skjam

It's almost time to send out my yearly mix CDs for the holiday season.

This year I've decided to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of World War One. Any suggestions for what songs would fit? (They do not need to be period songs or about WWI, but if not, feel free to explain why they're relevant.)

Work is busy.

First, I am having another giveaway on my SKJAM! Reviews blog http://www.skjam.com so please stop by and let other people know if you think they might be interested.

And it is time, once again, for my holiday mix CD, that I send out to people on the wishlist communities. The 2013 theme is:

MUSIC WITH ROCKS IN

1. Rock Lords--Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. I have surprisingly little actual rock music on my Itunes, so decided put a hard-rocking tune right up front.

2. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds--Circulus. The diamonds have very little meaning in the song, mostly there for the acronym.

3. The Archylte Steppes--Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack. Continuing the relatively mellow music.

4. Banks are Made of Marble--Pete Seeger. Rich people have the biggest rock collections.

5. Mineral Rights--Leslie Fish. Some rocks don't like environmentally destructive mining practices.

6. Memoro de la Stono--Nobuo Uematsu. The memory of a stone.

7. Black Diamond--KISS. I wonder how this one wound up on my computer? Ah well, it's a rock song.

8. In the Big Rock Candy Mountain--Harry McClintock. Heaven is a very good place, no matter who you are.

9. Byker Hill--Tempest. Mining isn't always the worst job.

10. Climbing Up a Mountain--Tom O'Brien. Is your mountain an obstacle or an opportunity?

11. Honey in the Rock--Bill & Gloria Gaither. Some rocks have treasure beyond measure.

12. Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill--Trip McCool. This mix seems to have a lot of working men.

13. Gold and Silver Waltz--Carousel Music. Cold metals, but oh so beautiful.

14. Echo Cliffs--Bill Vermette. Tasty electronica.

15. Foggy Mountain Breakdown--Lester Flatt. String instrument virtuoso.

16. Emerald Green--See-Saw. In case you're tired of diamonds.

17. I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls--Anuna. Dreams of wealth are fun, but there is a better dream still.

18. Big Ty's Ride--Joe Bethancourt. Rocks in SPAAACE!

19. Miner's Song--Woody Guthrie. This land was made for you and me.

20. The Stone--Jars of Clay. Mark 12:10.

21. Sands of Gold--Don Ho. Sand is very, very tiny rocks. Happy Holidays and aloha.


Your thoughts and comments?

Everyone's mix CDs came in on time, big thanks to those of you who put in extra effort, and the packages for the out-of-towners will be going out Monday. We have five very different themes, all of which look fascinating. Now I can finally listen to them!

I'll have some extras for people at ConVergence of my mix, and I understand Baron Dave will as well.

Also, I won a Good Samaritan award at work, which is given out by the previous winner in our department to who has been the most helpful in their opinion. I got cited for my United Way raffle basket. So now I get to display a Samaritan statuette at my desk for July, and think about who to pass it on to at the end. (Those of you who've read Astro City will understand why being compared to Samaritan is a double-edged compliment.)

Hope you are all as well can be expected,
SKJAM!

This is a bit later in the year than usual. as barondave, our usual facilitator, has been extra-busy.

For those of you who haven't done this before, each participant makes a themed music mix, with enough CD copies for all the other participants. For this year, you'll be sending the copies to a Central Mailer (me) for redistribution.

Schedule: Respond to this post on Dreamwidth or Livejournal (or have someone with an account sponsor you, no anonymous replies this time) by May 31, 2012 so we know how many copies to make. Please indicate in your reply if you want to pick up your CDs at ConVergence 2012, or would prefer them to be mailed out to you. (Do not put your mailing address in the public comments; I'll contact you privately.) You will then have until June 30, 2012 to get your CDs to the Central Mailer, who will redistribute them ASAP.

Cost: Materials. Donations of postage stamps to the CM would be helpful.

Theme: IDIC, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. That is, each participant gets to decide what theme they want their mix to be, something a little more structured than "What I have on shuffle" preferred.

If you need an idea for a mix theme, here's a few:

* "So Very Tired"--songs for the end of the day.
* "Recursive"--songs about music and singing.
* "My Favorite Hero"--songs that remind you of a favorite fictional character.
* "Summer Blockbuster"--arrange the songs to resemble an action movie soundtrack (bonus points for not using any actual movie soundtracks.)

I hope we can get enough participants to make this a good showing!

Yeah, been a while. Again.

Some stuff happened--I got a couple of sampler CDs together for someone considering making a Dennou Coil AMV. I'm hoping they were at least inspirational.

Been doing a lot of overtime as we are still swamped at work. Need to try to keep a positive attitude, but that's easier when I'm allowed to set priorities, not have things dumped on me that are "more urgent than the stuff you're supposed to be doing immediately already." And the stuff I actually like doing and feel makes a positive impact is shoved to the back of the queue.

I am told that at least some of the more urgent than urgent stuff is having a software fix done. Maybe by November.

I enjoyed the Half-Price Books sale at the State Fairgrounds last weekend. CDs were fifty cents apiece.

I posted an entry on Scans Daily, but don't look at it yet, as even after two weeks of preparation I managed to screw it up, and it's going to take a day or two to fix.

Oh, and I'll be making an emergency visit to the dentist tomorrow, as something has gone drastically wrong with one of my back teeth and the flesh is swelling like no one's business.


So, how's by you?