Warning: this post contains mentions of human feces, ranting about boyband-bashing, q!age and more!

[bubosquared]

Nodnol countdown: 5 days
No Longer A Pedophile Countdown: 163 days

First things first, my reunion report, as told to Tri:

Tri: So, how'd the reunion go and don't skimp on the details.
Me: *giggle*
Me: Um, well, I arrived a bit early, so only the people who were organising it were there yet.
Me: *comes in, squints into the darkness, recognise someone* "An!"
An, Wendy, Johnny: *blinkstare* "... Sofie?"
Me: *grin*
Tri: *giggle*
Me: Which was kind of the pattern for the evening. Caught up with some people, heard gossip about those who weren't there, and felt slightly guilty for my shadenfreude about the girl who'd always been a stuck-up bitch, especially to me, had apparently turned into a real prissy grown-up "woman". You know the type, right? Think stereotypical career women in suit, except she doesn't work and has
Me: apparently had a baby already.
Tri: Gah! *huggles*
Well, most important thing: did you scare peop--er, I mean, did you have fun?
Me: I had lotsa fun! And yes, I think I did scare some people.
Me: And then of course I stayed until last and helped clean up, as usual, because I was stuck there anyway until six, so I might as well help, right? Besides, one of the organisers was gonna drive me to the station where I could get a better train than from the nearest one.
Me: And I had the dubious honour of cleaning up someone else's shit. >_<
Tri: *shakes head* You Belgians. Don't you know how to hide your shit any better than that?
Me: No, seriously, someone had shat on the toilet seat in the women's toilets. How on earth one accomplishes this is beyond me, but.
Tri: Whee, someone ate olestra! Anal napalm.
Tri: I guess it exploded before they sat down.
Me: Don't think so. I think someone was just being nasty. >_< And of course since I'm the one who can't smell, and everyone else's stomach turned just thinking of it, I ended up cleaning it. And the floor of the toilets, which was less nasty, but just as smelly, hence my volunteering for it.
Tri: Ack. *hug* Sounds like you need a nice, rainy day, a day off from work, a soft blanket, and a kitty on your lap.
Me: I slept for ten hours after getting home at eight in the morning (groan), and then I had fun with Linz, so I'm okay. ^_^ Catching up with my friends list et al. Have to say, though, I went to see my old school while waiting for my train, and it was ... weird.
Me: Whenever I'm at the school I went to for the first three years of hs, I can so easily remember what it was like. Walking the stairs, going home every day, ... But with this, nothing. It's like someone else's memories. I guess it's a good thing, it means I've had closure on that part of my life.
Tri: *nod* I'm glad.
Me: Me too.

Also:

Let's see. Two pots of coffee + Tri = *bounceBOUNCEbounceBOUNCEbounceBOUNCEbouncebounceCRASH!* Which, of course, leads to the elemental 'ow!'
(Tri; MSM)

Also, I'm going to weigh in on the boyband bashing thing in a seperate entry, because I have a whole theory about this, but right now I'm going to go off about some "arguments" (and I use the term loosely) against them that I take a tad personally.

For example, the whole " they don't play any instruments" thing. No, they don't. Some of them can, but they don't onstage, because that's not what *NSync is. They're a vocal group. They sing. And the next person to tell me singing is inferior to "actually playing an instrument" can go and take singing lessons from my old teachers for four years, and then come and tell me it's easy.

The first thing I was told when starting my singing lessons was that "Your voice is the most delicate and most difficult to master instrument of all." Over the next four years, I worked hard to master the proper technique and hone my voice. I was often too warm because I was extremely careful not to catch a throat infection, so I had a scarf around my neck pretty much from mid-September through mid-May. I practised until I drove my parents batty.

I did guitar for a year, and piano for about six months, and no, I did not have any talent for either. But I did and do have talent for singing; I have a good voice, and when I was in top form I had a wide range and good control of my voice, and I hate the implication that my talent and skill is somehow inferior to my brother's talent and skill at playing guitar.

Think "everyone can sing"? Let's see you go a few sessions with Mr Van Eetveld and see how you do. Let's see you sing two octaves straight through, hitting each and every note spot on. Let's see you sustain a note for fifteen bloody seconds and not waver even when you've nearly used up all the air in your lungs. Let's see you sing loud enough to be heard fifteen feet away and still sing clear and correct. Those are all things I learned to do after four years of pretty intensive practice, and that's not even a fragment of what most boybands can. So unless you know what the fuck you're talking about, shut the hell up!

