The National - Santa Clara

And I'm gonna miss you so much.

Overheard in: Capogiro's

Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels

Donnie Darko, mangoes, gentle persuasion

Original video is here.

David Guetta & Chris Willis - Love is Gone

The perfect song to tearily lip-synch to while being blinded by strobe lights in a club.

Ben Folds Five - Alice Childress (on Naked Baby Photos)

In Freshman year, came for our school's Spring Fling concert and I waited nearly alone in the freezing cold for him for three hours because everyone I knew had gone home after Third Eye Blind finished. An hour to midnight he finally got onstage, and I swear the piano melodies were so captivating that each note took with it a piece of my loneliness as it echoed into nothingness in the night sky. Part by part, the pain evaporated, and despite all the crap of that first year I felt just happy singing my heart out to "Army" and looking like a lunatic doing so. But I didn't care. Happy makes you stop caring about a lot of inconsequential shit like that.

He did a concert at the school neighboring ours in Sophomore year, and I was ecstatic when my friend from there told me she'd get me a ticket. The afternoon of the concert, however, I decided that I desperately needed to study for my math final and had no choice but to skip -- so I expressed my regret to her over the phone, then turned my attention back to the textbook. Three hours later, she called me. "Hey. Just wanted to tell you that we just saw Ben Folds sitting on the grass with his kid, and we went over and chilled with him," she said nonchalantly over the phone. Still one of the biggest disappointments of my short, boring life. I failed the exam anyway.

Now it's Junior year and I have a chance to see him play live again: he's going to Boston for MIT's Spring Fling the same weekend we're going up there for the Open Ballroom Competition. It's like DESTINY. Bahahah. But I have a hugeass paper to write by Monday, which I'm obviously (and stupidly) neglecting at the moment. What do I do? Do I choose homework/GPA/future job prospects, or music?

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. -- Maya Angelou

Britney Spears - Circus

Before you throw the rotten tomatoes, let me just say that I am posting this because:

(1) This is not a blog for new or good or obscure music, it's a record of the songs I love and unfortunately I love this song,
(2) The jukebox in my head has it on continuous repeat and I think the cause is some Britney-sympathizing god out there exerting karmic punishment on me for unfairly refusing to post it, and
(3) As a former celebrity-gossip-monger and avid ONTD reader, I care deeply about this woman's personal life, her successes and failures, the status of her career. She's so fucking hot here I feel proud as a parent watching her daughter as the lead in the school play (and for some reason am advocating her overt sexuality? Ok. Bad analogy.)

Anyways. Fierce beyond fierce. Have two children and a public mental breakdown before telling me you do not admire this woman for making a full-on comeback.

The Fray - Without Reason

You want to work to spend to show
You want to talk to smile to feel
You want to run to thirst to drink
You want to love to know it's real

Jesus Christ, I have been alive for 7648 days and other than the day-to-day stuff like desire or anticipation or fear of death, I have NO clue what I am living for. On the random good days it feels like I'm destined for something great, but the other 99% of the days when I'm thinking straight I realize that I'm nowhere close because I just don't know what that something is. I guess that for the moment I live based upon the hope that one day I'll figure this out and my dreams will come true, whatever they are.

Mark of a dumb almost-21-year-old with hopeless prospects for employment.

Olivia Newton-John - Physical

In choosing this song my first instinct is to apologize for having retarded taste, but this really was a popular song once upon a time. In 1981, it was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for ten straight weeks. Back then people everywhere were humming its catchy tune and I've recently begun to as well, but my obsession is partly for the song's quality and partly for its kitschy appeal. I love it for the ridiculous video and the Sandy-turned-bad and the horrible 80's fashion, but I don't think I'm in the majority because I'm also the type of person who secretly loves shitty Chinese food, Hannah Montana, and fugly clothes -- all with the belief/knowledge that I shouldn't. So should I apologize? Maybe. But then the entire decade of 1980 should apologize, too.

Meiko - How Lucky We Are

And when that morning comes
I'll make coffee and you'll read the paper
We'll talk about our plans
And I'll keep saying how lucky we are

The Lonely Island (feat. T-Pain) - I'm On A Boat

Song of the year!

