Songs of the Month for December 2009!

Well, I'm officially in love.

And the songs of the month should make that perfectly clear :)

Outside - Aqualung



Burnin' Love - Dido Featuring Citizen Cope



As Much As I Ever Could - City & Colour



*happy sigh*

Also, if you're interested in fashion, you need to check out this blog. Now that I'm living the hipster life in Kensington, I do the "would this outfit make it onto The Sartorialist?" check before I leave the house. The answer, usually, is no. But I'm working on it!
~g~

SOTM for September, 2009

Nobody blogs anymore, hey? Yeah, I'm kind of over it too, but I made that blasted promise to do the Song of the Month, so here ya go. This is all you get :P

What can I say except I love this song, and it's been on repeat a lot this month! Oh Imogen Heap... you're awesome :) Also, I've swooned, so it's oddly appropriate.




xoxo,
Gillian

Everybody's Gotta Have a Hero...

Is it wrong that mine is Eartha Kitt??

Je Cherche un Homme


I Want To Be Evil


... awesome!


And speaking of Batman and Catwoman, what is my favourite quote of all time?

Adam West regarding the actresses who played Catwoman: “they all gave me curious stirrings in my utility belt.”

BWAHAHAHA!
~gillian~

Ahhh, the 80s!

I just ran across this on BoingBoing.net and it was too good! I had to share it. This one goes out to my fellow children of the 80s! It's the perfect kind of rainy weekend to rent a bunch of old Brat Pack films or 90s teen flicks. I've felt like watching "Empire Records" lately. Maybe a little "Pretty in Pink" is in order too!



Little Known Fact: I am an EXPERT at the Molly Ringwald 80s dance from "The Breakfast Club." Try it! So much fun!

Love,
Gillian

P.S. I've been promising pictures of The Wall and Nova Scotia for weeks now. I vow I will get on that this weekend!

And The SYTYCD Song Is...

"Stuff Like That There" ... What did we do before the internet?!



I'd put up Bette Midler's version from "For The Boys", but embedding is disabled (boo!) But here's the link. "P.S. I love You" is a good song too, so check it out!

K honeys, time to weekend it up!
~g~

YAY, SYTYCD!!!

Have I mentioned how excited I am that the new season of So You Think You Can Dance has started?! YAY!

Just heard a song that I LOVED, so I hopped on The Google to try to find out what it was (cuz I'm not cool like everyone else, and do not have an iPhone with the Shazam ap!) No luck yet, but I found this blog, which should help! (Looking for the lindy hop song... anyone, anyone?)

Anyway, to celebrate, here's one of my fave dances from previous years! HOW does she move her hips like that?! HOW?!?! I can't even samba to save my life!



XOXO,
Gillian

Fingerpaint The Sky (Till Everything Shines)

I am so tired that I can't even get off the couch and go to bed, which would be the reasonable thing to do at quarter to midnight. So while I try to find the energy to walk the dozen or so steps, I want to share this story with you. I came across it on BoingBoing.net and holy cow, it's nice when someone can use their influence to just HELP someone who really needs help, who just needs a hand to take that first step. I'm so lucky to have such a great family, because it takes away the fear in a way. Things could get terrible, but I have so much support that I know I can handle pretty much anything. I think it would be so easy to help a lot of people who really just need that boost. You can do it without much money, as long as you can just get people to open their eyes and care. I hope this story inspires you as much as it's inspired me. I'm thinking lots about The Celestine Prophecy, too. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts to share soon!

The story starts here and you can keep reading the many updates here.

Love you,
Gillian

NEW Harry Potter Trailer

HOLY COW it looks SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





EEEEEEE!!!!!!

~gillian~

Where The Wild Things Are

Oh My God.... OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! IT LOOKS SO GOOD!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!



And as if that wasn't good enough...



Two of my favourite childhood books! Eeee!!!

K I have to go try to bribe my cat out from under the bed :S

Love!
Gillian

Music, music, music...

