Bond @ MindSay

Oh!.. did you know (of course you don’t) that I did the last exam on my nursing course on the past week? Now it’s up to the next 6 months of internship! I’m happy about that. No more nursing classes for me!

Right now I’m having a week break before my first internship, so I’m practically on vacations! But it sure doesn’t feel like that. My girlfriend’s anxiety attacks have gotten worse so, any small decision is a brain crusher for her.. and I.. I’m really tired of being right there: the punch bag.

Anyway...

New school year means new roommates. And hell.. if I had complaints about my past roommates, then now I should just call the police! There's this new girl who's a terrible dish washer.. in fact, I have know idea how she manages to do what she does! Her plates and pans come out of the sink coated with grease. It’s awful, it’s disgusting.

I had a conversation with her.. but it seems like it wasn’t enough. Tomorrow she will have to sign a paper that says that I warned her.. and the next time I find my dishes surrounded by greased dishes, something will be going to the garbage bin. Oh come on! You don’t expect me to believe that she has a skin and eye condition that won’t let her distinguish between a clean dish from a dirty one..! COME ON!

On another note, today I went to the movies. My girlfriend’s aunt’s idea. We went to see 007 – Quantum of Solace. I’m not a big fan of action movies, but hey, it’s a James Bond movie: you’re sure to be catching at least one good looking guy, several good looking girls and some nice special effects.

I have to say: James Bond must be the anti-Edward Murphy. You know, Murphy from the Murphy’s law? The one that says: “if anything can go wrong, it will”?

Seriously. James is on a big slow plane without any weapons. A small fast and sleek fighter comes behind him and manages to kill half of Bond’s engines just to crash into a mountain after some genius manoeuvre by Bond. After that, Bond jumps out of the plane but the only parachute is in the back of his co-pilot.

They both fall rapidly to ground since they were dogfighting at a low altitude. But Bond manages to grab his co-pilot and pull the cord just in the last seconds.. just in time for both to hit the ground at a safe enough speed.

I mean.. sometimes I wake up late because my alarm didn’t go off, I forget to use the deodorant and I leave for school without my keys. All these in the same day! Jee! I’m glad I’m not piloting some plane!

I spent much of today working with my cover artist, Reneé.  I am using her actual name here, yes, since it will appear in the book, so it's all good. :) 

Reneé and I have a history that spans planets and centuries, it sometimes seems.  We met on Pern in early 2000.  In a place called Windtoss Weyr.  She came in as a Harper character while I played a runaway with a penchant for exploration.   We immediately clicked and a creative partnership was born.

Over the years, we have written together, she has done artwork for me, and I have provided, she says, inspiration for her to learn to excel in the medium of digital art.  She is very kind to say so.  For me, she has provided a face for a heroine, though in an entirely different construct. She did a character picture for me for a game set in the fifth century, giving me the rights to that image.  I have asked her to use it for the cover of a book. Today, she and I spent hours formatting and tinkering and blurbing and so on to create a cover.  It's fabulous and when it's ready for public viewing, I will share it with you.

But I had not told her until today how very inspirational she was to me regarding one particular character. I knew this character long before I became acquainted with Reneé (a woman I have spent one actual hour with, over a snack at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, back, oh, years ago) but Reneé gave her a face.  A vision, if you will, for me to claim for my character. 

It was, to me, perfect.

I will say, in the book, that Reneé is responsible for the cover art and cover design, for she is.  But she is also responsible for giving faces and deepening my understanding of numerous creations over the years.  Creations that are both on Earth and elsewhere.

It is, to me, amazing how two minds can work as one, for so many years, without face-to-face contact (saving that one hour), and almost always see the same things, feel the same things, and instinctively know the same things about a common creation. 

Sympathy is not always bred of agreement across the spectrum.  It is sometimes most beautiful when two minds touch along one line. And that line is strong, vibrant and beguiling. 

