ecard -when it's not ok

I am personally a huge fan of ecards, they're free, they're quick and it looks like you care about someone when really you totally forgot about their, birthday, illness, wedding or birth of their child. 

Yep, I've sent ecards for all those reason.

However, it's not ok to send a twenty minute ecard.  Nope.

It's not ok to send a Jacquie Lawson ecard as an invitation for your 4 year olds birthday party. 

Nope.

A Jacquie Lawson ecard is long, interactive and requires me to sit at my computer and click the damn fairy fifteen times just to find out the time and location of the birthday party.   

NOT COOL.

That's just the lastest thing that occured in my craptastic morning.

My daughter peed on the floor.
My dog tore up a diaper
My coffee maker wasn't working and it took 3 minutes to fix it, and when I did, I burnt my fingers.
It's cold out.
I'm still drowning in paper work.
And then I had to deal with a 20 minute E CARD!!!!!

I'm still debating if I should do a contest for my 75 followers. 

Road Trip Wednesday- Best Book of October

I started this month in a book binge in an effort to distact myself from waiting for an evaultion for an agent.  I started reading a lot.  Then I got the crititque back- over all very positive but needs some rewrite.
I lost all motivation to read or write and I've spent the last half of the month playing Plants Verse Zombies. 

In fact right now, as I writing this, I'm avoiding my rewrites. 

But I read the following books

The  Ice Queen
It was  my first grown up book in a long time.  It was a solid read but I quickly rushed back to YA.

\

Hush hush

Simply put: the worst book I've read in 5 years.  I won't go into detail, because I don't life bashing books on my blog but I do want to be honest.  This book just wasn't for me.

Hex Hall
This book had GREAT promise but sort of whined in the end.

Paranormalcy
Fluffy goodness in a candy coating.  Although the cover is BEAUTIFUL it doesn't really fit with the overall tone of the book.  There's about a BILLION reviews of this book all over the blogosphere. 

The magical life of Long Tak Sam
graphic novel of a biography of a magician the whole world has completely forgotten about.

But the best book was The Ghost and The Goth.

I loved it.  I really did.  I sort of want to write fan fiction about it.  It the first book I've read in a long time that after I finished it, I rushed to the author's website to find out of there was going to be a squel.  YAY THERE IS! 

Was it great litearure?  By no means.   It was fluffy fluff coated in a layer of more marshmallowy fluff.  And you know what... it was AWESOME.

Basic Premise.  Bitchy Cheerleader girl gets hit by a bus and the only one who can see her ghost self is a goth guy.   It will take you two - three hours to read it.  You'll laugh, you'll be shocklying moved by the story and the characters.

YAY 75 Followers

75 followers WOOT

Thank you so much!!

Thanks for reading, commenting and clicking the follow button!

Should I do a contest?  Hmmm?   Let me know in the comments. 

What did I do?

Sometimes people give you a gift and you think, what the hell were they thinking.

Other times they give you a gift and they tell you what they were thinking and you still think, what the hell?

Sometimes the gift isn't for me, sometimes it's for my two year old.

My Inlaws came back from a cruise.  They gave back this for my daughter.

It's offensive on many levels.  It's a bad sterotype.  It's a chihuahua.  And it sings La Bamba. 

My daughter loves it.  She played it once, and then again, and again, and again and again again.

We tried to distract her and turn it off.  My daughter found the on off switched buried under a mound of fur in less time then it takes the dog to sing La Bamba.

When my husband asked, "what were you thinking?"
MIL answered I wanted to get the most annoying thing because you were so annoying as a kid.

I answered, "yeah but I didn't know you as a child and I didn't do anything to warrant this punishment."


Happy Monday everyone!

Welcome to my life

Help:  I'm drowning in paper work, meetings, planning, grading, recording, and general real life.

Anyone else feel like their real life gets in the way of their writing and blogging and social interactions?


I'm heading back into the writing process.  ONE LAST set of revisions before I send it off to agents. 

Sunday I had 2 hours to work... I wrote three sentences. 

Maybe this weekend I'll get more in. 

Road Trip Wednesday- Comp Titles

So a comp title is a book that is similar to yours but way more famous.  It's to help a agent understand where your book would belong on a book shelf. 


