(no subject)

[lunabee34]

1. Fiona and I have been re-watching She-Ra; our first watch was long enough ago that she really doesn't remember much of the show. Y'all, I had forgotten how fucking gay this show is right from the gate, and it is delightful. This is no Korrasami walking through a portal in the last frame. Adora and Catra are IN LOVE from episode one. Scorpia is fucking gone on Catra, and her feelings for Catra are explicitly compared to Seahawk's romantic feelings for Mermista. I love it so much. Scorpia was my favorite character the first time around, and that hasn't changed; I keep wishing Catra would pull her head out of her ass and love Scorpia back.

2. I have been listening to music again. I don't know why, but after I had Dylan, I stopped listening to music. I mean, I'd have the radio on in the car, and we'd listen to albums on long trips, but I stopped really caring about and listening to music. Mostly I would listen to NPR and classic rock playing the same songs over and over again. I'm not exactly sure what triggered that shift; when I was pregnant with Dylan, music actively annoyed me (IDK why; such a bizarre thing), and then after they were born, I was just out of the habit.

Ever since we got Fiona a laptop for Christmas, she has been getting into music--mostly the music Dylan likes but also finding some on her own. So I've been playing a bunch of music for Fi so she can figure out what she likes. I started playing NIN's The Fragile album, which she hated. "This sounds like a DJ, mom," which okay. Clearly she does not know what a DJ is. LOL She also hated The Barenaked Ladies except for "If I Had a $100000000." She barely tolerated Moby, and then I hit the jackpot with Tori Amos. She also really liked Temple of the Dog (Chris Cornell's early album before Soundgarden).

Oh, I had forgotten how much I love Tori Amos. It's like she somehow saw right into the heart of me for a lot of those songs, especially the ones on Little Earthquakes. It feels good to be listening to music again.

3.

every night my mind is running around her by magneticwave
Stranger Things
El/Dustin, Mike/Lucas, Jonathan/Nancy/Steve
This is borderline cracky and incredibly funny.

a revival by hatsandapoodles
Stranger Things
Steve/Eddie
A lot of people die in the mall fire. Including Steve Harrington. Eddie doesn't care, until he does. Featuring- falling in love with the memory of a dead boy, too many exorcisms, Robin Buckley's love of radical zines, and a heavy dose of religious trauma.

when you shine, you’re a hilltop mansion (so how’d you lose the light?) by actuallymaxie
Stranger Things
Steve/Eddie
So, Steve runs away after Vecna and spends ten years homeless and pitiful, and it's not super believable that he would do this, but I love it so much because he is miserable and sad and it makes me cry and cry and cry, which is my favorite thing to do while reading fanfic. LOL

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

MUSIC

I go in and out of listening to music. Your tastes are a lot more up to date than mine, though!

My kids like all the old rock from my era -- Van Morrison, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, the Bee Gees. They like new stuff too. Black Keys. Empire of the Sun. Not so new now, though, I know!

I missed Tori Amos completely. Will investigate.

[princessofgeeks]

Also hurray for She-Ra, and glad you are getting some cathartic crying!!! HUGS.

[lunabee34]

Cathartic crying is so wonderful.

[lunabee34]

I love classic rock very much. I just wish the local radio station didn't play the same handful of songs over and over. Some variety would be nice.

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah. Not even the top forty of each year, more like the top 5.

When I was a teenager we had an actual Album Oriented Rock FM station here that had live DJs and actual vinyl records and they played amazing things. The DJs got to pick the music.

Good times. Gone forever.

[lunabee34]

Same; both classic rock stations in my hometown and in Josh's are really amazing and play a wide variety. I miss that. I also miss a good college radio station like Ole Miss's. We're not close enough to pick up the Atlanta college stations.

[princessofgeeks]

I am very grateful I got to work in radio back when radio was fun!

[lunabee34]

I forgot you were in radio; I thought you had only done print journalism. Were you doing radio journalism? What was your role?

[princessofgeeks]

Radio was my first love. I was a jazz DJ in college and then my first job in news was at a Tulsa station that did lots and lots of radio news, back in 1984 when radio news was A Big Deal. I did radio news for a while and then was a TV reporter for almost three years before I was fired and became a newspaper reporter.

I was a newspaper reporter, with some interruptions, from 1987 to 2000. That's when I went into teaching.

[lunabee34]

What a fantastic and interesting career. I love what I do, and I'm doing what I've always wanted to do, but I think there's something to be said for the depth and nuance of having done a variety of things.

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah, journalism was great. I really enjoyed it and I am glad I got to do it in the heyday of, you know, actual journalism and not whatever we are calling that happens on Youtube and Tiktok today.

I never intended to teach but then I never intended to have kids either. My life has been a series of interesting surprises. I went back and got an MA for fun in 1991... I went parttime in fits and starts and finally finished it. And then it turned out I could really use it! It is why I could switch to teaching journalism in college while my kids were in diapers.

