grammar nazi musings, based on recent events

so, for anybody who knows me in the smallest capacity knows that i am a grammar nazi. okay, okay . . . those who know me in the smallest capacity surely do not know this, but the point here is, i like grammar and feel like it's still relevant today. people who use poor grammar (or, heck, spell it grammer - oh, i'm such a gossip hound here, but a TEACHER I ONCE WORKED WITH actually had that word posted incorrectly on his/her wall IN THEIR CLASSROOM) grate on my nerves.

i'm sure you've seen it, too. people who write, "your the best." or perhaps, "their such nice guys." or any of the kabillion things we are taught IN GRADE SCHOOL.

speaking of . . .

i got a note from my kids' school yesterday, asking whether or not we were coming back in the fall. it's a standard note, one that helps schools predict enrollment. now, on this sheet of paper, there were three lines provided to write names; above those lines read: STUDENT'S NAMES.

friends.

oh, friends.

i was . . . (shhh) HORRIFIED. i know this probably wouldn't be the first reaction any of you would have, but when i saw that, i couldn't help but think to myself, "i send my kids to this school, to be educated, and whoever is sending out the memos can't even understand how possessive punctuation works?" i mean, this is what is taught IN GRADE SCHOOL. my kids GO TO GRADE SCHOOL. the people in charge of the school DO NOT KNOW THE THINGS THEY TEACH, or, perhaps even worse, DON'T CARE IF THEY USE IT PROPERLY IN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS.

so i've debated with myself. do i turn the piece of paper in, edited? i know (having worked in education) that these are often forms used year after year. do i ignore it? see, it's hard to ignore such stuff, when it's done professionally. it is expected that businesses, no matter what kind, adhere to certain expectations. proper grammar (and spelling) are included in such expectations.

so, yeah. i'm going to talk to someone in the office and kindly point out the error.

also, i've been reading a lot of indie books lately in an effort to see what's good, what's bad, and what's working out there in the publishing world. specifically, i've been reading multiple indie series as i'm set to release one of my own soon. here's what i can tell you, as a reader, what works for me (in terms of indie books): proper editing and grammar.

there is this one series i've been reading (and no, i won't name names) that has a really fab plot line. the world building is excellent. the characters are fairly well developed (although, i'll admit to wanting to slap the protag a few times out of sheer annoyance) and show growth across the series. but . . . the author did very little editing (or, at least i'm assuming it was editing and not sheer ignorance of the english language). there were errors riddling the book. sentences were often poorly constructed, and punctuation was horrendous (and very often misused). and while i devoured the books solely based on the positive attributes listed above, i don't know if i'd actually recommend them to anyone. i feel torn, because i liked them. i genuinely did. but at the same time, i don't respect them.

if that makes sense?

it also makes me want to ensure that, thanks to actually hiring editors, i significantly lessen the opportunity for anybody to ever think this about my work.

it worries me that i hear/read more and more often that grammar isn't relevant anymore. a lot of people use the excuse that, thanks to technology and social media, there isn't a need for it. that things such as texting and instant messaging have made misspellings and incorrect grammar usage acceptable by societal norms. (i should note that i absolute refuse to ever type the word "you" as "u" and "your" as "ur" or any of those other text abbreviations; i mean, c'mon, is it REALLY THAT HARD TO TYPE OUT THREE LETTERS for "you?" it even bugs the crap out of me when artists such as prince do this. yes, even him. but i digress.) the husband, who used to teach high school, told me that he'd get essays turned in with such errors, and that the kids didn't know what they did was wrong.

as a writer, this makes me sad.

there is such a thing as stylistic writing. obviously, you can see that i utilize this, what with my lack of capital letters within this blog (and no--my books never are written in this style). but, i respect grammar. follow it. and wish more people did the same.