For my book How To Pwn Noobz a comp title would be Scott Pilgrim Verses the World and Things Not Seen.   (Thank you Ms Ortiz for the suggestions... You are in fact a mighty T-Rex)

For my book Penny and Hank, well it's a retelling of the Demeter Persephone Myth--- But if I had to make a comparison it would be a little like The Ghost and The Goth meets The Bullfinch's Mythology. 

For my book New York Karma the comp title would be Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist for adults.

And for the book I've never written and never plan to, it's a mix of Twilight with a dash of Harry Potter and a tidbit of The Stand and a whole lot of smutty smut smut and some sex too and the whole thing is about a werewolf questioning his sexuality and the ghost who is trying to convince him he's straight.   

The Logic of a middle school student

I've been teaching my 7th graders The Raven by Poe for the last week.

We've watched The Simpsons version of it.

We read it.

We listened to a professional actor read it.  T

hen we translated the entire poem into modern language.  I am personally a BIG believer in doing this.  It's how I've been able to understand all the classics I've read.

My version of McBeth has WAY more uses of the word "dude", than Shakespeare intended.

So after a week worth of studying the most famous American poem, a student raised his hand and said
"I have a question. Why didn't the narrator just walk out of the room instead of spending five stanzas yelling at a bird?"

 GENIUS!!!!!

Yes.  I agree.

I also question the interior design choose of putting a bust of Pallas over your chamber door.   One slam of the door and that statue's is a murder weapon.

Totally my whole belief system

Thank you Hank Green.  Thank you.

No matter HOW badly I screw up-- and I've been known to screw up pretty bad, my fails will NEVER match up to these fails. 

Real life FAIL

My biggest fail was when I locked my two year old in the car, with my keys in the front seat. We had to wait around for ten minutes for Hubby to come unlock the car.
Hubby was awesome about it and daughter didn't seem to be too fazed by it. Although she did look a little confused.

Writing FAIL
I queried a 135K chicklit book. 535 pages! WHAT! HUH? Why didn't anyone tell me I was the dumbest person alive. The title of the book "Love Wears a Suicidal Fish Hat."  Strangely enough, I sent out 20 queries and got 4 requests for material.   WHAT! HUH! SERIOUSLY? Everyone passed on it, and rightly so, because you know, it sucked.

Anyone wanna share their biggest fail?

Happy Monday everyone.

Road Trip Wednesday-opening lines

Road Trip Time
Welcome to another Road Trip Wednesday, a blog carnival wherein the lovely ladies of YA Highway post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and the contributors and readers (like me!) answer it on their own blogs.

This week’s question is:

What are your favorite first lines?

How do your own WiPs start?

One my newest favorite books is Gone.  It has the best opening line ever:

One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. The next minute he was gone.

DAMN!  Seriously.  Talk about a hook.   The whole book is about living in a world without adults and bam first line all the adults are GONE. 

There's no messing around there. 

As for myself, I've been struggling for a LONG time on how to start How to Pwn nOObz.  Almost EVERY draft has had a new opening.  I"m going to start revising it for the 14th time soon.  Probably while the rest of the writing world is working on Nanowrimo.  

This time I think I know where to start.  This time I think I've got it.  But sure I"ve said that 13 other times as well.

But my other WIPs New York Karma-  it's opening line is, "My g-string is so far up my ass it's an organ." 

For Penny and Hank the opening line is, "Trapped.  Every morning I wake with the same thought, I'm trapped in this POS town." 

Sometime the opening line comes to me right away.  I sit down and POOF like magic it happens.  Three complete drafts of NYK and the opening line hasn't changed at all.  

Other times, it's a slow and horrible process like How to pwn nOObz. 

I have no magically formula, if I did, I'd sell it and make my millions on that, instead of teaching. :-) 

It's Friday

YAY it's Friday! 

I have no major plans for the weekend, but I'm taking my daughter to a petting zoo and to get a pumpkin.

I'll probably read a book.

Daughter and I will snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie. 


I started researching agents for the query process, I'm hoping to start in either November or January some time. 


Yep, nothing much happening here.


Wanna see a kick butt website about POE?  Check it out here
IT's pretty cool, very very interactive.


So with nothing to say in the foreseeable future I might take a break for a week or two and then come back when I have something to say.

Have a great weekend all!

URGH Pet Peeve

I'm a teacher. I've been teaching for 10 years. I've been reading YA for about 20 years.

Do you know what I hate?

