Tag Archives: background noise

Christmas Music!

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I’ve been putting off a post about Christmas music.  I figured I had more than enough time, but with Christmas being in less than a week, this is my last chance to talk about it.  Oh, sure, I could do it on a day that is not Monday.  I could even do it the Monday after Christmas.  But: I don’t have any other music-related things to talk about.  And talking about Christmas music after Christmas is over?  That’s a little weird. 

There’s something fun about Christmas.  You have the traditional favorites, like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas and Jingle Bells.  You have everyone and their mother coming out with Christmas albums (cough*justinbieber*cough).  And you have the novelty songs.  The 12 Days Of Redneck Christmas, anyone? 

That’s right, dear readers, I actually felt the need to buy The 12 Days Of Redneck Christmas.  I don’t have much Christmas music.  Because who doesn’t have All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey? 

I am willing to bet that not a lot of people have Wrock Christmas Songs though.  But really, how could you not like the 12 Days Of Wizard Christmas, Christmastime At Hogwarts, and Have Yourself A Harry Little Christmas?  I definitely like the 12 Wizard Days of Christmas, and I’ve listened to it so many times that I’ve prettty much forgotten the lyrics to the original song.  Honestly, though, what better way to confuse people than to go around singing the lyrics to a song they’ve never heard of because they’re not crazy, obsessed Harry Potter fans? 

There’s something fun about Christmas music, and I think it’s the overall novelty of it.  Music that you pretty much listen to once a year?  I’m in!  Granted, you could listen to it anytime of the year, but there’s just something about listening to Christmas music for one month out of the year.

There’s this whole image in my head of listening to christmas music while drinking some cider and decorating the tree.  Christmas music is magic!

Ella Fitzgerald

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After listening to the most recent episode of The History Chicks, I decided I needed to listen to Ella Fitzgerald.  I’ve heard of her before this, but had only heard A-Tisket, A-Tasket.  Which I have.

So on Friday, I went to the library to see if they had anything.  I was in luck, since they had 1 CD, called Pure Ella.  A quick search of the library catalog proved somewhat useful, in that they have quite a few of her cd’s.

Her life story is pretty interesting, but not only that, I found I love her music.  I instantly felt calm and relaxed when I was listening to Pure Ella, and I’m impressed with how amazing she sounds!  I really can’t wait until those cd’s I requested are ready for pick-up because I can’t wait to hear some of her music.

I don’t know if I can pick a favorite out of the songs I’ve listened to but I really like They Can’t Take That Away From Me,  Love Is Here To Stay, Night and Day, and Misty.  Oh, and My Funny Valentine is a really good song too!  So far, I like her slower stuff as opposed to some of her more upbeat/faster songs, but I still like her all the same.

I can honestly say that I am now an Ella Fitzgerald fan, and I can’t believe I didn’t start listening to some of her other stuff until now!  She has a lot more music than I ever imagined, so it’ll be a while before I can listen to everything she has out there!  I definitely am glad I gave her the chance.

Gilmore Girls

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Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I was so sad when it was cancelled!  I first came across Gilmore Girls on ABC Family, where they show reruns every weekday, and unfortunately, I only managed to watch 7 season (the last season) in it’s entirety.  I had only seen random episodes of the previous 5 season, and missed season 6 completely, so everything didn’t make sense.  Thanks to the wonder that is TV on DVD, I managed to get all 7 seasons, and watched the entire show in it’s entirety.

Listening to the Gilmore Girls Re-watch podcast, I felt inspired and compelled to re-watch the series.  I’ve seen each episode a few times, so I’m not confused or anything, but it’s a lot more fun listening to it when I’ve seen the episode right before listening.

It’s a great show, with a lot of great dialogue, witty banter, and pop culture references that go right over my head.  Plus, the relationships between all of the characters is really interesing.

I suppose it would be a good idea to talk about what the show is actually about, right?  It’s about Lorelei Gilmore and her daughter Lorelei (nickname: Rory) and their lives in fictional Stars Hollow.  I like the relationship between Rory and her mom, and the very different relationships that both Lorelei’s have with Richard and Emily, who are Rory’s grandparents and Lorelei’s parents.  The biggest thing, though, is the fact that Lorelei got pregnant at 16 and then left home some time after having Rory.  I also love the very colorful people of Stars Hallow- Miss Patty, Babette, Kirk, Luke and Taylor, to name a few.  And of course, Sookie, Lorelei’s best friend and Lane, who is Rory’s best friend.  And Paris…I could go on listing the different characters.