I could have done without the three divorces, but given where I have ended up it's hard to regret anything.

[lunabee34]

Nods nods nods

[sheafrotherdon]

I love how certain music just grabs at us and summons up such full body memories. The Indigo Girls' "Wood Song" came up on the playlist at my friend's store the other day, and WHOOSH I was 22 again, moving to the States, leaving my friends behind omggg. The sense memory!

I'm so glad music is back for you.

[lunabee34]

Yes I love that feeling so much. I'm having a lot of fun revisiting the music of my teen and college years.

[corvidology]

It's lovely that you've reconnected to music.

I listen to it all day, every day including while working unless there's something going on that absolutely bars it.

[lunabee34]

I can't listen to it while I actually do anything, so I can't read or grade or anything while it's on, which means in practice that I can only really listen to music while I'm driving.

[goss]

I have been listening to music again

Aww, that's wonderful! ♥Tori Amos♥

These days I mostly have instrumental music on as a background - calming, upbeat, or atmospheric, depending on my mood. But I've fallen down a Chappell Roan hole recently and her songs have been in my head all week. lol.

Hmm...there is something a little bit Tori about her, come to think of it. *g*

[umadoshi]

Hmm...there is something a little bit Tori about her, come to think of it. *g*

I keep meaning to investigate Chappell Roan more! I think I've only heard one song.

[lunabee34]

Icon love!

[lunabee34]

Dylan really likes Chappell Roan. I gave them one of her CDs that she asked for for Christmas. I don't think I've ever listened to her unless one of her songs came on the radio and I didn't realize it was her.

[amejisuto]

I've got the feeling that the She-Ra you're watching is NOT the She-Ra I watched. LOL!

Have you tried Smash Mouth? I used to love them, still have them on my YouTube list. Their version of I'm A Believer is so fun, and All-Star is great!

I've been adding new Symphonic Metal to my list, and some old favorites that I've forgotten from back in the 80s'. Plus Weird Al, because who doesn't love Weird Al?

[lunabee34]

No, this is the new She-Ra on netflix from a couple of years ago. It's really good.

I remember liking the Smash Mouth that I heard on the radio. And Weird Al is always fun; he seems like such a nice guy to boot.

[amejisuto]

I'll have to add it to my list of shows to check out! I'll get there, eventually. LOL!

Yeah, Weird Al does seem nice. And who can resist songs like CNR and Weasel Stomping Day?

[spikedluv]

Yay for a rewatch where you love the thing just as much!

I don't really listen to much music these days, either.

*hugs* I hope you're all doing well.

[lunabee34]

<3

Remember a bit ago when we were talking about those limited edition Bath and Body Works lotions?

I've only used the peppermint and lavender a couple of times and apparently always when Josh has been gone. Turns out he hates it. Lol

Do you want it? I've got the lotion and body wash. I'm happy to send it to you.

[spikedluv]

Oh no! That's tragic!

If you don't have anyone closer who you can give them to easier, yes, I'll take them! *g* Thank you!

[lunabee34]

I'll send it to you soonishly. I'll let you know when I've mailed it.

[spikedluv]

Okay, thank you!

[independence1776]

I'm glad you're listening to music again! I usually have something instrumental/ambient/epic playing in the background.

[lunabee34]

I get so distracted with music playing in the background, but my husband is always listening to music in his office.

[kass]

Z and I have watched She-Ra several times through and it is so delightful. And yes: Korrasami walked so Catradora could fly. :D

[lunabee34]

It's such a good show, and surprisingly nuanced and thoughtful about mature themes for a cartoon. I really like it.

[oracne]

Hurrah for music! I have had fun with making playlists on YouTube for when I'm working.

[lunabee34]

I struggle to listen to music when I'm working, but my husband is constantly listening to music in his office.

[scintilla10]

Awwww! Scorpia was one of my faves too! ♥

love of radical zine ooooh, this intrigues me!

and it's not super believable that he would do this, but I love it so much because he is miserable and sad and it makes me cry and cry and cry, which is my favorite thing to do while reading fanfic. LOL I love that fanfic can bring out such big feelings in us, and that it can be such an indulgence and also such a catharsis!

[lunabee34]

I just want Scorpia to be happy, and Catra is so mean to her. It kills me. I mean, Scorpia is a good person at heart; she's kind and a good friend, and she just happened to be raised with the horde instead of believing in the mission. It's going to take a sneeze to get her on the right side. LOL

All of my big loves in fandom are so indulgent. It's all everybody implausibly experiences tragedy and cries about it or crack. Ha!

[umadoshi]

I'm not exactly sure what triggered that shift; when I was pregnant with Dylan, music actively annoyed me (IDK why; such a bizarre thing), and then after they were born, I was just out of the habit.

Pregnancy/hormones/etc. are WILD. And reforming habits can be so particular and tricky!

