Day 13: A Song that is a Guilty Pleasure

There's not much to say about this one. I don't like the artist, I can't say I really like the song, but if I hear it on the radio while I'm driving, I'll crank up the volume and sing along. You guys... I'm sorry about this...it's "Pokerface" by Lady Gaga. You can stop being my friend now, I'll understand.

But since no one wants to hear that, here's Christopher Walken.

Fortunately, I keep finding out I don't actually know any of the words to this song, except for the chorus. I discovered this first when I tried to do the vocals for it on Rock Band in a friend's basement last summer (miserable failure ensued). So I'm not too far gone, right? Right?

Day 12: A Song from a Band I Hate?

I don't know that I like the word "hate." But I do know of a band I can't stand. There's a radio station back home that I had to stop listening to because they played this band too often. But it's not hatred, really. I just think they're annoying. And what I think was even more annoying was that one of their songs ended up as our "class song" my senior year in high school. I'm pretty sure the voting was rigged somehow. I was in choir that year (okay, I was in choir every year in high school. Sometimes multiple choirs in one semester), and for whatever reason we had to sing the class song at graduation. Actually, I found that slightly more bearable than the band's version, though I still never saw it as an appropriate song for a graduating class of high school students. But that's in the past. Anyway, the band is Green Day, and the song is "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"

Day 11: Songs from my Favorite Band

This one is easy for me, for some reason. Ask me to name my favorite song, I can't do it. Ask me for my favorite book, I'll struggle. But my favorite band? Panic! at the Disco. Almost no hesitation.

You guys, I love this band. I almost can't even explain why. I'm just crazy about them. I think part of what helped me was I started listening to both of their first CDs at around the same time. Most people who heard the first CD and really liked it were probably a little turned off by the second album because it was so different. They probably thought to themselves, "Well this isn't even the same band" and gave up after that. And who could blame those people? Technically it wasn't the same band. But I knew both albums at the same time. To me, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out was Panic, but Pretty. Odd. was also Panic. The albums each have their own distinct sound, and I appreciate both.

Because the three albums represent three different sounds, I'd like to share one song from each album.
From A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, you've probably heard "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" or one of the other singles. But you may not have heard my favorite, "There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet." This is one of my driving tunes. I especially enjoy singing along word-for-word. It's good fun.

From Pretty. Odd. perhaps you've heard "Nine in the Afternoon" or maybe even one of my favorites, "Northern Downpour." I'm crazy about :"Northern Downpour." But maybe you're not familiar with "When the Day Met the Night." Also on my driving playlist, I listened to this one Tuesday night while driving towards the sunset. Absolutely beautiful.

And now for Vices and Virtues, the last CD I bought. I don't buy CDs very often, because I'm a broke college student and before that I was just broke. But I was excited about this one, and I went out to buy it the week it came out. It's different from both of the previous albums, but it's great.
I'm not sure which songs from this album made it to the radio, but I'll just assume you haven't heard any and then share one I think is probably more obscure anyway. I used to think this one was beautiful. Sadly that magic has faded, but I do still love it. Here's "Trade Mistakes."

So there's a little sampler of my favorite band. Their sound has changed over the years, but my love for them has not.

Day 10: A Song that Makes Me Fall Asleep

I had to get a little creative with this one, because I honestly don't listen to music at night very much. There have been times when I listened to music to help me sleep, but white noise works so much better. Music just distracts me and keeps me up longer. So I'm sharing a lullaby my mother used to sing for me when I was little.

"Tender Shepherd" from Peter Pan

Day 9: A Song I Can Dance To

First I'm going to define, "can dance to." I'm not making any claims to a dancing ability here. I learned the Electric Slide in elementary school and thought I was pretty good at it, but that's the extent of my skill and I have long since forgotten that one anyway. So I'll be talking about a song with a beat that I can move to, not about something I can "dance" to and look good while doing so. That one doesn't exist.