How teachers are represented in books.

Teachers, 99% of the time, are the bad guys. They don't stick up for the main character or they put the main character in some sort of dumb situation.

URGH!

In the book Hush Hush, not only is the teacher's lesson SO inappropriate he would lose his job, but when the MC asks for her seat to be changed the teacher refuses.<-- yes it's a part of a plot point but still.

Nope.

That's not how I run my classroom at all.

If a kid ever came up to me and said he or she doesn't feel comfortable in the seat, by the time the sentence was over the students' seat would be changed.

OK and say there's a nerdy kid is being bullied and  screams in class.  you know what?  Instead of sending the nerdy kid to the principals office, I'm going to ask him what happened, AND if the nerdy says that the cool kid next to him was poking him and generally being annoying until the nerdy kid snapped.  I'm going believe him.  You know why?  Because for most kids it takes a WHOLE LOT for a kid to scream in class and it's almost always provoked somehow.   So cool kid with a pencil in his hand, laughing, guess what, you've got lunch detention too. (This scene comes from The Truth About Turman School)


I work very hard to make sure every kid feels welcome, comfortable and safe in my classroom.

Teaching is hard enough with the popular opinion that all teachers hate children.


YA/ MG, you know I LOVED YOU GUYS,  but  you're not helping the situation.

Yes it's easy to make the adult establishment the bad guys in YA literature since most kids feel like adults are out to destroy their lives.

I know it makes for easier writing on your part, teachers are an easy target and more so its a easy plot device. 

But chances are there was at least one teacher in your educational career that made you love writing or reading.  Chances are there was at least one teacher that made you feel like a human being.

Please stop demonizing us.

I've read over 15 books in the last three months and so far only 1 book had a teacher in a positive light.  Yikes.

Now this is a two way street and I'll be the first to admit that there have been days when I was not at my best, or I was cranky.  And yes I've had "bad" teachers.  

And in an effort to be fair
A note for teachers:  Most of the time it's an adult who put you in a bad mood, don't take it out on the kids.  Your kids  should make you laugh or smile at least once a day.

Sorry but  it's that simple.

I'm not saying there aren't a few less the perfect teachers out there, but the majority of us love our jobs.  
Authors and teachers, let's create an environment that makes kids WANT to be in school.

Thank you.

I"m getting off my soap box now... the air is getting a little thin.


  

 

Road Trip Wednesday- trapped on an island

You're packing for a month on a deserted island. What, as a reader and writer, must be in your backpack?

Yeah first of all it depends on the island... if is that crazy island that the characters from LOST was on, I would need a weapon it hit Kate in the head every time she went stomping through the forest on some crazy mission. 

But seriously I'm sort of a princess.  

As a writer I would need my laptop, a solar battery and wireless internet thingy.  This way I could blog about my goings on and go to How Stuff Works.com and google to figure out survival stuff.   Yep.  I would NOT last long at all.  But at least I could e-mail someone my GPS location and get out there quickly and to a hotel with free wi-fi.

I guess if I was without internet it would force me to sit down and write, something I sadly have not been doing.  

As for a reader I would need all the books on my TO READ LIST   These books must be finished by Winter break this is my FALL reading list-
Currently it's:
20 boy Summer
Ice Queen
Pay the Piper 
Hex Hall 
Outcast United 
Going Bovine
And that book about a  Clockwork or something.  


Yeah-- no real deep insight to my personality with my all time favorite book or something. Just basic survival and free time for me.  

Oh and I would bring food too.

The one book I would NOT bring--- Lord of the Flies--- while it's one of my all time favorite books, I would be afraid that I was Piggy and I know for a fact that doesn't end well.  




 

GIrl Protag Verse Boy Protags

I've been reading a lot, lately and I noticed an interesting trend.

In every YA book with a male protag-- there's a lot more hooking up then in a book with a girl protag.

I find this interesting and yet sort of predictable. 

Girls when they read, they like the thrill of the chase, the potential of kissing and touching and by the end there better be a kiss.  Most books the girl is satisfied with a kiss.   Girls like it when the main character is place in a potentially naughty situation-  alone in a hotel room, but they don't need the physical aspects.

Boys apparently do.

