My current tastes of musical delight. Enjoy.

Hello there readers! I am still taking a break from being the blogging crusader. This time around I wanted to let you guys know what music has been running through my headphones (or rather my adorable pink earbuds). So here are my current top 5 songs and why I liked them like a fat kid loves cake.

This Is Not A Test (Live) by She & Him

Okay so numero uno. You know those songs that you listen to the first time and don’t like it or hate it? This was one of those songs. I was trying to find songs by Zooey Deschanel (that girl I featured in my last blog post) and happened upon this musical duo She & Him. I like snagged the whole album they made called Volume One. This one was on there and when I was listening through the whole album, it didn’t really stand out to me. Then I listened to it a couple more times and fell in love with it. It has just has this quality of cuteness in its beat and lyrics. The songs meaning revolves around not trying so hard. One line says “For those of us who try to keep remembering, Try to do our better than our best. Think of all the children in the drifts of snow. Winners never quit, but winters never rest.” I don’t know about the snow bit but what I got from it was, if we try to do better as opposed to our best, we are just trying in vain. So relax, this is not a test. As a side note, try to grab the live version. In my opinion, it sounds better.

The Bird and the Worm by Owl City

I am a MASSIVE Owl City fan. If you don’t know what Owl City is, it’s an electronic musical project by Adam Young. But hold on. While this guy does use an auto-tuner of sorts, he is not T-Pain. Owl City’s songs are compositions of imagination and beauty in the form of infectious electronic beats and melodic singing. This song is a simple song about a guy, his girl and summer. Here is a line.
If I'm your boy, let's take a shortcut we remember
And we'll enjoy picking apples in late September
Like we've done for years
And we'll take a long walk through the cornfield
And I'll kiss you between the ears
In one word this song is: cute.

Stand By Me by Ben E. King

Ugh such a good song!! This song came out in 1961 in the prime of Motown. It is everything that a good song is made of: A smooth melody, beautiful voice with just a touch of raw emotion in it, and classic lyrics.
If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountains should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me
I love this song and clearly I am not the only one. Rolling Stone Magazine listed it as #121 in a list of the 500 best songs of all time. Also, 6 artists have made covers of this song including John Lennon, Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and Pennywise.

A Song For Milly Michaelson by Thrice

I have been a Thrice fan since I was 14. Granted I only listened to a handful of their songs and they were all their popular stuff. “Image of The Invisible”, “Artist In The Ambulance”. However, in the past several months I have become a HUGE fan. Thrice has a way of making intense, in your face songs, with great melodies and thoughtful lyrics (I might just make a blog about them =D). This song comes off of one of their recent albums, The Alchemy Index. It’s a collection of songs they wrote and then recorded live at concerts. This song is such a beautiful song. Thrice based it off of a movie called “The Boy Who Could Fly”. The movie follows the story of a girl who lost her terminally ill father to suicide. She is distraught and retracts from the world. However, a young autistic boy, who had lost both of his parents in a plane crash, befriends her and pulls her out of her shell. Eric exhibits odd behavior, such as balancing on the edge of his roof, his arms outstretched, pretending to be an airplane. It is speculated that once he knew that his parents had died in a plane crash, he thought could save them if he became an airplane. Later, Milly sneaks Eric out of the house and the police chase them onto the roof of a school. He turns to her and speaks her name, the only word she has ever heard him say, or anyone has heard him say for that matter. Milly, who has had dreams of Eric flying, asks him if he can fly. He nods and takes her hand in his. Then they fall off the roof. Before they hit the ground though, He flies with her into the sky. The song chronicles this
So here we go
Hold on tight and don't let go
I won't ever let you fall
I love the night
And flying o'er these city lights
But I love you most of all
A beautiful song based on a beautiful movie.

Haley by Needtobreathe

A lot of times a song’s raw emotion can just pull you in. This song does just that. It is about a girl named Haley (shocker) who cannot decide what she wants. And the singer’s pain is shown in the lyrics,

If you don't know just how you feel
don't say those sweet things that you know I'd want to hear
If you don't know just what to think
then put your thoughts away and keep them out of reach
Haley don't hurt me, if you don't know
I could of moved on a long time ago
you're undecided, but your eyes still show
Haley don't hurt me if you don't know

You can almost hear the pain in the singer’s voice. What a sharp pain it must be to remain in limbo, waiting for someone else to decide if being with you is what he or she wants. The singer does not plead with the girl to stay with him, but if she isn’t certain about their love, don’t play with his heart because this back and forth is killing him. Great song, honest song.

A Change Of Pace

If you follow my blog at all you know I usually am cautioning my readers about a movie or an artist. And while there is a time a place for that,this post is a change of pace. I am going to feature someone who has it right. At least to some extent. And have to say she is one of my new favorites. The entertainer I will be blogging about is Zooey Deschanel.



