this is basically the definition of epic. if i do say so meself.
This took me pretty much all day (not to mention the several weeks of picking out music and figuring out order/mood, etc.), and I'm relatively proud of the final product. I like some of the graphics more than others, and definitely got more creative with certain tracks.
To all of the Weird, USA readers/fans on my flist, I hope you enjoy this and like my choices. To those who haven't read any of my novel, don't have time to right now, or don't care about ever reading, just look at this as a random mix CD free for downloading. X^D
(And if you really want to avoid being spoiled for ANYTHING, because you plan to read what I've already posted, you might want to just bookmark this, since there are some big spoilers beneath the cut.)
Whatever the situation, I hope a lot of you check this out and tell me what you think. I'd love any and all criticism/impressions. ♥
"...How about a road trip?”
“A road trip?”
“Yeah! In Montague! I just popped new tires on him, and he had a complete overhaul last summer, so we wouldn’t have to worry about him conking out on us.”
“Where would we go? What would we do?”
“Anywhere and anything we wanted, man! We’re vivacious, red-blooded twenty-somethings with cash to burn! We should just make our way across the whole country, go to every state we can!”
“And do the tourist act? Visit Arlington, see the Space Needle, stop at the Grand Canyon?”
“Well, I guess, if you want to,” Charlie said nonchalantly, setting the guitar aside and standing, sauntering over to Ben’s bookcase to run a finger along the cracked spines and over his fully articulated Zelda action figures.
“Or we could…” Ben paused, glancing at the framed picture of himself, Harry, and Paul McCartney. “We could do it in true Harry spirit. Go off the beaten path and look for the weird and the little-known.”
“I like the way your mind works, brother,” Charlie said with a grin. “Haunted houses! Single-street towns! Barns shaped like cows! Think of the photo opportunities, the stories we could tell, the close brushes with deranged, in-bred hillbillies!”
“Again, you’ve got to take everything down the violent and wrong route.”
01. Brendan James -- "The Lucky Ones"
On the edge of a moment,
In the land that we love,
In the time that our best has to be good enough,
Like all those before us, we start out alone,
We race from our schoolyards, into the unknown
City lights, as far as the eye can see,
You and I, we will live differently
Well I'll take my hands,
Like loaded guns,
We're taking a chance,
We're the lucky ones,
This moment is yours,
This moment is mine,
And we're gonna be fine.
She read the letter twice through and it still didn’t make any sense. It was if the words had lost their meaning and become merely symbols again, some archaic hieroglyphic only an expert could decipher.
Slowly the words sunk in, rearranged themselves, and the contents of the cream envelope made sense. The paper slipped from fingers nerveless and numb, folding in on itself as it drifted to the carpeted floor. And the words accepted a position in California, we both knew it was over, I’m sorry but this is the best for us thundered in her head.
Olivia sat on the edge of what was their bed for minutes that stretched like taffy. She didn’t move. She didn’t think.
And then she got angry.
“Coward,” she said hotly into the silence. “Five years and he literally leaves me a Dear, John letter. That fucking coward.”
02. Damien Rice -- "Rootless Tree"
So fuck you, fuck you, fuck you
And all we've been through
I said leave it, leave it, leave it,
It's nothing to you
And if you hate me, hate me , hate me,
Then hate me so good that you can let me out, let me out, let me out
Let me out of this hell when you're around.
“Oh, dear,” Mr. Hopper said with a small frown. “I feel I must warn you that Centralia is not a very safe place.”
“Oh?” Charlie spoke up. She crossed her arms under her breasts, leaned against the counter, and raised an eyebrow in interest. “Why is that?”
Mr. Hopper in his starched shirt paused for a moment, swallowing nervously. He apparently didn’t know what to do when faced with someone as overt and… different as Charlie-it was a warm day, and she was wearing a simple skin-tight camisole that showcased every detail of her elaborate tattoo sleeves while also accentuating her rather pronounced cleavage. She had managed to pull her short crimson hair into two messy odango buns and skewered them with a pair of air gauges she’d picked up at the last gas station.
03. Marina & the Diamonds -- "The Outsider"
Don't get on my bad side, I can work a gun
Hop into the backseat baby
I'll show you some fun
All I know is I cannot pretend
I'm sitting on the outside again
“She’s utterly shameless,” he said after a moment of silence. “And incredibly self-centered. You’d think after all of these years, I’d be used to her making me angry, and yet I’m still somehow surprised by how far she can push it.”
