ALGEBRA!


moar funny pictures

Ok - I am not going to blog until I see Springsteen so no more posts about songs so good they make me cry.


NOW LAUGH!!!!!






Have a great weekend!

I skipped the Bruce Springsteen Hoot last night and that probably wasn't the best choice, but I had some serious bad attitude mojo so I stayed in and got some work done, and that was pretty nice.

Back to Bruce week... last week I put down the songs I want to hear. And while Candy's Room is at the absolute top of my list, I really don't think I'm gonna hear it live. But if I do - you better believe that you'll hear the whole overwhelmed, teary-eyed story - having my first crying at a Springsteen show experience - it was one of those moments (that I have only felt a couple of times) where I've wept because I was HAPPY.

Lately, I can't listen to Darkness on the Edge of Town without getting teary eyed, as the track goes from 6 to 7 and I know I'm going to hear The Promised Land playing next. Then the drums kick in and the harmonica and I'm just goo in some cube somewhere... The first time I saw Bruce, I wasn't all that familiar with the song, in fact I remember someone behind me ask "Is this 'Long Walk Home'?" And now that I think about it, that song itself will definitely be a highlight Sunday and/or Monday.

YouTube won't let me embed... but I really love this video for Long Walk Home... it's my personal favorite off of Magic.

Anyways - I can't help myself, I'm including two versions of The Promised Land today... the first is a better version of him in Paris in '85 (God, wouldn't that have been an amazing show to be at? In Paris. Outside... The second is a newer one captured on someone's phone, probably - in Milan. I couldn't leave that one out because the crowd starts humming and/or whoa-oh-ing the minute it starts and it's just plain glorious.

Paris:



Milan



-and here I am again, all weepy-eyed. Is this crying from Springsteen songs getting too repetative on my blog? Meh. Isn't that what blogs are for?


p.s. Brooke is my favorite on American Idol already.
p.p.s. Chikezie totally killed it last night.

BRUCE WEEK STARTS RIGHT NOW

One week. Only one week til I am back on the floor at the Xcel enjoying my second Bruce Springsteen show. I will have a fit of joyous insanity if he plays this -

CANDY'S ROOM! (i get chills just hearing the whole crowd sing along...)



On Candy's Room: I have interpretive danced to this song in my apartment a bunch of times and let me tell you it is thrilling!

This one doesn't require me telling you what it is...



I blogged about the effect that this song has on me. Instant weeping upon hearing it live, chills everytime I hear it. There is something so kinetic, so special about hearing his crowds sing in unison, especially in that moment where they join in

Show a little faith, there's magic in the night, you ain't a beauty but hey you're alright...

chillschillschills


And this made me laugh really hard... even if it is Ben Stiller



This is wrong on soooooooooo many levels... Martika? WHAT THE FUCK?



-And I think that is Fergie on the far left. I would stab myself in the ears right now if my second and third Bruce shows weren't coming up.

This is rough, what the heck do I blog about when I am still sitting around in my candy-cane stripe PJ pants and my five dollar frankie says relax t-shirt and watching cable with barely ANY entertainment value?

Oh - that they just played music from one of the Mario Kart games in this Goldie Hawn episode of E True Hollywood Story.

Anways, the biz with me today:

My Name is Jen Paulson, and I'm an addict.

I think I am addicted to hyper-negative media. And the real culprit, my fix, my rock of crack is Gawker. I can't stop. It's like watching a television show - none of these people seem real to me - well except from the celebs and the terrifying Michael Musto as La Lohan as Marilyn Monroe cover for the Voice, et cetera - wait they don't really seem real to me either - and why the fuck should they, right? Ok - so that's that. A perfectly non-cohesive little rant that again, makes no sense to anyone but me. Please pardon the nonsensical nature of my blog.

---and now, adhd change of subject time-----

I found a fantastic write-up about Gygax over on Slate with Jonathan Rubin's article, Farewell to the Dungeon Master... He says it way better than I ever could. This is probably the weirdest thing to say, but with Gygax's death, I am reminded how much I love my super-nerd boyfriend. He is one of those guys to an excessive degree. He is also a super hero. It's true.

Speaking of Nerdcore - we're going to see MC Chris tomorrow. Fuck, I am going to have this song stuck in my head for the REST of the day.

FETT'S VETTE, MOTHERF*CKER...



and then she goes on a YouTube Favorites BINGE!!!!!!!

I actually miss playing WoW... whatever, haters, that game is fun.



Eye of the Tiger - scene from the amazing film Persepolis



this is, and I've probably mentioned this before, my power song.

R.I.P. Gary Gygax 1938 - 2008

When I first became aware that there was even such a thing as Dungeons and Dragons, or RPG's in general, I was in the tenth grade. I had just started dating my first serious boyfriend, who was all about that shit. My best friends at the time, were two sweet-as-sugar, wonderful girls named Jenny and Kate, who were twins and lived down the street from me. We had met right away when I moved to Fergus Falls in the 7th grade and became fast friends. Anyways, so while I was figuring out what 'gaming' was, I for some reason got talked into going to some Charismatic Church meeting where the topic of the night ended up being Dungeons and Dragons and other varieties of these games. They talked about how evil they were... see THIS for a version of what we were told... Well, needless to say it freaked me out for about fifteen minutes before I realised how crazy it was.

