Number Five With A Bullet, Welcome

I’ve come to realize that Rob had it right “what really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films – these things matter.”  I might seem shallow but I’ve come to realize (after lots of experimenting) that I get along a lot better with people who like the music and movies I like, specifically my Top 5. Without further ado, my Top 5 Movies

5) Gladiator  –  When I talk about this list, I almost always list the top 4 and then throw out a couple titles that cycle in and out of this last spot. American History X and High Fidelity pop up occasionally too (the former more than the latter), but this is definitely the most consistent one. I tend to stray away from admitting this is my number 5 because (as you will see from the rest of the list), I seem to have a problem with picking blockbuster (also comedy, as it were) movies as my favorites. Not that I don’t love movies like Star Wars and The Godfather etc… but maybe I’m just a little pretentious. Lets move on, shall we?

4) This Is England  –  This one started at #3 but I think this is a good spot for it…for the moment. I change my mind too much on the 4 and 5 spot. (True Story, Based on the Director’s Childhood)

3) Almost Famous  –  THE BEST MOVIE ABOUT MUSIC I’VE EVER SEEN… Ok Ray was pretty good too. The most feel good movie on the list, and at this point I think it’s tied with High Fidelity as the most quoted source on this here blog. Everytime I see the scene that says “I need to go home”…”You are home”, I wish I could be living so care free. “Show me a guy who didnt want to be popular, and ill show you someone who was scared” (True Story, Based on the Director’s Childhood) I’m also gonna point out that this has one of the best soundtracks ever put together.

2) Oldboy  –  This movie will blow your mind. In a poll (not gonna bother with a source here, it’s been a while since I saw it) it was ranked the #2 most epic ending of all time.  Be warned: it’s graphic, hardcore, and twisted (typical Korean movie, I guess). So much so that I can usually only watch it about twice a year, but its about that time of year again, so it’ll happen again soon. Im gonna be livid if Spike Lee messes up the remake. (Not a true story, thank god) “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone”

1) City Of God  –  Included in numerous “Films to see before you die” and “Best movies of all time” lists, City of God was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Editing and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) in 2004. Based on the childhood of one of the main characters, it follows a group of children as they grow up to run the slums just 15 miles away from the beautiful Rio De Janeiro. “If you run it will get you. If you stay it will eat you”. Go see this movie…then thank me after

Thank you Starbucks, for you provide me with free (not including the delicious mocha frap) wifi.

Here’s to the 27 Club

I haven’t had the heart to research and write the two darker top 5 lists (songs at a funeral/songs about death). But, against my better judgment, I’m gonna do one tonight and then we’ll see about the next one. It might take a while to get posted.  On a side note; I just came across Jeff Buckley for the first time today after a recommendation to his version of “Hallelujah” and I’m starting to fall in love with this dude’s sound. But lets not get side-tracked.

Top 5 Songs that I want to be sung at my funeral:

1. “For Good” Wicked

2. “Will You Be There” Michael Jackson

3. “Wish You Were Here” Pink Floyd

4. “Dance With My Father” Luther Vandross

5. “Every Breath You Take” Sting & The Police

“Well is it better to know, or not to know? See I wanna go to art school, but I’m afraid” “Jesus, I hate this funeral”

“My Five Stages”

When I was at BYU, I had to really motivate myself to go to class. Or anywhere that forced me to leave my crappy college bed with ridiculously comfortable sheets covering me. Once I was out of bed, however, I needed a playlist that kept me going to wherever I was headed, be it class, soccer game…whatever. Unfortunately for me that playlist is 17 songs long and after trying, and failing, I’ve realized that I needed to start from scratch to make this top 5 (although I might cheat and take songs from that playlist, cause it was so perfect). So this playlist will be made of the best songs to play in the morning. However, since monday is the start of the week (and because I’m still riding the High Fidelity top 5 list theme), a bigger boost is needed to get yourself out of bed and into a state of productivity.

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules”

A warning before we start: I need beats to pump me up, so you’ll see this list is a little bias towards the hip-hop genre…and I just really love hip-hop and rap in the mornings. And the afternoon and evenings for that matter.

Top 5 Songs to Play on a Monday Morning:

1. “Hey Ma” Camron  –  “And I know what ladies like, Need a man that’s polite, listens and takes advice
I could be all three, plus I can lay the pipe…Get in the Car, And don’t touch nothing Sit in the car”. CAMRON THIS DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE!

