Ten on Tuesday | My Holiday Playlist.

...ok, full disclosure right up front. Carole's asked us to share the first ten songs that come up on our iPods. But I don't have one. and until this past weekend, I didn't even have songs in iTunes. Yeah, I guess I'm not that particular about my music. These days I mostly listen to podcasts and books.

When my girls lived here, there was music all the time. And I had iPods (yes, that's plural).

And now...not. I deleted the music from my phone when I needed space to upgrade to iOS7 (two years ago?) and I deleted the music from my iPad to make space for photos before we went to Europe in May.

But last week I missed my Christmas music. Saturday, my sister helped me figure out how to copy playlists from my old laptop and I managed one - "Christmas Long List".  I now have 52 songs, playing pretty much in perpetual repeat.

So with a nod (and a wink) to today's prompt, I've chosen ten favorites.

It's not easy to choose ten from a list of 52...choosing 52 from the Christmas music universe is hard enough. I am really glad there was a Jingle Bells (I think there are three White Christmases!); I can't wait to see what Charlie thinks about Michael Bublé'!

Even though I'm not that into music, I know many of you are...and I look forward to reading about your random picks.

p.s. proving at least one of the "mere-et-filles" was into music...at one point.

to mom, with love

In writing the perfect blog post, there are always a few throwback staples on which I rely: music, entertainment (i.e. television, movies, and especially celebrity gossip, because we’re all lying to ourselves if we don’t admit that Lindsay Lohan’s mug shot equates to entertainment at its finest), rambling (as just witnessed), and lists.

However, a true synthesis of these elements provides for a truly mind-blowing experience. The perfect blog post (at least a blog post by me) mixes all of these elements just right, not rambling too much or referencing vague things that only I would understand too often (because it's okay to do it once in a while), therefore totally robbing the post of its personal quality. Indeed, the best blog post is one that everyone can understand.

And so, as I embark on my first blog post in a few months, I do so with a specific purpose in mind. Today (actually tomorrow) is Mother’s Day, which means that, for an entire twenty-four hours, the whole world worships the mother. Now, I’m really not one to worship, but I do think that gratitude is one of the most important things in life (hey, that’s something we have in common, Mom!). So, in keeping in line with the whole best blog elements thing, I’ve decided to make a list—my top 10 reasons why I love my mother, in hopes of sparing the cheese and the corn.

10. She lets me make all the Thanksgiving desserts. It should also be noted that she allows me to make desserts on several other occasions throughout the year. We’ve made a mutual decision to open a specialty foods store later in life. Hopefully, we will meet Ina Garten (or be invited to one of her parties, which might be better).

9. She understands my love (okay, passion) for celebrity gossip magazines and always nods her head when I go on and on about how Angelina Jolie is a homewrecker and Jennifer Aniston deserves someone so much better than Brad. And not only does she understand my love for such magazines, but she also seems to willingly support it. We both know it’s trash, but who can resist trash this good? (P.S. You all know the Angelina Jolie thing is true. Admit it.)

8. She puts up with my driving. I’m not a bad driver, but I can see the stress in her eyes, and I really do appreciate her for taking one for the team and embarking with me on my journey toward licensehood. She’s also done a heck of a job, too. I no longer make her feel as if she’s about to collide with a mailbox. And I've also managed to figure out how to maneuver up and down our driveway!

7. She goes with me on trips to Chicago and New York and always compliments me for being a good travel buddy and (something much more important for me, as it’s something I take pride in) for being an excellent food orderer in restaurants.

6. She dresses well. This is only number six on the list, but, believe me, it’s important.

5. She helps me with my math homework. Oh, God, there have been too many math problems over the years, yet she always conquers each with authority and a penned drawing. Here’s to AP Calculus and AP Stat in the coming years! (Also, I do appreciate your help on reading my writing over the past few years. I may not have always made it clear, but it really did make a difference. (And, again, here’s to AP Lang and AP Lit in the coming years!))

4. She likes the same television shows as I do, yet she accepts that I enjoy indulging in the occasional trashy one. I’ll never let her forget that I introduced her to The OC, and for that she should be eternally grateful. However, she also understands that a little Real World never hurt anyone (theoretically).

3. She lets me listen to good music and willingly seeks my opinion on musical matters. This also makes me feel important. For commentary, a little shuffle!
- "You Got Me All Wrong" by Dios Malos. Oh, wow, one of the best and most underrated songs ever on The OC. Came in a truly haunting episode, and if I go any further, I might be going into the incomprehensible vague reference area.
- "We Will Become Silhouettes" by The Shins. As much as I love The Shins, The Postal Service just do it better. Although, I’m really enjoying how this is going in the usual route of a shuffle: OC song, cover, etc. Next, I’ll be dealt a truly embarrassing song. And, play!
- "Summergirls" by LFO. Oh my God! This is seriously no joke. I did not edit this at all. This song really came up! Oh, wow, this has never happened before. I can’t believe this. Whoa. The Apple gods must really be messing with me. I remember when Katie used to play this song every single morning when she woke up. (Mind you, this was when she was in the sixth grade and this song was the utter definition of cool.) That’s right, every morning we’d wake up to “New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits / Chinese food makes me sick….” Wow, I still can’t believe this. Of all the songs on my iPod, too, this is the most embarrassing. What a magnificent sampling! (This is all extremely honest, too. No sarcasm in the above paragraph.)
- "Life Is a Song" by Patrick Park. I’m sorry, but has my iPod gone totally crazy or is it just me? A sampling of the best songs on my iPod. And, this is also no joke, I was going to write (in the commentary about the Shins song) that there’d be a Patrick Park song, too. This is so unbelievably crazy that I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it won’t last too long. Next song is going to be really, really bad.
- :Breathe (2 AM)" by Anna Nalick. Half-true.

2. She puts up and goes along with my obsessed vents over things like The OC, Gossip Girl, Juno, and Across the Universe. This is incredibly important, because we all want people to make it seem like what we have to say is really important and that they’re also really interested in our meaningless babble. The insertions of head nods and “I know, right”s in the proper places are key.

1. She has the hugest smile ever. And she always makes me take the long-arm shot.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! If you’re crying, I hope it’s because you’re laughing so hard from my incredible wit and humor. Love, Sara

Music-Happiness

Lately, I’ve been music-happy, what with my brand-spankin’-new iPod (of the “Classic” variety) and all of the coolness that it embodies. It is beautiful and silver and shiny and colorful and it actually works. And it can house 80 gigabytes of whatever media form I want to put on it. (Still tackling the video download thing, but I’ll get there—eventually.)

And here, in honor of my currently purple iPod (do you really think I wouldn’t buy something to protect my most valuable possession, and I am most definitely not exaggerating? My iPod and my glasses are my most prizes possessions.), I give you a shuffle. Prepare to have your mind blown away!

“With a Little Help from My Friends” by The Beatles. A new addition. After seeing Across the Universe (and if you haven’t it’s out of DVD the first Tuesday in February, whenever that is), I really enjoyed comparing the originals with the movie’s adaptations. I know it’s probably sinful to say this, but I like Joe Anderson’s and Jim Sturgess’s version better. But this is also pretty darn good.

“Oh Yoko” by John Lennon. Okay, the music gods are definitely trying to make me feel guilty for just giving the shaft to John, Paul, Ringo, and George. Regardless, this is a pretty great song, and probably because of its repetitiveness, not despite that.

