Like a Can of Paint

The ashes cover ground along La Cienega...

2009-09-03T23:56:00.000-07:00

Wake up and grab your bags.
California's burning to the ground.
Wake up and grab your things.
You and I are leaving Los Angeles...
Hey, burn it down! Burn it down!

You know, I've lived on both coasts, and I've also lived in landlocked states.
When I was planning to move to LA some months ago, I remember most being worried about earthquakes. The San Andreas Fault was something I remember hearing about frequently as a kid, and songs like Brandtson's "Earthquakes and Sharks" certainly add to the perception that at any moment, "the big one" could shake the entire state, life it up, and dump it into the sea like dustpan emptying itself of its contents.

My homestate didn't really have natural disasters to worry about, exactly. Lightning storms, sure, and the very, very, very rare tornado. And maybe a few inactive volcanoes litter the landscape. For the most part, though, natural disasters were something I read about in the news and saw in movies, and they terrified me but now that I don't live there anymore, I can see that it's probably one of the safest places to live if your only worry in life is whether or not Mother Nature will exact her revenge on you.

On the East Coast, I didn't have to deal with any real natural threats either. Rain was really my biggest concern, and about a year after I moved out that direction, a noreaster struck, rained out the coast for three days, and flooded plenty of basements. All it really made me realize was that living in a basement apartment, as much as people may romanticize the idea, is probably not all that smart.

But here in California, we have earthquakes. I remember being scared of them before I ever felt one, but it was months before I ever experienced a single shaker. And yet I was under the impression before that, that earthquakes happened much more often. I remember my first one vividly, too. It happened as I heard my neighbor stomping around in his apartment, and at first I thought he'd slammed something on the ground. Then I realized the whole place was shaking. I had to confirm with a friend on the phone whether or not what I'd just felt was an earthquake.

Really, though, quakes aren't that bad. Now that I've felt my fair share, they're almost a form of entertainment and excitement.

And then I realized what the real threat would probably be: wildfires.

OK, so my homestate also has their share of wildfires, and maybe that's why, as a child, I had a recurring nightmare about fire in my neighborhood. The nightmare went away after some time, but even today, I clearly remember what it looked and felt like to be in that dream, and I've had dreams since with similar themes.

They still terrify me.

I'm not afraid of fire itself, and in fact, I LOVE campfires and candles.
But wildfires, on the other hand, destroying acres and acres of forest and peoples' homes? Scary shit.
And in this past week, just northeast of LA, over 100,000 acres have burned down, the fires still haven't been put out, and I don't even know how many people have been evacuated from their homes.

So it's kind of ironic to me that when I moved to California, EARTHQUAKES were my biggest fear. I didn't even take into account my childhood phobia which is honestly and likely an even bigger threat.

But oh well, I'm dealing with it. I live in the middle of the city, not out in the hills, so I don't see wildfires ever becoming a problem here.

But hey Mr. (or Ms.) Arsonist: you're a jackass for starting this fire. Why, why, WHY did you do that? Do you really think you won't be found out?

Well, sadly, maybe you won't... After all, nothing cleanses quite like fire.

Smoke or Fire - California's Burning
Brandtson - Earthquakes and Sharks
Schoolyard Heroes - Nothing Cleanses Quite Like Fire

The Millionaires vs. The Feminist Movement

2009-08-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

The hatred that has mounted for groups such as Brokencyde, The Millionaires, Jeffree Starr, Attack Attack, I Set My Friends On Fire, Dot Dot Curve, etc is nothing new to anyone who is even remotely interested in music.

The bands are no-talent hacks, they can't sing, don't play instruments, and have nothing interesting to say.
However, that's an old and tired observation, so I'd rather focus on something else that few people seem to be paying attention to, and the thing that bothers me most about all of these bands.

Any way you slice it, the lyrics and actions of Brokencyde are misogynistic. And Millionaires, despite being female, are also helping to push the feminist movement back several decades.
Let's look at their lyrics, shall we?

