Dogged Blog

Friday iPod Challenge, Would I Lie To You Edition

I will be back to normal blogging soon, just using all my creative juices wrapping up the gay film festival reviews. I only have so much creative juice.

I'll also be reviewing the P!nk concert - saw her in San Francisco on Tuesday. Two word review: She rocked.

But for now, stolen from Roxanne, stolen by JeffB (and you can win an iPod by posting on his, so when you're done here, run over there), the Friday iPod Challenge. Set your MP3 player, iTunes or any other, to randomly generate ten songs from your music library. Do not edit, delete, lie, manipulate, or otherwise fuck with this. If it's not random, you're cheating. ooogyfan2 has dispensation to cheat but she's laptop-less right now so that's moot.

Aren't I cute when I use legal terminology? And don't you hate it when people spell that "mute"?

So, here's mine, with a little commentary on each song. I love it when you post your playlists with comments, as it helps me find new music, but if you don't have the time or the inclination, feel free to post just the list of songs.

1. Up the Hill Backwards - David Bowie
From the last David Bowie album I recognize, Scary Monsters and Super Creeps. Everything after this was done by pod-Bowie. And Robert Fripp is a god. That is all.

2. Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths

" I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now"

3. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
Nasty. 80s. You can dance to it, but ... you don't have to.

4. Who Needs Love Like That (The Love That Mix Version) - Erasure
Great song, not my favorite mix. It's on some CD full of Erasure remixes, some great, some kind of forgettable. This is the latter.

5. I'm Done - King Brain presents N.I.C.
I have no clue who the artists are, but I love this. Thumpa thumpa dance music, great female vocal. It has BELLS in it. Driving beat. And it has the line, "Kiss my little sweet ass."

6. Nasty Girl (Peter's Reconstruction Radio Edit)  - Inaya Day
Remake of Janet Jackson's 80s hit to have a more current dancey beat. And you know, I still love it.

7. I'm Waiting for the Man - The Velvet Underground
Heroin chic and punk rock were born here.

8. Shout To The Top! - The Style Council
What Paul Weller did post-Jam. I liked it better but I'm weird that way. One of  Style Council's best tracks.

9. I Will Follow - U2
Early 80s U2. Rock and roll.

10. Beautiful - Moby
If you're into bald vegans, he's beautiful. The music's great regardless. Come dance.

Your turn.

I really didn't want to like this, but...

Cross posted at club.kingsnake.com
Complete review at afterelton.com

I got a review copy of a British documentary about pop star George Michael, he of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and extremely bad 80s hair and fashion fame, and was surprised and even a little dismayed to not only think it was a really good movie, but to find myself re-evaluating the man and his music.

No, I'm not going to try to sell you on the idea that "Young Guns" is a song that stands the test of time. But if you get a chance to see George Michael: A Different Story, you might want to set your prejudices aside and check it out. It's a tight, intelligent, almost subversive look at a very shy yet articulate artist who is a lot more (good and bad) than tabloid fodder and the maker of puerile bubblegom pop.

Comments from Sting, Noel Gallagher, Mariah Carey, Martin Kemp, Boy George, Elton John, ex-Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, Simon Cowell, and others are interspersed with some excellent concert footage (especially his historic appearance with Queen at a memorial tribute concert for Freddie Mercury), amusingly bad 80s video clips, and astonishingly compelling interviews with Michael himself.

I didn't want to like it, or him, but I did.

Friday iPod Challenge, Don't Nag Me Edition

OK, so I'm kind of fried right now, but you guys are just the worst nags about this thing.

I love that.

How it works: Use your iPod or whatever program you have or use that can randomly generate a list of songs from your music library. The keyword here is "RANDOM." You don't get to edit, choose, manipulate, or otherwise unrandomize the results. No matter how much humiliation you feel at pasting that one hideously embarrassing Wham! song in there.

I speak as a woman with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" on her iPod.

