Tag Archives: high fidelity

The Keyword Shuffle

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Yep! It’s that time again: time to pull up the stats and see exactly how you crazy, er, perfectly sane and very pretty readers make your way to The Brainy Babe! Shall we get started? Yes, I think we shall:

internet stalker logo - Seriously? Like Superman’s logo?  I mean, I suppose the “S” could be for “Stalker”… Wow. On second thought, do you really need a logo? Or want one, for that matter? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you like being covert about your stalkery behavior?

brainy thought for the day - Ooh! I like this one! I think I’ll start giving you a brainy thought for the day, every day!  Why not, right?  So, today’s brainy thought for the day is as follows: If Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, shouldn’t it still qualify as a planet; you know, since the word “planet” is still in its classification? Discuss.

trophy wife - Ah yes! The trophy wife. Well, I haven’t exactly talked about the trophy wife so much as I’ve talked about the expired trophy wife, which is something different entirely. You know what the worst part about expired trophy wives is? They don’t know they way past their expiration date. So sad.

you’re not cool - Oh yeah? Well which of the two of us has a blog? Huh??  HUH???? Bring it on buddy. I’m so freakin’ cool I’m practically ice cold. So there.  ::sticks tongue out at screen in defiance::

dark demon cloud stalking me - Whhhhhaaaat??? There’s a dark demon cloud stalking you?! Quick, someone hand me a phone. I gotta get an old priest and a young priest…

brainy quotes about mistress - Um…huh…er…ah….hmm. Oh! Here’s one: “I don’t know who she is honey! I’ve never seen her before in my…” Oh, that’s not brainy at all, is it?? Whatever dude. Good luck with all that.

hire meg - Yes! Yes, yes, YES!! Hire Meg!!!!  Go look at her link list here. Hire her! Hire her! Er…me!

watch out behind, hunter! - Hmm… I don’t know what to do with this one. Song lyric? Movie reference? Obscure geekdom? Just watch out behind, you hunter person (thing?) you!

quick: top 5 musical crimes perpetuated by stevie wonder in the 80s - WIN!! Someone was searching for High Fidelity and found MEEEEEEE!!!!! I love High Fidelity. Almost as much as I love chocolate. And driving with the windows down. And clean laundry. And silly little cartoon platypuses…or is it platypi? Doesn’t matter. Point is: High Fidelity is amazeballs.

stalker tumblr - Yeah man, I think you’re looking for all the hipster stalkers. You know the type: the ones staring at you out from under their fedoras as they write poetry for you, even though you’ve never actually met them. Yeah, they’re not here. Move along.

mw squared - YES!! We’re famous! Someone actually search term searched (redundant “searched”??) for mw squared. WIN!!!!

 

So there you have it! These terms are all from the last seven or 30 days, depending. There are a boatload more terms that got people here, but these are the ones I found most amusing. Of course that was all fun and games until I switched things over to the terms for the quarter. Wanna know what the top three search terms are?

Stalkers

Trophy wife

Divorce Decree

Um…I might be doing something wrong here.

Top Ten List

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*Sarcasm alert.  Don’t say you weren’t warned to take the following with a grain of salt.

Top Ten List of Why Top Ten Lists are Awesome

10. I can sway you into thinking that what I’m making a list about actually matters in the grand scheme of life.  Because a “Top Ten Reasons Why I Want a Big Mac” list is imperative to your being.

9. It takes a lot of brain power to poop out a list of top ten thingys.  Just ask my office monkey assistant.

8. The resemblance of Top Ten lists to High Fidelity’s Top Five lists imbues them with far more artistic quality than they are legitimately entitled to. 

7.  Top Ten lists let me rank and judge things.  I like ranking and judging things.

6. They make me sound really smart.

5. They make you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

4. David Letterman did them first, and imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery.  Of course, Obama might disagree when he switches on Saturday Night Live…

3. They are a totally worth the time you waste in reading them.

2. They allow the writer to laugh at something in the guise of fine writing.

1. They allow for the rampant use of sarcasm. – Actually, this reason is true; all the others not so much.

How do you feel about Top Ten lists?  Honestly, I really don’t mind them so much; this was just an exercise in getting those sarcastic juices flowing (as if I really need something like that).  Also, I don’t like judging things and try to avoid doing so at all costs, unless it’s music, then that’s fair. 

Have a Top Ten list?  Send it to me in the comments!

Review: ‘Juliet, Naked’ by Nick Hornby

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Wow.  I’m plowing through these books like crazy.  Blame it on my weekly visits to the library for the free and [mildly] entertaining children’s shows and my little one’s insatiable need for books, books, and more books. 

