A to Z 2015 - "O" Photos

Day #15 of the A-to-Z means O-Day! For my "O" theme, I opted to show some pictures of things that are...

Orange

        

Songs of Summer blog hop ~ my 5(+1) summer songs

Welcome to the Songs of Summer bloghop, hosted by the Armchair Squid, Cygnus and Suze.  On Friday, July 11, 2014, please join us by posting 5 of your favourite summer songs and sharing some memories about them.  Maybe between us, we can build the perfect soundtrack to accompany us over the next few months.  If possible, include links so we can hear these gems.  And, if you're in the southern hemisphere, join us to dance those winter blues away! 

- the Armchair Squid

I am indeed in the southern hemisphere, but unlike most people on the planet, I prefer winter to summer. ;) That doesn't mean I can't appreciate a bloody good summer tune. I actually seem to have particular artists that make me think of summer, not just particular songs. Anyway, here are five songs in my playlist that make me think of summer:


The Ataris - Boys of Summer (Don Henley cover)
Why a summer song? I guess partly 'cause it has the word 'summer' in the title. It's also a song that is "set" in summertime.


John Farnham - Touch of Paradise
Why a summer song? Well, the video clip has someone swimming in a pool. And some of the lyrics talk about flamingos. And there's mention of the sun, even if the sun is hiding. ;)


The Smashing Pumpkins - Sunkissed
Why a summer song? Well, it talks about the sun, and when I listen to this song I can totally imagine sitting on a beach with my headphones plugged in, or driving along with the song blasting from my speakers, or ... going on an epic road trip down the coast.


Unwritten Law - California Sky
Why a summer song? Well, it's about a sky in California. Seriously! Also, Unwritten Law happen to be the one band that reminds me most of summer. So yeah.


Everclear - Santa Monica
Why a summer song? Again, it mentions a place in California. It mentions palm trees. It all reminds me of summer. I also live on the west coast, though in Australia, not America, so I can relate to dreaming of the west coast. ;)


Now, just in case you can't see the Farnsy clip (since it's Australian and sometimes you people seem to have trouble seeing Aussie vid clips), I thought I'd just tack on one more song because ... yes, I like to cheat, and I hate leaving out awesome songs. :D So anyway, this is another song that just reminds me of the molten ocean in summer, so I thought I'd share it too:


Catherine Wheel - Salt
Why a summer song? It just sounds magical and beautiful and mysterious to me - like the ocean is. And it takes my breath away and brings tears to my eyes - like the ocean at sunset does!

What I'm reading & other stuff I'm doing

So, that's what I've been reading lately. I am currently on book 3, Forever, and really enjoying the read. Honestly, I think I am enjoying the series more since the Isabel/Cole dynamic really got started. I'm intrigued to see where the story ends. So far this series has been a 4 out of 5 star reading experience for me.

This is also what I'm doing -
trying to find homes for my foster bubbies. :)

As for other stuff I'm doing? Ummm, I have to admit not much. I'm not really looking forward to this month's "Goals" post, because at the rate I'm going I won't have anything to report except ... nothing. :) I hope I can get some work done on editing before then, because right now I'm in a bit of a sorry state. I guess I'm preoccupied with foster kittens and cats that need visits to the vet and budgets that sort of blow out as a result. But it's nearly JUNE, people, and June is when BuNoWriMo begins. I really would like to have more editing done by June.

What am I listening to? Right now, this:

The Smashing Pumpkins are my favourite band of all time, but my favourite album is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, an epic double-disc of awesome. Obviously Siamese Dream is a work of legend, but to me it's not the absolute pinnacle. But right now I'm listening to "Hummer", track 4, and there are just not many songs in the universe better than that one.

Anyway ... I don't really have much else to say, so I'll end this here. I guess I just wanted to touch base and say hi. :)

Cephalopod Coffeehouse - book club! (+ my birthday)

This month I'm going to cheat a little, since I haven't read any books in the last month that I have not already reviewed on my blog. So I will mention a book that I read back in June, that I never reviewed, instead (I need to learn to not include all my read books in my "mini-reviews" posts, or at the very least I need to learn to finish a new book in time for each month's Cephalopod Coffeehouse. ;) ) The book I'm going to mention today is Ali Cross's "Become" (Desolation #1), which I read and did really enjoy.

