Category: videos

new theme song

If you're anything like me (which is possibly the most ridiculous statement I've ever made), you have a theme song. 

A personal theme song for is quite the necessary accessory for your day, your week, your life.  If you do not have a theme song, I suggest you go out an get one right this minute.  But Kerry, I don't know what my theme should be, you say — well, I'm here to help, peeps. 

Your personal theme song should reflect how you feel or how you want to feel, your attitude, or your beliefs.  Or it could be that a song with lyrics that seem like they were written just for you.  Everyone has had a moment when a song comes on the radio and you're blown away by the words.  Say, if your name is Ruby and you're cheating on your spouse who happens to be a disabled veteran — your theme song could be "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town," by Kenny Rogers, recently covered by The Killers.  There is no judging on the Kerry Blog, only love.  And helping others.  And sarcasm.  And maybe a a wee little bit of judging, but it's only because I care. 

Just for fun, I thought I'd share my theme song with you and all of the interwebs this weekend.  It's always been Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" for me, since forever. 


I love that song.  Which reminds me, I still haven't gotten those leather leggings and gun holster of piratecowboy.com I ordered a few weeks ago.  While Adam Ant always wore more makeup and used more hair products than me, his song has played in my head through lots of moments of my life.  After all, I've been Miss Goody Two Shoes forever and wear the crown gladly.  By the way, "subtle innuendos follow, must be something inside" is the line everyone can't make out. 

It's also helpful to have theme songs for specific activities, trips, and such.  As of last night I have a new theme song for scrapbook trips courtesy of my friend Laurel who introduced me to the fabulousness that is Leslie Hall.  This is the song that Laurel listens to while she gets ready to go out, because that's what the song is about, but because of a few lines, I'm declaring it the new scrapbooking trip song.  Peeps, I give you "How We Go Out."

Simply awesome.

The lyrics I'm loving are:

On the way to the club we pass a Dairy Queen
You stop cause it you know it means so much to me
We take the back seats out of your mini van
Now we roll like a hummer or a full size sedan

obviously that would be because we have to take the back seats out of my van when we go on a trip.  And thought we don't usually stop at a Dairy Queen on the way, we do stop somewhere for goodies.

You get me hotter than a stick a hot glue
And I'm scrapbooking everything we do
Ring ring ring- that's my cell
Bring the bling when I sing of course I will

FINALLY!  A hip hop song that talks about scrapbooking!  Now my life is complete. 

You may return to your regularly scheduled weekend. 

tunes you need Tuesday: the Cure for what ails you edition

Some call The Cure goth-rock, but they're far from that.  Sure, there they are pros at the melancholy (of which I am a fan), but they've gone pop several times as well.  I wanted to get that out of the way before diving into why I like them and what makes them a great band for those of you who may have dismissed The Cure as a mopey English band. 

The Cure started out as The Obelisk way back in 1976 and won a recording contract as The Easy Cure in a talent competition in '77 (take that, American Idol).  Their debut single, "Killing an Arab" was met with critical acclaim and controversy, which is always a great way to start out for a post-punk band. The first Cure song I remember hearing was 1979's "Boys Don't Cry" a perfect little song.  I know I didn't hear it until the early 80's, but I knew I liked their sound.   It was 1982 when the jazzy "The Lovecats" became a hit and it was the break The Cure needed.  Three years later the singles "Close to Me" and "In Between Days" made them a European success and the US started taking note of the band.  "Close to Me" is a great little song with horns and a fun sound — not depressing or sad at all like most people think of The Cure. Here's the acoustic version.

See?  Not depressing, just fun.  Love that and Robert Smith's voice is one of the wildest in the biz.  You never know what to expect from him and that's something I love.  The Cure isn't boring.  Smith's lyrics are literary and introspective, passionate and sometimes silly.  I suppose I'll touch on his look, the red lipstick and dark eye makeup, black clothes, and tennis shoes.  I'm a fan of all those myself, save for the tennis shoes, but whatev.  It works for him and he's had the same look for over 20 years.  Maybe he could teach me how to do the smokey eye for an evening out, you never know.