“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” by Eddie Izzard. Okay, this is definitely a sign. Honestly, I do prefer the original over this, although this is just seems to me a wonderfully insane song that played at an equally wonderfully insane part of Across the Universe. Right after it got pretty trippy.

“Into Dust” by Ashtar Command. I really love Chris Holmes. He’s produced some Joshua Radin tracks, but he also has a really nice voice (soft like Radin’s) and Ashtar Command is his “side project.” But this nine-minute-plus song played on The OC in really what is one of the most significant moments of the show. I won’t rant on about stuff that probably nobody else but me remembers, but I’ll just say that it was the moment when Ryan finally understood that it in fact was not his destiny to save Marissa. It was the end of their story—his moment of closure. And what a wonderful way to mark it with this great cover of the Mazzy Star track. (Edited to add: God, I do talk about these people as if I knew them. And the sad part is that I kind of wish I knew them. I mean, don’t we all want a Seth Cohen in our life to add unnecessary humor to a tragic situation? Or a Ryan Atwood over whom we can quietly brood in true Atwood fashion? Or a Kirsten Cohen who will offer perspective in the most troubling of situations? Or a Marissa Cooper with whom we can compare our lives and be thankful that we don’t have it that bad? Or even a Julie Cooper, because don’t we all wish we were that awesome?! I know I’m not the only one, whatever you may think.)

“The Pageant of the Bizarre” by Zero 7. You know, I really am a click-happy music fan, and this, as well as so many other songs currently occupying my iTunes Library, are products of that habit. This song is as well, but at least it serves a purpose and contributes to my mega-OC playlist, which really does need revising. Still, it’s a decent song.

“The End of the Road” by Boyz II Men. It’s on The OC playlist, so don’t go assuming I listen to artists that put a “z” where there should be an “s” or “II” where there should be a “to.”

“All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles. This is like how you put my mom’s iPod on shuffle and 75 out of 100 times a Billy Joel song will come up. When you have the room to put it on your iPod, you put it on. And I’ll say it again (despite my prediction that 8 other Beatles songs will pop up after this and/or my DVD of Across the Universe will mysteriously not work), but I prefer this song when it plays in Across the Universe. But that’s merely a product of the moment when it plays, as well as Dana Fuch’s catchy “love is all you need”s throughout the middle of the song. Okay, the song’s about to end and it’s…

“Get What You Need” by Jet. Jet is one of those bands that makes catchy really loud, but really catchy songs. Still, watching Kate Winslet do a weird jig-thing in The Holiday is seriously cringe-inducing. Sad.

“Girl” by The Beatles. What is this?! Agh. On the bright side, at least it’s The Beatles that occupy a lot of my iPod and not Fall Out Boy or some other equally terrible band that fill the iPods of some of my peers.

“Loose Lips” by Kimya Dawson. Dawson, a member of The Moldy Peaches, an indie/alt-folk group (I think I read a description similar to that somewhere, but if it’s not accurate, whoops!), is features heavily on the soundtrack for Juno, which, by the way is AMAZING, and I feel sad that it probably won’t win Best Picture or Best Actress at the Oscars, even though it totally should. Ellen Page is amazing in the title role, and the movie as a whole is the best that I've probably ever seen. Diablo Cody, the screenwriter (and also a fellow blogger), is my hero. I hope one day I can write a script as charming, funny, and generally awesome as Juno. Anyway, back to this song, it’s basically a lot rambling, as the title implies. And also some extra Bush-trashing.

“Boy’s Gone” by Jason Mraz. Again, a product of having 80 gigs of free space to occupy. Still, I have to credit Jason Mraz for his style—he blends hip-hop, acoustic beats, and radio-friendly pop to create his own sound. He also provides great commentary on the many VH1 nostalgic programs.

“Evil” by Interpol. Interpol must be pretty freaking amazing if The OC and Friends both felt they were awesome enough to be featured on their shows. If they’re good enough for the geniuses behind those shows, they’re more than good enough for me.

“Make This Go on Forever” by Snow Patrol. You know, I really like Snow Patrol. I think lead singer Gary Lightbody has a really incredible voice and the rhythms and lyrics are really just so memorable that a random Snow Patrol song will occasionally pop right into your head even if you haven’t heard it in a long time. And that’s a real feat.

“Cliquot” by Beirut. I really love Zach Condon’s voice. It sounds sort of foreign to me, so it’s a bit surprising that he’s from Santa Fe. Still, he’s managed to really impress me with “Postcards from Italy,” “A Sunday Smile,” and “The Penalty,” the last two of which are featured on his latest album, The Flying Club Cup.

“The Magic Number” by Blind Melon. Of “No Rain” fame (you know, the 90s hit with the bee girl video?), Blind Melon takes on School House Rock. And I have to say this is just so less annoyingly catchy than those songs were—but I guess that’s how you get kids to remember to “unpack [their] adjectives,” or remember the Preamble to the Constitution (and how many of you are trying to recite it right now?). I was actually first introduced to School House Rock in the fifth grade. And I remember not being able to sleep because that dumb adjective song was stuck in my head. I think I cried that night.

“No More Empty Words” by The Thrills. I really enjoy The Thrills, what with their Irish accents and upbeat sound. I really enjoyed their most recent album, Teenager, but I think “Big Sur,” off of So Much for the City, is probably my favorite song of theirs. It’s that OC factor.

“Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” by Iron & Wine. Man, I love Iron & Wine a bunch. Especially Sam Beam, he of the massive beard, and his airy, wispy voice. Perfect.

“Embryonic Journey” by Jefferson Airplane. You’d think I’d be a major dork for having Jefferson Airplane on my iPod, but seeing as how this was the final song played on the first television show that I loved (okay, obsessed over), it only seemed appropriate. It’s a really nice acoustic piece and really fitting for the final go-around in that wonderfully purple apartment. It must be a skill of mine to pick the shows with the best closing songs.

“Good Life” by Kanye West featuring T-Pain. I don’t care what you say. I love Kanye West. I love how he’s not some thug that raps about the most insignificant things. I love how he has creativity in his music. I love how he dresses. I love his innovation in his music videos. I love how he embraces and takes inspiration from other areas of music (he’s worked with Adam Levine from Maroon 5; he sampled Daft Punk on “Stronger”—that’s all I know of, but I’m sure there’s more examples of his diversity). I do, however, hate that I was too stubborn to take notice before.

“Little House of Savages” by The Walkmen. I only vividly remember The Walkmen playing on The OC because they did during the episode when one of my favorite songs plays, the EP version of Rachael Yamagata’s “Worn Me Down.” That ending sequence is wonderfully depressing.

“More than Fine” by Switchfoot. As poppy as this song is, I really do appreciate Switchfoot’s other, more mellow songs. The Beautiful Letdown was an album that, a few years ago, I played on repeat, and I still remember every single word for every single song. And you know what? I still enjoy it. Funny how the brain works.

“Heretics” by Andrew Bird. My favorite song of this past summer. This song has so many layers and sounds—it is constantly transforming. In the beginning it sounds orchestral, then Bird’s voice comes in, and the drums kick in, and there are some deep backup vocals, and then some light, airy vocals, and then everything kicks in at once. And then he comes back with some cheeky vocals, and some cool guitar riffs, and then the strings are emphasized more, and then everything kicks in again at once, and then Bird leaves us with some mellow vocals. And it’s all pure genius.

