Confessions: I can't sing

I've previously written a post about American Idol, where I poke fun at the fact that the gal I wanted to win didn't. 

And I think I mentioned something about how I'd love to be a judge there, if only to take Simon's spot. 

I overheard something on the radio this morning about the ridiculous amount of money Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey are being paid to be judges.

My response?

"I'll do it for $25 an hour!"

But really, I'd love to be a judge for a singing contest.

There's only one kinda huge drawback:

. . . I can't sing.

Now let me qualify that.

I have the ability to sing, but I can't sing well, can't carry a tune.

I sing in the car when I'm alone because I don't want to inflict my tone-deafness on other people.

I love them too much to do that to them.

However, Candice Glover -- WHO IS FROM BEAUFORT -- can sing!

So yes, vote for Candice Wednesday night!

Why Pandora is awesome . . . and slightly awkward.

I gotta say, I love Pandora.

It’s free.

It’s got a TON of stuff there.

And it tries to understand what you do and do not like.

Heck, that’s pretty impressive.

But it can be sort of awkward.

For instance, you don’t know what’s going to be played next.

The wild card factor doesn’t really bother me, but if an objectionable song comes on, that’s always the moment a younger sibling or a parent comes into your room to ask you something.

And that’s probably when you’ve hit your skip limit too, so you have to switch stations entirely.

Ahhh, modern technology.

But really, I do love Pandora.

I have entirely too many stations, but oh well.

I really like that they’ve upped the number of songs played per artist – it used to be two per hour. Now I guess it’s like five. That’s always nice.

If I could suggest just one feature, though, it’d be an automatic list builder of songs you’ve given a thumbs up.

So much better than taking a picture of the song info. . .

UPDATE: A friend hath introduced me to Slacker Radio.
ME GUSTA.
Slacker Radio keeps track of the songs you've liked, which is very, very, very helpful to people like me who are prone to forget things like their names and trivial things like that.
Only downside is that they don't have as many artists as Pandora has, but I'm content to use both -- Pandora for my more obscure tastes, and Slacker Radio for the more popular ones.

Versatile Blogger Award!

So Amy over at The Girl with a Camera has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award!

This is super sweet of her, and y'all should totally check out her blog. =)

Now here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

~ Link to the blog of the person who nominated you.

~ Select fifteen new blog/bloggers you've recently discovered or follow regularly.

~ Nominate those bloggers for a VBA, leave a link to their page and a comment on their latest post to let them know they have been nominated.

~ Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about you.

So here are 7 things about me:

1. I used to have almost bleached-blonde hair . . . now I look like almost a brunette.

2. I published a collection of stories about two years ago.

3. I'll be 21 this month.

4. My toenails are currently light turquoise.

5. I love K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop. And other things. . .

6. I refused to read the kid's "novel" of TRON: Legacy until I'd watched the original TRON. I was not disappointed.

7. My Spanish only came in handy once: my mom and I went to a restaurant really late and were the last to leave. One of the managers didn't know how to ask a Hispanic lady to clean the tables. I did. Sorta.

And here are my nominees!

1. Caroline @ Awkwardly Caroline

2. Kenz @ Life According to Kenz

3. Karrie @ I Know This Much is True

4. Betsy @ Musings of a Museum Fanatic

5. Skylar @ Our Adventure to Three

6. Kate @ Discover Create Live

7. Denise @ [I]spasiyo

8. Samara @ The Secret Life of Samara

9. Angie @ My So-Called Chaos

10. Jessica @ Fantastically Average

11. Jo @ Jo My Gosh!

12. Laura @ Storybook Reality

13. Libby @ Libby's Life

14. Amberly @ Life with Amberly and Joe

15. Rachel @ You Can't Just Google Everything

Subjects of Songs

I just gotta say . . . I feel really sorry for the people other people write songs about.

Like, basically for pretty much every guy Taylor Swift or Adele has ever dated or crushed on.

Take "Teardrops on my Guitar", for example.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love that song. It's part of the reason I respect Taylor: it's not a catty song about her liking a guy and trying to steal him. It's about her liking a guy and wanting him to be treated right and loved, even if it's not her being loved back. If fact, she tries her best not to interfere.

I really respect that.

But I hope she went by the whole "the names have been changed to protect the innocent" thing, because if she really liked some guy named Drew . . . somebody really felt awful when that was released.

Or say, Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts".

I love that song, too. Actually, it seems like I've been living some of the songs from "Lovestrong" lately, but that's slightly irrelevant. 

If you watch the music video, it's heartbreaking, but beautiful in a bitter, sad sort of way.

It's like she hates him for what he did to her . . . but knows he's going to end up hurt in the end, too.

That guy must feel pretty bad too.

I guess I just feel like I'd have to walk on eggshells around my friend if they were a songwriter - I wouldn't want to end up the butt of a song.