“Charlie’s… Charlie,” Olivia said quietly from the passenger seat. The whole car was beginning to smell like the bayou that still clung to their skin, a combination of earthworms, fish, and dead vegetation. The bayou, and wet dog, as Oswald-curled up sleepily in Olivia’s lap-was still damp. “We’re never going to change her, and for all of her faults, I don’t think we should try. She’s a good person, and a good friend. I’d say she’s a good sister, too, right?”
Ben sighed and relaxed his grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah. She’s a good sister. Usually.”
“Then we should try to focus on that when she makes us want to throttle her.”
Ben glanced over at her with a grin. “She has that effect on you, too?”
04. Death Cab for Cutie -- "Passenger Seat"
When you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride
When you need directions then I'll be the guide
For all time.
For all time.
“Liv, Liv, reach for my hand, just reach up.”
“Ben, I don’t think…” Olivia murmured, turning her face up to him, to the light, and he could see tears shining on her cheeks. “I’m afraid. It’s so hot down here. I can feel it. If I let go of the root, if I let go… Ben, what if I fall?”
“You won’t,” he said as firmly as he could, stretching as far as he dared, relying on Charlie’s grip on his leg. “Liv, you’ve got to reach up. Take my hand. Liv, reach up. Reach up.”
05. Placebo -- "Running Up That Hill"
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
Olivia wasn’t sure what she had just seen. Her focus had been on Oswald, who had been running straight for the river’s edge, trailing her blue leash and the end of the tent peg behind her. She had immediately given chase, but as she had the howl had almost physically struck her, and she had half turned in mid-step, had caught a glimpse of something hunched over and hairy, something with eyes that reflected the moonlight like mirrors.
And then she had turned back and truly started to run.
06. The Black Keys -- "Howlin' For You"
I must admit
I can't explain
All these thoughts racing
Through my brain
It's true
Baby I'm howlin' for you
For a single heartbeat, there was nothing.
And then there was everything.
A cacophony of sound screamed out of every direction, assaulting the ears and pummeling the skin with a physical force. An explosion of color flashed like a lightning strike, and when it was gone it seemed the world had gone black and white in the dazzling aftermath. The very ground bucked like a jittery horse, the trees swaying inwards as if to grab at them. And somehow, as everyone fell to their knees or dove to the side or covered their faces or simply collapsed, Ben saw it all.
07. Murray Gold -- "A Disturbance in the Night"
[instrumental]
She could feel the heavy footsteps reverberate through the mossy ground. There was a figure behind her, close enough to sense with the hairs on the back of her neck. As she stiffened in preparation for the blow, as her blood jellied in her veins, there was a great huff of expelled air that ruffled her sweat-soaked, half undone braid.
Olivia decided that if she was going to die, she was going to die facing her death. She turned, willed herself to open her eyes, and looked up…
08. Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs -- "Li'l Red Riding Hood"
Hey there Little Red Riding Hood,
You sure are looking good.
You're everything a big bad wolf could want.
“I think I’ve realized something,” she said finally.
“Oh?” he managed, weakly. There was something wild about her eyes, something about the way she was looking at him that made his heart try to do jumping jacks.
“You’re the only guy I’ve ever known who would casually use the word ‘preternatural’ in an average conversation. You’re the only guy I’ve ever known who’s more of a snob about music than I am. And you’re the only guy I’ve ever known who would chase after a werewolf to protect me.”
09. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros -- "Home"
I'll follow you into the park,
Through the jungle through the dark,
Girl I never loved one like you.
Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alley-ways and pay phone calls,
I've been everywhere with you.
“I think the reason why the rest of the family gossips about me, or ignores me, or dislikes me, is that I chose to live a life that frightened them. I didn’t want to settle for a nine to five desk job in a bank like your father, or just get married and start a family like your Aunt Lydia. I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself according to other people’s standards or demands. I left home at the age of seventeen with a couple hundred dollars, a ten-speed bicycle, and my camera, with the understanding that if I hit hard times I wouldn’t be welcomed back.”
“Go you,” she commended, raising her bottle in a salute. “I’m proud of you, Uncle Harry, twenty plus years after the fact.”
10. Kansas -- "Carry On My Wayward Son"
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more.