“Scarecrow” by Beck. Much in the same way that I appreciate Jason Mraz, I also appreciate Beck. His sound is really just so different and I really just enjoy it.

“Honey and the Moon” by Joseph Arthur. Wow, I love Joseph Arthur, and this song always leaves me nostalgic. As wonderful as the end of “The Pilot” episode of The OC is, it’s made ten times better by this song. This was before Josh had the brilliant Alex Patsavas to supervise music selections, but Josh isn’t too shabby himself. The boy has good taste.

“Honest Screw” by Patrick Park. I first discovered this song on YouTube, searching for Patrick Park music videos (of which there are none, but I can most definitely accept that he is just too brilliant for such things), and I stumbled on a video montage of Patrick Park on a tour set to this song. It’s a wonderful video and it makes me love Patrick Park more than I already do. It’s just such a wonderful song by my favorite artist and favorite lyricist. My love for this man really knows no bounds.

And I’m leaving it at that, because things have just gotten too good for them to keep up that way. Thanks for reading, and really give some of these songs a listen. Embrace click-happiness!

The most wonderful time of the year!

Has it seriously already been six weeks of this? Ay, time flies when you’re reading loads upon loads of BOOKS! Agh, Honors Lit is whipping me into shape. First The Bell Jar (multiple attempted suicides but a real let down in the end because she LIVES! At least give us a book with a payoff, English Department!), then Life of Pi (first book that I’ve actually enjoyed reading, pretty much all the way through, since To Kill a Mockingbird. But of course nothing is ever that simple. Let’s go ahead and find themes and symbols and conflicts), and now Lord of the Flies (only just started, but not too bad so far. I use phrases like “so far” quite often, you may notice).

Okay, but all in all, so far there’s been no 1984s, Pudd’n’head Wilsons or Jane Eyres in the bunch. But that may change, because I think they put one of those Bronte sisters on the list of books that we absolutely have to read. But that doesn’t matter, because no more Jane Eyre! Seriously, one of the worst books I’ve ever read. So completely dragged out. What happened in 500+ pages could have happened in the following:

My name is Jane Eyre. My parents died. My aunt is mean to me. I went to a boarding school for orphans. I became a governess. I fell in love with my employer (OMG! SCANDAL!). He had a secret wife. I left him and then coincidentally found my cousins. My cousin asked him to marry me (OMG! SCANDAL!), but I said no. I went back to my employer. Who went blind. We lived happily ever after!

THE END (finally!)

Anyway, television season is upon us. Hooray for new ways to occupy my downtime.

First up: America’s Next Top Model. Not too different than any other reality competition, except for this one is fierce! Tyra Banks is a cartoon, but she’s fierce, too!

Next: Gossip Girl. My true anticipation for this fall. In case you didn’t know, it’s one of Josh Schwartz’s (creator of The OC) two shows this fall (I’ll get to the other one later). It premiered Wednesday night. It’s basically my favorite type of TV show: young people living scandalous lives that I wish I somehow had a part in. It’s shooting on location in New York City, which I love. And I love the fashion. And everybody on that show is pretty. So you’d think that I’d absolutely love it, because it’s “Welcome to the Upper East Side, (expletive that I’m not sure my mom would want on this blank, but use your imagination)!” but it’s really not even close to The OC, except for potential love triangles and young people that do drugs and drink and you wonder how people don’t notice when they do it in public, like Central Park, for example (except I read that that’s not actually that uncommon – who knew?). But I found myself comparing it to The OC. It’s not as funny, the adult characters are clichés of rich, overbearing parents, and it doesn’t really have the heart that made me love The OC. But then again, am I looking for The OC 2.0? Sorry, rhetorical question. Is this the show’s aim? To be The OC 2.0? No. I can deal with a fictional dose of scandal every seven days. In fact, we all can. Even though it makes our lives much more boring, it also makes up appreciate our dull lives. You know, in that “Thank God that’ll never happen to me” way?

Next: Chuck. Josh Schwartz’s critical darling this year. About a geek (think Geek Squad) who accidentally downloads a whole bunch of government secrets into his brain. Interesting concept. I only wish the geek were Adam Brody. Sigh.

For my mom: Grey’s Anatomy. The most outrageous show on television returns this fall after a trainwreck season finale. Burning questions:
-What will happen to Cristina now that Burke has left her?
-What will become of Meredith's and McDreamy’s relationship?
-Who will fill the ginormous void left my Addison, deemed as one of the few likeable characters on this show?
-How will the departure (okay, firing) of Isaiah Washington (Burke) affect the show?
How will Meredith’s half-sister, a new intern at the Seattle Grace, factor into the new season?
-Will Dr. Roberts (OC, people) ever make a cameo? Please?
-What will George do after failing his intern exam?
-George! Izzie! Gizzie! Gizzie? GIZZIE!?!?!
-But, more importantly, why do more than twenty million people in America care?

And so, in keeping with this whole Grey’s thing, as well as the quiz that my mom took last night (scroll down), I decided to take a quiz of my own: Which Grey’s Anatomy character are you most like? (In other words, just how crazy are you?)

36 questions later:

You are Callie! Smart, sexy and misunderstood, you aren't afraid to say what you think, but you tend to be very insecure. You like to keep your personal life secret because you feel people will judge you. You don't like labels and break the mold. You are very passionate and when you care about someone you deeply care and tend to be overprotective. All in all people enjoy your fun personality and amazing sense of humor but think you "come on too strong" at times.
Thank goodness. However, I apparently scored 33% as Meredith Grey. Okay, so I’m only one-third completely psycho? Good to know?

And, finally, since I feel like it’s been just too long:

iPod shuffle. Until I feel like stopping.