Though, in a way, I guess it's sort of a nod: they meant enough to them that they wrote a song about them.

Anyway, it's just interesting.

And sad.

And sweet, sometimes.

Ramblings of a Fangirl: Opera Peeves

So, don't get me wrong, I am a huge Phan.

. . .

A fan of Phantom of the Opera.

A phan.

All of it. 

The book. The Broadway. The movies. The spin-off plays and musicals and books.

All of it.

NOT Love Never Dies. 

May the Hero Otto Webber rest in peace.

(Some of you understand what that means and I commend you.)

But there's something that really irks me about the play and the movie.

They used fake operas.

In a tale that takes place almost entirely in an opera house, there's not a single real opera in it.

There is in the book and in other versions: they perform Faust multiple times, which is actually far better suited to the Phantom than the fake ones, but that's a rabbit trail you don't want to see me go down.

But I checked on the operas, because Il Muto sounds hilarious. 

But alas, it does not exist.

The fact that they're all English should have tipped me off, but it didn't.
It irked me for a while, but then I forgot about it . . .
. . . till I saw the opera scene from Fifth Element.
Not sure I would suggest the movie, but for those of you who have missed this glorious scene, you can thank me later:

Yeah.
Is that not beautiful?
And here's where it gets even better - IT'S REAL.
It's from Lucia di Lammermoor, and this is the famous "mad scene".
You know, the "mad scene"?
Like THE "shower scene" . . . ?
No . . . ?
Oh.
Okay.
Anyway, this happens right after Lucy marries the guy she doesn't want, kinda snaps, and stabs him.
On their wedding night.
With all the guests downstairs.
Yeah . . .
Awkward.
But she's calling for her true love when she sings this.
Um . . . drenched in blood. . .
But here's what I don't get . . .
. . . a play about an opera ghost can't take the trouble to fit a real opera into the play somewhere, but a sci-fi movie that has nothing to do with operas does. . . ?

Silence is Boring

Okay, I dunno about y'all . . . but I can't sleep with just silence. 

I can't. I've tried. And tried very hard.

People are like "Just don't think about anything".

I . . . I can't. 

Therein lies le problemo.

I went through a phase where I needed a CD of a thunderstorm.

Our CD player broke, so that ended up being a quiet . . . year or so.

Then when I bought my iPad, it was back on.

Plus, I had bought a beach sound, a river sound, and owls and crickets. 

Works great.

I love it.

It usually takes me about two hours to fall asleep on my own.

And that's on a good day.

When I have that stuff playing . . . it's about thirty minutes.

Am I the only one who has this issue?

"Come Unto Me"

I just need to post this, both because I need it right now, and I'm sure there are others who could too.

My Thoughts on . . . Fidelio

Fidelio is one of the best operas ever.

Like, legit.

It's awesome.

The plot's a bit convoluted, and I don't want to spoil anything by trying to explain it, so I'm just not going to. 

It sounds kinda rough, but that's just because it's in German. After a while, you get used to it, but there is this really funny part right at the beginning where this guard's trying to woo the jail keeper's daughter, and she's so sick of it that she pounds the table over and over shouting "Nein nein nein nein!"

Funniest. Opera scene. Ever. 

And it only works in German, so yeah.

But it's an awesome love (and sort of a spy) story, but not mushy. Totally not mushy. 

I'd give it a 5/5.

It's really that great. 

Any thoughts on my review? Did I miss anything or not give it enough praise? Comment below!

My Thoughts on . . . Carmen

So, Carmen's pretty much one of the most famous operas ever. 

Meh.

What would I rate it?

Gosh, probably a 2 or a 3 out of 5. 

I'm really not a big fan of it.

Why?

Well, not because it's "too mainstream" -- that really doesn't bother me. 

It just feels like there's something lacking in the ending, and if you don't know the ending, I'm certainly not going to spoil it for you. Go watch it yourself.

(Though I did stick a hint in the tags . . . )

The music is wonderful, and although the overture and music from the first and last acts are the most famous, there's some pretty good stuff in between, too. 

I have to admit, though, that the first time I watched it, I was struck by the irony . . .

It's an opera set in Spain, where they speak French, performed in Germany, while I was watching it in America, with English subtitles. 

(Oh yes, I do suggest watching operas with subtitles - very helpful. Unless you're actually going to one, in which case I'd suggest sticking a libretto in your mother tongue in your bag.)

But yeah, something just seems missing to me. And it's a bit overused (not the same as mainstream).

Overall rating: 2.5/5

Any thoughts on my review? Did I miss anything or not give it a fair shot? Comment below!

Next . . . Fidelio . . .

