Weekly Update-Slow Stitch Week

I'm not sure if I just wasn't feeling it, or because I was setting up for the new starts, but I had very little stitch progress this week, really only stitching on Saturday and Sunday, and even Sunday was a bit of a bust. I didn't touch Everest at all. I'm not sure why. But I did move on to Happy Haunts by Neni Designs (and I'm not that's still even her store name anymore, she changes it like every five minutes). This has always been one of my least favorites and now, I'm not sure why. I did OK on it this weekend, all things considered. I did have to reload it in Markup-RXP, again, not sure why I didn't do it right the first time, but a lot of symbols and colors were missing. Then, I had to remark off all the progress so far.

This was a project I haven't touched since 12-31-2023, again, probably because I hated it. The colored patterns are just too hard to work from and I really don't like 18ct Aida anymore. I really should have done this on 28ct, but I think my logic was the design is a bit pixelated, it needed to stay that way, so it was better on a bigger fabric (or at least that's all I can come up with for my 2017 brain). I had previously stopped at 28,862/62775 stitches which was 45.98% and 165.03 hrs.

This weekend, I made it up to 30,813/62775 (another 1951 stitches) or 49.08% and 177.83 hrs (another 12.8 hrs, most of which was Saturday). The Hatbox Ghost and the head of the Opera Singer is really starting to pop. I also changed out the needle minder from one of my new ones from MadForMinders. It is more of a Disneyland Haunted Mansion pattern rather than Disney World (the Haunted Mansion store at Disney World is named Memento Mori), but I'm OK with it.

I have gotten most of the new projects put on their respective scroll rods. I'm still waiting on two more scroll rods (for A Discovery of Witches and Hook, part deux) as well as the modification hardware to my stand. All the fabric is gridded up though (I still have to draw grid marks on gridded fabric to make sure I hit the lines the same since the pre-grids actually cover an entire row and column of blocks, but the pregridding saves me all the counting). I'm also having issues with storage (shock...lack of room in my house for more "stuff"). In this pic I have the Aimee Stewart Bookshelf just hanging from the wall, but I have since taken the big projects and put them in another gray bucket in the floor. But here is what the situation looked like at least until Thursday:

Speaking of Aimee Stewart, I finally broke down and emailed Michele at HAED about seeing if Rio could be charted up completely. I have the one that HAED released already even though it's not typically my type of chart:

But what most people don't know is that the full image also has Duran Duran in it! It was something Aimee did for a contest or something. Even finding images of the full image on the internet is hard and, although I have it in a file somewhere, I don't feel comfortable posting it here because I'm not sure about copyright issues. I planned on just charting it myself (as long as I don't sell or share it, that's OK, right?), but if I could get HAED to do it, all the better. Michele also said that, if Aimee agrees to having it licensed, it would be the full cost of a custom chart (which is $125), but I'm cool with that considering the subject matter. If I could get it in a max color chart (not sure if I want it super-sized, have to consider that), it would totally be worth it to have a professionally charted Duran Duran pic! We're still waiting to hear back from Aimee, so I'll either be starting another project soon, or I'll chart it up myself at some point in the future (when I rebuy some charting software...plus, I won't have to worry about dithering if I do it myself, although I'm now wondering if I can request a non-dithered pattern from HAED with the custom stuff). I'm probably getting ahead of myself on this idea, but whatever. I did not, however, ask Michele about Tudor Rose by Jasmine Becket Griffith. I still think it will appear eventually.

I also cleaned out more stuff from the Duckroom. My therapy Zoom session last week was me walking her through my house, and I'm still not "calmed down" from the process. I don't like being judged for my stuff (although the judgement is probably all in my head). Like I always say, there is a thin line between OCD and hoarding. So, since I've been so anxious about it, Friday night I got rid of all my Magic Band boxes (yes, I even keep empty boxes, so sad!). I tried to get rid of the external boxes for the Funko Marvel sets that togther make a display (the cardboard boxes, not the actual Funko boxes, those I'll keep forever), but I couldn't do it. My logic is that the cardboard is protecting the empty Funko boxes (flimsy, but it's the way my brain works). I found some old Christmas bags and, since I don't participate in Christmas anymore, I was able to get rid of quite a bit of them, well, the ones that weren't Disney. I even had an empty box from a Blu-Ray player two Blu-Ray players ago! Needless to say, it was still enough stuff to fill a giantic-sized garbage bag. Now, I just have to actually take the bag outside and put it in the can. I might be better bringing it to work and putting it in the dumpster. Work trash gets picked up every day. Knowing that stuff is sitting in my can till Friday might mean I dig it all back out again.

I've put The Bride Dollmaker in my stand to jump back into tonight. I barely touched this when I started stitching again, so let's see if I can do a bit better. But then again, I'm starting to think I might start one of the smaller new starts. We'll see when I get home. So, until next week, that's this update!

And just like that...

One of the weirdest things about being an Asper is how much control I give to my emotions despite the screaming of my logical brain at my idiocy...I am quite aware of how I should be reacting to situations, but knowing and doing are always two separate things in my world. Nine times out of ten, this is why I end up with headaches and it's why I've had a headache since last Friday. My work issues aren't because of me or anything I'm doing, it's because I'm allowing another person to expose and manipulate my insecurities...my brain knows this, my emotions see finger-pointing and stares from people who aren't even involved in the situation and, unfortunately, emotions trump logic every single time.

Last night, I stopped by the drug store to refill my meds and then to get Chinese food (I'm weird that way too, caffeine, MSG, chocolate, all the things you are not supposed to eat when you have a migraine tend to clear mine up). On the way home, I turned on the radio (meaning my iPod...I'm too old to get what is being played on the radio these days), and three songs played in succession. First up:

Perfect example of the state I'm in now. Next came:

Suddenly, my head started winning the war and I was just thinking how grateful I am to have my boys when the penultimate song came on:

And just like that, all my work problems were put into perspective and my headache started to wain, even before eating the Chinese. Today, I'm not completely headache free, but I'm in a much better state of mind.

This year we've lost a lot of great artists and I know that one day I'll lose one of my boys too, but for now, I am so grateful that I have them and have had for 35 years of my life (and here's to 35 more years). 2017 WILL be different because I will make it so with the help of four guys from Birmingham.

