Jami and Music to Birth By

Okay, so I got the new laptop finally all synched up and happy with iTunes and Stanley. I've got a few months until this baby's lease is up and I'll have to evict him, so I'm thinking about a few playlists which I might enjoy while turning my body inside out. I'll accept suggestions for: 1. Faster paced, pep-me-up kind of songs for when I need a little motivation to keep moving 2. Soothing music for when I am resting, or need to be calmed. 3. Tunes with a nice steady beat for walking the halls. Thoughts?

Jami Will Stop the World, and Eat a Hershey's Bar

Is anyone else of my generation (by which I mean people who, when you ask them "What's the flux capacitor?" respond with "The flux capacitor is what makes time travel possible") disturbed by the fact that our beloved music is now making its way in hideous soft-rock form to television commercials? Today I was faintly horrified to hear "Melt With You" in a Hershey's commercial, sounding like something I'd hear in a dentist's waiting office. Argh! No! Wrong! This song isn't about chocolate, even really good chocolate, which I'm not willing to say that Hershey's is. I still have an issue with their reformulation of Special, but I digress. "Melt With You" is about that overwhelming infatuation-LUV you get when you're starting to fall for someone and the world is totally filled with possibility. "Moving forward using all my breath - making love to you was never second best . . ." "There's nothing you and I won't do. I'll stop the world and melt with you" NOT ABOUT CHOCOLATE. It was one thing when the Boomers' music played cheerfully in the background of commercials because those weren't the specific words that called to our souls in our formative years. That was just some old music that our parents dorkily bopped along to in the car while driving us to our various lessons. But it can't be happening to us. Rebel, my fellow 80's kids! Rise up and don't buy the products bastardizing our youth! Unless it's something you really, really want. And on sale.

Jami Drops By, Again

Another week gone and no posts from me. Ah, my dear friends, I do apologize. Since the first week of November I feel like I've been stuck in a hamster ball heading down that crooked road in San Fransisco. You know the one. And if you don't, Google it. I told the Husband that we aren't accepting any invitations for January for anything. I might not even get out of bed until my first MOPS meeting. I need the world to pause for a minute, so I can catch my breath. Here I am deliberately ignoring a pile of gifts begging to be wrapped because I haven't read my friends' blogs in a week or so. EDW and Patrick both posted about their fav Christmas songs. It's a hard one for me, because I do love me some good Christmas music. Shocking as it is for me to disagree with the always cool EDW, I have to admit to despising Santa Baby. Ugh, ick and blah. Pouty selfish harlot sexily implores Santa to give her ridiculously large gifts? Nope. Can't deal. Winter Wonderland - again, no. Too insipid to even get into. I love the classic Christmas Carols. I love them sung in 3 or 4 part harmony, or just with a guitar. Point of Grace does an incredible version of O Holy Night. Third Day has a great Do You Hear What I Hear? Here is a link to "This Christmas" a song, by Toby Mac that I can't listen to without getting teary. And it's not even slow. In a fit of insanity, I decided to sing Breath of Heaven on Christmas Eve. It's a great song, and I found a version low enough for this alto to hit all the notes. I'm so nervous about it I'm considering pulling the fire alarm before my part so that everyone runs out of the church before I start singing. I only tell you this because I assume most of you are either family/friends who will be there anyway or live too far away to decide to pop in and watch me sing an entire song with my eyes closed so that I can pretend you're not there. What was I thinking??? Sigh.

Jami Updates the Info

Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, which I mentioned before, but had an old link in it, can now be found, in its entirety here, for absolutely free. Go watch it a few times. I love it.

Jami Insists You Watch This

If you enjoy any combination of the following:

• Joss Whedon projects
• Superheroes
• Musicals
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Seriously hilarious shorts

Go, right now to Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog which is only available for a very brief time but is so very laugh-out loud-at-your-computer wrong. You will forever regret missing it. Watch all three acts now, before it's too late.

GO! GO!!!!

Jami Sings Along with the TV

Did you notice that most shows don’t have theme songs any more, I mean songs with words? Just theme music. It's definitely a change from whem most had original lyrics. M*A*S*H had an instrumental theme, but it was a real song that has words. Hill Street Blues started it all, in my humble and probably wrong opinion. The Simpsons theme, to which the lyrics are "The Simpsons!" seems to have more singing than most of the other shows today.

