Author Archives: Deborah Khuanghlawn

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Geeking About The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night

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If you’ve known me for any extended amount of time, then you know that my all time favorite band is The Beatles. One of my blogging goals for 2015 is to have a regular feature and because I’m completely random, I will be featuring a Beatles album monthly. This is exciting because it gives me a chance to relisten to these albums again. I’m not exactly reviewing it (as I am not a music reviewer) but instead enjoying it as a fan.

Lights, camera, action! It’s movie time with The Beatles! A Hard Day’s Night is the soundtrack to the movie they starred in and The Beatles third album. Released in 1964, this album (and the movie) is EVERYTHING about the British Invasion and the early 60s. The songs are upbeat and light but not fluffy. It just still sound so classic and hip over 50 years (!) later.

Every song on this album is an original composition, with John being the lead writer and singer on the majority of them. I believe this is the only album where Ringo does not get to sing a song. George’s one song is kind of a throwaway one.

  • A Hard Day’s Night (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John/Paul
  • I Should Have Known Better (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • If I Fell (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John/Paul
  • I’m Happy Just to Dance With You (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – George
  • And I Love Her (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – Paul
  • Tell Me Why (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • Can’t Buy Me Love (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – Paul
  • Any Time At All (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • I’ll Cry Instead (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • Things We Said Today (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – Paul
  • When I Get Home (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • You Can’t Do That (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John
  • I’ll Be Back (Lennon/McCartney) – Lead Singer – John

Standout Song: A Hard Day’s Night

Personal Favorites: If I Fell, I’ll Be Back

Least Memorable: Tell Me Why, When I Get Home

The first half of songs appear in the movie while the other half were written for but not included in the movie. The songs are still mainly love songs, with “And I Love Her” being an absolute beautiful one from Paul. Most of John’s songs seem a bit angry at either himself or the girl but then John’s the emo one of the group so this is nothing new. I think what’s best about this album is that it sounds like they are really enjoying themselves throughout it. The excitement from the movie spills over into the album when one listens to it. It sounds like it was a lot of fun to record this one.

While almost all the songs on here are favorites, my personal favorite is “If I Fell”. It says everything about how I feel and would probably want to say to a guy one day.

If you haven’t seen the movie, then I HIGHLY recommend it. It’s really fun and unlike other movies of the time period which also starred rock and pop stars, A Hard Day’s Night is not cheesy or gimmicky at all. The film being in black and white makes it more artsy and the writing is so good, you think the Beatles are just acting as themselves. It holds up incredibly well to this day. It’s one of my favorite movies and an all time classic.

Next Month: Beatles for Sale

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Can’t Stop. Won’t Stop. Talking.

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It’s really funny how I’ve been told that I am both super quiet and need to come out of my shell and how I also need to just stop talking. Usually you’re one or the other. Yet since it’s me, of course I can be both.

When something is new to me or I’m placed in a situation where I feel uncomfortable or it’s something new, I tend to clam up. I would much rather not draw attention to myself. In situations like this, I tend to be quieter because I want to get a feel of my surroundings before I start to open up. I also am the type of person that usually isn’t good at jumping into the conversation without prompting. Some folks are excellent with just bulldozing their way into a conversation and will talk over others. I seem to not have this ability so I’ll wait for the pause before I give my two cents.

It all adds up to me being seen as someone who is quieter.

And then there are times where I cannot seem to shut up. I notice this is when I start being more comfortable around you. I don’t say awkward SOAP moments. I just for some reason can’t seem to stop talking. It’s like if something happens to me and it’s usually either good news or something that makes me a bit anxious, I seem to want to tell everyone about it. Sometimes it’s to get an opinion on what to do, sometimes it is to brag, sometimes it is because I just want to tell anyone who will listen.

There are many times when I wish that I could just bottle it in and not feel the need to tell everything to people. And the thing is I can. There are some things in my life that I will never share. There are some things I only share with those I’m close to. There are some things where I am totally open to sharing but again, only if prompted. I really envy those of you who have things happen and instead of projecting it outward, you absorb it completely until it vanishes.