Zooey is most famously known for her role in the Will Ferrell comedy, Elf. She plays the cynical yet sweet shop girl Jodie, the love interest of Ferrell's character, Buddy. Elf is one of my favorite Christmas movies (And that's saying a lot because I do not like most of them.)Disclaimer: Although Ms Deschanel chooses her projects better than most Hollywood actresses, I do not endorse some of the movies she has appeared in. I am really just going to feature the movies Elf and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy as well as her musical career.

Here she is as "Trillian"in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.



I admire Zooey for a couple of reasons. For one, when I have seen her in movies as a love interest, she isn't just the "love interest". Her characters tend to be slightly quirky and independent. As aforementioned, Ms Deschanel has been said to be rather picky with the projects she associates herself with, which is always a good idea in Hollywood. Zooey also maintains a musical career alongside her acting career, excelling in both. Her recent project has been with another artist named M. Ward and they have released an album titled "Volume One" under the band name "She & Him". Here is one of my favorite tracks for you to enjoy. It is called "This Is Not A Test".



In a Relevant magazine article, Zooey said this regarding her music "Music has been as much a part of my life as acting..." As the magazine states, "Volume One" was not some vanity project for her own career benefit. Zooey explains, "My goal was not to put out a record just to do it or because somebody said I could sing. My goal was: 'I have so many songs and this great person (M. Ward) wants to work with me and we'll see how it shapes up and if we like it, we'll put it out'."

In an era where actors and actresses often make albums on the side for mere financial gain or to boost their own ego, Zooey Deschanel is a change of pace. Her motive is creativity and the desire to do more than make money. She wants her work whether it be movies or music, to mean something.

In an age where every actor or actress seems to be involved in some scandal, Zooey stand outs as a person of restraint. Deschanel said "I think it's a matter of taste. I don't want to be in the tabloids so I don't do anything to get in them."

The article mentions that instead, Deschanel "puts her fame to good use" by being involved in efforts like The Innocence Project which helps gain DNA evidence to acquit those not guilty of the crimes they are charged with because they had been misidentified.

All in all, Zooey Deschanel is an artist not merely an actress. She puts her talent and time into things that mean something to her and lives much cleaner than the average Hollywood starlet. In fact, some have called her a throwback to the golden starlets. I give her a thumbs up.

A blog about Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta.

Welcome to my blog about Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. Don’t know who she is? Maybe you would know her better as her stage name, Lady Gaga. There is quite a few things you might not know about Lady Gaga. I didn’t really know her until I started this blog. I always dip into my topic a bit before I set about blogging so here is what I found out.

Lady Gaga was the daughter of Joseph Germanotta an internet entrepreneur and Cynthia Germanotta, a telecommunications assistant. Not too unusual right? How about the fact she was set for Julliard, the nations leading theatrical college, at age eleven? Instead, Gaga went to a catholic school, writing her first piano ballad at age 13. At 17, she gained early admission into an arts school in New York. After that it seemed to all happen in a blur. Gaga started working the club circuit, moved out of her parents house, got into drugs and got her namesake from a queen song “Radio Gaga” all before she turned 21.

In 2007 Gaga partnered with Akon. She wasn’t the Lady Gaga we know now, just a singer Akon used for reference vocals for another artist. That year he would sign her to his label, Kon Live.

In 2008, Lady Gaga released her first single “Just Dance” and the rest we know quite well.

Lady Gaga isn’t like Katy Perry. She may have went to a catholic school but she wasn’t a pastor’s kid. However, I would say she is just as confused as Katy Perry. And I found that out by observing her talent and what she chooses to do with it. At 13 this girl wrote a ballad. She was admitted into A New York art school at the age of 17. And now she fills out radio waves with lyrics like

Wish I could shut my playboy mouth How'd I turn my shirt inside out? (Inside out right)

You’ve indicated your interest I'm educated in sex, yes and now I want it bad, want it bad

a love game, a love game.

Lady Gaga could be writing and composing beautiful songs but she succumbs to singing about manipulating men and getting drunk. But this is not just about a “bad” singer. This is a talented girl who doesn’t know she is better than the songs she sings.

And isn’t it the same with God in our lives? We don’t know what we are missing sometimes. The things God promises us are so infinitely better and more fulfilling than anything we could strive to make or possess but what do we do? We settle. That is what I believe Lady Gaga is doing. She settles for easy fame, for easy money making catchy tunes that are hollow and empty. Instead of striving for food of substance, she makes a meal out of filler. And we do this daily. I do this daily. We choose things that are hollow and empty. Things that do not require our effort or our faith. Things that do not require us to trust and rely in God. We say on the outside we are Christians but when it comes to things that we care about, we tell God to stay out of it. It could be our future career, our friends, or our love lives. We believe in these particular parts of our lives that we can handle it on our own. We are afraid to give God these parts of our lives because we are scared he will take our dreams away. We fear he will turn them into something we don’t want.

