Free Style Music List: When I'm In A Funk

These songs that are on here are not from just one specific genre. Lately my mind has felt like it's full or that I'm thinking way too much; the problem is I just don't know what I'm thinking about. Sometimes I'll be physically tired, but my brain is on  constantly, which is makes sleeping hard. Sometimes the day feels like nothing and that  it's off. These sometimes are the makings of being in a funk. When I'm in a funk I just need to tune whatever is going on around me and listen to music.

1. Time of the Season- The Zombies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfwFpRnOeGg
Ah, just the instrumentals alone make me feel instantly relaxed. I've always had this song in my iPod because I find it that cool. My best friends and I listen to hits of the decades that our parents were born in and although they do not like British Invasion as much as I do, they still appreciate the greatness that came across the pond.
2. Let It Be- The Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajCYQL8ouqw
I've found my words of wisdom. My best friends are twins, and for their birthday I bought them each something for their birthday that I knew they would flip out for. Carley was given a thick book written by Rachel Maddow, since that is her idol. Cameron received a shirt that had the lyrics of "Let It Be" on the front and continued on the back. When I listen to The Beatles I think of all the memories that I've had with them.
3. Yellow- Coldplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MwjX4dG72s&ob=av2e
As cheesy as this may sound, I think of stars when I hear any Coldplay song. Weird, but I don't mean stars that people see in cheesy movies but the ones that really glimmers in the dark. The stars along the coast shine in the distance, while the city has nothing to really look at. This song makes me grateful for nature, and it reminds me that like nature does it's own thing.
4. The Cave- Mumford & Sons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KkUeRPjc-Y
I have still to master knowing the lyrics to this song but I'm content to just humming and making up words as I go along. True story: the first time I heard this song I was going to the beach- I live in SoCal- and I just turned the volume up really high so that when we-my friends and I- came to the parking area near Santa Monica people were just gawking at us. They felt embarrassed, I didn't.
5. Big Jet Plane- Angus and Julia Stone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTvbcNhEgc&ob=av2e
When I've just have some days where I'm tired and severely cranky I shower, put on my PJ's, and listen to my iPod. This is the first song I listen to. It's just soft and makes me feel like I want to dream away, and not think about anything. I'm usually a control freak, but with this song my mind just stops. All the assignments, practices, and other crap goes away. Essentially I'm on a Big Jet Plane to the land of relaxation.

Opinionater #1

Natural disasters have stuck all over the world, but also the headlines of newspapers, magazines, and blogs (including this one). The latest natural disaster has hit in Turkey and the press has been all over it like a lawyer in the ER of a hospital. Some blame the happenings of deadly natural disasters due to changes in global temperature and what we, the people, are doing in order to stop them. Wake up call is needed right here. Earthquakes cannot be stopped, not even predicted with mediocre adequacy. I feel that the media is becoming the main source that people are using to educate themselves about the environment. MTV hosting a donation for disaster victims is not education to what has just happened. The Dependency Theory comes into play in the cases of natural disasters and the reactions of people. In the event of a natural disaster people turn to either the Internet or the news on TV. Lately, I have been finding that the media really only reports on world news if there is an outbreak of war or natural disaster. My take on this is that the media reports on what is hard hitting because peopled may be too freaked out to learn that we cannot prevent natural disasters (the dissonance theory). Instead of reporting the truth of the matter, the media has decided to take an easy route, give people what they are used to hearing or reading.  Time has come out with an article, entitled: After Turkey’s Earthquake: When Will the World Wise Up About Natural Disasters?, in which the whole world needs to “wise up” on the sustainability of their homes, business orientated areas, and other buildings. It is also mentioned that even though big earthquake areas, like Japan, California, and Turkey have some of the best ready-made architecture it is not being put to use. Why not use what we have to help cities all over the world so that they do not become headline central because of a large death toll.

Music Memories #2

Mother knows best when it comes to music. As a teen of the 70s my mother listened to R&B. I always had a feeling that my love for soulful music came from my mom. My mom listened to Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Diana Ross, and crooner bands that sang in Spanish. Her brothers listened to rock/metal, which she listened to but never fully liked as much as they did. One rock/metal band that she liked in particular was Led Zeppelin. It's understandable that she would like what was big in America since at nine years old my mom became a U.S. citizen. She grew up in California listening to what was "popular with the kids at school." Into her mid-teens she became a fan of the Beatles and the Monkeys. "I didn't know what it was, but they played music that was happy and soft, and it sounded real nice to my ears."
When the 80s came there were different sounds and disco was dying-if not already dead. "Disco was music you could really dance to. It wasn't cheesy like John Travolta made it in that one movie (Saturday Night Fever)." The 80s came with pop music, weird hair styles, and my eldest sister, Martha. My sister Martha was a teen during the Grunge Era and the beginnings of rap coming to be a hit. My sister, whether she believes it or not, actually introduced my mom to Tupac. This is her favorite song, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb1ZvUDvLDY. Every Mother's Day we call up a radio stationand ask them to play it for her. "I listened to what your sister was playing in her walkman or to the radio station she had on. She liked all types of music. Rap wasn't her favorite, but I still liked it."
True story: One rainy Christmas Eve, my family and I were driving down to my uncle's house and on the way there my mom changes the radio station from Christmas music (she hears it all the time at work) to a rap station. She starts to sing to this one rap song. Before a minute worth of lyrics passed we all told our mom that her rap song she was so freely singing was about drugs. She shrugged and continued to drive. You know your mom is cool when she can listen to some hardcore rap and not care what the lyrics are about.
So came the generation of technology: my younger brother and I. Our tastes are basically complete opposites, but somehow our other sister, Monica, has a musical taste that is somewhat in the middle. My brother likes hard rock, metal, sreamo, rock &rap mash-ups. I like soft music that is along the linesof indie, Gold Oldies (Motown and pop), classical, and classical jazz/big band. Monica likes the main stream pop, rap, and R&B. It's weird now that I think about some things. My mom likes at least five songs from each genre that we like. We've influenced her likes and dislikes in music. My mom, Josefina Leyva is like living proof of the social cognitive theory.  I don't think I know another person who's mom likes Tupac, Katy Perry, and The Beatles.