World, Meet Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey: Stuck in the 50's-60's like myself. Probably one of the cutest girls I've ever seen, with her pouty lips, poofy hair, and sassy sarcastic lyrics.

Also, my current music obsession.

Lana Del Rey:Video Games
"Heaven is a place on earth where you tell me all the things you want to do."


Her song "Video Games" has been playing on my mac/cell phone nonstop since I first heard it yesterday morning. I cannotttttttt get enough of it. Her smooth voice mixed with sarcastic lyrics won me over. I mean, she really could quite possibly be a guy's dream girlfriend, but I'm pretty sure these lyrics are sarcastic, and aimed at a video game addict ex boyfriend. Maybe I'm wrong, but she does mention something along the lines of "Go play a video game" abouttttt 4 times in the song. Love it.



Open up a beer
And you take it over here
And play a video game
I'm in his favorite sun dress
Watching me get undressed
Take that body downtown
I say you the bestest
Lean in for a big kiss
Put his favorite perfume on
Go play a video game
It's you, it's you, it's all for you
Everything I do
I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth where you
Tell me all the things you want to do




The video itself got me hooked to her. She could not be cuter! And the clash between cartoon fairytales of love, and the reality of this world, definitely make for an interesting video. After watching it, I've decided I want to buy her lips, hair, and clothes. But seriously, her "I don't give a shit" look that constantly stays plastered on her face throughout the entire video, is simply amazing combined with those lyrics.

I've spent the last day looking up almost every single one of her songs, and I'm only disappointed by a couple of them. Diet Mtn Dew, Kinda Outta Luck, Jump, Oh Say Can You See, Kill Kill <<<<ALL good songs in my opinion.

Diet Mtn Dew
"Diet Mountain Dew baby, New York City. Never was there ever a girl so pretty."

In Kinda Outta Luck, she goes for the glamour gangster look with the video and the lyrics. 

"Diamonds on my wrist, whiskey on my tongue."

Her lyrics are light and fun, and her videos are simple, cute, and interesting. Definitely a breath of fresh air. Hope you guys enjoy her as much as I have! 

So excited for fall to be right around the corner! I'm usually dreading summer ending, but this is the first fall that I won't be going to school since Kindergarten, considering I graduated from EMU last December. I want warm jackets, warmer boyfriends, red noses and hot apple cider STAT. First, my boyfriend and I have to travel to New York for my brother's wedding. Enjoy these last weeks of summer, fill it up with as many warm memories as you can to hold you over when Michigan dies a little inside and experiences winter. 

Until next time.

Peace love and flip flops.

Damn/It's Real

Dom-Damn

 >>very new song, and I can't find a video of the song unless it's a live version. All you have to do is go here...

http://www.facebook.com/Domband?sk=app_178091127385

*Click on the song "Damn" and it'll ask you to like the song in order for you to play it. Just do it.. it's worth it. You can always unlike it later if you're that paranoid about your likes. 

Real Estate-It's Real

With summer already in beautiful full swing, I figured I'd post two summer songs that just make me happy. Postings are going to be few and far between most likely until the weather gets crappy again. It's too gorgeous everywhere to be stuck inside writing blogs.

I've already done so much this summer, but I'm looking forward to the second half of it. I feel like this is my last summer I'll be able to enjoy completely, since I'll be getting my big girl job here soon. It's weirddddd. I love staying up until morning with my boyfriend and not giving a care in the world to anyone or anything besides each other. Pretty sure I won't be able to do that when I get that job, unless I'm a vampire nanny (I've been watching too much True Blood). 

I love the song "Damn" because of three simple lines---

"I don't care about anyone else.

I don't care about anyone else.

I know."

I love that "who gives a shit" attitude the entire song portrays. You don't care about them, who cares if they care about you, get over it and get on with your life that you love to live. 23 really was a changing year mentally for me. I used to be so aware of how others felt about me, and I'm slowly starting to copy my boyfriend's attitude and truly, honestly, sincerely, not give a shit. This is pretty hard for me to do since I'm one of those girls that gets incredibly upset when someone doesn't like me, but I'm getting pretty good at it as of late. By this time in my life I'm clearly not going to go through any crazy changes. What I mean is, I am who I am. And I love who I am. Conceited? No. Just genuinely proud and happy with who I've turned out to be. If someone, for whatever reason, doesn't like who I am, then I don't really care. Sad it took me 23 years to learn how to do this, but let me tell you, it feels incredibly freeing. Very empowering. I just love my happy little life, and I'm realizing how blessed I am. I have this ridiculously amazing boyfriend who I truly love with everything in me. We have so much fun together... it's stupid. It really is. My family is so crazy and loud and large, but I love all of them. Every last weird one of them. I can't even blame them for being crazy. We are 1/2 Italian, and 1/2 Irish. CMON. My girlfriends, my boyfriend's friends who've become my big brothers... the list goes on. My life is oddly amazing and established for only being 23. 

