Tuesday, March 31, 2015

I will have an actual music post up in the not too distant future. I'm working through my thoughts. They're mostly good thoughts, which is such a foreign concept I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Also, I was all excited about my theory that Charles DiLaurentis = Cece Drake. Same initials! That's why she resembles Alison so much, she's her sister/former brother! That would explain the two dresses child-Alison caught her mother hiding, as well as the bag of women's clothes Jessica delivered to someone who wasn't Alison last season. Cece's one of the few characters left from season one who even remotely fits the bill, and isn't dead. Maybe she even has a split personality - Cece genuinely cares for Alison, but Charles is jealous and resents her (and her friends, for some reason).

But of course, I wasn't the first to come up with this scenario. I bet everyone felt much more original before the internet.
THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD RIGHT NOW I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

pll finale

Well, I was way off haha.

Mona looked pretty damn dead to me but whatever, I'll take it. Having her back is worth a little suspended belief.

So here's what we can infer about Charles. He's related to Alison, and he's older than the girls. Likely Jason's (fraternal?) twin. I still don't know how Andrew fits in - maybe he's listening in on phone calls so he can save the girls, for all I know - but he clearly isn't A because he's the wrong age. (Yeah I know everyone's a 27-year old high schooler on this show, but he's in school with the girls so he can't be 7 years older than they are.)

Somehow this all ties back to the first season. So I'm going with Wren, partly by process of elimination and partly because I always found him suspicious. How Jason's twin would have ended up with a British accent, I have no idea. But that would make Wren and Melissa half siblings. Yep, that's pretty dark. But I think Spencer's line about it being "Ian and Melissa's prom" was important, and Andrew just happens to be listening in on a call between Melissa and her mother. How any of this ties in with Alison and the girls, I also have no idea. But A seems to have a weird love/hate relationship with his sister.

What I like is now we clearly know who A isn't: any of the girls - including Alison and Mona - Toby, Caleb and Ezra. It could still be Jason, I guess. I also like how the next season is going to focus on the why as well as the who. Cause seriously, why would anyone do this? It's gonna be twisted, so I'm happy. :)

Good, creepy, suspenseful episode. It left more questions than answers, but of course it did.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

I'm actually nervous about next week's supposed "big A reveal" on PLL. I am NERVOUS. About a damn tv show. This is embarrassing, people!

My one PLL theory (putting it down here just in case it's right, har har): Andrew is obviously NOT A, but he DID kill Mona. Either as muscle for team A, or for unrelated personal reasons (blackmail?) Or, he obviously didn't like Mona, so maybe she did something that just pushed him over the edge. He seems very... edgy. If Aria wasn't so self-involved and still thinking about Ezra and buying more Giant Feather Earrings or whatever, maybe she'd actually notice this. He obviously had the strength to do it, and the last look we saw on Mona's (alive) face was one of surprise, like whoever was there was someone she didn't expect to see. He was using Aria to get close to Mike, Mona's boyfriend, and keep him from talking. But he did end up developing feelings for Aria - possessivey, stalkery type feelings, but feelings.

OR, Andrew is just an innocent possessive stalker, and Mona is somehow still pulling the A strings from beyond the grave. Maybe through Random Leslie and God who knows who else. (I'd be all over the "Mona is still alive" thing, if we hadn't seen her very cold, very lifeless corpse packed into someone's trunk.) I have no idea who "A" is, but I feel like nothing will ever top the Ezra thing, which turned out to be a LIE. I HAVE TRUST ISSUES WITH YOU NOW, PLL.

I can't wait.



Monday, March 16, 2015

So remember last summer when I compared Blake Shelton to Taio Cruz?*

http://mrsrowsdower.blogspot.ca/2014_08_01_archive.html#5108279802716986722

It seems the rising fear I felt while writing that post is coming to fruition. Eli Young Band, one of the few mainstream acts whose hits I've consistently enjoyed, has released an overproduced, lyric-repeating monstrosity. It's called Turn it Up or Turn Me On or some generic pop wannabe crap. As Todd in the Shadows calls it, "club shit." Yeah, we'll just go with that. Eli Young Band has released club shit. I guess another one bites the "dust," eh? EH? Ha! ha! I laugh because I'm crying inside.

