Montauk
I recently spent a very late night watching The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I guess the caffeine coursing my veins helped me understand the movie. I remember trying to watch it once before, and just could not grasp the concept, but that night everything was clear. So yeah, I thought it was a great movie! Moved up into one of my favourites, great cute ending. And there’s one line right at the end that’s like “Meet Me at Montauk.” And I had seen it somewhere before, and the name Montauk has come up a lot in the music I listen to. There are three bands in particular, Bayside, Circa Survive and Brand New/Straylight Run.
Meet Me In Montauk?
The Straylight Run reference is very obscure and random. But it was the first time I had heard the name actually pronounced correctly. But the other two probably have a deeper connection to the movie. I know for a fact that the Circa Survive song is based on the movie (Clearly because the title of the song is a direct quote from the movie Dur.), and I am not sure about the Bayside one, but I can hazard a guess that it was also written after seeing the movie.
I just think that this is really cool that bands/songwriters/musicians can take inspiration from things like a movie, and write a song about it. It’s almost like an inside joke between the band and their audience, and until you see the movie, you’re on the outside. So for me, watching this movie at like 4 in the morning, and then realizing that this song that I had been listening to all these years is actually FROM the movie, you kinda have that moment, and from then on, you’re on the inside.
It makes you wonder what other songs are written in tribute, or about movies. And not in a blatant way, but kind of pay homage to the style and essence of the movie itself. I know that Bayside and Circa Survive are maybe a little more aggressive than Eternal Sunshine, but they do bring out the eerie and darker moments of them movie.
This is Bayside’s Montauk:
This is Circa Survive’s Meet Me in Montauk:
And now I am going to download more Circa Survive and Bayside! Look for it in my twitter feed @GoListenTo – and follow me if you want to! </endShamelessPlug>
Have a good night! May you always be in my memories.
Oh, Canada. Study finds kids don’t know the words to the national anthem | Macleans.ca – Canada – wire – Features
Well this is gross. I wonder if I know the person/prof who did this study!
Oh, Canada. Study finds kids don’t know the words to the national anthem
May 12, 2010 – 15:56
The Canadian Press
VICTORIA – A new study says more than half of Canadian high school choir students are out of tune when it comes to the national anthem.
The University of Victoria study found that less half of the students surveyed knew the melody for “O Canada,” and only 67 per cent knew the lyrics.
Continued Below
//Music education professor Mary Kennedy says many students mangle the words, changing “thee” to “the,” swapping “thy” for “our,” and in some cases even paying homage to “our home and nature land” instead of “native land.”
Newfoundland high school choir students were the stars of the national study, while Quebec students hit a real sour note.
Kennedy says the study was undertaken prior to the Winter Olympics, where Canadian fans became known the world over for their spontaneous renditions of “O Canada,” but she notes nobody was checking for lyrical correctness or proper pitch.
The music professor says she would like schools to take more care in teaching students the national anthem.
Amazing 1 Take Music Video
Amazzzzinggg.
The Only Four Chords Needed For Every Pop Song
This is a lot like the Pachelbahl Rant, and there are a few other videos of guys doing the same thing. But still, it’s pretty cool
CD Review – Saint Alvia – Between The Lines
Saint Alvia is one of the first bands I’ve heard that combines the screaming element of bands like Alexisonfire but a funky almost ska element of Sublime, and at times sounding like the Offspring.
It’s upbeat, thumping beats and twang of the guitar of the title track get you into the music pretty quickly. The chorus of this song sums up the band fairly well: “You gotta read between the lines, if you wanna follow me/I lead these streets of mine, with four letter words and hollow deeds.”
The highly stylized sextet from Burlington, Ontario is currently touring Europe after a small set of dates with acoustic shows across Canada. One stop included Chinook Mall in Calgary. Why a band would ever want to play a mall is beyond me, but to each their own.
Saint Alvia is able to have a good mix of styles on Between the Lines. The track “Trouble Keeps Me Busy” is a slower, mellower tune, which is quickly followed by the upbeat “Romeo.”
Between the Lines is a well-rounded CD from a socially conscious band. They’re stylistic mix provides an enjoyable listen for the average music listener.
