Hippo with a hernia

Today Mela and I went to see the Lion King 3D, and to our delight, we were the only ones in the theater.

Mela ran up to the front and danced around.

Then we watched the movie, and sang along loudly to every song – especially The Circle Of Life, the starting part. We also recited all the bits we knew, and hugged each other for comfort when (spoiler!) Mufasa died.

The 3D effects were good in the sense that mostly they were not intrusive, and if anything some of the majestic scenery were made even more breathtaking by its realness.

I’m really glad we were the only ones in the theater because it was great to be able to enjoy the movie at the top of our lungs. It felt like we were watching the movie at home, but with a huge screen.

Alex.

With quiet words I’ll lead you in

[Unwinding Cable Car – Anberlin]

So last night was An Evening With Anberlin. I didn’t bring a camera so right now, I don’t have photos to share.

Went to Monash in the morning to pick Amelia up, and ran into Sonam again – starting to think the myths of her being a myth are myths, because she seems to be there all the time.

After Cindy gave me the Totoro beanie – and tried to also sneak in the Ash Ketchum cap I saw and made the mistake of saying “what, you didn’t tell me they had those!” which I promptly returned to her because, hey, she got me the damn beanie what more can I ask for? – and we sort of hung out for a bit, Amelia and I went to go to the city.

On the trip there, Amelia was doing some last minute Anberlin cramming, trying to get all the songs in her head for the concert – fair effort, considering she was introduced to the band only a fortnight prior. On the way, Amelia helped me discard an item which I kept on my person that I should have thrown out long ago. Amelia threw it over the escalator at Flinders station, and now it should be a piece of crushed plastic underneath some Epping train. I was hungry, so I went to my store to pick up some noms.

Met up with Annie at uni, and she was in the midst of pulling her hair out researching for an essay which I myself hadn’t started so, in an attempt to calm her, and to make myself feel less guilty, I moved us to South Lawn to sit in the setting sun for a while. (In case you’re wondering, yes I got burnt a little bit.)

Annie wanted to paint her nails, but demanded that I fix one of her nails for her. Now. You must know I have never held a nail-paint-brush-object in my life, and her continued mockery of my ineptness made me laugh uncontrollably, and you know when you’re trying to accurately do something on a small surface with a small tool, laughing simply does not mix.

Amelia took the brush off me with all the weary impatience of a female, and applied a coating. I gagged on the ammonia.

When Pearl arrived albeit half an hour late, we bid goodbye to Annie to pick up a quick takeaway dinner, and head to Palace Theater. Yes. Yes we had Maccas again. I managed to get the two new Snivy toys and, Clare, if you read this – I got you Munna.

There was a fire at Steve Madden on Bourke St, meaning the trams weren’t really running. We walked (ascending incline, I was horrified) to Palace Theatre, and lined up behind a dozen people – so not as far front as last time – and found Susan. We ate our cold dinner. Amelia downed enough Red Bull to make a bull go red.

Memorable quote of the night goes to Susan: “I can’t sit on the cold concrete, or I’ll get diarrhea!”

Slowly everyone arrived in line, and at around 7:30, we started going in. We all stripped outside the venue – ha – so that we could cloak immediately and get barrier. Julia froze in her tank top. I had to put that in because so many people said she was mental.

We did get barrier, but we were off to a corner, so missed the main mosh. It turned out that Anberlin was filming their Australian DVD last night, so it was rather disappointing that we weren’t in the midst of the main action, but it was still pretty damn good off to the side. Comment on the design of Palace Theatre, I guess, that even being off to the side you get a pretty good slice of the action.

Louis introduced us to another Brendan, who was enjoying his first time gig at his favorite band, so we were sure he was going to have the time of his life. It was to his advantage that he chose to stand behind a bunch of short Asian girls too, so he never missed anything. That guy was probably 6 foot tall.

Also got good mosh buddies – no one drunk. The girl’s boyfriend disliked crowds so left to go to the bar, and she was left with us. I felt kind of bad for her, but she seemed to have really enjoyed herself.

