AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

Wednesday, March 29, 2006
11:17:00 PM EST
Hearing Cocteau Twins, Know Who You Are at Every Age Hi folks -- so I was thinking about the songs I put in the "Music I'm Listening To" field for this here blog. Looking at my most recent entries, here's what I've listed:

• Beethoven, String Quartet in B Flat Major No. 13
• Throwing Muses, Night Driving
• Dave Brubeck, Pennies From Heaven
• The Donnas, Too Bad About Your Girl
• Fatboy Slim, Weapon of Choice
• Stereolab, Margerine Melodie
• Josh Rouse, Directions
• The Shamen, Transamazonia
• Soul Coughing, City of Motors
• Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 3 - 2. Intermezzo - Adagio

It's an honest list -- I'm not trying to put on airs. My music is typically on shuffle play, so I usually type in whatever I'm hearing when I first start drafting my entry.

Since, technically, the music I'm hearing goes all the way from when I start my draft to when I hit "Save", so I will occasionally tweak it when the song I started with has a particularly obnoxious title, but other than that, what I hear is what you get.

Sometimes, the titles sync up with what I'm writing about, but it's more synchronicity than anything else -- I'm not trying to send any messages with my music selections.

When I'm really writing or concentrating on something, I'll typically have classical on, but turned down fairly low; it's more to help drown out the ambient noise in pod-land than to try to stimulate the synapses. Besides, if it's too loud, I'll end up focusing on it, instead of what I'm supposed to be doing.

There's a little jazz, pop, and some electronic of various subgenres (tip: for a good and biased multimedia look at more than you ever wanted to know about electronic music, check out Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music).

Now, I like electronic music, don't get me wrong, but a lot of it is just really... dumb. I mean, it sounds complicated, with a lot of layers going on, but if you dig a little deeper, a lot of it is just really repetitive, which makes it perfect for working along to. It's like elevator music.

Anyway, when you get down to it, having a field for the music you're hearing at the moment is kind of one of those silly blog conventions that's stuck; we've grown used to it, but we don't really (at least, I don't normally) expect to see it in other places. But it does help to express yourself, or get a view (even a superficial one) of the person behind the post.

If you have any thoughts on the songs you list as you write your blog entries, I'd be curious to see what you have to say, so please share in the comments.

Thanks -- Joe


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This entry has 7 comments: (Add your own)

• #7 Comment from monponsett 
  3/30/06 7:31 PM | Permalink

  I just played "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols 3000 times in a row.
• #6 Comment from journalseditorEntry Author 
  3/30/06 11:44 AM | Permalink

  I keep reminding the product guys that folks want a free-form moods entry field (so that people can put in whatever they want). I will do it again. Thanks -- Joe
• #5 Comment from dougsbabygirl31 
  3/30/06 11:27 AM | Permalink

  Over at Blogger, they don't have a mood space or music space. Depends on my mood, I might put a music space in especially if I am really agitated, so you can get a sense of the mood of the post. Such as Godsmack, System of A Down, Mudvayne, and such. But today I am listening to Uncle Kracker No Stranger To Shame. However, the moods listed for AOL are not enough and Why can't they decide on how they feel? It is hard sometimes to shove yourself in an emotional pull down menu. Ya know? Tawnya
• #4 Comment from aniracj 
  3/30/06 9:53 AM | Permalink

  It is good to have the space for music I am listening to but how about more choice in the 'mood' box, or even a blank space to put how we are feeling as well as the other options? The choices given do not always cover how we all feel at times!!
• #3 Comment from tragedywasmile 
  3/30/06 9:02 AM | Permalink

     I decided to blog about this entry and here you have my take on it! : )~~ http://journals.aol.com/tragedywasmile/MyTragedywithaSmile/entries/375

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