The Mighty Quynh

Classical Trancelations

I think this is the album Z showed me one morning? Anyway, thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for except I wish it was a real orchestra. Well, if classic rock can make it to the London Symphony Orchestra and video game music gets regular concerts now, maybe someday…

Reminds me of someone else…

I looked back on what I wore to work last week and it turns out I wore a black top with grey slacks four out of five days. It made me realize no matter how much I’ve tried to jazz up my wardrobe, I always stick to plain, solid tops, and simple pants. My only accessory is a watch. The livelier pieces tend to stay in the closet and never get worn until I go through my weekly/monthly wardrobe cleansing and throw them in the donation bag. When I try to wrap my head around putting together a whole outfit that makes me look polished and poised, my brain explodes.

I’ve forever been jealous of how much “easier” men have it in terms of wardrobe (if you stick to western social norms); they don’t have to worry so much about coordinating all these things if they don’t want to. But now I wonder why I was ever jealous. Who says I have to worry about it either? There’s nothing wrong with my usual turtleneck-slacks combo. Why am I wasting so much time and money shopping for things I end up never wearing anyway? Why am I tearing my hair out over how to coordinate stuff when I know I’m clueless about fashion? Eff it!

Some time ago I wrote about not wanting to look too “Steve Jobs”. Well, I’ve changed my mind. The man had the right idea. There is nothing wrong with my plain, boring wardrobe. I don’t need to wear my personality(ies) on my sleeve. Literally. Just like I don’t need all this “stuff” in my home to tell you who I am.

Minimalism! I wish I’d embraced it sooner!

Please stop raising the pitch of your voice at the end of every phrase or sentence as if you are asking a question when you are really making a statement. It makes you sound insecure, vapid, and immature, and it makes it hard for people to take you seriously because it sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about. And since it has become so frighteningly prevalent, I believe it is having a detrimental affect on how all women our age are perceived. You are making us all look incapable and unprofessional. Stop it. This is not Clueless.

Thank you,
Q

Chris‘s latest blogsack post about the evolution of popular bands reminded me of an old entry of mine in which I quoted lyrics from a 2005 Black Eyed Peas song and then one of their new (at the time) 2009 songs, just to note the hilarious ironicals. Thanks to shiny 2011 technology, I can now embed the videos for you to easily make the comparison yourself.

2005 – From Monkey Business (such a good album)

2009 – From Boom Boom Pow (ugh)

Oh yeah, and the autotuning thing GREAT. I can’t even listen to this entire song.

I wouldn’t care about it if they didn’t decry in 2005 precisely what they decided to do a few years down the line. In their exact words, no less (“boom”). Oh well, they’re not together anymore so all’s well that ends well.

Here’s the old entry quoting the choice lyrics for full ironicals.

One of my favorite shows is House Hunters International on HGTV. I’ve looked up how it works and I know it’s mostly BS (I’ll let you Google it yourself if you like), but it still annoys me to no end when I see typical middle American type suburbanites moving to a major city in another country and demanding lots of space, a big kitchen, and large yard or balcony in the center of the city on some ridiculously tiny budget. It almost makes me want to flip the channel, except that my curiosity in foreign living spaces is higher than my desire not to watch those kinds of people on TV.

Isn’t it great when Americans think the rest of the world can live as large as they do? And isn’t wonderful when suburbanites don’t understand the concept of limited space in cities? (Hint: your real living room is beyond the confines of your front door.) Or even basic economics, supply and demand? And they’re always looking for an extra bedroom for visitors. How bloody often are your friends or family making the 6000 mile trek over that you need bedrooms for them? Just put them up in a hotel for the week. It’s probably cheaper. It wouldn’t kill them to sleep on the couch either. The best (worst) is when they find a kitchen that’s easily twice the size of ours and they call it tiny.

On a positive note, I am absolutely amazed at what you can get in certain parts of Italy. Beautiful 15th century homes in old medieval towns go surprisingly cheap. Maintenance is a whole other story though. But still, it’s nice to dream. If I can stop being an idiot long enough to start saving up real dough, buying foreign property is definitely on the top of the list.

I forget what I was looking for (something trance), but I ended up seeing something that reminded me to look for this song and then I remembered how much I used to like this band:

I should try to find more symphonic metal. Scandinavians are good at that.