If you listen to a few Cure songs you'll start to notice something that you don't find in many songs of the band's contemporaries — guitars!  Yep, these guys like guitars, which are noticeably absent from their contemporaries music, save the Smiths.  Robert Smith even has his own model, the Ultracure guitar.  Utracure just sounds cool.  The Cure are masters of incorporating lots of sounds from all kinds of instruments.  I love the rich sound of their music, it's well organized, well played and they are great at playing practically every instrument in the music store and making it sound easy.  Just on his own, Smith plays guitar, bass, double bass, violin, flute, trumpet, and keyboard.  Now, I played violin back in the day — it's hard — in the wrong hands the thing sounds like a frozen cat going through a woodchipper.  So, to play that many instruments and play them well is quite something. 

 Back to the music.

1987 was a big year for music and was big for The Cure as well.  They released Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and it was their first platinum album in the US.  You may remember the singles "Just Like Heaven" and "Why Can't I Be You?"  Those are superfantastic songs that are fine examples of how different The Cure's styles are — "Why Can't I Be You" is eclectic and uptempo with horns and a chaotic sound.  Oh, and in the video not only is Smith wearing a bear suit minus the head piece, he also wears a black jumper, white button down, and black tie.  I wore that same outfit in high school, not the bear suit, the jumper, tie, and button down shirt.  Really.  With wood and suede clogs.  I was quite the snazzy dresser.  And I fell down the stairs at Byrd High School many times due to those clogs.  I blame Robert Smith.

The album Disintegration came out (have you noticed that now CDs "drop" — wtf does that mean?) in 1989 and became the band's biggest success so far.  Songs like "Fascination Street," "Lovesong," "Pictures of You," and "Lullabye" all did well on the Modern Rock charts, which among all the titles given to the genre of music The Cure has been called, may fit pretty well.  My favorite song of The Cure's is "Pictures of You" and it's a heartbreaking song.  Here's the opening lyrics and the video follows:
"I've been looking so long at these pictures of you/That I almost believe that they're real/I've been living so long with my pictures of you/That I almost believe that the pictures are all I can feel."


My friend Megan and I have a running joke, mainly when we're scrapbooking and take turns playing our iPods in the speaker-dock-thingie.  It will be my iPod playing, a song will come on and I'll say "I love this song."  Well, of course I do, it's on my iPod.  Megan does the same thing.  We're goofs.  But — I love that song. 

1992 brought The Cure's Wish album, which was their biggest hit.  "Friday I'm in Love" was huge for them and it's a good song.  Not my fave, but good.  The years prior and after Wish brought big personnel changes for the band and now Smith is the only original member, kind of sad.  In the years after Wish, The Cure released a few more CDs and their Greatest Hits in 2001 with the single "Cut Here," which is a favorite of mine.  It's a song of regret and the theme is that "later doesn't always come" — I just love that, as a writer, as a person who loves words and expression.  Here's some lyrics and the video for "Cut Here:"

But how many times can I walk away and wish "If only…"
But how many times can I talk this way and wish "If only…"
Keep on making the same mistake
Keep on aching the same heartbreak
I wish "If only…"

But "If only…."
Is a wish too late…

Ok, so that's a little Cure for your Tuesday.  Hope you enjoyed it, if not maybe I'll hit on something you'll like next week.  That's what's so great about music, there is much to be discovered and we can't all like the same things, but it's fun to listen.  Y'all be good and I'll be back tomorrow.

holiday pet peeves: edition 1

If you’ve been reading this blog for more than fifteen minutes you’re probably aware that I have some issues.  I don’t like large birds, I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist, and I feel the need to buy every maryjane shoe I see.  I also have a lot of pet peeves.  For some reason things get to me that (I assume) most people would casually dismiss or would never enter their minds.  That’s what makes me special. 