/end babblish, meandering (and hopefully grammatically correct) rant

/also wondering if i should have done the same as the following meme?

book of james by we are augustines

(warning: this post is caps heavy.)

so, i have been obsessed--friends, OBSESSED--with we are augustines for the last couple months. i have the steadily developed crushes on one song after another off of their album rise ye sunken ships. anytime somebody asks me, "anybody worth checking out?" i immediately come back with, "OMG, THERE'S THIS BAND CALLED WE ARE AUGUSTINES AND OMG THEY ARE SO GOOD AND OMG, THEIR MUSIC--THEIR MUSIC!!--YOU. MUST. LISTEN!!"

and then i realized, i hadn't yet said those words to you guys, my dear readers.

so, in case you haven't heard, OMG, MUSIC FRIENDS, THERE'S THIS BAND CALLED WE ARE AUGUSTINES AND OMG THEY ARE SO GOOD AND OMG, THEIR MUSIC--THEIR MUSIC!--YOU. MUST. LISTEN!!

you think i kid.

okay, today i'll give you my latest song crush by this great three-piece from brooklyn: book of james. and it's a doozy, friends. while catchy, it's really an ode to guitarist and song writer billy mccarthy's brother who committed suicide after a lengthy struggle with mental illness. oh, doesn't that just fit right in with my ever-lasting attraction to sad songs? but see, this one doesn't sound sad, despite gorgeous, heart-wrenching lyrics. it sounds so . . . springsteen-ish. and that only makes me love it more.

on a related note, i JUST NOW DISCOVERED they're performing in LA TONIGHT!! ARGH!

on a park bench sat a crimson beating heart
and behind him the girls played double dutch in the park
the sun began to burn his snow white skin
i guess your either headin' somewhere or endin' up somewhere...

storm clouds began to form in his head
and crisscrossed his mind like a restless angry ocean
and the howling of hardship and heartache
kneeled and grinned in his face

he stood there in his boots unable to move
and i came here to tell you that i love you

and here lies, my green eyes
rolled back in my head, but they're alive
and all these words can all get spoken
just know we tried
and you're forgiven

he made his way down the boulevard
near the 99 cent stores and garbage in the yards
and he began sing
about the crickets and the backroads where we used to play

i guess your either headin' somewhere or endin' up somewhere...
cause i tried the bible, tried the bottle, tried the needle, tried to
love people
and in the end, there ain't much to say
and in the end, there ain't much to say, anyway
and i stand here in my shoes, unable to move
my hat in my hands, at the bottom of the ocean.

and here lies, my green eyes
rolled back in my head, but they're alive
and all the words can all get spoken
just know we tried
and you're forgiven

you're forgiven



go HERE to by rise ye sunken ships, the album book of james is off of. be prepared to put it on heavy rotation as you crush on each song.

words by doves

so, a quickie for today - a song that i inevitably will put on repeat with the volume up high anytime it comes up on the ol' ipod.

'cause, c'mon. who doesn't love some xylophone?

serious swoonage goes out to the guitar lines here, too.

and another thing!! by kid canaveral

so, woe is this blog, friends. how lonely it's been, without my attention. my inbox has been filling up with songs and every time i saw one of those emails, i would think, "i ought to be blogging about music," but then one of my characters would whisper in my ear, "stupid, do you want to get our book done or what?"

obvs, the characters won.

however! today song is actually one i've been writing to. and . . . i like it so much, it must be shared.

i've blogged in the past about how cool scotland's kid canaveral is. in fact, i think it was two years ago that i pegged one of their songs (left and right) as one of my 10 favorite songs of the year. it was off a very excellent album entitled shouting at wildlife which i still find myself listening to.

and another thing!! is off of that same album. first off, let's talk about how adorbs it is that there are two exclamation points after the title. as somebody who uses probably way too many exclamation points in emails, facebook status updates, and tweets, i can only find this endearing.

now, as for the song - it does have an endearing quality to it, but it is, in no way, the cheerful song it would initially lead you to believe. i remember the first time i'd heard it after a long spell of not hearing it - i had my ipod on in the background, and i instantly felt all cheery and boppy. it wasn't until midway through the song i remembered, "oh yeah. this isn't happy! why am i bopping?" but damn, if and another thing!! doesn't try to fool you into believing it is.