From "Alcohol"
Friday night it's time to party
Drop it down and get real naughty
Girls talk shit, we don't care
We'll take off our underwear!
Drink every drink that could be tasted
Look at us, we're fuckin wasted
We stumble, mumble, no one cares
Just cause we're the MILLIONAIRES!
(Might I add, right here and now, that at the time the band released and made a video for this song, they were all underage?)

From "Just Got Paid, Let's Get Laid"
I dropped 2 stacks on this dress and it's comin' off later
With a pro skater or maybe with this waiter
And he said we'll head home popping bottles of Patron
With my tone on his phone all the callers unknown
Can you believe I get paid to shake my ass on stage
We're getting drunk every day, you're makin' minimum wage
We live the life you wish, bitch, don't say shit!
No talent, just lucky, but they still wanna fuck me!

The thing is, there's nothing wrong with embracing your sexuality, and admitting that you like sex... But there's a line, albeit a fine one, between embracing and using your sexuality in an empowering way, and acting, dressing, and looking like a slut- whether or not you actually sleep around- in order to just get attention from men and feel better about yourself.

And today, I saw an article on Buzznet about the Top 10 Things People Don't Know About The Millionaires

The most interesting facts:

1. All of us have been Ballet/Tap/Jazz dancers and competed professionally in dance since the age of 3 all the way until we graduated from high school.

2. Melissa Marie is in her third year at CSULB as a Mathematics Major & Allison is a Graphic Design Major at CSUF.

4. Allison graduated from High School and started college at the age of 16.

6. Melissa Marie & Allison got their Varsity Letters for Girls Golf in High School & are Hula and Tahitian Dancers.

First, if they truly are trained in several forms of dance, why don't they show that when they perform live?

Second, this isn't the first I've heard that these girls are smart and well-educated.
I've often wondered myself if they're actually just dumb, slutty girls who got lucky, and think that's OK to promote these messages, or if they fully understand what they're doing.

This is even further evidence of the fact that they completely get what they're doing, and are cashing in on a trend. A part of me, a very small part, wants to commend them for that. They see our disgust at their joke and are laughing the whole way to the bank.
But a much, much larger part of me is even more disgusted with them.

If the band was a joke, and simply a joke, I'd be 100% ok with their existence and success, and in fact, I'd probably applaud it. If the lyrics were tongue in cheek calling out this problem, I'd be all for it.

The problem is, though, that even if it's a joke to the band because they're making beaucoop bucks while making "music" that requires no talent, their fans aren't aware of that, and the band is promoting a message of sexual promiscuity, a lack of self-respect. Enough teenage girls already have problems with confidence. We don't need more young women in this world who have so little self esteem that they base their own worth on the men they date.

The Millionaires are three bright, young girls getting on stage and further promoting the (very wrong) idea that women are only good for a fuck, not everything else they can give to the world.

We need to raise our young women to base their self-worth on their achievements, including intellectual pursuits, and The Millionaires aren't helping us get any closer to that ideal.

Thanks for nothing, Millionaires. Thanks for nothing.

An introduction.

2009-08-27T00:39:00.000-07:00

Seven years ago, I was just starting my sophomore year of highschool, and just about to be introduced to punk rock music. Though I was already familiar with several punk bands, I wasn't aware of what punk music was, nor was I even aware of its existence, to be honest.

Suddenly, I found myself immersed in music that made me feel something. Music that eventually changed the course of my life. I became so attached because the music described how I'd felt for YEARS, a feeling I didn't think anyone I went to school with related to.

I spent my youth knowing I wasn't like anyone else and had finally come to terms with it, to the point that I didn't want to be like anyone else!
And then suddenly, I found a group of people who felt the same way. Who'd experienced the same bullying and teasing when they were younger, and became stronger and more independent thanks to it.

This blog will serve as a place to for me to do the following:
- To vent about the current state of music
- To muse about life and relationships and my past and how things change
- Well, OK, pretty much what I damn well please. And lately, a lot of it seems to be those two things.