This is the life, and I'm glad I'm living it. Have I not mentioned enough to everyone who reads this in my previous blogs that we are insanely blessed to still be alive? We're one of the lucky ones. People die.. it happens all the time. And yet we still let our life get brought down from other people who don't even matter? Trust me- on your death bed you will not be like, "Oh my God I wish blah blah liked me. Oh my Godddd I wish I would've had a better paying job." Hell to the no. We'll be hoping with everything in us that we lived life to the fullest. We've loved with every cell in our body. We laughed and made others laugh. Most importantly- we were given this body and mind for whatever reason, that is completely unique from anyone else, and we made the best out of it. 

Go do good.

Peace and Love and Jimmy Johns. 

Good Morning, Hypocrite

Electric President : Good Morning, Hypocrite
"But if there's one thing I know, it's that I never really know enough."





LYRICS:
Seems like the roads stretch out like veins, but there's no heart. 
Nature's haircut is concrete now, and we played our part.
So we sing


I've lost my taste for modern things. They're not for me. 
I want mundane: a quiet place, where time is free,
And I can sing


Crawled from my bed, to collect the thoughts that'd fallen from my head,
And you watched me sink, through the carpet, through the basement, and beyond. 
And you didn't blink. 


On the glass, I traced the sun with my thumb. It sank into the ground. 
And then the stars were blinking, like kids who were staring into the wind. 
So I climbed through the window and walked until I lost my name.
Now I can play the victim. It's fine. I've seen it on TV. 
But if there's one thing I know, it's that I never really know enough. 


Our heads, our hands, our brains, our lungs: they're just machines. 
These hearts are all that we've got left, and they don't beat. 


Live a little, talk a lot; it's the way this goes. 
I've come to fear the little knives beneath their well-pressed clothes. 
Their arms are reaching; reach is spreading through the neon glow.
Their mouths are moving, but their voices sound like telephones. 
The traffic hums; the traffic grumbles near my old window.
The street lights flicker; glow and hover like suspended snow. 
I used to watch the moon retreat and wonder where it goes.
Now I just wonder why my head is overrun with ghosts 






I don’t even know where to begin with this song. The noises, the lyrics, the transitions--it’s beautiful. Electric President finds a way to make us feel guilty for turning Mother Nature into a folk tale. Our generation knows how to become one with man-made creations like cell phones, televisions, etc. But when it comes to becoming one with the roots of this place, the dirt, water, forests, creatures, we laugh and wonder if the person asking us to do so is on Shrooms. 


“Seems like the roads stretch out like veins, but there’s no heart. Nature’s haircut is concrete now, and we played our part.” Am I saying I want to live in a world without technology? No. Am I saying we should be more aware of the energy life cycle all around us from this planet we’re on? Yes. Who are we to piss on this world? It doesn’t need us - we need it. Point blank. Let’s just knock down every living thing there is left out there to build more pointless buildings that will just go into foreclosure soon. Humans do rule this planet, but I just wish we’d take things into consideration before we all get this God-like persona.  Truly, I really am going to hate the day when rain forests, wild life preservations, etc. are all a long lost dream. We NEED them. We do not need buildings. Stone and brick have no value to our health.


“Crawled from my bed, to collect the thoughts that'd fallen from my head, and you watched me sink, through the carpet, through the basement, and beyond, and you didn't blink.” To me, this line is trying to portray how robotic we all have become. Tv, laptops, cells, have all made us emotionless idiots. “Our heads, our hands, our brains, our lungs: they're just machines. These hearts are all that we've got left, and they don't beat.” Again with my robot theory. 


Probably my favorite line in the song is, “So I climbed through the window and walked until I lost my name. Now I can play the victim. It's fine. I've seen it on TV.” His lyric style, combined with the pretty, weird, mismatched noises in the background, make this song incredibly unique, in my opinion. 