couldn't be so happy now i'm seeing the back of it
another thing, another thing
busy doing nothing, there's no skill in the knack of it
another thing, another thing
this stops right now
another thing, another thing
we stop right now
another thing, another thing

let's go wash our faces in the sun
and let's go clean your arms

and sometimes, sometimes i need you more
than other times, other times
so let go, let go
i'm all right

couldn't have done it better if i knew at the start of it
another thing, another thing
if i'd known it better i'd avoided the half of it
another thing, another thing
this stops right now
another thing, another thing
we stop right now
another thing, another thing

let's go wash our faces in the sun
and let's go and clean your arms

and sometimes, sometimes i need you more
than other times, other times
so let go, let go
i'm all right

and sometimes, sometimes i need you more
than other times, other times
oh, let go, let go
i'm all right

profuse apologies if i butchered any of those lyrics above. i have this very large feeling i have.

ANYWAY! stream the song below:



the band did an excellent session for song by toad; grab the mp3 below:

(mp3) and another thing!! (live toad session) by kid canaveral (via song by toad - go HERE to see/listen to more from the session)

and here's a live performance of and another thing!!:


And Another Thing!! by Kid Canaveral (Live) from Straight to Video Records on Vimeo.

go HERE to buy shouting at wildlife, the album and another thing!! is off of.

home sweet home by russell howard

so, today's song, home sweet home by singer-songwriter russell howard, took me by surprise, and here's why. i have a bizarre prejudice against the phrase home sweet home.

i know. WEIRD, right?

i can't exactly tell you why other than to admit i have a bias against certain words and phrases (which is ridiculous, considering i'm a writer and everything). they're like nails on a chalkboard to me. and home sweet home has been one of those phrases in the past that i shy away from ever personally using because: a) it's utterly cliché, b) it's radically overused, and c) it reminds me of something needlepoint and framed.

HOWEVER. this song. friends, this song made me realize there is at least one place that i dig this phrase, and it's right here. a song about displaced love, home sweet home is an intimate look at what it feels like when the person you adore has moved on in both location and heart. it reminds me a lot of one of my favorite books, anna and the french kiss by stephanie perkins (go HERE to read my rambling adoration of this story) - in it, the MC, anna, reflects on what home is. is it a location? a building? or is something more? here's the first time she really starts to consider what it means to her:

And for the first time since coming home, I'm completely happy. It's strange. Home. How I could wish for it for so long, only to come back and find it gone. To be here, in my technical house, and discover that home is now someplace different.

But that's not quite right, either.

I miss Paris, but it's not home. It's more like . . . I miss this. This warmth over the telephone. Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place? Bridgette used to be home for me. Maybe St. Clair is my new home.

and russell howard gets that concept. home sweet home is truly a lovely song, with it's gentle guitars and heartbreaking vocals. i ended up putting it on repeat, just totally enamored with the following lyric:

i did not ask to cross my stars with you.

so, so gorgeous.

and oh, friends, doesn't that really sum up how one feels about love once it's gone? love is such a tremulous, fragile thing. it's hard to control, hard to find, and even harder to let go of. and i simply adore how howard has dealt with that idea.

home is in the city
a city i've never stepped in
she moved there last september
i heard she's got a boyfriend

and all i want is what you have
i don't work this hard just to be glad for you
and home sweet home is in your arms
and i did not ask to cross my stars with you

and home is in the city
a city i've never slept in
she said i should come there
if only for the weekend

and all i want is what you have
i won't come that far just to be mad at you
and home sweet home is in your arms
and i did not ask to cross my stars with you

home sweet home
oh, my home is not my own

home is in the city
a city i've never seen

(mp3) home sweet home by russell howard

here's another song off howard's latest release, safe to say, which sounds totally different than home sweet home (but in a good way!):



go HERE to buy city heart, the album home sweet home is off of.

ghost (live from laurel canyon) by ingrid michaelson

so, if you're an ingrid michaelson fan, you have exactly two days to grab the following song for free, thanks to anthropologie.

ghost (live at laurel canyon) is just ingrid and a piano (go pianos!). it's lovely and bitterly sad and sweet at the same time.

