Hannah Kane
Writing Assignment #2
Artist’s Statement
Film and Literature
17 Nov. 2010
The piece of writing that follows may or may not be an essay. It was posted in its raw, original form at one of my blogs, before I copied and pasted it into a Microsoft Word document, tweaked the formatting somewhat, and generally attempted to make it presentable. My aim in doing this was to give my writing a sense of temporality, of grounding in time, of trajectory – perhaps even narrative trajectory. This also serves to underscore the self-reflectivity and reflexivity of my piece; essentially, it became an online account of a personal history, created entirely using a personal computer: my HP Pavilion Entertainment PC. As I wrote and researched and posted to the blog, I saw a cyclical pattern and made note of it in my text: that sometimes, during Google searches for information, I would come across my own blog.
One thing that stands out about this essay is the amount of quoting. Especially in the section about Wikipedia, I wanted to get user-generated descriptions of the online phenomena I discussed. I feel that my choice of material cited – almost entirely Wikipedia – is a valid choice stylistically and serves to underscore my main point(s?). By preserving the source formatting, I hope to give the sense that the person reading my essay is actually reading Wikipedia, but necessarily not actual Wikipedia. What appears in the following essay is Wikipedia as it appeared when I did my research, as unadulterated as I could make it, so that the reader is equipped with the same knowledge I had when I wrote my commentary. Because it is constantly edited, Wikipedia is subject to near-perpetual change; what the reader of my essay might see if I merely referred them to the pages I visited, they might come into my discussion with different source material.
But now, I feel I must return to the question of whether this work is an essay. In the sense of the French word essai, from which our English word derives, I have most certainly written an essay – an attempt. On a deeper level, too, the essayistic traits of this work manifest themselves. In class, we came up with four primary qualities that define the essay. First, essays tend to discuss small or localized topics. This allows the essayist to move between the specific and the general. The topic I was assigned, computers, was a fairly broad topic; I had to narrow it down to personal computers, which are (obviously) narrower. I also incorporate history, couching my discussion in terms of both personal history and global history. Because of this, I necessarily had to move between the specific and the general. Secondly, our class decided that an essay must be refracted from the point of view of the essayist – be they writer, filmmaker, or creator in some other medium – but essays are not about the essayist. We also discussed the rhetorical trajectory of the essay, and agreed that essays allow for contradiction, open-endedness, and the reader’s own ideas and thoughts. Further, we defined the essay as a free-form patchwork of varied textual sources. I think this piece clearly meets these criteria.
Trickier, perhaps, is our concept of the essayist as analytical outsider. This status allows for cheek, irony, maybe even melancholy. Am I an outsider here? I can’t quite tell. I do, I suppose, champion a point of view that I have not seen discussed elsewhere, a point of view which I would be willing to bet is, in fact, extremely unpopular. Come to think of it, I dispute the notion that Wikipedia is worthless and unreliable – that is certainly an outsider position. Whether I come across as cheeky, ironic, or melancholy, I do not think I am, at this point, self-aware enough to determine.
Finally, this piece has taken on an online life of its own. As previously mentioned, this essay was posted in its original form as a series of posts at http://talkingstove.blogspot.com/. During winter break, I hope to produce – using only my PC – at least one video, to be posted to my YouTube account, related to this topic. If nothing else, though, this project will live on in this consolidated, written form, as I intend to keep expanding on it, and make it long enough to function as my contribution to National Novel Writing Month. Thus, parts of this piece will survive in snippets at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/559112, if nowhere else.
In sum, I firmly believe that the following piece falls within the realm of the essay. I worry that I ramble on too long, or that my point is not clear enough; however, both of these qualities cement this work inside the field of the essayistic. Also of concern, to my line of thinking, is the amount of quoting and citation included in the ensuing text. In addition to citing the internet – in terms of both independent websites and Wikipedia proper – I quote two of my favorite books written by two of my favorite authors: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. I also include a quote about the nature of history, which I found on Wikipedia. I almost feel immoral doing this, but the form allows it, and I am trying as hard as I can to make sure credit is given where it is due.
One last note: in class, we touched on the notion that one of the most important practices, one of the fundamental rules of writing, is that the writer should keep his or her audience firmly in mind. My audience is the internet, the public in general – the readers of my blog; but also, this is for my dad, for my siblings, for my friend Fernando, whose inquiries into the life of his grandmother inspired me to contemplate the mysteries of my grandfather’s time on Earth.
Without further ado, I hope you, the reader, enjoy my essay.