As to the backstabbers at work:

Duran Duran - #15 Northern Lights and Final Thoughts

My Birthday's over, so here we are at the end of my Duran Duran album review of Paper Gods with the final bonus song, Northern Lights. Well, hello there Liberty album, it's nice to see you got a production upgrade! This song is pure Liberty to me (of course, with the modern Duran twist that this album is filled with). As much as some of these songs pull me back to specific Duran albums, it is all still quite a new Duran vibe, so I probably shouldn't reference old albums, but I tend to think in terms of what I know.

This might be my least favorite of the three bonus tracks, but it's not my least favorite of the album (I've already covered those). This one is probably at the lower end of my favorites or the upper end of my mid-lands. This is yet another reason why the Deluxe version is always a good purchase when it comes to Duran. You really get your money's worth all across the album instead of one or two good songs and a bunch of fluff like 90% of the other albums bands put out (and I'm not going to name names, but I'm sure thinking of some).

More than likely, as singles start to get released, there will be other B-sides, demos or new tracks that find their way on the circuit, that always happens and most of them are the gems of my Duran collection, so Duranies keep a lookout (but, if you are a Duranie, you already know that, don't you?).

And that's the end! I've gone over every single song on Duran Duran's new album (including the bonus tracks) and, overall, I absolutely LOVE it (well, except for Danceophobia, but not everyone's perfect, not even Simon Le Bon!). It is a rather dark album, but because the melodies all pretty much tend to be upbeat, you don't feel like you're being brought down and it is pure Duran, so the kids might not get it, but us older folks will...I guess you'd call it a mature thinking person's dance music? Yep, I'll go with that.

In almost every single Duran album, there is always at least one instrumental or an interlude type song, but this entire album is back-to-back full-on. I've always kind of complained about the lack of Simon on that one instrumental too, especially being a tiny bit partial (OK, blatant lie, you caught me) to The Good one himself (inside joke for those who can speak French), but honestly, I kind of missed it on this album. Be careful what you complain about, I guess.

Granted, this review is very personal and opinionated...I'm no Jane Austen by any means, but I think that it's fair to admit that I'm "a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant historian" when it comes to Duran Duran. I tend to see things from very rose-colored glasses when it comes to them and I'm OK with that. I mean, seriously (no pun intended), one of my favorite D2 albums is Liberty, so that already says something might be off with me in the first place. Or is is? I actually ran across this article the other day on the Duran Duran site. Apparently, I'm not the only fan of the album or Serious! HA! Take that (again, no pun intended) Liberty naysayers!

I just wanted to go over every song for myself and see where they took me (I do always say I blog for myself because who else would care about this stuff anyway). I don't know about you, but I'm rockin' a serious (again, no pun intended) happy face about this album! DURAN DURAN RULZ FOREVER (so said my 6th grade school notebook and so say I now, 34 years later).

As I was digging up clips for yesterday's Birthday post, I found this interview with Simon and John, which is barely a week old, and it surprisingly sums up a lot of the points I made through this whole mess, so obviously I do know my stuff a bit because Simon and John both say (in a lot less time) that I have throughout this whole series. So I'm going to leave you with the interview...enjoy!

Oh, and go out and buy the album (see, I am old, I probably should have said download it!), or hell, do both! It is honestly one of Duran Duran's best albums in years and that is an unbiased, unprejudiced, and rather smartly summed up opinion, if I do say so myself!

My posts will probably be pretty sparse between now and after Disneyland (or not, I may have panic-attack postings every five minutes), we'll see.

Oh, and I missed my Blogoversary in here somewhere (again), so a big THANK YOU to all those who follow me (for whatever reason) and here's to many more years of Stitching, Disney, and Duran Duran (with a puppy pic or two in the mix for good measure) as I try to let my Asper-flame burn bright! I'm off to watch old Duran videos now and bask in the glory of my favorite band ever.

Duran Duran - #14 Valentine Stones

I would have really liked to have ended my Duran Duran Paper Gods review today of all days...a fitting end for my Birthday. Yes, today is my big 45th Birthday, but enough about me, let's get to the Duran!

Valentine Stones, bonus song #2, is Red Carpet Massacre meets Medazzaland, but with an All You Need Is Now vibe. I can relate quite a bit to the lyrics of this song because it reminds me a lot of my relationship with my ex-husband, but I don't want to go there, especially on my Birthday, so I choose not to think about that right now and just enjoy the music.

I don't want to do a reference video with this one, but instead let's go this route:

And definitely this route:

Granted, these are are a "specific" period in Duran history, but isn't that what we old people do...wax nostalgic about the past? Besides, I had to get Serious in there somewhere, right? It IS my day after all!

Duran Duran - #13 Planet Roaring

"Congratulations Duran Duran albums Astronaut and All You Need Is Now, you've just had a child named Planet Roaring"...that's the first thought I had after hearing the first bonus song on the Paper Gods album. This is probably my favorite of the three bonuses (if you can't tell already).

There is also no question about the frame of reference here...Astronaut I would say a mix of Sunrise (a concert opening favorite, so let's go there instead of the official video):

and the title track itself:

And from All You Need, I'd say either Girl Panic, which is an amazingly fun video FYI (and for those that don't know, "the guitarist" is none other than Simon's wife Yasmin):

Duran Duran - #12 The Universe Alone

I am absolutely in love with Duran Duran's Paper Gods album. It's definitely not one of those that peeters out after the first couple of songs and, if anything, I'd say the album gets stronger and stronger as it goes on. The last song on the regular album (but on the deluxe version), The Universe Alone, is the perfect example of this. Again, this is a very Astronaut song, I'd probably venture to say it's a soft version of Last Day On Earth (which was actually on Pop Trash, but was one of the only good ones on that album and feels Astronauty to me anyway...so imagine Last Day On Earth without Warren and on Astronaut and you've got it).

