Messiah Sing-along: A Chaotic Experience

On December 12, 2010, I had the pleasure of attending what is called a "Messiah Sing-along." Also known as a "Scratch Messiah," this annual tradition, due to the fact that most of the chorus members are relatively unrehearsed, tends to be a bit disorganized. However, this year's performance was a bit more disorganized than usual.

The Veronicas - Could've Been

A song about unrequited love. Written from a female perspective, but the meaning of the song, and the gender roles could easily be reversed.

Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again.

So recently, I've been into a song called "Here It Goes Again" by a band called OK Go.

Here's the video for the song. You can buy it at the iTunes Store.



Of course, the popularity of this video has sparked some imitators.

First, some high school students in American Fork, Utah.


Here's another rendition.


And yet another.


They even had to do it on Big Brother in the UK.


But the best rendition other than that performed by the band OK Go has to be from Granbury High School in Texas. The reaction of the crowd says it all.


OK Go vs. Granbury HS.


♪ It could be ten, but then again I can't remember half an hour since a quarter to four… ♪

EDIT: The next video I post to this blog will be one I made which uses the song, but mine won't involve treadmills.

So I listened to “Last Night” last night…

The new album from Moby, Last Night, was released yesterday. Since the album is supposed to be a condensed version of a night out in New York City, I listened to it, most appropriately, during a night out in Manhattan.

I started at the beginning, which is a fine place to start, [Ooh Yeah] and I just couldn't help but move to the beat as I was walking down 14th Street to the Union Square subway station. [I Love to Move In Here] As I passed the Virgin Megastore, I looked through the windows to see if I could see if the place was still a madhouse (Moby was to make an appearance there). It was well past 21:00, so I figured that he must have moved on, so I moved on, [257.zero] and went into the subway. My intent was to take a Broadway Line train to 34th Street and then a 6th Avenue train to Rockefeller Center. [Everyday It's 1989] However, a northbound Q was in the station, with another Q stopped just outside the north end of the station, [Live for Tomorrow] and another train just outside of the south end of the station. [Alice] So I switched to the Lexington Line [Hyenas] and got to Rockefeller Center [I'm In Love] via Grand Central. [Disco Lies] Once in Rockefeller Center [The Stars], I took a few pictures of the electric fountain. [Degenerates] It was raining lightly, light enough that I didn't need an umbrella… or so I thought. The sky soon opened up, so I took shelter in the entrance to 30 Rock [Sweet Apocalypse] along with a few other people. Once the rain slowed up enough, [Mothers of the Night] I made my way back to the subway, taking the V to the 7, [Last Night] which I took home. [Sweetest] [Land Of]

As you probably guessed, I listed the names of the tracks among the events that took place last night. Also, you could deduce that not only did I download this album from iTunes, but also I pre-ordered it (the obvious giveaway is the presence of "Land Of," which was only available via pre-order). There was a bit of a hiccup when I downloaded it yesterday. The tracks downloaded, but it was in what I call iTunes Minus (the DRM'd tracks of an album that's available in iTunes Plus, which is DRM-free). After an unnecessary upgrade (and $3 later), I had the iTunes Plus versions of the tracks. After listening to the album though, I'd say it was worth it.

Other Music Stuff

The Veronicas finally put a new single out, after releasing their sophomore album Hook Me Up in Australia this past November. The song is called Untouched. After having listened to it numerous times (140 as of this post), I'd recommend it.

That got me to thinking that if I owned a record label, I would implement a “One Planet, One Album” policy. The policy would mean that any recording to be released would automatically be released worldwide within one week of the target release date. None of this garbage about an album being available in certain countries or similar junk. At least YouTube is international enough to not restrict viewers in another country from viewing content.

In fact, here's a rundown of music videos from their 2007 release, Hook Me Up

First is the song of the same name.


Next is the previously mentioned, Untouched


And finally, their latest video, This Love

NOTE: Once YouTube user ThEvErOnIcAs (The official YouTube account for The Veronicas) has this video posted under their account, I'll replace the above video with that one. The other two videos have been posted under that account.

Anyway, that's enough of my rant. I'll get back to listening to Moby… or The Veronicas… or somebody. Just watch the Last.FM ticker on the right.

iTunes Bugs

Well, in case you haven't read the story on iLounge yet, iTunes users (including myself) have been having issues downloading content from the iTunes Store. I made a couple of purchases on Wednesday and they were stuck in download limbo for over 24 hours. It wasn't until yesterday I was able to download them, even though the receipt for my purchase showed up in my e-mail inbox almost immediately after buying it. I also received credit for 5 song downloads from the Store. I wonder how many of these credits they were giving out after this episode. During this fiasco, my opinion on Apple dipped into the red, but it's now back in the black… just barely.

Note in the image (click on it for a larger view), that this credit doesn't expire until 31 December 2099.

I have inserted this countdown timer to tell everyone how much time is left for this credit.

EDIT: I've used up the credit already, but I think it would be fun just to leave it up here.

The Quest for Unknown Songs

Have you ever heard a song on TV or the radio and wondered, "What is that song?" I recently found two such songs after receiving some hints.

First, the song from the Geico commercial were a caveman is on one of those moving walkways in an airport, and he passes a Geico ad with the tagline, "So easy a caveman can do it."


The song here is "Remind Me" by Röyksopp. I found this out by turning on the Closed Captioning feature on my TV, and there it was.

Then, there's this song I first heard on Elvis Duran and the Morning Zoo. Then I heard it in several commercials for shows like "On the Lot." I recently heard it on the Victoria Beckham: Coming to America show on NBC. When Victoria is finally reunited with her husband and children, and they return to Los Angeles as a family. After the show aired, I went over to NBC's Featured Music page and discovered a song that kinda sounded like what I heard, so I Googled it, and found the music video. I then hopped over to the iTunes Store and picked up "The Adventure" by Angels & Airwaves.



I wonder what I'll find next.