Stressed Out (Postmodern Jukebox)

Sorry for not writing in ages. The past couple of weeks have been frantic with essays and I have pretty much just been a ghost who:
-wakes up
-does essay stuff
-eat lunch
-more essay stuff
-eat dinner-
more essay stuff
-bed
And for the first time ever, for a whole entire semester, I haven't procrastinated essays or assignments. I've been so on top of things that I have actually surprised myself at how efficient I've been. I've had the occasional essay in the past that I have been able to submit before the due date, but this is a whole new level of efficiency. At the beginning of the semester, I knew it was going to be the most difficult and the most demanding one ever, so I made an action plan for myself. I saw the dreaded 28th October where I had my last essays due... three of them due on the same day, which gave me no ability to leave them all to the last minute like a most of the time do. This semester however, something miraculous happened: I was disciplined! I didn't allow myself any opportunity to fall behind. I made sure I had ample time to do all tasks and assignments, so I wouldn't become stressed out in my FINAL SEMESTER!

That is correct! On the 28th of October I had submitted and completed all my assignments for my degree! And now I'm free!!!!!! At the beginning of the semester I made 'Survivor' my theme song to get me through uni, and now I can say I did survive and I'm so happy. To celebrate, I've spent the past three days going out and spending time with the people I love who I've been a ghost to for the past couple months. On Friday I went to a halloween party (happy halloween by the way) and I went as a vampire (again) so I went from ghost, to undead. I'm planning on spending all of tomorrow doing nothing, because I can (I should have made Bruno Mars' 'Lazy Song' the song of the day) and will hopefully by then become a human being again.

So that brings me to the song of the day, which is Twenty One Pilots 'Stressed Out', however, I just discovered this cover group called Postmodern Jukebox who are amazing, so I decided that for today I'll share their cover version. I love the original so much, but I think everyone knows it (or at least they should- it's brilliant. I love dancing to it and singing along). So, because I've become newly obsessed with Postmodern Jukebox (I only was introduced to them yesterday, so I'm really excited about it), here is their cover, which is completely different. They turn well known songs into jazzy 20's, 30's and 40's versions of them getting different artists to sing and it is incredible! I get so nostalgic for that period of music for some reason, so hearing famous songs in that style is really mind-blowing. This version though, is just so amusing because it sounds nothing like the original.

Four Seasons In One Day

Melbourne is famous for it's four seasons in the one day, which makes the Crowded House 1991 hit 'Four Seasons In One Day' very relatable. Today alone, it was freezing cold and raining, then the sun came out and it was warm, and then a few minutes later it was grey and windy and the bitter cold returned, before the sun came out again just before it rained again. And the day proceeded to follow this irregular pattern, which is ironically normal weather behaviour for Melbourne. The past week in particular has been crazy weather, which explains why this song has been stuck in my head pretty much all week.

The first time I ever heard the song, I didn't know who the band was, but I thought the style and voice reminded me a lot of the Beatles slower stuff. I don't know if anyone else experienced that, but that's what I always thought. Anyway, it's such a beautiful song; it's so melancholy and poetic, it hits you straight away in the first verse:

Four seasons in one day

Lying in the depths of your imagination

Worlds above and worlds below

The sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain

The song is absolutely faultless, however it is really short. I find that has been the case with these types of gentle, yet heartbreaking songs, like Elliot Smith's  'Between the Bars'  (where I spoke about how those precious songs are ephemeral) as well as the Beatles 'For No One'. I love 'Four Seasons In One Day' so much and it rightfully has been placed as a classic, along with their other song 'Don't Dream It's Over', which is perfect to listen to on a rainy day. Sorry for talking about the weather so much, it's just that this year has been crazier weather than usual, which is saying something.

Mount Macedon

Last week was the much needed mid-semester break, so a group of friends and I went away for a couple of days to Mount Macedon. For those who don't know, these are mountain ranges in Victoria that are stunning and have many breathtaking walks.

However, since it was pouring down for most of the week and absolutely freezing, we spent most of the time inside the house we were staying at. But it was absolutely perfect, having a fire to keep us warm and playing different kinds of board and card games, but not your regular boring games. We played really fun role play and storyline games which I had never heard of before. My favourite was probably a game called 'Ultimate Werewolf' which is where you are given a card that says who you are in the village. You could be an ordinary villager, or have a specific ability/ role or you could be a werewolf and only you know who you are. At "night" everyone has to close their eyes, allowing the werewolves to decide who their victim is for the evening. The next "morning" we discover who died and based on a town meeting, everyone who is still alive has to figure out who the werewolves are. That's a very brief and basic idea of what the game entails, but it's so much fun! We played so many different games, so it was a bit of an overload of rules to remember, but it was a great way to spend the days when it was stormy outside.

One morning it wasn't raining, so we all drove out to one of the mountain walks and found a clearing where we played frisbee and ran around and just had a really great time playing outdoors with each other. At one point, all the guys put each of the girls on their shoulders and continued playing together, which was slightly terrifying (because I was on the shoulders of someone who is 6 foot 3) but also lots of fun. But then it started pouring down with rain again so we headed back to the house and had a delicious lunch of nachos. One of our friends makes legendary nachos, and I'm not even hesitating when I say they were the best nachos I've ever had.

a lake we found on our walk

It was such a great break with a truly wonderful group of people. It was nice to just live in our own little world and forget about the outside world for a bit, just playing and having fun and hanging out and eating really yummy food. When it was the end of the week it was really upsetting to go, because I had such a fantastic time and we knew that when we got back, we had assignments and essays waiting for us. But while we were at Mount Macedon, we were free and loved every single moment of it.