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
17 November 2010
16 November 2010
Conclusion
I feel that the fact that you just put up with such a warped, lengthy meandering rumination on personal computers and history means that you deserve something short, sweet, and frank – a sort of bucket of ice water to wake you up from my dizzying mental journey.
Thus, to conclude: I think widespread access to personal computers has changed how people (granted, predominantly first-world people, but again, a topic for a different essay) conceptualize history. History has long been written by the elite, by the powerful, by the winners. Personal computers provide easy, widespread access to the internet, which includes sites with strong emphasis on user-generated content – in essence, user-generated personal histories. For the sake of brevity (that’s not quite a joke, but I do realize this essay is creeping up in fifty pages), I’ve tried to focus on Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter, but I hope other, smaller sites like DeviantArt, YouTube, Wordpress, Blogger, webs.com, and their ilk don’t go unexamined. I feel I’ve made a pretty decent case that people who have grown up establishing an online presence have left self-generated records of themselves, their experiences, and their perspectives on larger, “historical” events.
However, I want to bring home my initial guiding principle in exploring online histories – my personal search for my long-dead grandfather. The minutiae of his existence (which could, today, come from Facebook, Twitter, and the like) are almost entirely lost. For the internet, James Richard Kane (or is his name Richard James Kane? Dick Kane? Who was he?) exists almost entirely in terms of his service in World War Two.
What was that, exactly? Unless you’ve done reading outside this essay, you don’t know, and I’ve deliberately kept myself in the dark up to this point, so that if you’ve been sticking to my perspective, we’ll find out together (in a sense). I do a quick search of http://www.69th-infantry-division.com/combat/combat.html - a page off a site I linked previously – for my grandfather’s regiment, the 273rd.
Now, a moment of suspense for you, though a much longer moment of suspense for me, as I have to interrupt my research and concurrent writing to attend a screening for class. I have the combat narrative open in the other window, and it’s killing me that I have to go to class (since this essay is for the same class, though, I feel the need to point out that the screening is also interesting, just a half-hour walk away and through the rain).
The 273rd Infantry crossed what the website calls “the infamous Siegfried Line” taking artillery fire from the Germans, and later crossed the Rhine. “On April 16,” the site says, “the 273rd Infantry captured the town of Colditz and liberated Colditz Castle, freeing many Allied prisoners.” During the battle for Leipzig, the 273rd fought to the south of the city, which eventually fell to the Allied forces. Only nine days later, “on the afternoon of 25 April 1945, a patrol of 11 men led by Lt. Albert L. Kotzebue of the 273rd Infantry Regiment made the historic contact at Leckwitz on the Elbe River with the 58th Guard Division, 34th Corps, General Jadov's 5th Ukrainian Army, Marshal Koniev's First Ukrainian Front.” This contact is “historic” because it was the first meeting between American and Russian troops during the Second World War; the internet reaches a fairly strong consensus that this was a turning point in the war. If all the information you and I have seen to this point is correct, my grandfather, Richard Kane, was there.
I could get into “aura” and “affect” and Walter Benjamin here, but I don’t want to. The internet is only one way I have access to my grandfather in the present, and I hope it is not the sole avenue by which the future can access me.
[here I will have two photos, accessed on Facebook, one of my cousin, one of my brother and father, all of whom look like my grandpa.]
Thus, to conclude: I think widespread access to personal computers has changed how people (granted, predominantly first-world people, but again, a topic for a different essay) conceptualize history. History has long been written by the elite, by the powerful, by the winners. Personal computers provide easy, widespread access to the internet, which includes sites with strong emphasis on user-generated content – in essence, user-generated personal histories. For the sake of brevity (that’s not quite a joke, but I do realize this essay is creeping up in fifty pages), I’ve tried to focus on Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter, but I hope other, smaller sites like DeviantArt, YouTube, Wordpress, Blogger, webs.com, and their ilk don’t go unexamined. I feel I’ve made a pretty decent case that people who have grown up establishing an online presence have left self-generated records of themselves, their experiences, and their perspectives on larger, “historical” events.
However, I want to bring home my initial guiding principle in exploring online histories – my personal search for my long-dead grandfather. The minutiae of his existence (which could, today, come from Facebook, Twitter, and the like) are almost entirely lost. For the internet, James Richard Kane (or is his name Richard James Kane? Dick Kane? Who was he?) exists almost entirely in terms of his service in World War Two.