ANYWAY the set list! I can’t remember off the top of my head which songs were played, but they opened with Dismantle.Repair which got the mood going. The difference from March, I think, was that they sort of cooled down for a few songs for the acoustic ones. They didn’t do Inevitable, which probably killed Pearl.

They did A Day Late, however, which had me going so crazy – it being my favorite song by them – Amelia had to pull me to calm down. Then again, when they covered Unwinding Cable Car, Amelia went nuts, so, I mean, even Stevens. They also covered Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House with the lead singer of the support band Tonight Only and…would you believe…Travis Clark from We The Kings! He just casually strolled onto stage and everyone squealed in surprise. Except for this one girl who said “oh…I don’t really like We The Kings anyway.” I gave her a good (friendly) pinch on the cheek.

They did a short Q&A from questions they received on Twitter, which was pretty funny and gave a great insight on the friendliness between the band members.

Finally, they encored with *fin (and I didn’t expect them to do the final part) which was the BEST way to cap off the night.

After the show, Amelia’s brother drove us home. I wasn’t sure how to tell them they missed my turn off, and they seemed to have forgotten I was in the car, so I waited until the brother said “oh shit, Amelia weren’t we meant to drop off your friend?” and Amelia, who’d dozed off, laughed at me for not speaking up when it became obvious they forgot me.

All in all, though, I think we were both glad that I nagged her to go so much, because it was an unforgettable night.

Alex.

But before this night is through…

[Bad Things – Jace Everett]

It’s one of the most tense moments in my life when I press play on one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands – in today’s case, I pressed play on an Anberlin song to a newly-made friend Amelia – and I try not to, but I’d watch their face for their reaction. As if someone’s love for a song can be gauged in the first few seconds.

Or maybe it can.

It’s one of the best moments when, without me badgering them with “what do you think?”, they come up to me on their own accord, and tell me they love a song.

It was a good day today. I’m kind of excited about converting someone to my music now.

Alex.

But The Orchestra Plays On

[Dismantle.Repair – Anberlin]

Today, after a few days, I will do G, H and I.

Georgia Fair – I think that Picture Frames is the perfect song for summer, and it may or may not be because during the previous summer, they played this song with the Big M ads.

Glee Cast – Oh man, I can list so many! A lot of people don’t like their covers of their beloved songs, but I have to say they still make a pretty ace effort to capture the original intent. The show itself is starting to go a bit iffy, in my opinion, but that’s irrelevant to this post.

Goo Goo Dolls – I really should listen to more of the songs apart from Iris, because his voice is rather decent.

Goodnight Nurse – I first heard about them when I realized they did a punk cover of Milkshake, but I like Death Goes To Disco as well.

Gotye – I don’t know where I first heard Heart’s A Mess, but I got it after it was on Gossip Girl. Oh, for shame.

Green Day – This is a social minefield, I think, for me to start picking out songs. They’re pretty much solid, I just haven’t heard all their songs.

Hawk Nelson – Dani loaned me their album Smile, It’s The End Of The World, and I loved it. Especially Zero, Fourteen, It’s Over, Everything You Ever Wanted,  and The Show.

Hawthorne Heights – Okay I don’t actually like them but every time I listen to Ohio Is For Lovers I start laughing.

Hellogoodbye – Aww this was all because of Dani. I don’t like them as much as she does/did, but I do keep on my favorites Here, In Your Arms, Baby It’s Fact, All Of Your Love and I Saw It On Your Keyboard.

The Hush Sound – I like most of Like Vines.

The Icarus Account – Another Dani recommendation: Little Things and So In Love – listen to these on a lazy sunny day when you’ve got someone on your mind.

Imogen Heap – I’m sure she has many other songs, but after SNL’s Dear Sister skit, I just had to get Hide and Seek.

And that’s it for now, folks! I wonder if I can hit the 15 quota? I should write more about my thoughts, I think.

Alex.

Looking For The Best But Expecting The Worst

[Forever Young – Youth Group]

Today features E and F

Eagle Eyed Cherry – Of COURSE Save Tonight is the best song to listen to on the way to a night out. I don’t know, it could be just me.