I'm actually going to talk about  couple of songs. So for the first one, does anybody remember Savage Garden? I was a fan of the band when I was younger, and then several years ago I learned the lead singer, Darren Hayes, had a solo career. I think the guy is actually still making music, which seems crazy to me. I haven't heard any of his recent stuff, but I like some of the older songs. Here's one I can't quite sit still to.

"Spin" by Darren Hayes

It's just fun, in my opinion. I listened to this one today while driving across Kansas, and I danced as much as possible while remaining in my seat. You guys get that, right? That's not just a me thing?

I heard this next one during my drive too. The lyrics aren't quite as light and enjoyable, but it does have a good beat. I believe my finger danced to this one today. Don't ask...

"Capital G" by Nine Inch Nails

(Use headphones at your own discretion; the lyrics aren't entirely clean)

Day 8: A Song I Know All the Words To

This will be a kind of two-for-one, because this was the the song I had planned to use for my day 7. I forgot about it, of course, until several hours after I posted about "Crazy Train" instead. So here's a song that I know all the words to, but that also reminds me of a certain forbidden spring.

Freshman year, second semester. My roommate never went to bed before 2 or 3 in the morning. She stayed up watching television shows on her laptop without ever turning the light out. I had wanted to switch rooms after winter break, but I was too lazy to move all my stuff out and didn't know where I'd move to anyway, or who I'd room with. Then, just before spring break I heard about the empty room right next door. It sounded perfect. I could have a room all to myself, and I would still have to move my things out of the current room, but they wouldn't be going very far. I talked to my RA and she promised to talk to the RE for me. It looked very much like I would be getting that room.

Days passed. I spoke to my RA again, and she said one of the girls had never signed out of the room, though she was clearly living at home and had not been back to the dorms for quite some time. The room was abandoned, but not officially available. Spring break came and went, and I told myself it wouldn't be worth it now. Why move into another room for only a few weeks, even if it was just next door? I told myself to give up on the idea. But I couldn't.

One day I found out the empty room was unlocked. I moved some bedsheets and a pillow into the room in secret and began to sneak in every night to get to sleep at a decent hour, always remembering to wake up and sneak back to my own room at four or five so my roommate would only think I had been out late. Through a series of events that would take too much time to explain, the room became locked and I borrowed the key secretly so I could take my sheets back and give up my routine. Again, I could not. I kept the key and continued sneaking into the room until someone caught on and my RA confronted me.

I somehow discovered this song around that time, and now when I hear it I can almost feel that fleeting sense of freedom, the thrill of my secret, empty room. I called it my Room of Refuge.

"Paper Walls" by Yellowcard

Empty rooms tend to echo like crazy, so I would listen to music to shut out the noises from the hall. Most nights I just listened to this CD, and the title track was by far my favorite. It's a beautiful tale about breaking free from all the nonsense and getting back to the music, the reason the band started playing in the first place.

I loved that, but it meant something even more to me, I think. "Let's burn a hole so we can climb out of these paper walls and this empty house." I listened to this song during a time of escape, and I think my own dorm room felt more empty than my precious Room of Refuge. The Room of Refuge was the hole I had burned to get out. And I think that's why this song really stuck with me, and why I still know the lyrics to this day.

Day 7: A Song that Reminds Me of an Event

I was raised a Chiefs fan, with the exception of the one day we played the Dolphins during my "I'm going to be a marine biologist when I grow up" phase, in which case I rooted for Miami to the dismay of my mother. This year I'm also a fan of the Packers, mostly because I believe in Aaron Rodgers. But no matter who I'm rooting for (and it's usually my Chiefs), football has become an important part of my life.

There was a song I always heard parts of when I saw the games on television, and I never knew what it was. It was "that football song" to me and nothing more until Guitar Hero: World Tour finally washed away my ignorance. Someone played this song in my basement and I thought, "Hey, hey! It's that football song!"

"The Song they Always Play at Football Games"

Yes, that's the one. "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. I apologize sincerely for my 18-year ignorance. The effect is essentially irreversible. Though I now know the title and artist of this song, and that it's plenty popular without the help of football, I will never be able to hear this song without thinking of football. And that's okay with me, because football is America.