I love everything melodic, progressive. Any genre. Give it to me.

Edit: For fun, another classically trained cross-over (popera?) artist, Sarah Brightman, and her “Captain Nemo” song (though the “Nemo” in the Nightwish song above refers to the Latin for no one).

(Brightman’s pretty much my favorite singer. I much prefer her rendition of Phantom of the Opera to the recent film version with Emmy Rossum.)

Based on Bree‘s excited recommendation (texts at 8:37pm in middle of week: “Omg you need to see this play: she kills monsters” – “Seriously seriously buy tix now.” – “If you’re at dinner do it from your phone”) I went with Rich and a couple friends on Friday to watch She Kills Monsters, an amusing homage to geekery. It’s mostly D&D based humor, but I’m pretty sure anyone who grew up in the 90s and has ever touched an RPG of any kind would appreciate it. Plus, the actresses are all hot. All of them. And isn’t the hotness of the leading ladies the most important thing?

But seriously, it’s witty and geeky and if you’re reading this, you will probably like it. There are a few parts that made me go but they were always immediately followed by a moment so it never got too heavy. It’s only running until 23 Dec so get yer tickets now!

Mostly the same as last month, trying to focus on folks who haven’t been at EZ before or who don’t get out here often and not so much on big names that are pretty much guaranteed to be here. Here are my votes for December, again in no particular order:

Orkidea (how could I not vote for him after that magical night last month ), Talla 2XLC, Airbase, Röyksopp, Adam Szabo, Rank 1, Eric Prydz, Ronski Speed, Tritonal, Daft Punk, Pendulum, Heatbeat (or just Matias Faint), Nitrous Oxide, Daniel Kandi, Stoneface & Terminal, Yuri Kane, Ørjan Nilsen, Jochen Miller, Arty, Mat Zo, Beat Service, Timo Maas, Eco, Michael Gray, Audien.

One thing I realize about my music preferences is that I really, really love a lot of chill, melodic (ALWAYS melodic), proggy stuff that many people find boring in EDM. I mean, I get it. Electronic dance music. But for me, I don’t need music to be high energy all the time, even when I’m out and seeing DJs live. Get this, guys. Sometimes it’s nice to go to a symphony and listen to music sitting down! I realize to most people going to a nightclub to rock out to a DJ/band is not even on the same planet as the symphony, but to me, it is pretty much the same. I feel the same, anyway. Don’t you? And isn’t that the point? To feel… something?

I think I just lost everybody there. I can imagine you all scratching your heads and backing away now.

Click here to submit your votes for who you want to see at Electric Zoo 2012.

I’ve never had an issue with lost mail until I moved to the city. A number of things I expected to receive in the mail never arrived. A wedding invitation (twice), a package or two… Who knows what else has been “lost” that I didn’t know should have arrived.

Taxes. Living and working in different states is par for the course in the tri-state area. Yet somehow the NY tax office is too dumb to understand my not-so-unique and rather simple situation (I’m talking 1040EZ simple). Despite calling and mailing it in multiple times, they continually “lose” the form that declares what NJ is already collecting from me. This month they levied the amount from my checking account, along with a $125 fee for paying late. Now I’m out $1200 for their stupidity and Rich is once again trying to correct the situation for me. Even if I get my money back, I now owe Rich extra sexytime for straightening this out. :p THANKS, NY.

And last (for today), my biggest pet peeve: umbrellas. NYC has made me absolutely abhor umbrellas. And many NYers for that matter. If so much as one misty spec of precipitation falls on the head of a NYer, s/he pops open the umbrella. And even if it has stopped raining, she still keeps it out. Not only is it the ultimate weak sauce, I find it rather thoughtless and, frankly, pretty rude. It unnecessarily causes extra congestion and poking of eyes on the narrow, busy sidewalks of Manhattan. And I’m not even tall enough to get the brunt of the eye-poking. Besides, (when it is actually raining) EVERYONE in the city should know proper umbrella etiquette because we all have to deal with it sooner or later.

I often wish the people who pull out umbrellas when it’s barely drizzling would cross paths and smash the offending instruments into each other, causing much snappage and/or rippage as the owners hurry along in opposing directions. I wish they would all lose their umbrellas like they lose my mail and tax forms.

Other than that stuff, living here is okay.