Working in customer service puts you in a place where people feel the need to tell you everything that’s going on in their lives and on their mind. When you apologize to someone, why do we feel the need to have to explain everything? I know some people aren’t good at reading social cues or faces to tell that the other person doesn’t want to hear more than what is necessary, but what excuse do the rest of us have? Why do we keep talking and have words keep pouring out of mouth when we can clearly see the other person just does not want to hear what we are saying?

The obvious thing is to just assume that no one else wants to hear your sh*t. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Or I could just go back to writing in my journal whenever those impulses hit and wait to share my news with the people who really do want to hear them. I’ll figure it out. I always do.

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GIFs speak louder than words AND pictures

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This past weekend was hella busy and I’m too tired to write actual words.

So let’s just use GIFs ok? I’m going to assume you are super smart and can piece it all together without captions.

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

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What Has Deborah Been Geeking Over This Week Vol 6

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This week’s edition of what I got SUPES EXCITED over:

If you have Netflix and you like to laugh, then why haven’t you watched this show yet? It’s super funny, the writing is by Tina Fey and Ellie Kemper is adorable.

Truth, I’ve been slack about eating my vitamins lately. Even bigger truth, I like gummy candies. So gummy vitamins are one of the best things ever invented, no? It’s like eating candy but not so sweet that I want to down the whole bottle. Because you know, I don’t want to die.

As you can imagine, I’m horribly excited for Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron when it hits theaters in about a month and a week. Look at how much Hawkeye is in this clip. And Quicksilver’s accent! And EVERYTHING. WHY ISN’T IT MAY NOW?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mumford & Sons (we all know how much “I Will Wait” is my anthem) but I’ve been listening to their albums non stop so I was thrilled to hear they have new music. And listen to the shift away from the banjos! This is glorious and I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album when it comes out.

musketeersrochefort

This weekend is the season 2 finale of The Musketeers, which I cover for Entertainment Weekly. If you watched the last episode, then you know Rochefort has gone bat-shit crazy. I have NO idea how the season is going to end, if someone is going to die, if it ends on a cliffhanger or what. The best part is for some reason, the US is seeing it BEFORE the UK does so NO ONE knows what is going to happen. If you’re on Twitter tomorrow night around 9, I’ll be live tweeting.

Don’t worry, I’m still enjoy drinking beer but I’ve also really started to enjoy craft root beers made from beer breweries. They are non alcoholic but they taste so much better than regular soda. Interestingly I still get carded for these when I buy them.

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Dreams, they don’t always come true

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I kid you not, I woke up the other morning and dreamed up this entire blog post. Like I had it fully visualized and thought of as soon as I opened my eye. I even grabbed frantically for a notepad near my bed so I could write down what was going to be the greatest blog post ever known to man. But as fate would have it, I couldn’t find a pen without getting out of bed, got frustrated, , decided it wasn’t worth it and went back to sleep. When I woke up a few hours later, I could only remember what I have just written.

Dreams have a funny way of doing things to you. I have some friends who can’t remember anything once they wake up and then I have some friends who remember every detail from their dream, it’s almost like they are making it up but actually they just have that superpower to recall their dreams.

I have a recurring dream about an almost empty, dying mall. There are lots of stairs that look somewhat like this:stairs

It’s not completely abandoned. There are a few stores left but I’d say at least half the mall if not more is closed. You’ll be walking through it and the stores are open, people are in there, business is happening. But as you get further down, you’ll notice that there are a lot of boarded up storefronts and empty shops. It’s super quiet but in an eerie quiet, like you’re not supposed to be down there type of feeling.

Anyways that is a recurring dream of mine. I’m not into analyzing dreams though I’m sure it means something. It’s just really interesting how vivid it stands out to me. I frequently dream in color. There’s also been a dream where I knew that if I were to open the cabinet door I was going to wake up immediately in real life and the dream would end. I was fully aware of returning back to the real world once I did it. I delayed it for a bit and then finally gave in. Immediately I woke up completely wide awake and not a bit drowsy. That was both awesome and weird all at the same time. I also have those Inception dreams all the time, where I wake up and I’m still IN the dream.

