thinking too much

OVERTHINKER
UNDERDOER

I am in a weird place creatively.  I gave myself a little vacation from expectation while I adjusted to regular employment (more on that later), but it is TIME, which is part of why I'm trying this little month long experiment even though December is a dumb month for such things. I'm so out of practice it isn't even funny.

But now it is bedtime for me! Since I now have a regular job with benefits including insurance, I'm going to the DENTIST in the early AM tomorrow! This is actually my second appointment - I had my cleaning, checkup, etc. already and things don't look to bad, all things considered.  (But not so great I don't have to go back.)

photo above was taken on my phone during one of my Cleaning with the Beatles sessions. I set my iPod on the ALL BEATLES, BEATLES ONLY, KEEP OUT YOU OTHER BANDS setting and set my timer for an hour and cleaned like… I dunno. Like Eleanor Rigby, if she was a binge cleaner I guess.  Anyway! I put my iPod down for a minute and a CD from the library (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts!) jumped on top of it and I saw some tiny Revolver-Beatles and Revolver Beatle side-eye framed so nicely that I took a picture.

how do you feel?

Other Beatle: How do you feel?

Ringo: With me hands, usually.

(Beatle quotes approximate! Please recall that lame puns are 125% funnier with Liverpool accent, 200% funnier when said by a Beatle, and 500% funnier when said by Ringo.That's just the way it is.)

I thought today was going to be the kind of day where I would intersperse reading on the patio with crossing off items on my to-do list (first item: make list!) but it wasn't to be: I got called into work -- but it was okay! I was there just the right amount of time, it was air conditioned (hot today) and they called me, which is always nice.

ANYWAY. I have too many DVDs out from the library. The limit on DVDs* is 15 -- usually it's not a problem, but all these great foreign movies that I want to watch keep crossing my path at work. I drag them home, and they LANGUISH while I wait and wait until finally I can't renew them anymore, make myself sit down and watch them, and then think "why did I wait so long?!?" I do this all the time!! Anyway, I have to get moving on some of these because Lubitsch's The Love Parade is waiting for me and something has to go back. So tonight I watched Help! (which I realize is not in a foreign language, but shut up! it's hot outside and I can't read subtitles effectively when I have to get up every 10 minutes for a new popsicle, okay?) I will have more to say about this later, but it featured a Beatle song I hadn't heard/thought of in a long time. (crucial youtube video below:)



According to Wikipedia, this song was "John doing Dylan." I quite like it. And the video (from the movie) is classic. (Ignore Leo McKern with a gigantic styrofoam manhole cover on his head... if you can.) I love how they reinforce their Beatle (Boy Band) Personalities in this segment: Thinky Acoustic Dylan John in front of the library, shy but sly flirty George, cheeky flirty Paul, and of course RINGO in the bed cave with a tambourine! (I knew I wasn't the only one who kept a tambourine under my pillow!!) In mid-century modern news, I love the sideboard in the scene with the lawn-mowing hobo-hippie who plays the flute/clarinet/woodwind of some sort. (in fact, I think I've seen most of this furniture in the Design Within Reach catalog.)

Book News: I didn't have a chance to get very far (YET) due to the working today and all, but from the first 12 pages of Lynda Barry's What It Is (Powell's, library), I am already willing to call it one of the best books I've read all year. If you are interested in writing, visual art, or really creativity of any kind do yourself a favor and get your hands on this book right away. I bonded with it before I opened it (from the cover!) but I knew it was going to be great by the time I read this: " The thing I call 'my mind' seems to be kind of like a landlord that doesn't really know its tenants. (...) Who is playing that music? That song I said is 'stuck' in my head? Which apartment are they in?"

Other Summer Reading News: I have a TON of short stories arriving on my doorstep and already here. I guess I'd better get busy. I have also decided that I'm having an Ephronathon this summer. I don't know why, but it just popped into my head not that long ago that I've really enjoyed everything I've ever read by Nora Ephron, so maybe I should read MORE of it. yeah! Plus, I really enjoy saying "Ephronathon."

Okay. this was going to have more, but I will save it for another post.

*library limits for our system are as follows: total items: 150 (very generous!), 15 CDs, 15 DVDs. I think the limits on media used to be higher (or not at all) but people (ahem) were hoarding things. The limits keep stuff circulating, which is the whole point.

one, two, three, four/ can I have a little more?