What I don't like, nay, readily admit I hate, is the melody breakdown at the end that just sounds like the CD is warped or something. It's such a great melody anyway, I'm not sure why it's there. This isn't a strong Nick heavy song, it's more orchestral driven (which again leads one back to Astronaut), so maybe it was Nick's attempt to do something one would notice? I'm anxious to hear some remixes on this one because it's just honestly more annoying that pleasing and I'm terrified at horrible it's going to sound with headphones on. Thankfully though, it's only at the ending and it's brief.

Oh, and since I mentioned it, here is Last Day On Earth.

Duran Duran - #11 Only In Dreams

We're getting close to done reviewing Duran Duran's Paper Gods album, but I'm not quite there yet.

Only In My Dreams is once again classic Duran sounding, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear John's voice on the backing vocals (usually he's so auto-tuned down, you can't hear him or Simon's voice is looped so many times, he disappears). I love this song. Again, that "play that fuckin' bass John" chant starts in on beat one of this song and continues the entire time. I also could tell that Nile Rodgers had his hands on this one without even having to look it up (as well as Mark Ronson), but this song is 80% John Taylor and my secondary 14 year-old self that loved John too (just not as much as Simon), is a twittering a bit on this one as well!

When it comes to John-heavy songs and Nile Rodgers, you can pretty much count the entire Notorious album, but let's go with the title track for frame of reference:

But you could also arguably pick any song from Rio too for that heavy John bass line. Me personally, I think I'll go with a live version mix of Sound Of Thunder from the first Duran album and Hold Back The Rain from Rio:

You guys have NO IDEA how much I'm LOVING doing these reviews...not just because I can keep playing the new album over and over again, but because I can scour YouTube for Duran Duran videos! I really should be focusing on Disneyland, but my heart is currently filled with nothing but Duran Duran.

Duran Duran - #10 Butterfly Girl

I always write my iTunes reviews after I listen to the album for the very first time in its entirety. My opinion tends to be a bit truer then and time can't cloud my judgement, especially where Duran Duran is concerned. I have a bad habit of "learning to love" Duran songs I wouldn't necessarily care for if they were by some other band.

When I initially reviewed Paper Gods (see how I managed to get that link in there still?), the only two songs I dogged were Danceophobia (and I stand by that judgment) and this one, Butterfly Girl. I think it was initially because of the strong guitar riff that felt very Chili Peppery (obviously because John Frusciante is on this one too) and it just sounds like he's trying to channel Warren Cuccurullo (and we all know how I feel about Warren).

But the more I listen to it, I would probably move Change The Skyline to my #2 least favorite and move this one up higher on the list (although I'm not sure how high). I still don't like the heavy guitar, but I love hearing Anna Ross, who has been a backup singer for Duran Duran for quite a while now. She just has one of those voices that melds well with Simon's (like Lamya's did back during The Wedding Album years-she's the singer you hear on Come Undone) and I love the lyrics and melody here. So, forgive me iTunes, but I do actually like this song after all (minus the guitar, of course)!

When it comes to references, the entire Pop Trash song has too much weird guitar strands on it, but here is the one I was specifically thinking of when I heard Butterfly Girl, Mars Meets Venus:

It's a great song if you take bloody Warren away!

And, since I mentioned it, here's Come Undone:

Duran Duran - #9 Change The Skyline

Duran Duran Paper Gods time again. #9, Change The Skyline featuring Jonas Bjerre (I don't know who he is either...I am REALLY getting old) is a good song, don't get me wrong, it's just not a Duran Duran song. It's more of a very producer-driven song with Duran Duran performing on it and I'm not sure I would even go that far and might just limit it to 'Simon sings on' versus 'the entire band performs on' type song. This might be one of those I can't pick out various band members, I haven't listened enough yet to tell.

But again, I do really like it...it's a great beat, has that old disco-type dance beat and is simple and flowing. There are a few of these in the Duran canon, so I'm not used to them, but they still shock me when I first hear them.

It may be hard to tell sometimes, but this entire album is a bit darker than a Duran album typically is...you just can't tell because of the upbeat melodies, but this one really stumps me. The album was released on September 11th, and with the title, I kind of felt that was the direction they were going with this particular song, but I'm still not sure (and anyone other than Simon Le Bon that can interpret his lyrics is a genius in my book because he usually makes them ambiguous on purpose). With lyrics like:

I can change the skyline
I'll arrange the limbs time
Time to change the skyline
I see far a rising up

Lyrically, I get an American-themed inspiring September 11th anthem, but the melody throws it all out of whack. Most of the boys have lived in New York at one point or another (John for the longest), so it wouldn't surprise me. I'll just go with that for now until Simon says differently (and he rarely ever does).

I really didn't think out far enough to realize that I'm going to be crossing two Top 10 Tuesdays, but here we are, so I'll be back with these reviews on Wednesday. There are still some really good songs on this album I've yet to get to!

Duran Duran - #8 Sunset Garage

Link time...let's continue on with my Duran Duran's Paper Gods album review. We're at #8 on the track list, Sunset Garage. I'm still on the fence about this one. I surely don't hate it, but I'm not sure I love it either...I do like it however. It is very Pop Trashish, more specifically it reminds me a lot of a fast Someone Else Not Me meets John Taylor's solo stuff (actually, it probably sounds more John than Pop Trash now that I think about it). I love the lyrics, but I think it's the melody I have issues with, it doesn't fit the lyrics for me and the lyrical style sounds more John than Simon. As time goes on, my opinion will probably change for the positive. If I had to guess, I'd say that this sounds like a Simon favorite song to me (he definitely has a type just like I do), but who knows.

Reference time! When I mentioned John's stuff, I was thinking more Hey Day which has great lyrics with a weird melody, although it's probably my most favorite of John's solo stuff because it's so obvious the meaning behind it:

And, since I mentioned it, here's the English lyric version of Someone Else Not Me, but how about a mixed version that speeds it up a bit?

As an afterthought (and a weeks worth of playing nothing but this album), I think I've finally figured out what bothers me about this song...it's too much like Serious! I didn't pick up on that at all initially, but For someone who has been rambling on and on about how I like that this album has elements of certain songs, there is one song that is above reproach and that song is Serious. It's one thing to be influenced by it, it's an entirely different thing to remake it. But, having said all that negativity, now that I've realized and accepted it, I'm really beginning to like this song better.