What was that, exactly? Unless you’ve done reading outside this essay, you don’t know, and I’ve deliberately kept myself in the dark up to this point, so that if you’ve been sticking to my perspective, we’ll find out together (in a sense). I do a quick search of http://www.69th-infantry-division.com/combat/combat.html - a page off a site I linked previously – for my grandfather’s regiment, the 273rd.
Now, a moment of suspense for you, though a much longer moment of suspense for me, as I have to interrupt my research and concurrent writing to attend a screening for class. I have the combat narrative open in the other window, and it’s killing me that I have to go to class (since this essay is for the same class, though, I feel the need to point out that the screening is also interesting, just a half-hour walk away and through the rain).
The 273rd Infantry crossed what the website calls “the infamous Siegfried Line” taking artillery fire from the Germans, and later crossed the Rhine. “On April 16,” the site says, “the 273rd Infantry captured the town of Colditz and liberated Colditz Castle, freeing many Allied prisoners.” During the battle for Leipzig, the 273rd fought to the south of the city, which eventually fell to the Allied forces. Only nine days later, “on the afternoon of 25 April 1945, a patrol of 11 men led by Lt. Albert L. Kotzebue of the 273rd Infantry Regiment made the historic contact at Leckwitz on the Elbe River with the 58th Guard Division, 34th Corps, General Jadov's 5th Ukrainian Army, Marshal Koniev's First Ukrainian Front.” This contact is “historic” because it was the first meeting between American and Russian troops during the Second World War; the internet reaches a fairly strong consensus that this was a turning point in the war. If all the information you and I have seen to this point is correct, my grandfather, Richard Kane, was there.
I could get into “aura” and “affect” and Walter Benjamin here, but I don’t want to. The internet is only one way I have access to my grandfather in the present, and I hope it is not the sole avenue by which the future can access me.
[here I will have two photos, accessed on Facebook, one of my cousin, one of my brother and father, all of whom look like my grandpa.]
14 November 2010
Facebook users should be fairly well-acquainted with how they use the website, but I feel a brief statement on the site, its functions, and its use is necessary to flesh out this essay.
To draw once more upon my favorite source, Wikipedia:
“Facebook is a social network service and website. As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users, which is about one person for every fourteen in the world. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics. A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?" Quantcast estimates Facebook has 135.1 million monthly unique U.S. visitors.”
I shape my personal history with Facebook. I post status updates with how I’m feeling, what I’m doing, what’s going on in my life. I state, using Facebook, that I am attending a certain event. I go to that event, take pictures of myself and my friends there, then later post those pictures on Facebook. (I admit, I even go so far as to alter these pictures. Sometimes this is limited to cropping incriminating items – bongs, beer cans – out of the pictures, in order to protect reputations; other times, in terms of this essay, I figure my progeny won’t need to know every detail about my acne, so I photoshop it out.)
My friends do the same. Their posts show up, refreshed in a real-time “news feed” on my Facebook homepage. Wall posts, event RSVPs, what people like, notes people write, games people play, their high scores – I see all this as a constant affirmation that we, people, humans, Facebook users, exist.
“We are writing… we are writing… we are writing…”
How one uses Facebook to communicate is, however, extremely limited to Facebook’s own rules, functions, and capacities. One can click a button to show that one “likes” something, but this is the only option – there’s no “dislike” button, no “disagrees with” button (oh how many times I have wished I could state, with a mere click of my mouse, “Hannah Kane doesn’t give a shit about this”). If I want to write a status and make sure my friends see it, I can tag them: “Hannah Kane went to class with @Ash Bruxvoort today.” But only six tags are allowed in a post. Why six? Six seems like such an arbitrary number.
When I post photos, I can tag people in them; my Facebook friends (though admittedly not all 1,011 of them) can click through and see all 1,182 photos that have ever been tagged of me. If someone tags me in a photo and I don’t want that tag to exist, I can remove it – once again, with one simple click – and I can’t be re-tagged without my consent.
In ways like these, I and 500 million other people cultivate public histories viewable to at least a segment of the rest of the internet-using population.
To draw once more upon my favorite source, Wikipedia:
“Facebook is a social network service and website. As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users, which is about one person for every fourteen in the world. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics. A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?" Quantcast estimates Facebook has 135.1 million monthly unique U.S. visitors.”
I shape my personal history with Facebook. I post status updates with how I’m feeling, what I’m doing, what’s going on in my life. I state, using Facebook, that I am attending a certain event. I go to that event, take pictures of myself and my friends there, then later post those pictures on Facebook. (I admit, I even go so far as to alter these pictures. Sometimes this is limited to cropping incriminating items – bongs, beer cans – out of the pictures, in order to protect reputations; other times, in terms of this essay, I figure my progeny won’t need to know every detail about my acne, so I photoshop it out.)
