed elusive and irritating.

it ended up being perfection.

i love the movies; i do.  the boy and i share this, and i’m so glad.

epic weekend.

one of my favorite songs from the movie (albeit difficult since all of them were lovely), from the first lady of france.  they’ve got something going for them, those french: Quelqu’un m’a dit – Carla Bruni

and setting it in one of the most bizarre choices of location (the suburbs)?  well, that’s just the icing on the cake.

band: the dead weathers (aka jack white & alison mosshart’s newest project).
video: directed by jonathan glazer.
thank you: christopher, stewart, and ken wang; respect.

okay, sorry about the pun.  i couldn’t resist.

but, i’ll make it up to you.

DaveyDanceBlog -57- Central Park, NYC from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

i posted about the daveydanceblog a year ago.

and wouldn’t you know it, i’ve been listening to the song he danced to in the above video ALL MORNING.

ohhhh, dramatic!  the song!  strings!  bizarre dance groups in central park!  exclamation point!

i had not heard of her before, but i’m LOVING it.  it’s getting me over my mid-week anxious sleepy slump, and pumping me up for my senior exam sequel: the english department strikes back this weekend and my midterm later today.

come on, music!

Janelle Morae – Sincerely, Jane