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Day 19 - A song from your favorite album

Though I have favorite artists and favorite albums, this album takes the cake. I always liked Sara Bareilles' music. When I married my wife, I learned to like her even more. With the release of Sara's latest album, Kaleidoscope Heart, I have come to see that she is one of the most talented artists of our generation. This is also the best album of the year, if not the best album I have EVER heard. It's incredible. Here are a few of my favorites off the album. (no real music videos yet, they haven't been released.)

Day 18 - A song that you wish you heard on the radio

Well, anything Collective Soul I would love to hear more often. I guess there's something to be said for owning and listening to music that's not "mainstream", and I enjoy that as well. However, I love these songs. Two of these are off of my favorite Collective Soul album, the last is my favorite Collective Soul Song ever. (The music videos are always strange... CS isn't the best when it comes to videos, though one of them is soon to be featured on my blog.)

I know, I know. CS this, CS that... Whatever.

Day 17 - A song that you hear often on the radio

I would have to say that Katy Perry's new songs are pretty overplayed... However, I cannot post any of them here, due to content. Her videos are pretty scandalous.

However, I can post some other overplayed songs.


(Not that I don't like this song... because I do!)


Also on the list is:

Anything by Ke$ha (even once is overplayed)
Half of Black Eyed Peas' Music
and the most overplayed song of the decade is the following:



I told everyone I wouldn't get sick of this song, and I still am not. I enjoy it just as much now as I did 5 years ago. Still... it bugs me when they overplay music. Good or bad.

Day 16 - A song that you used to love but now hate

This was the hardest one yet... I don't hate most music, and when I do love a song, I normally love it, or at least like it, forever. This song, however was way overplayed. I still don't "hate" it, but it's by far not my favorite anymore. It still has its merits, and i'll still listen to it if it comes on the radio. The music video is pretty lame though, which I'm sad about. Coldplay has some pretty awesome music videos, which you will see in a couple weeks.

Day 15 - A song that describes you

This blog is harder than I thought it would be. I come across songs that are perfect to use, but there is no way I could post half of them, because most of the music I listen to isn't popular enough to be on youtube or yahoo. :)

Well, this song could accentuate my true eclectic nature. My music tastes, my sense of humor, my mentality, (if you listen closely to the spoken words) my random, strange side... etc.




This song tells you how I feel every single time I walk out of the house... Well, the music video does all the talking. The song is just a good one.



Okay, so maybe it's not THAT bad... Everyone just loves me, what can I say?

But it does make you wonder if people actually like you, or just like what you have or your popularity... (Not that that has ever been too big of a problem for me...) ;)

Day 14 - A song that no one would expect you to love

Anyone who knows me exceptionally well would not be surprised to learn that I love the music of Sara Bareilles. I post this song, merely because I can't think of anything else that people wouldn't expect me to love. I love everything! Ask anyone... I was going to save this posting for Day 31, and I probably will re-post it at that time anyway.

I very much love this music video. I think the song is amazing and the video is very original and moving.
Here you go:

Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure

Is it terribly hypocritical of me to have posted a blog about unnecessary swearing, then to post a song like this? Oh well... At least this song is catchy and humorous. Yeah, probably not the best thing to listen to, but, for some reason, I just love it. Maybe it reminds me of people in my past, or maybe I just like the vindictive nature of the song, but somehow it makes me happy... and guilty... ;)

Day 12 - A song from a band you hate

There's not a lot of music I don't appreciate. There are, however a few bands I cannot stand no matter how much anyone tells me they are awesome. Here is one example:



I dislike this band considerably. That being said, there are a couple of songs I don't mind hearing every once in a while. My main beef with them comes down to three or four items:
1. Chad Kroeger's unbelievably overprocessed, overcompressed voice is not natural or real sounding, and becomes monotonous and excessive after just a couple of minutes. There's no way I could listen to an entire album of theirs.
2. Half of their songs use the exact same melody and chord progression. Don't believe me? Check this out: Nickelback Artistfacts
Also look at this video: How You Remind Me of Someday: Nickelback to Back
The song I posted has the exact same sound too. Listen closely...
3. Half of their songs use unnecessary swearing or crude lyrics. I hate when a band puts inappropriate material into a song when it is completely pointless and just makes me not want to listen to their music.

Anyway, that's my take on this band. Not a big fan...

Day 11 - A song from your favorite band

My favorite band has long been, and always will be, Collective Soul. I could go on and on with the reasons I love them... and I think I will. This is, after all, my blog, right?