I'm a bit (okay, a lot) of an emotional time bomb right now. Now I don't want to make you cry, but this week I've run across a few songs that just kill me. So lovely and lonely and sweet and beautiful, so I really must share. Just listen to the lyrics. You probably won't cry, but you might be touched. I hope so, because they really are beautiful.

Little Jack Frost - Kate Rusby (fan-made video, but nicely done!)



Never Die Young - James Taylor (forgive the bad 80's-ness. I like the new acoustic version better, but there's no video *pout*)



One More Night - Phil Collins (There's something about the office I work at... full to the brim with 20-something boys with a Phil Collins fixation! I guess it's rubbing off on me! ... seriously, though... they LOVE Phil.)



Love to you!

Gillian

A Very Random Post

First of all, you know that CBC Neko Case interview I was telling you about? Well here it is:



Jian Ghomeshi is officially my new celebrity crush. He is so darn intelligent that I swoon frequently as I listen to him. Much like Anderson Cooper, but with a self-deprecating Canadian humility.

Well, right now my apartment is completely covered in boxes. I'm a touch overwhelmed, so I'm avoiding everything right now by blogging about nothing. Nice! So here are a few random video clips that are on my mind right now. Make of them what you will! I'll never tell (well, not on my blog, anyway!

XOXO,

Gillian

Song of the Month for March 2009

I told you I had a Song of the Month for March already! And the wind is currently rattling and howling around my balcony doors, so why put it off?

This song/poem has been in my life for-ev-er. Since before I was born. So it's not surprising that it's my mum's Song of the Month too! This song talks about every month of the year, so I think about it a lot, but here's the tricky part: My mum and I can't even think of the word March without our subconscious minds adding "in March the wind blows down the door and spills my soup upon the floor. It laps it up and roars for more! Blowing once, blowing twice, blowing chicken soup with rice!"

... you think I'm joking, don't you? But every blasted time. Next time you see me, casually bring up the word "March" and wait for the pause :P

I slacked off this weekend and read the entire second book in the Twilight series. Oh dear. I am officially obsessed. It's taking all of my self-control to not rush out into that howling gale and buy the third book, because if I do I'll just end up moody and resentful at work. ("stupid work... cutting into my perfectly good reading time." *grumble, grumble*) I haven't seen the movie yet, but I bought the soundtrack and have this song basically on repeat. Seriously. I drove up and back from Dad's the other night, and probably listened to this song 40 times, all told. Sad, sad, Gillian. The music video is way too creepy, though, so I'm going to embed a "Twilight tribute" video instead. Cuz Robert Pattinson as a vampire is hawt. There, I said it. And I'm not sorry.

Urgh, Sunday. Have a good week, everyone!

Love,

Gillian

Song of the Month for the February Blahs

Oh Lord, I am so so so so so so so so soooooooo sick of freaking winter!!! So Cold! My brain is frozen! All week I've been aware of that ridiculous Song of the Month on the ridiculous 101 in 1001 list and thinking "what?! What song?! AUGH!" I already have March's song picked out, but not a chance for February. February is the WORST month... which is why it has the Blahs. Ask anyone. Anywho, I had a few possibilities for a song, but nothing stellar. And I'm cold. And this song makes me happy and makes me think of spring and driving with the windows down and singing loudly ("I love you iki ge tomarukurai so, I miss you kataku dakishimete itsumade mo!") and playing Katamari when it's too hot to do anything else. So here's a little Everlasting Love for you:



Oh what the heck... let's keep the ball rolling (har har har) with some "Lonely Rolling Star", too:



Stay warm!!!
Gillian

Holy Mother of God!

I just saw this video on BoingBoing.net and I think it's the scariest thing I ever saw! I've had nightmares like this! Why the HECK would you drive into that?!



There were some amusing reader comments on the BoingBoing link that made me LOL at work (on my lunch break... I'm bad, but I'm not THAT bad!) A few adept viewers noted that around 1:00 the cloud looks suspiciously like the King of the Cosmos from Katamari *gasp* and it SO DOES! That's just the type of thing the King would get involved with, too!