Anyways - why am I even blogging about this? Because regardless of whether or not I actually play (there was a brief stint in high school) or whether or not it is important to me personally, it is important to a lot of great people that I know. And it really is a sad day when someone who made such an impression on the gaming industry and all the different genres of entertainment that ended up being borne out of it passes away.

Anyways - to invalidate my whole heartfelt post - here's a clip from the classic D&D-is-bad movie starring future superstar Tom Hanks, Mazes and Monsters...

Man, that Top Ten Rap Songs That White People Like got under my skin... I mean, I'm not really irritated, but maybe I have just had a different experience with Rap music. I've always had a sponge-like, obsessive desire to learn about music. My first introduction to Rap was at my friend Tracy's house when I was in the fifth or sixth grade and we used to listen to NWA before we walked to grade school together.

We lived on a block behind a K-Mart in the Northern Suburbs, I went through a brief period of shoplifting where I stuck mostly to Silly String and candy from the Tom Thumb up the block. Good times, good times... We ended up moving and my Rap connection was severed, and I fell in love with Wilson Phillips or Belinda Carlisle or something freakish like that. Anyways, I guess I just wanted to keep posting YouTube videos and I am super excited because I think I just landed my coolest interview to DATE. So - enjoy the videos, ok?

Local Rapper M.anifest - video from the Best New Bands show at First Ave a couple months back - you can probably hear me screaming on this...



Muja Messiah - Amy Winehouse



Brother Ali - Forest Whitiker (live)



Talib Kweli - Never Been in Love




Boogie Down Productions - South Bronx (yes i realise it's just the album cover for the entire thing, just listen!)



Tribe Called Quest - Scenario



And the joint that makes me go to my happy place...

Ice Cube - Today Was A Good Day

Link Stolen Directly From Amber Colored Life

Top Ten Rap Songs that White People Love

-- for some reason this list sorta bummed me out.

Well, this is MY favorite (semi-novelty) rap song...

SUPERSONIC - JJ FAD



less novelty, but still one of my absolute favorite rap songs...

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON - NWA



Ok, so my favorite Run DMC song is definitely Peter Piper, but I don't really know why. It just is... but I found this delightful blast from the past on YouTube and considering just how much I loooooooved Reading Rainbow back in the day.... check this...



And in honor of the excitement of Chuck D doing The Current's Fakebook in April -

Give it Up - Public Enemy



So maybe I'm not the average white girl.

What it is:

Hey, y'all - it's been awhile since I've posted an actual blog about what is going on with me. Seeing that it's a Sunday night and I should be in bed watching the news right now (TMZ) I am blogging instead. I have said this before... just how much I hate Sunday nights, so I'll take my mind off of it by replaying what's been going on with me lately.

I've been writing, a little less than regularly, but I got to see and review the Fine Line Sia show for Spin.com on Tuesday night, and I get to do the same on Wednesday for the Bob Mould show at First Ave. So that's super cool, eh? I gotta cook up some more projects this week - I think I might finally be crawling out of my late winter funk... I went to New Mexico a couple weeks ago and it was great, the weather was beautiful and I had soooo much fun with my girl Shans - but when I came back it was transitional hell, getting back into the swing of things... I don't want to be a hermit anymore...

Went out to the Kid Dakota, Ice Palace and Jeremy Messersmith show last night and ended up standing, in a middle of a PBR tallboy haze, almost right next to one of my least favorite exes. Or as I so lovingly call him, The Troll. The moment of realisation was mildly hilarious as I turned on my heels as faux-calmly as possible and basically darted into the crowd, and (how fitting) subconsciously to the side of another ex (who I am still friends with) to whine at him about my blast from the past. And I felt better. Ok, but enough about that - this isn't livejournal.

So........... the Bruce tour is on again, and in two weeks from today I will definitely be blogging about how he will have blown my mind again, and how I cried over this song or that. And that he played the song I wanted to hear and and how he didn't play one of the songs I wanted to hear. And how excited I am to see him in Milwaukee (which is algonquin for... the good land) the next day. BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it's gonna be perfect)

My dream list of songs to hear:

Candy's Room
The Promised Land (although he won't play it cause he played it last time when i was unschooled on it's redemptive properties)
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Night
Prove It All Night

I think this might have just cemented Darkness on the Edge of Town's status as my favorite Bruce album, but I am still not convinced

Anyways!

I need to get out more! I need to see more music, be more openhearted, more outgoing, more ambitious, more foxy, etcetera etcetera. I need to figure it out, ahem - find my voice, figure out what i am going to do with my writing. Am I gonna keep going, get better, push forward - I think I better keep it hardcore. If you have any suggestions on who to see, where to go - let me know.