I assume this is a time consideration, as the ad rates go up, every second counts, and who wants to waste story-telling time on a song that most people are going to fast forward through? I do consider this to be a bit of a loss, though, because who among us (and by us, I mean the people in my generation) can't finish this line "Well I bet we've been together for a millions years. . . . " I don't know how long most theme music time is now, but I know that the themes to Facts of Life, Happy Days, Family Ties and Growing Pains all took me at least 35 seconds to sing, without any intro music. So there ya go.

The Big Bang Theory has a theme song right now, but it's the Barenaked Ladies and they sing it really fast. I think that the lack of sing-along theme songs is quite a loss for us. I've based several party games around TV theme songs, but as the old classics fade away and the new ones have no words, what will become of them? What will the kids of today drunkenly sing in college when they remember the shows of their youth?

There are several instrumental theme songs I really like, that I feel really "fit" the show. Angel is a great one. It's no longer on the air, but from the first time I could hear in the music how it ached. It's so perfect for that show. The Office's pithy music sounds both like fun and somehow like coming home. So I guess the point is, if you can't sing it, at least make sure it feels right.

Jami And the Fun Music Meme

Thanks to PaperbackWriter who always seems to find these fun things : Soundtrack to the Movie of Your Life 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, lime wire, pandora radio, etc) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that's playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.. Opening Credits: Skin is Burning - Burlap to Cashmere This is a little known group that I love, a very "world music" meets rock sound. Good to start it all up. Waking Up: Dr. Laura Program for May 1 - Dr Laura Schlessinger Could be the alarm clock setting? First Day At School: Lucky Ball and Chain - They Might Be Giants This one was also on PW's post, but more appropriately located. Falling In Love: These Thousands Hills - Third Day Not at all a love song. Fight Song: All in My Head - Shawn Mullins Very interesting . .. . Breaking Up: Home - from the Broadway Musical Beauty and the Beast. more of a pre-falling in love song, but okey-doke Prom: Song for the Asking - Simon and Garfunkel Definitely not played at my actual prom Life's OK: Polkarama - Weird Al Finally one that is totally accurate. Mental Breakdown: All Fall Down - Grits That's a good one Driving: Who Needs Love Like That? - Erasure Yes! Flashback: O Holy Night - Point of Grace Apparently I flashbacked all the way to the birth of Christ. Getting Back Together: We Want a Rock - They Might Be Giants hmm. Birth of Child: Hooch - Everything Well that's just wrong. Although if I was in labor, I might be looking to pass the freshy-freshy, I guess, if legal drugs were unavailable Wedding: You Picked Me - a Fine Frenzy Ha! Final Battle: Waterloo - ABBA Now that's just silly, in a weirdly correct way. Death Scene: Everybody Hurts - R.E.M That's a pretty good choice. Funeral Song: It's Alright - the Pet Shop Boys What? No it isn't!! End Credits: Amazed - Lone Star Oooh, now that's a good closing credit. Must have been a great movie. So there ya go, for whatever that's worth. I am not at all sure what it's supposed to mean about me, but it was fun to do.