I want you both to know you meant an awful lot to me. Did I tell you I loved you enough? I hope so, but if not take some comfort in seeing it written out: I love you. Sometimes I regretted not having kids of my own, but then I remembered that I had you two. I’m so proud of you both-Ben, for working towards that degree and taking on double shifts at the Radio Shack; Charlie, for making your own path and naysayers be damned, and for knowing how to take an engine apart faster than a burly greasemonkey named Bubba. I’d like to think my real legacy isn’t my photography, but the two of you. You aren’t my kids, but you are my blood, and if anyone can carry on my spirit, it’s you.
And that’s why you’ve got these shiny new bank accounts to play with. But wait! You’re not to be responsible with them, oh no. I don’t want you to put this money towards apartment payments or the electrical bill-I expect you to turn this money into an adventure. Go anywhere in the world, take anyone with you. Just get out there and make memories to keep you warm in your old age. Take guided tours through London or spend an entire month living in a hotel in Monte Carlo. Just be wild, and crazy, and have fun.
And fuck anyone who tries to rain on your parade (that goes double for your Aunt Lydia).
I love you both (there, I wrote it twice for good measure) and hope you’re as excited as a monkey with a tub full of bananas.
11. Coldplay -- "Death Will Never Conquer"
One day death is gonna conquer me
I'll be down where the waters flow
I hope sweet heaven is the place for me
Let me know, boys, let me know.
“Mind telling me what the fuck I’m looking at?” said Charlie, her forehead wrinkled in something close to disgust, her hands firmly on her hips as she tilted her head.
“This is the Mothman,” Ben said helpfully.
“So I gathered. Just what the fuck is the Mothman?”
“According to this lovely pamphlet that man gave us,” Olivia said, unfolding said brochure. “‘The Mothman was first sighted in November of 1966 by a pair of young couples-Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette-who were driving back from a nearby lover’s lane. As the four were passing a derelict TNT factory, they saw what they first thought was a man. After leaving their car to investigate, they realized what they had discovered was not a man, but an inhumanly tall creature with massive moth-like wings and glowing red eyes. Fleeing, they were closely pursued by the Mothman, who kept pace with their car though they were traveling at speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour.’”
“Fuck me,” Charlie whistled. “That’d certainly scare the shit out of me.”
12. Bon Iver -- "Creature Fear"
So many foreign worlds
(So relatively fucked)
So ready for us
So ready for us,
The creature fear.
"Benny and I decided we was gonna go on a big road trip with it. Go to every state.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And we’re not gonna do all that lame, pansy ass tourist-y shit, either. We’re gonna go to the circus freak shows and haunted houses and the World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn and shit like that. Harry would have liked that. You should totally come with us, Livvy, it’ll be the most awesome year of your life.”
13. David Bowie -- "Golden Years"
Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere, angel
Come get up my baby
Look at that sky, life's begun
Nights are warm and the days are young
Come get up my baby.
“Yarp,” Charlie said, fiddling with her belt buckle. Josh glanced down at it, took in the bright red letters spelling BAD ASS MOTHERFUCKER, and chuckled. His eyes skimmed from her feet, clad in worn Chuck Taylors, up past her grease-stained and patched jeans and over her tight black camisole and colorful sleeves of Japanese tattoos, before finally coming to rest on her freckled face, framed by her unevenly cut red-dyed hair.
“You are something else, Charlie Hawthorne,” he said warmly, shaking his head.
“Something good, or something bad?” she asked.
“Something awesome,” he said with a smile. “If only, right?”
“In another life?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Well, Josh Gates. It was fun working with you. Thanks for the beers and the barbeque and the werewolf hunt.”
“Don’t mention it. Thanks for the conversation and company. It was interesting, enlightening, and a helluva lot of fun.”
“But of course,” Charlie grinned.
And then she grabbed him by his shirt collar, stood on her tiptoes, and planted a seriously scorching five-alarm kiss on his lips.
“It’s a shame about that girlfriend of yours,” Charlie murmured in his ear, laughing breathlessly at his stunned expression. “Because I would have rocked your fucking world.”
14. Ra Ra Riot -- "Too Dramatic"
Cause you're too dramatic
I don't understand it
Cause you're too dramatic.