2. “Sex, Love and Money” Mos Def  –  I have indeed been caught, by a van full of laughing people, dalking (walking and dancing…definitely coining it) across the street to this song. Between the tambourine and whatever kind of flute that is in the background, I’m not sure how anyone can resist the urge to, at the very least, bob your head back and forth to the rhythm.

3. “Me and Mrs. Jones” Billy Paul  –  This song is SO SMOOTH!

4. “Le Disko” Shiny Toy Guns  –  Lets bring it back up a notch. This song fits in nicely here with its upbeat tempo and its slow part in the second half of the song.

5. “Young’n (Holla Back)” Fabolous  –  A chill song to finish off the playlist.  This beat is up there on my favorites list with “Still D.R.E” – Dr. Dre , “Lex” – Ratatat, “Everyday Struggle” – Notorious B.I.G. and “Heart of the City” – Jay-Z.

“Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.”
“No, it’s really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records.”
“Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him.”

A Penny Hardwick Tribute

As we continue with the theme (borrowed from High Fidelity) of Top 5 Lists, we come to the list of Top 5 Recording Artists.  This was brought up in High Fidelity when Rob talks about his second worst breakup of all time, in chronological order, with Penny Hardwick (Her favorite recording artists: Carly Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Elton John).

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll reiterate it again because of its relevancy in this next list. I listen to a lot of music. After beginning to research for this article I realized that putting 5 people/bands at the top of a list that is full of artists, who in my mind are legends, is impossible with no parameters. So to start this off lets set some guidelines. The Artist(s) have to

1) have at least 3 or more albums (not counting re-released albums, compilations or “best of’s”)

2) have at least 2 albums that I can listen to from beginning to end

3) be involved in 1 of the first 2-3 conversations I have with someone I just met. If you’re not gonna bring them up when trying to find out similarities between you and a new acquaintance, they don’t belong on this list

This list will go from 5-1, but depending on the day the order changes. So as of right now, without further ado, here are my Top 5 Recording Artists of All Time

5) Daft Punk  –  Started out as a 3 man punk band called “Darlin”. It went nowhere (it’s hard to listen to more than 30 seconds of any of their songs), but after a bad review described them as “a bunch of daft punk”, the French duo dropped the guitarist (who went on to play in Phoenix) and began making house music.  Unfortunately I got into them 3 months after they did their legendary Alive 2007 tour (they played in Coney Island…not at all bitter about that). Albums I can listen to straight through: Alive 2007, Discovery, Homework.  “High life. Possibly my favorite Daft Punk song. Who DOESN’T wanna go do cocaine at a roller disco with this song playing?”

4) Jay-Z  –  I first heard about Jay-Z when I was a freshman in high school, still trying to shorten my musical learning curve after spending 3 years in Germany where I knew nothing about what was going on in the world around me. I heard The Black Album and liked the singles, but hadn’t ever looked into him more. Then I met Tim from french class. He always had his CD player with him and the only CD’s he had in his case were from yours truly. He was a true fanatic, border-lining obsessed. I got the full Black Album from David my junior year and from then on it was gravy. I fell in love with the album (one of my top 5 all-time) and after I downloaded all of his discography, mostly online in less than legal ways, he had my heart.  Albums I can listen to straight through: The Black Album, Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint

3) Guns N’ Roses  –  Another band that David put me on to (thanks again).  This is one band that I actually don’t bring up in those first couple conversations. My reason being; after doing it so many times and getting “oh yea I love playing Sweet Child of Mine on guitar hero” in response, I got sick of it and subconsciously decided to let them all suffer in their own ignorance. Albums I can listen to straight through: Appetite For Destruction, G N’ R Lies, Use Your Illusions 1,2 (everything up until The “Spaghetti Incident?”, which only called my iTunes home for about a week and before I deleted it).

