Somebody That I *Still* Know
“Somebody That I Used To Know”
(feat. Kimbra)
[Gotye:]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it’s an ache I still remember
You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I’ll admit that I was glad it was over
But you didn’t have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don’t even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and it feels so rough
No you didn’t have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
[Kimbra:]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I’d done
But I don’t wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn’t catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
[Gotye:]
But you didn’t have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don’t even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and it feels so rough
And you didn’t have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don’t need that though
Now you’re just somebody that I used to know
[x2]
Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you’re just somebody that I used to know)
(I used to know)
(That I used to know)
(I used to know)
Somebody
This song has just recently blown up all over the Houston area. I hear it on the radio often, I periodically go to You Tube and watch the music video. It’s in my head, I can’t get it out, and I’m ok with that because it’s beautiful.
I played it for my sister and she said, “It’s so true, that’s how it is.” All I could think was: How odd, I didn’t expect that reaction. Until that moment, I had been completely in love with the song, and found it sad, but had never thought about the affect the lyrics might have on others. Because, for me, it has never been that way.
I’ve taken the time to put the lyrics on my blog, and talk about this song, because it’s one of the few songs I’ve heard in a long time that has made me count my blessings. I can hear that song and sing it loudly in the car and proudly and gratefully know that the only true ex-boyfriend I have, is still my friend, and so is his wife. (I feel as though I can safely exclude those who I casually ‘dated’ from this post.)
I am thankful of my choices in life. I only looked for relationships in people that I already called friend, so that when they ended or didn’t work out, it was all ok because we had a friendship to fall back on. There was no disappearing into the abyss; or pretending like we didn’t care about each other, we respect each other too much to behave that way. We were able to honestly admit to ourselves that we weren’t right for each other and that each one was in love with somebody else, and look where that got us! We are each happily married to our somebody else.
Having now thought about it in regards to other people, my empathy kicks in and Gotye now brings tears to my eyes. But they aren’t my tears, they are tears for all the broken people. My advice to the world? Think about this song before you haphazardly jump into dating relationships, because marriage is awesome, but dating really sucks.
If you haven’t seen it, watch the video, it’s beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
Walk Off The Earth also does an amazing cover.
Christine Hand Music Update
Just found out that our cover of Dylan’s “Don’t think twice, it’s all right” will be featured on the KNTU radio show, “Infrequent Exposure,” tonight (saturday). Check it out between 7-9 on 88.1, KNTU. You can also listen live at the above link. More to come about our fun Half Price Books gig soon!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to re-blog her Half Price Books Gig post! Follow ChristineHand.com.
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 2/19/12
Dream Hop
I took my best friend to the library with me and Ayla and this was her particular pick. Its adorable and Ayla got really excited every time we yell: “Dream Hop!” It’s definitely worth while.
Mrs. McTats and Her Houseful of Cats
Fellow blogger Emily of CoffeeCupsInTrees and I both agree that no child can sit all the way through this one. It’s fabulous with great poetry and cute pictures, but its long and the pictures too pastel to interest growing, wiggly toddlers.
Big Little Elephant
The author of a previous favorite: Molly Who Flew Away, we had to check out this fabulous Ukranian-American man’s elephant piece. Ayla enjoyed it and of course, elephant obsessed me thought it was awesome. We also read Shhh!
It was a Gorbachev week, as you can see, but it was fun and we love his illustrations and stories.
Fairly Fairy Tales
Neither one of us cared for this one. The illustrations are fun and girly, but the story is odd for lack of a better word.
The Kiss That Missed
Love, love, love this book! Ayla liked it a lot also. The illustrations are fun and imaginative and so is the story line. How great is it to follow a runaway kiss blown to a boy prince as he is laid down to sleep? A knight is sent to catch it and a dragon brings it back. This is a lovely bed time story to be read together as a family.
Blue Chameleon
Totally weird and totally awesome. Gravett is an award winning illustrator and its obvious why, if ever I have a boy I’d be all about decorating the nursery to match her artwork. The blue chameleon is adorable!
Books, Music, and mostly Nostalgia
My favorite things in the world are books, coffee, and music, in no particular order. So it goes without saying that in college I spent many a hour journaling or reading in coffee shops around the DFW area. Many times, my collegiate friends were on stage or tucked in a corner with a guitar serenading me. They were happy times in a time when my life was mostly hectic and stressful: full time student, part time employee to multiple employers, to date or not to date, and finding out where I fit in the world all rolled up into a girl who for many a semester suffered from insomnia.