In every book I've read with a male protag, there has been a scene where he hooks up with a girl and it's more than just kissing.  Most of the time the girl is the aggressor as well.  So Yesterday, Little Brother, The Replacement, I am the Messenger, Candor.  All these books have male protags, and all the guys have wanted to kiss the girl, but when it comes down to it,  SHE kisses him. Or he kisses her and it's an epic fail and then later on in the book she comes to the realiziation that YES she wants to be with him and then she becomes the aggressor. 
The girls in these books all share the same basic traits too,  beautiful but in a non tradtional way,  tough, a slightly bit goth, and are "just as big of a horndog as he is." (paraphrased from Little Brother). 

And when you look at the male mind, yes, this makes sense.  Boys like girls, they like it when they get to touch girls.  But boys who are still reading YA books are probably not that good around girls and therefore would really appericate it if a girl would make the first move.

In books with female protags, the boy always kisses her first, or he brushes up against her, or he protectively puts his arm around her, or whatever. 

What does this mean in real life?

It means A LOTS of young adults will sit around staring at one another waiting for the other one to make the move. 

Lots of awkward staring.

Lots of waiting.

Lots of inscurity and now suddenly doubting if the person he or she is staring at does, in fact, want to be touched or kissed.  

Thanks YA authors for making the teenage years all the more complicated. 

4 hours of Chuck E Cheese

My daughter was invited to two parties on the same day... both at Chuck E Cheese.  One was held at 9:30 am and there was NO ONE there.  Empty Chuck E Cheese= Awesome.  The other one was held at 2:30-- and BILLIONS OF PEOPLE!

Chuck E Cheese is germ infested, loud and annoying.  I can handle it for about an hour. My daughter could be there for years.

There's a movie playing on the TV, a bunch of clips, including a backstage pass to the making of a Hanson video.   Insert your own joke here.

But what's worse? The creepy robots.

Ladies and Gentleman please write your own caption in the comments below.

Awesome Music Month LAST CHANCE

I want to thank EVERYONE for your comments this month.
I have a few CD's left and I want to give them away!

Here is the complete track list and WHY each song was chosen.

If you want a copy please leave me a comment and you must follower (New or Old.)
I'll use a random number generate to pick the winner.
GOOD LUCK

1) Bittersweet Symphony     Ace Enders and a Million Different People Feat

This song was picked because I’m a big  of Ace Enders, this was his first solo project.  Mark Hoppus, Matt Thiessen, Craig Owens, Alex Gaskarth, Kenny Vasoli, Bryce  are all featured on the song.

2) Gasoline      The Airborne Toxic Event

This song was picked it’s very different from the rest of the album. It’s the most upbeat song.  It’s a stand out song of the album.  It cane be found on The Airborne Toxic Event.

3)  Over and Out (Acoustic Version)    Alkaline Trio

It’s a pretty song that sounds better acoustic.   It can be found on Agony & Irony (Deluxe Version)

4) Maydays And Rosaries      AM Taxi

This is another song that was stand out song on an album.  I’m sort of on the fence about this band but I think they’ll be interesting to watch.   Check it the album We Don't Stand A Chance.

5) Cadence [Acoustic Version]  Anberlin

I could have put their hit Feel good Drag on the mix but I opted for this song.  It’s perfect to write to.   This version of the song can be found on their rarity CD Lost Songs .

6) The Old Apartment     Barenaked Ladies

I’ve been a LONG time fan of BNL and I struggled if I should put a super obscure song on the list of something well known.  I opted for well known, but I highly suggest you check out Break Your Heart.   BNL does a great job of describing relationships on their songs.  It’s perfect inspiration.    It cane be found on All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001.

7) The Tide Is High     Blondie

This is one of my feel good song, just because sometimes you need a little happy.  It’s can be found on the  Greatest hits: Sound & Vision.

8) Open Happiness   Brendon Urie, Cee-Lo Green, Janelle Monae, Patrick Stump & Travis McCoy

Speaking of happy, this is a pretty gosh darm happy song.  It was a song off of a coke commercial and I was lame and downloaded it.  But still I stand by the $.99 purchase.

9)  In One Ear    Cage The Elephant

Sometimes everyone is down on you and you think they want you to fail.  After all writing is a risky career or hobby.  Sometimes you have to let all that negative go in one ear and right out the other.   This song can be found on the Cage The Elephant.

