A Painting My Brother Did

 

It now belongs to me.

A Beehive State of Mind

 Each morning, shortly after I wake up, I wish I were in Utah.

Sometimes while I'm peeing. Sometimes while I'm showering. Sometimes while I'm brushing my teeth. Always withing twenty minutes of rising out of my bed.

During the rest of the day, thoughts of Utah intrude. Over and over again.

I wish I were in Utah as I turn off the lights and close my eyes.

As I've written in the past, I have not plans to send myself to Utah, but many times a day, I wish I were already there.

Dear Critics,

Please stop using words like "you," "we," and "us" when describing how a book/song/movie/TV show/whatever makes you feel.

You are not me. You do not know me. You do not tell me how things make me feel. (Sometime I have trouble knowing how things make me feel and I'm me.)

You are you. You know you. Tell me how the things make you feel.

Then take the time to explain why the thing makes you feel the way it makes you feel.

The delicious prose. The rocking riff. The color of the lighting. Why do they make you feel what they make you feel? Help me to understand why creators make the choices they make through your lens.

But don't say that the things make us feel the same. They may, but they may not.

*hugs*

ticknart

Over and Over Again

 I think I've listened to "Conventioneers" more than sixty times today. It was the only song I listed to as I drove from work to the house.

A lot of my favorite songs are the ones that sound contradictory to their lyrics and/or ultimate meaning. And "Conventioneers" is one of those songs.

The tune and the way Mr. Page sings are pretty darn sexy. And the first part of the lyrics are all about coworkers being attracted to each other and sneaking off to screw. The speaker (singer?) even says "I'm already thinking marriage / I know that in the past it was something I'd disparage" and "As we danced, I could see in your eyes / You and me as senior citizens in love." Clearly imagining something beyond the one night.

After sex, though, he sings, "Then you slept, and I dressed, and I left."

To make it worse, when they get back to work after the convention the speaker asks "How can I just avoid a conversation?" and ultimately decides that "It'd be great / If you transferred out of state" to solve what he sees as a problem.

He wants her to move. To. A. Different. State! Because he feels awkward now.

So unsexy and cruel and awful and against the tone of the music and voice.

So delicious to my ears.

Also, I really like this image: "You stationed in the warm glow of the TV / Too patient as I'm playing L1 O1 V4 E1." (The point value is important, even if the number aren't sung.) In my mind, the light flickers and changes colors occasionally as whatever they're watching (the hotel's info channel probably) cuts from scene to scene while the extra small tiles are placed.

And this bit as the emotional transition of the song: "Before all the fireworks exploded / Our conversations were so loaded, innuendo flying / Now what can we say?"

I want to hear it again.