Jami Versus Science

Ah, Science, my old nemesis. Actually Math was pretty much my arch-enemy, but Science was up there, too. I am frequently perplexed by sciencey things, and here are few. Maybe one of my brilliant readers can explain some of these to me, keeping in mind that 1. I am science-challenged and 2. I haven't had a science-themed class in more than a decade. First - I don't get sound recording/playback. It just doesn't make sense. How can the contents of my iPod make the same sounds as a bass guitar, a piano or Brett Michaels? TV I get; it's totally logical. The little pixels make the colors, and the way they are arranged makes it look like pictures and that the pictures are moving. Totally clear. But the sound - I don't get it. I can't take a piece of metal and plastic and then shake, bang or rub them together in a way that makes a sound like a trumpet. How is that possible?? And don't say that it's just replaying sound waves because that is TOTALLY my point - how can something make the same sound waves as something it isn't? Speaking of sound waves, even having worked in radio, I can't tell you how that works. If there are sound waves rushing around in all the different frequencies, why don't I ever walk into a stream of sports talk or oldies? Sure it's all in the "translation" of the radio, but for that, see point one. As a former FCC licensed (when they still required that) on-air personality, I can explain to you the difference between AM and FM (which I won't here, but I do know it) but I can't for the life of me understand what it means and why you can send sound on different frequencies and they sound the same. Lastly, electricity. So, I get that it comes through the wires into the house and up to the light fixture. I get that if there isn't a bulb in the fixture, the electricity doesn't fall out onto my head, because there's really nothing there to conduct it. But, if there's a burnt out bulb in there, what is happening to the electricity? The bulb is conductive, obviously. How does the electricity know to stop going into it? I know it does because I've broken light bulbs (unintentionally) and the pent up electricity never comes shooting out. So where's it going? If it's not going, how does it know??? My poor brain is tired. We prefer the soothing intellectual things, like a good nonfiction book or science like on Forensic Files where it's very cut-and-dry (no pun intended, but that was a good one). My best guess for the three concerns above is "magic". Clearly sound from a box is magic and electricity isn't a solid, liquid or gas, so that leaves Supernatural Entity, right? This is why my degree is in Communications . . ..

Jami, By the Numbers

Today, I am 33 years old, and, in honor of my changing to that numbers, here are a few more about me: Birth date: 9-5-1974 Height: 5'7" Weight: Um, let's see, I was 100 lbs when I started college, let's figure I gained 1 pound a year, so 115. Married: 1 time, 1 guy, on 10-12-1996 Children: 1, age 2 Siblings: 1, age 28 Jobs I've Held: 14 (includes baby-sitter and Mom, excludes unpaid internship) Longest Friendship: 23 years, with M Newest Friendship: Probably Lexi and Heidi, about 5 months Cars I've Owned: 3 Houses I've Owned: 1 --Mailing Addresses: 7 Trips out of the US: 5 Types of Pets Owned: 5 (dog, fish, gerbil, bird, hermit crab) Oceans I've Been In: 2 Arrests: 0 Traffic Accidents: 2 --Where I Was At Fault: 1 Jury Duty: 4 --Picked for Jury: 0 Companies Sold or Closed While I Worked There: 2 Movies Appeared in: 1 --Payment for Appearance: $40, plus free lunch First Big Purchase (over $100): $150 - 13" TV for my dorm room, still going! Remotes In My Living Room: 6 --That Work: 4 Trips to Vegas: 3 Fillings: 3, I think Age I Got My Driver's License: 17 --Tries it took: 1 Toilets in My House: 2 grown-up toilets and 1 training potty --Bathrooms in my house: 1 Types of Milk in my Fridge: 3 Songs on my iPod: 291 Phone Numbers Stored in my Cell: 57 --Numbers I Deleted While Counting for This: 3 Email Addresses I Check Regularly: 5 (including the Circle of Friends one) Fruit/Veggie Servings I've Had Today: 0 Cans of Pop I've Had Today: 2 Blog Posts as of Today: 354 (on this blog) --"Blog Friends" I've Made: 3 --Friends I Had Before I Started Reading Their Blogs: 2 Well, that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. I hope you enjoyed this numerical picture of me. If you want, feel free to pretend I "tagged" you with this and pass it on, making me finally, finally immortal.