I thought this was a great read, and I will definitely pick up the next book in the series. I have to say I'm not hugely into angels and the teachings of the Bible, and this book obviously has a fair bit to do with both. Well, the Bible stuff isn't really that obvious but there's just a lot about sin and all that. I really do hate the idea that people who really don't do things that are all that bad (i.e. being alcoholic - yes, it's bad but it's not like it's murder or something) are candidates for a life in Hell. But that is really MOSTLY beside the point, and despite my aversion to all things Christianity-related when it comes to fiction, I was able to immensely enjoy this book. Particularly as it wasn't just Christianity but Norse myth as well that came into it. I do enjoy a bit of myth, as my history of university study will indicate. ;) 

The story moved nice and quickly, and there was action around every corner. Desi is a kick-arse character and I definitely could envision breathtaking action scenes from a movie version of the story. I loved Michael and thought he was pretty hawt, all things considered. *waggle* And the supporting characters - Desi's version of the "Scooby-gang" as she referred to them - were cool to read about as well. I did think it was a bit funny that Buffy was referenced in a few places. The idea of Satan's daughter being pretty familiar with that TV series amused me. To be honest, when I read that part I actually went, "HUH?" and remembered that a while back I started re-watching Buffy and want to pick that up again.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend this book if you like kick-arse action with a fantasy/paranormal/whatever slant, and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

In other news, yesterday I turned 33, and because I am a rabid Smashing Pumpkins fan and have for many years daydreamed of being able to say "Hey, I'm 33 too!" (no, really, I have), I thought I'd share this beautiful video that still makes me ache with its beauty (as does the beautiful song itself, which is featured on my favourite album of all time, incidentally), all these years later:

National Wormhole Day(s) Bloghop - the gig(s) I wish I'd seen

Yesterday and today, Laura Eno, Stephen Tremp and Luanne Smith have been/are hosting the National Wormhole Day Bloghop, which celebrates Albert Einstein's birthday (March 14th). The requirements of the hop are this:

...Take a moment to tell the world a few moments, and in 100 words more or less, what you would do if you had a two-way ticket to traverse a wormhole. This is my way of getting people excited about all the amazing stuff on the horizon that we as a race are on the cusp of discovering!

You know, I'm not all that fussed about time travel or "doing things over", or changing the course of history. So I think what I would most love to do would be to go back in time to one of the earliest Smashing Pumpkins concerts. And by earliest I mean pre-Gish (which was their debut album), when they were playing all those old groovy songs like "There it Goes", "My Eternity". I'd love to see a show where they played "Love (old)" and "Psychodelic", too, though I'm not sure they ever actually played those ones live. But really the show I'd love to see is the one where they played "Alabaster". Yes, please.

I've been horribly busy and it ends now!

Here's a photo I ruined tonight (lost the original)
while trying to figure out the new iPhoto.

Lately, life has been a little bit crazy. I've had family visiting, and I've been travelling. And in the last week, for various reasons (including a *gasp* 32nd birthday!), I haven't had a single night totally at home. Thankfully things should calm down now, 'cause though I love my friends and family (and...work?), I sure do crave my "me" time when I don't get enough of it.


I'm also currently grappling with the disappointing reality that is my shiny new MacBook Pro. Okay, I'm not disappointed by the laptop itself - not at all; it's delightful...except when I mess with permissions and suddenly can't find any of my files in Finder - but I'm very disappointed with iPhoto. On my old laptop it was at least serviceable, and I could at least find my photos when I searched for them on my computer. In this latest version of iPhoto, it seems they're just not having that. But I won't rant anymore, 'cause it's pretty boring.

I'm still working on my rewrite of SUNDOWN, and enjoying it a lot. But I haven't done much in this last week of madness. Hopefully from here on in I won't have any more weeks where none of my evenings are entirely my own. I do hope to get to work on a first revision of DANNA, 'cause I think it's one of my more promising works.

---

In recent times The Smashing Pumpkins brought out a new album, Oceania, and kicked off a tour (I attended the show in my town this Thursday just gone). I've been listening to Oceania a lot. But for the last few days I've been newly addicted to a song by Lacuna Coil called "Daylight Dancer". It's from their album Comalies, which apparently is coming up on its 10 year anniversary. There's talk of a tour where they play the album in its entirety. I'd love to see that show, though I'd prefer to see a show where they played the entirety of the previous album Unleashed Memories live. ;)

Goal update, random pics, and some music

Rain is my friend, and I
am fascinated by raindrops.

Another week has come to a close. In general, I've been rather busy. My weekend was a little crazy, and I'm glad it's over, even if it had many fun moments. I caught up with lots of different groups of friends and family. In my family we've had two babies born in May (both on May 1st, actually! And both of them girls!), so I got to meet the locally-born baby on Saturday for the first time. In June I'll meet the other baby, who is my niece. Can't wait for that! Anyway, I hope you all have had great weekends too, and are continuing in that vein for the remainder of your Sundays.

