essbeejay | I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true

Catching up on meme time! I held off on posting more of my Top Fives because I wanted to actually upload these next items, because yeah, I'm a dorkus like that.

Top Five Songs

Fuck, it's so hard to narrow it down to five!

I've Got You Under My Skin. Specifically, the Frank Sinatra version. Something that isn't really illustrated in my previous lists involving music choices is my love of old standards. Well, I'm rectifying that now, because ugh, God, Cole Porter + Frank Sinatra = auralgasm. Wonderful arrangement and phrasing, beautiful musicality, heaps upon heaps of love. No words I can throw at you could do it any justice, just listen to the damn thing.
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, as sung by Ella Fitzgerald on the At Newport album. Yes, specifically this performance. I'm not generally a huge fan of Ella—she's got an incredible voice, one that could melt frozen butter, but save for a couple of songs she lacks the passion and soul that I find more present in Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. However, this particular song brings out her playful side, with epic, hilarious results! And of course her voice is superb, as always. Sung for Louis Armstrong's birthday. (And if you're familiar with Louis Armstrong's style, you will definitely get a kick out of this.)
Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione. I remember sitting with you on the floor of your apartment as we smiled awkwardly at each other and pretended not to want to. Be with each other, that is. This song was playing in the background when we said, Fuck it all, and kissed. ♥.
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. This song is fucking incredible. I wouldn't care if the rest of Lady Gaga's catalogue was absolute shit. I even forgive her for Paparazzi, all because of this song. Fuck me, I mean, FUCK ME. She belts the FUCK out of this song. Her voice is just so rugged and raw and hardcore and intense, and the references to Hitchcock, the amazing hook, the unabashed camp, not to mention the absolutely brilliant music video... Ugh. UGH. I CAN'T EVEN BE REMOTELY COHERENT ABOUT HOW AMAZING THIS SONG IS. LAHVE. LAHVE LAHVE LAHVE.
Cosmic Night Run by M-Flo feat. Nomiya Maki & Crazy Ken Band. You guys, oh, God, you guys. Roll down the windows of your car and crank up the stereo. Jazzy and samba-y and groovy and just so much damn FUN. Dance, you can't help it. This collab is a match made in heaven (you hip kids out there might know Nomiya Maki from her Pizzicato Five days, and of course now I'm regretting not having put P5 on my top music artists list, shit). I will play this at my wedding and I'll be damned if the whole room doesn't get on up and dance. (If they don't, I won't know what the hell they're doing at my wedding. Probably waiting for me to disown them.) The chorus kills. The grandest of grand songs. sbj loves Cosmic Night Run.

Feels So Good replaced this selection that I'd already typed up:
The Very Thought of You, as performed by the Ray Noble Orchestra, with Al Bowlly on vocals. It's just sweet and charming and pretty and lovely. The lyrics are the sweetest damn thing. Just listening to it makes my chest go all light.

Honorable mentions to Queen's Somebody to Love (I LITERALLY BURST INTO TEARS WHEN THEY STARTED SINGING THIS ON GLEE YOU GUYS, THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS SONG), Dinah Washington's Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye (more Cole Porter!), and E.L.O.'s Mr. Blue Sky, which TEF!Blossom totally tap danced to her Freshman year. Fuck, I can't believe that this has been the hardest list so far!

Top Five People I Admire/Look Up To

Don't want to get too personal, so the majority of these folks are going to be creative-celebrity types.

Mum. You are not the most compassionate nor the most understanding mother a person could have, and for as strong as you have been, much of what I have learned about strength has arisen out of knowing that what I want does not necessarily coincide with what you want for me, and I should not feel guilty about that (even though I can't help feeling guilty and still do). I've stood up to you more times than you'd probably like. And still you love me, and I love you for it. Thank you.
Lady Gaga. Many people elsewhere have been so eloquent about her in the past few months that any effort on my part would be wasted. So I'll simply say that I love that she is walking performance art/commentary. I love that she takes what's supposed to titillate us and turns it into something consciously grotesque. I love how in doing that she forcibly claims ownership of the male gaze, rather than letting it own her. I love that the message (such as it can be called, or interpreted) isn't delivered via her music, but via her. And I love that she qualified for Juilliard when she was 11, and how she really, truly, can actually sing live! She's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Jon Stewart. I JUST WANT TO HIGH FIVE THIS FUCKER ALL OVER THE PLACE. I get so frustrated with news and politics and all the lying fucking liars there are that make me wish I believed in Hell, but then I watch The Daily Show and... well, a lot of times the news itself still depresses me, but the one thing I love above everything else is that Stewart doesn't throw softballs and calls everybody out on their shit. So thank you, Mr. Stewart, for being balls-out awesome. HIGH FUCKIN' FIVE.
Lauren Faust. (Otherwise known as Mrs. Craig McCracken. But really, Lauren Faust.) She is so sweet and lovely and such an inspiration! I have rarely seen anyone in the animation industry as honest about her feelings on the representation of girls in cartoons as her. And trying to do something about it. I need a shelf for all my MWGG dolls. I also wish I could buy a MWGG doll for every girl in the country ~~so they can release the next two dolls and I can finally own A NEPTUNE DOLL DAMMIT SHE IS MY FAVORITE~~. Basically, I love LFaust and she is my hero. ♥.
Brad Bird. This man. This man. He is one of the best directors working today. He's one of those rare few animated film directors who is both a great visual storyteller and a great storyteller, period. His grasp of character and how best to develop them is unparalleled, and the most wondrous part is that Character is always at the forefront of his films/shows, front stage and center, driving every single facet of the story. I miss when he worked on The Simpsons, and I feel like bursting into tears any time I think of this:
You are who you choose to be.

“...Superman.”

I would fetch coffee for this man forever if I could be permitted a tenth of his talent.

Also, who just got a spiffy new PpG tee.

I BELIEVE THAT WOULD BE THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE.

If you want your own, you can lay down 26 smackers at Hot Topic for one. Ouch. You know, I still think any t-shirt that costs more than $15 better do something really awesome for me, like bake me a cake or slow down time. Something useful like that. Oh well! More PpG merch is never a bad thing in this household. Overtime money, you have been well-spent.

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true

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