Duran Duran - #7 What Are The Chances

I'm not sure if I really need to keep saying it's Duran Duran Paper Gods review time again, but it gives me a good excuse to point you to it's iTunes link (although it's really not helping out the people in other countries considering iTunes doesn't cross continents, much to my chagrin...that's a rant for another day however).

Where Danceophobia flops, What Are The Chances vies for my second or third favorite of the entire album. It is so Seven and the Ragged Tiger meets The Wedding Album it's not funny! I've even stretch and admit that, if it wasn't for the strong guitar lines from John Frusciante (I do actually know who he is, although I'm not a Chili Peppers fan per-se), I'd say this could easily also be an Arcadia or one of Simon's solo songs.

I absolute adore this song and the more I listen to it, the higher up the list it does (I figure, when it's all said and done, this will be my favorite song from the album). I have literally paused writing this because I wanted to hear the song four times in a row. It's beautiful, classic Duran with so much heart it literally makes mine want to bust. My inner 14 year-old Simon Le Bon obsessed self comes out when I hear this song and I didn't realize how much I've missed her!

Now we are caught up to where I ended on the whole album review post, so the next eight will be brand new and not rehashed stuff...god help you!

Here's another frame of reference, this is one of Simon's solo songs called Nobody Knows (and the one that reminds me the most of this song):

As well as John's Losing You (I really was thinking more Trust The Process, but I couldn't find it):

Duran Duran - #6 Danceophobia

It's Duran Duran's Paper Gods review time again. There is always at least one song on every album I don't like and Danceophobia is Paper God's. This is one that started with "what the hell?" and is still at "what the hell?" with a bit of, "do I have to?" mixed in. Granted, I was probably predisposed to hate it because of the weird, interrupting speech by Lindsey Lohan very similar to the mess that is Grace Jones' interlude on Election Day, an Arcadia song (but at least Election Day was an amazing song) or Nick's vocals on Medazzaland (not such a great song). Danceophobia is just weird on all kinds of other levels though, but judge for yourself:

No need to make this review long, but this song will probably end up being the favorite of everyone's on the album...that's the way it usually goes for me and my views versus the rest of the world, but I honestly can't imagine anyone liking this song.

And, of course, as a frame of reference, here is Arcadia's Election Day. Musically, it's miles above Danceophobia, but it shows Duran's predilection for weird guest speeches (and I'm linking the long version so you can hear the whole unedited speech). But seriously, tell me that's not just dark Duran, and besides, this incarnation of Simon's looks is the one that gets my blood boiling the highest, so why not show it, if for no other reason than I want to see him?

that is SO me...I'm moody and grey, I'm mean and I'm restless.

And, god help me, might as well do Medazzaland too, but this one is just weird all the way around...it's inspired by a dentist visit Simon had where they used the drug Midazolam on him (you know, the one they sometimes use in prisoner executions). Nick, I love you, but please NEVER do this again!:

Duran Duran - #5 Face For Today

It's time again for my review of Duran Duran's newest album, Paper Gods. Face For Today is a bit harder to define than the other songs on the album. I hear so many different album influences in this song, it's really hard to pin one down...I hear Notorious, Big Thing and Liberty influences in it for sure, but I also hear the first Duran album, a bit of Astronaut, some All You Need Is Now, and maybe even a bit of Red Carpet.

Another one of the great things about Duran is that, if I focus, it is very easy for me to distinguish each band member's particular sound. I can hear only John's strong bass lines, Nick's synth coolness, Roger's rhythmic drumming, Simon's signature voice looping, and even, back in the day, Andy's guitar strings and I've always been this way with Duran (although I really try hard to ignore Warren's guitar...he still annoys me to this day). It's a rarity than I can do this with any other band. But sometimes, one member's attributes stick out more than another's and this one is all John in my head. Play that fuckin' bass John!

For those who have never been to a Duran Duran concert, usually during Girls on Film, Simon does the band intros and, as we arrive at John, Simon always gets the audience to chanting "play that fuckin' bass John" over and over, sometimes for very long periods of time (I've literally done it until I was hoarse). Just an example from 2012 if you choose to listen (and yes, that is me with the strong Southern accent you hear screaming on a very low quality iPhone video). It's really not a good thing to do, especially since there are usually children around somewhere, but thus is the life of an old-school Duranie...you'll also often hear us screaming bits from the Arena concert during certain old songs as well (and Simon's taken to doing this himself over the years, so the band knows us, oh yes they do!).

Duran Duran - #4 Pressure Off

Continuing on with my Duran Duran Paper Gods album review, Pressure Off was the first one the band "previewed" on YouTube (and I think it's the first single, but I don't listen to the radio, so how would I know?). I'm not sure if it's because it was the first one that I heard which makes it my #2 favorite next to Paper Gods or if I genuinely like it that much, but there is just "something" about this song.

Pressure Off is pure-de-ole Duran Duran with a bit of a modern twist...I like to call it Notorious Astronaut and that might be because it was produced by Nile Rodgers like Notorious was almost 27 years ago and it has a very Astronaut-y vibe. It's an extremely danceable song as well and has a kind of summery feel to it without the shocking intro by the female co-singer, although it does have one (this time, Janelle Monae - who I also don't know).

Is it me, or are these getting shorter? Could I possibly be "learning" to do short blog posts? Well, if you consider that this was originally part of a much larger review, then no, I guess not. Fact is, it's a really simple song and there is really no need to over analyze it, just enjoy!

Duran Duran - #3 You Kill Me With Silence

Day 3 of my Duran Duran album review for Paper Gods, so we're up to track 3. This one might contain a bit of a rant (well, actually, it does), so please forgive...there is a method to my madness (at least to me) and sometimes I just got to put it out there!

You Kill Me With Silence is very Seven and the Ragged Tiger with a touch of Rio and The Wedding Album in the mix. Most people would probably say it's not good that a new album has the sound of a thirty-something year-old album, but with Duran, that is a VERY good thing...especially to a Duranie. There is nothing worse to me than a group of 50-something year-old's trying to mimic Justin Timberlake (I really can't let go of that whole Red Carpet Massacre thing, can I?) or whoever young guy is popular nowadays just to please the kids of today's market instead of their loyal followers who have been there since the beginning.

