The top trending hashtag today is #becauseimagangsta. The lack of an apostrophe in this hashtag bothers me, because I am not enough of a gangsta.
One thing that makes me not a gangsta is that I really like to play games. I don’t mean that in a “mess with your significant other” way; I really love board games and card games and computer games and video games and crosswords. In fact, I like games so much that I frequently make up new ones that are maybe not that interesting to the general population.
Which brings me to today’s column. Today will be a three paragraph game. Each paragraph will be based on the #musicmonday tagged tweet that hit the web immediately after I finished the paragraph prior. I am not allowed to make fun of nu-metal or Kanye. If I drop the third strike, the batter is allowed to steal first base.
Wait, no. Not that last one. Just checking to see if you’re still paying attention. Here’s the first tweet up:
@jillesta: #musicmonday please take a minute to listen to Rick Berlin. I saw him perform at @amandapalmer ‘s #LNFC http://youtu.be/zWRTrz6VcFQ Love him.
I like this Twit already—so polite! In 140 characters or fewer, little niceties like “please” are easy sacrifices. Thank you, jillesta, I will take a moment to listen to Rick Berlin. [pause to listen.] Like the tweet that pointed me to it, this song is simple and sweet—pretty little melody, rather nice, nothing fancy. Reminds me a lot of Damien Rice or Jeff Buckley. It’s like “please” and “thank you”—lovely, but easy to let slide in a crowded media environment. NEXT.
@Ouill: Oh my god yes, yes, yes!! RT @ZUNE Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a perfect throwback to wind down another #MusicMonday – http://bit.ly/c9s1F8
I like to think that @Ouill was making an exaggerated O face when he typed this tweet. Does anyone older than high-school age talk about O faces? I feel like it might be a relic of school busses and kids who don’t really know what Os even are. I don’t know what a hip hopera is, so I’m going to check it out and report back. You’re on your own about Os, though. (Hint: It’s a baseball team. Right?) OHHH Carmen: A Hip Hopera is the title of a movie from 2001 starring Beyonce, Mekhi Phifer, and Mos Def, among other really huge names. I was in high school trying to figure out school bus nonsense when this came out, which is probably why I didn’t see it. But Bizet opera + Beyonce + 1930s costuming means this is going on my Netflix queue. Thanks @Ouill! Next!
messmooka RT @Juneedme: Ooo I had to hear this agn –> #NP MESSMOOKA @messmooka Aftershock mixtape http://bit.ly/ctI7ev #musicmonday
I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here. Sometimes the syntax of Twitter is impossible to parse. I think that @messmooka tweeted “Aftershock mixtape,” then @Juneedme retweeted that with the comment “Ooo I had to hear this agn.” I think @messmooka responded to her tweet by saying “NP” (No Problem) and signing his name…as a retweet. I’m going to take a guess here and say the song in question uses the name Mess Mooka at least once or twice. It’s like a game within a game! [over to the link…] A game that I lost on a technicality because “Aftershock mixtape” is twenty songs, not one. Duh. I will not be listening to all 20. I will note that it took until the second song to hear the name Mess Mooka, so I just lost all the way around.
Game’s over! Except that there’s no score. Want to let me know if this was a win, loss, or draw? Give me an arbitrary point or grade or word in the comments, just make sure to justify your assertion with a brief but logically valid argument.
My #musicmonday pick: Son the Father, by F***ed Up. I wish indie bands would quit using the F word in their names; it’s tough on my delicate sensibilities. Delicacy does nothing to explain why I can’t stop listening to this song, though.