1. Arrivals (Are Never Enough) – The Ghost Is Dancing. Immediately pulls you in with the chant-like drums. Then sounds like a band that I can’t quite put my finger on. Surprisingly, that doesn’t bother me. (Although, maybe I’m getting a Rogue Wave vibe.)
2. Lover I Don’t Have to Love – Bright Eyes. You know, my mom really finds this song creepy, and probably not just because of Conor Oberst’s rather sneaky voice in this song. Because he sort of always has that hoarse thing going on. I don’t think she likes the lyrics. I love them. I won’t go so far to say that this song is haunting, but, then again, maybe it is. For those of you looking for a more “friendly” version of this song, if such a thing is possible, check out Bettie Serveert’s cover. I think she does it better. And not as creepy.
3. All Kinds of Time – Fountains of Wayne. Yes, of “Stacy’s Mom” fame. Although, that should be illegal. Any song that annoying, that overplayed, and that popular should never garner a band fame. But I think this song is totally the opposite. This song actually plays on The OC early in the series. You wouldn’t guess it from the lyrics, which talk about a quarterback that has “all kinds of time.” You also might not guess that a few years ago this song was featured in a commercial for the NFL Network. Although that seems like a more obvious choice, doesn’t it?
4. Song for Sunshine – Belle & Sebastian. Not the best Belle & Sebastian song. Not the best song from “The Avengers,” the ridiculously amazing fourth season premiere episode of The OC. But that really isn’t saying much, because every song in that episode rocked hard.
5. Remedy (I Won’t Worry) – Jason Mraz. Does this count as kind of embarrassing. Kind of? You be the judge. Actually, I take that back. Don’t judge. Who knows what songs will show up later. It’s a too catchy song from the guy that combines pop and rap to make radio-friendly tunes. We should all be so talented.
6. I Turn My Camera On – Spoon. What of the greatest mysteries of Spoon (okay, the only mystery that I can find) is how lead singer Britt Daniel (what a total rock-star name, by the way) can get his voice so high and have it sound good, while he keep his voice rather low in all of his other songs. Again, we should all be so talented and have as cool of a name as Britt Daniel.
7. The New e Blues – Western States Motel. This song only has 6 plays. No wonder, because it’s rather boring and monotone.
8. One More With Feeling – Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. I’ve expressed my extreme dislike for another GCWCF song, “I Spy,” which sounds like it should come straight out of One Tree Hill or off of a 12-year-old’s Myspace page, but this song is actually pretty wonderful, even though I can still detect that distinct sound from the lead singer’s voice in this song that makes “I Spy” so cringe-inducing.
9. I’m A Player – The K.G.B. This is why I told you not to judge.
10. Here It Goes Again (UK Surf) – OK Go. For all the crap that I say about Grey’s Anatomy, I have to say that it consistently features good music. However, I should also point out that that is not a product of the psychotic characters but rather of the wonderful music supervisor, Alex Patsavas, whom I love and envy and who was the music supervisor on The OC, and does the music for Gossip Girl, too. In this case, AP took a seriously overplayed song, however catchy and awesome the music video for it was, and found the more mellow version.
11. Hummingbird – Wilco. For a while I seriously loved this song, but I hadn’t heard it in a while up until a few days ago, and realized why I loved it in the first place: because it’s just so great. I love how it gradually builds up to the chorus. Right before the one-minute mark, this song seriously reminds me of one song that’s in You’ve Got Mail. Can’t tell you which one, and that, again, doesn’t really bother me.
12. Hang Me Up to Dry – Cold War Kids. This song was on the pilot of Gossip Girl, and over on the TWoP boards, where I am a frequent poster, some viewers were so ecstatic at CWK, an indie band from New York City, getting some recognition. Meanwhile, I keep thinking to myself: the music video for this song was practically on repeat a few months ago over on MTV. If that’s not recognition, then I’m really not sure what is.
13. Run-Away – Super Furry Animals. This song starts out kind of strange, but then it picks up, and sounds like a song from the 80’s. And for me, that’s a good thing.
14. Saturday Morning – Eels. This is a nice upbeat song about getting up early on Saturday mornings. I think it’s my mom’s weekend anthem.
15. Gone For Good – The Shins. I’m going to see this incredible band next month and couldn’t be more excited. Because The Shins make great music, as evidenced by this song.
16. Everything Will Be Alright – The Killers. Okay, that’s it, I’m stopping while I’m still ahead.

Well, that was good. Happy fall, everyone (tomorrow is the first day of fall, in case you didn’t know)! Here’s hoping that the Bulldogs lose to Alabama tonight. That would really kick off the new season in smashing fashion.

A Midsummer Night (at least by the time that I finish this thing)

Oh my! How the time has flown these past... 6 weeks?! Seems like I just did that blog post before I went off to camp (you know, the one that took me about 5 hours?), yet that day seems like it was forever ago. And it's also amazing how much has happened these past few weeks. It's crazy how the summer does that to you. Because during the school year, the only difference between, for example, late February, and mid-April, would be:

-Biology tests once a week, instead of once every two weeks.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

But I've definitely been up to a lot these past few weeks, and I hope that these things don't have some sort of word or character limit. I assume they don't, but I'll do my best not to ramble on and on in order to limit the yawns and sighs of boredom. Of course I already am rambling, so what's the point of stopping now?!

On the agenda:

-Camp Highlander: a brief recap of my three week stay up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, accompanied by photos (well, duh), of which there are just over 100(!).

-Summer Reading Update: Not much to tell there, but...

-Other news in SaraLand

-Obligatory (right word?) shuffle dance.

Ok, so first off: Camp Highlander. Ah, what an amazing three weeks, that, as always seemed to fly by. It's amazing to me how slowly 49 weeks go by considering that the three I spend at camp every summer are gone with a snap of the fingers.

Anyway, this year I was in Cabin 1, the oldest girls cabin (the journey has been long, folks. Eight years. From the youngest girls cabin, Cabin 16, to the top dogs). I had the best cabin that I can remember in a long time. All of the girls (there were eight of us, ten including the counselors) were incredibly nice and funny. I've never laughed so hard as I did for those 20 or so days.

Some high points:

-A three day overnight from the get-go. Opening day of the session was Sunday and Monday afternoon we set off for the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee, about a two hour drive from CH. First, we went to a Cherokee reservation thing, which was pretty interesting. Almost too interesting for some girls. A sample conversation:

GIRL A: You know, I think it would have been cool to live back then. Like, you didn't have to worry about some stuff.

ME: Pshh.

Or something along those lines. Don't get me wrong, I find it interesting that they had a corn room and whatnot, but I would never want to live back then. Never.

From the Cherokee reservation we went to a lookout spot and took tons of pictures. Then it was off to the campsite, which was a public campsite, so that means running water and plumbing! Woo! We set up the tents (okay, we had ours set as the example), and ate, during which a total monsoon swept through the camp grounds. That's the thing about weather up there. One minute it's raining so hard you can barely hear anything (rain + tin roofs = no hearing), the next it's so hot, you wish it was raining so that it would get cooler and you could go inside.

Anyway, then we told some stories (some scary, some definitely not), laughed, etc.

The next day was the real "adventure day." First we went to Clingman's Dome, which is a mile or so walk up to a lookout tower thing that is the second highest point east of the Mississippi River. I'd seen it last year, so nothing too new there.

Then we had lunch and rested, for about an hour, and talked about... books, a conversation to which, believe it or not, I was actually able to contribute something of actual meaning. Go figure.

Then we walked and walked, and then walked up, way up, to Chimney Tops, a freakishly high point. Basically, if you fall, you die. I was actually never really too afraid of falling or anything, but still...

Then we went off to a watering hole that had freezing cold water, which, no matter what, is still cold even though you're hot and sweaty.

Later we went to Gatlinburg, an extremely touristy town, where people where fanny packs, and a resident's evening activity is limited to driving up and down the main street, blasting the latest rap music. All. Night. Long.

It's mostly souvenir-ish stores, but it's fine nonetheless. We danced with a folk/country/bluegrass/some genre of music along those lines band. That was awesome.

The next day we headed back to camp. Fun three-day.

-Counselor Hunt. Counselors hide. We try to find them. Okay, we didn't win, but we were definitely the most spirited, and the only cabin to dress alike (we missed Cabin Challenge, where every cabin dresses alike). And we didn't just go with "let's all wear blue shorts and white shirts. Oh, no. As you get older, the themes get more crazy and much more fun. Example: last year we dressed up for Cabin Challenge as ninjas. Coolest thing ever. Then for counselor hunt we dressed up as watermelons.

This year, we were the FBI. All black. Sunglasses (I'm kneeling in the photo, and I wore the star sunglasses because somebody had to). The works.

-Superhero and Villains Dance, thrown by Cabin 1. The first two Fridays are always "dance nights." One cabin sponsors/hosts the camp dance. There's always a theme, which range from "Black and White" to "80's" to "Hello My Name Is...," and ours was Superheros and Villains. Made up or real. The set up was long, but the payoff was awesome. Everything looked great. We even had two girls dangling on harnesses some 20 or so feet in the air as everyone arrived.