Day 6: A Song that Reminds Me of Somewhere

This one was hard for me, because it tends to go the other way around more often. I find that certain places, when I'm there, remind me of certain songs. But a song that reminds me of somewhere? I wasn't sure at first. In the end, what I had to do was think about the places that are important to me and try to come up with songs that fit those places. And that's when I thought of this song.

Baby Blue by George Strait

I used to hear this song a lot when I was younger, because my mom always listened to country music. But it never meant anything to me until I actually moved to Colorado, and that was when I finally understood about the Colorado sky. I can't say this any other way: it is just so blue. I haven't been to very many places, but any place I have been other than Colorado, the sky just doesn't compare. I sometimes say the grass may be greener in Kansas, but the sky is bluer in Colorado. It's absolutely breath-taking.

Day 5: A Song that Reminds Me of Someone

Did you guys know I had a "boyfriend" in first grade? It's true. His name was Justin. I was in this great clique, and I'm pretty sure one of the requirements for joining was you had to be a fan of the Spice Girls. We would hang out at recess and sometimes try to determine how to get back at the "class bully," Dillon. I don't have the greatest memory in the world, but looking back I don't recall Dillon ever doing anything to hurt anyone else. Of course, I don't remember anything we did to him either. I think someone told me he was the bully and we had to act against that, and I just went with it.

Anyway, back to Justin. At some point, it was decided the two of us should be boyfriend and girlfriend (Don't ask me why he couldn't have picked either of the other two girls in the group), but to earn his love I had to memorize...."The Titanic song."

Here it is: "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion

Yep, that's the one. Justin moved to some other city after first grade and I never saw him again. I don't remember ever knowing his last name, and beyond "dark hair" I couldn't tell you what he looked like at all, but every time I hear this song a piece of my mind always travels back to my silly first-grade "relationship" and our little group of crazy people.

Day 4: A Song that Makes me Sad

As I've already said, here's how I feel about music: sad = beautiful. And there are a lot of songs that would fit into this category, but there's one in particular that I think I'd really like to share.

The Conversation by Motion City Soundtrack

I don't feel like I have to say a lot about this one, because it mostly speaks for itself. I will say it can do weird things to my head. I was listening to it one night and it almost made me end the relationship I was in at the time, just because of the gloomy mood it put me in.

That's a little depressing; I didn't mean to go that way with this. Most of the time it gives me a good kind of sad feeling, if you know what I'm trying to say.

So you know how sometimes you just want to hear one of your favorite songs, so you look for it on YouTube and all you can find are covers by fans? I usually hate that feeling, but once I was looking for this song, and I found this cover that I thought was done really well. So now I'd like to share this one with you too. (I think she makes some announcements at the end, but you don't have to watch that; they're pretty outdated.)

The Conversation: a cover by Julia Nunes

Day 3: A Song that Makes me Happy

I thought about this one for a while and decided I have to go with one of my favorite worship songs.

Days of Elijah

Now, don't ask me who the original artist is. I'll admit, with songs like this I don't actually care. When it comes to worship music, nothing is more beautiful than the entire congregation singing along with your home church's humble worship team.

The first time I sang this song in my church, it was one of those, "Let's all sing the song we taught you guys last Sunday!" situations, and for whatever reason I hadn't been to church the previous Sunday. Naturally this made me a grumbler, because I hate singing worship songs I'm not familiar with. The words display on the screen, but I'm never sure what the tempo is going to be like, and it's just not an enjoyable experience for me. So at first, this was just another song to stumble through, something else to learn reluctantly while everyone else already had it down.

I don't know when or how it happened, but somehow I grew to love this song despite my initial grumbling. Now I get really psyched about it, probably more than any other song I've ever sung in church. Sometimes when the worship team is on stage, I just wanna shout, "Days of Elijah" but I don't know if that's okay. Can you shout out song recommendations in church? I feel like that needs to be a thing.