I know there are some folks who believe that God speaks to them through dreams. After all, He did so in the Bible with Joseph and Daniel just to name a few. I don’t think I’m one of those people however. I do believe that God speaks to me through other ways but I don’t think dreams are my forte. If so then I would have been married to JTT years ago and the world will end in 1 billion years. That being said, I know God can use dreams to show things to you. You might chalk it up to your mind being relaxed or an overactive imagination but sometimes what’s bothering you or what you need to focus on will come right at you.

And let’s not even talk about nightmares…

Mood music:

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Just Write. Dammit.

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I was having a conversation with a friend the other day because I noticed that they hadn’t blogged in a while. Their reason was basically there was a lack of ideas for things to write about and so the commitment to keep blogging had waned down.

I get asked a lot how I manage to keep coming up with new ideas on what to blog about every week. I’ll be honest, it can be a bit hard. I’m writing about new topics every week, three times a week. It’s something that I am forcing myself to be disciplined about. There’s no one making me do this. I’m not being paid to do this nor am I trying to impress anyone with my blog. As in, this is not some creative outlet that I’m using to further my career.

How do I write? Basically I’ve come to realize that everything that happens in my life is a potential blog post. The good. The bad. The ugly. Though with any circumstance, I will use discretion. Names get changed or not even mentioned. The details might get shifted around. I’m not going to out anyone or spill all my guts on here. But when you see everything as a story you can share, it really helps you with ideas on how and what to write.

I believe if you really want to write, you can do it on just about anything. If I really wanted to, I could take any boring inanimate object and somehow create an entire backstory and a world based on it. Then again I have to do this when I play D&D so it comes in handy from time to time. I see blogging in the same way. Because I really want to blog, I’ll blog about anything and try my best to put an interesting spin on it.

Sometimes it doesn’t always work out with readers, sometimes posts that I feel are really interesting get super low views. And that’s ok. Because while I love comments and readers and seeing my page views go up, I’m also not really writing just for others. It’s for me. Am I the best writer in the world? Hellz no. But am I having fun doing this? Yeps. And until it stops being fun, I’ll keep doing it.

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Live! In Concert!

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It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a concert. Ok, technically I saw Josh Groban twice last year (AND he’s doing another tour this year! *crosses fingers*) but that’s a different type of concert. I’m talking about seeing a band live in person at the kind of show where you don’t want to be that guy who wears the band’s t-shirt to the band’s show.

I’m trying to think if I went to see any concerts in high school and I’m pulling a major blank. I know I definitely liked bands and wanted to see them but I don’t remember actually going. Sure, I saw a bunch of local bands playing but was mainly because I was either friends with them or I liked a guy. But with limited funds and still being in high school, I did not have the freedom to see every band that I liked.

College however was a great time for me to go see concerts. I wish I had saved all my tickets stubs so I could remember who I went to go see. If you can recall from previous posts, I was very much into punk and emo back in the day.

Unfortunately despite the fact that I went to a very well-known college, we also were located in a rural part of state thus ensuring that no one really wanted to come see us. Instead I had to go back home in order to go see bands I liked. I saw New Found Glory three times and each time I felt older than the last. I was having a splendid time but seeing the young kids not know any of their older albums made me feel ancient. I remember winning tickets to see Goldfinger and Mest. That was actually quite a glorious show because it was so upbeat. I have absolutely no desire to get into a mosh pit (those things are scary!) so I vaguely remember standing near the back of the show. But it was so energetic.

There was actually a ton of other bands I saw during this time period. I even got to interview Authority Zero for Punknews.org when they toured with Flogging Molly. Although I had no idea what I was doing and I would rather forget that whole incident because they probably thought I was an idiot. Oh geez GO AWAY MEMORIES.

But the one concert that really sticks out to me is actually a festival. It was July 31, 2001 and it was a day that would change my life forever (it actually did. for other reason though). It was Warped Tour and I was pretty much in heaven. I got to see Rancid, Pennywise, New Found Glory (again!), The Ataris, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Living End and other bands that I don’t remember. Also my favorite band at the time was Good Charlotte and I nearly died out of happiness. I also remember all the guys I went with left me alone during their set. I also got to meet Joel after the show and he signed my ticket stub (because that was the only piece of paper I had left). I begged him to Blacksburg (psh). It was a very long exhausting day but it was so worth it. That was probably the happiest musical moment of my life. Yes, even more than Josh Groban. Twice.