I got my swim trunks... and my flippie-floppies...

Guster - Barrel of a Gun

In honor of their appearance at this year's Spring Fling... :) awesomeness

Broken Social Scene - Swimmers

Okay Broken Social Scene. I was only three minutes late to class this morning... never say never, I'm gonna make it on time at least once before the semester ends.

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

*The* defining moment of this song in my life is the morning after my NZ flatmate's legendary birthday party last summer; amidst the rubble & duct tape & morning sun, i heard this song play as we cleaned up and everything felt weirdly peaceful.

The street heats the urgency of sound
As you can see there's no one around

Lea Salonga - Sun and Moon (from Miss Saigon)

This is Lea Salonga's audition for the lead female part of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon. Lea did the voices of Jasmine from Aladdin and Mulan from Mulan and has the sweetest, most beautiful voice of any singer I've ever heard... gives me the chills :) And she's seventeen years old here!

If you want to skip past the audition-y part, they start singing at 1:30. Couldn't find a good version of the full song :( So I shall leave this video alone in all its unadulterated glory

You are sunlight and I moon
Joined by the gods of fortune
Midnight and high noon
Sharing the sky
We have been blessed, you and I

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

I recall seeing this video over a year ago and disliking its music. Now I adore it... haha, my tastes turned slightly electronica yo :d

And LOVE those shirts... why can't clothing have animated graphics on them?

The Zombies - Time of the Season

Super oldie that I inexplicably had stuck in my head the entirety of my slothful afternoon at home. It was released in 1968 so I associate it with my parents' generation, but god, it has such a timelessness to it. Thanks FruiTunes (coz YT is filled with bad quality & bad covers :P)

It's the time of the season... when love runs high...

Love Paris (from Cliente)

I skipped class on Monday to spend a rainy afternoon downtown, eating chocolate ice cream and watching movies from the Philadelphia Film Festival :) One I watched was Cliente, a French film about a married male gigolo involved with a wealthy cougar. Hilarity ensued, of course... but had its serious bits too what with the deception and the toying with emotions, and this is where this song comes in.

My retention of high school French was enough to find this video but not enough to find the lyrics :P Oh and just for kicks here's the rap song from the film... hahaha. For some reason rap in other languages doesn't sound quite as badass :P

Inara George - Fools in Love

I need some metaphorical superglue.

Kyle Andrews - Sushi

Just discovered Kyle Andrews from here and after hearing the rest of his stuff had trouble choosing which I liked best! Eventually settled on the first track because it reflects my feelings on today's amazing Spring-y weather :) You can hear the rest of his album Real Blasty here.

i'm giving you a haircut
walking to the sushi bar
shopping at the goodwill
learning how to swing dance
and i sink so deep in you

The Bird and the Bee - Again and Again

Really creative music video that shows pretty much everything you can do with a Mac. Now pardon me, I think I ate some bad leftovers :P

Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good

Hahah wtf at this video. Portrait of crazy women...

The Ting Tings - We Walk

I listened to The Ting Tings' We Started Nothing and Adele's 19 nonstop on the final 15-hour plane ride home after my New Zealand trip...

Listening to this makes me think of endings... :P

Aimee Mann - Save Me

We grow up hearing tales about the Prince Charming who saves the princess from the dragon-guarded tower, the superhero who saves civilians from a cliff-bound train, the god above who saves mortals from temptation. And maybe it's because the only serious advice I remember my mother giving me is to "never trust anyone but [myself]" or because I grew up in an atheistic household, but I'd never been able to accept stuff like this -- the hope that anyone, fictional or real, would swoop down and rescue me in my darkest moments. But by some unbelievable miracle, someone asked me what's wrong? and I actually told them. Despite the cynicism and the stubbornness. And my opinion on salvation is this:

You need to save yourself before you can let anyone else save you. Perhaps that means opening your heart or throwing away the shitload of pessimism and untrustworthiness you've developed over the years... maybe that means liking yourself for once... but unless you can accept that it's okay to be weak, okay to ask for help, and it's actually okay to trust someone other than yourself... you'll be left waiting on a hero that never steps out of the movie screen.