Mondays Music Moves Me: Movie Soundtracks

Mondays Music Moves Me is something I stumbled upon last month. How cool that Xmas Dolly hosts this twice a month! Today's theme is Movie Soundtracks. This is such a great theme with so many possibilities!

As you can see, I had trouble narrowing songs down for this theme.

First is "A View to A Kill" by Duran Duran from the James Bond movie soundtrack of the same name. Did you know that when that movie came out, I went to it fully expecting to see Duran Duran somewhere in it? Yup. Spoiler alert: they weren't in it. But this cool song was!



Speaking of the 80's,  I listened to the movie soundtrack Purple Rain quite a bit. All are great tunes, but my fave from the movie is "Let's Go Crazy." I couldn't find a youtube video though to embed!

Next is "American Girl" by Tom Petty from Silence of the Lambs. I cannot hear that song without picturing the girl in her car singing it before becoming a victim!



We rarely take a road trip without blasting this song from Vacation at least once!




And lastly, who can't listen to this Queen song without banging their head like Wayne and Garth in Wayne's World! :)





I'm noticing my picks are all from the way past! I guess I need to see more current movies!
Though I did love the rockin' Avengers Assemble soundtrack. It had some of my fave bands like Papa Roach and Buckcherry plus Bush and Evanescence!





Visit Xmas Dolly for move links of songs from the movies! What's your favorite song from the movies?

2012 is so last year

But I read some amazing books and listened to some awesome music.
Here's the roundup.

BOOKS
I generally read YA and MG, but books for adults dominated my nightstand this year, as well as some amazing indie titles.  So many great novels. My fave book of the year? GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn. Fave new author of the year? Leigh T. Moore. And yes, I even read the Fifty Shades trilogy. In the words of Anastasia, "Holy crap!"

Here's what I read, yo.

Dance on Fire by James Garcia Jr

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex

This Burns My Heart by Samuel Park

On the Bright Side by SR Johannes

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Fourth Stall Part 2 by Chris Rylander

Pearl by Jo Knowles
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James
Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
Fifty Shades Freed by EL James
The Color of Bones by Tracy Edward Wymer
Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger
Hourglass by Myra McEntire
The Classroom by Robin Mellom

The Truth About Faking by Leigh T. Moore

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My Very UnFairy Tale Life by Anna Staniszewski
Rouge by Leigh T. Moore
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt
How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings by Laura Pauling
String Bridge by Jessica Bell

MOVIES
On to movies. I'm  not a huge movie watcher due to lack of time, but I noticed I rewatched a lot of classics this year, and of course, movies with my kiddos.

Phantom Menace 3D

Weekend Pass

Hugo
Hunger Games

The Avengers

The Amazing Spiderman

Magic Mike

The Three Stooges

ET

Hotel Transylvania

Dumb and Dumber

Fletch
Breaking Dawn 2

This is 40

Christmas Vacation

Elf

A Christmas Story

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

The Big Miracle

MUSIC
I love me some rock 'n' roll, so my top three rock songs of 2012 are these.

"Gluttony" by BUCKCHERRY (Got to hear this live a few weeks ago! Rated R btw.)



"You Waste Your Time" by TREMONTI  (Awesome guitar riffs, and I won a signed guitar from this guy last year, too.)


"Still Swingin'" by PAPA ROACH (I get see hear this song live in a few weeks! If you lika da zombies, this video reminds me of the last book of Carrie Ryan's zombie trilogy!)



What are your favorite books, movies or songs of 2012?

My Allegiance to Rock

Last week I attended yet another concert. This Rock Allegiance tour consisted of seven killer bands, five of which we saw: RED, POD, Puddle of Mudd, Papa Roach, and Buckcherry.

Two of these bands I've seen multiple times (Papa Roach - 7, Buckcherry - 5), so when I heard they were in the general area, I HAD to go!

My mom and my friend Shanon accompanied me on this 90+ degree evening. We were pleasantly surprised that the festival venue was next to a river and had a friendly, casual atmosphere and best of all - the seats were awesome and we snuck even closer! We were happy, sweaty rock fans.

Here are a few pics. I've written a full review at a new ezine that goes live soon. I will link it when it does. Yep, I've got another writing gig!

