Thursday, October 08, 2009

Posts I've Been Trying to Write

I was just looking over the drafts I have sitting waiting for some more polish or even enough attention to get a passable first draft of something, and some interesting articles seemed to have appeared, and I thought I would talk about some of them so that if they ever did end up being completed, you could be as amazed as I am that they got published.

-I've been meaning to call out all the people in the political sphere who have been so casually throwing out terms like Nazi and calling their opponents Hitler or other prominent Nazi officials for not having any real perspective... and you know I would have been all kindness and consideration on that one, wouldn't you?

-My weird fascination with real life disaster and its recreation on both television and in the movies.

-Remembering Streets of Fire (though truth be told, now that Yum Yum got this one, I might not do this one at all or I'll delay it for many more months).

-What I mean when I call someone a douchebag and an asshole respectively.

-A post on how much I enjoy intertextuality.

-How I would have made Good Luck Chuck a good movie.

And the grand daddy of them all, the legendary Open Letter to Roger Ebert which was meant to counter his anti-video game arguments. I started this thing back in July of 2007, and every time I go back to it, I think of more things to say. I do believe its time has passed, but wow, if I would have gotten it done in a timely manner, it would have been an epic post (or series of posts).

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As a sidenote, I sort of wanted to put together a post of the most depressing songs ever written, and I'd love to have your input. If you have a suggestion, leave me a comment telling me about the song or email me at campybeaver@gmail.com.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Depressing Song Nominations:
"Me and a Gun" by Tori Amos
"Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak
"Mad World" by Gary Jules
"Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails (Johnny Cash's cover of this is amazing)

MC said...

Oh, How could I forget about Me and a Gun.

Arjan said...

Radiohead - Karma Police
Air - Suicide underground (although it's a lot of talking on music)
Silverchair - Suicidal dreams

And I don't know if you could call the last one depressing or just a sad remembrance to those who died..but you be the judge.
The Dubliners - Springhill mine disaster.

AG said...

I'm going to just sit here and brood 'til you get that Streets of Fire post nailed down, mmkay?

Song offerings:

- The River (Springsteen, or Atlantic City, or Youngstown, or -- damn, just pick something)
- A Rose In April (Kate Rusby)
- Angels and Fuselage (Drive By Truckers)
- Bang The Drum Slowly (Emmylou Harris)
- For No One (Beatles)
- Thousand Shades Of Grey (Cindy Bullens, 'cause it's just so wrong to write a poppy song about your kid dying)
- Can The Circle Be Unbroken (Carter Family)
- He Stopped Loving Her Today (George Jones)
- Casimir Pulaski Day (Sufjan Stevens)
- Here's That Rainy Day (pick a cover)
- I'll Follow You Into The Dark (Death Cab For Cutie)
- Danny Boy (what? stop looking at me like that, I'm Irish)
- Keep Me In Your Heart For A While (Warren Zevon)
- Feathers Bones And Shells (Beth Nielsen Chapman)
- Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson)
- Late For The Sky (Jackson Browne)
- Mercy Seat (Nick Cave)

You don't need me to advocate for Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt, which still destroys me every time. But how do you feel about Sia's breathe me, which only destroys a person when you think back on the finale sequence from Six Feet Under? And if you allow Breathe Me, you have to include hands That Built America, because Martin Scorsese said so...


I'm going to speak as well for Brokedown Palace and We Bid You Goodnight -- happy Deadheads be damned, the songs are grim.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

'Streets of Fire' is a totally overlooked gem of a movie with a great original soundtrack. William Dafoe at his creepy best.

Most depressing songs -

'Sober' by Tool
'I Know Its Over' by the Smiths
'Streets of Philidelphia' - Springstein

MC said...

Arjan: Without hearing the song, I have a good idea of what that Dubliners song is about.

Cal: I think the entire Tool catalog qualifies.

AG: You've gone above and beyond the call of duty there... that is a weighty list indeed that I have to fully explore.

AG said...

Not to reignite an old thread, but I have to complain somewhere -- dude, I just picked up (used, thank heavens) a copy of Tom Reynolds' I Hate Myself And Want To Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard, and I just wanted to let you know that it is the most epic fail ever to land between covers. Seriously, this comments list ought to be mailed to Reynolds' editors with a brick attached so they can throw it at the guy on our behalf.

Now, when will you be writing that post you were pondering?

MC said...

Thanks for the reminder... this had totally slipped my mind.

The song that keeps coming up in my mind when I think of this topic is Chalet Lines by Belle and Sebastian. That one is a wrist slitter.