8th of Blaugust - G - Grace, Jeff Buckley

Grace is an album put out by Jeff Buckley. To be more accurate, the only album put out by Jeff Buckley. The story of Jeff Buckley is a sad one to be honest. His album was never that big in his home country of the US when it came out in 1994 but it did catch on everywhere else, especially in Australia and France. He also was in the middle of writing and recording his follow up that he went for an evening swim in the Wolf River in Tennessee and ended up drowning. Ever since then he has been just like one of those artists that became more famous after they have died.

I decided to listen to the entire album and just type my thoughts as I was listening. I decided on saying no to iTunes as well and play it on (what can now be considered as) the old fashioned CD.

Track 1 - Mojo Pin

The eery start that moves between to the light shuffle-esque rhythm of the verse to the mid-heavy acoustic straight chorus imtermixed with the accelerating thrash climaxes. A great start for the listen to get in the mood of what is to come.

Track 2 - Grace

After the intro of the first track the start of the titular song throws you deeper into the emotional atmosphere of the whole recording. The compound guitar interludes circle around my head as Jeff Buckley’s voice kicks back in with his tails of despair. This is definitely an album you listen to as loud as you can when you’re in a feeling of complete woe and don’t wish to be disturbed. As Jeff Buckley gives one last wail you wait in anticipation for the next track.

Track 3 - Last Goodbye

Once again, to be thrown back in to the emotional roller-coaster! Last Goodbye is a song clearly about the sad end that is the eventual rejection from what used to be a close relationship. The strings that are are introduced at the halfway point seem to reenforce the sense of conclusion to the singers situation.

Track 4 - Lilac Wine

This soliloquy is dedicated to the joys and sorrows of resorting to the bottom of the next beverage. There is a lush sense to this song but still seems to also give the impression of a hangover. Yet with those consequences you can still feel the feeling of enjoyment.

Track 5 - So Real

But then the reality sets in. As the time signature swaps between 4/4 and 3/4 throughout the verses you get the really uneasy sense. But then the slow thrashing Rock Chorus kicks in and you know the feeling of despair is not going away.

Track 6 - Hallelujah

This is the recording he was most famous for. It’s a cover of the classic song by Leonard Cohen but an incredibly good one. It seems to break out the darkness of the previous track by grabbing your attention and never letting go. Even the breath at the start ads to the atmosphere of the whole piece.

Track 7 - Lover You Should’ve Come Over

They managed to find a way out of that piece by juxtaposing with a wistful Accordion intro into a this lush rock waltz all about a romantic yearning. It is a heavy yet positively uplifting piece (in the sense of Jeff Buckley anyway) that just just plucks away at your heart strings.

Track 8 - Corpus Christi Carol

This is Jeff Buckley’s interoperation of english composer Benjamin Britten’s ‘A Boy was Born’ (1933) setting of a middle age hymn first discovered in 1504. Yet it doesn’t feel out of place in the slightest. The sole voice and guitar atmosphere just seems like it made sense.

Track 9 - Eternal Life

Then is transisions back into a deep, heavy and grungy thrash-a-thon. This is actually my favourite track on the whole album when I listen to it. It manages to throw you through a whirlwind of pride and despair in only a way that Jeff Buckley can.

Track 10 - Dream Brother

The final track starts instantly putting you in that eerie setting it was in when it started but manages to crank that feeling up to eleven by introducing the fear factor. As the instrumental section comes in you are left wondering where and how this is going to conclude. It’s a disturbingly great and solid finish to the album as it fades down before the final verse leaving you in a state of complete focus to go on with your life as if it was all just a dream.

It was great to play it from start to finish as I have not actually done that with this album for a few years. It made me long for a time before the iPod made everyone get lazy by shuffling their entire song catalog. I still think there is a place for the well constructed album.

I implore you to set aside time to do nothing but just listen all the way through an entire Album. I don’t care what it is or who it is by. Whatever you do, do not skip. Just take it all in.

7th of Blaugust - F - Fanfiction (Warning: NSFW)

Firstly I apologise for the abomination in writing that is about to follow. But I still wish to horrify you all with what is fan fiction. Specifically slash fiction. Rather than explain it I thought I would have a go myself. Here is the start of something I came up with based off the Disney movie Frozen.

~

A Steamy Night to Remember

It was a cold winters night in the Mountains of Arendelle. Kristoff was hard at work pulling the freshest batch of ice for his next sale. Although the Queen Elsa had mastered her ice magic, she was kind enough to not put the ice workers out of their line of work.

“Gee Sven! It sure is a big storm tonight,” Kristoff wailed as he toiled long through the night. The blizzard was getting stronger and the two were really getting exhausted. “If only we could find somewhere to stop for the night. Then we could get some hard earned rest and start fresh tomorrow.”

Eventually Kristoff came into view with what he was after. “There it is Sven. Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna. If we make it then I can get some carrots for you.” Although he was pleased he still let out a disappointed sigh. “The only thing missing is my little Anna.”

After he tied up Sven and gave him his well earned snacks, Kristoff walked up to the front desk. “Hello there,” came the friendly welcome from behind the desk. “My name is Oakden and welcome to Oakden’s Trading Post and Sauna. You must be very cold, but not to worry. I can make you all warm and snug again.”

“I was wondering if you had anywhere I could stay for the night,” Kristoff asked. “You see, I’ve been pulling that Ice sled all day and night and I’m completely exhausted!”

