Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 20: Your Favorite Breakup Song

This one wasn't so hard as the previous...

Day 20: Your Favorite Breakup Song

Well folks, it's Garbage again, with the song Can't Cry These Tears off their 2001 album Beautiful Garbage.
I know, I know, I'm a Garbage-obsessed freak.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 19: Your Favorite Love Song

Love songs kinda suck.

Day 19: Your Favorite Love Song

I'm a sucker for love songs with a maudlin side.  We're talking lost love with the hope of a return.  It was a hard choice, but I picked Last Kiss.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 18: An Instrumental Song You Like

So many great instrumentals...

Day 18: An Instrumental Song You Like

I've always been partial to the guitar piece Classical Gas.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 17: The Last Song in Your MP3 Folder

 This is a song I don't listen to nearly enough.

Day 17: The Last Song in Your MP3 Folder

I got this song via Spinner's Free MP3 of the Day, and I rather like it, though it's not my topper or anything.  The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has the sort of band name I love, and this song, Young Adult Friction, is just fantastic.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 16: The First Song in Your MP3 Folder

This one took some juggling since my songs are sequestered into sub-folders...

Day 16: The First Song in Your MP3 Folder

I shifted all of my songs temporarily into a single MP3 set folder, and the first one was...#1 Crush, by Garbage.  Many of you have probably heard the Nellee Hooper remix that featured on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet, but this is the version that was a B-side to one of Garbage's first singles, Vow.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 15: A Song You Liked in High School

Hard to narrow this one down.

Day 15: A Song You Liked in High School

Technically, the song Pink, by Aerosmith, came out a couple of years before I was in high school.  Still, by the time high school rolled around, the song was still getting some play on radio stations I listened to, and it caught me up for some reason.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 14: A Song From the Year You Were Born

 I'm gonna go with an easy one that EVERYONE remembers...

Day 14: A Song From the Year You Were Born

Possibly one of the best-known songs from 1985 is that multi-celeb charity hit We Are the World.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 13: A Song You Sing in the Shower

We'll just pretend that this applies to me; as if I would sing in the shower.

Day 13: A Song You Sing in the Shower

 A while back, The Simpsons did yet another episode about Marge and Homer's dating days.  This one was bumped up from the 70s/80s to the early 90s, of course, since the show itself has since progressed (with no aging of characters, this being a cartoon).  The Homer of this ep became a Grunge singer and, with his band Sadgasm performed a little song called Margerine.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 12: A Song That Makes You Want to Have Sex

I was nearly stopped dead by this one, as sex is something that I no longer do at this point in my life, nor do I plan to do it at any time in the future.  (PS: Today's my birthday.  Just so you know.)

Day 12: A Song That Makes You Want to Have Sex

I'm going with a song that used to make me want to have sex.  That song, ladies and gents and sundry, is Queer, by Garbage.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 11: A Song That Reminds You of Your Mother

Ah, finally, something about the parent I liked better and loved more!

Day 11: A Song That Reminds You of Your Mother.

The reason this song makes me think of Mum is because it comes from what I think of as "her era" and, when she was young, like in high school, Mum looked a little like Brenda Lee, the most famous singer of the number.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 10: A Song That Reminds You of Your Father

Let's just put this one in the category of "But I have serious father issues and don't really like to think about him" and do it anyhow.

Day 10: A Song That Reminds You of Your Father

My father was no trucker, but he was a fan of singer Red Sovine, who sang a lot of songs about truckers.  One of the songs I heard him play the most was "Phantom 309".

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 9: A Song That Reminds You of an Ex

One problem: which song and which ex?  'Cos there are a few of each...

Day 9: A Song Which Reminds You of an Ex

I chose, for various reasons, "Back of a Car" by one of my fave bands, Big Star.  I'm a sucker for most of this band's catalogue, and when I learned back in March that Alex Chilton had died, I wept.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 8: One Band/Singer Whose Popularity You Will Never Understand

This one was rather easy...

Day 8: One Band/Singer Whose Popularity You Will Never Understand

Justin Bieber, okay?  Like I said yesterday, I don't get sucked into the tween/teen pop.  I get that maybe this guy fits the teen heartthrob mold of being bland and non-threatening with just a hint of "edge", but I just don't see how he achieved earth-shattering fame.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 7: One Band/Singer You're Ashamed to Admit You Like

This one took some real thought.