I stole this from Roxanne, JeffB stole it from me. It's good to spread love around. Also, post to Jeff's version and you might win an iPod.

I like to put little comments about the songs when I list them, and I wish you would too... I have found some good music that way. But if you prefer just to post your playlist, you can do that.

Here's mine for today:

1. Miss Me Blind (The Fuck Me I'm Famous Remix) - Culture Club
OK, this is hard to explain. I have no idea what "Fuck Me I'm Famous" means, if it's a DJ or what, but I see it on songs all the time.  This is a dance remix of the very beautiful 80s hit by Culture Club.

2. Tango: Maureen - The Original Cast Recording, Rent
Not quite the same as the Xena Tango, still it's pretty hot. And the movie version, even hotter.

3. Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper and Sarah McLachlan
I'm so glad this came up. This is an INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL live duet of Cyndi's 80s classic. Really stunning. You should get it.

4. You Wouldn't Know How (Dr. Octavo Infectious Radio Edit)   - Sarah Atereth
This is one of those artists the people reading my blog probably don't know, and I think you should. She does amazingly smart, beautiful, cool dance music. It's hard to explain. Go to her website and look around.

5. You're Gonna Need Your Friends - Pansy Division
This one is either really smart and snarky, or sort of pathetic, depending on my mood.

6. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want - The Smiths
Wait, I said Pansy Division was pathetic? What was I thinking? Sample lyrics:

So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time

I have to admit, though, that I used to be a sucker for this kind of thing. But I'm way too adult for that now. That's why this is on my iPod.

7. High School Confidential - Carole Pope
The original of this song was a raunchy little tune about a high school hottie by a band called Rough Trade. The lead singer, Carole Pope, an out lesbian (I note this as it's Pride month), was asked to write a new version of this song for the Queer as Folk soundtrack, a gay boy version, and she did, and then another high school hottie does a pole dance to it. Wearing a little cowboy hat.  Yeah, ok, but the SONG is really good. And like, smutty.

8. I'm Not Dead - P!nk
I'm going to see P!nk on Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. I'm Waiting for the Man - The Velvet Underground
Drugs are bad. Really. But this song about them is good. Classic.

10. What's Your Name? - Depeche Mode
Oh, the 80s! Depeche Mode's first very very very gay album.... it's Pride month, remember? The lyrics to this one include, "Hey, you're such a pretty boy, you're so pretty." Silly little bit of synth pop.

Your turn!

Stephen Colbert Goes Homo-Sexy

I loved Jon Stewart for being deeply and genuinely and PERSONALLY angry at anti-gay laws and attitudes. (Oh yeah, and he was really funny too.)

But now I have to love Dogged Media God Stephen Colbert for his Gay Pride Week edition of his show, where he lists the five threats to his sexual orientation. Among them? If you can be an EX-gay, doesn't that mean that you can go the other way too? After all, he points out, "The idea that it's temporary makes it all too tempting. The only thing that's holding me back is that I don't desire men."

Which, he adds, brings up the other threat - desirable men. And then he lists the one two three four five guys he'd do, if there was a gun to his head. Like Brad Pitt: "I'm not gay, but come on, I'm human."

I knew he had balls from his smackdown of Dubya, but this is... like, beyond balls.

And now you can watch it too!

Hot as Fandom: Xena Tangos

I'm going through absolutely murderous hell right now with the sale/not-sale/sale again oh my god which is it of my house. I am either moving to San Francisco a week from tomorrow or, I'm not moving.

Try coping with THAT.

I'm also buried in work, and doing my best to keep all the balls in the air. The blogging ball is down there on the floor, I think one of the dogs is gnawing on it.

And yet in the midst of all this angst and drama, KT sent me a little Warrior Princess therapy. If you have even one single iota of lesbianic DNA, this video should make it tingle. If not, at least you can see what form of stress relief works best with me, in case it ever comes up again.

But remember: They're just good friends.