My friends do the same. Their posts show up, refreshed in a real-time “news feed” on my Facebook homepage. Wall posts, event RSVPs, what people like, notes people write, games people play, their high scores – I see all this as a constant affirmation that we, people, humans, Facebook users, exist.
“We are writing… we are writing… we are writing…”
How one uses Facebook to communicate is, however, extremely limited to Facebook’s own rules, functions, and capacities. One can click a button to show that one “likes” something, but this is the only option – there’s no “dislike” button, no “disagrees with” button (oh how many times I have wished I could state, with a mere click of my mouse, “Hannah Kane doesn’t give a shit about this”). If I want to write a status and make sure my friends see it, I can tag them: “Hannah Kane went to class with @Ash Bruxvoort today.” But only six tags are allowed in a post. Why six? Six seems like such an arbitrary number.
When I post photos, I can tag people in them; my Facebook friends (though admittedly not all 1,011 of them) can click through and see all 1,182 photos that have ever been tagged of me. If someone tags me in a photo and I don’t want that tag to exist, I can remove it – once again, with one simple click – and I can’t be re-tagged without my consent.
In ways like these, I and 500 million other people cultivate public histories viewable to at least a segment of the rest of the internet-using population.
13 September 2009
Quotes
Once again, Facebook has informed me that the Quotes section on my profile is too long. Thus, here's some transfer.
"...the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century." -- MLK
"...early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society." -- MLK
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." -- MLK
"We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was 'illegal'." -- MLK
"Cardigans ARE the embodiment of moodiness." -- Me
"Hannah's boobs make magical things happen!" -- Genni
"...perhaps God exists, perhaps there is an explanation for everything, but there's nothing that allows us to be sure of it." -- Jacques Rivette
"If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that." -- Meg (Disney's Hercules)
"I'm trying to be the best I can be but I'm a work in progress." -- Sean Combs
"For my own part, I am not in the habit of socking my enemies in the jaw. I snipe at them in print instead, and feel singularly unheroic in the process." -- Andrew Sarris
"Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself." -- George Santayana
"Antonioni's aspiration is to pin the viewer to the wall and slug him with wet towels of artiness and significance." -- Manny Farber
"...the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century." -- MLK
"...early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society." -- MLK
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will." -- MLK
"We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was 'legal' and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was 'illegal'." -- MLK
"Cardigans ARE the embodiment of moodiness." -- Me
"Hannah's boobs make magical things happen!" -- Genni
"...perhaps God exists, perhaps there is an explanation for everything, but there's nothing that allows us to be sure of it." -- Jacques Rivette
"If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that." -- Meg (Disney's Hercules)
"I'm trying to be the best I can be but I'm a work in progress." -- Sean Combs
"For my own part, I am not in the habit of socking my enemies in the jaw. I snipe at them in print instead, and feel singularly unheroic in the process." -- Andrew Sarris
"Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself." -- George Santayana
"Antonioni's aspiration is to pin the viewer to the wall and slug him with wet towels of artiness and significance." -- Manny Farber
15 February 2009
A Brief Survey of my Musical Inclinations
Cassi's dad came up with this little survey. I did it instead of homework.
1. What is your favorite genre of Music? It's a tough choice. If I had to pick, I would base my decision on the name of the genre; thus, ragga-metal-punk-hiphop is the best genre. Way to not limit yourselves, Skindred.
2. What is your favorite duo, group or band? Pink Floyd - no hesitation, no uncertainty.
3. Who is your favorite singer? I have a many-way tie: Sinead O'Connor, Antony Hegarty, Imogen Heap, Colin Meloy, Roisin Murphy, John Fogerty, Kate Bush...
4. Who is your favorite guitarist? Pete Townshend.
5. Who is your favorite bassist? John Entwistle, without question.
6. Who is your favorite drummer? Keith Moon. Wow. Nice sweep there, the Who.
7. Who is your favorite keyboardist? Garth Hudson, Regina Spektor, Alan Price.
8. Favorite banjo player? Syd Barrett, Béla Fleck.
9. What is your all time favorite song and why? "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. Once again, no hesitation or uncertainty.