Day 7: One Band/Singer You're Ashamed to Admit You Like

I've always prided myself on NOT getting sucked into the tween/teen popster trap.  Most of those kids are annoying, far too peppy, and can't sing worth a damn without auto-tune shoved down their throats.  Also, most of them sing through their noses (It works for Barbra Streisand, kids, but you are not her).  However, I've found myself rather enjoying the singing of Miranda Cosgrove, a girl who got her start in the film School of Rock and the Nickelodeon show Drake and Josh before moving on to her own series, iCarly.

Book Review: Love is a Mix Tape

I honestly hesitated to write this review.  I hesitated because I knew it meant reading the book again, and that meant another round of laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe and crying so hard that I thought I'd never stop.

I had to write this review.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 6: Your Favorite Band

This should make it apparent that I'm forever stuck in the past to a degree.

Day 6: Your Favorite Band.

I know that it's fashionable, when a band has come to define a certain type/genre of music, for those "in the know" to trash them as "not really ________".  The Sex Pistols were "not really Punk", Nirvana was "not really Grunge", etc., etc.  Well, screw that.  I don't care what a band was or wasn't, or how they're judged just because they got famous.  Nirvana's my favorite band and always will be. 

She Must've Been Asking For It...

Seriously...that line up there?  I thought we were over that as an excuse for a woman getting harassed/treated like a sex object/raped/etc.  Apparently not.

I didn't care much when the story of reporter Inez Sainz being allegedly harassed by members of the New York Jets football team broke.  It seemed sort of the typical thing, and she wasn't even the one to file the major complaint.  But then, I heard people on the news saying that, because she wore tight jeans, she was asking for it.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 5: Your Favorite Female Singer

If you know me, you might be able to guess this one.

Day 5: Your Favorite Female Singer

It's Shirley Manson.  No competition here, at least not where I'm concerned.  Shirley's a kick-ass singer and a great person and she doesn't take guff from anyone; she's her own person. 

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 4: Your Favorite Male Singer

Occasionally, I have odd taste in music and singers.  I don't think this will be a case of that, however.

Day 4: Your Favorite Male Singer.

I love a lot of voices.  Most people have, at best, one song stuck in their head at any given time; I have usually four different versions of the same song, all by different singers, trying to decide who I like the best.  But if I have to narrow it down to one singer, I'll pick Gavin Rossdale. 

The Various VMA Flaps

Pictured: TEH HORRA!

So if you didn't watch the MTV Video Music Awards last night, everyone is OMG SO OFFENDED/SHOCKED because Lady Gaga wore a dress made from meat.  She had previously done so on a magazine cover and caused a rather minor stir.  Now, though, she had the effrontery to wear such a thing IN PUBLIC!
C'mon, people.  Get past it.  The woman is out to be provocative and controversial.  She's modeling herself on every controversial pop star of the past 30 or 40 years.

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 3: A Song That Makes You Dance

This is gonna be a bit of a blast from the past.  Just warning you now.

Day 3: A Song That Makes You Dance

I don't dance very much, but I am capable of it, even good at it.  And the one song that can get me dancing without fail is "How Bizarre" by OMC. 

The Insidious Technological Plot to Destroy Life As We Know It; or, Lela Thinks All That Terminator Stuff Might Come True

Ever since I was a young girl (I played the silver ball!)

Ha ha.  Oh, I am a caution.

Seriously.  Ever since I can remember, I've loved science fiction.  Books, movies, whatever.  If it smacked of technology and THE FUTURE, I was probably all for it.  Robots I loved especially.

Pictured: Your best friend and your
mom. Time travel and the impending
robot apocalypse tend to make people
somewhat careless.

And then, when I was around eight, I saw both The Terminator and Terminator 2 for the first time.  And I was sore afraid.  Not that I'd never been introduced to the idea of machines turning on their owners (that's a big part of the backstory of Dune, and Dune was, is, and probably always will be a big part of my life), but this...they were stopping at NOTHING to destroy this one guy BEFORE HE WAS EVEN BORN!  Also, I learned that time is really a mess (long before I got so fully immersed in the world of Dr. Who), Arnold Schwarzenegger is more than just a buzzard-biting barbarian, and that sometimes, the best friend you send back from the future to save your mom so that you can be born really turns out to be your dad.  Talk about confusion!

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 2: A Song That Makes You Cry

Memes don't suck...until a saddish bit comes up.