“Wait, let me finish,” he said quickly, holding up a hand. “You’re what I measure everyone else to. Doesn’t matter what it’s for. Work ethic, style, humor, taste in movies, kindness, brains, beauty. No one has ever compared, not really, and no one’s ever surpassed you. That’s why I’ve never had a girlfriend. Because I don’t see the point in wasting time with girls who will never be as incredible as you.”
15. Sufjan Stevens -- "The Dress Looks Nice On You"
I can see a lot of life in you
I can see a lot of bright in you
And I think the dress looks nice on you
I can see a lot of life in you
“That’s no cougar,” Olivia gasped, eyes wide and staring, unable to turn away.
No, no cougar. No coyote. No wild dog. Not with that scaly, mottled green skin and that ridge of spines along its back, not with those huge and luminous toadlike eyes, the grasping, clawed hands that dug great handfuls of steaming, wet flesh from the dead calf’s side and raised them to a gaping, blood-smeared mouth…
16. The Automatic -- "Monster"
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
“You had me terrified,” she said quietly. He smelled like antiseptic and hospital and blood, and it made her heart twist.
“Sorry. Be more careful next time.”
17. Sara Bareilles -- "Breathe Again"
All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again
“She’s just bitchy this morning because Ray never called her back last night,” Ben said calmly, clicking his pen.
“Hey, a girl has every right to be pissy when she doesn’t get a booty call answered.”
“And again, you say this as if I care that you’re having sex.”
“At least one of us is.”
18. Queens of the Stone Age -- "Want to Make It Wit Chu"
You wanna know if I know why?
I can't say that I do
Don't understand the evil eye
Or how one becomes two
I just can't recall what started it all
Or how to begin in the end
I ain't here to break it
Just see how far it will bend
Again and again, again and again
"Onwards, comrades?"
"Careful, Charlie. What would Grandpa say if he heard you saying 'comrades'? The word fairly smacks of Communism."
"Benji, just start the damn car."
19. Basia Bulat -- "Snakes and Ladders"
These mirrors you've broken are your cry for art.
Salt and pepper shakers over your shoulders, cross your heart.
Don't you know it's bad luck to stay in one place for too long?
You've been left and divorces you've had, helpess when they go.
ZIP
To all of the Weird, USA readers/fans on my flist, I hope you enjoy this and like my choices. To those who haven't read any of my novel, don't have time to right now, or don't care about ever reading, just look at this as a random mix CD free for downloading. X^D
(And if you really want to avoid being spoiled for ANYTHING, because you plan to read what I've already posted, you might want to just bookmark this, since there are some big spoilers beneath the cut.)
Whatever the situation, I hope a lot of you check this out and tell me what you think. I'd love any and all criticism/impressions. ♥
"...How about a road trip?”
“A road trip?”
“Yeah! In Montague! I just popped new tires on him, and he had a complete overhaul last summer, so we wouldn’t have to worry about him conking out on us.”
“Where would we go? What would we do?”
“Anywhere and anything we wanted, man! We’re vivacious, red-blooded twenty-somethings with cash to burn! We should just make our way across the whole country, go to every state we can!”
“And do the tourist act? Visit Arlington, see the Space Needle, stop at the Grand Canyon?”
“Well, I guess, if you want to,” Charlie said nonchalantly, setting the guitar aside and standing, sauntering over to Ben’s bookcase to run a finger along the cracked spines and over his fully articulated Zelda action figures.
“Or we could…” Ben paused, glancing at the framed picture of himself, Harry, and Paul McCartney. “We could do it in true Harry spirit. Go off the beaten path and look for the weird and the little-known.”
“I like the way your mind works, brother,” Charlie said with a grin. “Haunted houses! Single-street towns! Barns shaped like cows! Think of the photo opportunities, the stories we could tell, the close brushes with deranged, in-bred hillbillies!”
“Again, you’ve got to take everything down the violent and wrong route.”
01. Brendan James -- "The Lucky Ones"
On the edge of a moment,
In the land that we love,
In the time that our best has to be good enough,
Like all those before us, we start out alone,
We race from our schoolyards, into the unknown
City lights, as far as the eye can see,
You and I, we will live differently
Well I'll take my hands,
Like loaded guns,
We're taking a chance,
We're the lucky ones,
This moment is yours,
This moment is mine,
And we're gonna be fine.
She read the letter twice through and it still didn’t make any sense. It was if the words had lost their meaning and become merely symbols again, some archaic hieroglyphic only an expert could decipher.