Ahem. Sorry about that tangent. I'm kind of passionate about singing, and I don't like it being dismissed as inferior to "real" musicians.

Another thing is the whole disdain for "mindless entertainment". Now, for me, boybands often are "mindless entertainment". I'm in it for the happy music and the psarkly dancing boys who love each other and touch each other in untowardly ways. What's wrong with that, anyway? Boybands aren't pretending to be more than they are. They're not pretending to write deep, philosophical songs about Life, the Universe and Everything. They're not here to change the world. They're here to sing, dance and enterrtain, and sing, dance and entertain they do.

Look, I'm a Dylan fan, people. I do like songs that make me think sometimes, but other times I just want a song about Justin Timberlake being sad because his girl left him, or about cybersex, or about whatever the fuck Space Cowboy is about. (JC Chasez: the Bob Dylan of pop -- and I'm only half joking, here.) Not everything has to be deep and meaningful. Not everything one reads or listens to has to involve a lot of brain activity. I repeat: there is nothgin wrong with some shiny , happy, brainless fun!

Disclaimer: I'm not saying everyone should like *NSync. I'm just saying that if you have any reasons beyond "Their music just doesn't click with me" or similar, then you'd better be prepared for me to argue your premise and your conclusions, because I'm like that. I can defend anything. Well, except the naked ladies trousers. There is no excuse for those.

I need to write up my theory on the boyband-bashing. And I still have that theory on "fic" and feedback as currencies in the fanfic society to finish. And I also have that job-type thing I get paid for to do.

Blar.

ChrisPuppet: *pet*

(Edit: Forgot to say, wrote some Sloth tonight, and yay me! For I have managed to get past the Scene Of Dume! *dance*)

Comments

[northern]

Great rant. Thank you!

I'm a singer too and I know how hard it is.

But what I admire the most about *NSYNC (and other vocal groups like that) is the way they sound together, a capella. Just listen to their "O Holy Night" - there's so much hard work behind a sound like that. I sing mostly Renaissance music and I often hold a part by myself or with one other person. It's Hell trying to make sure that every part fits in the harmony, that everyone's voice has the same kind of sound and expression. And of course making sure that you don't sing flat.

Listening to those boys a capella makes me close my eyes and shiver.

Adoration done. I basically just wanted to say 'me too'.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I meant to comment on that too, but it slipped my mind somewhere along the line. Harmony is hell, because everyone has to be in top shape. A goup is only as strong as its weakest link. And you need to be completely attuned to each other, too.

[i-amthecosmos.livejournal.com]

You just reminded me of my favorite Def Leppard quote: "There's nothing wrong with being deep and meaningless". I wasn't a huge fan, but that's a great quote.

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And it's not just the excercise, it's also the fact that you always have your instrument (voice) with you, so there's things you just can't really do if you don't want to get set back a month or so in training. Example: When I go out, I tend to sing along at the top of my lungs. I used to go out on Saturday and still have it show on Thursday, when I had my singing lesson. Voices are extremely sensitive, and you only get one of them, that's it.

[lido-kitty.livejournal.com]

Eeee, no, why not a more detailed report? Think of all the poor souls who wish so hard for an opportunity like this one, who spend hours making up detailed plans of shocking people and who know they'll never have the chance to realize them - those people want to know more!

::sigh:: Yes, I have issues about old high-school "friends". ::sighs again::

Can I ask what the other countdowns are for? I came here to late to know the details, and you post too much for me to go back and look for the originals entries.

Oh, and of course, word on everything you said about singing. Just... Yeah, I agree on everything (for a change).

Re:

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Nodnol countdown: Going to London this weekend to meet up with pelicanzed (whom I've met several times before) and sivan (whom I've never met before, so Eeeee!). Much fun will be had by all.
No Longer A Pedophile Countdown: Number of days until my girlfriend turns eightteen. <g>

As for more details, that's really about it. Sorry!

[likeahiphopsong.livejournal.com]

or about whatever the fuck Space Cowboy is about

Ah. My roommate solved this one:

"Space Cowboy" is obviously about futuristic gay sex.

[soulstar.livejournal.com]

Just have to weigh in and say a big emphatic YES re. the singing comments. I also trained for several years under different singing tutors at school and uni, briefly taught as well, and have been in various groups and choirs.... and you have to work hard. You hit a bum note, you can't blame it on a broken string or a dodgy reed. It's all you. Singing in harmony takes it to another level again because you have to listen to the rest of the group just as intently as you do your own part. Still, there's nothing better than when it works and comes together. I've got great respect for any group that can accomplish that, whether their type of music is my 'thing' or not.