When I was a kid, I thought Madonna was the best female singer ever and had excellent style...nowadays, her constant need to compete with the likes of Miley Cyrus completely baffles me. Do Miley fans really like Madonna anyway or do they find her old and gross? I don't know and I don't really care, but if I was still 14, I would think that (but I'd probably find Miley gross too, so what do I know?). But it proves a point...I don't even know who is popular right now because I prefer Duran Duran and am attuned to a particular sound. A good band to me doesn't just meld to the masses and change for the sake of popularity, but retains their soul that made me love them in the first place and still manages to grow enough to be ever so slightly relevant...a bit like people should do. That's why I love Duran so much because they always strive to do just that (although they don't always succeed).

Besides, kids might "get" Duran because their parents were fans, but honestly, how many kids would hear a Duran song these days and go, "I love it!" and become diehard Duranies without that inherited parent-love gene? What is a parent-love gene you ask? Well, let me just illuminate you! My mother was a Barry Manilow fan and she played his music all the time when I was little, so I can't help but like him, just not like she does. I gained her love for him, but at a reduced, "inherited" level (like all things inherited). The parent-love gene is very particular and isn't always present in multiples...my mother also loved Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand, but I literally can't stand to hear either one of them, even to this day (although I can at least tolerate Barbra whereas Neil is like nails on a chalkboard for me).

Most kids only have a few IP-L genes (as I will now refer to it) that cross over through the umbilical cord, but some have inherited their parent's entire musical library's worth. I'd say the only other one I inherited would be Olivia Newton-John, but ONJ crossed over a bit into my time too (ONJ was actually a country singer in my mother's day anyway, a form of music I can't stand, so she could only go up the ladder).

IP-L genes aren't the only ones we inherit from our parents, oh no. By nature, most kids inherit an Anti-IP-L gene (hereafter named A-IP-L) and hate most of their parent's music in general on principle alone, but you can have both a regular IP-L and an A-IP-L and be a functioning music listener. Most kids don't even discover they have regular IP-L genes until they are older and the A-IP-L's have died down somewhat...A-IP-L's are always more powerful in the youth and slack with age. I have no idea what kind of music my father listened to, so I don't know what, if any, IP-L's or A-IP-L's I got from him.

Every kid today has probably heard of Duran, maybe even likes a song or two, but without that IP-L gene, you will rarely find a diehard Duranie under the age of 35 or so (although they do exist...they are the modern version of how I was a kid, a self-professed weirdo). Most Duranie's come in waves, the original diehards like me, and The Wedding Album era second gen'ers, actually, it's very similar to Disney fandom, but geez, sorry! Getting off track again (it's a really bad habit of mine).

Don't you just love the ideas I pull out of my butt sometimes? I'm probably just completely full of crap, but it makes perfect sense in my head, so I run with it! But seriously, time to get back to the important stuff (although I've probably lost most of you already), so how about we FINALLY get to the song, shall we?

Tomorrow is Top 10 Tuesday day, so we'll resume the review on Wednesday. Just to give a frame of reference though, here is a Red Carpet Massacre example (which I do actually like but isn't very Duran sounding), Skin Divers produced by Timbaland:

And, since I mentioned him specifically, the Justin Timberlake produced Falling Down (which is Duran, especially when it comes to the music video):

Can you hear Justin beneath the layers of Simon's voice? Not much really, but he is definitely there. I have to give Justin credit, at least on this song he let Duran be Duran and didn't try to change them.

Duran Duran - #2 Night In The City

I'm going to continue on with my album review of Duran Duran's newest, Paper Gods. This post should be a lot shorter than the last one (that intro stuff ALWAYS takes more time), so yea me!

Song 2, Last Night In the City features Kiesza (I don't know who she is, but I guess that doesn't matter). It starts off very non-Duran and could literally be something off of Red Carpet Massacre versus this album. Again, like the first song, as this one progresses, it starts to have a very Astronaut Album sound and I can appreciate it more, it's just that opening that throws me because I always expect the first note to be Simon, not someone else (yes, I know that Paper Gods was also begun by someone else, but it wasn't as startling as it is on this one).

A lot of the songs from the new album have featured guests, something Duran really hasn't done this heavily since the Arcadia album (and yes, I consider Arcadia a Duran album and not the Power Station ones (which I consider a true side project), a by-product of being a Simon-ite maybe, but no one can convince me that Arcadia doesn't have a Duran-type sound, albeit a bit more synth-based and dark. Besides, despite the heavy funk beats of The Power Station project, I think that Notorious (the album made after they came back together, well, minus two Taylors that is) has a much stronger Arcadia influence overall, but I'm digressing (I do that a lot).

Night In The City is a very club-centric song, but very danceable (I don't dance, but if I did, I could definitely "get down" to this one). It's definitely a good workout song, so maybe it will motivate me to get my butt on the treadmill, 'ey?

Duran Duran - #1 Paper Gods

I've never been one to actually achieve a short post, especially about something I'm passionate about. I chalk it up to my lack of vocality in "real life", but it's really just that I'm extremely opinionated and passionate about only a couple of things or people (one of the best Asperger traits, IMO). I know I've been a bit blog-absent lately as well...it's too close to Disney for me. I don't usually stitch during this time anyway because of planning and my Disney Movie watching challenge really wore me out (I've been pretty much watching nothing but horror movies on Netflix ever since).

Friday, Duran Duran's new album Paper Gods came out, so what better reason to dip my toes back into Blog World than some good ol'D2! I originally started this post as a single album review, but by the time I was only halfway done and it was literally over 2000 words, I figured I might want to break it up a bit, so I restarted and I'm going to do a post per song and, excluding this first one (of course), most of them might actually turn out fairly short, so good news all around!