My friend and I with Tobin Esperance, bassist of Papa Roach.

Puddle of Mudd

Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach

Josh Todd of Buckcherry

A quick snippet of 3 bands at the fest. Watch to the end to see Josh Todd of Buckcherry dance. He can move!

It was a great way to end summer! Did you do anything special to commemmorate the end of the summer season?

Don't forget to check out my other blog, Book Recs of the Rock and Famous. This week I have Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees and John Taylor of Duran Duran featured! Thanks!

Fun and Games Blogfest

The king of blogfests, Alex Cavanaugh is hosting today's superdeeduper fun blogfest. Participants are to list their three favorite games.

Here are mine!

1. Scattergories - I love this, because you think it should be easy, but it isn't! I also love that it is fun for all ages so we can have family games.

2. You Don't Know Jack - My hubby and I used to play this game on the computer many years ago before kids. We are super competitive with one another, and this one was great because we were about even with wins. We are getting him the Wii or Xbox version for Father's Day! (shhhh, don't tell him! He's so busy with work this week; I know he won't read this!)

3. Apples To Apples - We have family games around the table. Even my kindergartener can play it! The only downside is no one likes it when I'm the judge. They think I'm a terrible judge! But it's so fun anyway!

Honorable mention - Pig or horse at the basketball hoop in the driveway with my son. Competitiveness runs in the fam.


What's your favorite game?? Find out what others have to say at Alex's blogfest headquarters! Join in on the fun!

Another favorite pasttime of mine? Concerts! I went to Q101 Jamboree with my mom and sister on Saturday. I even got to see Carolina Valdez Miller and Erica Chapman there (they had Pit tickets, brave girls). We ended up with fifth row seats, so we were pretty happy! We saw Sum 41, Papa Roach, Seether, and 30 Seconds to Mars! Papa Roach is now the band I've seen the most times live (this was my sixth!). And I even got a hug from Papa Roach's electrifying frontman, Jacoby Shaddix, when he came out into the crowd! Here he is right before he couldn't resist my charms.

And here's a pic of Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars, another amazing frontman!

I hope the photo resizing and post formatting works. This Blogger is driving me nuts!
Have a great week, everyone!!

Tune for Tuesday

Last week I saw one of the best live bands ever, Papa Roach, for the third time this summer! Seriously, I've seen many bands live and they are by far the best! Lead singer, Jacoby Shaddix, can get the crowd crazy! (In fact, I was bumped by moshers a few times during the concert). My mom, my hubby's aunt Beth, my friend Shanon and I went to the Congress Theatre in Chicago to rock it out.
Here's a super short clip of a song that may be about Paris or Lindsay...and it shows how pumped up Jacoby gets the crowd!

They started the concert with "Kick in the Teeth" from their just released album. I love it, especially when having a hard day. One time I played it 12 times in a row on our way home from Wisconsin (I wasn't having a bad day, I just love the song). Here's some lyrics to my Tune for Tuesday:

Don't fight, or it deny it, invite it cause when it ..
Feels like a kick in the teeth, I can take it.
Throw your stones and you won't see me break it.
Say what you want, take your shots.
You're setting me free with one more kick in the teeth !

So, next time you are feeling a little ticked off, put on this song and turn this mother up! Or you can check out this pick me up post from Sharon Mayhew, too!

Papa Roach - Kick in the Teeth (HD)
- Watch more Music Videos at Vodpod.

SOME WRITERLY STUFF:
*Don't forget: Tomorrow is the last day to enter Angela Ackerman at The Bookshelf Muse is celebrating 1000 followers (wow!) by having a fabulous contest that includes critiques and a mentorship! Check out details HERE quickly as the contest closes tomorrow!
* I was a contest winner again! Thank you to PJ Hoover for sending me Nerds by Michael Buckley. Also thanks to Candace Ganger and Elana Johnson for a beautiful homemade bookmark and Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I'm a lucky girl!

A Rockin' Review

So, I went to a concert Friday night. I know, I know. I already made two posts about the upcoming concert, and now you may be sick of hearing about it...but I'm not, so here's my review! (and don't be grumbling Avenged Sevenfold, Avenged Shmevenfold!)

