"One love, One blood, One life, You got to do what you should. One life, with each other, sisters, brothers. One life, but were not the same. We get to carry each other, carry each other. One. One." ~u2

Okay, so I want to talk about Bank of America's butchering of U2's "One." Have you seen this?? If not, here's a link (beware if you've eaten recently).

"We'll live out our core values while the competition crawls..." *VOMIT*

I don't even know what to say. Do the recognize the irony in what they're doing?? Here's my friend Tiff's reaction, because she says it better than I probably could:

"Changing the lyrics of a song (that benefits AIDS research) about world unification and turning it into an anthem for corporate competition! Just...how uncomfortable! How did that guy get so "into" the song? He was wailing like he meant it! I'm no Commie and I am something of a shopaholic, but no one should be that passionate about credit cards. No one. "

I just think it's disrespectful because of all the meaning behind the original song and everything that it stands for. At concerts on the Vertigo tour, U2 always began "One" with Bono's speech about ending extreme poverty and his plea to President Bush to "put mankind back on earth." The song represents the One Campaign to make poverty history. And Bank of America decides to turn the song into a stupid little corporate plug about credit cards (with really bad lyrics). It just pisses me off. That's all for now.

"On the radio, we heard November Rain. That solo's really long, but it's a pretty song. We listened to it twice, 'Cause the DJ was asleep. This is how it works, you're young until you're not, you love until you don't, you try until you can't, you laugh until you cry, you cry until you laugh. And everyone must breathe until their dying breath." ~regina spektor

I'm really into Regina Spektor right now. She has such a unique sound, and I love that. You can definitely see hints of other artists (Ani DiFranco), but the music still doesn't sound like any one artist that's out there.

I've been thinking about the fact that all my favorite musicians are males. If I had to list my favorite artists/groups, I would include the following:
U2, Counting Crows, Damien Rice, The Killers, The Strokes, The Arcade Fire, Carbon Leaf, Dashboard Confessional, Bright Eyes, Joe Purdy, David Garza, DMB....those are the main ones. And they're all males. There are two females in Damien Rice's band and in The Arcade Fire, but I wouldn't call them the focal points of either band. They're not really even essential, although I hate to say that. So I think it's good that I'm listening to Regina Spektor, because I try to listen to a wide variety of music. I like Maria Taylor a lot, and Kendall Payne, and Joni Mitchell, and Alanis Morrissette, but they're not up there with the guys in my list of favorites. I'm not sure whether I just prefer male artists (and I wonder why, if that is the case) or if there are just more talented male artists than females.

I'm convinced that there has been a curse placed on famous blondes recently. They cannot manage to maintain their marriages. Think about it: in the past two years, the following young women have all gotten divorced:
Renee Zellweger (actually an annulment, but I'd say that counts), Jessica Simpson, Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, and now Briteny Spears. There are probably more, but these are the ones that immediately came to my mind.
How many Hollywood blondes can you name that are in successful marriages? Probably not too many. Aspiring blonde actresses, beware; your love life appears to be doomed.

"California, here we come, right back where we started from, California, California..." ~phantom planet

The O.C. is back. And it's fantastic. For real. This season is going to be good; it feels like season 1 again. Josh Schwartz has stepped back in to take control of the writing and I love it. I came close to crying while watching the first episode of this season. Rachel Bilson does a particulary good job acting wise; Summer's trying to pretend that she's completely over the death of her best friend, but she's barely holding it together by the end of the episode, and it hurts to watch her hurting so much. I really hope she doesn't keep pushing Seth away, though; they make such a good couple. I know, I know, I'm a tv dork. I'll stop now. I'm also a music dork, though, so I'll write about that. On this week's Grey's Anatomy (see, I can't stay away from tv), they played Gomez's song Notice, which I'm listening to right now. It's beautiful. You know who's a really good singer, especially when she's doing a Gwen Stefani impression? One of my roommates. :D

"I can’t take the smell, I can’t take the noise. Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice...Don’t push me, cause I’m close to the edge. I’m trying not to lose my head. It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under." ~u2

Our apartment smells. It's been smelling for over a week, but it seems to be getting worse. It's not a normal smell, and it's not going away. A facilities worker came today and confirmed the fact that it smells really bad, but he couldn't figure out why. So now he's calling in backup; housekeeping and the air conditioning/heating people have to come check it out. I'm almost getting used to it by now.

I was really looking forward to the movie Running with Scissors. I loved the book, and the trailer made the movie look pretty good. So I'm disappointed that it's getting bad reviews; now I don't think I want to see it. It has a 30% on RottenTomatoes, which is generally a very good, dependable barometer of a movie's quality. It's a shame that it's a bad movie, because it had so much potential. The source material (Augusten Burrough's memoir) is fantastic. The cast (Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Jill Clayburgh, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Chenoweth, Patrick Wilson, Joseph Cross, I could keep going) is stellar. They could have done so much with this. Arg.

"No need to know what you're doing or waiting for: But if anyone should ask? Tell them I've been licking coconut skins and we've been hanging out. Tell them God just dropped by to forgive our sins and relieve us our doubt." ~Damien Rice

That quote is from a song on Damien Rice's new album, "9." This is another album that I've been anticipating for a loooong time. I've been listening to it all day. Now I'm trying to decide what I think. I don't like it as much as "O" right now (DR's first album). But "O" is so fantasmic that I would be floored if "9" were better. I really like "9," though. There are some really strong tracks on it. The highlights for me so far are "9 Crimes," "Me, My Yoke and I," and "Coconut Skins." I think my main issue is that "9" doesn't seem as intense as "O." It's not quite as creative overall. There are a few tracks that seem weak compared to the rest, whereas on "O" I feel like every single song is incredible. Still, there is no denying that Damien Rice is a genius, and his brilliance is evident on this album. I heard Damien play in Central Park this summer and he played a few songs from this album, which sounded great live. "9 Crimes" was definitely a highlight of the concert. So, in conclusion, go listen to Damien Rice. If you're a little late hopping on the DR bandwagon, start by buying "O" and then "9." If you have "O," check out "9." You won't be sorry.