Post #3; In Which I Tell You About Awesome Music, and Not Congress

That's right ladies and possibly a gent or two. It's time for another music post! Currently, I am OBSESSED with a couple of songs right now and I wanted to do one of those embedded playlist thingys in this post, but shockingly, I couldn't find the songs I wanted on there, so you will have to deal with following a few links. But fear not, gentle readers, they will be WELL worth it.

1. I can't be bothered to not listen to Last Person by Jenny Owen Youngs (whose name I always say 'Jenny Owens Young,' because that would make more sense) for the last few days. If you only do one thing on the internet today, make it clicking that link there for the music video.

Anyway, you may notice that Jenny looks quite a bit like the other Jenny (Lewis) who I talk about a lot. What's weird is I liked this song before I had any idea who sang it, and I knew who Jenny O.Y. was before, but I never liked her old stuff (folksy but with a very dirty mouth.) SO in summary, how can I help it if much of the music I enjoy is made by chicks with the same haircut? But, I LOVE this video. It looks like a party I would like to be at, especially if it meant I got to leave with her telecaster.

2. Another song I can't get enough of, accompanied by another cool video: Pavlov's Bell by Aimee Mann. I'm pretty sure almost the whole thing was filmed backwards, which means major props to Ms. Mann for learning how to sing her song backwards. I first heard this song on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which, yes, I started watching about a year ago. While I'm on the subject, that show is AWESOME and I'm sorry I never watched/always made fun of it while it was on.

3. Next up is Miss Rie Sinclair, who I discovered recently while on a jaunt through imdb. Turns out she was in one of my favorite movies of all time* (bonus points for those of you playing at home if you can figure out which one), and now she's a singer-songwriter whose myspace has been providing some excellent listening material. Interestingly enough, she tends to write a lot of songs for soap operas, but I actually think she's pretty rad. Not least because she delivered the line "Right now, I'm thinking Othello... or Soylent Green," with conviction. Favorite songs right now: Scared of the Dark, Tell Me (How it Ends).

4. Finally, a song off Brandi Carlile's new album, "Give Up the Ghost," which along with Jenny O.Y's album might have to be late addendums to my Top 10 albums of 2009. Sorry I let you down. Anyway, this song "Caroline" is actually a duet with Elton John and I LOVE IT. Try not to tap yer toes.

So there you have it. Four bona-fide musical recommendations from yours truly. Let me know if you give 'em a listen.

*Okay! It's Drop Dead Gorgeous! But seriously, if you got it from that quote, you're my favorite. Rie played Michelle, the drama girl, who in fact chose to perform a monologue from Soylent Green for her talent.

Pauly Shore Lied to Me.

As we know, serving on a Jury is a duty we'll all most likely share at one time or another, just one of the many civic responsibilities of living in a democracy.

Today I did my part as a citizen of these United States by sitting in a room for 4 hours, listening to my mp3 player and reading the September 2008 issue of InStyle. It was not as glamorous as it sounds, or as exciting as it was in that movie Jury Duty.

Riddle me this: Why would the Las Vegas 8th District court call 250 people into Jury services, have 200 of them fill out questionnaires, then send them home (not me) and have the other 50 sit in a small room watching America's Funniest home videos for 3 hours (yes me), then excuse them dramatically, ten numbers at a time? Call me crazy but I don't get it.

And, I'm pretty sure NONE of the people called in today were actually placed on a jury. Weird.