So now, as an event coordinator for my favorite bookstore, it’s a pleasure to host musicians I have always enjoyed listening to at a time when I can hang out, read a book, have a coffee, and not be simultaneously thinking about what assignment is due next, how I did on that last test, and how am I going to make rent and feed myself without flunking for skipping class. It will be nice to enjoy a few hours of peace without worrying about whether I made the right choice when I chose not to date so and so, and if it was a bad idea to kiss whats-his-name, all while trying to decide if getting married one day is even something that matters to me. School is enough; worrying about the career you want or don’t want after the fact is just exhausting. Now, I am married, I’m done with school, I work about 20 hours a month or so from home, and I write.
That’s why, I’m pleased to share with the world, the first musician booked at Half Price Books Humble, is Christine Hand. Although Christine has been in the same pocket of friends and social circles as me since I was eighteen, the truth behind why I booked her his pure pleasure and nostalgia. Christine was the one who serenaded me the most often. When I think back on all those evenings at coffee shops, I hear two voices: Christine Hand and David Ramirez.
David Ramirez is booked elsewhere at larger venues right now, check out his site here: http://www.davidramirezmusic.com/. But Christine has taken time out of her busy schedule and life to appease my nostalgia, and play at the Half Price Books in Humble on February 24th, 7-9 pm. Come revel in my past life, I’d love for you to join me.
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 2/12/12
Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book
So fun and clever, Ayla and I both enjoyed this one. As a parent, the only thing I didn’t like was that Beverly wasn’t responsible for paying her late fee dues. But overall Beverly is a fun little friend to have and I hope that one day Ayla can be a part of her very own book club.
Beverly Billingsly Can’t Catch
I saw at the library that Beverly was a reoccurring character in a series so I couldn’t resist grabbing both. Full of life lessons and the importance of doing research and practicing to achieve your goals, Alexander Stadler is quickly becoming an author I plan to keep around the house for years to come.
Memoirs of a Goldfish
If Ayla and I were forced to choose a favorite this week, this one would win. Full of fabulous illustrations, Ayla made me read this over and over. We actually skipped over other books we had in our library bag this week because we both like this so much. Fun life lesson and fabulous illustrations!
Can You See A Little Bear?
Ayla liked this one ok, but this was truly more my choice than hers. The story is sweet and the illustrations are beautifully whimsical. I highly recommend this book for bed time or nap times. Its very soothing for both parent and child.
Mice Squeak, We Speak
Tomie dePaola has been hailed as the go to picture book illustrator for years and years. I remember enjoying her work as a child, but it wasn’t until I read this to my own daughter that I realized how wonderful dePaola truly was. Ayla squealed and squealed, pointed at all the bright colors and at the end of the book demanded “more.” We may choose Memoirs of a Goldfish together, but if Ayla’s vote were THE vote, it would be Mice Squeak, We Speak every time this week.
Hercule Poirot, mon ami
Welcome back to my blog, Mes Amis! I have finished yet another book in the Hercule Poirot series, and just as she has done in the rest, Christie has brought a small smile to my face.
Hercule Poirot by Ceska Soda
Poirot Investigates
As with every detective hero, Poirot manages to be cleverer and more astute than everyone with whom he comes in contact. He sees every clue and teases us with it, not telling us what it means until the end. He manages to be both exasperating and adorable, Hastings (and the reader) often want to wring his neck and simultaneously shake his hand while he lectures his younger ally on the use of his “little grey cells” in his brain. In the finale of one adventure,Hastings exclaims: “Poirot was right. He always is, confound him!”
I think my favorite thing about him is how often he toots his own horn. He has no sense of modesty and is constantly talking of himself in the third person, proclaiming his greatness and intelligence. When not speaking in the third person about how happy people will be to see the arrival of the “The Great Hercule Poirot” he’s is busy saying things like:
“I, who have undoubtedly the finest brain in Europe at present, can afford to be magnanimous!”
One would call him pompous, but with his short, round stature and that twinkle in his green eyes, how can you hate him? In fact, if he were real, I’d hope that he would call me ‘mon ami.’
The Enrichment of Eric Carle (at Half Price)
Today is Wednesday. Wednesday has a new ring to it now that I’m hosting story time every week at 10:30 am on behalf of Half Price Books in the Humble location’s Half Pint section.