10) The Minstrel's Prayer  Cartel

This sound is a little self important and a tad pretentious, but it does remember the listener that confessing your emotional via an artistic form is nothing new, it’s been happening for thousands of years.  And you’re a part of something important, no matter how trivial your message might be.   This song can be found the Chroma CD.

11)  I Will Follow You Into The Dark                    Death Cab for Cutie

Possibly the best “death” song ever written.  It’s beautiful and is one of two songs that can make me cry.  IF you’re writing a super emotional scene, this is a great song to listen to.  This song can be found on the Plans album.

12) At Last    Etta James.

It’s perfect.  That’s why I picked it.  Perfection.  It can be found on At Last!

13) Flathead    The Fratellis

Yes it was featured in an iPod commercial but still after the last set of songs don’t you want something to bounce around to.  This song is my “Hell YEAH!” song, I turned up the radio and rock out.  The Fratellis first full length album Costello Music is awesome.  The follow up album wasn’t as good and the band broke up.  If you like Flathead, go out and  buy Costello Music, it’s a great album and a great reference if you’re writing about the less the glamorous places in England.

14) Hannah.   Freelance Whales.

You know when you hear a song and you think YES, this is the perfect song for me.  That’s how I feel about Hannah.     It’s a great song about relationships and I really love it.  You can find it on Weathervanes album.

15)  Heartbeat Song      The Futureheads

What I like about this song is the theme.  Sometimes you’re with someone, you know deep down this person isn’t going to the one you’re going to marry and grow old with, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t enjoy your time with that person.  I also really like the overall sound of the song as well.  Go check out the rest of the album The Chaos.

16) American Slang.    The Gaslight Anthem

I’m from New Jersey and because of that I love Bruce Springsteen (he’s not on this  mix because if I started with his music I’d never stop)  The Gaslight Anthem is VERY VERY Bruce influenced.  This is off of their follow up album  American Slang.

17) The '59 Sound  The Gaslight Anthem

Another excellent death song.  I should note that I don’t have an obsession with death songs.  But this one is very different, it’s more contemplative and it has a  Charles Dickson’s reference.    The ’59 Sound is the album and you should also check out Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

18) Whatsername   Green Day

I’m a long time Green Day fan  and this song struck a deep chord with me.  It’s sad and sweet.  It can be found on American Idiot, which is easily their best album.

19) Macy’s Day Parade  Green Day

Another sad song from Green Day but I think it’s the first hints of what sort of band Green Day was going to grow up to be.  Not many bands can boast a 20 year career anymore.  IT’s a good reminder to writers sometimes you have to change and evolve if you want to stay  in the game.   It can be found on International Super Hits.

20) Four Become One  Hawthorne Heights

Hawthorne Heights used to be a band of five, then one of their members died suddenly.  He had dental work and the pain meds mixed with his sleeping pills.  Casey was NOT a drug user.  But his death was labeled as an accidental overdose.  This song was written a few days after his death.  The band still holds onto his memory and refuses to replaced him.  Their album sales have slowly declined and Skeletons their most recent album lacks a lot of the passion they once had.  Not every underdog story can have a  happy ending. They are a band that’s had a long series of unfortunate and tragic events follow them, and yet they didn’t give up.   Truly an inspiration for all artists everywhere because reality is a enormous foe.   It can be found on the Fragile Futures album.

21) Baby Steps                       I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business

Ace Enders left his band Early November and formed several solo projects.  He’s completely DIY now.  He’s a new daddy and is publicly trying to balance the  his family and his career.  His wife and his son, who is not even a year, tour with Ace.   I wonder how long he’ll be able to  do it.  I wonder what his son’s life will be like.  I wonder lots of things about the Ender’s family.   This can be found on the The World We Know album.

22) Swim     Jack's Mannequin

Jack Mannequin was Andrew’s solo venture after leaving Something Corporate, and just prior to the release of his first album, he was diagnosed with cancer.  The Glass Passenger album was written during the treatment and healing process.   The line that I love is, “You didn’t come this far, just to fall off of the earth.”   This song is wonderful and inspirational.  Surely you’ll find something to relate to in it.

23) Hallelujah  Jeff Buckley

This song is perfect.  It is featured heavily in my writing and inspired one of my novels.  This is the perfect version of this song and even though Jason Castro song it on American Idol, the song resonated with most musicians.  Jeff Buckley should have had an incredible career, but tragic drown during a late night swim in a lake.    The album you can find it on is Grace and you really should own a copy of it if you don’t already.