1. Shut up and relax, Albert Hammond Jr. is here to make all your troubles float away on a dreamy guitar riff that you won't be able to resist. - I'm sorry, but if you don't suddenly feel all of your troubles melt away when you listen to this amazingly talented dog-pile of artists, with Albert Hammond Jr., rhythm guitarist for The Strokes and son of Albert Hammond (made famous for hits such as "It Never Rains in Southern California") standing tall and proud on top of it all, then you have too much stress in your life and you might want to start looking into a good cardiologist because chances are you're about to have a heart attack any second now. Currently he only has one album that was released in 2006, but damn what a debut. Now, most media would try to lead you to believe that the treasure on this disc is the song "101", but I beg to differ. If you get the chance, "Everyone Gets A Star" puts a smile on my face every time. With a head-bobbing beat and that beautiful, slightly monotone voice that accents the creative and crunchy guitar counterpart, this is song has fast become one of my favorites. Also of note, "Holiday" first caught my ear as I was browsing for new indie music to fill my silly head with, and immediately I was intrigued in a way that I haven't been by a song in such a long time. The drum intro makes you pause and wonder, "Is he doing that on purpose?" until the vocals come in and you just forget where you are and want to curl up with a cute indie boy and hopes he takes you where ever he was going. The lyrics are short and to the point on this song, and you know what? He doesn't need to say much, because the music speaks for itself. A band worth keeping an ear open for, the entire album is beyond worth picking up, and is one that I never hesitate to pop in my own personal stereo whenever I need a pick-me-up.

2. Don't worry, it's not schizophrenia; you just have a rampant case of The Cliks. - Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong today; like a living example of Murphy's Law, your left shoelace broke and your right one caught on fire; your washing machine broke so it was either wet pants or dirty pants; you missed the bus and forgot your stuff at home; you just had a horrible breakup with your partner of six-and-a-half years and you're coming to terms with the fact that you're transgendered. What are you going to do? For Lucas Silveira, it meant gritting his teeth and remembering that what doesn't kill you makes amazing song lyrics. I'm not going to get into where these guys come from because all you need to know is that they exist purely to fill your world with poignant, personal lyrics the likes of which your 'pop music' mind will explode from coming into contact with. They currently have only released one album, "Snakehouse", but they come out of the gates LGBT fists and guitars swinging fast and hard. They are probably best known for their cover of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" but let me tell you, Silveira could kick Timberlake's ass without even taking his stylish white suit coat off. This is not your average cover: there are no strained voices trying to replicate a sound that isn't their's; there is no pretentious thought process that they can do better; this cover is simply a matter of taking a hollow pop song and pouring a whole lot of emotional kerosene into it and lighting it with a voice so passionate and sincere that by the time the guitars fade away you just might be the one in tears. "Complicated" is another song that I just can't get enough of on those days when everything seems to go wrong and feel a little bit dead on the inside, and I need something to scream at in order to feel better. Silveira's voice is almost haunting at the beginning, as if you can see him with furrowed brow and hooded eyes, looking across the bar at you, shoulders defeated and hunched over his drink; until the song progresses and you realize that's not defeat on his shoulders -- it's nobility and passion and maybe even a little bit of anger and resentment. "Oh Yeah" is another one that I just can't resist pointing out to you because that opening line gets stuck in my head all the damn time. Also, we all know what it feels like to be betrayed and a little bit pissed off, and if you want a song thats worth singing along to with one of my favorite guitar solos to RAWK OUT to, you could do far far worse. Singing at the top of your lungs on the way home from a bad day to The Cliks? $13.99. Getting caught mid-lyric, red-faced and veiny-necked by your boss at the stoplight? Priceless.

3. Stop acting so surprised, this is - after all - The Age of Rockets. - With so many bands taking advantage of the easy accessibility of music editing programs like Fruity Loops, its no wonder the electronica / pop music genre has become flooded with garbage wrapped in poorly made music maps. The Age of Rockets is here to show you how its done, and you'd better sit down and listen, or they'll use their adorable indie charms on you until you come around to their thinking. Gotta watch out for those indie rockers, cause they'll getchya! A New York based band, these guys just have too much talent to keep to one band, their members dabbling in nearly half a dozen other projects that I could find. With a title like "Dumbledore's Army" and songs like "Avada Kedavra", you know you're putting your musical tastes in the hands of people who are human with a sense of humor just like your's, and that's always comforting. "Pétales Aiment La Saleté" is one of those songs that's sweet and tender and all around adorable. Really, it makes me want to cuddle with a giant teddy bear because they say it best when they say, 'Just because it hurts, don't mean that it's love.' "Once We Were Monsters" echoes an almost Muse-esque feel of the conspiracy theories and space travel, without the anger and the paranoia. Instead it's sang with an almost resigned sort of feeling, as if they've already accepted it and now it's just time to reminisce and take it as it is. If you're looking for a band to cuddle with that special high school someone with, you really can't go wrong with these guys.