10. What song's lyrics just don't make sense to you? Anything by Vampire Weekend. http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/v/vampire_weekend/oxford_comma.html
11. If you had to have only one CD in your collection, what would it be? "Wish You Were Here" or "Born to Run".
12. What is one CD that you don't have that you wish you did? Antony and the Johnsons...
13. What is your favorite "guilty pleasure" song, you know, one that everyone else hates, but you secretly like? "Big Poppa"... Love that Biggie.
14. What is one CD you have that you wish you had never spent money on? My taste has stayed pretty consistent, and I still like everything.
15. What was the first album/tape/CD that you ever bought? "Nimrod" by Green Day, closely followed by "Maybe You Should Drive" by the Barenaked Ladies.
16. What was the last album/tape/CD that you bought? "American Thighs" - Veruca Salt
17. Have you ever seen a concert? WOOO YEAH
18. If so, what was your favorite one you've been to? Green Day was entertaining, and it was cool to see Bob Dylan with Amos Lee and Elvis Costello, but ultimately, Chuck Berry takes the cake. He's the MAN.
19. What is the craziest thing you ever saw at a concert? An old lady licked Chuck Berry's ear. :/
20. Who, to you, is the sexiest person in music, past or present? DAVID BOWIE.
21. Who has the best hair in music, past or present? DAVID BOWIE.
22. Do you sing in the car when no one else is around? I always sing. People or no people. Car or no car.
23. What song do you think you sing well enough to try it in public? I sing all the time, no matter how good anyone else thinks my rendition is. And I always know the words.
24. Do you currently or have you ever played a musical instrument? If so, what is/was it? Tenor trombone, bass guitar, upright bass, recorder somewhat.
25. Have you ever written a song? Yup.
26. What song reminds you of your first love? "Foreplay/Longtime" by Boston. Not for the obvious reasons.
27. What song reminds you of your first heartbreak? I am fortunate enough to have arrived at 18 with my heart intact.
28. Do you and your significant other/spouse have "a song"? What is it? We don't have an official one, but in my head he is equated with "Thunder Road" by Springsteen.
29. If you are married, what song(s) were played during your wedding ceremony? N/A.
30. What is your favorite song to dance to? "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot.
31. What is your least favorite song to dance to? Umm... a song with a lame beat.
32. What is your favorite song from a movie? The Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, the Labyrinth soundtrack, the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, the Rocky Horror soundtrack. I can't narrow that list down any further.
33. What song still reminds you of your childhood? "#9 Dream" by John Lennon.
34. What is your favorite song from the 70's? "Wish You Were Here". Ha.
35. From the 80's? "Don't Give Up" or "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel.
36. From the 90's? "Nightswimming" by REM.
37. From the 2000's? Thus far: "The Tain" by the Decemberists.
38. Are you listening to music right now? But of course.
39. If so, what is it? I just put on "Star Me Kitten" because I was reading about Automatic for the People, to make sure it counted as nineties.
40. Do you know your spouse's/significant other's favorite song? Nope.
41. If so, what is it? N/A
42. In your opinion, what is the most overplayed song on the radio, ever? "I Kissed A Girl". Fucking Katy Perry. I hope she meets a slow and painful end by rancor.
43. In your opinion, who is the most over hyped artist/group ever? Maybe Nirvana, maybe Sublime. I willingly listen to both, but... meh.
44. Who will you tell your grandchildren was the most influential person in music ever? John Lennon.
45. What song, that is current today, do you think people will be listening to on a regular basis 25 years from now? I hope to the depths of my soul that people will still listen to Modest Mouse. I haven't plugged them enough in this post yet, but I really love them.
46. What type of music do you just not get/think is a waste of time? Top 40 country.
47. Have you ever been to a Broadway/Off Broadway Musical? YES!
48. Would you admit it to other people? I brag. :D
49. What is one activity you just could not do without music? Exist.
50. Is there a song that makes you cry every time you hear it? "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel. "Nightswimming" by REM. Often "Asleep" by the Smiths, who I have also not plugged enough here, and who also said, "Remember the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life."
1. What is your favorite genre of Music? It's a tough choice. If I had to pick, I would base my decision on the name of the genre; thus, ragga-metal-punk-hiphop is the best genre. Way to not limit yourselves, Skindred.
2. What is your favorite duo, group or band? Pink Floyd - no hesitation, no uncertainty.
3. Who is your favorite singer? I have a many-way tie: Sinead O'Connor, Antony Hegarty, Imogen Heap, Colin Meloy, Roisin Murphy, John Fogerty, Kate Bush...