I've largely gotten out of the habit of listening to music on my own (scruloose often has internet radio running in the living room) and keep wanting to get back to it. We'll see.

Oh, I had forgotten how much I love Tori Amos. It's like she somehow saw right into the heart of me for a lot of those songs, especially the ones on Little Earthquakes.

TORI. *^^*

[lunabee34]

The last album I listened to and loved was To Jupiter and Back. I bought Strange Little Girls but ended up not liking it back then. I also have The Beekeeper's Daughter (I think is the title) and maybe Scarlet's Walk, neither of which I remember listening to. Somehow I never had a copy of Boys for Pele so I never listened to that one. I want to fix those gaps in my listening. I know she's got way more albums than that though.

Have you listened to any of the latest ones? Any thoughts?

[umadoshi]

I really like Scarlet's Walk, although I don't love it like I loved the first handful of albums. (Earthquakes and choirgirl and my favorites.) And I love that Strange Little Girls exists, because it meant one less album of her own songs signed over to the label she was trying to escape; the actual covers on it are very hit and miss for me, and I desperately wish she'd included her cover of U2's "Running to Stand Still", because her live performances of it are amazing and when she started doing it, she mentioned she'd almost put it on SLG.

Boys for Pele is possibly the Ultimate Tori Amos Album--all of her weirdness and anger on full display. It took me a long time to bond with it, other than one or two tracks (I used to call it "the angry harpsichord album"), and my gateway to loving most of its songs was discovering that I generally love her live performances of them. She recorded a lot of the album tracks with a breathiness to the delivery that I really didn't click with, but I love most of them with her full voice and different instrumentation.

I've bought all of her albums as they've come out (except the new set of songs that go with the kids' book she just released in the last month or two), and...well, I've dutifully listened to the last several at least once and been glad they exist, because I'm glad she's still working and doing what she wants to. That really doesn't count as giving them much of a fair shake, though! :/ They're just very different from her early work. I have no idea how I'd feel about them if the early work weren't there as contrast.

Then there's American Doll Posse, which I think came out in 2007 or so, which gets special mention because while I don't especially love the songs, it at least felt a lot like her older energy, so I enjoyed that about it.

Also, the box set (I think it's just called The Piano? from...I think 2006?) has some then-new songs on it that I really love. And somehow I've become pretty fond of her holiday album ("Tori Amos holiday album" will never stop sounding bizarre, though), and while I didn't bond at all with the version of the classical album with vocals, I quite like the instrumentals-only release.

[lunabee34]

I really appreciate this in-depth answer.

I had no idea she'd done a holiday album!

I'm definitely going to get Boys for Pele and revisit Strange Little Girls + The Beekeeper and Scarlet's Walk if I have it. And then tool around on Youtube with the other albums and see if anything else appeals.

I was so sad when I read her wikipedia page to see that despite numerous noms, she's never won a Grammy. What a travesty!

Have you read her memoir? Is it worth reading?

[umadoshi]

I really appreciate this in-depth answer.

*g* I have devoted a lot of brain space and emotion to Tori and her music!

I had no idea she'd done a holiday album!

Midwinter Graces! It is an EXTREMELY Tori Amos Holiday Album. *g* She borrowed from and nodded to some of the standard Christian carols but wrote her own stuff.

I'm definitely going to get Boys for Pele and revisit Strange Little Girls + The Beekeeper and Scarlet's Walk if I have it. And then tool around on Youtube with the other albums and see if anything else appeals.

If possible, try to get a copy of Pele that includes "In the Springtime of His Voodoo"! IIRC it's on older copies and later one replaced it with a remix or something of "Professional Widow". (And I'm doubly biased, because I love "Voodoo" and "Widow" is one of my all-time least favorites of her songs. [But it's very powerful to a lot of people.])

I'm glad she's got at least some live material readily available in addition to fan recordings. (There are so many great performances only captured by fans, of course, but the quality of the legit stuff is lovely.) I love those early albums and soooo many of her b-sides etc., but just in general her live energy is so amazing. And like I said before, personally I clicked a lot more with most of the Pele songs when she did them live.

I also just remembered about Gold Dust, which happened after her classical album (which included (a) concert(s) with an orchestra, and the tour had a string quartet--VERY different arrangements for that tour!). It's a selection of songs from across her catalogue with orchestral support.

I was so sad when I read her wikipedia page to see that despite numerous noms, she's never won a Grammy. What a travesty!

It really is!

Have you read her memoir? Is it worth reading?

Piece By Piece? Yes, but Goodreads tells me that was twenty years ago. (O_O) I remember enjoying it. I think it's where she talked about how Strange Little Girls came to be. I also read her much more recent Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage a while ago, but I have to admit that one's kind of a blur in my head.

[lunabee34]

Thanks for the tip about Pele!

My musical journey continues. :)