4. Looks like you're in quite the Bond there buddy. - With contemporaries like Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson, it's a wonder that you've probably never heard of these lovely ladies. Or perhaps you have, and have just never known who they actually were. It's hard to look up a song that has no lyrics! Yes, this is Bond, the classical string quartet that sounds like Tchaikovsky on speed and Santana with an orchestra. Two violins, a viola, and a cello only accent the sexy slick sound of what these London goddesses are offering. "The 1812" is a take on the classical exploding overture, and I've never felt my heart pound harder. With the climactic build up of electronic beats and powerful, passionate violin bows, this really is the epitome of our generation's nouveau classical music. And when the finale begins, the familiar sounds of cannons and brass echoing all around you, you'll be shocked to find yourself head banging to this reworked staple of the genre. There are so many good songs to be highlighted, but I only have so much time, so unfortunately, sacrifices will have to be made. "Victory" when it's mixed by Mike Batt, never was so sweet to shake your butt to. With a toe tapping beat and a deep bass that your speakers are going to love to blast, this is one of those songs you play when you WANT to be caught at that stop light with the windows down by that cute girl you pass everyday on your way to work, rocking out to some badass string quartet. The last song I'll mention is "Bond on Bond", and if you haven't been dead this past century, then yes, you're thinking correctly. Bond, the elegant London quartet with those sultry strings that I just can't get enough of, does a cover of the James Bond theme. I don't think I have to say anything more than, "EPIC". Any of their albums are beyond worth picking up, but the remixes tend to be more popular than the others. Pop one of these ladies into your CD player and you'll be sure to surprise and impress anyone else who's in the car.

5. Nope, you're pronouncing it wrong; it's Puscifer. - There is no way to prepare you for the sounds that about to assault your ears. Even telling you that Industrial Metal god Maynard James Keenan is the ringleader to this project couldn't possibly prepare you for the incredible journey the album "V is for Vagina" will take you on. Now, as a warning, there is no 'explicit' version and 'clean' version. Maynard is one of the original bad asses; one of the first guys to stand up, walk away from the rest of the group and say, "Hey, I do what I want." And right now, what he wants to do is fuck censorship, so there's only one album; one amazing, explicit, illicit and sexual album that you won't want to miss. A lot of the people I've talked to about this album seem to always overlook the track "Sour Grapes", and personally, I don't understand why. I think it's one of the best on the entire album, from the attention grabbing bass line, to the scraggly-bearded, wild-eyed and jowl-shaking preaching voice, to the mind blowing chants that reaffirm the whispering voices that no, you aren't imagining. And I don't know if Maynard wrote this song as a mocking taunt at organized religion, or if it is meant to be a stab at spirituality, but no matter what it was intended as, it's one of my favorite songs to listen to when I'm justifying why I don't go to church. It's a good thing I've come to terms with the fact that I'm going to hell already, or this review would be incredibly difficult to write. "Rev 22:20" is beyond description, but I'm sure as hell going to try. Revelations 22:20 actually states, "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." and this song takes that scripture to a whole new level; speaking about a woman that you literally would sell your soul to sleep with just one more time, and how even Christ himself would succumb to this woman's sexuality. Now I don't know about all that, but I DO know that the original, (the one that I'm talking about here) is one of the crowning accomplishments of the industrial metal world. With a beat that makes you want to march and a background track of female vocals so sensual you'll want to put headphones on so they're not whispering to anyone but you, Maynard makes you go weak in the knees with his pleading, husky voice and by the end of the song you feel yourself begging with him. Now, controversy aside, the song "Indigo Children" is just way too cool to pass up. With the vocal effects warped and robotic, it sends delicious chills up my spine every time. So whether you're looking for something completely inappropriate, or a good album to be pissed off to, Puscifer is one of those unique bands that can hit that sweet spot that no one else can even come close to.

I'm going to a Uni ball on Thursday with some friends from High School, very late notice, I only found out this week. I guess that's the benefit of having nothing to do, I'm always available to do something irregardless of the cost! :) It's a James Bond theme, any ideas of what to wear? It's very casual cocktail, not overly costumey.

 

It's not for my Uni, which is good, I was just invited by my friends, because technically I'm not a student at present. Well, I'm a student on pause...

 

Oh and I ordered in my new glasses, soooo expensive, but they look good. It's going to cost more and that's mainly because the lenses are so darned expensive. more than expected, and I won't tell you the actual price, because you'll think, mmm, I could've gone away for the week for what those cost, or think of how many seasons of anime or Grays Anatomy I could've bought with that money!

 

Hence why I haven't bought any for three years...  At least we get a small rebate on health cover. I don't get the glasses for another three weeks.

 

So I'm wearing sunglasses to the James Bond ball, lol.