The Marci Rating System

Saw this mentioned on tumblr the other day, and this song is a BOP. Like, if anyone was ever like 'hey, what did the kids mean back in ancient times when they said a song was a bop?' this would be the song that would be played as an example.

Cut To The Feeling, Carly Rae Jepsen

I had a dream, or was it real?
We crossed the line and it was on

*I saw the turkey flock out the front windows this morning, and some geese on the river out the back windows; a good day indeed

*I've had the MacGyver* theme song playing intermittently in my head for over a week now (*the original MacGyver); allow me to share this joy

*Work sure is something, isn't it?

Hold On Tight, Amos Lee

All we have is each other
All we have in this long cold night
All we have is each other
Hold on tight

Last night I dreamed about a new Christmas song called "Microwave Christmas." It was one of those 'internet artist songs gone moderately viral,' and I had seen it recommended multiple times.

In this dream, I was back at work after the holiday (in that weird dream amalgamation of 'this is nothing like my workplace yet I KNOW that's what's happening here) and I opened up the song to watch & listen. (Excellent, even my dream self is making good use of on the clock hours!)

And the first two lines of the song went like this:

This is gonna be a microwave Christmas
Where could my Untamed gift be

Sadly, I couldn't hear the rest of it because of various dream-related chaos (including someone getting very excited about miso paste, which is not a food item I've considered for many years). But in the way of dreams, I knew that this was a fun song about celebrating the things we love (including fandom!), and appreciating that the experience of Christmas can be whatever you make it.

(Also that we spend a lot more time watching for delivery trucks than reindeer.) So way to go, brain! That was fun! Love it! Musical interlude part 2 took a fun and fantastical twist!

(NOTE: I did a quick internet search to make sure there isn't ACTUALLY a moderately viral internet song called 'Microwave Christmas' that my brain was picking up on. As far as I can tell, there is not, but maybe someday!)

I was thinking about Christmas music this week (as one does), and listening to one of my all-time faves (We Need A Little Christmas, Johnny Mathis), and I thought 'didn't I first hear this song in a muppet movie???'

I managed to come up with the following recollections:
*a Sunday night tv movie???
*Whoopi Goldberg as God???
*the theater was being shut down, maybe???

None of these things really seemed to make sense, but lo! The internet has provided an answer. There was INDEED a made-for-tv muppets movie released in 2002, just before Disney swooped in:

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

It was "loosely" based on "It's a Wonderful Life," which probably explains why I didn't think it was very fun to watch. But the wiki article is an interesting read, AND it was a fun excuse to go listen to Christmas music again!

The weather is Super Summer all week here, so I picked "Six-Pack Summer" as my alarm wakeup song for the week, an A++ choice.

Oh, oh another six pack summer
Sing to me babe I'll be your dashboard drummer
Let's turn the radio up as loud as it can go

Six-Pack Summer, Phil Vassar

(This song came out in 2000, which feels like 'not that far' but was in fact 23 years ago, whaaaaaaat???!!??? That means if this year was 2000, the song would have been released in 1977!!! Truly, the passing of time boggles the mind.)

I know I've linked this before, but it popped up again this week and I had a wonderful time listening to it on repeat for a while:

Jim Moray - Sounds of Earth

He said "let's send a message to whoever finds it first
To tell them that we come in peace let's send the sounds of Earth"

Here is my almost-entirely random selection of songs from 2022, based on the following: early in the year, I was thinking about how certain songs reminded me of certain times in 2020, and I thought 'hey, I should note down a song for each month that catches my ear.'

All of these are songs I heard on the radio at least one (1) time during the month they're associated with!

2022 songs

January: "Another Love" Tom Odell

February: "in the wake of your leave" Gang of Youths

March: "Keep it up" Rex Orange County

April: "Brighter Day" Michael Franti & Spearhead

May: "Love Me More" Mitski / "Goodbye Mr. Blue" Father John Misty

June: "Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)" Arcade Fire

July: "Free" Florence & the Machine

August: "Running Up That Hill" Kate Bush

September: "These are the days" Inhaler

October: "On the Turning Away" Pink Floyd

November: "Run Away to Mars" TALK

December: "Songbird" Fleetwood Mac

Big Backyard, song by Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, featuring Old Crow Medicine Show

And some folks say to stake your claim
And fence it in, but I see it different
Come on out to the big backyard
It ain't mine, it ain't yours, it's all of ours

My plan for the day: doing things!

the dunkin donuts commercial with the 'doing things' song (from 2006!!!!!!!)

Things are what I like to do
Doing things is what I like to do

Things are what I like to do
No twiddling of thumbs
I get everything done

I'm slightly more productive now than previous because
I'm slightly more efficient than I previously was

Doing things is what I like to do, YES!
Doing things is what I like to do, YES!

-Things I Like To Do, by They Might Be Giants