Slowly the words sunk in, rearranged themselves, and the contents of the cream envelope made sense. The paper slipped from fingers nerveless and numb, folding in on itself as it drifted to the carpeted floor. And the words accepted a position in California, we both knew it was over, I’m sorry but this is the best for us thundered in her head.
Olivia sat on the edge of what was their bed for minutes that stretched like taffy. She didn’t move. She didn’t think.
And then she got angry.
“Coward,” she said hotly into the silence. “Five years and he literally leaves me a Dear, John letter. That fucking coward.”
02. Damien Rice -- "Rootless Tree"
So fuck you, fuck you, fuck you
And all we've been through
I said leave it, leave it, leave it,
It's nothing to you
And if you hate me, hate me , hate me,
Then hate me so good that you can let me out, let me out, let me out
Let me out of this hell when you're around.
“Oh, dear,” Mr. Hopper said with a small frown. “I feel I must warn you that Centralia is not a very safe place.”
“Oh?” Charlie spoke up. She crossed her arms under her breasts, leaned against the counter, and raised an eyebrow in interest. “Why is that?”
Mr. Hopper in his starched shirt paused for a moment, swallowing nervously. He apparently didn’t know what to do when faced with someone as overt and… different as Charlie-it was a warm day, and she was wearing a simple skin-tight camisole that showcased every detail of her elaborate tattoo sleeves while also accentuating her rather pronounced cleavage. She had managed to pull her short crimson hair into two messy odango buns and skewered them with a pair of air gauges she’d picked up at the last gas station.
03. Marina & the Diamonds -- "The Outsider"
Don't get on my bad side, I can work a gun
Hop into the backseat baby
I'll show you some fun
All I know is I cannot pretend
I'm sitting on the outside again
“She’s utterly shameless,” he said after a moment of silence. “And incredibly self-centered. You’d think after all of these years, I’d be used to her making me angry, and yet I’m still somehow surprised by how far she can push it.”
“Charlie’s… Charlie,” Olivia said quietly from the passenger seat. The whole car was beginning to smell like the bayou that still clung to their skin, a combination of earthworms, fish, and dead vegetation. The bayou, and wet dog, as Oswald-curled up sleepily in Olivia’s lap-was still damp. “We’re never going to change her, and for all of her faults, I don’t think we should try. She’s a good person, and a good friend. I’d say she’s a good sister, too, right?”
Ben sighed and relaxed his grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah. She’s a good sister. Usually.”
“Then we should try to focus on that when she makes us want to throttle her.”
Ben glanced over at her with a grin. “She has that effect on you, too?”
04. Death Cab for Cutie -- "Passenger Seat"
When you feel embarrassed then I'll be your pride
When you need directions then I'll be the guide
For all time.
For all time.
“Liv, Liv, reach for my hand, just reach up.”
“Ben, I don’t think…” Olivia murmured, turning her face up to him, to the light, and he could see tears shining on her cheeks. “I’m afraid. It’s so hot down here. I can feel it. If I let go of the root, if I let go… Ben, what if I fall?”
“You won’t,” he said as firmly as he could, stretching as far as he dared, relying on Charlie’s grip on his leg. “Liv, you’ve got to reach up. Take my hand. Liv, reach up. Reach up.”
05. Placebo -- "Running Up That Hill"
And if I only could,
Make a deal with God,
And get him to swap our places,
Be running up that road,
Be running up that hill,
Be running up that building.
If I only could, oh...
Olivia wasn’t sure what she had just seen. Her focus had been on Oswald, who had been running straight for the river’s edge, trailing her blue leash and the end of the tent peg behind her. She had immediately given chase, but as she had the howl had almost physically struck her, and she had half turned in mid-step, had caught a glimpse of something hunched over and hairy, something with eyes that reflected the moonlight like mirrors.
And then she had turned back and truly started to run.
06. The Black Keys -- "Howlin' For You"
I must admit
I can't explain
All these thoughts racing
Through my brain
It's true
Baby I'm howlin' for you
For a single heartbeat, there was nothing.
And then there was everything.
A cacophony of sound screamed out of every direction, assaulting the ears and pummeling the skin with a physical force. An explosion of color flashed like a lightning strike, and when it was gone it seemed the world had gone black and white in the dazzling aftermath. The very ground bucked like a jittery horse, the trees swaying inwards as if to grab at them. And somehow, as everyone fell to their knees or dove to the side or covered their faces or simply collapsed, Ben saw it all.