2) Pink Floyd  –  It’s late at night and you’re going for a walk (or in my case, sitting back on my balcony in Provo, UT). 27’s in one pocket, an iPod in the other and the only thing on your mind is what should I listen to to help me get away from my day for 5 minutes. Most of the time for me, that choice is “The Wall”, and those 5 minutes turn into 45 after I get sucked into the story during the first song. Since then I’ve been able to stop smoking (win) and I’ve moved away from Provo (major win) but just as they were there for me before I moved to Utah, Pink Floyd has stayed with me as I’ve moved on to bigger and better things.  A big reason for that is the fact that they write their albums based on concepts and I’m able to get lost in them. Albums I can listen to straight through: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here

1) Eminem  –  I posted an interview with Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) a week and a half ago where he’s talking about the first time he listened to Eminem and Biggie. He liked, and this is exactly how I felt when I first heard Mr. Mathers, how this music scared him. It didn’t really hit me when “The Real Slim Shady” came out cause I was in the 4th grade and even though I knew all the words I had no idea what it was talking about. When I picked it up again in high school (and this is again borrowing words from that interview) it was so new to me. I didn’t realize that this kind of material could be put on a beat and be delivered with such ease.  Albums I can listen to straight through:  Infinite, The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP (Only if I’m in the mood for “Kim”), The Eminem Show

…Now, years later, I still get scared when I listen to Eminem.

And I love it

“I prefer the Term Homage”

As I watched High Fidelity again the other day, I was thinking to myself, I wanna work in a record store (but I realized none of them were making money so that thought left me quickly).  Then I noticed I was 10 minutes into the movie and top 5 lists had already been mentioned at least 3 times. Which brings us to todays topic:

Top 5 Lists

I was thinking about doing all the Top 5 Lists from the movie all in one post but I realized a) that would take so long to research, write, and read and b) sebastian has been bugging me about not posting in the last couple days so I’ve been thinking about doing a one-a-day thing where I do a Top 5 from the movie everyday (duh) until I’ve done them all. In addition to that, in order to spice up my own life, I’d throw in other posts so that its not too monotonous. Last thought before this starts: If you have seen the movie, you’ll realize that I am not going to do every single Top 5 that they talk about. Mostly because I don’t know how to answer them (if you actually realize that I don’t do all of them, you know this movie too well).

Top 5 Side 1 Track 1’s (In no particular order) :

1) Song: Sunshine  Album: Sad Clown Bad Summer  Artist:  Atmosphere  –  “Every woman looks better in a sundress” This song is just so feel good and up-beat. And its Atmosphere, who I might be a little bias towards.

2) Song: Planet Rock  Album: Planet Rock: The Album  Artist: Afrika Bambaata & Soulsonic Force  –  I’d drop an “Ali G, Indahouse” quote to flaunt my vast knowledge of movies but that wouldn’t do anything to support this song, so just listen and enjoy one great song by a founding member of the genre I love so dearly.

3) Song: Welcome to the Jungle  Artist: Guns N’ Roses Album: Appetite for Destruction  –  First heard this song freshman year of high school when David burned me a bunch of music (GNR, STP, Offspring, Jay-Z, RHCP). This album then changed my life.  Senior year of high school when I was on the year book committee (video yearbook mostly, none of the mistakes in the book were my fault) I had an idea for the beginning of the video that was shot in first person (does that mean the same thing as first person shooter? cause thats what I was going for…).  What you saw was the view of me getting off the bus, turning around to the school, and as the bus drove away this song started.  A couple months later I finally saw the music video for this song and realized I had, without any knowledge, done a pretty good homage. Cheers.

4) Song: Baba O’Riley  Artist: The Who  Album: Who’s Next  –  “So what if I don’t know all the lyrics to Teenage Wasteland?” “Its Baba O’Riley. The song’s called Baba O’Riley!”

5) Song: You Should be Dancing Album: Children of the World Artist: Bee Gees  –  While going through my music to find songs to fit this category, I stumbled upon theses guys for the first time in years (I have 14000 songs, its easy to have things get forgotten for long periods of time) and remembered how awesome they are. I gotta stop letting new genres make me forget about the classics.

Honorable Mentions:

Song: Brown Eyed Girl Artist: Van Morrison Album: Blowin’ Your Mind!

Song: Battle Cry Artist: Army of the Pharaohs Album: The Torture Papers  –  I’ve been really into these guys recently. Celph Titled’s voice and delivery are so filthy

Song: Black Dog Album: Led Zeppelin IV Artist: Led Zeppelin  –  “When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”

I haven’t decided which one I’ll do for tomorrow…so we’ll see what I’m in the mood for when that time comes.

What are you thankful for today? Off the top of my head I can think of my friends, family, delicious food (gained 5.6 pounds at dinner today), beautiful parks, the cure for hiccups, and the button that lets you mute 12 year olds on x-box live.

Love you guys.

“Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”