I also know I just did a very Duran-centric blog post on Duran Duran Appreciation Day, but it's been almost four years since I've had new Duran material and this stuff is REALLY good, which is why I want to do a song-by-song review of the entire album in the first place. Plus, I got the Deluxe Edition, so there are three bonus songs on it as well I need to cover, for a total of 15 (yeah, I made the right decision splitting this up)

The good thing about Duran is that they don't just do remixes of the same songs and call them bonuses, but actually put on completely new ones, so you really get 15 new songs. In the old days, we used to call them B-sides, because they were on the B-side of the 45 (if you don't know what a 45 is, you should probably either completely skip this series or maybe not...you might learn something!). Some of Duran's B-sides are actually more famous than their album songs and it was a powerful medium, back in my day (boy, I'm sounding old lately, is it because I'm about to turn 45 myself?).

I did get an actual CD of the album instead of the download, I really only do this with my most favorite of bands, but always with Duran and I often get it in various other forms as well like LP's (they still release them too), but the LP will have to wait until after Disney expense is over with. I maybe a techie, but I'm also old school and like to "hold" my music...word! And, no matter how good digital files get, they will never beat the sound of an actual LP and I don't really know why, that's just the way it is.

Let me get stop rambling though and get into the meat of this album! The very first song, Paper Gods, threw me for a loop at first. It's already been "previewed" on YouTube (I think of it more as "leaked", but I guess it's a matter of opinion nowadays, especially since it's actually Duran Duran doing the "leaking"-I made a funny!). But seriously, the song Paper Gods is my Wild Boys.

I know I've told this story before, but the very first time I heard Wild Boys on the radio, I bawled (not cried, but full-on bawled) like a baby..."my band was ruined", "the song was horrible", yada yada yada. I probably went on for a couple of days whining before I really LISTENED to the song and then I started to "get" it although I never really loved WB like I do this song and Duran Duran got a LOT of radio airplay back in the Wild Boy days, but I digress.

The beginning of Paper Gods reminded me of one of the songs off one of the Twilight soundtracks and, at first, I was all like "what the hell?" (no Wild Boys type bawling occurred, just a cuss word or two). As the song progressed though, I started to see what a beautiful song it really is and about the fifth time I listened, it started to absorb into my psyche and I now feel it in my blood every single time I play it (oh, and FYI, that's the sign of a true Duranie...we keep playing songs over and over even when we hate them). It's a bit more political than Duran usually does, but I don't mind them going dark every once in a while...I like to refer to this song as Dark Girls On Film.


Oh, and I'm not sure if I need to do this, but I'm going to for reference sake...here's Wild Boys in it's full music video format (do you guys remember those?):


Tomorrow, I'll do song #2 and so on. I will skip Tuesday because of the Top 10 Tuesday's post, but I'll resume with song #4 on Wednesday. Hopefully, by the end of this series, I will have either created some new Duranies or re-awakened some old ones but, if you do like these songs, please go and download the album from iTunes (or buy it in touchable form) and give the band their credit. I'm giving the YouTube links to the songs released by the band themselves, but only to show them off (probably the same reason the band put them there in the first place). Anyway, the audio quality of a YouTube file is horrible compared to the "real thing", especially if you listen with headphones, so why would anyone really judge music seriously based on a YouTube audio file? And, as much as I hate Taylor Swift, she's right in that artists deserve to be paid for their work and my boys still have kids to feed! The more albums bought means the higher up the charts they go (or so it used to be, I wonder nowadays), and I'd really see Duran kick one out of the park!

Disney Movies - Day 39

Last night I still wasn't in the mood to hop back into the Clubhouse, so I opted instead for The Black Cauldron. It's the darkest, scariest Disney animated movie in the vault and actually not one of my favorites, but I couldn't have handled anything else. There are such gaps in the storyline of this movie and the darkness of it skirts horror, I often wonder how this ever managed to get made in the first place. People usually either love it or hate it, but I'm still on the fence. I've probably seen it half a dozen times and my opinion of it never seems to change.

But that was my only Disney movie last night because I had something else I needed to listen to, but more on that in a minute, totals first.

MOVIE TOTALS:
Live Action: 20
Full-Length Animation: 76
Mixed-Medium: 5
Animated Shorts: 252
Live Action Shorts: 1
Mixed-Medium Shorts: 2
Animated Series: 77
Mixed-Medium Series: 2
Documentaries: 1

On a side note about yesterday...it's still not any better, but the weekend is almost here so I'm living on Coke Zero and Xanax and waiting for it all to be over. Those that really know me know that when I play Duran Duran's Serious, to stay away because I'm in a very dark place. It's been on a constant loop at work and home for two days. It has a drug-like effect on me and manages to change my mood eventually, so I just keep playing it until it does. Call it an Asper tick and probably my most Autistic-like trait, listening to the same song over and over for days and sometimes even weeks at a time. It's a good thing I'm in an office by myself now so I don't have to hear my co-worker complain about it...apparently, after about 20 or so plays, most people find it annoying. Go figure! I also love to watch the video (despite Warren's presence) because it's one of my favorite Simon looks:


I've known about their new album coming out in September and the new single that is out now, but I really haven't made an attempt to listen to it yet basically because I've been avoiding iTunes like the plaque until this whole Apple Music trial crap is over with...it's just not the way I listen to music. There comes a point in your life (and I NEVER thought it would happen to me, but it has) where you can't stand to listen to the radio anymore because you don't "get" the music of today anymore. I hit that stage earlier than most, in my mid 30's and I fought it for a long time, but I finally succumbed when I turned 40. I am now quite happy living in my 1980's New Wave world, listening the same music over and over again and the only new music that graces my library is when one of my 80's bands comes out with something new (and most of them are still around FYI, so I get new influxes every so often).

Of course, there are notable exceptions (i.e. Take That or Darren Hayes) and every blue moon a song or an artist will strike my fancy, but I always come "home" to Duran Duran. I've been obsessed with them since I was 11 years old and I'm now pushing 34 years as a Duranie, so I doubt it will ever change, even though there are ebbs and tides. They have this amazing power to send all these vibrations down my rather flat emotional plane and I just get lost in the music so they deserve my undying devotion for that purpose alone.

When I got my D-Blast this morning (the Duran Duran newsletter) and they let me know the song is now available on YouTube as well as iTunes, then I decided, despite my sour mood, to give it a listen. I've been playing it all morning and, at least for now, it has become my new Serious, but after a hundred or so plays, we'll see if it stands up to the power of Serious. Anyway, give it a listen...it's pretty good!