The most recent concert I saw was Flogging Molly and Weezer in Baltimore about three years ago. While Flogging Molly put on a spectacular show (SUPER energetic!), it was so awesome to FINALLY see Weezer live. I’ve been a fan of them since I was in 6th grade so to hear “Buddy Holly” in person was a dream come true. They played every song of theirs that I loved. It was lovely to sing along.

weezer

No wait. I lied. I saw Paul McCartney in concert. Well boom. There that wins for EVERYTHING. Most recent concert as well as best concert I’ve ever been to. And I’ve talked about that one a lot so you know my giddiness over that.

If concerts weren’t so much money, I’d love to go again. No matter how many times you listen to your favorite album over and over, there’s nothing like hearing it live in concert.

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Don’t Stop Believing

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I’m currently in the middle of my annual reading/listening to the Harry Potter series and I’m smack dab in the middle of Goblet of Fire. Harry’s about to do the first task and in addition to worrying about who put his name in the cup and how on earth he’s going to defeat dragons, he has to worry about his friendship with Ron. Because Ron doesn’t believe him, thinks he is lying, and is jealous of all the attention that  Harry is getting. As the story is told from Harry’s perspective, it’s still incredibly frustrating to read about unfairly he is being treated. We as the reader know why Ron feels this way (youngest boy after five older brothers) and yes, the characters are just teenagers. But what Harry is going through is also painful to read because he cannot control the circumstances and his best friend refuses to stand by him.

How many times have you gone through life and someone doesn’t believe you even though you are telling the truth? It’s one thing when it’s people who don’t know you that well. These people make snap judgment and unfortunately since they have no way of knowing what you are really like, changing their minds is nearly damn impossible. Hopefully your life doesn’t depend on their opinion (ie. they are the jury and you’re the defendant) so while it sucks, this usually isn’t that big of an issue.

But it’s a situation like Harry’s, when someone who is supposed to know you extremely well stops believing in you, that hurts like hell. And almost every tie there is nothing you can do about it but wait and hopefully the truth will come out. It’s extremely frustrating to feel like you need to make them believe that you are not lying especially when you know fully well you aren’t. It gets worse when they think they know better than you and taunt with that type of behavior.

Being believed is something that is very important to us. When we know we are telling the truth and when someone WE trust does not believe us, it is like a betrayal. For whatever the reason, the other person has lost THEIR trust in us. Even if it is warranted, to not be believed probably hurts more than having actual angry and hateful words said to you. You know it’s bad when you need to say to someone “You have to believe me!”

I don’t know why as humans we are so doubtful when it comes to believing others. I think it comes from not wanting to be gullible. You don’t want to be seen as the fool for believing someone and it turns out they were lying and you now look like the fool. Also sadly people do lie all the time and try to purposefully manipulate someone’s trust only to break it. We need all the facts and see all the proof before we want to trust.

And then there are those times when someone does believe us. We don’t have to try to defend ourselves or prove the truth. And that is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

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My Love/Hate Relationship with Amish Fiction

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The other day at lunch, I was outed as an Amish fiction reader. It’s not something I really talk about and I will rarely read an Amish book while I’m out in public but since my Goodreads account IS public anyone can see that yes, bonnet fiction shows up from time to time on there.

Amish fiction is still really popular in the Christian fiction audience. It’s a big enough trend that shelves are flooded with books that have a bonnet on it. There are enough readers that will buy all these kinds of books so that many authors will just turn to writing something Amish because it’s popular and will make a sale. The thing is I both simultaneously hate and enjoy Amish fiction. I actually don’t read as much as I used to because I kept getting frustrated with stories. There are some authors who I think share my views and therefore I gravitate towards them more.

What I like about Amish fiction:

I enjoy reading about the food in Amish fiction. Seriously, there’s a TON of food to talk about because everyone is basically cooking all the time. I’ve actually been to Amish country in Pennsylvania once myself and I can confirm that the food is every bit as good as you read about in the books.