To celebrate the triumphant return of my ipod shuffle (there you are, you little bastard!), I took it out for a spin around town yesterday. It's currently loaded only with Beatle songs, which was big fun for me since I needed a break from the usual; a break from the familiar by listening to the familiar! But it worked -- like fighting fire with fire, or the hair of the dog that bit you (or something). Here are some of the songs that stood out for me-- they're what are often considered to be secondary (or tertiary) Beatle songs, but a second-rate Beatle song is still pretty DAMN FANTASTIC. Maybe they stood out because I've heard them less often? I don't know. They are also really short -- the longest one (Baby You're a Rich Man) is just over 3 minutes, but most of them are around the 2.5 minute mark. Anyway, these songs all made me happy for various reasons. (song titles link to song reviews on the All Music Guide)

All Together Now: This is a counting song AND a list song -- already it's aces by me. Add to that the loosey-goosey singalong quality, the handclaps, the nonsense nursery rhyme parts, how it gets faster and faster as it goes along -- the innate silliness of it all --and you have a recipe for giddiness. It's a two minute party that I'm always happy to attend. All together now!

Baby You're A Rich Man: How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people? Now that you know who you are/ what do you want to be? This song always surprises me. I think because it's all trippy stoner philosophizing and then zags sideways with the rocking yet charmingly nonsensical baby you're a rich man, baby you're a rich man too/ you keep all your money in a big brown bag/ inside the zoo, what a thing to do! chorus. Maybe because I'm mostly used to hearing "baby" along with "girl" or if it's in reference to a guy... well, let's just say I don't hear baby and man together very often in pop music, so this almost seems progressive.

Girl: Yes, it's true, there is a thread of "women are cruel and heartless yet I can't live without them" going on here, but I don't take it as an indictment against all women -- it's a pretty pop song and I'm not going to quibble. Girl is very melancholy with a great troubadour-like beginning: "is there anybody going to listen to my story/ all about the girl who came to stay? The AMG review of this song noted that it has a strong greek flavor, which now that they mention it, yes of course, but I probably wouldn't have put my finger on it without the pointer. ..hangs head in shame.. The big dramatic sigh (well, it's kind of a cross between a sigh and whatever that noise is when you suck in your breath) is kind of ridiculous -- Oooh, Giiiiirrrulll, (sssssigh) -- but it makes me smile, as does the singalong tit-tit-tit-tit part. Cheeky Beatles!

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey: I don't know how many times I have heard this song; hundreds of times, at least. But when I listened to it yesterday it was like hearing it for the first time. I got that crazy eye-welling, leg-tingling oh my god happy feeling, which was not unwelcome. There is just huge ENERGY here. I love John's lead vocal, the cracking guitar, and the woooo's! My god, the woooo!'s it's like Paul (I think it's Paul) cannot suppress his internal woooooo!-- that it is only by intense concentration that he is not woooo! ing nonstop -- it's just that kind of song. I adore the c'mon c'mon c'mon parts and I am absolutely in love with the little blast of bass 20 seconds from the end. THE BELL-- how could I forget the bell?!? If the Salvation Army played their bells like this, they would raise a lot more money. The song is only two and a half minutes long and I'm left bereft but exhilarated when it ends. (then I push repeat and do it again!)

Honey Pie: Of all the songs on this short list, I expect this is the one that most people would find inexplicable. It's another one of Paul's nostalgic "granny music" english dance-hall songs, but I DO NOT CARE. I mean, I have a lot of affection for that style of music so it's not really surprising that I like this song, but I've seen a lot of vitriol aimed at Honey Pie in print so I'm kind of defensive. Listening to it is like watching an old hollywood movie musical (black and white set on a transatlantic cruise ship with lots of dancing flappers, champagne, tuxedos, feather fans and hilarious misunderstandings). It contains the lyric "I'm in love, but I'm lazy" which makes me laugh because of the I love you, but I really... won't you just come home? It would be easier for me implications. There's a lot of clarinet and an underlying sense that Paul was having a really good time. Not simply because of the intrinsic satisfaction he got from writing/performing it, but also maybe because he knew that it was somewhat perverse in the middle of a rock album. (that's just my sense of it. What fun is this stuff if you can't project your own meanings and significance?)

Woooooo!