Careless Memories

Things have been a bit sucky since my Father's Day post...it certainly did NOT have the cathartic effect I thought it would. So, where do I turn when I can't set my head straight? To the prophetic words of Mr. Simon Le Bon, where else?

...where are you now, cause I don't want to meet ya, I think I'd die, I think I'd laugh at you, I know I'd cry, what I am supposed to do, follow you? outside the thoughts come flooding back now, I was trying to forget you...

Yeah, Simon is a god.

My Mad World - Chapter 2

Continuing on with my version of the book Mad World by Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein, Chapter 2 deals with my all-time favorite band and the loves of my life (or so I thought at age 11), Duran Duran.

THEIR CHOICE: GIRLS ON FILM


Seriously? In the entire Duran Duran back catalog, they picked Girls On Film as their most influential song? Granted, it may have been their most controversial video, but, on the Duran scale, it doesn't even rank. Most people would say that Hungry Like The Wolf is what put them on the map. I would also disagree with that. When you've listened to the same music for 30+ years, there is always that one song, one of the popular ones that always gets played at the shows, or on the radio, or even on music television (on the rare occasion when they actually play videos, usually on some 80's retro show), that grates on your ever-loving last nerve. HLTW is my nerve grater (although, during a live show, I'm singing and dancing along with everyone else). But I'm still gonna post a video of it (all be it a recent live version so I don't have to peruse through that damned original video):


I probably should go with Planet Earth as my most influential Duran song since it was the first one I ever heard, but I'm not. Their first album (the home of Planet Earth) was actually released twice. Once before their second album Rio (naturally) and again after Rio with the added song, Is There Something I Should Know. But, I think, for this example, I'm going to go with the Manchester Square Demo video of Planet Earth because it's more in the light of the first Duran Duran album. It's not a "cleaned up" version of the song and the video is a true representation of my early saturation of new wave music:


But, as far as my choice goes, I'm gonna lean more toward the video aspect of Duran's music rather than the song aspect (since they have always been video oriented) and go with this song from the Rio album:

MY CHOICE: LONELY IN YOUR NIGHTMARE


You are probably thinking, "I've never even heard that song, let alone seen the video!". Yeah, well, I said I was a diehard Duranie, so of course I'm gonna know songs you probably have never heard of. I choose this one because the video was filmed in two parts, one part New Romantic era Duran, all frilly shirts and bleach-haired pretty boys and one part the most popular era of Duran, the leather-wearing, super-hot guys best known for their coifs than their musical talent. It was still filmed in that "typical" Duran setting, on an exotic island with scantily-clad beautiful models dancing around, but the change from one part to the other is quite drastic as they progressed from the Rio album toward Seven and the Ragged Tiger. It also singlehandedly represents how Duran Duran is constantly reinventing itself, yet still manages to be the light of my musical life!

This chapter should also probably get a second choice, simply because they were named twice! As I got older (well, more into puberty and my obsession got out of control), Duran Duran released a "live" video for the song, The Reflex. Any diehard Duranie will tell you that the concert that The Reflex video came from has influenced us our entire lives. If you go to any Duran Duran concert, the way Simon sung certain songs or things he shouted during the Arena concert still get chanted by the crowd to this very day. Only the truest Duranie would know that Arena is a cleaned up version of a concert that was first aired on Cinemax called "As The Lights Go Down" (and yes, I have this recorded from way back when, thank god for that gigantic backyard satellite dish my step-dad just HAD to have). The Reflex (which we now know is a song about Simon's peen...kind of changes the song for ya, doesn't it?), is a typical 80's video, with headbands, wristbands, jelly bracelets, mullets, and the whole lot, but it also has the distinction of being the first typical 80's video. It used to drive me nuts that every other band started imitating Duran after this video came out, so:

MY SECOND CHOICE: THE REFLEX


After The Reflex, Duran got big, really big and so did their egos and excesses (in typical 80's fashion). Arena, the live album, only had one new song on it, Wild Boys. The first time I heard Wild Boys, I cried like a baby. I can remember every single thing about that moment as well...I was laying on my bed, looking at my stereo, wailing like a banshee. I even called my best friend (at the time) and kept dialing for hours until she got home to cry to her (yeah, she thought I was completely nuts and we didn't stay friends much longer after that). I couldn't believe that they could do that to me! I thought the song was HORRIBLE (although I don't think that now). The video was even worse (or so I thought...I quite like it now). When the press hit that Simon almost drowned while filming the video, I about lost the plot completely! It was also the most expensive video ever filmed at the time.


Duran would only release one more single after The Arena album, the James Bond theme A View To A Kill (which, for many many years, was the only Bond song to hit #1). Their performance of it at Live Aid (which was horrible, unrehearsed and painful to watch) was the last time they would play together as a five piece band. They tried to splinter off, Andy and John went to Power Station, which had some pretty huge hits, and Simon and Nick (with a little help from Roger) went on to form Arcadia (which is where my loyalties laid since Simon was my guy. Those two bands couldn't have been different, but they weren't enough of a diversion to keep the band together when they came back for their next album, Notorious. Roger would leave first...he was just tired of it all (but there were always rumors that he had a nervous breakdown). Andy would leave next (which didn't bother me so much because I hated him...but be careful what you wish for because we ended up with Warren Cuccurullo for a good chunk of Duran's existence). But just to show the difference between the two bands, lets do a clip from each:

SIDE PROJECT #1 - THE POWER STATION - SOME LIKE IT HOT (because it shows off John's incredible bass talent as well as his artistic, he was, after all, a former art school pupil like myself):


SIDE PROJECT #2 - ARCADIA - THE FLAME (you probably don't know this one, but it's one of my favorite Simon videos and it's just fun, plus, it was more in the vein of Duran):


John also did a solo song (and album eventually) for the movie 9 1/2 Weeks (the movie that put Kim Basinger and Mickey Roarke on the map):


And Andy did his own solo album as well and a theme song for another movie (no need to show it, it sucked).