This was a recent sky. There
are a lot of skies around here.

Now time for a creative update! What have I been up to lately? Well, I've got many varied goals for this year, one of which includes writing a new song each week. I had fallen behind with that during my recent travels, but I'm all caught up now (or I was last weekend, anyway...). I'm also well ahead of schedule with two of my other goals - the photo sorting and the revision of one WIP chapter per week. In most other areas, though, I'm either only just keeping up or am well behind. I'm not worried, as I know I can catch up. It's just not ideal being so far behind in some areas.

This is one of my weirdo cats,
drinking out of a sink...

In other news, it's Sunday, and time for another Sunday Session! This last week, the song I've apparently listened to most has been the Smashing Pumpkins' b-side "French Movie Theme", a 1:51 song whose lyrics mainly consist of "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah..." with the occasional "Bonjour!" thrown in. Genius lyrics, I tell you, but it's a pretty song and I love the bassline. Unfortunately there aren't any videos on YouTube of the proper version, only a demo in which somebody messes up the chords and Billy Corgan then proceeds to tell that person off for getting the chords wrong. "I can't believe you messed that up...!" Anyway, I think this week's results in the music listening game go to show that one can never tell what song is going to come out on top!

I'll bid you all good night now, and wish you a good rest of the weekend if you aren't at the very end of it, like I am. And happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! Including mamas who are just kitty or doggy or other pet-ty mamas, like me. ;) I got felines, and they sure can be sooky!

Travel Series: U.S.A. part 1

The first time I visited America was during my world trip with Dad in 1998. We had already driven across Australia and seen much of New Zealand's north island, but next up was my very first trip into the U.S.A., about which I was extremely excited! I've got family in the U.S., but it's also the country that spawned/reared some of my all-time favourite musicians. To my teenaged self, it would be amazing just to set foot on American soil (still is to my adult self, actually!).

Dad taking a photo on the way to Chicago

- and that's our Chrysler!

We flew from Auckland to L.A., where a lot of my mum's family lives. In Mar Vista with family, I got the longest night of sleep I've ever had in my life (18.5 hours or so). Once we'd recovered from our jetlag, we set about arranging the next leg of our journey, which was where Auto Driveaway came in. We didn't know where we'd be going, but that was half the fun of relying on driveaway cars. After turning down the first car we were offered (it just wasn't fancy enough for our liking - yep, even soon-to-be homeless hobos can be auto-snobs sometimes), we wound up with a beautiful Chrysler Cirrus. This car, which went fast and smelled new (and had a CD player, man!), was bound for Chicago.

If you look closely, you can see Dad lying in the road,

taking yet another photo!

We had three days to reach Chicago. By Dad's calculations, this gave us a bit of leeway to take our time and enjoy the trip. During that trip we passed through the Death and Monument Valleys, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon National Park (stopping at the Canyon itself, on a day when it was snowing). We drove through countless towns, small and large. We paused at a lot of truck stops and slept in the car each night. Sometimes we slept parked by fields of snow, other times amidst semi-trailers. All in all, it was an amazing drive.

Crand Canyon, 1998
 - you can't tell but it was snowy 

I was still most excited to reach Chicago, though, since I'm a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. Part of my seventeen-year-old self did daydream of bumping into Billy or D'Arcy or James or Jimmy while in Chicago, even though I knew we'd only be there a few hours before moving on (it was general policy that we wouldn't linger overlong in any one place). But I still took in the tiny part of Chicago I did see with a sense of wonder. I glimpsed Lake Michigan (which Dad pronounced "Lake Mitch-i-gan") and daydreamed of rock stars.

One of the roads Dad practised rally driving on.

On the advice of a local woman, we headed for Chicago's Green Mill bar where apparently Al Capone used to hang out. A band was playing jazz, and I think we got some Mexican food from a place next door. Outside the Green Mill, I met a homeless guy who was collecting money. I gave him a dollar and asked his name. "Lester!" he said, and I responded, "Really? My dad's name's Lester!" When Dad appeared, I introduced the two Lesters, and took a photo of them with Dad's camera. Sadly it turned out really dark and you can't see much (or anything, really).

Finally, our time in Chicago ended. We had a new driveaway car and a new destination - Philadelphia. But true to our style, we weren't exactly going to drive straight there. I'll write about the drive from Chicago to Philly next time. :)

Sunday Session #2

Yessss, I'm back (I didn't forget!) for another Sunday Session. It is indeed Sunday, and it's 3:56 pm. That's about half an hour before I posted last week's session. But I'm going to get this post up and then head off to the beach for a good walk and then a refreshing swim (it's really hot here right now!!). Last week it was a tie between two Smashing Pumpkins songs. Well, this week it's a five-way tie!! Instead of posting all the videos at normal size, I'll put tiny little thumbnail links in for most of them, and a big one for the song I most wanted to highlight...