I've always thought their lyrics were original and interesting, even deep at many times. I LOVE their music and the way they can put a good mix together. They are all talented and fun to listen to. They all are great guys in real life too. Especially Ed Roland, the lead of the band. Ed may not seem like the brightest person in the world in an interview, but he is a musical genius. He writes pretty much every song the band sings and has since the early 90's. Ed is also a good Christian, the son of a reverend, and a clean lyricist. He is also a single father who has time for his son, and a platinum-selling rock band. This band was built from the ground up, and struggled for years until they became what they are now. I respect them as people and as musicians. Here's a good bio, if you like.

Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep

Well, this is just such a beautiful song, I don't know about making me fall asleep, but it could, I'm sure. Maybe I should listen to it right now, as I just woke up and can't seem to get back to sleep anyway. :)

So, there's no video of this song that I could find, so here's a mock-up with lyrics.

Jason Mraz feat. James Morrison - Details in the Fabric


This is another AMAZING song that I have fallen asleep to in the past. Now, some may wonder at the meaning of this song. It's about skinny dipping. It's called Nightswimming. No don't judge until you've listened to it. It is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard and I love it. In my opinion, it's less about the obvious, and more about... well, it's about a simpler time. Growing up and loving certain things that now seem taboo or have become un-"PC", etc. I think this is a beautiful commentary on the way things used to be, and don't worry, there's nothing risque in the video, it's just a video of people swimming. If you are offended by the idea of the song, then you don't understand what they're really singing about. Sometimes you just need to do something silly and risky. Sometimes you need to forget what other people think and do something for yourself. Sometimes... you just need to go nightswimming...

R.E.M. - Nightswimming: "Automatic For The People"

Sorry, the ability to embed the video isn't working right now, so you'll have to click the link.

Licorice, Cairns, and the Pain of Triumph!

Yesterday marks the hardest thing I have ever done... physically that is. Well, to start off, I am now working a graveyard shift that demands me to sleep all day and work all night. Well, Friday morning at 1 AM, I went to work. At 7, when I got off from work, I began preparing for the most difficult hike of my life.

I have been told that the Pfeifferhorn, a peak next to Lone Peak in the Wasatch Mountain Range, was a more technical and more difficult version of the Timpanogas Hike. Well, they were wrong. It was more akin to my Everest. The hike was fun, but very hard. Of course, it may have been easier if I had actually slept at all, but I was hiking during the time I would normally have been sleeping.

The hike started off at a fairly level grade but soon steepened and became pretty steep in parts. It was also very long. Needless to say, I was slowing down before we were even a quarter of the way done. Once we got to the meadow/lakes below the peak, it was time for lunch and a rest. From the meadow on up, the hike consisted of climbing from rock to rock and boulder to boulder. Only it was also straight up. Once you climb to the saddle, everything gets a little easier for a moment, but by this time, I was too tired to even move.


(This is a shot from the Maybird Gulch side, but it gives you an idea of the terrain from the meadow on up.)

Moving on, you can finally see the Horn itself and you begin to feel quite daunted. I did not take these pics myself, they are web stock. I'll post ours later, but needless to say, the peak was, in the distance, a veritable peak of depression (one thing that made it seem less scary was the fact that it smelled like licorice up there... we could not figure out why...)



After climbing over refrigerator-sized boulders with sheer two-three hundred foot drops on either side, you finally come to the base of the peak. This is where I sat and attempted to tell myself I could do it. The final ascent to the peak was about a 70% grade with rocks and grass and loose dirt. It was not nearly as scary as it looked, but it was a whole lot scarier looking than anything I'd ever done. I was also, by this point, a little sick from the elevation and very, very tired. I would walk a few steps and rest for a few seconds... It took me a half hour to scale what should have taken 5-10 minutes. To make matters worse, we both ran out of water at the peak. Good stuff!



When we finally got down the mountain (two empty camelbacks filled with filtered streamwater later...) it was getting dark, and the last five minutes of the trail were in basic black. I missed my mission reunion due to lateness and mainly soreness, but worth it? You tell me.

10/8 - Anyway, it was a very intense, but very worth it hike. I then spent the weekend sick with a fever and sore throat and missed three days of work. Still worth it? You bet! It is the essence of Triumph!

Oh, and you may ask, "what's a cairn?" Well it's one of these things:



Hikers will construct these rock piles along a path where the trail is not clearly defined, so as to show the "easiest way"... supposedly...