(Opera) Bucket List

Just a short(?) list of operas I want to see . . . eventually:

Tosca

Werther

Eugene Onegin

Marriage of Figaro

Lucrezia Borgia 

Rigoletto

Elektra

Pelleas and Melisande

Rusalka

Die Fledermaus

Der Fliegende Hollaender

Tamerlano

Aida

Lucia di Lammermoor

La Clemenza di Tito

The Capulents and the Montagues 

Orlando Furioso

Ernani

Semele

(Update! 11/15/12 - I knew I had more of these floating around in my head!)

Katya Kabanova
The Capulets and the Montagues
Semele
La Finta Giardiniera
The Tsar's Bride
Virginia
Flora
Nabucco
Anna Bolena
Roberto Devereux
Francesca da Rimini
The Elixir of Love
La Sonnambula
Marie Victoire
Manon
La Traviata
Macbeth
Daughter of the Regiment
Il Travatore
Hippolyte et Aricie
La Cenerentola

(Soon to come: my favorite operas!)

Got any favorites of your own?

"Singing" versus SINGING

This may be beating a dead horse, but this occurred to me whilst in the shower, so it's automatically groundbreaking. 

Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) was a sensation when she was 16, right?

Me and a lot of my friends thought she had been pushed out onto the stage too early and didn't give her voice time to develop. That may be true, but I realized something the other day - 

Christine Daae (Emmy Rossum) was also 16 in Phantom of the Opera. And when I say Christine Daae, I don't just mean the character: I mean Emmy too. 

This brings us to an unpleasant thing to admit: I was mistaken about voice maturation. 

(That means I was . . . um . . . wrong.)

But I was right about something else: Miley never really had it. Sorry HM fans. 

Emmy was trained in some opera school, I think. That's crazy! You know how much talent you have to have to be accepted . . . ? Yeah, a LOT. 

So yeah, either you got it or you don't.

And yes, I am a music snob.

700 Calories

I've been trying to lose weight for years. I lose some, then gain some, then lose some more . . . yeah, there's nothing steady about it.
This summer I've lost 10-15 pounds.
As a reward, my mom bought me a betta fish. (You know, the one I almost boiled alive?)
It was really funny, because I picked the fish over a month or two of them paying my car insurance.
And I'm 20.
But anyways, my parents got me a bike for my birthday.
I was so happy.
It's been years since I had a bike.
It's weird though; it's more work now to ride it than it was when I was like, 12.
Oh well.
I've been trying to alternate between biking and walking during the week, and today was one of my walking days.
I use the MapMyRide app on my Blackberry to track how far I go and how long it takes when I ride my bike and when I walk.
(On that note, if you're going to use it while biking, come to a complete stop before stopping the app . . . took an Olympic-worthy tumble learning that lesson.)
I was listening to music today, so I was willing to go a bit farther and faster than I usually would. That, and it was only like, 85-90 degrees this morning instead of 95-100 like it's been lately. Still pretty muggy, though.
Anyhow, I usually go about 3.5-4 miles . . . I looked down on the way back and saw that I had already gone almost 4 miles -- and I was just now turning around!
I ended up going 6.51 miles. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to do that, but I was pretty proud of myself.
I burned over 675 calories . . . Yay!
Not like I eat a whole lot anyways, but still.
But I did have a Birthday Cake Shake from Zaxby's yesterday.
I might have maybe burned that off . . .

The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel ~ My Thoughts

Last Friday, the lastest Batman movie hit theaters.

Last Saturday, me, my brother, and my dad went to go see it.

Not in IMAX - they were sold out - but that was okay: we had a pretty big screen. Besides, maybe the Hobbit will be in IMAX . . . ?

So, first, the movie itself: EPIC.

I LOVED IT.

Definitely gonna have to have a Batman marathon someday after the DKR hits shelves.

I'd give it a 9.5/10.

(The missing .5 is for a personal preference, nothing huge.)

Now . . . onto the more important topic . . .

The Man of Steel . . .

Meh.

I'm not a Superman kind of gal.

Sorry Caroline.

Haha, nope!

I love Batman.

I love Young Justice.

I love Thor (and Loki.)

I love Captain America.

I love Iron Man.

I love the Avengers (read: Coulson).

But I just really can't get into Supes, even though I did watch the entire Animated Series last year.

What really got me, though, was the music they used for the trailer.

Oh. My. Gosh.

This is where I have to interject something about myself.

I am a complete soundtrack nerd. 

I have over a hundred of them, and I can generally identify the movie they came from within the first thirty seconds.

So, picture this.

I'm sitting the theater, yeah?

Watching previews, right?

All of a sudden, I hear really, really familiar music . . .

And some mournful woman singing (or maybe a choir boy).

I say to myself, "I've heard this before".

Not FIVE seconds later, it hits me: it's from Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings.

DID YOU HEAR ME?!

I SAID LORD OF THE RINGS!

WHO ON EARTH USES MUSIC FROM LORD OF THE RINGS FOR A SUPERMAN TRAILER?!