Now, keep in mind, I love technology. I’m a TV-holic. I probably take way too long of showers. But, at least I’m consciously aware of all of the above. I never forget that this world is not ours. It does not belong to any of us. I’m thankful for all of it’s resources. I guess I just laugh at our country and others that battle over resources EVERY SINGLE DAY. It’s like, what the hell made you think this is “yours”, are you that incredibly egocentric? Good job humans, we’re smart enough to know how to survive and build things and use resources, but slow the hell down and realize what living is about. 


This has nothing to do with being a hippie or not being a hippie. That word gets thrown around way too much from little hipsters these days. It’s just a human realizing how small you are in the big picture of things. If I were mother earth I’d probably of already killed myself by now with the way she’s been treated year after year. Thank God she’s not that suicidal I guess. 


In my defense, I come from a mother who was pretty tree huggin’ in her ways. I was always taught to appreciate nature and have “spiritual moments” with it. When I was a little girl and wanted to kill an ant just because it was chillin’ by my feet, she’d always remind me, “Genevie Marie, remember that that ant has a family too, and he’s just out looking for some food to feed his babies, let him be.” So cut me some slack for this type of thinking about the world. 


I guess to conclude, it’s nice to hear a song and be reminded of the important things in life. The generations below us (and I guess kind of ours, too) are too busy being stupified by songs sung by The Black Eyed Peas and Lil Wayne about artificial happiness found in designer belongings. 


Probably the absolute best thing about this song is the title, “Good Morning, Hypocrite.” At the end of my rant, I’m still typing on my MacBook Pro, with headphones in my ears listening to the above song, my eyes glancing back and forth from this screen and the TV screen, with my fan blowing on me, and my AT&T Inspire cell paused on Angry Birds. Good morning, hypocrite.

Girlfriend

Phoenix : Girlfriend
"Farewell, til you know me well."







Helloooo world! Today is SO GORGEOUS!!! Finally I feel summer creeping around the corner. Makes me think about barbecues, bonfires, beach parties. I didn't purposefully make those all "b" words, but cool. I've been pretty busy lately, hence why it took me so long to start posting good tunes again.

Zak and I spent 9 days in Tennessee at the end of April. Once again, I fell in love. Dear God that place is perfect! Something about constant sunshine, warm weather embracing your skin, and southern people. Since most of you know about this blog from my facebook page, I'm sure you all saw the pictures. You have water, mountains, bluffs, you name it. I'm actually considering applying to some places down there. I can just imagine him and I starting a new life down there with his family. Plus, the economy is ridiculously good, surprisingly. I guess I just figured most of America was suffering, but the highest we paid for gas was probably $3.50. Everyone is happy, and although I love all of you Michigan people, you guys are freaking cranky, always. Seriously! Who wakes up and thinks, "Damnit, God gave me another day to live. I guess I should just start complaining about everything around me. I mean, living life, breathing, feeling, is way worse than dying." I'll tell you who, 90% of Michigan.  I'm so sick of negative people. Let's all just be thankful we're alive. If you are able to complain about ANYTHING, be thankful to even have the chance to be alive and able to complain. Do you know how many people who's lives were taken way too young would give ANYTHING....ANYTHING to just, breathe? To wake up and do things. To kiss the person they love. To laugh so hard that you start crying. Just let the breeze hit your face and smile... realize that you were one of the lucky ones that survived to live another day.

Okay, a little dramatic I know, but hopefully you get the point. Anyways, other than Tennessee, I've just been spending time with my boyfriend and friends. We celebrated our 2 years on May 4th.. which is crazy to me. I feel like I've known him my whole life, but I also feel like we just met, weird? I can't really think about my life before him. It's as if he's always been there. So sappy and gay, I know, but it's the truth. Who would've thought I would've came back from the Caribbean, and the next day get dragged to a Tigers game by my friend Megan, and meet the love of my life. It's easy with him, you know? I've been in relationships that were so... up and down, stressful, hard. He's my perfect little happiness. Never argue, always play around. Everything with us is funny, and I think that's what makes us work. When you fall so deeply in love with someone that you truly, honest to God put them in front of your own self, it makes everything easy (if they do the same to you, of course). He's my best friend, my laughing partner, my absolute everything, and anything in between. I'm blessed beyond belief.