It was a quiet crowd today, only three children munching on the provided snack, listening to Duckie Duck by Kate Toms and Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle, to name a few. It is always a pleasure seeing the younger crowd fall in love with books and enjoy a calming sit down with the work of our favorite authors, but today I found myself doing what I used to love best about working in a bookstore again – I was educating.
Kids and parents alike enjoy someone guiding them in their discoveries, just as when I am shopping, I too love for retailers to point out their favorites, clerks to tell me what they’ve been reading lately. Today as I read Mister Seahorse, I got to share the fact that Eric Carle has a museum in Massachusetts, a fact few families seem to know down here in Texas, but almost all respond with wide eyes and dropped jaws. ‘That sounds amazing!’ I often hear people saying. I agree, and I plan to take my daughter there one day on a vacation.
The beauty of The Eric Carle Museum, which feeds my desire to take my child there, aside from the art itself, is their mission:
The mission of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is to inspire, especially in children and their families, an appreciation for and an understanding of the art of the picture book. In fulfilling our mission, we aspire to build bridges to an appreciation of art of every kind and to provide an enriching, dynamic, and supportive context for the development of literacy. We deliver this mission by collecting, presenting and celebrating the art of the picture book from around the world and by providing interactive experiences and programs that are engaging and educational.
Humble HPB Half Pint Section
That same mission, building a bridge of art appreciation and developing literacy, is how I choose my child’s books in the first place. It’s not enough to have an amazing story but boring art, it’s also not enough to have amazing illustrations and a terrible story. The building blocks for enriching a child’s mind are in a smooth marriage of those two things and Eric Carle has always seemed to manage that joining.
I hope, by choosing books to read and presenting them to children each week as part of my Event Coordinating duties, Half Price Books can be a venue for which I can share these kinds of books with new minds, and this mission with other parents – at half the price.
Inhale (And be ready to hold your breath, a lot) – A Review
Title: Inhale
Author: Kendall Grey
Publisher: Howling Mad Press, LLC
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
Length: 453 pages
Buy: http://justbreathenovels.com
I happened across Kendall Grey on Twitter (kendallgrey1) not too long ago, an exciting day for me because shortly after I was being sent a review copy of her book Inhale. It came with many warnings: could be too graphic for you, rated R, etc. I promised I’d give it a try, and frankly, despite the fact that she was correct on most counts (the girl knows her work, knows what it is) I still enjoyed it.
Grey laments in her blog post titled Bless My Heart:
Not everyone is going to like my book. Some people won’t get it. They won’t like my style or my voice. Others will say the language is too rough. There’s too much graphic sex. Not enough graphic sex. Too much back story, yet they don’t understand the world building. Too many stereotypes. Predictable. The plot has holes big enough to fly a space shuttle through.
Worse, some readers will say, “It was okay.” Or they won’t be able to finish it. *GULP* Twist the knife in a little harder, why don’t ya?
And what I’d like to tell her: “Who cares?!” I’m a reviewer who doesn’t like peoples’ books sometimes, I wrote a whole post about not liking Kostova’s ‘voice,’ I often get irritated at novels with too much graphic sex (The Outlander series, prior to this book, my one exception). I admit that back story has a time and place, even though I’m a sucker for it. Plot holes big enough to fly a space shuttle through are more my husband’s issue with life, not mine… But using stereotypes with purpose rather than laziness and character development are highly important to me.
Photograph by Jemma Milanovic used in the cover of “Exhale” to portray Gavin Cassidy
Grey, you stayed true to your vision, and that, I appreciate. Your characters are believable, and your story engrossing and imaginative. I’m not hooked on the genre, but I’ll definitely be reading more of your work.
After years of working in a bookstore and running the literature section, I see/hear the words “urban fantasy” or “romance” and I expect cheesy, terrible writing. It’s snobbish, I know, but I just assume it will be L.J. Smith with more adult content. I agreed to review this book, however, after perusing Grey’s blog (kendallgrey.com) and discovering that she uses a lot of ‘colorful language’ in the realm of ‘pardon my French’, but her writing is quite good. Plus, I’m a sucker for people willing to use the word “wafted,” it’s one of my favorites.
Reading Grey’s work reminded me exactly of how I felt when I read Twilight. It’s not to my particular taste, I prefer my love stories of the Jane Austen variety and my fantasies J.R.R. Tolkien or Robin McKinley style. It’s not something I want my daughter reading, but I read the thing in nearly one sitting and was captivated by the adventure and Grey’s multi-leveled worlds. Just as I understood why the masses were maintaining an unhealthy obsession with Twilight, I’m actually shocked that Grey hasn’t got a larger cult following. I’m surprised that the next installment in the Just Breathe series isn’t the most anticipated release since Eclipse hit the shelves in August of 2007. I can think of about fifty regulars at my store that would be all over it if they knew about it. (And yes, I plan to share that information with them.)