My rock posse included my mom (yes, my mom), my hubby's Aunt Beth, and our friend, Ginny (who just had a baby six weeks ago!).

Beth drove us to the concert and after talking sweetly to a nice parking attendant, he directed us to parking very near the door (we slipped him a few bucks for his kindness). This was key as we didn't want to drag our winter coats in as we knew it would be hot with the crowd.

Next we entered as the first band finished playing. We had general admission tickets so had to find a good spot among the crowd. 'Twas a younger crowd and many teenage kids with their moms or dads (who did NOT know what they were in for-well except for my mom, she knew what she was in for, because she's a rock concert devotee like her daughter).

The next band was Papa Roach, a favorite of mine. The lead singer, Jacoby Shaddix, whipped the crowd into a frenzy with his energy and music. He even came out into the crowd about four times, which hardly ever happens with other bands. The fans appreciate it! Jacoby even managed to slime me as he passed me in the crowd and his sweaty, sweaty hands brushed mine in a quick high-five. The crowd was very into the whole show, my favorite song being "To Be Loved." Jacoby is the most energetic frontman I've ever seen live.

Jacoby in the crowd

Buckcherry, Beth's favorite, was next. I like Buckcherry, too. This is my third time seeing them in the last seven months! Josh Todd, the colorfully tattooed lead singer, sang hits like "Everything," "Too Drunk," and ended with "Crazy B..." My favorite was "Everything." The crowd unfortunately did not seem as into Buckcherry as Papa Roach, but I was entertained as I know most of their songs. Josh Todd's raunchy talk and songs made some of the parents with their teenage daughters or sons cringe a few times!

Josh Todd framed by hands throwing the devil horns.

Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) was last. The majority of the crowd seemed to be at the concert for them, the fans went wild. I was so excited to see them live up close. Avenged is my 9 year old son's favorite group so I took lots of pictures for him (he is too young yet for his first concert, plus I didn't want to be a cringing parent when the F words flew!). The lead guitarist, Synyster Gates, is my favorite lead guitarist. I love the crazy guitar riffs he plays. I danced and sang to every song, and they played an extra song for us as it was their last stop of the tour. My favorite song of the night was A7X's "Unholy Confessions." A nice man gave my mom and Beth his extra tickets to sit next to him in the seats by the general admission pit, because it was four hours of standing, jumping, and dancing. Ginny and I chose to stay in the crowd of sweaty, stinky teenagers, we were pretty close to the stage so I didn't mind.

Here is the stage and singer, M. Shadows with lead guitarist, Synyster Gates (obviously NOT their real, given names!)
Overall, an amazing night with some of my fave bands! Luckily I could have a lazy day on Saturday, because I was exhausted! Beth went on and saw Buckcherry and Papa Roach three hours away the next night, too. Now that is a fan!

Tune For Tuesday

This weekend I am attending another concert. I'm going to see Avenged Sevenfold, Buckcherry, and Papa Roach. Today's tune is by one of these artists, Papa Roach. Papa Roach was formed in 1993, but their major label debut album, Infest, came out in 1999. Their first single, "Last Resort" became a radio success. Today's song comes from their fourth album, The Paramour Sessions. Today's song, "To Be Loved," was the first single from this 2006 album. It was also the theme song to WWE Monday Night Raw (which I have never seen in my life nor plan to). But the song rocks! Their next album, Metamorphosis, drops March 24th.

I always liked Papa Roach's sound. "Last Resort," "She Loves Me Not," and "Forever" were some favorites of mine. Last summer they were part of the line up for the Cruefest concert fest which I was attending, so I purchased many songs before the concert. I ended up liking Papa Roach even more than their radio songs. When I saw them live in concert, my opinion of them changed even more dramatically. I have seen a lot of concerts, and I have never seen a frontman put as much energy into a concert than Papa Roach's lead singer, Jacoby Shaddix. He was all over the stage, came out into the crowd (see picture), and whether you liked the band or not, you could not help jumping up and down to the music. So after that concert, I became a huge Papa Roach fan. This band can bring it live.

At Cruefest!

Listen up, turn it up and rock it out!

"To Be Loved" by Papa Roach:

Also, please check out Christy's blog! Leave a comment, and you have a chance to win P.J. Hoover's cool book, The Emerald Tablet!