Once the remaining three did manage to get back together, Notorious was a completely different entity from anything they had done before. Yes, there was still the scantily clad supermodels (in this case, a very young Christy Turlington makes her debut in the video for Notorious). Warren came in during these years, but didn't get made an official band member until two albums later with Liberty. Liberty was Duran's worst commercial success and everyone said it was the end of Duran Duran. But my all-time favorite Duran Duran song (even to this day) came from Liberty. It's the one song that can instantly change my mood and you can always tell when I'm pissed because I play it on a constant loop. It used to drive my co-worker nuts because I could play it all day long, over and over again (and often did). So, it's no surprise that it gets my vote for:

ALL TIME FAVORITE DURAN SONG: SERIOUS


Duran released a single that mixed their greatest hits all into one song (and it's pretty darn cool and a bitch to find):


But Duran didn't give up on moving forward and the mid 90's saw their rebirth of popularity and a whole new generation of Duranies were born with The Wedding Album and the song Ordinary World. My boys were back in a big way and my music was cool again! I would be remiss not to play a video from this album as well, but I'm not gonna choose Ordinary World. None of the Above fit more with my outsider lifestyle and became my mantra for a long time:


Their tribute album, Thank You, had some hits and misses, but it still was good overall (and White Lines is still one of the best live songs they play). I do have to backtrack a little bit. When Duran do Girls On Film now, it's usually the longer "night version" and its when they introduce the band. That has become tied for my favorite live song simply because we all get to chant, "PLAY THAT FUCKIN BASS JOHN" over and over again with Simon! But I digress.

Back to where I was, after Thank You, the unthinkable happened. "Creative Differences" (code for John's drug problem had gotten way out of hand) caused yet another original member to leave. My heart was broken and I blamed Warren for many years (can you tell I hated him?). Duran would continue to release albums, two more in fact (although the early Medazzaland demos did include some John stuff, including one of him singing). Now here is where I have to interject. I LOVE John Taylor, but the dude can't sing. But once he split from Duran, he went solo for quite a few albums (which I own, of course, whether I like them or not, the code of the Duranie, faithful forever), got clean, got divorced, and remarried (to Gela Taylor, aka Juicy Couture), formed another supergroup, Neurotic Outsiders with members of The Clash and Guns and Roses (John went a bit hard for a while). There are songs of his I love, if you can get past his actual voice (there is a reason why Simon loops his own voice as harmony instead of using much of John's, let's just leave it at that). Hey Day is a great song because it's pretty much a docu-song about John and Nick (with name changes, of course), but my all time favorite is A Song For Europe with Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode (there is only an audio version of it since they never filmed a video, but here it is):


Even Simon has done a solo song here and there. Simon IS Duran for me, so anything he does has that Duran vibe to it. Even Arcadia had a definite Duran vibe. Here's the best example of his solo stuff, I really love this song, Nobody Knows:


Backtracking again, I do have to mention the video for Out Of My Mind from Medazzaland. That was a throwback to the Arcadia age of song sound and videos, and it's also one of my top five, so I feel it should be mentioned:


Then, the most amazing thing ever happened...Warren left (thank GOD!) and a simple phone call got all five guys back again! I was never so happy to see Andy Taylor in my entire life!! And the best part, the album was better than I could have ever imagined (after a several year wait). They were finally getting critical as well as other musician praise. They were on every awards show getting lifetime achievement awards and the like. Every Duranies dream!! But Andy started showing his tail feathers again and left after Astronaut.

Their next album wasn't bad, but was a bit of a stab in the back for us diehards. They used Timbaland and Justin Timberlake as producers, so the album had a very modern sound, but not a "Duran" sound. There were some good songs, but the beat was just wrong.

I really didn't mean this to be a history of Duran, but it appears that's what it ended up being. They have released tons of videos throughout the years, all of which have special meaning to me for one reason or the other. So, I guess we'll end with their newest album (all be it a couple of years old now...Duran put out a new album about every 3-5 years on average) and one of their last videos (Simon, please ditch the beard...it looks terrible!). But the good thing about this song is it's an obvious throwback to the New Romantic Duran and a definite nod to us loyal and faithful followers of, what I consider, the greatest band on earth!

ONE OF THE LATEST SONGS: ALL YOU NEED IS NOW


Since I have practically put most of my favorite Duran videos/songs in this post, why not finish up with an album by album best of list (and I'm only going with recorded albums, not greatest hits or live albums since I could be at this all day). I could give you YouTube links, but I think I've bombarded you enough, so feel free to look them up yourselves if your interested (although I figure you probably aren't).

1 - Duran Duran (album), Careless Memories (favorite song and FABULOUS live), Is There Something I Should Know (best video)
2 - Rio (album), Last Chance On The Stairway (favorite song), Lonely In Your Nightmare (best video)
3 - Seven And The Ragged Tiger (album), The Seventh Stranger (favorite song), New Moon On Monday (best video - especially the long movie version), Secret Oktober (best B-side)
4 - Notorious (album), Hold Me (best song), Skin Trade (best video)
5 - Big Thing (album), Land (best song), Do You Believe In Shame (best video)
6 - Liberty (album), Serious (best song EVER), Serious (best video as well)
7 - Duran Duran (aka The Wedding Album), None Of The Above (best song), Too Much Information (best video)
8 - Thank You (album), Perfect Day (best song and video), White Lines (best live song)
9 - Medazzaland (album), Midnight Sun (best song), Out of My Mind (best video)
10- Pop Trash (my least favorite Duran album - too much Warren), the only decent song is a B-side, Un Autre Que Moi (french version of the song Someone Else Not Me, Simon singing French...need I say more).
11- Astronaut (album), What Happens Tomorrow (best song), Reach Up For The Sunrise (best video - there are six versions of this one, one featuring each band member and one with them all, of course the Simon version is my favorite)
12- Red Carpet Massacre (album), Skin Divers (best song, it's one that gets in your head and doesn't let go), Falling Down (best video and a throwback to Girls On Film)
13- All You Need Is Now (album), Leave A Light On (best song), All You Need Is Now (best video)

And that's it for Chapter 2. I did warn you it would be long, but you should know from my War and Peace length Disney posts, that when I'm obsessed about something, it gets my full attention (and I think it should get yours as well...welcome to the wonderful world of Aspergers!).