4. Who is your favorite guitarist? Pete Townshend.
5. Who is your favorite bassist? John Entwistle, without question.
6. Who is your favorite drummer? Keith Moon. Wow. Nice sweep there, the Who.
7. Who is your favorite keyboardist? Garth Hudson, Regina Spektor, Alan Price.
8. Favorite banjo player? Syd Barrett, Béla Fleck.
9. What is your all time favorite song and why? "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. Once again, no hesitation or uncertainty.
10. What song's lyrics just don't make sense to you? Anything by Vampire Weekend. http://www.lyricsmode.com/
11. If you had to have only one CD in your collection, what would it be? "Wish You Were Here" or "Born to Run".
12. What is one CD that you don't have that you wish you did? Antony and the Johnsons...
13. What is your favorite "guilty pleasure" song, you know, one that everyone else hates, but you secretly like? "Big Poppa"... Love that Biggie.
14. What is one CD you have that you wish you had never spent money on? My taste has stayed pretty consistent, and I still like everything.
15. What was the first album/tape/CD that you ever bought? "Nimrod" by Green Day, closely followed by "Maybe You Should Drive" by the Barenaked Ladies.
16. What was the last album/tape/CD that you bought? "American Thighs" - Veruca Salt
17. Have you ever seen a concert? WOOO YEAH
18. If so, what was your favorite one you've been to? Green Day was entertaining, and it was cool to see Bob Dylan with Amos Lee and Elvis Costello, but ultimately, Chuck Berry takes the cake. He's the MAN.
19. What is the craziest thing you ever saw at a concert? An old lady licked Chuck Berry's ear. :/
20. Who, to you, is the sexiest person in music, past or present? DAVID BOWIE.
21. Who has the best hair in music, past or present? DAVID BOWIE.
22. Do you sing in the car when no one else is around? I always sing. People or no people. Car or no car.
23. What song do you think you sing well enough to try it in public? I sing all the time, no matter how good anyone else thinks my rendition is. And I always know the words.
24. Do you currently or have you ever played a musical instrument? If so, what is/was it? Tenor trombone, bass guitar, upright bass, recorder somewhat.
25. Have you ever written a song? Yup.
26. What song reminds you of your first love? "Foreplay/Longtime" by Boston. Not for the obvious reasons.
27. What song reminds you of your first heartbreak? I am fortunate enough to have arrived at 18 with my heart intact.
28. Do you and your significant other/spouse have "a song"? What is it? We don't have an official one, but in my head he is equated with "Thunder Road" by Springsteen.
29. If you are married, what song(s) were played during your wedding ceremony? N/A.
30. What is your favorite song to dance to? "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mixalot.
31. What is your least favorite song to dance to? Umm... a song with a lame beat.
32. What is your favorite song from a movie? The Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, the Labyrinth soundtrack, the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack, the Rocky Horror soundtrack. I can't narrow that list down any further.
33. What song still reminds you of your childhood? "#9 Dream" by John Lennon.
34. What is your favorite song from the 70's? "Wish You Were Here". Ha.
35. From the 80's? "Don't Give Up" or "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel.
36. From the 90's? "Nightswimming" by REM.
37. From the 2000's? Thus far: "The Tain" by the Decemberists.
38. Are you listening to music right now? But of course.
39. If so, what is it? I just put on "Star Me Kitten" because I was reading about Automatic for the People, to make sure it counted as nineties.
40. Do you know your spouse's/significant other's favorite song? Nope.
41. If so, what is it? N/A
42. In your opinion, what is the most overplayed song on the radio, ever? "I Kissed A Girl". Fucking Katy Perry. I hope she meets a slow and painful end by rancor.
43. In your opinion, who is the most over hyped artist/group ever? Maybe Nirvana, maybe Sublime. I willingly listen to both, but... meh.
44. Who will you tell your grandchildren was the most influential person in music ever? John Lennon.
45. What song, that is current today, do you think people will be listening to on a regular basis 25 years from now? I hope to the depths of my soul that people will still listen to Modest Mouse. I haven't plugged them enough in this post yet, but I really love them.
46. What type of music do you just not get/think is a waste of time? Top 40 country.
47. Have you ever been to a Broadway/Off Broadway Musical? YES!
48. Would you admit it to other people? I brag. :D
49. What is one activity you just could not do without music? Exist.
50. Is there a song that makes you cry every time you hear it? "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel. "Nightswimming" by REM. Often "Asleep" by the Smiths, who I have also not plugged enough here, and who also said, "Remember the songs that made you cry and the songs that saved your life."
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