And what was I? Oh, I'm glad that you asked. I was... ROGO GIRL! I'm sure you've heard of her. Pink shorts, pink tights, pink converses. A white tank top with my own crest, which I designed and drew onto the shirt. Pretty awesome stuff.

Oh, I could go on forever about everything else at camp that happened, but I'd actually be going on forever, so let's just leave it at this: It was one of the best summers I can remember. And I really hope that I can be a CIT next year and become staff.

Okay, Camp Highlander, check! Now onto Summer Reading update. Sunday night I finished my first (of three) books, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. All in all, it was a pretty boring read, but there's no doubt that this guy has a serious passion for literature (not just novels, but plays, poems, stories, and even movies). And that he knows his stuff. There are just over 25 chapters, and each deals with a certain concept in literature.

Examples of chapter titles include:

-If She Come Up, It's Baptism (Deals with the concept that if a character falls into a body of water, and comes out of that body of water, he or she is reborn.)

-Flights of Fancy (Deals with the use of flight in literature, and the "pretty straightforward" concept that "flight is freedom.")

-When in Doubt, It's From Shakespeare... (Deals with the concept that an array of writers borrow plot devices, quotes, and even work titles [think The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner or Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes] are from Shakespeare's many works.)
-It's Never Just Heart Disease... (Deals with heart disease in literature and what it symbolizes: a character's broken heart.)

And the list goes on. But seriously, this guy draws upon practically everything that he's ever read and makes crazy, how did you seriously know that?-type inferences and conclusions about literature. That said, I still found it kind of boring, but I would recommend it to people who really love reading, because it will make them better readers.

And so now I am on King Leopold's Ghost. I just began it today. I am only on the prologue. It's not too bad yet. Keyword: yet.

Other news in SaraLand:

-I've started a workout/tennis program in order to better prepare myself to make the Varsity Team this spring. Maybe if I make the Varsity team, they will learn how to spell my name correctly. You can tell that I'm still bitter over that, can't you? Ah, I kid, I kid. If I had a nickel for everytime someone spelled my name "Sarah," I... would have a lot of nickels.

-I've made it my own personal summer project (in addition to summer reading, mom) to acquire every song that, to my knowledge, was ever played on The O.C. And folks, this is hard stuff. I have 84 songs in my "new for oc" playlist on iTunes, and a few in my "buy for oc" playlist, so I already have 300+ O.C. songs. But I still have a long way to go. Because, seriously, have you ever heard of First Com? Yeah, neither has iTunes. But Alex Patsavas (music coordinator for The O.C.) has, and she insists on using their tracks for a lot for the holiday episodes.

(By the way, if anyone has the following tracks by First Com, or knows where I can find them, I'd greatly appreciate it if you would let me know: "Hanukkah Lights," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Silent Night on the Praire," and "Silent Night.")

-In other O.C. news... wait, I cannot give more O.C. news, because, as horrid as this is coming from a devoted O.C. fan (okay, obsessed O.C. fan), I have not even finished the fourth season of the show, which came out in late May. LATE MAY, PEOPLE! But, never fear, I'm planning on wrapping it up on the car ride down to the beach this Saturday.

-I've just heard about the new Fall 2007 Keds campaign! Ah, yay! There are seriously some cute shoes in the collection. Check them out here.

Now onto the iPod shuffle. Because I don't feel like getting my own iPod, I'll just put our entire iTunes library (all 4,000+ songs), and see what happens.

No predicitons on this one. The odds aren't good enough, and everything is so unpredictable that every single song that comes up will probably file under "embarassing."

[Edit: Songs in parentheses are generally those on which I cannot comment, for any one of a number of reasons.]

Here we go:

1. (Una Notte A Napoli - Pink Martini.)

2. (Laura - Scissor Sisters. Can someone remind me why this is even on here? Does anyone listen to this? Anyone? Anyone?)

3. (Famine Pulse - Mars Volta. See above.)

4. (Dell'Amore Non Si Sa - Andrea Bocelli. Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Will a good, familiar song ever show up?!?!?)

5. Because - The Beatles. Leave it up to The Beatles to answer my prayers. This is off of their Love album, a type of greatest hits compilation, but better, because everything is different, and reworked, and a really creative spin on just a regular old greatist hits collection. From this album, I recommend "Blackbird/Yesterday." Somehow, "Blackbird" segues pretty much flawlessly into "Yesterday." So much so that you don't even recognize the change in song.

6. (Il Mistero Dell 'Amore - Andrea Bocelli. I should have made this prediction: At least 20% Andrea Bocelli songs. Sheesh.)

7. (The Fallen Interlude - Blink 182. Katie must have forgotten about every Blink 182 and Green Day song on here when she deleted all of the punk music last year. This really needs to go.)

8. It's Because... We've Got Hair - Tunng. A beautiful song. From The O.C., episode 4-09, "The My Two Dads" (and no, that title doesn't make sense grammatically). The mix of female and male vocals in this song is the real hook of the song for me. And the nice beat that comes in about 40 seconds into the song.
9. Don't Ask Me Why - Billy Joel. This is from his 12 Gardens Live CD. Apparently Mr. Joel is fond of Spanish, because this song, quite randomly, begins with "uno, dos, tres, cuatro!" But I really do like Billy Joel. I went through a phase some months ago when I was really fond of "Allentown." But I liked Billy Joel way before that. In fact, my first mix CD (titled "Pop Mix," original I know) that I ever compiled included "Uptown Girl" on it. It also included "Mmm Bop" by Hanson. You can tell that my musical taste has since narrowed. And gotten better.

10. Albany Brownout - Francine. This is one of my newly acquired O.C. songs, and I've never listened to it all the way before, so that's all I can really say about it.

11. Caring Is Creepy - The Shins. Now this is beginning to feel like a shuffle dance of old. A little bit of The Shins, a little bit of some O.C. artists. Nice stuff. And I love this song.

12. (Lying - Peter Frampton. Please see Scissor Sisters - Laura.)

13. (I Know - Fiona Apple. What is this? In the words of Phoebe Buffay, "It's madness! MADNESS!")

14. (Moby Dick - Led Zeppelin. Quick trivia: Who wrote the work that this song is named after? Give yourself time to think about it, if necessary. You can find the answer here.)

15. A Fond Farewell - Elliott Smith. For a long time, I didn't like Elliott Smith, but leave it up to The O.C. to change that. Two of his songs, "Pretty (Ugly Before)" and "Twilight" were featured in season two episodes, and I really liked them, and I've really started to like him now. However, I've never heard this song before, and I cannot tell you anything about it. Except that I really love his voice.

16. Baby, I Love Your Way - Bob Marley. Let's jam.
17. Camisado - Panic! At the Disco. What can you do? This music is fun, the titles are strange. Like, for instance, "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines." Um, hello, but how do you ever expect that to get airplay? A DJ or VJ would run out of breath just saying the title. Come on, Panic! Be practical. And less wordy.

18. (Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon. I like the chanting.)

19. Make This Go On Forever - Snow Patrol. For some reason, this song sounds oh so familiar. But I wouldn't be surprised. Snow Patrol is almost as ubiquitous as Sufjan Stevens or Modest Mouse, and okay, I have definitely heard this before. And I like it.