07. Murray Gold -- "A Disturbance in the Night"
[instrumental]
She could feel the heavy footsteps reverberate through the mossy ground. There was a figure behind her, close enough to sense with the hairs on the back of her neck. As she stiffened in preparation for the blow, as her blood jellied in her veins, there was a great huff of expelled air that ruffled her sweat-soaked, half undone braid.
Olivia decided that if she was going to die, she was going to die facing her death. She turned, willed herself to open her eyes, and looked up…
08. Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs -- "Li'l Red Riding Hood"
Hey there Little Red Riding Hood,
You sure are looking good.
You're everything a big bad wolf could want.
“I think I’ve realized something,” she said finally.
“Oh?” he managed, weakly. There was something wild about her eyes, something about the way she was looking at him that made his heart try to do jumping jacks.
“You’re the only guy I’ve ever known who would casually use the word ‘preternatural’ in an average conversation. You’re the only guy I’ve ever known who’s more of a snob about music than I am. And you’re the only guy I’ve ever known who would chase after a werewolf to protect me.”
09. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros -- "Home"
I'll follow you into the park,
Through the jungle through the dark,
Girl I never loved one like you.
Moats and boats and waterfalls,
Alley-ways and pay phone calls,
I've been everywhere with you.
“I think the reason why the rest of the family gossips about me, or ignores me, or dislikes me, is that I chose to live a life that frightened them. I didn’t want to settle for a nine to five desk job in a bank like your father, or just get married and start a family like your Aunt Lydia. I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself according to other people’s standards or demands. I left home at the age of seventeen with a couple hundred dollars, a ten-speed bicycle, and my camera, with the understanding that if I hit hard times I wouldn’t be welcomed back.”
“Go you,” she commended, raising her bottle in a salute. “I’m proud of you, Uncle Harry, twenty plus years after the fact.”
10. Kansas -- "Carry On My Wayward Son"
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more.
I want you both to know you meant an awful lot to me. Did I tell you I loved you enough? I hope so, but if not take some comfort in seeing it written out: I love you. Sometimes I regretted not having kids of my own, but then I remembered that I had you two. I’m so proud of you both-Ben, for working towards that degree and taking on double shifts at the Radio Shack; Charlie, for making your own path and naysayers be damned, and for knowing how to take an engine apart faster than a burly greasemonkey named Bubba. I’d like to think my real legacy isn’t my photography, but the two of you. You aren’t my kids, but you are my blood, and if anyone can carry on my spirit, it’s you.
And that’s why you’ve got these shiny new bank accounts to play with. But wait! You’re not to be responsible with them, oh no. I don’t want you to put this money towards apartment payments or the electrical bill-I expect you to turn this money into an adventure. Go anywhere in the world, take anyone with you. Just get out there and make memories to keep you warm in your old age. Take guided tours through London or spend an entire month living in a hotel in Monte Carlo. Just be wild, and crazy, and have fun.
And fuck anyone who tries to rain on your parade (that goes double for your Aunt Lydia).
I love you both (there, I wrote it twice for good measure) and hope you’re as excited as a monkey with a tub full of bananas.
11. Coldplay -- "Death Will Never Conquer"
One day death is gonna conquer me
I'll be down where the waters flow
I hope sweet heaven is the place for me
Let me know, boys, let me know.
“Mind telling me what the fuck I’m looking at?” said Charlie, her forehead wrinkled in something close to disgust, her hands firmly on her hips as she tilted her head.
“This is the Mothman,” Ben said helpfully.
“So I gathered. Just what the fuck is the Mothman?”
“According to this lovely pamphlet that man gave us,” Olivia said, unfolding said brochure. “‘The Mothman was first sighted in November of 1966 by a pair of young couples-Roger and Linda Scarberry, and Steve and Mary Mallette-who were driving back from a nearby lover’s lane. As the four were passing a derelict TNT factory, they saw what they first thought was a man. After leaving their car to investigate, they realized what they had discovered was not a man, but an inhumanly tall creature with massive moth-like wings and glowing red eyes. Fleeing, they were closely pursued by the Mothman, who kept pace with their car though they were traveling at speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour.’”
“Fuck me,” Charlie whistled. “That’d certainly scare the shit out of me.”