I still say "Neon Light" is actually redeemable. Just replace the repeated lines with actual lyrics and bring back the band he apparently fired to buy bigger truck tires. Giant, gold-plated truck tires. Anyway, do that and you've got a solid 90s hit. But all this latest watered-down dreck is absolutely useless, including Take it off or whatever this thing is called. Oh wait, that's a Kesha song about having an orgy in a filthy club, I think. Actually, never mind, perfect analogy.

*and does anyone actually remember Taio Cruz?

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Hilarious parody!



Sssh... it's a parody. I refuse to believe otherwise. Cause, this makes Florida Georgia Line sound like Alabama. This is the worst "song" I've ever heard. Or it would be, if it wasn't a brilliant parody of bad music. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
My favorite movie is Ghostbusters. I will probably not see any Ghostbusters remake. I don't care if it's women or men; I'd be more likely to see one with women just because it's different, and I appreciate the effort to showcase women in comedy. Boy, do I. But that doesn't change my feeling of... DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. This is when I hate nostalgia. Don't freaking remake stuff from our childhoods, make new stuff that will be iconic in 30 years. We already have the original for nostalgia purposes, we don't need a new one!

Also, they seem to fail at making movie characters likable anymore. Especially in comedies and horror. I feel like things are done just to get a reaction, instead of earning that reaction. It's all so cynical.

It doesn't help that I don't know who half of the new cast is, and the other half I don't find funny or likable. If they made Ghostbusters with the cast of Pretty Little Liars, I'd be so there. The acting, especially the comic timing, of those women is way better than it has any business being in a show called Pretty Little Liars. Somebody make this happen!

Friday, March 06, 2015

Feel Good Friday

I'm gonna have to revise my Supernatural playlist to 20 songs. I forgot some favorites! Here's one now.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

a random mishmash of general things in my brain

1. Supernatural

Season 9 is worth watching just for Crowley. He's fun, and oddly compelling. Sam and Dean haven't been fun for like, 5 seasons now. I miss episodes ending with the Impala cruising down the highway and something like "All Right Now" playing. Rock n roll can still save your soul, is the message I took from that. But now every episode is "Sam and Dean have a midlife crisis. And there are angels and shit." When the bounciest part of your show is a demon, you might have some issues.

2. Social media, again

I, like many people, I expect, have a love/hate relationship with social media. (Except you, Blogger. That's pure love, baby.) One thing that strikes me is how funny people are on sites like twitter vs real life. I'd love to see more people being clever and interesting in real life, instead of talking about car mileage or stocks or whatever boring shit. So yes, I'm saying real life should be more like twitter. In a sense. God help me.

The beauty of the internet shows the failings of "real life" interaction, is what I'm saying. On the internet, you'd think everyone is into the nerdy shit you're into. Because it's so easy to find like-minded people. In real life, you'd think no one is into what you're into. It's hard to find like-minded people, or maybe people are just more themselves online. For every troll or bully that hides behind anonymity to do evil, there's probably like 5 people enjoying the freedom of being themselves behind that same anonymity. Which is great, but also sad. Imagine if we could be that way all the time? I mean, if everything in the "real" world is safe and bland, everything will continue to be safe and bland. I swear, this is the same reason shitty stuff becomes popular. Everyone has to "fit in" instead of just being their damn selves. So I love the internet for at least deconstructing that in one little corner of our lives.

And why does "fitting in" usually boil down to the lowest common denominator? It's like we're programmed to dumb ourselves down for consumption. So weird.