I really like Amish fiction that questions the faith of those in it. What usually ends up happening is someone begins to wonder why they follow these rules blindly and why things are considered prideful even if it’s about developing a stronger personal faith. This might sound weird but I cheer when people leave the community. Now I don’t want them abandoning their faith but I want to really explore why they believe what they believe in and to really experience life. I enjoy authenticity and realism in my fiction regardless of the genre and this applies to this kind of fiction as well.

Basically I’ve come to realize that I treat the Amish as a culture no different than if I was reading a book set in a foreign country. I refuse to idealize and think of their culture as a utopia and I expect them to have flaws and problems just like the rest of us. When I read a book that shares that same opinion, I end up liking it.

What I hate about Amish fiction:

It’s so white. There are barely any non white characters that ever show up in these stories. Everyone who lives IN the Amish communities is white. And for some reason, all the tourists or anyone who ever comes into contact with anyone Amish is white too. They never seem to ever meet any POC characters in these things. It almost makes me wonder what happens if a small Amish child in the story sees someone who is black or Asian. Would they say something really awkwardly racist out of ignorance?

Faith is either 1) blindly followed with no questioning or 2) just in the background. I said earlier how I enjoyed the types of Amish fiction that question the faith. But I can’t stand when people don’t even really talk about why they believe what they believe. I honestly really don’t consider these books to be Christian fiction because faith is sometimes never even brought up.

The fact that people seem to love how safe and perfect these communities are portrayed. Notice I say portrayed and not actually are. I know fully well that things are not idealistic and wonderful in real life. Amish folks have their share of problems too. But in these books, I’m not sure if it’s the author’s intent but it comes across very much like these people have the perfect lifestyle and this is how we all should strive to be. Electricity and modern inventions are all wrong and if we only lived simpler lives, then we’d discover true peace and happiness. I’ve read so many comments from readers saying how they wish they could live like the Amish because they think it’d be fun.

It always amazes me how women in these books so easily will give up their lives for an Amish guy. I can only deduce that these women weren’t really happy to begin with and they never really enjoyed their current life. To give up your job, your family, your lifestyle to live in a completely different culture where, let’s face it you’re doing nothing but housework and most of your independence is going to be gone, just for a guy never sits well with me. I mean kudos if that’s what you want to do but it frustrates me at how many times this works out perfectly in these books.

I actually could go a lot longer on this topic but it’ll be WAY ;TLDR. If you’re an author who write Amish fiction, more power to you. If you’re a reader that enjoys Amish fiction, good for you. This is just how I feel because I want people to not generalize and just assume that everyone feels the same way about this genre.

Oh and for the record, in case you’re looking for something non traditional with Amish fiction? Amish vampire stories and gay Amish fiction exists too.

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Never Ever Have I Ever

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Because I read a lot and watch a lot of movies, everyone just assumes that I’ve read or watched everything. Obviously, I’m not that awesome so there’s a ton of things that most normal people have experienced that I have not. Some of these are by choice, some of these are just due to circumstances never falling together to make it happen. Whatever the reason, the response I normally will get when I reveal I have not partaken in the following items is “Whaaaaaaaaat?!”

Movies:

Jaws – Didn’t have interest when I was younger, haven’t gotten around to it as an adult

E.T. – Parents didn’t let us see this growing up, still haven’t gotten around to it as an adult

The Terminator series – Didn’t appeal to me growing up, still doesn’t now?

Blade Runner – Obviously I was too young to watch this when it originally came out. I feel like I should watch it as an adult.

Lilo and Stitch – This is one of the very few Disney movies I haven’t watched and I think being in college stopped me from this one.

Books

The Catcher in the Rye – we were never assigned this in school so I just never got around to it

To Kill a Mockingbird – same reason as before. And yes I know you’re judging me.

1984 – Yes same answer as before. You probably think my school system was a failure.

TV

John Adams – Yes I know. I’m a historian and this is one of the best historical miniseries ever. In all fairness, I really DO want to watch this.  I’ve actually watched a good bit of the first episode but the scene where the official gets tarred and feathered is really hard for me to watch and I cannot get past that scene. I can’t skip it or close my eyes because I know it’s happening and it makes me not want to watch anymore. Yes I’m weird.

I’m not even going to attempt music because there’s probably a bunch of bands I should be listening to and I haven’t.

So what pop culture media has everyone else experienced that you have to fess up to not taking part of?