12. Bon Iver -- "Creature Fear"
So many foreign worlds
(So relatively fucked)
So ready for us
So ready for us,
The creature fear.
"Benny and I decided we was gonna go on a big road trip with it. Go to every state.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And we’re not gonna do all that lame, pansy ass tourist-y shit, either. We’re gonna go to the circus freak shows and haunted houses and the World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn and shit like that. Harry would have liked that. You should totally come with us, Livvy, it’ll be the most awesome year of your life.”
13. David Bowie -- "Golden Years"
Don't let me hear you say life's taking you nowhere, angel
Come get up my baby
Look at that sky, life's begun
Nights are warm and the days are young
Come get up my baby.
“Yarp,” Charlie said, fiddling with her belt buckle. Josh glanced down at it, took in the bright red letters spelling BAD ASS MOTHERFUCKER, and chuckled. His eyes skimmed from her feet, clad in worn Chuck Taylors, up past her grease-stained and patched jeans and over her tight black camisole and colorful sleeves of Japanese tattoos, before finally coming to rest on her freckled face, framed by her unevenly cut red-dyed hair.
“You are something else, Charlie Hawthorne,” he said warmly, shaking his head.
“Something good, or something bad?” she asked.
“Something awesome,” he said with a smile. “If only, right?”
“In another life?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“Well, Josh Gates. It was fun working with you. Thanks for the beers and the barbeque and the werewolf hunt.”
“Don’t mention it. Thanks for the conversation and company. It was interesting, enlightening, and a helluva lot of fun.”
“But of course,” Charlie grinned.
And then she grabbed him by his shirt collar, stood on her tiptoes, and planted a seriously scorching five-alarm kiss on his lips.
“It’s a shame about that girlfriend of yours,” Charlie murmured in his ear, laughing breathlessly at his stunned expression. “Because I would have rocked your fucking world.”
14. Ra Ra Riot -- "Too Dramatic"
Cause you're too dramatic
I don't understand it
Cause you're too dramatic.
“Wait, let me finish,” he said quickly, holding up a hand. “You’re what I measure everyone else to. Doesn’t matter what it’s for. Work ethic, style, humor, taste in movies, kindness, brains, beauty. No one has ever compared, not really, and no one’s ever surpassed you. That’s why I’ve never had a girlfriend. Because I don’t see the point in wasting time with girls who will never be as incredible as you.”
15. Sufjan Stevens -- "The Dress Looks Nice On You"
I can see a lot of life in you
I can see a lot of bright in you
And I think the dress looks nice on you
I can see a lot of life in you
“That’s no cougar,” Olivia gasped, eyes wide and staring, unable to turn away.
No, no cougar. No coyote. No wild dog. Not with that scaly, mottled green skin and that ridge of spines along its back, not with those huge and luminous toadlike eyes, the grasping, clawed hands that dug great handfuls of steaming, wet flesh from the dead calf’s side and raised them to a gaping, blood-smeared mouth…
16. The Automatic -- "Monster"
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
“You had me terrified,” she said quietly. He smelled like antiseptic and hospital and blood, and it made her heart twist.
“Sorry. Be more careful next time.”
17. Sara Bareilles -- "Breathe Again"
All I have, all I need, he's the air I would kill to breathe
Holds my love in his hands, still I'm searching for something
Out of breath, I am left hoping someday I'll breathe again
“She’s just bitchy this morning because Ray never called her back last night,” Ben said calmly, clicking his pen.
“Hey, a girl has every right to be pissy when she doesn’t get a booty call answered.”
“And again, you say this as if I care that you’re having sex.”
“At least one of us is.”
18. Queens of the Stone Age -- "Want to Make It Wit Chu"
You wanna know if I know why?
I can't say that I do
Don't understand the evil eye
Or how one becomes two
I just can't recall what started it all
Or how to begin in the end
I ain't here to break it
Just see how far it will bend
Again and again, again and again
"Onwards, comrades?"
"Careful, Charlie. What would Grandpa say if he heard you saying 'comrades'? The word fairly smacks of Communism."
"Benji, just start the damn car."
19. Basia Bulat -- "Snakes and Ladders"
These mirrors you've broken are your cry for art.
Salt and pepper shakers over your shoulders, cross your heart.
Don't you know it's bad luck to stay in one place for too long?
You've been left and divorces you've had, helpess when they go.
ZIP