We overlook this promise of God though.

For the Scripture says,^(E) "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." Romans 10:11.

God promises our faith in him will not be betrayed. He will not cheat us out of better things. Rather the opposite. He will give us our heart’s desire once we give our desires to him. For me, I have to surrender my life daily to God. And it’s not easy. It’s hard giving up control. But once we do, beautiful, amazing things start happening. Just have in faith him. He won’t let you fall.

Le Smooch.

I have noticed for some time this interesting phenomenon in Christian dating. The smooch question: Whether or not to kiss. I have never been kissed. It used to be that I wanted to save my first kiss for my husband. I have since relaxed the stipulation. I am not saying I realized I really wanted to get to get my smooch on, I just thought it wasn’t a huge deal if I kissed a boyfriend after we had been dating for some time. HOWEVER! That does not mean I am the rule. Personally, I believe this is up to each individual couple. But slam on the brakes there. There is one type of kissing that I do not recommend to couples that are not headed toward matrimony anytime soon. And that is le French kissing.
Please know I only say these things out of a concern for my generation. This is not out of some need to slap judgment on others. If I didn’t think this was a problem in the Christian environment (Really the environment period), I would not write on it.
As Christians sometimes we are guilty of testing the waters. We know that God intends sex for marriage so we nod our heads and agree. No sex. Gotcha. Then we go on to dance along that line. And French-kissing is a dangerous dance.
You see, French kissing is an arousing activity. All the girls may be saying “What? Why?” The guys might be singing a different tune. For us to understand why French kissing is risky we need to understand how different girls and guys can be. Girls are emotional beings. We thrive on emotional connections and we see intimacy in terms of a good talk or a good hug. Guys are different. Guys are physical beings. Their interest is mainly in what they see, what they can touch. You have probably heard that a guy is like a light bulb while a girl is more like an oven. (I know I blushed too) but that is just the way God made us.
And that is why French-kissing arouses guys more than girls.
French kissing is deeper than a peck on the lips because it is uniting. It unites two people physically. And for a guy, since he is aroused quicker than a girl, French-kissing is a way of getting him ready for more serious activities. Sure, a couple can stick to French-kissing or “making out” for a couple times. However, after a while it will result in one of two ways. Either the couple will jump the original boundaries or rules they set, or they will get frustrated.
There is a dangerous side to it for the ladies as well. Like I said before, girls are wired differently than guys. While guys get turned on easily in the physical area, emotions are where girls get into hot water. When we are French kissing a guy, we aren’t thinking primarily of the physical sensations but rather the emotional ones. We thrive on that feeling of closeness, intimacy. We feel like this guy belongs to us and we belong to him. Now why is that dangerous? It is dangerous because dating is primarily supposed to be a process of evaluating a guy or girl for marriage material. And when we introduce physical intimacy into the situation it acts as a sort of cement. Now we girls base a lot of things on our emotions. On our hearts. So when we unite ourselves with a guy by French kissing, that cement holds and it tells us that this is the real deal. Our heart tells us this feels like the real deal. So we believe this guy is the love of our life. But when problems arise about his character or his personality, we see him through rose-colored glasses. He can do no wrong. We convince ourselves that “Oh that’s just how he acts sometimes. He actually is really sweet. He loves me.” Our feelings trump our wisdom and we overlook important things about the guy we are dating.
A purity speaker wrote it this way “I often receive e-mails from abstinent couples who say that they really love each other and want to stay pure, but they keep falling over and over into the same sexual sins. They have stirred up that desire, and they are finding that such desires are not easily tamed once they are awakened. These couples want to sit on the fence and keep some sexual intimacy while avoiding going “too far.” But they’re realizing that men and women are not made to work that way. Angelic purity is easier to live out than 50 percent purity, because you’re not constantly teasing yourself.”
French kissing is not an evil thing. God never really said it was. However, It is written in the bible:
…Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.
-Song of Songs 8:4
French kissing is a way of stirring up love. And unless you are married, it is stirring up feelings that cannot be merely confined to a dating relationship.
God is not out to steal our fun or deprive us of love by any means. He is love. But love is precious and something to be treasured. And rushing something before its time does not hint at treasuring it but rather taking it for granted. So if you truly care for the guy or girl you are dating (or have yet to date), show them by not playing games with their emotions or bodies. Save the French kissing for the honeymoon in Paris.