Okay, now that I've gone off the deep end with my hopeless romantic talk, I hope some of you are still reading this and haven't shot yourself by now. Since this is a music blog, I guess I should talk about that. Phoenix is one of my favorite bands. I love their sound, and how they stay true to it. They don't dramatically change it in order to get radio plays, they keep it how they like it. This song reminds me of summer, so I guess that's why I posted it. It's just a feel good song, so hopefully it makes you feel just that.

No One's Gonna Love You

Band of Horses : No One's Gonna Love You
"Anything to make you smile, you are the ever-living ghost of what once was."



Holy hell batman, I'm obsessed with the subtle sweetness tucked inside this song! I heard it a long time ago, but I just recently found this song again, and it took on an entirely new meaning to me.

"No one is ever gonna love you more than I do."


A line that I think we can all relate to if we've felt as though we've found the happy to our days - the half that made you whole. You can declare it with such sureness, and I think that's a beautiful thing. It's no coincidence that a similar lyric also appears in one of my favorite songs of all time - Yeah Yeah Yeah's : Maps. Karen Oh opens her mouth and speaks with a shake, "Wait, they don't love you like I love you." It's that positivity that I think makes love, love. You know that no other human is capable of admiring in detail the same human being as you. The way their mouth looks when they talk, how they smell, their weird little flaw that you couldn't be more obsessed with. It's in those details of knowing, REALLY knowing someone inside and out, that makes you positive that truly, no one could ever love this person more than you do.

I think this song is simply trying to state just that. The lead singer wasn't there for all of his girlfriend's past relationships, but he can bet his life that none of them came close to experiencing the love that they have in their relationship. Not even close. Also, that egocentric attitude that two people madly, insanely, head over heels in love feels: No two people have ever loved each other more passionately than them. As humans we have and will always be very egocentric. When we watch a movie, read a book, or listen to a song, we immediately try to compare it to our lives. If there are a few similarities, you think you are them. How many stupid couples have you heard say, "OMG the Notebook is so us, baby!!!" It's just human instinct to assume every thing is about us. However, that egocentric attitude given to a couple in love, makes it feel like it's them against the world. They are certain no couple has ever felt more in love than them. Kinda Romeo and Juliet-ish nishhhh, but I think it's cute that myself along with probably tons of other couples think that they will go down in history for loving each other more than any human being has ever loved before.

Everything Alice Glass

This last weekend my boyfriend and I drove to Toronto to Alice Glass's hometown to see her band "Crystal Castles" play at the Sound Academy. It was by far one of the best experiences of my entire life.

I found out about Crystal Castles back in August, and I have been IN LOVE with them ever since. Not only is the music absolutely amazing in my opinion, but there is something about Alice Glass that leaves me craving more. She is quite blunt, and that's an understatement. If she is crowd surfing during one of her shows, and someone gets a little too touchy, she WILL knock you out. She may wear her grandmother's skirt and ripped tights, but she's anything but sweet and girly. She's pretty extreme compared to my other idol Audrey Hepburn, but somehow she has managed to fascinate me with almost everything she does.

My boyfriend knows about my obsession with Crystal Castles, so he surprised me on my birthday with a t-shirt, and that's how this experience began.

Now one of my favorite t-shirts, he gave this to me on my birthday, along with tickets to go see them in Toronto on April 3rd. Best birthday present....ever!

The show was absolutely amazing. We pushed and shoved our way to the second row, which was a miracle in itself. It was definitely a sold out show, surrounded by hipsters, unfortunately. The music was so loud that it became one with your heart beat. Alice came out with a crutch since she broke her left ankle, but she was still throwing herself all over the stage. She played all of my favorites- Celestica, Courtship Dating, Baptism, and then some. I didn't even care if I couldn't breathe during the entire set, it was still pretty amazing that I was within 8 feet from someone I've been dying to meet since I've found out about this band.

The only downfall was getting out of the venue when the music stopped. I felt like we were being treated like cattle... it was horrible! Hundreds of people on God knows what all pushing their way to the door, with no security guards in sight. It took about 40 minutes before we reached the door. When we walked outside we saw the security guards grilling.... ?!??!?!!? REALLY Canada?! I know you are all happy-go-lucky and everything, but I think we could've used your help in there. Regardless, I'll never forget that night, and I'm so so thankful my boyfriend took me there to see them play.