Listening to the podcast has really helped me think about the show in a different way- one cohost (Arkle) is a fan of the show, and Angela (another cohost) is watching the series for the first time.  It’s hilarious when Arkle brings something up, and it’s clear, it’s not trying to spoil anything for Angela.  They’ve had a couple cohosts- Colleen, who was around for a while, and now someone else (I think her name is Nina) when Colleen had to leave.  Both are fans of the show as well, and around the same age as Rory is in the 1st 3 seasons.  It’s really interesting to hear Angela’s point of view since she sometime brings up things I never thought about.  Rewatching the show, I definitely don’t like Dean and I’m glad it didn’t work out with Rory.  If only they could combine Dean’s companionship with Jess’ reading a lot and Logan’s spontaneity…then you’d have a great guy for Rory!

Sometimes, Rory is a little Mary Sue-ish for me.  I can relate to liking school and reading a lot, but sometimes…she’s a little too perfect.  In contrast to her mom, who has made some mistakes.  It’s definitely referenced several times throughout the first 3 seasons that Lorelei has let down her parents and severely disappointed them and that whole bit.  I wonder if it’s done on purpose to show that while the hopes and dreams Richard and Emily had for Lorelei didn’t happen, it could happen with Rory, who is definitely the child they wanted to Lorelei to be.

It’s been pretty fun rewatching it, and I may have to start doing that with a few other shows I like…

Lady Antebellum

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One of my favorite bands right now is Lady Antebellum.  They’re a country band and one of my favorite songs right now is Just A Kiss.  They have 3 albums out right now- Lady Antebellum is their first.  It’s followed up Need You Now, and Own The Night is their most recent.

I have a confession.  Their first album is the only one I have in it’s entirety.  I have a few songs from Need You Now, and just one from Own The Night.  Still, I like the songs they put out as singles.  And because I only have one full album, I’m not going to do an album ranking.  I will, however, tell you about what other songs I like.  I like American Honey, Love This Pain and Our Kind Of Love from Need You Now.  And Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, Long Gone, All We’d Ever Need and Home Is Where The Heart Is are my favorites from their self-titled album.

My least favorite song is Need You Now.  I liked it at first…and it got played so much that I got sick of it hearing all the time.  I also dislike I Run To You.  Don’t know why, but the song is just annoying.  They’re a big fan of the long song…and the song of the broken-hearted.  In the songs I’ve heard, especially with the singles they release, they don’t really stray too far from that.  The two who sing- Hillary Scott and Josh Kelley’s brother, make their songs come to life and really believable.  I sometimes find myself singing along to some of their upbeat songs, and their songs are always good to listen to if I need to get into a “love is great” or “love sucks” mood when I’m writing.

I’m a fan, and I can’t wait to see what else they come out with!

In My Headphones

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I feel like talking about music, so that’s what I’m going to talk about.  I have some new music I’ve been listening to, so I’m sharing some of the songs I’ve been playing on repeat. 

  • Just A Kiss by Lady Antebellum: I’ve become obsessed with this song over the weekend!  I heard on the radio, and even though I missed part of the song, I still fell in love with the song.  I was hoping the dj would have mentioned who the artist was, since I didn’t know who it was.  It didn’t matter, though, since I guessed (correctly) that it was Lady Antebellum. 
  • Mischief Managed by Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls: I love this song, and I love listening to it over and over.  It’s all about the Marauder’s Map, and I like Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls because it’s not obvious that the songs are about Harry Potter!  It’s a really fun song.
  • Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix Soundtrack: I checked it out from the library, and I like it.  It’s a mix of really dramatic and really fun, but Fireworks and Dumbledore’s Army are my 2 favorite songs. 
  • May It Be: It’s from the Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring soundtrack, which I checked out from the library just so I could listen to this song.  I haven’t listened to the rest of it yet, but I’m definitely going to do that.
  • Wrock: I’ve been listening to it a lot lately…I’ve been in a wizard rock kind of mood.  Gred and Forge, Draco and The Malfoys, and The Whomping Willows have been in heavy rotation.  And of course, Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls.  I definitely need to work in Harry And The Potters, since it’s been a while since I’ve listened to them.  I’ve been listening to Accio-Potter Wizard Radio too, to get my fix.  According to their website, though, they’re not going to be doing any more episodes, which makes me sad.  At least I can listen to the episodes they did do, over and over again.

