More Music

Lately, I've been listening to Rilo Kiley a lot. I'm still only getting to know the band so I can't tell you a lot, but I've loved what I've heard so far, which is their 2001 debut album Take Offs And Landings and their 2004 album More Adventurous. The songs are mellow, but not in a sad way; more in a walk down the street with a slight bounce in your step way. I like to listen to them while on the bus on my way to college or while I'm indulging in some solitaire.

The music is stripped rather than overdone with layers upon layers of melody, which contrasts rather nicely with the bluntness of the lyrics.

Here's a single from More Adventurous :

Anonymous gone right

Anonymous has been misbehaving quite a lot - what with 4chan and the anon hate on websites like Tumblr. Thing is, not everything anonymous ends up like that even in 4chan and Tumblr, but especially on the two sites I'll recommend today. Both are based on anonymous submissions and lack the immaturity anons have been displaying as of late.

It's almost summer (part II)

We all have Summer reading lists. Here are some suggestions:

Now for something completely different

For a twist, let us talk briefly about photography. I first saw Duane Michals's work a few months ago in my photography class at college, we were skimming through a selection of different books and his caught me and my friend's attention. The book in question was called The essential Duane Michals.

Winter is coming

I know this is old news, but Game of Thrones is amazing tv show that it deserves its own post. Consider it a way to prepare yourself for the season premiere come April.

It's Almost Summer

Indeed it is and what more summer asks other than putting you coats away? Summer music, of course.
Have a list!

Random things you find online

The internet is an amazing place, full of wonders. What you consider those wonders to be is, however, very subjective. Here are my latest findings.

Boo!

Hey, happy Halloween! Today there's yet another tiny list, but this one of movies to watch on Halloween.

Blast From The Past

Today's post is about movies that are period pieces. Those movies that have it all: gorgeous period dresses, dapper gentlemen, lovely scenery and great soundtracks - if you like music found in balls, that is.

Let's get this list started, then:

Music for a rainy day

The Hush Sound's third record Goodbye Blues is one of those albums that just match grey skies and raindrops just like some albums are perfect for the summer. Don't get me wrong, though, this doesn't mean the album is all doom and gloom. Although some songs like Hurricane, are very wistful, the majority tends to the more cheery aspect of a rainy day. Well, musically - the lyrics are very fitting of the album's title, as you can tell from the two singles Honey and Medicine Man:





Regardless, Goodbye Blues makes for a very good companion, it's great to sing along to and has a tendency to encourage some truly stupid dancing.

Things to do when you're bored

So there I was procrastinating, as I do, when I found a link to a website. Nothing unusual in an afternoon of procrastination, right?

The website in question is sporcle.com, which has the following slogan: "mentally stimulating diversions." The point of the wabsite from what I can tell, is quizzes that you have to answer within a time frame and they come on all sorts of themes - ranging from Geography to television.

Here is the first quiz I took and also my favourite:

Click for fun times

It's all very addicting, so consider yourself warned.

In light of what today is...

It's Children's Day here today so I say we have some fun walking down memory lane with some old-school Disney. Here's a list of some of my very favourites shorts from way back when:

Is this really that unknown?

For a while now, I've noticed that a lot of television lovers seem unaware of one of the best shows on tv right now. The show in question is Criminal Minds.

The show's main cast, from left to right: Shemar Moore(Derek Morgan), Kirsten Vangsness (Penelope Garcia), Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss), Thomas Gibson (Aaron Hotchner), Joe Mantegna (David Rossi), A.J. Cook (Jennifer "JJ" Jareau) and Matthew Gray Gubler (Dr. Spencer Reid).

I have no title for this, that's how good this movie is

Earlier this week I found myself watching (yet again) the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and,as usual, I had that moment of "wow, this is such a good movie". It's not common to have that reaction when you watch a movie based on a book, especially when said book happens to be a favourite - this isn't news. Director Joe Wright, however, managed to do Pride & Prejudice justice.

Here's the trailer if you're unfamiliar with it:

A Happy Tune

It's such a sunny day outside, I feel like writing about something cheery. Let's talk about fun..

This lovely band is formed by Nate Ruess (lead vocals), Andrew Dost (vocals, piano, drums, bass guitar among others) and Jack Antonoff (guitars, trumpet).

Who's that girl?

Aaah, it's that time of the year again. The time when our beloved TV shows come back and when we find ourselves wondering if that new sitcom they've been advertising will be decent or not. This post is exactly the aftermath of that.

Before I start, here is a sneak peak of the show in question:

It is a truth universally acknowledged...

...that starting anything related to Jane Austen with that line is a terrible cliché and people should stop doing it.

It took me a while to decide what to write about, which book to pick, but after thorough consideration I decided to write about one of her most underappreciated books: Pride & Prejudice. A novel about life in the genteel rural society of the late 18th century.

The Wonderful World of Fairy Tales

There always comes a time in a person's life when they learn that Walt Disney lied.

Originally, fairy tales were stories told orally in European cultures and targeted adults as much as children. In fact, it was only in the 19th century that they started to be associated with children's literature, when the stories began to be modified to be suitible for younger audiences. For instance, the Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children's and Household Tales after rewriting their stories once they had received complaints about the suitability of it being read to children - mostly, they crossed out sexual references in them. Although it wasn't just sexual themes that were crossed out, things such as rather gruesome punishments were, too (the witch in Snow White was punished by being forced to dance in red hot iron shoes until she died), among other things.

Beside the Grimm Brothers, another significant person in recording fairy tales was Charles Perrault in his book of Mother Goose fairy tales (it contained stories such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty). In the Victorian era, fairy tales had morals attached to them after being translated and compiled. Temperance in Cinderella, for example.

The original tales have had plenty interpretations ranging from being solar myths to being analysed according to Freud and Jung - none of which seem to have stuck definitively. Personally, I like the interpretation of the original fairy tales being a type of historical docummentation. Take the stepmother role, way back then women often died in child-birth so when the fathers remarried the children and their stepmother had to compete for resources.

I'd say that reading fairy tales is not for everyone, not like watching their Disney counterparts seems to be because they are a shocking read. However, it doesn't make them any less beautiful and you'll be all the more captivaded if you have a soft spot for folktales like me.

TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary

It's been around 2 years since I found this website called TV Tropes and it's safe to say that that day was one glorious and very overwhelming day.

The Lion King: 17 Years Later

The thing about Disney is that most of the classicals were presented to me on VHS so the first Disney movie I saw at the cinema was Mulan, which is sad because all movies are better on the big screen. However, the opportunity arose for me to go watch The Lion King, thanks to the fascination everyone seems to have with 3D these days.

The movie starts, or, well, that new Disney intro that we all know so well begins, and it had barely started,but everyone was already on the edge of their seats. I can only imagine our reaction if for these special screenings they brought back this little gem:

But Who Is Arcade Fire?

Six months after the Grammys and you'd think that after the whole "who is Arcade Fire debacle?", people would have at least heard of them by now. I've discovered that it is not so, which is a shame.

Something Blog-shaped

You're not going to find anything about comic books here.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll tell you what you will find here: this blog is basically a huge rec list of everything from music to websites, focusing mostly on works that are either not well-known or not-quite-mainstream (although the level of mainstreamness of some posts can be argued).

Regardless of the slightly self-indulgent content, I do appreciate reccomendations of works to write about on the comments, if you so wish to make one.

Welcome to Nerds & Things.