“Not to worry,” replied Oakden. “I have some spare rooms for just this purpose. In fact I’ll even let you have a complimentary sauna if you stay the night!”

“Why that would be perfect!” Kristoff was relieved. “With the sauna I could relieve my aching joints and be completely revived to get back to the town tomorrow. I may even get back to meet up with Anna by lunchtime.”

“Aaaahh, the Princess Anna! What a delightful young thing,” Oakden gushed. “If only someone as graceful was able to come by more often. You ice workers are the only people that seem to stop by here with me being so far up in the mountains. It would be so nice to have someone to keep me company.”

“Well if you like you could always join me in the Sauna,” Kristoff exclaimed desirably. “I wouldn’t mind the extra company myself!”

“You should not joke about these things,” Oakden replied sassily, “or one day someone might just take you up on your offer.”

After a long pause, Kristoff summed up how he had been missing intimacy lately and was feeling lucky. “Who said I was joking?”

“If that’s what you would like then come with me. If you can handle it that is.” Oakden was leading Kristoff into the Sauna. “But be warned that it can get incredibly HOT in there.”

“Perhaps I was born to take it hot Oakden!”

“Ooooh Kristoff! Looks like I’m going to have plenty of fun with you...”

~

I think that might be as far as I’m willing to take this Frozen Kristoff/Oakden slash fiction before you all get too horrified. Let’s just say that I think they both need their privacy for the time being. I swear that the rest of Blaugust won’t be anywhere near as horrifying as what I have just created.

6th of Blaugust - E - Eurovision

The Eurovision song contest has been going since 1956 and was originally meant to be a way of bringing everyone in Europe together and increase relations after the second world war. All the countries participating would vote on their favourite song to decide the winner who would host the contest the next year. However, there was one big oversight regarding the peace and friendly competition. Because it was a contest it became hotly contested and political right from the start.

In 1956 all countries were allowed to vote for themselves, which became a problem when the voting party from Luxembourg were unable to make it to the contest. Instead, they let the Swiss voting party vote on Luxembourg's behalf. Can you guess who they gave their votes to? I'll give you a hint, Switzerland ended up winning that year and no second or third place holders were announced. Probably because it turned out something like this.

1st Place: Switzerland who received votes from Switzerland and Luxembourg (by proxy from Switzerland).
Equal 2nd Place: Every other country that just voted for themselves (with exception of Switzerland and Luxembourg).
Last Place: Luxembourg who received no votes.

To be fair, each country did present two songs that year. So it probably wasn't that simple. However it forced the rule that you couldn't vote for your own country. So instead all the countries just vote for their neighbouring countries.

Yes, the voting is crazy. But that's not why I like Eurovision. I like it for the incredibly poor quality of songs. You see, I love a good train wreck. So here are my top 10 trainwercks ever presented at the Eurovision Song contest (that I have come across). This was only going to be a top 5, but there was just too much to choose from.

#10: Ukraine 2007 - The Most Perplexing Thing You Will Ever See

(Finished 2nd out 24 of in the Final with 268 Points)

#9: Norway 1978 - The Single Reason Norway Are Famous For Being The Worst At Eurovision

(Finished 20th out of 20 with 0 Points)

#8: Austria 1977 - Most Offensive Song to Australians and Everyones Eyes

(Finished 17th out of 18 with 11 Points)

#7: Germany 1998 - The Song For All Of You With Short Attention Spans

(Finished 7th out of 25 with 86 Points)

#6: Bulgaria 2009 - Worst Way to Make Your Ears Ring in Pain

(Finished 16th out of 18 in the 1st Semi Final with 7 Points and Failed to Progress to the Final) 

#5: Czech Republic 2008 - Worst Produced Soundtrack in Human History

(Placed 18th out of 19 in the 2nd Semi Final with 9 Points and Failed to Progress to the Final)

#4: Spain 2006 - Worst Attempt When It Comes To Making an Effort

(Finished 21st out of 24 in the Final with 21 Points)

Spain Automatically Qualified for The Final as a "Big 4" Country

#3: United Kingdom 2003 - Worst Attempt At Singing In Tune

(Finished 26th out of 26 with 0 Points)

#2: Estonia 2008 - Most Catastrophic Attempt At Humour

(Finished 18th out of 19 in the 1st Semi Final with 8 Points and Failed to Progress to the Final)

#1: Israel 2000 - Most Orwellian Performance and Quite Clearly The Worst Song Ever

(Finished 22nd out of 24 with 7 Points)

Tune in tomorrow where I attempt to assault your eyes with what would quite possibly be the worst story ever written.

5th of Blaugust - D - Dr Mario

Now It's my turn to get lazy and do the bulk of my post in a YouTube video! I mean, go 'New Media,' and give you a video post. D clearly stood for Dr Mario. I show you how the game works and one of the hardest levels just to be a show off.

Link to video if you can't see it.

You will notice that I use the Super Nintendo version because it is clearly better, Thom!

Unfortunately I had to use an emulator as I discovered my unreliable video capture device that I hardly ever use because of how bad it is, has finally crapped itself and will refuse to work anymore. I guess I could go out at get another one but that would involve doing the video all over again. Also, my voice sounds funny because I am recovering from the Post-AVCon plague.

Check in tomorrow where I progress on to E. And there's only one thing that can stand for...