That being said: it’s far more adult than Twilight. So, don’t go passing this around to twelve year old girls to devour; but if you’re an adult who likes to read paranormal romance, who reads purely to escape real life for two hundred pages (or for 453 pages in this case), Inhale is right up your alley. Just like Grey knows what she writes, you know who you are… it’s worth it to you to go buy yourself a copy.
Right Whale original 5×7 mixed media illustration by Bryan Collins
Now, just because I’m not that person and I speed read through parts that seem like they are getting too hot and heavy (I’m a fan of my fast forward button in movies too), and maybe you’re not that person either, don’t be completely opposed to checking out Grey’s work. Grey has thrown in some awesome stuff that steps outside the urban fantasy stereotype and gives us something to latch onto: Whales. Grey’s love for whales has overpowered all the stuff that I don’t necessarily care for in these books and become something beautiful. Referred to as a “word diddler and whale champion” in the author biographical blurb in the back of the book, the coolest thing about her and this new series is that All profits from sales of the JUST BREATHE Trilogy will be donated to whale education programs. Not something I expected to read at the opening of an urban fantasy novel. That in itself is worth tossing some money Grey’s way and picking up her book the first chance you get, even if you only intend to donate it to your local library for someone else to enjoy.
Visit JustBreatheNovels.com and browse through the series playlist, a little mood music while you read is always lovely. Also check out: www.cetaceanresearchnetwork.com and www.facebook.com/KendallGreyAuthor.
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books 2/05/12
Moo, Baa, La La La!
We liked the last Sandra Boynton book so much; we had to try these ones. Moo, Baa, La La La! Is wonderful, Ayla had me read it over and over again, even when she wasn’t feeling that well. She’s been sick, diagnosed with Pharyngitis, and lost about 3lbs. That’s a lot of weight for a 15 mo. But Moo, Baa, La La La! kept her in good spirits. But Not the Hippopotamus is cute, Ayla just didn’t care for it as much. It might be an issue of color; Hippopotamus is a dark green, whereas Moo, Baa is a bright teal. Who knows why babies go for the things they do, I just document my kid’s ‘reviews’ because she can’t do so herself!
Celestine, Drama Queen
I didn’t think I’d care much for this, but Ayla grabbed it so I said ok. After reading it though, I think its really cute. Ayla wanted to read this as an ‘I’m sleepy’ read this week. We would read through Celestine and then the usual signal of ‘Nurse me and let me rest’ she’d grab the Edna St. Vincent Millay poetry collection. Ives story is wise and the watercolor illustrations appropriately girly for my little girl.
Which Witch is Which?
This is one we’ll have to grab a few months down the road. It’s a brilliant piece about twins Emily and Ella who are at a costume party and like different things, and its up to the reader to decipher who is who in each illustration: ‘Ella likes pink, Emily blue. Which witch is which?’ and one holds out a pink gift for the host and one holds out a blue one. Between being ill and not really knowing her colors and whatnot, it just didn’t hold her attention this time.
What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms, and Pajamas
This is a great book to put curious minds to sleep. Part of the Around the House History
Finklehopper Frog
With all the bright illustrations by Brian Lies, I thought this one was going to have a shoe in for Ayla’s affections without a doubt. Quite to the contrary, she just wasn’t interested and kept pushing it aside to make me read Moo, Baa, La La La! again. The poetry is fun, the rhymes mimicking the hopping of a frog as he tries to do things like the other animals. In the end a bunny rabbit convinces him to be content being himself.
Geraldine First
I was drawn to the illustrations, but they didn’t really captivate Ayla. The story is definitely geared toward older children with younger siblings, and I think my nieces and nephews would find it quite funny. Ayla probably wont share in this sentiment any time soon, if ever.
Introducing Limelight Larry
We both LOVED Limelight Larry. It’s funny and clever, and the illustrations are exciting and beautiful. The very best part? All the different fonts and the surprise foil additions to Larry’s beautiful peacock feathers. Had I seen this book prior to having Ayla, I may have done the entire nursery in Limelight Larry, maybe Ayla and I can paint her room that way together one day.
Anakalian Whims 