march madge-ness

Weather: Rain
Mood: Bored silly
Music: MDNA MDNA MDNA
Last Movie: Moneyball
Reading: 1Q84
Last Pleasure: Finally getting my first listen of a Madonna's new album, after a four year wait
Last Worry: High cholesterol
Last accomplishment: Done with taxes and already got my refunds
Looking Forward To: Summer movies
Not Really Looking Forward To: Living a life with less pastries to lower that damn cholesterol, and $5/gallon gas!
Gas Price: $4.43/gallon for Honda
Clothes: Hoodie (for Trayvon Martin)
Today's Headline: Kan., Ill., Md. tickets share lottery jackpot (damn you people!)
Current iPad Wallpaper: A photograph by Denise Nouvion
Last Website Visited: friendsoftype
Last Meal: Salted fish and chicken fried rice
Last Purchase: Suncast outdoor storage box from Home Depot
Item Off My Wishlist: Garmin Nuvi 2460LMT
Latest Evidence It's A Beautiful World:
When I move a certain way, I feel an ache I've kept at bay...

i'm a dic

Quick impressions on first listen of MDNA:

Girl Gone Wild - Don't love the song, but love the video - Dita is back in her best video in ages! 6/10 (video - 9/10)

Gang Bang - I am smiling through this whole song. I need to listen to this again to fully take into everything going on here. It's weird and brilliant. 9/10

I'm Addicted - Love it. Love all the swirly sounds. This is what a dance banger should sound like these days. 10/10

Turn Up The Radio - Reviews keep saying this should be the single if Madonna's people know what they're doing, so I was expecting something more instant. 7/10

Give Me All Your Luvin' - Probably my least my favorite of the lot so far. 5/10

Some Girls - Another track I am not connecting with on first listen. 5/10

Superstar - Oo la la this is super catchy but pretty fluffy. 6/10

I Don't Give A - I like it, just weird and frantic enough for me, and ending is rather epic. 7/10

I Am A Sinner - Love the Ray Of Light guitars, and the shout-outs to all them saints. 8/10

Love Spent - Hold me like you hold your money. Haha. Great lyrics. And banjos rock! 8/10

Masterpiece - It's 90's Madonna ballad that belongs right with the Something To Remember collection. 7/10

Falling Free - This one has a Celtic feel to it. Lovely and moving. Her vocals are clear and heartbreaking. This is the type of music that makes me proud to be a Madonna fan. Perfect closer to album proper. 9/10

Deluxe edition tracks:

Beautiful Killer - Ode to Alain Delon. Actually kind of pedestrian. 5/10 7/10

I Fucked Up - Painfully honest lyrics. This one should be on album proper. 8/10

B-Day Song - Ok, pretty lame. 3/10

Best Friend - Nope not working for me. 4/10 5/10

Give Me All Your Luvin' Party Rock Mix - This song is better without the extra stuff. This mix has even more extra stuff on top of Nicky Minaj and MIA. 4/10

Love Spent Acoustic - Should have been even more stripped down. 7/10

waiting

The wait is almost over. MDNA is one day away. I've abstained from all the sneak peeks and leaks, so I've only heard three songs (Give Me All Your Luvin, Girl Gone Wild, and Masterpiece) and have thirteen surprises awaiting me. The excitement is further fueled by the overwhelmingly positive reviews the album has received. Some tracks I cannot wait to hear are Gang Bang, Falling Free, Love Spent - these appear to be the fan favorites, some even calling these the best tracks she has ever done...On Feb 26, Trayvon Martin was a 17-year old black teenager who went out in his hoodie to buy some candies from a convenient store. He was unarmed except for a bag of Skittles in his pocket. He was considered "suspicious" by 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain who had a handgun on him. George Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin, a scuffle followed, and Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin to death. Zimmerman said it was self-defense and remains a free man a month later. This would never happen if Trayvon Martin were a white kid and Zimmerman a black man...And then over 50% of Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act which offers universal health coverage in this country. Romney opposes it. Some random guy they interviewed on the local nightly news, who I believe represents a majority of Americans, says that people need to take responsibility for their own welfare, and he is offended that people waiting in line for free clinic services are playing with their fancy phones and gadgets that cost hundreds of dollars and have painted fingernails. God, how dare those damn people try to entertain themselves! If only they don't get their fingernails painted, they could pay for all their healthcare needs. This guy better pray he never finds himself losing his insurance coverage and having to pay for a hospital stay out of his bank account. I'd like to see how many days he can pay for...Sometimes I honestly wish I live in Canada or something...Colton and Alicia on Survivor One World are such ugly human beings. They are despicable, mean bullies. And get this - Colton is gay, and Alicia is a special eds teacher. Holy crap. Worse yet is that their tribe mates just follow their orders like scaredy sheeps. Fortunately this week, due to divine intervention (since God watches reality shows), Colton needed to leave the show to go to the hospital because they diagnosed him with an appendicitis. Now, God needs to finish the job next week and get Alicia's butt out of there...Amazing Race was in Bavaria visiting the Sleeping Beauty castle (Neuschwanstein Castle). Man, I cannot believe something this beautiful really exists in real life and is not just some Hollywood set piece. I want to go there so badly...My favorite American Idol constestant this season is Phillip Phillips. He is awesome awesomes. Colton Dixon and Jessica Sanchez are probably my 2nd and 3rd choices...I finally watched Moneyball, and I actually love it. Even being a Bay Area native, I don't remember what happened that season to the Oakland A's, so the baseball game part of it was exciting and tense. And yeah, I would not admit to being a Brad Pitt fan these days, but he and Jonah Hill were great in this. I would rank this in my top five of last year. I have to watch Ides Of March and Fright Night next...Fiona Apple finally resurfaced at SXSW last week. It's gonna happen soon...Time goes by so slowly for those who wait.

on the road

The long awaited trailer from On The Road, starring Garrett Hedlund and directed by Walter Salles (Motorcycle Diaries), is here.

"The only people that interest me are the mad ones. The ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night."

the idler wheel

Fiona Apple's upcoming (!!!???) cd is called “The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do.”

The Idler Wheel is a gear placed between two others to transfer motion from one to the other without changing their direction or speed.



But of course, no word on when the cd will actually come out, so the torturous wait continues...

blur-tastic

Current top ten songs:
10. So Long Marianne - Bill Callahan
9. Off The Wall - Lee Ranaldo
8. Bad For Me - Brendan Benson
7. Handclaps & Guitars - Chiddy Bang
6. Safe And Sound - Taylor Swift
5. I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz
4. Somebody I Used To Know - Gotye
3. Glad You Came - The Wanted
2. Under The Westway - Blur (man, I really really want a new Blur album...)
1. Do Ya Thing - Gorillaz featuring Andre 3000 and James Murphy