Okay, but seriously... I have to watch that over and over because I'm so hugely disturbed by:
a) That's real. That's actually real.
b) They actually drove INTO IT!
and c) The video just STOPS in the inky, horrible blackness. Did they even make it out alive?! *shudder*

Okay, lunch is over, back to work!
Gillian

Lily Allen (yay!)

I bought Lily Allen's first album "Alright, Still" shortly before I moved to Nova Scotia. I listened to it for the first time while I was in the car with my dad, and quickly realised that this wasn't the kind of CD one should listen to in the car with one's dad. A little obscene, a little inappropriate, but strangely addictive. My mum even wanted a copy! So I was pretty excited that her new CD came out this week. It has the same mix of deep, heartfelt songs, songs about drugs, songs about sex, but still wonderful lyrics and beats. She's a terribly eloquent person (heard her interviewed on CBC this week) and she's just a real young woman who wants to be swept off her feet, feels the pressure to lose ten pounds when she looks at magazines and is excited and confused about the future. So I can relate. Maybe not to ALL of her songs, but to a lot of them ;) "22" off the new album? BOY can I relate. (No music video yet, but the tune is here.)

Anyway, here's the video for the first single (P.S. There are a few naughty words, so you've been warned.)
"The Fear" - Lily Allen

"I don't know what's right and what's real anymore, and I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore. When do you think it will all become clear? Because I'm being taken over by the fear." ... I hear ya, Lily! Plus that dress is dead cute.

As a bonus, here's a video from her first album. I love this song AND the video. So cute :)
"Littlest Things" - Lily Allen


Love!
Gillian

Tunage!

Wait, aren't all of my posts about Tunage? I promise I'll write about something else soon. What do you want me to talk about? Twitter? Shoes? Books? Yoga? Futons? Hidden Treasure? My new favourite word ("proclivity")? Boys? Send me your requests and I'll go on and on about it!

Eh hem...
Anyway...

A few days ago I heard an interview with Neko Case on CBC. Her new album is coming out in a month, but I was scoping out YouTube looking for early leaks because her cover of Harry Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" is that fantastic. Don't bother YouTubing it yet, because there isn't a version up with the orchestra of free pianos, which she keeps in a barn. However, I did find a very similar interview, with video footage of the Piano Barn and a shortish clip of the Nilsson cover... Check it out!

Another recent CBC discovery is Haligonian darling Jenn Grant. I think she's awesome, and I've been listening to her first album on repeat. It's strange and lovely and different and yes, whimsical. I have a whimsical proclivity. (yeah, that's right! Proclivity! Knowledge is power, kiddos!)



Okay, good grief it's bed time. I can teach Yoga or I can design sprinkler layouts, but apparently I can't do both without my ears aching from too much yawning.

Love,
Gillian

"Oh Strings, yes yes"

Just in case you weren't aware of how awesome Andrew Bird is...



... I think I should probably marry him...



I'm even doing a painting based on some of his lyrics. Yeah. Obsessed? Me???

Love,

The Future Mrs. Andrew Bird

Song of the Month for January

I'm going to be honest with you...
This song has been stuck in my head for most of January, so it's gotta be the song of the month. And I mean stuck. It's 24/7 "La de da de dum, la de da de dum, what's the name of that song?". I sing it at work. I think it on the bus. I dream it at night. "La de da de dum, la de da de dum, what's the name of that song?" Cruel, I know, because it's going to be stuck in YOUR head for all of February. I'm sorry, but "La de da de dum, la de da de dum, what's the name of that song?" Dear David, Maria, Luis, Susan, Gordon and Mr. Hooper? I don't know. That's what Google is for. Look it up.



I blame Nathan for this, because for Christmas he gave me the Putumayo Kids Presents: Sesame Street Playground. I was listening to "La Chanson de L'Amitie" and went "Waitasecond! This isn't a song about Friendship! It's 'What's The Name Of That Song.'" Because I am truly the Sesame Street Goddess! French Sesame Street... you ripped off 70s Sesame Street. Just in case you thought you got away with it, I'm onto you :P Now, please hire me, as I've now proven my Sesame Street awesomeness to you.