Elliot Yamin – Is Wait For You another slightly out of place song? Well, yeah it was in the playlist my friend gave me. It’s a very sweet song, though.

Enrique Iglesias – I admit, it may be “guilty pleasure” but when you hear the first few guitar notes of Hero or the first line of Escape, you know you kind of want to start singing to it.

Every Avenue – I hadn’t really gotten around to listening to all their songs properly, but I do like Tell Me I’m A Wreck (whose MV is really really good), Where Were You?, Between You And I and Think Of You Later (Empty Room).

Faber Drive – It’s on and off with these guys, some days I just shuffle past them, but then one day I stick to one of their songs and suddenly I love them again. The first song I heard by them is Tongue Tied, there’s also When I’m With You, Sleepless Nights (Never Let Her Go) and Killin’ Me.

Fall Out Boy – Ooh this is slightly tentative grounds to tread on, because the songs I like aren’t the songs that people tend to like – and the songs people tend to like I kind of…dislike. But they’re a respectable bunch of musicians.

Falling Up – Falling In Love and Hotel Aquarium. Good memories with them both.

Flumpool – The first non-English band for me to mention! I particularly liked Birds but as I went on I warmed up to 残像 (Zanzou) as well.

Forever The Sickest Kids – I think I’ve used Hey Brittany! as one of my blog post titles many times.

Alex.

I Climbed The Wall I Had One Look

[20 Good Reasons – Thirsty Merc]

I had a request for me to blog about what music I like. It takes too long to do all of them so I think I’ll do them in installments.

So today is A B C and D.

The All-American Rejects – I wouldn’t say I like all their songs but quite a few of them are very catchy and likeable.

Dance Inside, Can’t Take It and Paper Heart are a few examples.

All Time Low – I’m pretty sure hardcore All Time Low fans will shun me for saying I pretty much only like Six Feet Under The Stars that I’m aware of.

Anberlin – Um, I really don’t know if you guys noticed but I pretty much like all their stuff, but even more from Never Take Friendship Personal, Cities, and a few songs from New Surrender.

American Hi-Fi – I used to only have The Rescue so when I heard The Geeks Get The Girls I found it hard to believe it was the same band.

Amy Meredith – I heard Lying on the radio but when I got my hands on Young At Heart, I liked it more.

Anya Marina – I admit I heard All The Same To Me on The Vampire Diaries, and Googled it. But I like it so it’s all legit.

Ashley Parker Angel – His stuff is a bit average but I like the tune of Beautiful Lie.

The Ataris – I’m pretty sure they have other stuff but I only have The Saddest Song.

Augustana – Really, I just like Boston, but I don’t mind Sunday Best and Coffee and Cigarettes either. I like how calming it is, even if the theme might be a bit bittersweet.

Blink 182 – Apart from all the songs that everyone likes, I also like First Date.

Bowling For Soup – As well as 1985, I’m Gay is a really great pick me up. The first time I heard it, I actually smiled.

Boys Like Girls – very obviously, I like the much popular Hero/Heroine and Thunder, as well as Heels over Head and Five Minutes To Midnight.

Busted – I don’t think I can like McFly without liking Busted, and while most of their songs are good, I say my most played are That Thing You Do and What I Go To School For.

The Cab – My friend only gave me a few songs by them but I liked those songs: That 70s Song, Zzzz, Vegas Skies, High Hopes In Velvet Ropes.

Cartel – I like Say Anything (Else).

F*ck You! – Cee Lo Played it over and over again. I like how he sings the bridge.

Nothing – Charice My friend gave it to me and I’d liked her on Glee so I gave the song a shot, and surprisingly I actually like it!

Intensity In Ten Cities – Chiodos I honestly thought it was a girl singing until after a few dozen listens.

The Cinematic Orchestra – To be honest, just To Build A Home. The Schwepps ad!

Sleep With Me – City Sleeps I like his voice.