do you remember when the walls fell
do you remember the sound that the door made when you closed it on me
do you know that i went down to the ground
landed on both my broken hearted knees

i didn't even cry
because pieces of me had already died

i'm a ghost
haunting these halls
climbing up walls that i never knew were there
and i'm lost
broken down the middle of my heart, heart
i'm broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

you know you make me a ghost
you make me a ghost

i'm an invisible disaster
i keep trying to walk but my feet don't find the solid ground
it's like living in a bad dream
i keep trying to scream but my tongue has finally lost its sound

i've got to say goodbye
to the pieces of me that have already died

i'm a ghost
haunting these halls
climbing these walls that i never knew were there
and i'm lost
broken down the middle of my heart, heart
i'm broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

you know you make me a ghost
oh you make me a ghost
you make me a ghost (you take the breath all away from me, you take it away)
you make me a ghost

i don't cry
i don't try anymore

i'm a ghost
i'm a ghost
and i'm lost
broken down the middle of my heart, heart
i'm broken down the middle

i'm a ghost
haunting these halls
climbing up walls that i never knew were there
and i'm lost
broken down the middle of my heart, heart
i'm broken down the middle of my heart, heart, heart

you know you make me a ghost
you know you make me a ghost

go HERE to download the song before midnight EST on march 9th.

here's the video for the exact version of this song you'll be downloading:

album review: eight belles by amy seeley

so, amy seeley has recently begun offering her 2008 album eight belles up for free on her bandcamp site (free, friends. FREE!). and i totally think you ought to take advantage of this and download it asap. here are my eight reasons why:

1. amy's gratuitous use of piano. as i've said before, a big reason why i dig her music so much is that she utilizes this instrument. for as many piano lessons seem to be given nowadays, the piano is oft ignored in modern music. such a shame, because it's amazingly gorgeous to listen to.

2. amy's lyrics. there is a time and place for inane lyrics. in fact, i was just discussing with the husband how i found the lyrics to bush's red light to be so utterly ridiculous that they made me want to laugh out loud every time i listen to the song, but for some bizarre reason, i keep. coming. back. to listen to said song (don't judge, friends. just don't, i'm begging you). but amy seeley doesn't treat her listeners like they're mindless puppets who are only interested in songs for their trendy beats. she crafts music with meaning, intelligence. check out this snippet from how hard i try (my favorite song on the album):

over these ridges the bridges are burning
and i’ve nowhere to lay my head
where have all my comrades gone
to lay their bodies down
to rest

don’t you know
how hard i try

so much better than, "baby, relationships are hard work, oo-oo, yeah, baby," don't you think?

3. i love that the title, eight belles, is so representative of the songs found within. because the songs, while all easily tagged beautiful, each have a distinct personality that doesn't immediately sound like the one before or after. a lot of albums have similar sounds; in fact, some albums are filled with songs that pretty much all sound the same, and that's okay. sometimes that's exactly what we music fans are looking for. but eight belles isn't like that. each song, each belle, has a story to tell and a different personality to do it with. and i like that.

4. speaking of such concepts, there are a lot of different music influences within the belles, from country to folk, blues to singer-songwriter, sometimes all within a single song.

5. and then there's the allure of the sad song. i love sad songs. isn't it weird how sad, beautiful things can make a person so happy? check out this line:

i pulled my handkerchief our of the pocket you sewed last year
if i can say so myself i’d say this pocket’s had too much use in a year

goodness. so sad and so lovely all at the same time.

6. but there's also optimism, especially in look up, look out. buffered by a fabulous, swirling piano melody, this song, in a small way, reminds me of death cab for cutie's stay young, go dancing. it's about looking forward and letting go of the past, to simply accepting. i love that this is the belle to end the album.

you were breathing shallow
you were seeing with short - sighted eyes
and then i found you
i say i know you
i will pull you out

i found you
and i love you
and i see you for all you are
for all you are

7. simplicity. seeley's music isn't overloaded with unnecessary loudness or instruments that are meant to overwhelm. sometimes songs require a gentle touch. beloved is an excellent example of this - just amy and her piano. it gets the message across so much more powerfully than anything else.

8. and . . . well, it's free. i mean, it's worth your money if you did so pay for it, but as you have a chance to nab it for free, HELLO? what are you waiting for?



go HERE to listen to/buy music from amy seeley.