And in case you didn't believe me...

La de da de love,

Gillian

We Sure Can!!!

Did you listen to Obama's Inauguration speech? Was that not inspiring? I think I have to add him to my list of celebrity crushes, up there with Anderson Cooper!

The big problem for me is that I jumped up out of my seat, eyes brimming with tears, and said "How can I help? Where do I sign up?" Then I realised that I am but a lowly Canadian with an epically lame government, and worse than that, an Albertan stuck in the midst of the Dirty Oil governed by Ed Stelmach: The Premier with the personality of a wet, mouldy mop. Comedian Baratunde Thurston described Bush as "intellectually as incurious as a block of wood (and that's being rude to the wood.)" I think that suits Canadian politics too, and I think first we should be worried, and second we should be inspired. Mostly we should DO something.

So I'm wondering if there's a way to volunteer my services to support the US government? He's captured me, just like he said he would when he talked about "imagination grown to a common purpose." My imagination is right there all snuggly with the common purpose, and I'd dearly love to take a little action here. If there's not a Canadian community jumping to action to do something around here, then there should be. If I need to spearhead such action, then so be it. Where shall we start? Send me your ideas! Let's spark a little change :)

In related news, CBC has released the 49 songs on Obama`s Playlist. I haven`t heard of most of them, but the winners are:

Affairs of the Heart: Marjan Mozetich
American Woman - The Guess Who
Barber: Violin Concerto: James Ehnes
Bobcaygeon - The Tragically Hip
Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell
Brother (Watching) - Shad
Canada's Really Big - Arrogant Worms
The Canadian Dream - Sam Roberts
Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot
A Case of You - Joni Mitchell
Closer to the Heart - Rush
Dégénération - Mes Aïeux
Democracy - Leonard Cohen
Departure Bay - Diana Krall
Évangéline - Marie-Jo Thério
Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia
Goin' Up a Yonder - Measha Brueggergosman
Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould
Hallelujah - k.d. lang
Helpless- Neil Young
The Hockey Song - Stompin' Tom Connors (...obviously)
Home - Michael Bublé
Hymn to Freedom - Oscar Peterson Trio
If I Had $1,000,000 - Barenaked Ladies
J'ai quitté mon île - Daniel Lavoie
Jolie Louise - Daniel Lanois (ooh, good call!)
La complainte du phoque en Alaska - Beau Dommage
Mario Takes a Walk - Jesse Cook
Mon pays - Gilles Vigneault
Montréal -40C - Malajube
Northwest Passage - Stan Rogers
One Great City! - The Weakerthans (YEAHH! ``I hate Winnipeg!``)
Ordinary Day - Great Big Sea (YEAHH GBS!)
Oublie-pas - Karkwa
Place St. Henri (from Canadiana Suite) - Oscar Peterson Trio
Pour un instant - Harmonium
Quand les hommes vivront d'amour - Raymond Lévesque
Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire
Rêver mieux - Daniel Bélanger
Rise Again - The Rankin Family
Rise Up - Parachute Club
Rockin' in the Free World - Neil Young
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Swingin' Shepherd Blues - Moe Koffman
Universal Soldier - Buffy Sainte-Marie
We'll Gather Lilacs - Ben Heppner
Wheat Kings - The Tragically Hip

Too much Tragically Hip and wayyyy too many French songs :P Apparently Quebec and New Brunswick voted a lot. And no Blue Rodeo! For shame, Canada! You probably made Jim Cuddy cry :(

Love you all! Let`s make a change, people. And do a little dancing.

Love,

Gillian

I never thought I'd say this...

...but this almost makes me want to be American.





Thank goodness George "misunderestimate" Bush is outta here!

Love,
Gillian

P.S. If you need a laugh, this one is on me. I've been kind of down this week, so I've sought solace in strawberry ice cream and The X-Files season 1. I was on my third episode of the night when the radiator made a suddenly banging noise and I jumped so high that I almost tipped the couch over. Yup. Awesome. Me? Afraid? Only a little...