20. 12:51 - The Strokes. Okay. Um, I know nothing about this song, except that it's three tracks after "What Ever Happened?," a song that I really like. So there we go. This shuffle dance is so random that I'm having to resort to guessing as to whether I've heard this song before, and then deciding that I definitely have, to commenting on it in relation to another song, and then talking about the randomness of everything.

21. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage - Panic! At the Disco. There you go again, Panic! with the long names. I went through a phase just after my 14th birthday where I had this song on repeat. And I played it over and over and over again. So now I know every word. And I'm singing along. And it's funny that just this afternoon, I was thinking about this song, and its title, along with other long titles from various bands, because all of a sudden there are so many long song titles out there.

Here is a random example:

Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued - Fall Out Boy. Okay, then change the name of the song to something more appropriate. It's so unnecessarily long that it's not even funny, which I'm sure was the purpose of this title: humor. And of the title that you had to change, because your lawyer made you change so that you wouldn't get sued.

Fall Out Boy has other long song titles, but I feel as if this post is getting pretty long, so I will not waste more words with unnecessarily long titles.

22. (It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Death Wish - My Chemical Romance. Barf. This really needs to go. Maybe my own personal summer project should be tidying up our iTunes library, because it is in desparate need of a tidying up.)

23. King's Crossing - Elliott Smith. See other Elliot Smith song.

24. (Go Where Love Goes - Andrea Bocelli & Holly Stell.)

25. E Talking - Soulwax. This is one of the newly found O.C. songs. This is proof enough as to the difficulty of my summer project. I mean, have you ever heard of Soulwax. Me neither. Yet, someone else has.

26. Somebody Told Me - The Killers. Wow, this song seems so old, but I guess it's running on three or so years. This was the first single off The Killers' debut album, Hot Fuss. But this is a fun song, with fun lyrics.

(I'm skipping a Blink 182 song because it is truly, truly terrible. It's not even music. Literally.)

27. Girl - Beck. This is a great, summery song. In fact, it's not "my summer girl" but "my sun-eyed girl," which is so much better. The music video for this song is really cool, too. You can see it here. This song was also on The O.C., in 2-15, "The Mallpisode."

28. Army - Ben Folds Five. Wow, I haven't listened to Ben Folds in a while, but this is a really great song. It's even better on his live CD, Ben Folds Live. This is what he does with the trumpets and the saxophones. It sounds really cool when it all comes together.

29. (Live and Let Die - Guns N' Roses.)

30. Paperback Writer - The Beatles. I feel like I've heard this song before.

31. (Piove - Lorenzo Jovanotti. Totally not in English.)

32. (Confessions of a Futon-Revolutionist - The Weakerthans. Oh my goodness.)

33. (Mother and Child Reunion - Paul Simon.)

34. Fortunate Fool - Jack Johnson. I do like some of Jack Johnson's songs. Mostly the ones that I've heard. Oh, I have heard this one before, I think. I wish he would have some stuff that's a bit more up-tempo, though.

35. (A Thing Going On - JJ Cole.)

36. (Baby, What a Big Surprise - Chicago.)

37. What I Got - Sublime. Huh, it's funny that I was about to put this song in parentheses, but I've actually heard this song before, although I never listen to Sublime.

38. Hit Rock Bottom - Dandy Warhols. This is another instance in which I can only comment on this song in relation to another by the same artist. Dandy Warhols have actually had a few of their songs played on The O.C. ("We Used to Be Friends," most famously, which plays in 1-12, "The Secret"), and it surprises me that an entire one of their albums is in our library, because, well, it's not like anyone ever listens to this entire album.

39. (Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) - Led Zeppelin.)

40. Fruit Tree - Nick Drake. I love two of Nick Drake's songs, "Pink Moon" and "Northern Sky." I just really like his voice. This song, in my opinion, is not as good as the others just mentioned.

That does it for this shuffle. A new spin on the old ways. Or something like that.

As for music that I'm really liking right now:

-Heretics - Andrew Bird. This was a very popular song on music blogs that I read a few months ago, and I finally got it just a week or so ago, and am totally in love with it. There's so many hooks in it, it's crazy. A song that you can't get out of your head, but that doesn't really bother you (well, it doesn't bother me).
-You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon. This is off Spoon's new album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Yes, that is the title of the album. Anyway, I've been in love with Spoon ever since I heard their single "The Way We Get By" on The O.C. Mix 1. They've been sending out awesome tunes ever since.
-Save Me - Jude. I discovered this song as I was making my way back through all of The O.C.'s tunes. It played in 4-01, "The Avengers," and I really liked it then, but I had just mistaken it for another song.

-Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root. I'd always recognized this song as "the one that plays at the end of Matilda." People were talking about it at camp, and when I arrived back home, I got it. Wonderful song.

-Beretta - Manishevitz. Another song that I finally found as I made my rounds on all of The O.C. songs. Wonderful song. It plays in 3-01, "The Aftermath."
-Good Day - Luce. This is a song that I'm planning on purchasing on iTunes. It has such a fun, summery feeling. I absoulutely love it! (And I found it when going back through all of The O.C. songs. Well, duh.)

Have a wonderful rest of the summer, everyone!

Peace.

Here we go again....

Before I leave for 19 days of North Carolina bliss, I decided to drop back in and let everyone in on the daily goings on (or going ons? eh, well) of my life. Note: there's some very cool iPod shuffle (as it has only become a custom of mine to do an iPod shuffle whenever I post) to follow. So feel free to scroll down to that.

Okay, so here we go:

1) The O.C. Season 4 DVD! Wahoo. It was on my to-do list to finish everything before I left camp (don't you wish something as easy as that was on your to-do list?), but it's looking like that isn't going to happen. So it leaves me something to look forward to when I get back from camp. [Insert sarcasm here] Speaking of looking forward to things after I get back from camp...

2) ...Two words: summer reading! Oh, the excitement. This summer, they load on three books (2 for Honors Lit, 1 for AP World History). The titles: How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (sorry, no symbol for the e with the two dots above it), and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild. This sounds like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it's practically mandatory that I read these books, because there are tests (or some sort of assessment) on all three of them within the first week of school. But enough about school. Because, have you heard...

3) IT'S OVER!!! Yeah, freshman year is done. Now on to sophomore year, which I hear is a pretty pointless year, but also the most fun year of high school (driver's license, Sweet 16, etc.) besides senior year. Yeah, whatever. As long as I'm taking regular (read: easier) chemistry, I'm cool.

4) Yesterday and Tuesday I finally finished my four massive bulletin boards that have been waiting to be adorned with magazine clippings since... Thanksgiving. But they are done. And they are looking pretty cool if I do say so myself. (Maybe pictures later.)

5) I decided to improve the now gargantuan The O.C. Seasons 1-4 playlist on iTunes. It grew by about 40(ish) songs, so I think I did pretty well. Also discovered how many great songs I'd been missing out on.

6) Keeping with the topic of new music, I also got some great new songs over the past week. Perhaps they'll show up below, and I'll be able to tell you how great they are.

And that's it. I'm off to Horse Shoe, NC Sunday morning and won't return until June 22 or sometime around there. I've given mom my permission to scan (or just type) my letters home. So... it will be greetings from Camp Highlander soon. Now I just have to remember to write the letters. And actually get them in the mail. That's the hard part.

Now for the actual good stuff. A cool new edition of iPod shuffle. Song count is however many I feel like until I feel that it's getting too repetitive and/or I'm just tired of doing it. Have fun.

Predictions:

At least 25% O.C. songs.