The Classic Crime – Headlights and The Coldest Heart. They both sound pretty different but they’re good songs.

I skipped over Coldplay but I mean, they’re so famous and so popular it can be a bit of an implied preference.

The Dandy Warhols – Not surprisingly, I like We Used To Be Friends and Bohemian Like You. The former from Veronica Mars, the latter from a car ad that aired here a few years ago.

And finally…

Dashboard Confessionals Dusk and Summer in general.

So that’s A B C and D for now. The next time I remember, E F and G. And maybe H if one letter is small.

Judge away!

Alex.

Cardboard Boxes Took Us Miles

[Inevitable – Anberlin]

Yesterday (my net having finally uncapped today) I went out for a whole day of Brentwood people fun. Well, it would have been just Brentwood people except, as the world is small, MacRobs have started infiltrating that group too.

Started my morning at 8:30 am, and got ready, then walked to Jac’s house so we (Novo) and I can finally work on the song together. (I”ll spare you the hesitant exaggerations: we managed to ascertain the first verse, and get an imagery for the 2nd verse. We’ve more or less agreed on the pre-chorus, but not so sure about the chorus itself.) Jac made her sleepy and wet-haired appearance a while after Novo and I got there, and (I guess it was mean but) the three of us – including Jac’s mom – sort of teased Jac about sleeping so much.

(Jac slept through the first half of when Novo and I were working.)

Anyway, we managed to convince Jac to play a song on the piano. I don’t know what she was so shy about; she’s fantastic.

At around 12, Novo left because he wasn’t going to Brendan’s house, and then we waited for Nash to show up, and took the bus up to the Glen. It was getting quite cold and I felt a bit guilty for asking Jac to wear one of those big dress-shirts and stockings. She said she wasn’t cold. Her hands told otherwise. On the bus to Rowville, Nash kept on dozing off so I started throwing random bits of rubbish I’d accumulated in my pockets at him.

Finally, we made it to Rowville. Walking to Brendan’s house, Nash and I were shocked to realize he lived a mere 20 meters away from one of our other mutual friends (who doesn’t know Brendan). We were tempted to knock on this friend’s door and run away.

We sort of sat around for a while at first – Brendan has a cute baby niece called Brenda (yes yes I laughed too) – and Jac and I played with her for ages. That kid simply loves plummeting her fist into whatever she likes – and she liked me. She threw a ball right at my face, then chortled. I wasn’t sure whether to be flattered that she likes me so much with violence, or that she seemed to dislike a consequently unbruised Jac.

We were watching Tom and Jerry when Swin arrived, and as we were watching, as per usual, we played the ‘that’s you’ game. Jac decided at the start of the cartoon that I was Jerry. I looked at her and said, ‘You’ve never watched this cartoon before have you? You really picked the wrong team.’ She understood what I meant after, 3 episodes later, she realized Tom loses in every episode.

When Swin started feeling a bit bored, we decided to watch the 2nd Transformers movie. It was, to say at the least, a disappointment. Megan Fox didn’t even get that many awesome lines. I did like the scene where Shia’s mom got high off weed (half because Jac wasn’t aware that it was weed so didn’t understand why we were laughing, and half because the mom got insanely high).

After Transformers, we got pizza! Ate pizza while watching the Exorcism of Emily Rose that I brought.

I also found out I tend to make friends with people who are very grabby in a horror movie – April, and now Jac. It would have been funnier if my arm didn’t start aching.

People starting leaving at a certain point, and it got to the point where only Swin, Mani, Kay, Brendan, Jac and myself were left. We watched Doctor Who, the David Tenant episode with the Angels who move when you blink. That episode was freaking awesome!

Then, Brendan decided to put on Lesbian Vampire Killers. I was shocked he had it recorded. I also wasn’t aware that it was a very British/Tarantino movie (if not very C-grade).

Got home to find that my net didn’t uncap like it was meant to, and then slept rather late because I was up reading NCIS fan-fiction. Sue me.

Alex.

Don-don-don-don’t hold back

Today was Vania’s 18th birthday, and we had her birthday party at April’s place.