[UPDATE: Not. The sale, that is. Not on. Not moving yet, not buying the house in San Francisco I thought I was buying. Starting over. I'm partially relieved and partially sad and mostly exhausted.]

Friday iPod Challenge, Baby Baby Where Did My Day Go Edition

I like that people are actually emailing me and nagging me to do this, which means you love me. And then JeffB actually STOLE it for Club Kingsnake, which I can't complain about since I stole it from Roxanne in the first place.

Rules of the Friday iPod Challenge: Set any MP3 software, iTunes or anything else, to randomly shuffle ALL your music and generate ten completely RANDOM songs, at RANDOM, are you getting the concept? That means no manipulating the list to make you look cooler than you really are.

I give ooogyfan2 special dispensation to restrict her shuffle only to songs on her Queer as Folk soundtrack playlist because even when I tell her not to she does anyway and I'm tired of fighting with her over it. This is why my dogs get to beg at the table, too.

My Friday random ten:

1. Money Go Round - The Style Council
I'm a child of the 80s. This is Paul Weller's second band after breaking up the Jam, one of the most popular British bands of its era, when he was only 23 years old. "Christians by day, killers in war, the hypocrites know who they're fighting for." The more things change, the more they stay the same. That song is 20 years old.

2. Safe From Harm - Narcotic Thrust
This is one of those songs I have seventeen different mixes of.  I'd quote tsome lyrics but really, there almost aren't any. Just dance.

3. Vicious Beauty - Pansy Division
The best song ever written about seeing the guy who used to harrass and bully you in high school for being gay, show up  in a gay porn video. Ripped from today's headlines, too.

4. Watch That Man - David Bowie
Love me some glam rock Bowie.

5. After All (Radio Pollution Mix by The Passengerz) - Delerium
Dance music. No idea what it means. Shut up.

6. I Parade Myself - Gang of Four
Ooooh the 80s. I love the Gang of Four, but I'm not actually wild about this particular song. It IS from the QAF soundtrack from a great scene where teenaged Justin is going into a gay bar when he spots the guy from his high school who is harassing him (wait, isn't this that Pansy Division song?) out cruising around the gay area with his little football buddies. Justin is adorably defiant but sadly, the guy gets some pretty ugly revenge later. I prefer the porn movie ending Pansy Division did to the baseball bat to the head. I'm just saying.

7. Nemesis - Shriekback
The best song ever written about parthenogenesis.

8. The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
"And suddenly you're in love with everything." Pure joy.

9. Star Guitar - The Chemical Brothers
Dance music. Yeah yeah. It's just who I am.

10. Fly Again - Kristine W.
Oh god, pure divas to the dancefloor, gay boys with their hands in the air, summertime joyous dance music. And actually, I love the lyrics to this one... basically asking someone to speculate what might happen if they could love with the same energy and committment that they dedicate to running away from love. I'm such a sucker.

OK - your turn. You don't actually have to do the commentary, you can just post your playlist, but I'd love to read your comments! And say what genre of music your songs are, lots of stuff I don't recognize here.

Cute But Deadly

Just something cute I saw whilst wandering around someone's livejournal.

OK, not so much cute but deadly.

I promise to be back soon, just a lot of work.

Friday iPod Challenge, Writer's Block Edition

OK, so Sandy poked me about the Friday iPod Challenge, or I'd have forgotten. Because my brain cells are being otherwise used right now.

Hey, sailor, new in town? Then let me explain the iPod Challenge, which doesn't actually require an iPod. It was more inspired by my iPod, the source of all that is good and holy in the universe.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the challenge. Set any program of any kind, including any MP3 player or program such as iTunes, that will randomly shuffle all the music it contains, to generate a list of ten songs. The key point here is this has to be completely random. You can't delete Barry Manilow songs or whatever. You're also not supposed to restrict the shuffle to one playlist, either... (glaring at ooogyfan2).