Day 2: A Song That Makes You Cry

"Wild Horses" is the song.  Hands down.  Normally I'd say "Wind Beneath my Wings" or "In My Darkest Moments", but the first only makes me cry if it's the Bette Midler version (due to the Beaches association) and the second doesn't ALWAYS make me cry. 

Self-Indulgence: 30 Day Music Meme: Day 1: Your Favorite Song

I always swear I won't get sucked into memes, but I always do...a friend was doing this one over on LiveJournal, and I decided to transplant it here...because I am a sick, music-loving monkey...

Day 1: Your Favorite Song
I go all 'round on this, always hearing another song or a new song and thinking "oh, this is my favorite" and then thinking the same moments later on another.  But "Milk" is one I go back to time and again. 

New Zealand Week: Day 7: Star Profiles: Danielle Cormack

Danielle Cormack

Danielle Cormack got her start in theater in her native New Zealand and first came to real prominence as a teenager with a role in the soap opera Gloss.  She's compiled quite the list of credits since then, with her abundant talents for both comedy and drama making her a natural choice for a rich variety of roles in television, film, and theater.

New Zealand Week: Day 7: Star Profiles: Karl Urban

Karl Urban

Karl Urban is one of New Zealand's stars who has managed to start getting some real footing in the entertainment industry outside of his homeland as well.  Though he is primarily a star of action-type films where Americans are concerned, a review of his career shows an actor also adept at comedic roles, and at deep drama.

New Zealand Week: Day 6: Star Profiles: Rena Owen

Rena Owen

As one of New Zealand's top female stars, Rena Owen has taken on many roles through the years.  From her beginnings in theater to breakthrough roles in film and television, she has shown herself to be among the top acting talents around.  She's also overcome personal problems and addiction, never letting life beat her down.

New Zealand Week: Day 5: Star Profiles: Temuera Morrison

Temuera Morrison

Temuera Morrison is one of New Zealand's biggest stars, known at home and abroad as an amazing actor capable of handling everything from comedy to intense drama to action with ease.  In a career that has thus far spanned over 20 years, he has proven himself a powerful performer who can enfuse almost any role with true feeling and heart.

New Zealand Week: Day 5: Author Profiles: Ronald Hugh Morrieson

Ronald Hugh Morrieson

Ronald Hugh Morrieson (29 January, 1922-26 December, 1972) was one of those unfortunate artists whose fame does not cement itself until after death.  He even semi-predicted this outcome in a comment to a friend several years prior to his demise.  In Morrieson's case, his real fame arrived a decade after his death, with the successful film adaptations of three of the four novels he had written.

New Zealand Week: Day 3: Review: The Price of Milk (2000)

This is a film that, after even one viewing, you won't soon forget, whether you like it or not.  It's magical, mystical, weird...altogether trippy.  It's got romance, betrayal, danger...everything that makes a fairy tale great.  Don't let that put you off though.  This is a film with a heart and a message.

New Zealand Week: Day 2: Author Profiles: Alan Duff

Alan Duff.

Alan Duff, born 26 October, 1950, is one of New Zealand's leading authors.  He is best known for his novel, Once Were Warriors, the first book in a trilogy dealing with the troubles of a Māori (New Zealand aboriginal) family in modern New Zealand.

New Zealand Week: Day 1: Star Profiles: Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless

I've already kicked off New Zealand Week over on my horror blog, and now we're gonna start things off here with a profile of a star who'll be recognizable to a lot of people outside of  New Zealand. (I'm easing you into things, see?  Aren't I nice blogger?  Say it.  Say that Lela's a nice blogger!  Very good.  Here.  Have an apple.)

Just a note for my U.S. readers (pretty sure that's all three of you), I'll be using international dating conventions in these profiles; for example, rather than writing, say, January 1, 1954, it would be 1 January, 1954.

Lucy Lawless is best known for her roles as Xena on the series Xena: Warrior Princess and D'anna Biers on the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.  She's also had roles on everything from The X-Files to Veronica Mars and made a small cameos in the first Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man film and Boogeyman.  To the average person (read: not an obsessed fan), it might seem that Lucy's fame just happened overnight.  But it's not as if Lucy just appeared one day, rising from the dust of Aotearoa and taking a small part on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and then bursting into stardom.  No, she's a bit more complicated than that.

Happy 70th Birthday, Raquel!

That's right, folks.  Pop culture icon Raquel Welch is the big 7-0 today.  Hard to believe, because she still looks damn good.

1970 publicity shot for Raquel's film
Myra Breckenridge

Raquel earlier this year.

And the Count Drops by One...