At least 5% covers.

At least 10% embarassing songs.

1) Play - Flunk. (Ah, forgot my predictions. See above.) O.C. song. Pretty good so far. Anyway, on The O.C. Mix 4, and it plays twice during season two. I can tell you it played in 2-18, "The Risky Business," and then when the kids are at school before "The Risky Business." Strange song, but Anja Oyen Vister (hey, they're Norwegian) has a really cool voice.

2) Maybe I'm Amazed - Jem. Knocking off two birds with one stone. Or something like that. O.C. Song, and a Paul McCartney cover. Very nice. Anyway, it's on The O.C. Mix 2. It plays in 1-27, "The Ties That Bind," at Caleb and Julie's wedding reception (Jem actually performed it at the wedding), when everyone's dancing and Marissa tells Ryan she loves him and that she doesn't want him to go be with homewrecker Theresa even though she understands that he has to. You know, because it's Ryan's baby, even though Theresa seems to think (read: lie) otherwise.

3) Can't Get It Right Today - Joe Purdy. Mixing it up a little with a Grey's Anatomy song. That's right. As much as all of us O.C. fans would love to blame Grey's Anatomy for the downfall in season four ratings (ratings. pshh) for The O.C., because Grey's Anatomy is a freak of nature and draws in like 20 mil a week, we know it's all Fox's fault, because the people running Fox are dumb. What? Me still bitter over The O.C.'s cancellation? Puh-lease. Although I do find it funny that everyone thinks that Grey's is a total mess now after the season three finale that I actually watched and found quite engaging towards the end, but everyone else found ridiculous, and according to TWoPers (users at the Television Without Pity forums), C-worthy. Ouch. But I still laugh.

4) Orange Crush - Editors. This is one of my O.C. playlist updates. It plays in episode 4-04, "The Metamorphosis," when Ryan is running on the beach, and quite strangely might I (and my mom) add.

5) Rain City - Turin Brakes. Okay, this is getting a bit sad. I've listened to five songs, and all five have been from TV shows. Gosh, don't I have a musical mind of my own. I realize the answer is probably a "well, not really," but still. Anyways, it's an O.C. song. It is on The O.C. Mix 1. It plays in 1-03, "The Gamble," when Dawn (Ryan's mother) leaves Ryan, claiming she's "a mess, not a mother." So Ryan's staying with the Cohens. Woo! He tells Sandy and Kirsten that he'll unpack later, and he makes this really weird face while he does it.

6) Vienna [Live] - Billy Joel. Is it sad that the only reason that I have this great song on my iPod because it plays in 13 Going On 30? Eh, well, who cares. It's one on that 12 Garden Live CD set.

7) Gone For Good - The Shins. Finally, a wonderful, wonderful song by a wonderful, wonderful band that is not on any form of visual media of which I know. It's deserving of four wonderfuls. Yeah! Check out this video: Gone For Good and Turn On Me.

8) You're All I Have - Snow Patrol. Okay, not the best Snow Patrol song ("Run" is definitely the best that I've heard. Beautiful song.), but it's pretty good, and it's catchy, so there. By the way, this sounds like it could be a Grey's Anatomy song, but let's face it - most songs by Snow Patrol could be (and also are) Grey's Anatomy songs.

9) Eastern Glow - The Album Leaf. It's on The O.C. Mix 2, it plays in 2-01, "The Distance," twice, but most memorably when Marissa drunkenly calls Ryan from the lifeguard stand, but doesn't say anything. Ryan knows Marissa is on the other end of the call, but also doesn't say anything. And Theresa knows something fishy is going on, and she's the only one that has the guts to say anything to anybody. But, anyway, it's a great song. It actually has words to go along with it, whereas other songs by The Album Leaf are purely instrumental. Very cool song.

10) New Hampshire - matt pond PA. Plays sometime in the middle of the second season of The O.C. That's all I can say from memory.

11) Bastard - Ben Folds. I remember when I first heard this song and Ben Fold's Songs For Silverman album one summer in Katie's car. This is the first song on the CD, and it begins with a little piano thingy that I can't play and probably never will. But it has some cool piano stuff in it. Bottom line: good song.

12) Those to Come - The Shins. I really do love this song. It's one of my favorites off of the Shins' Chutes Too Narrow, which is an accomplishment, because I don't think there are really any holes in that album. It's a really soft sort of song. But I love it gets louder and louder in the beginning. And I love James Mercer's voice.

13) This Place Is a Prison - The Postal Service. One of the darker, stranger songs on The Postal Service's Give Up. Yes, that's all I can say. It's dark. And strange.

14) Look What You've Done - Jet. It's from a form of visual media. It's on the soundtrack for A Lot Like Love. Now for the cover stuff. According to Wikipedia, it's pretty much a cover of The Beatle's song, "Sexy Sadie," as it "uses similar melodies, chord progressions, instrumentation, and in some cases identical lyrics."

Let's compare:

"Sexy Sadie"

What have you done? / You made a fool of everyone

"Look What You've Done"

Oh, look what you've done / You've made a fool of everyone

15) Decent Days and Nights - The Futureheads. It's on The O.C. Mix 4, and I can't tell you with 100% confidence when this song plays, but I have a feeling it's in mid-to-late season 2, possibly in 2-17, "The Brothers Grimm," when Ryan and Marissa flirt in a Newport clothing store, making fun of each other about hats and stuff. But it's a fun song.

16) Saint Simon - The Shins. Geez, so many Shins songs. What can I say about this one. Um, it's a good one. There. I also like the "la da da, la da da" towards the end of the song.

17) Paint the Silence - South. This used to be my favorite song. And for good reason. It has some great lyrics:

"How can you say your life is empty

So late in the day

Why would you stay another second

Now your sight got in the way

A combination

Of love and aggression

Another second lived"

Anyway, this is the first song on The O.C. Mix 1. It plays twice on the show. It first plays in 1-09, "The Heights," when Ryan and Marissa share their first kiss on the Ferris wheel at the Kickoff Carnival. It plays for a second (and even better) time in 3-17, "The Journey," when Ryan listens to The Model Home Mix, a CD that Marissa had made for him in 1-02, "The Model Home," but, more importantly, when Marissa flashes back to the Model Home, and then, cheesetastically, falls down the stairs. Great acting, Mischa, great acting!

18) Curbside Prophet - Jason Mraz. One of the cooler songs off Mraz's debut album, Waiting For My Rocket to Come. It blends pop and folk and rap all in one song in typical Mraz fashion.

19) I Turn My Camera On - Spoon. What a great song. It plays on The O.C. in 2-21, "The Return of the Nana," when Sandy, Seth, and Ryan are all walking down the streets of Miami looking totally awesome. And while being on The O.C. is how I discovered this song, I imagine I would have liked it just the same had I stumbled upon it some other way. And let's just hope that I would have stumbled upon it some other way.

20) Nothing Better - The Postal Service. This is one of the best songs on Give Up. Jen Wood has pitch-perfect vocals on this track, and Ben Gibbard's vocals aren't too bad either (I actually like Gibbard's voice, even though there are some who just don't like it).

21) Going Home - Andy Barham and Taylor Teeple. How fitting to have a song about going to Camp Highlander on this about-to-leave-for-camp post. Anyway, this has some great lyrics, and it's really a terribly sad song to hear on the last campfire, and it more often than not produces bucket loads of tears.