24) You Hear Me  Jimmy Eat World.

Jimmy Eat World has lots of amazing songs, lots of incredible albums but Bleed American I listened to every day for a year.  You Hear Me is one of my favorite songs.  Yes, it’s another death song, but it’s singing the praises of a friend who has passed away.  It’s raw and personal.  There’s a line in it that says, “You gave us someplace to go.”  When you’re a teenager think about how important it was to a place, somewhere were all your friends went to, someplace safe, special and the setting of all your memories from one time of your life.  Remember that when you’re writing your next YA blockbuster.

25) Laundry Girl  Ludo

I like this song because it reminds me of Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, even though it was written YEARS before.  Mostly I like it because it’s about a relationship where you don’t know the person’s name but they still have a huge impact on you, just the same.   It’s off their first album Ludo.

26) Streetlights  Ludo

This song is unlike all the other songs on  the album.  Nearly all of Ludo’s songs are ballads and tell a story that evokes strong emotions, but this one stands out to me as very honest and totally relatable.  It’s not silly like Go Getter Greg.  It’s raw and personal.  It’s on You’re Awful, I Love You.

27) In Space  Ludo

I really like space travel, I really like space, and in the lines of Space Odyssey by Bowie, it’s a story about an astronaut who wants to go home and see his love.  It’s another song I really love.  It’s on You’re Awful , I Love you.

28) Miserable At Best   Mayday Parade.

Sort of their most emo song,  and kind of runs contrary to the rest of their songs.  It’s a great song if you’re trying to understand a recently heartbroken boy.  It’s a good reference.  Most of the other Mayday Parade Songs way more upbeat.  This  song is on the A Lesson In Romantics.

29) Always Running Out of Time   Motion City Soundtrack

Doesn’t the title say it all?  Yes, I too am always running out time.  Deadlines, writers block, real life getting in the way.   This is on the Ask Alice Songs Inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  What I really like about it, is that it sort of sounds very different from the rest of their songs.

30) This Is For Real.   Motion City Soundtrack.

I was listening to this band a lot while I was writing the first draft of my WIP Penny  and Hank.  I really liked the idea of a character who never took things seriously announcing to the world, that this was the time they were going to go head long into something and sure the character might have said it before, but this time he means it.  Even If It Kills Me is the albums this song is on but also go check out their latest CD, My Dinosaur Life, it’s the band’s masterpiece, in my humble opinion.   I didn’t include anything on this mix from that album for the same reason why I didn’t include any Springsteen. One  just isn’t enough.

31) Little Lion Man      Mumford & Sons.

Yep,  these guys are blowing up the airwaves, this song will probably be in every indy movie to come out for the next ten years.  What I like about this song is it’s great background music.  I can put on the CD and sit and write and not let the music effect me too much.  It’s also has a cool sound it to.   The Album is called Sign No More.

32) Happy   Never Shout Never

Sigh.  Never Shout Never,  he’s so freaking cute.  In a scene that’s singing all about sex and anger and frustration, Never Shout Never does it too, but it sounds so damn cute and innocent.  He’s main audience is 14 year old girls.   If your character is a girl who doesn’t really fit in, chances are she’s listening to him.  His songs are catchy and will be stuck in your head for months.  Sorry.   This one can be found on the The Summer EP

33) Love is Our Weapon  Never Shout Never.

Ok I picked this song because I like the fact he uses the phrases, “pissy little problems.”

Pissy.  Really? Pissy?  Anyway It’s a cute song and it’s got a message even though he does hit you over the head with it a billion times.  This is on What is Love?

34) Yeah Yeah Yeah  New Politics

Well after all the sad songs and all sugar sweetness of Never Shout Never, time for a fist pumping Hell YEAH song.  I’m digging this song a lot and I hope you do too.  You can find it on the New Politics self titled album.

35) Love and Memories.   O.A.R

O.A.R is an amazing band to see live, although when I saw them, my take on the crowd was, “Oh preppy white kids like music too.”  This is a great post break up song.  This version is on Live From Madison Square Garden [Disc 1].

36)  The Stranger  O.A.R

I really like songs by band who are men and they bring in a girl for a song.  I love the message the song.  Stories of a Stranger is one of my favorite O.A.R albums, go check it out.