Here are the pictures I managed to take:

And here are the pictures taken from that show that I found online:

This is a music blog, so I'm going to post some of my favorite songs by Crystal Castles. "Celestica" has managed to make itself my number one favorite song of all time. It's beautiful and eerie, and everything in between. Her voice which is usually out of control, is peacefully perfect as she sings, "Follow me into nowhere, woven with the utmost care." If there was ever one song, one band, I would try to get you to research and give a try, it would be this band... and especially their song "Celestica."

Other than "Celestica"... Crystal Castles isn't really "easy listening." A lot of people are annoyed by their music, and I guess I'll let Alice say it best---

"Annoying people still evokes an emotion in them. When you hear a bunch of crazy sounds you’re gonna feel something." -Alice Glass

Daydreaming

Dark Dark Dark : Daydreaming
"Oh if you knew what it meant to me, you would see, too."






First of all, this song is amazing, so listen to it. Of course I'm going to say it is another song that reminds me of traveling and ..yup, you guessed it.. Tennessee. BUT this blog is going to be entirely dedicated to...... downriver. If you live here, you will probably appreciate and understand what I am talking about. If you don't, this is kind of directed towards you, too, so read along little ones. 


I moved downriver when I was in 4th grade from Southern Illinois, from a small town called Granite City, about 5 minutes across the border from St. Louis. I’ve lived in Trenton ever since. Honestly, people that live downriver rarely leave it, unless for college. We all are kind of in a bubble and stick with fellow downriver people. It wasn’t until I met my boyfriend who lives north of Sterling Heights that I started hanging around with different people, and it’s then when I started having people say “OH you’re from DOWNRIVER?!?!” When exactly did downriver get a bad rep? Do people who live north of us really think they don’t have skanks, ghetto kids, and punks living in their cities? TRUST ME. I’ve been to Eastpointe, St. Claire Shores, even Sterling Heights..THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! So leave us alone! I used to HATE this place, but now I have to say, I’m proud to live here. Why shouldn’t we be? We are 2 minutes away from the water, in almost every city considered “downriver.” And to those of you who aren’t from here, and try to figure out what cities exactly categorize under “downriver”--don’t even try, you’ll never get it, and you’re probably wrong. So stop making fun of people from downriver, we are a pretty cool group of people. Yeah, maybe we are in a little bubble and we rarely get out of it, but maybe that isn’t so bad. I like it that anytime I go to the Applebees on Allen Road, I am guaranteed to see at least 3 people that I know. I used to HATE this, but the familiarity of this place is starting to become a part of me. As soon as the weather gets warm you know you are going to take a trip to Bob Jo’s Frozen Custard off Fort Street, or maybe take a trip to one of my most favorite places downriver---downtown Wyandotte. The Grind will probably remind every single one of us of high school. How about how sad we all were when they closed Smoothie King?! That place was HEAVEN. Even if our mall sucks, and we do have Taylor, we are still a pretty cool place to live. Not many people can drive 2 minutes down the road and have a front row seat to the water. Elizabeth Park is my favorite place in the entire world I think. When the weather is nice, you just pick up your friends, a few drinks, and head to Elizabeth Park to pick a spot by the water and make a night out of it. So, to everyone who thinks you are a skanky hick if you live downriver, you quite possibly could be retarded. There isn’t something in the air down here that make people skanks. All I have to say to you is, skanks live everywhere, dumbass!

With all of this being said, I’m sure we will all still complain at least 30 more times this year alone that there is nothing to do downriver, but maybe we take it for granted. Trust me, travel 30 minutes up north and not only will you not have any cool spots to sit by the water, but you will be surrounded by douches. Sad to say I’ll be moving up soon, but until then, I’m not going to take this place for granted anymore. Even though I hate it, I love it. That should be the quote of downriver.

Okay, that's all I have to say. Hopefully my boyfriend's friends, as well as my own friends that live north of downriver, will finally put to rest the whole "OMG DOWNRIVER" situation. I love you all, but you brought me to my breaking point! haha

Peace and love Homo sapiens.

Elizabeth Park

My cup, Anna's, and Sarah's for our wine date night at Elizabeth Park

2 minutes from my house.. take west road all the way down to the water and you have the perfect little spot