That said - here are two things I hate about social media. One, the addicting nature of it. When I'm indoors, I'm online most of the time. And I think that's okay. What's the difference between that and any other indoor activity like watching TV, etc? But when I go outside, the only technology I take with me is my iPod to listen to some sweet tunes. (And sometimes my camera, depending.) I am not "connected" when I go outside, and I don't want to be. As much as I enjoy it the rest of the time, the break is a breath of fresh air, literally. This is something we all need, I think. But what do I see every time we go for a walk? People on their phones. People texting. While running, while walking their dogs, probably while frigging white water rafting. If you're running in a park and talking on your damn phone, I better hear the words "BLOOD IS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE DEAR GOD HELP ME," or put the goddamn thing away.

Second, there's just too damn much of it. Instagram and snapsomething and facebook and twitter and tumblr and idk, flogger, and I'm like WHY DO YOU NEED SO MANY THINGERS?? It seems so narcissistic. I quit livejournal... said most people 5 years ago, but I just did recently. Whatever. So I replaced it with the much more active twitter. I'm choosy. I also don't have the need to splash myself all over the internet like a Kardashian wannabe. The fewer of these sites you're on, the less chance you have of ever posting a butt selfie, is what I'm saying. Control the machine.

3. Music

My whole life, up to about 5 years ago, I've been a radio person. I've liked the music that's popular, not because it was popular, but because I genuinely liked it and never really had to search for alternatives. When rock died out as a popular form (it hurts me to type that) and pop became increasingly canned and sterile, there was still plenty of popular country to like. And honestly, looking at this week's country chart, I think things are getting better. There's still crap, and stuff that isn't bad but just doesn't sound like country music, but I'm definitely seeing a change. Maybe I'll become a radio person again someday, at least country radio. Pop radio sounds more and more like walking into a club, and I fucking hate clubs.

There has also been a lot of controversy about artists played on country radio vs artists that aren't. The thing that drives me more crazy than anything is when an artist that makes radio-friendly, commercial-sounding music (in the good way) can't get airplay because they're not part of some fuck club or whatever. I've been listening to Aaron Watson (I had a few of his older songs already) and geez, this guy would have been all over radio in the 90s. He's great, and well-suited to a wide country audience. God, I feel like if George Strait came out today, he'd be one of those artists that "doesn't exist." It's kind of scary. There are several more "alternative" country artists I've given a listen, and while I recognize they're good musically, it's not something I'd listen to. It doesn't grab me. I like the radio-friendly sound. Not today's radio, not FGL FM ("All turd country, all the time!"), but what used to be radio-friendly. George Strait, Alan Jackson, Trisha Yearwood, etc.

So that's my goal right now. Find as many artists like that as I can, as well as mining for gold on the radio. It's not as rare as it was 2-3 years ago, so that's something. I believe I've written this before, but what the hell. The thing that drove me off country radio for good? Repeated playings of "Country Girl Shake it for Me." I think I sensed things were gonna get a lot worse. Now, I think things can only get better. Thank you, Howard Jones.

Monday, March 02, 2015

Supernatural playlist

This is a subject near and dear to me, since I'm pretty much Dean Winchester music-wise if he also listened to country. So here's my definitive top 15 Supernatural playlist, or the "Greatest Hits of Mullet Rock." Most of these bands were played more than once on the show, but I'm only picking one song each.

In no particular order til #1, cause #1 = duh.

15. Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
14. Don't Look Back - Boston
13. Rock n Roll Never Forgets - Bob Seger
12. Burnin' For You - Blue Oyster Cult
11. Highway to Hell - AC/DC
10. Fight the Good Fight - Triumph
9. Shambala - Three Dog Night
8. Renegade - Styx
7. Fly By Night - Rush
6. Wheel in the Sky - Journey
5. Long, Long Way from Home - Foreigner
4. Long Train Runnin' - Doobie Brothers
3. Bad Moon Rising - CCR
2. Bad Company - Bad Company
1. Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas

Songs I'd love to hear on the show that haven't been played: Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin), Hotel California

So that's what I'll be listening to as I slog through the last of winter, taking road trips (and slaying demons) in my mind. :)