Jami's iPod Ups and Downs

I spent the day bopping around to the iPod. Not to steal a quote from McDonald's, but I'm lovin' it. The burning question I know you're all dying to ask - what was the first song on the new iPod? Well, those who know me have probably already guessed . . .. Dancing Queen - of course! I AM the Dancing Queen, young and sweet only seventeeeeeeeennn! It's going to take longer than I'd hoped to get all the music onto Poddy (iPod's current and possibly temporary name). I don't know what I expected - of course, I have to put each CD in separately, I guess I'd kinda hoped Poddy would sneak into the CD collection and gobble all the music up, but somehow that didn't happen. I hate earbuds, but I already have headphones I like so we're cool. Does anyone love earbuds? Maybe my ears are misshapen, but I can't get them to stay in unless I keep my head perfectly still and that's just not something that happens all that much. I have a friend, and if you're reading this, you know who you are, who has the tiniest ears in relation to her head. I wonder if she can even put earbuds in. Maybe I'm dense, that's always possible, but my iPod has the 30GB, which means I can put that much on it, right? Okay, but do I have to put the stuff on my computer on the iTunes thing, first and if so - how is that going to work? I don't have 3O gig on it, so that won't work? I have to say, the "instruction booklet" that came with it wasn't as helpful as I might hope (it basically said, "Download iTunes. Plug in your iPod" and that's about it. Apple's basic online guide didn't answer that question. And lastly, I may be click-wheel impaired. I run my thumb over it, nothing. I run my thumb over it again in exactly the same way, it jumps down 6 places. I'm assuming this is just a lack of experience thing, right? RIGHT?? Lest you think I am not happy with it, let me say I love it. I love having the mix of music I want and I love having it follow me around the house. I look at all the many accessories for Poddy and I daydream of buying them all so Poddy can have all he ever desired. I love that I am going to be able to (as I save up to afford it) subscribe to and download the radio shows that I want to listen to and never get to. I can't wait to get some good video on Poddy and maybe a game or two. So here I am, finally joining the 21st century with my iPod. It's nice to be here.

Jami Can't Talk - Playing with New Technology

That's right, got my iPod. And it's a beauty. When I can put it down long enough to take a picture and upload that I will. Until then, I'll take podcast recommendations and song suggestions - what belongs on the beautiful, sleek, new iPod?

Jami's List of Songs That Are NOT Romantic

EDW wrote this post in honor of Fathers' Day about father/child songs. In the comments, someone mentioned Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely?" which he wrote for his daughter when she was a newborn. It reminded me of the episode of Scrubs in which a couple mentions that this is "their song". It's one of those songs people don't really listen to, and just assume is a love song because they know the one line of the chorus and it's kind of slow. It might be a daddy-daughter love song, but it's not a "love song" in the traditional sense. Which brings me to my main point - there are songs which should not ever be "your song". Oh, and as a side note, when I was looking up the complete lyrics to "Isn't She Lovely?" I found a blog that I will not link to because don't want to embarrass the poor girl who wrote "This song is so romantic it brings tears to my eyes and makes me want to plan my wedding to a guy I haven't even met yet." Sigh. "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. Ah, the many, many times at high school dances when this song would be sent out from one love-struck teen to another. Problem? Yes. This is not a romantic song. It's a song about stalking. The message of this song is, "Just so you know, I'll be stalking you." The complete lyrics are here, but here's a taste: "can't you see, you belong to me?" This is not romantic. Someone who will be watching you, whatever you do forever: not romantic. And the updated one is about mourning someone who died. "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (or the original by Dolly Parton, which I prefer). I have actually been to two weddings where the couple used this as their first dance song, and I would know they had not actually listened to it beforehand. How can you choose a song you don't even know the lyrics to?? Yes, she will always love you, but she's leaving you! Not a good wedding theme, unless you are Britney Spears's first husband. That would have been appropriate. "If I stay, I would only be in your way. So goodbye, please don't cry; we both know I'm not what you need." Sound like a good marriage starter? complete lyrics here. "Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins. People, I know it says something about "another day for you and me in paradise", which sounds all nice and romantic, but this song is about a homeless woman suffering on the street. Not at all something I like to slow dance to. I actually couldn't believe this song is ever played at (what should be) happy occasions like weddings, dances and clubs. Read the full set of depressing lyrics here. "Friends and Lovers" by Gloria Loring. This is an older one, maybe you don't even know it. It was big "in my day", and it's basically a song for what is euphemistically called Friends with Benefits, if you know what I mean. It's may seem like she's saying that her lover is her best friend, but really, it's more like we don't have to be boyfriend-girlfriend, we'll just make out and see how it goes. "Follow Me" by Uncle Cracker. Seriously, folks, read the lyrics. This guy is trying to convince a woman to cheat on her husband with him, and he's not planning on sticking around anyway. Nice, hunh? The chorus sounds great, it's fun to sing, but "our song"? Um. No. One woman told me that she and her husband loved this song, "until we learned it all." I'm sure I missed some, feel free to add your favorite not-a-love-song song.