Saturday, March 03, 2007

New sound

I'm a bit mystified by this whole 'emo' music thing. As far as I can gather from my kid sister the main defining characteristic of emo bands are the tight jeans and floppy haircuts, which doesn't help me imagine them any differently from bands from the 80s.

I'm spinning the new disc from Fall Out Boy, called Infinity on High, which I'm told is sort of emo-pop. It's a pretty catchy mix of rock styles - a little bit Coldplay/U2 anthemic, a little bit Maroon 5 crooning, and very much punk.

Their lyrics are the best (and the true emo) part, with titles like "I'm like a lawyer (how I'm always trying to get you off)", lines like "the best way to make it through with hearts and wrists intact is to realize two out of three ain't bad" and "I want these words to make the wrong things right, but it's the wrongs that make the words come to life."

C-C-Crazy C-C-Catchy!

You've read this post before

I'll forgive you if you read this post and feel deja vu. There's not much new happening right now, and the old things are recycling themselves.

I'd had a long day at a Paediatric Life Support course, so some friends and I went out and hit the floors last night. The regularly scheduled program ensued - that is, I went after an asian female with black hair and of moderate height, and inevitably, I got owned.

I got caught especially flat footed this time though - I approached her friend by gently tapping her on the elbow and the immediate response was a scared look and, "No."

I mean, what?

I hadn't even opened my mouth. There are plenty of questions I might expect a "No" response to - "Do you have herpes?" "Should Australia pander more to American global politics?" - but my mere presence hasn't done that before.

The girl I was actually hoping to speak to broke in and explained, "Sorry, she has a boyfriend." Once again, behind the eight ball, my only instinctual response was to cut to the chase.

"Well, actually, I was working up the courage to ask you for a dance." I forget her reaction. I got her name, and discovered that she "wasn't really" available.

Suffice to say the night didn't get better from there. Even a brutal Barcardi 151 shot and the rip-roaring Neptunes beat under JT's Like I Love You didn't help me recover from the disappointment of that exchange.

C'est la vie. We keep going.