Eleanore Cammack 'Cammie' King Conlon died of lung cancer on Wednesday.  She was 76.  Perhaps you've not really heard of her, but chances are you've seen her or heard her voice; at least, the voice she spoke with in her youth.

She was better known as Cammie King and, in 1939, she was one of the actresses chosen to portray Bonnie Blue Butler, daughter of Scarlett and Rhett in the classic film Gone with the Wind.  She would also provide the young voice for Faline the doe in the Disney animated feature Bambi.

Though Cammie left acting while still a child, she remained proud of her role in Gone with the Wind, and she continued to appear at gatherings and retrospectives about the film as recently as last year.  She had also written and published a memoir of her childhood experiences at the time of Gone with the Wind.

An autographed photo of young Cammie on the set of Gone with the Wind with her onscreen father Clark Gable.

Cammie more recently, holding a copy of her memoir.

I'm Magic! or, How I Really Decided to do This Blog's First Theme Week

Earlier today I was kicking back, working on some possible blog posts.  I noticed that I was doing reviews of a lot of films from New Zealand.  The entire culture and entertainment industry of that place has interested me for a long time, and then I started to think that it might be fun to do a weeks worth of overviews and guides to films, music, and television from New Zealand.

A few hours later I learned that, while I was dreaming up Kiwi Theme Week, there was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake near Christchurch, New Zealand.   The international dateline means it happened on Saturday morning for them, but still!

My thought must've caused it.  That or it's the earth warning us, what with the earlier quake up near the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.

But I'll stick with the "Lela has a magic brain" theory.

I'm monitoring Radio New Zealand, national stream, to keep up.

Next week is New Zealand week on EPP.

So...yeah.

Everyone is Gay?: The Strange Obsession with Keeping Stars in the Closet...or Not

I've gone through life with so many people telling me that anything but heterosexuality is a bad thing.

Yet in This Modern Age, bi and homosexuality are slowly becoming accepted, at least in some quarters.  Some say this is a bad thing (I'm looking at you, Westboro Baptist Church) and that allowing people to practice non-heterosexuality will be the death of this country.  Being homosexual myself (though not homosocial, should any guys wanna, ya know, hang out and shoot the shit), I don't want to believe that.  There are plenty of other problems with this country that will probably inevitably lead to its downfall.  Teh ghey is the least of our worries.

What bothers me about the whole thing is that, even with different forms of human sexuality finally becoming so accepted in the Western World, celebrities, be they actors, musicians, or what have you, have such a hard time coming out of the closet.  Of course, they couldn't come out of the closet years ago when being gay was something that most of the general public feared and hated.  But now, they still seem to think it will ruin their careers.  Who knows; it might.  After all, there's been controversy lately over whether an out gay actor can believably portray a straight romantic lead.  That hinges not only on the performer's ability, but on the ability and willingness of the public to look beyond the reality of the person's private life and to immerse themselves in the story being played out on the stage or screen.

I read Blind Gossip on occasion, and it seems that 3/4 of the items are concerned with this actor or that actress or some musician being in the closet but being dangerously close to being outed, or being told by their "people" to get further in.

Frankly, who cares?

It's time for the public to admit that, just as sexuality typically has no bearing on the ability of a person to perform most regular, every day jobs, it has no bearing on entertainment either.

It's time for Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general, from the producers and publicists to the stars themselves, to get their heads out of their asses and understand that, if a performer is good at what they do, if they have fans who love their work, then coming out as gay is no longer going to be a complete end to their career.

Or maybe I'm insane.

Links, Shout-Outs, and Assorted Gibberish

First off, I finally have a follower!  Bad Ronald suddenly popped up in my follow box for both this blog and All the World's a Horror Show.  Probably because of the little shout out I gave to his comments on James Cameron's comments on Piranha 3-D.  Awesome, because now, I'm not going around in a constant state of "BAWWW, no one's ever gonna follow my blogs!"

If you're a relative newcomer to the world of science fiction literature, head on over to io9.com for this excellent syllabus and book list and start immersing yourself in the good words.  Also be sure to check out their list of 21 sci-fi films they don't want to see remade, with suggestions of books that could be made into films instead.

I'm on a bit of a sci-fi kick today, so bear with me and check out Cull, a fascinating and somewhat frightening short story by Robert Reed, author of the Hugo winning novella A Billion Eyes.

The Silent Majority: Everyone was There

A random selection of photos featuring several stars of the silent era.