So, I thought for the holiday season I would give you a glimpse into my world.  Yesterday Megan and I went to our local Michael’s Arts & Crafts store (among other various places) and as always I had my Flip camera handy, you know, just in case I need to break into video journalist mode.  Everything was going fine until I hit the aisle I despise.  I had to get the Flip out.  BTW, Anderson Cooper, you may consider this my official audition for AC 360.  I’m available, but you should know I’m not using my normal speaking voice, this would be my voice of outrage in an southern accent that comes out when I’m particularly peeved.  Also, ignore Megan’s giggling in the background, she obviously does not take my future career in broadcast journalism seriously.

Really, I’ve never liked those Christmas villages.  I’m sorry if any of my readers have them, it’s nothing against you, really — it’s just weird to me.  It’s all very Norman Rockwell, which is fine if you’re in Mayberry, but even Mayberry had Otis the town drunk.  Otis was great.  Gave the town character.  And don’t tell me it’s an “idealized” village ’cause that’s stupid.  My idea of an ideal village would be a town with lots of superfantastic shopping, good restaurants, really great customer service, free valet parking, and would require its citizens to work a maximum of 3 days a week.  And it would have a beach on one side of town and a snowy place on the other and the whole town would have great music and lighting and disco balls!  I’d call it Kerryberry, kinda like Mayberry, but with flava. 

Back to the Christmas village.  What was with the decappitated villagers?  You might as well have a little Tipi Hedron in there with birds attacking her.  Freaky.  I think you can hear the shock over the decappitated people in my weird voice.  I’m not sure why when I’m aggravated I have this drawn out voice, but whoop there it is.  My natural speaking voice is probably more tollerable, I’m not sure, I don’t listen to myself talk and most of the time my brain is going much faster than I can speak anyway, so who knows what I’m saying.  I’m sure my friends can attest to this.  Back to the villages, specifically the villagers.  Now you’re going to notice it aren’t you?  Now that I’ve exposed the Christmas villages for the little tiny towns of prejudice they are. 

I don’t know who makes those villages, but come on.  No blacks?  No other ethnicities?  That’s just wrong.  Christmas is an equal opportunity holiday.  Jesus is for everyone.  There weren’t any handicapped ramps on any of the village buildings either.  This is an outrage.  There is no room for discrimination of any kind in Christmas!  Well, not where race or ability or sexual orientation are concerned, anyway.  I’m all for other forms of discrimination.   That’s what our nation was founded on, the freedom to discriminate .  I discriminate against bad wrapping paper.  I also discriminate against cheap purses and all kinds of other stuff no one else cares about.  Like personalized license plates that aren’t easily deciphered.  That makes me special, too.  I didn’t say what kind of special, I’m pretending it’s a good kind of special. 

I’m coming out with my own line of Christmas villages next year.  My collectable set will include an unsavory Santa, a crack house, yellow snow, litter, cars pulled over for drunk driving, stray dogs, pimps, a crazy cat lady, graffitied overpases, and potholes.  Look for it in stores by next Halloween. 

Birthday Gift Idea #2

So, there’s only one more shopping day until my birthday tomorrow and I’m sure some of you out there still need to pick up a gift on the way to my birthday extravaganza.  In honor of my 34th, there will be 34 butterflies released, 34 ballerina bears, and 34 different kinds of fondue for appetizers served by 34 penguin waiters.  Oh, and 34 Elvis impersonators representing 34 countries singing the top 34 Elvis songs of all time. 

Here’s a gift idea brought to you buy the fine people at Bunway Inc.  I give you the Bun-o-matic Bunny Letter Opener.  It’s a 20 second video and it’s the best 20 seconds you spend today, I promise.

I have no idea what the Bun-o-matic Bunny Letter Opener retails for or where you can purchase this item, but you might check Office PetSmart Depot.  The Bun-o-matic Bunny Letter Opener runs on carrots and requires a litter box.