Complicated

It's that time in semester when things are beginning to get really stressful. I have four more essays to write, four public performances for one subject and then one other performance for another. It's hectic and scary and all happening within this month, so it's going to be pretty full on, however that leeways into todays song choice... "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne. Bit of a throwback, but a classic that needs to be revisited from time to time.

I remember when the music video first came out when I was a little kid and thinking how much fun it would be to play with the clothes at the supermarket with friends and I don't think I fully took in a lot of the meaning of the song. I was too busy dancing around, singing around my friend's lounge room and doing some weird dance with her. It's a song that really played a big part of early childhood and I think still holds a really special place in the hearts of everyone in my generation. Belting out the lyrics are still something that happens at parties even fourteen years after when the first song was first released, that and 'Sk8er Boi'.

But back to the leeway justification, that things don't need to be as complicated as they first appear. It opens with telling us to chill out, stop yelling and essentially letting it be and see how things turn out without adding unnecessary flourishes. Just relax and do the best you can and you don't have to make things complicated, which I think is a brilliant message to have when things start getting hectic.

Drive

A couple of weeks ago, my friend introduced me to the song 'Drive' by Gretta Ray. I had the intention to write about it last week but never got the chance, but since I was told about the song I've been excited to share it with others because I realised that she was one of the singers who was performing with Japanese Wallpaper when I went to the Melanie Martinez concert just over a month ago. At the concert, I remember thinking that she was a really talented singer and really enjoyed the performance and when I ended up buying the Japanese Wallpaper album, I was a bit disappointed that she wasn't singing in the songs. So when my friend told me about 'Drive', I immediately purchased it.

It's a really light, content sounding song. When listening to it, it makes me happy and I think I described it to my friend as the type of song that makes you want to drive with a group of good friends on a lovely day and just being carefree and going to  the beach or the country. Just somewhere where you can explore and have a fun day with the people you love. I imagine it on a warm day, with the sun shining but not burning. It's been so cold for ages now and at the moment it's pouring with rain, but hopefully in the near future, I can actually fulfil this imagining.  But for now, I'll listen to the song and look forward to when the Summer holidays begin, while being in awe of her voice.

Bridget Jones' Baby

Firstly, I'm sorry for not writing on Monday, but I've been having friends over every day this past week because I had the house to myself, which has been so much fun. Because of that though, I'm so exhausted because late nights and socialising, plus essays and early mornings for uni and I've lost track of days. 

Last Thursday I saw the brilliantly hilarious new addition to the Bridget Jones films. I've been so excited about seeing this film since I found out that a third book was released, even though the books are completely different to the movies. I love Bridget Jones so much, first watching it with my parents then sharing it with friends (like the time last year when my flat mate and I watched it while eating nutella straight from the jar). 

Bridget Jones is now 43 years old, single and living in her apartment in London (which is my dream apartment) doing well at her job but still as clumsy as ever. Her and her friend go to a music festival where Ed Sheeran makes an appearance and she meets American millionaire Jack. A few days later she encounters her the love of her life, her ex, Mark Darcy. And here begins the confusion of who is the father of her unborn child. 

'Bridget Jones' Baby' was fantastic! I literally skipped out of the cinema; feeling so happy, with a massive grin across my face and just wanting to watch it again. The entire time, my friend and I were laughing so much that at one stage I was crying from laughter, and at one point we accidentally head bumped because we were laughing so much. I can't praise this film enough. If you are a Bridge Jones fan like I am, I don't think anyone could possibly be disappointed and if you haven't seen the films, watch them all! 

The Secret Life of Pets

Last night a group of friends and I saw 'The Secret Life of Pets' at the cinema. I remember when I first saw the trailer I thought "this looks like a really bad movie. I'm not going to see that", but when I got asked, I went just so I could go out with these friends and I'm really glad I did. I don't know if it is partially because I went in with such low expectations, but I thought the film was so funny and so much fun to watch.

It is about, as the title suggests, the secret life of pets, or rather, the extraordinary events that happen to a group of pets in one day. Set in New York, terrier Max has a great relationship with his owner, seeing them as soul mates, until new dog, Duke is adopted. This leads to a whole chain of events, including sausage factories, going underground where they meet the slightly deranged and aggressive bunny called Snowball, running from the revolutionaries as well as the dog pound.
I sort of understand why the trailer didn't do it justice, because my attempt of explaining the plot is pretty atrocious, but I can definitely tell you that it is really fun to watch and not a disappointment at all.

My favourite character would definitely be Chloe the cat. She has some of the funniest lines because she is dry in her delivery and sarcastic and extremely blunt. Perfect representation of a cat, and for that matter, each character is a perfect representation of their respective animals. This film may not be a cartoon classic, but it certainly is one of the animations that I could watch again and still enjoy.