With all the podcast listening I’ve been doing, it’s a wonder I manage to listen to any music…maybe I need to find some music podcasts to listen to.

The Harry Potter Soundtracks

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I love the Harry Potter soundtracks, and can’t believe I haven’t devoted a whole post to them!  I don’t have all of the soundtracks, just the ones from the first couple movies, plus the Deathly Hollows part one soundtrack.  I just love the music and it makes me think of how much I love the books!  On a random sidenote, I definitely need to re-read the books and watch the movies before Deathly Hallows part 2 comes out.  At the very least, I need to watch the movies plus read deathly hallows. 

Back to the soundtracks.  I love, love, love Harry’s Wondrous World.  It’s so magical, and everytime I hear it, I am automatically reminded of the sense of wonder I felt when I read the series for the very first time.

I don’t listen to the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack very often- if I do, it’s usually the Chamber of Secrets version of Harry’s Wondrous World, but other then that, I don’t tend to listen to it too often.  I do recommend Fawkes Is Reborn though. 

From the Philospher’s Stone, I really like Harry’s Wondrous World, like I said earlier, but Entry Into The Great Hall/The Banquet is good, as is Christmas At Hogwarts, Leaving Hogwarts, and of course, Hedwig’s Theme. 

As for Deathly Hallows, Part One, Obliviate is my absolute favorite song on the whole soundtrack.  It brings it so many emotions- it’s the song they play at the very beginning of the movie, and in combination with Hermione erasing her parents’ memories of her, it really brings to life the gravity of what’s happening and what’s at stake.  Snape To Malfoy Manor is another favorite, along with Farewell To Dobby.  I also like Sky Battle and At The Burrow. 

The soundtracks are definitely some of my favorites to listen to.  There’s no words, so I can’t get distracted by singing along, and there are some memories that I have attached to certain songs.

Podcast and Writing Talk

Posted in General, HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken by

I’m still on my podcast kick, and just when I started to get the number of podcasts down to a manageable level, I found some more to listen to!  While I still have a bunch of episodes I need to catch up, I’ve decided to take my time with it.  I’m not going to go back and listen to the episodes of the new podcasts just yet, so I’m going to download each episode as I listen to it.

Joy the Baker has a podcast!  I don’t read her blog too often, but her podcast is hilarious!  It’s still pretty new, but it’s really fun!  I’ve also been listening to Abandon All Hope, About Face Mouth, For Whatever Reason, Meat-Free Radio and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Actually, I’m listening to 28 different podcasts!  No matter how many times I tell myself that I will NOT go looking for new podcasts, I find myself…looking for more podcasts.

In other news, I think I’m getting close to the end for Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!  I’m excited, because it’ll be the first time I finished a novel.  And not only that, but it’ll be the first nano I finish!  I have no idea if I’ll go back and edit it.  I might, but I’m still not sure.  If I had to decide today, then I’d definitely edit it.  If I do, I might put it up somewhere, like over at ff.net or something.

I did a lot of writing on Wednesday, which was really nice!  It’s been a while since I’ve spent the whole morning writing, and I miss it!  Remember when I said I’d write whatever the average word count was for each novel?  It’s AWESOME!  I think it a lot closer to what I actually write for each thing, because for the first time in weeks, I’m not constantly checking how close I am to my word goal.  I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

I definitely need to get my butt into gear for camp nano!  I think I might do my ncis fanfiction next month for it, and as for august, I have no idea if i’m doing it yet.  I think it depends on how my plot bunnies work out.

Here’s A Random Music List

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a music post, so I thought I’d share some of the music I’ve been listening to.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Oliver Boyd, but here’s some other songs/artists:

  • Living On The Highwire from the Lemonade Mouth soundtrack- very catchy song.  I have no problem admitting that I still watch the Disney Channel, and while I have seen the whole movie, I’ve seen a good chunk of it. 
  • Break My Heart by Sara Ramirez- I love this song!  I’m not sure what genre it would fall into, but iTunes says it’s singer/songwriter…whatever that means.  It’s kind of a mix of jazz and blues…but I’m probably wrong about that since I don’t know anything about genres, and the distinction between the two.  It’s a pretty happy song, actually, because it’s about a person who’s looking for a reason to miss someone. 
  • Push by Fill The Silence- I heard this song on Greetings From Nowhere, and decided to go looking for it.  I like it- it speaks to me, althought I don’t know why it does.  It’s the only song they have on iTunes right now, so hopefully they have something else soon!  I’m curious about what else they’ll come up with.
  • The NCIS Soundtrack- I know there’s 2 different ones, but I have the first one.  Most of the songs are album only, so chances are, you’ll have to buy the whole album for most of the songs.  Well, on iTunes anyway.  I actually didn’t mind, because most of the songs are some of my favorites.  Right now, I Don’t Want To Be On TV by The Toxic Airbone Event, Fear by Stop Making Friends, After All by Saving Abel, and No Matter What by Jakob Dylan are my favorites.
  • Mariah Carey- For some reason, I’ve been listening to a lot of her lately, namely Honey, We Belong Together, Against All Odds, and Vision Of Love.  I wish I could sing like that.  Actually, I wish I could sing period…and if I could sing like Mariah, that’d be an added bonus.  🙂
  • Parachute- they’re one of my favorites.  The songs getting the most playing time are Back Again, She Is Love, Blame It On Me, and Something To Believe In.  They have really catchy songs, and I find myself wanting to sing along.  I’m always in a good mood after listening to them. 

Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls

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I came across Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls when I was listening to Accio-Potter Wizard Radio, and he’s become one of my all-time favorite wrock bands.

I only have the Bare Bones EP and the Open At The Close single, but I’m currently trying to hunt down the cd which has We Are The DA and Dumbledore’s Song, because those two are my favorites.

The songs are really catchy and great pop songs.  I could definitely see them being played on the radio if the lyrics were slightly different.  Plus, whenever I listen to any of his songs, I’m reminded of why I fell in love with the series, and he captures the books so well.  I can’t quite put my finger on why I get so emotional whenever I listen to his music, but I start feeling all nostagic when I listen to him.  Maybe that’s what it is, nostalgia.  It’s the same feeling I get when I listen to the Gin Blossoms.

I’ve decided that my theme song is Just A Hufflepuff, because that’s the house I’d be in if Iwere to attend Hogwarts.  I’m still waiting for my Hogwarts Letter.  Failing that, I’ll go to Pigfarts.  I just need to find a rocketship to Mars.

Anyway, I love the Bare Bones EP, and it’s really hard to pick a favorite off it, but I think I’d have to go with Just A Hufflepuff.  Flight of The Prince, Flash Bang Done, Train To Nowhere, and Lupin’s Tale are also on it, and I think that would be the order if I had to rank them.

Open At The Close is a pretty good too, but for some reason, I haven’t listened to it as much as the others.

His songs seem to be a pretty good mix of catchy songs and slow songs.  The first time I heard Dumbledore’s Song, I started crying because he captured Harry’s feelings so well.  And We Are The DA is such a good anthem- it captures the spirit of the DA so well.

He has a few other EP’s on iTunes, but unfortunately, none of them have Dumbledore’s song or We Are The DA.  I’m pretty sure I’ll like those too.

Two Season Finales This Week

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I’m pretty excited about the season finales for both NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy that air this week.  I’m looking foward to both, because it looks like both episodes are going to be big. 

I really can’t believe that I didn’t get into NCIS before, but the whole Port-to-Port storyline has been really interesting.  I’m really annoyed that they killed Mike Franks, because he’s always been a really interesting character.  It’s too bad Muse Watson had a recurring role, because I would have loved to see him as a regular cast member.  Random side note: I love Agent Fornell, and it’s a shame Joe Spano only gets to be on a couple of episodes every season.  Anyway, I can’t wait until tonight, because tonight’s episode is going to have serious effects for next season, and is going to change things for the world of NCIS.  Well, according to the interviews I’ve read. 

As for Grey’s Anatomy, it’s going to be an emotional shoot-out (instead of an actual one, thank goodness).  They really like to go big for their season finales, and this one looks like it’ll be no different.  Watching the previews, I kept thinking “oh my god, that’s really happening…”  If Meredith and Derek really break up, and end up getting a divorce after they finally get married, I will not be happy.  Considering how long it took them to get together, and everything they’ve been through…grrr!  And it looks like Meredith gets fired for messing with the Alzheimer’s trial.  Looks like I’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out.