Also, blame it on the fact that The Thesis is nearly over and I no longer have to scour through history books ad nauseam (I mean I love them, but sometimes you need a break from work!).  Regardless of the reason, I’ve been reading books both good and bad, and after the piece of junk I recently finished, I was looking for something that was sure to be good. 

Last week, I had the lucky fortune of walking past the “H” shelf of the adult fiction section of the library, and saw three little volumes staring up at me.  How on Earth had I forgotten about my beloved Nick?!

Hornby’s High Fidelity is one of my favorite books.  I just kind of “get” that book.  I can insert myself into the story, I feel it, I swirl it around in my noggin, hold it close to my heart, chew it until it loses its flavor, whatever analogy you’d like to use to describe it, I’ve gotten into the book in a way that rarely happens for me. 

I really identify with the main character in an unusual way.  Of all the characters in lit, the fact that I identify most with its main character, Rob Fleming, and the literary representation of Elizabeth Gilbert in her memoirs probably says something about me.  Probably something I wouldn’t really like, but I trust you Internets with my craziness, so whatever!

Anyway, I picked up Juliet, Naked, and wow. (((Clap. Clap. Clap.)))  It deserves applause.  (((Clap. Clap. Clap.))  Hornby’s characters have yet to strike me as anything other than authentic and realistic.  It’s funny and subtle.  The humor is real-life, with a hint of regret and bittersweet loneliness.  The drama is nothing outlandish.  And the prose?  Well, the prose is just fantastic.

Hornby jumps from character to character, centering the story on Annie, her unfaithful and mildly pathetic long-term boyfriend Duncan, and Tucker Crowe: a washed up musician from the ’80s.  Duncan is obsessed with Tucker and runs a website dedicated to Tucker’s music.  These people are obsessed – like, ‘tween Twilight fangirl crazy obsessed.  On steroids.

Turns out, Duncan and his co-fans have no clue about Tucker’s real life.  Something changes though, when a new unplugged album, ‘Juliet, Naked’ is mailed to Duncan.  He devours the album, thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world, and writes about it on the website.  Conversely, Annie doesn’t think it’s all that wonderful at all.  She thinks it’s like a sketch before the watercolor has been added to it; basically, it’s unfinished in her mind.  Annie’s disgusted disagreement with Duncan’s review causes her to take a stab at writing and posts her own review of the album on the fansite.

Her single site post evolves into an online relationship with the real Tucker, and everything changes for the trio forever. 

I love these British novels.  They’re just different enough to be exotic, but very familiar – parts of London are easily mistaken for New York while running through the dialogue.  Anyway, it did not disappoint.

Like literary sorbet, a Nick Hornby novel cleanses the reading palate, clears the mind, and is always a sure bet if you’re looking for a good read.

High Fidelity Fun

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I found one of my favorite films on t.v. the other day: High Fidelity. I seriously love this flick and I think a big reason for my love is that it stars John Cusack, whom I find quite hilarious. Oh and Jack Black. I love Jack Black.

(photo source)

“Rob. Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s go… Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins… is it better to burn out or fade awaaay?”

Haha!

Anyway, in watching it, I realized how far we’ve come since the movie debuted in 2000. I mean, no one would even dream of making anyone an mixed tape today, and it’s a reoccurring theme in the movie. It’s so good, though, and quick. You really have to pay attention if you’re going to catch the jokes.

John Cusack’s character, Rob, is depressed, but so dry in his depression. I love this line:
“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?” Seriously, how true is that?

And the true musical geek loves to catch the references to songs/groups:
“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up is hard to do. It takes ages longer than it might seem.”

Haha! Or, wait! How ’bout this one?
“Uh Rob, thank you for the enthusiastic intro but we are no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We’re on the verge of being Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but this evening we will be known as Barry Jive and the Uptown Five.”

Hahahahaha!!

So, anyway, it got me thinking about my top 5 songs (the “top five” list is also a recurrent theme). And I decided to embrace the doodling on a notebook thing and wrote it out for you & this is seriously just the top five today. If you ask me next week, it would probably be different, but here it is:


(5) “The Ghost Inside” ~ Broken Bells
(4) “Full Moon” ~ The Black Ghosts
(3) “Imagine” ~ John Lennon
(2) “Far Away” ~ Ingrid Michaelson
and # 1:
“Skinny Love” ~ Bon Iver

You. Top five songs. Go! ;)