This week's songs are:

I had to add the Effigy video myself, since there are hardly any traces of that band around the interwebs and I really wanted to show off the song here on my blog. Effigy are a band from my hometown who never really got that far, despite releasing two albums and having a few successful singles. Their second album Century Collapsing (© 1995), which features "Rose Thorns", is for me a mixture of sheer brilliance and numerous "meh" moments. "Rose Thorns" is the absolute highlight for me, and reason enough to buy the album! They were well known for their lead singer's rather girly singing voice, and got a lot of flack for it. Personally that doesn't bother me, as the songs themselves are what I care about.

As for the other songs in this post, well I don't think they need much explanation (except "I Am One" I guess - it's the original version this time, from SP's debut album Gish). All these songs are the ones I've listened to most in the last 7 days!

Sunday Session #1

I saw another blog ages ago (sadly I think I've lost track of it) that did a Sunday Session every...well, Sunday! (makes sense right?) and I thought it was kind of a cool idea. Instead of doing a proper post on writing or whatever, I thought doing this would be a cool way of letting you guys know what kind of music I'm into. I'm a rather fanatical member of Last.fm, where you can see what music I'm listening to every day. I've decided to base the Sunday Session selection on whatever song I've listened to most in the past week.

This week I've actually got a tie, and the songs are both by my favourite band of all time, the Smashing Pumpkins. The first track is called "In My Body", and the second is an early recording of "I Am One" from their debut album. I'll tell you a bit more about each song below.

"In My Body" was released as part of the album Machina II/The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music. The Pumpkins, back in the year 2000, had released what was to be their last proper album for 7 years, Machina, but they also had more than another album's worth of material recorded which apparently their record label refused to let them release. So they decided to release it for free online instead!

This version of "I Am One" was recorded in the Reel Time Sessions, and was released on vinyl apparently. Also it was released on this mix CD I managed to grab a copy of from Amazon a few years back. That version was a really quiet mix, but this year (errr, I mean last year - 2011) when the Pumpkins released their remastered versions of Gish and Siamese Dream in some sublimely beautiful packages (yes, I own both, and still have not stopped drooling!), the Gish re-release contained a wonderfully remastered version. And that 2011 version is what you hear in the video above.
Okay, I think that's all I have to say about these songs. Check back next Sunday to see if I've forgotten all about the Sunday Sessions! hehe

Twitter-tag the first

Long, long ago, I got Twitter-tagged by my blogger friend Charlotte Jane Ivory. And here is my reaction to that event:

1. If you could go back in time and relive one moment, what would it be?
   I've had heaps of great moments, but probably the one I'd love to relive is the first time I ever saw the Smashing Pumpkins live in concert. Or MAYBE it'd be the second time I saw them, which was a 3-hour performance in San Diego. MAGIC.
   
   
2. If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?
   I'd probably go back in time and try to orchestrate a distinct lack of Joseph Stalin in the world.
   
   
3. What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?
   Nobody, because I'm unique and nobody is like me? This is my lazy answer because I honestly can't think of any character off the top of my head. Or even off the bottom of it.
   
   
4. If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?
   If I could push one person off a cliff, it'd probably be Juturna from my novel NAUSICAA. Maaaaan that lady's a nasty piece of work. But it's okay, she gets her come-uppance.
   
   
5. Name one habit you want to change in yourself.
   I want to be utterly confident in the idea that the world is my oyster, damn it. Basically I want to stop looking to other people for the kind of validation I am more than capable of giving myself.
   
   
6. Describe yourself in one word.
   Interesting.
   
   
7. Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.
   Glamorous!
   
   
8. Why do you blog? Answer in one sentence.
   Because somebody said I should...so I gave it a shot, and thought it pretty well rocked!
   
   
9. Name at least 3 people to send this meme to, and then inform them.
   Ohhh, okay. I'll choose these people, after which I shall inform them:

• Laura @ Daily Dodo
• Madeline Bartos
• Jolene Perry

EPIC FAIL (link to a review)

D'arcy Wretzky, portrait by me.
It's day 17 of NaBloWriMo, and I'm not planning on saying anything other than...I'm up to page 89 (Chapter 18) in my paper edit --> Scrivener thingy.I finished reading EPIC FAIL, and put up a review on GoodReads.Now I'm reading FIVE FLAVOURS OF DUMB by Antony John.And now I'm going to click that orange Publish Post button.