22) At the Bottom of Everything - Bright Eyes. One of those songs in which Conor Oberst tells a story (literally) and then starts singing. Pretty folky song in my opinion. The music video, which is actually really pretty neat and cool, features Evan Rachel Wood of Thirteen and Across the Universe (!!!) [watch the spectacular trailer here], the movie that has generated more excitement in me to go see it than any other movie that I can remember in recent memory.
23) E-Pro - Beck. It plays on The O.C. in 2-15, "The Mallpisode," (original episode title, I know), when Ryan, Seth, Summer, and Marissa play hockey when they're locked in the mall. Alex Patsavas, the music supervisor for The O.C., and my own personal hero, also calls this episode the "Beckisode," (again, original, I know), because it features six Beck songs.

24) Move On - Jet. This song is on The O.C. Mix 1 and plays in 1-12, "The Secret," when Ryan, Marissa, Seth, and Luke are all walking in the quad before school starts at the very end of the episode. This conversation, and a pretty good/well-known at that, takes place:

(Quick background information: Previously in the episode, Luke finds out that his dad is gay, and, since word quickly gets around Newport Beach, everyone, including those at school, know.) Luke: This is gonna be weird.
Ryan: Yep.
Luke: Everybody’s gonna be staring at me, talking
Marissa: Yep.
Luke: Maybe I can just blow the whole thing off, go hit the beach, give everybody time to get it out of their systems.
Ryan: Oh, it doesn’t work like that. It's been months, I’m still the kid from Chino that burned a house down.
Marissa: And I’m still the girl who tried to kill herself in Mexico.
Seth: I’m still... I’m still Seth Cohen.
Luke: Man, this is gonna suck.
Seth: Yep, well, welcome to my world.
[Seth rides his skate board and the other three walk behind him together. Fade out.]

Wow, what great writing. That's classic season one. All about being the outsider.

25) I'll Find a Way - Rachael Yamagata. After Imogen Heap, Rachael Yamagata may be my favorite female artist. And for good reason. She writes great songs, and has a crazy good voice that can go deep or high and still sound great. This isn't one of my favorite songs on her first studio album, Happenstance, but it's still great, which says a lot about the album and Yamagata, as well. The lyrics are also pretty good:

"The rain is like an orchestra to me
Little gifts from above meant to say
Girl, you're falling at his feet
Isn't lovely or stunning today
Wait with me, wait with me
I'm alive when you're here with me, here with me, stay"
26) Help! - Howie Day. Off of the I Am Sam soundtrack, this song is a Beatles cover (duh), as are all of the other songs on that soundtrack. This definitely isn't my favorite song on the CD, but it's not so bad, either.
27) Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley. A cover of the original Leonard Cohen song. And it's on The O.C.! In total, this song plays on the show three times, while this version of the song only plays on the show twice. It plays for the first time in 1-02, "The Model Home," and it plays for the second time in 1-27, "The Ties That Bind," a musically loaded episode, during the final minutes of the episode, and of the season. You can watch the montage here.

28) I Spy - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. This was on my last iPod shuffle. And my feelings for it have not changed since then. My feelings then?

"This is an O.C. song, but it feels like it should be on like, One Tree Hill, or something. It sounds so 14-year-old-ish and not so good. The only good parts are when the lead singer sings "La-loo-la-loo-la-la-loo-la-loo", etc. etc. Anyways, some middle episode (9 or 10-12) of season four. I'm not sure."

I then stopped the iPod shuffle. Perhaps the song left me with a bad feeling in my stomach.

29) All 'Cause of You - The 88. Okay, I love The 88. And this is a really cool song. I really love it. What is there more to say? Um, not too much.

30) Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer. Okay, this prompted a laugh from me. When is this from, 1998? Geez, that seems not so long ago, yet it really was. I think this is on the Dawson's Creek soundtrack. Hmph.

31) Remedy (I Won't Worry) - Jason Mraz. The main "hit" on Waiting For My Rocket to Come, but my personal favorites on the album are "Sleep All Day," "You And I Both," and "On Love, In Sadness." But I can see why this was one of the hit singles on the album: it's catchy and teen-friendly.

32) Ammunition - Switchfoot. Don't make fun, but I really like every single song on Switchfoot's album, The Beautiful Letdown, and okay, maybe I know every word on every song, too.

33) She - Elvis Costello. From Notting Hill. But, honestly, it's boring me right now.

34) I Turn My Camera On - Rock Kills Kid. What a treat! The original and then the cover of the song. And guess what? This one is on The O.C., too! Oh, the craziness. Anyway, this song is on The O.C. Mix 6: Covering Our Tracks. It plays in 4-15, "The Night Moves," the penultimate episode of the series, during one of the fabulous fade in-fade out montagages that is in this episode. This was easily one of the best episodes of the season, and was the first episode in weeks that I remember, after watching it, saying "Wow. That was amazing." And then it really hit me that the utlimate episode of The O.C. was going to be coming in just a week. Too bad sucky Biology had to ruin the great night (other than the cold reality that The O.C. was actually ending), as I had to study for a dumb Evolution test.

35) Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat. This has also already been on one of my iPod shuffles. Here's what I said then:

"Last year spring break time I thought I was buying a cool song from a relatively "new" artist. I'd seen the song before, and this was one of those "impulsive, why-not-spend-99-cents-more-from-my-iTunes-gift-card kind of purchases." Turns out Hot Hot Heat is not relatively "new." No, they also sing "Bandages," which I'd heard on one of Katie's CDs before. I thought they said "Benedryls, benedryls... blah blah" but it's really "Bandages, bandages... blah blah."

36) Fix You - Coldplay. Is this song overrated? All I know is that when it plays on The O.C. (2-23, "The O.Sea"), it's totally engaging, especially when it kicks in at the very end, and you're left with this strange, hollow feeling in your stomach. That's when I know that Josh Schwartz (creator of the show) is a pure genius, even though he didn't write the episode. But his list of accomplishments is too long to name, and this post is already getting too long (you don't think I noticed that I'm on the 36th song of this shuffle?).

37) Call n' Return - Hellogoodbye. This is one of those bands that just hearing one of their songs makes me smile. Other bands in that exclusive list include Tally Hall and... yeah, that's all I can think of right now. Anyway, very power-pop sound. Good stuff.

38) 16 Military Wives - The Decemberists. Oh, not a lot to say here. Uh, it's a good song? Good enough.

39) A Sentence of Sorts In Kongsvinger - Of Montreal. I really like Of Montreal. Relative to Atlanta, they're actually pretty close, as they were formed in Athens. Although I only have three of their songs, I like all of them, and they're all fun and upbeat.

40) Haiku - Tally Hall. See! I knew it! I see Tally Hall and I just smile and laugh. One of my favorite bands. They're crazy and fun and their lyrics are so strange. But an awesome strange. For example, here is the haiku that Tally Hall features in this song:

"Lah dah dee diddum

Lah dah dee doom doo ditto

Dum doo lah dee doh

There, that's sufficient

I wrote a haiku for you

Well I tried at least, and that's not so bad

I'm working here

Can that be said for you?"

I wish I could write haikus like Tally Hall can.

---

So that concludes this monstrous iPod shuffle.

A final tally:

38% (15 out of 40) O.C. songs.

13% (5 out of 40) covers.

0% embarassing songs. That's right. There really aren't many songs on here that are embarassing.

Well, I'm off for now. Happy summer, everyone!