You know what I think?

I think the person responsible for finding music for that trailer totally dropped the ball and picked the first thing he could find!

I mean . . . really?

*sigh.*

Why I Hate American Idol

I hate, abhor, despise, etc, etc, etc American Idol.
Why?
Because of several reasons.
1: This one's a little personal. I gave up on AI quite a few years ago when the gal I voted for gleefully didn't win. And this was the final vote people. The final vote. Pfft. I felt like AI had done this to me:

That is not a good message to send to the voters. Nope.
2: We're running out of talent. And when I say "talent" I mean pure, internal, uncultivated talent. Now, notice that uncultivated has been underlined. Twice. I'm not an idiot. Talent needs teaching, needs to be drawn out. Especially if you're going to be on national (and international?) television. And Youtube. Definitely then. I'm no musical/vocal expert, and I admit that willingly, but I've been around longer than AI. And I've heard real talent, both there and in other places. And I've seen Phantom of the Opera. Everybody needs an Angel of Music. Except me. Because 1: I know I can't sing, and 2: I just want an Erik.
3: This sort of goes along with the whole talent thing. Some people need to admit -- or at least acknowledge -- what I had no problem doing: they CANNOT SING. I'm sorry people. But national TV is not where you want to learn that lesson. Especially where Simon Cowell is judge.

I totally agree with him on 99.99999999999999999990% of people. Our perception of talent has drastically diminished. Orlando Bloom has it right, but the majority of people don't get it:

People who have real talent are lumped into this group of people who have a following, or sell albums/movies, or lead the number of 'Tweeted about' things, or just attract paparazzi everywhere they go. Do not confuse "popularity" and "exposure" with "talent". Do not.

4: This kind of goes with the last one. Now that Simon's gone . . . Who's gonna be mean to firm with the people who should never be allowed to open their mouths again are not quite the best?

By the way, I'm like, addicted to gifs now. That was news to you, right?

Musical Experiment

No, I'm not composing anything.
You wouldn't want that.
Trust me . . .

No, I'm ditching Windows Media Player . . . I think.
I'm really sick of having bugs with it, and it generally failing at everything I want it to do, so I'm going to try 4 other alternatives - and iTunes is not among them because I'm sorry, but I do have an iPad, but I really hate the iTunes interface. To me it's completely counter-intuitive.

Anyhoo, I'm going to be testing WinAmp (which I have heard great things about), PotPlayer . . . um, yeah . . . Kantaris, and KMPlayer.

I shall test them and the best shall win!
. . .
Or at least the best shall be dealt with . . .

EDIT: Kantaris is out. (No library capabilities and no sound during movies . . . don't know why.)

EDIT to the EDIT: KMPlayer is out too, for the same (first) reason as Kantaris.

EDIT to the EDIT to the EDIT: PotPlayer is out of the running as well, for the same reason as KMPlayer. (Okay, come on people, how many of you were relieved to hear that I won't be using 'PotPlayer'???)

Results: So, the best one I've used is WinAmp. The library is incredibly well organized, and I'm able to edit the properties of the individual tracks.
Wuv. It.
That is all.

Some Christmas Songs are MENTAL

Seriously.
Have you heard what is pumped through our radio station playlists?
Take for instance "Santa Baby" (lyrics and info courtesy of christmas-lyrics.org):


Santa baby, slip a sable under the tree, for me
I've been an awful good girl
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Santa baby, an out-of-space convertible too, light blue
I'll wait up for you dear
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Think of all the fun I've missed
Think of all the fellas that I haven't kissed
Next year I could be oh so good
If you'd check off my Christmas list
Boo doo bee doo
Santa honey, I wanna yacht and really that's
Not a lot
I've been an angel all year
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Santa cutie, there's one thing I really do need, the deed
To a platinum mine
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Santa baby, I'm filling my stocking with a duplex, and checks
Sign your 'X' on the line
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Come and trim my Christmas tree
With some decorations bought at Tiffany's
I really do believe in you
Let's see if you believe in me
Boo doo bee doo
Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring
I don't mean a phone
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry down the chimney tonight.


"Santa Baby" is a Christmas song written by Joan Javits, Philip Springer, and Tony Springer. The song was originally sung and recorded in 1953 by Eartha Kitt. The song was a huge hit for Kitt, and she later said that it was one of her favorite songs to record. The song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list sung by a woman who wants the most extravagant gifts like sable, yachts and decorations from Tiffany's. The version recorded by Cynthia Basinet in 1997 is often mistakenly credited as having been sung by Marilyn Monroe; in fact, Monroe never recorded the song.


Are you bloomin' kiddin' me?!

Unless this lady woman is Mrs. Claus, I think Santa oughta skip her chimney tonight . . . because that is going to be awkward . . . She's probably waiting up for him . . .
Stalker.