Last week I did a little commentary about each song, just as sort of a wankfest an experiment. I'd love for you to do the same when you post your random playlist, but you don't have to. But either way, come play. It's Friday!

1. Everything That Rises Must Converge - Shriekback

I think I had a Shriekback song last week, too. That one was about drugs and booze and hangovers. This one is a love song. Sort of. Not really. And Oil and Gold is one of my top ten albums of all time, and this is one of the best five songs on it.

2. All American Girl - Melissa Etheridge

I love Xena: Warrior Princess, and I love Melissa Etheridge. That's how I know I'm a lesbian. This is just rock and roll, and it's about girls who have it tough.

3. Your Eyes - Rent, Original Broadway Cast

Oh well, kill me now. Just knife me in the gut and get it over with. The final ballad in the Broadway musical Rent, which I've seen three times on stage, two in the theaters, and once on DVD. Not that I like it or anything. "You were the song all along, and before the song dies, I should tell you, I should tell you, I have always loved you, Mimi." She lives. I die.

4. Dirty Old Town - Pogues

The Pogues' first album, Red Roses for Me, blew my mind. It came out in 1984, and for a punk girl like me, raised in the heart of an Irish Catholic extended family, to have someone come out with this filthy, rough hybrid of traditional Irish music and punk was the sweetest thing evah.  "Dirty Old Town" is from their second album, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, which includes also "The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn," seriously one of my favorite songs.

5. Happy Feet (Paul Mac High Heels Mix) - Blam

Always some little thing from the Queer as Folk soundtrack. But seriously, this is the background music to an auto-erotic asphyxiation scene, which is just like, freakish. And yet, it's a fantastic song, a catchy, upbeat remix of a popular 30s tune. I mean, Gina would like this song.

6. With Or Without You   - U2

"I can't live, with or without you." The kind of thing I love in songs, hate in real life. That Bono, such a romantic.

7. He Whipped my Ass in Tennis, Then I Fucked His Ass in Bed - Pansy Division

Is there actually any need to comment on this song, beyond the title? Other than to mention this is Pansy Division's top downloaded song on iTunes. Because the world is weirder than we know.

8. When The Dawn Breaks - Narcotic Thrust

Narcotic Thrust's only single with a male lead vocal. At first I resisted that, but it's a great dance song. "Dreaming in the color of the dress you wore, I wake up haunted, wanting more."

9. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

Ah, Joy Division and the happy happy days of my youth. After the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis, they morphed into the still-fabulous but much happier New Order.  Great song for a "Rock Against Romance" playlist.

10. She's Lost Control - Joy Division

OK, same band, so I'll just say, this is their best song. And it's not happy, but then again, 1980? Me neither.

OK, your turn!

Do You Miss Me?

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." -Gene Fowler

Mark of the Beast, Blah Blah Blah

So, they did this whole stupid 6/6/06 thing... you know, 666, Mark of the Beast, it's from the bible, yeah, yeah, whatever... over on club.kingsnake.com. I edited the freaking stuff but I didn't have to like it.

So, then I find out that Mark Morford, who as you know I worship (in a totally secular way, though), has basically devoted a whole post on CultureBlog to the SAME EXACT TOPIC: International Slayer Day.

Now, Slayer, a band I'd rather swallow ground glass than have to listen to for one second, has a guy in it named Kerry King, who is some kind of huge star, but I wouldn't know because like I said: ground glass. And we had Kerry King as a guest at Chat Week on PetHobbyist, because he has snakes. And PetHobbyist is the empire that snakes built.

So now I have to completely re-evaluate my former shame at having had to put together this Slayer day thing on club.kingsnake, because if it's good enough for Mark Morford to make fun of write about, well, I guess it was OK for me to spend ten minutes making sure it was punctuated correctly.

Mark Morford: National Day of Slayer, (Or Else)
Club Kingsnake: Day of the Beast, or Death Metal Takes a Holiday