On nights like tonight when no one’s around
Good morning to you all in internet-land! It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I figure I should do one since I’m up so early! Or earlier than usual. Hopefully this won’t make me crazy tired later in the day.
I have been quite busy and equally distracted lately. I find that I tend to have a bit of an obsessive personality. I will find something that I enjoy doing, or something that keeps me mildly entertained for a while, and I will just do that forever. The last few weeks, it’s been Bejeweled on Facebook, and I got all the way up to 279 000 points. And now, my roommate bought NHL 10 for the PS3. Which is all fine and dandy with me, but now it’s more or less the only thing I want to do when I’m home. I don’t know why I find it so fun or whatever but I just enjoy it. Hopefully this fad passes sooner rather than later so I can get some homework done.
It’s been one of those weeks where I don’t really feel like doing much of anything ever. I just want a break sometimes. I know reading week is coming up for us soon. So maybe that will be a good time to relax. I have been having the urge to just play guitar and write down some new stuff, but no time or motivation. I feel like I’m addicted to all the wrong things, Bejeweled, video games. One of the guys in my program is like “I wanna get home and play with this new MIDI controller that I have hooked up to all these faders and effects and stuff.” For those of you not musically inclined, this won’t make sense. But I just wish I was doing that kind of stuff. I have my recording gear here and a few mics. But I feel like I have nothing to record or nothing to do to it. I personally like music that can be recorded straight from the floor. As in, there doesn’t have to be any effects added to it. So I generally don’t do that. I’ve fooled around with positioning and stuff, but who knows.
Speaking of my career choice, the school newspaper for which I write is putting on a concert on November 5th, and I get to be the sound guy! Which is pretty nifty. It helps to have connections to different parts of the school I guess. This is either going to be pretty sweet or pretty difficult as I’m pretty much setting up from scratch, (I think). Oh well, lots of time to plan.
One “song” I’ve been thinking about is my current Msn name, it goes something like this:
Dear Friends Forgotten; Measure your success your way, I’ll do the same, I’m happy to never see you again.
Basically I’m planning on writing a song to my friends who I’ve lost over the past years. I was thinking about this a few days ago and how people just seem to fall out of your life. And what if you had the chance to talk to them or see them again, or write them a letter. And that’s what this is about. I feel like if I saw my one friend, We’ll denote him E for “privacy” sake, that he would be all like, “Oh yeah? Well I’m going here and I’m going to be doing this and when I get done I’m going to be on TV and make a shit load of money.” Where as I know what he’s really been doing for the past year *coughwashingdishesandsnortingcopiousamountsofcoke* So I feel like I might not ever become as big of a global “success” as him, but I know that I will be better off for doing so. I was also thinking about my friend who I completely cut off, you may have read about her in earlier posts. I have yet to hear from her or about her. She’s clearly made no attempts to be my friend, so that message is pretty clear to me. I’ve heard a little bit about her and people are saying that she’s really changed. Go figure.
If there’s one thing about Calgary I miss a lot, it’s the gossip. I’m horrible for wanting to know what’s going on in other people’s lives, and who’s dating who, and who screwed who and who is dropping out of school and what so and so is doing. I am just curious like that. And with Em over in England, I don’t get to find out as much. We were both complaining how we miss out on the gossip because we’re away from home. But I think that that’s the smallest of reasons to go home.
In leiu of home, I need to call my parents today. I haven’t been a good son and called them for a while. Blah.
My girlfriend is going to be experimenting this weekend with the whole “Tights as Pants” dilemma. It will be chronicled in full on the JSTB website (Link in the sidebar). Things have been going good with us, school often keeps us busy but we’re still trying to see each other lots and watch lots of the Office, and Hell’s Kitchen, amongst other things. I’ve already started planning for her birthday in December, should be a good time! 
Also, it’s definitely fall here in Victoria, all the leaves have turned and it’s making for some great picture taking. I really need to get out there and snap a few to show you guys! Hopefully this weekend. There’s also this really creepy crane that the school is using to build a new residence, and the light on it is always on every night. Definitely makes for some eerie stuff. Will snap photos soon.
I guess that’s all I can think of really for now. Maybe I’ll catch the blog bug again and start blogging lots today.
Later days,
- J