I can't explain how excited I am about this song. It's powerful, it's uplifting; it's just good.

"There's no God like Jehovah!"

Day 2: My Least Favorite Song

There are a few songs that'll make me change the station if they come onto the radio, but this is the one I can probably stand the least:

California Girls by Katy Perry

I'm sorry, what's that? It's actually spelled "California Gurls"? Well, that's just stupid. As an English major, I take offense to that blatant butchering of the English language. Is it really necessary?

Spelling errors aside, I still think this is a disgusting song. Any man can objectify women in his music, but it really grinds my gears when women do it. A few of Katy Perry's songs annoy me slightly less than the rest, but I am definitely not a fan of this one or "I Kissed a Girl" (or is it "gurl"?).

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 1

To test my own commitment to this thing, and to show you guys I'm serious about posting regularly, I have decided to challenge myself. Okay, so it was a suggestion from a reader, but I like it. So, for the next 30 days, I'll be doing the 30 day song challenge. As my friend mentioned, we're getting to the busiest time of the semester, so if I can do this now, I can do it anytime. I'm excited about this challenge. So we begin with Day 1: My Favorite Song.

Remembering Sunday by All Time Low

I get a little frustrated when I try to look for this song on my Zune, because All Time Low is not a band I listen to much, so I can always remember the song title but sometimes I forget the artist.

Freshman year I annoyed the heck out of my roommate with this one (she deserved it a little). For whatever reason, I could never listen to it just once. In fact, I'm listening to it on repeat as I write this.

It took me a while to think of a "favorite song" because that's just really tough. If you held me at gunpoint and asked me to tell you my favorite book, you'd probably end up shooting me if I didn't just spontaneously combust from the pressure. Music is pretty much the same way, but at the same time it isn't. I get into moods sometimes, and they determine my "favorite song right now." Unfortunately right now I don't have one of those. At one point, I thought "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden would be my favorite song forever, but I got tired of it like all my other "right now" favorites. I could listen to it today and enjoy it, but not quite like I used to. If you had asked me in August, I might have said my favorite song was "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons, but I'm harboring a grudge against it right now due to overplaying.

"Remembering Sunday" is one of those I did go through a phase with (unfortunately for my freshman roommate), but that didn't lose its power over me after time. I still find it incredibly beautiful and romantic. The way the character tirelessly pursues his love interest ("and even though she doesn't believe in love, he's determined to call her bluff") really pulls at my heartstrings--as a hopeless romantic, these things just get to me. I also like the sad ending. To me, there is something beautiful about sad songs.

Speaking of sad endings, does anybody have an opinion on what the end means? I was told by a friend in high school that one of the band members said the girl just left for some faraway place, and that her being above the clouds is just her in an airplane. I don't buy it; sounds like suicide to me.

The other thing I really like about the song is the mixture of male and female vocals. It's not exactly a duet, but I love a song that uses both male and female voices. It's a great effect. That and overlapping lyrics, when two parts are singing different lyrics at once (not really used in this song) are my favorite.

"Remembering Sunday" by All Time Low (I remembered it!) may not be my absolute favorite song, but that's difficult to define for anyone, and this one definitely stands out, for me, among many others. I can listen to it any time and still be moved.

Welcome to the Community

So I finally broke down and decided to start a blog. It's nothing special; I'd just like to use it to talk about whatever comes to mind, life in general, etc.

And that's why I've called it "Anthropology 101" as a shout-out to my favorite show, Community. In the beginning of the season two episode, "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples," the under-qualified professor of the group's Anthropology class is playing videos on YouTube instead of teaching because, since Anthropology is the study of humanity, everything applies.

I'm going to take that attitude with this blog. No, I'm not going to be showing YouTube clips. But I am going to write about anything I feel strongly about, because here, everything applies.

As a closing note to this first post, I'd like to add that Community is in danger of hiatus/possible cancellation. So if you stumble across this blog, please support the best comedy currently on the air. Watch Community!