Got there before anyone else did, win. Vania came later on, and got stuff set up. Brought a respektable amount of alcohol so that April can make sex on the beach.

I still snigger when I say that.

Got Singstar set up, and started warming up with a few songs. Bo came, then Bel and Julia, then Li-. We really got into the swing of things and then we played Pass The Mic and that was stupid hard.

April and I did battle on Grace Kelly by Mika. We actually did pretty well. It’s a good song.

Aristarchus, April’s cat, rubbed himself on everyone and everything that came along.

Mimay and Fah- came along much later, and then Lily left. We had ice cream cake, and then just before Vania cut the cake, we (or me) suggested that Vania do a shot before she cuts the cake. April got her a Vodka and Schnapps shot, and Soph yelled “Oh my god, give her a chaser, she’ll die.”

Then April made sex on the beach.

Snigger.

Sang a bit more, Julia and I owned on “Don’t Hold Back” by the Potbelleez (or however you spell their band name) and then started watching 10 Things I Hate About You.

Everyone pretty much left at that point, and then when Vania left, Julia, Bel and I decided to bid our farewells as well.

It was fun, because everytime someone left we sang happy birthday.

Julia sneezed a lot. Like. A lot. I think Bel counted to 12 (?) in a row.

Played Tap Tap Revenge on the train home. Need to download more songs.

Alex.

The Quiet Screaming

The Quiet Screaming – Legion of Doom.

Original artists are (in order of song appearance, lyrics wise):

Screaming Infidelities by Dashboard Confessionals

and

The Quiet Things No One Ever Knows by Brand New.

Catherine noted that I hadn’t blogged in a while. Apart from lack of material, also I just didn’t feel like it.

My iPod came to this song today while I was by myself at Jack’s, and the starting riffs just took me so completely, just reflected my mood, that I couldn’t stop thinking about this song.

It seems mashed up, I know, and Amy said so. But I think most of the appeal from the song is that I am so familiar with Dashboard’s half, and I’m semi-familiar with Brand New’s half, and the mash-up was just right.

Anyway, enjoy.

Alex.

Inevitable

Methods is actually rather enjoyable now that I’m in the same class with Carmaine and Shaz.

Well, I don’t remember much of Year 9 and 10 Methods anymore, but this year the three of us help each other and check answers with each other and it’s a rather friendly environment. But who am I to talk yet? We’ve only done Graphs so far. Wait ’til we get to Differenciation and Logarithm! Death.

Anyway, today in Methods while we were working, Carmaine and I listened to Inevitable by Anberlin over and over again. Thus I have done my bit to explain my title.

I wanna break every clock,

The hands of time could never move again.

We could stay in this moment (stay in this moment)

For the rest of our lives.

Is it over now, hey, hey is it over now?

I wanna be your last first kiss

That you’ll ever have.

Had a rather fun double free this morning. In P1 Dani brought in a huge 2L bottle of milk, labelled it for herself, and upon my questioning said that all her friends are welcome to it. Then in P2 Eunice came in and sat with us in the Common Room and we played some CDs and In The Summertime by Thirsty Merc came on so we both started singing loudly to it.

I don’t have a job,

I never liked them.

I just wanna play in the sunshine.

They say I was wrong,

But I know better!

I live my life like I’m dying.

Gimme a chance,

I’ll do my best to kick and scream and dance

When winter comes I’ll turn around…

So take me back to the

Sweet times, the happy nights,

Everything’s gonna be alright

In the Summertime,

Baby in the Summertime!

Last year, the only thing that cheered me up somewhat when I realized summer was coming was the thought that on a really hot day, and when I’m with Eunice, we can sing In The Summertime!

Keep Cool (just keep swimmin’ just keep swimmin’)

D.F.

P.S. Carmaine and Eunice both ran for their Form Captain today, as well as Ca-, so let’s see who gets it. I helped Carmaine a bit with her speech, and we randomly put songs in and Carmaine put in Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” but instead she kissed 12A and she liked it. In a dream she had.