37) Northern Downpour  Panic At The Disco

The album Pretty.  Odd. Is very different from their first album which I think is very brave of an musically group.  I  loved both albums.  For me Northern Downpour was the stand out song.  Panic at The Disco lost two members of the band.

38) Trinity     Paper Tongues

This  song I really dig, but I’m also loving the song Higher from the self titled album Paper Tongues.

39)  The Only Exception    Paramore

I love Paramore, I really like Haley Williams and I wish the band nothing but success.   Mostly I like that Haley Williams never turned into a sex kitten to sell her music.  What I love about this song is that it sounds highly personally and like no other song on their album.  This song is on the  Brand New Eyes.

40) The Best Thing        Relient K

Sort of the classic teenage love song.  It’s a cute sweet song that should inspire you to write an awkward love scene.    This is on the Five Score And Seven Years Ago album.

41) Entertainment          Rise Against

First of all I need to say, Rise Against is an AMAZING Rock band and I had a really tough time picking a song for this mix.  This song is angry and fully described the nature of the music industry.  The music industry is pretty identical to the publishing industry but the bands have to spilt their money 4 ways and an author might just need to take their beta’s out to dinner.  Listen to the lyrics.    Another great song on the Reason To Appeal album is Hero of War.

42) So Much Love     The Rocket Summer

Ok any artist who names themselves from a Ray Bradbury short story is cool with me.  This is a classic sweet love song with a nice beat.  A few months ago I was driving my daughter to day care and looked in the rearview mirror and saw her  bobbing her head to the music and she was wearing sunglasses at the time.  It was SUPER cute and the song quickly endeared itself to me.   It’s on the Do You Feel  album.

43) A Song Is Not A Business Plan     The Rocket Summer

So here’s the biggest struggle of an artist,  do I do this for the art or the cash?  This is a great song that explains the frustration.  I think it really mirrors the struggles of a writer.  It’s on the Do You Feel  album

44) You Say        Saving Jane

This band is one of my favorites.  They never really took off  and it makes me very sad.  You Say  is one of the prettiest songs I’ve ever heard.    This song is the Girl Next Door album but also check up their follow up One Girl Revolution.  I can’t rant and rave about this band enough.  Pretty, honest and wonderful.

45) Life on Mars       Scala

This is a choir from I think Australia.  This song is one of the few that features a solo.  GO BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!  Really, do it.   It’s called On the Rocks and it’s worth the iTunes download.

46) Boy In a Magazine     Socratic

Another unknown band.  This album was produced by Mark Hoppus of Blink 182.  It’s awesome.  I personal love line, “When you were pissed and on the rag, I waited around but now I’m packing the my bag.”    This song is pumps me up.  I e-mailed the band and they e-mailed back.  Spread the Rumors is a great album please go check them out.

47) The Underdog        Spoon.

Who doesn’t love a good underdog story?  Here’s a whole song all about it.  Why they should be feared and respected not ignored.   Also I wanted to give this band a shout out because their name is SPOON.  And when I see the word SPOON, I think of the “The Tick.”  This song is on the Ga Ga Ga Ga album

48)  My Own Worst Enemy     Sterophonics

I really dig this song,  it’s another relationship song.  It’s a good get you pumped up song.  I don’t have a whole lot to say about it.  But I like it a lot.  Its on the Decade In The Sun - Best Of Stereophonics

49) Xavia      The Submarines

This was the stand out song from me from the Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist soundtrack.  I loved the bridge.  It’s a wonderful song.  

50) Feet First    The Swellers

I don’t have a lot to say about this.  I know I really liked it when I listened to it.  I know Haley Williams LOVES The Swellers.   This is on  the Take Action vol 9 and the money goes to charity.

51) Moondance      Van Morrison

Sexy, classic and instantly recognizable.  Another song that makes me smile and turn it up whenever I hear it.  Hmmmm Van Morrison.    You can find it on Moondance.

52) The Middle   We The Kings

The Middle is one of my favorite Jimmy Eat World song and I really LOVE cover songs.  I thought this was a great example because I love the song and I really dig We The Kings.

This is also on the Take Action Vol 9.

53) Baba O’Riley  The Who

No mix is complete without a little teenage wasteland.  The Who= Rock Gods.    This is a great fist pumping song.  I think it’s sort of a perfect way to went of the end this mix.  It can be found on the Who’s Next album.