ccprose on youtube

Pretty great stuff for readers.

Better Than I Know Myself

Adam's video for the lead single, Better Than I Know Myself, from the new album, Trespassing, premiered yesterday. Floofy Cuddly Sweater Adam Who Reads Books, Drinks Tea and Sweeps lives side-by-side with Angry Destructive Leather Adam Who Plays With Fire, Slugs Alcohol and Disrespects Books. You have to watch to the end for the reveal about where the two Adams really reside -- or maybe you'll know right off the bat.



In the end, Angry Adam's medges save Sweater Adam. The message of the video is that a man cannot live by sweaters alone; he must have medges too.

Both Floofy Adam and Angry Adam have perfect noses. And they both sing like crazy.

Enjoy. Buy the single on Itunes. The album will be out March 20.

The Queen rumors--that Adam is the new frontman for Queen--are greatly exaggerated. They are planning to do something(s) together, but Adam isn't giving up his day job--pop star in his own right--for it.

Happy Birthday, Scooter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTER

New song from Adam: Better Than I Know Myself

Adam's new single, Better Than I Know Myself, is streaming here, legally and officially. This is the first single off his new, second album, Trespassing. The single will be available for purchase from iTunes, Amazon, etc on Dec. 20; the album will be released in March.

The song has a bit of a modern R&B flavor. It'll work on Top 40 radio and that should mean new fans.

Update:  My favorite thing are the counter-melodies and harmony embellishments in the final chorus.  Stunning.  

Minnesotans United for All Families

This is why later, eventually, someday, when-a-huge-majority-favors-it, is not good enough for legalizing same sex marriage.  Today is already too late.  Together 40 years, but denied the right to marry.  In this season of giving, please consider giving to marriage equality organizations, particularly those battling state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.  Example:  Minnesotans United for All Families.

Biking down some stairs

K and I took up mountain biking in July.  It is the most fun thing that humans can do.  I'm particularly fond of biking down steep, bumpy, tree-rooted downhills.  I think I'm now addicted to the adrenaline rush from the danger.  This has been an awakening for me; before July, I was afraid to ride my bike off a curb.

One of the "features" in my favorite trail is a curved, concrete staircase, with a steep drop off on the outside of the curve.  The first couple times we rode this trail, I was too scared to bike down it.

Here's K trying to bike down these stairs for the first time today:

I like the bike flying down the hill at about 00:48.  He's afraid of heights, so he has avoided riding down these stairs for months.

This video shows my first ride down the stairs a couple months ago:

The whooping and hollering is embarrassing, but it was a personal victory.  It's not technically difficult to bike down these stairs; you just have to conquer the fear.

Legal Writing

To fulfill Continuing Legal Education requirements, I recently attended a seminar on legal writing. The speaker was Ross Guberman. I highly recommend his seminar for all writers.  Take it if you get a chance. He has written a book, Point Made, that I intend to read.

He mentioned a book by a graphic designer/lawyer, Typography for Lawyers, by Matthew Butterick. He didn't really recommend it, but I pass it on because I know at least one of my blog brothers is interested in fonts.  It discusses fonts at length; it also covers document layout and other graphic design topics.

Adam sang with Queen at the MTV EMAs yesterday

It went like this:

Get More: Queen, Music, More Music Videos

Queen is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. MTV European Music Awards gave Queen a Global Icon award yesterday.

I love Adam with Queen. He's not trying to copy Freddie, and his voice is big enough and he's theatrical enough to pull off Queen's music.

Update 11/8: I should note that Freddie did not have a chance to sing this song live before he passed, though he recorded it. Also, after The Show Must Go On, Adam and Queen performed We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions. MTV hasn't posted video of that part yet.

Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling = young Brando. It's partly the voice and the smoldering sensuality and the way he rocks a white undershirt, but there's something else too. I just learned of him, though he's been in many things in recent years. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Half Nelson. He's in Drive and Ides of March, in theaters now. He was also in Blue Valentine and the quirky Lars and the Real Girl. He won an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for The Notebook. I expect he'll win this award again for the kiss in Drive.

By the way, if you're thirsting for old school movie editing, with loooooooong shots, you want to see Drive. It's amazing how much fun you can have waiting for someone to blink.

Update 10/18/11 9:55 pm: Of COURSE I wasn't the first person to notice Gosling's similarity to Brando. See, for example, Gina Picallo writing at The Daily Beast:

Gosling is the most conspicuous of this latest bunch [of actors influenced by Brando]. As a boy, he deliberately disguised his Canadian accent to give it a little Brando bravado. Then there he was last month on the cover of New York magazine wearing a sexy frown, a tight white T-shirt and a toothpick, a la Stanley Kowalksi. In his harrowing relationship drama Blue Valentine, Gosling’s young working class romantic Dean would have fit right in on the docks next to Brando’s Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront.

“You can’t help but be affected by him,” Gosling recently told The Daily Beast. “I think all of us are.”

And Michael Giltz writing at HuffPo.

And Robert Butler, movie reviewer for the Kansas City Star from 1977-2011, writing on the Senior Correspondent blog:

Ryan Gosling is the new Marlon Brando.
I feel not even a twinge of nervousness about that statement. It’s as obvious as saying that Earth circles the sun.

I am as late to this party as I was to the White Stripes party.

Adam Lambert - Outlaws of Love on Album #2

Adam's second album (title unknown) will be out in November, probably. Last night, at a concert in MontrealSte. Agathe, Quebec, he debuted a song, Outlaws of Love, from the new album. Video is courtesy of a fan.

The lyrics are sort of stunning to me. He's gone two years trying to avoid being a mascot for gay rights. In interviews after his Idol season, he specifically described not wanting to be an activist; he just wanted to be a singer. In more recent interviews, he's expressed ambivalence. This song, written by Adam, addresses the political issue of gay marriage, while being intensely personal. Lyrics below.



Lyrics:

Oh, nowhere left to go
Are we getting closer, closer?
No, all we know is no,
Nights are getting colder, colder.

Hey, tears all fall the same,
We all feel the rain,
We can't change.

Everywhere we go, we're lookin for the sun,
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.

Scars make us who we are,
Hearts and homes are broken, broken
Far, we could go so far,
With our minds wide open, open

Hey, tears all fall the same,
We all feel the rain,
We can't change.

And everywhere we go, we're lookin for the sun
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will.
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.

Everywhere we go, we're looking for the sun.
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will.
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.

Wow. Kids these days . . .

YouTube seems to have become badly underpowered in the last month or so, so now videos take forever to load and can't play without interruption. It helps to lower the resolution to 240. It's worth the hassle to watch this, IMHO:

Happy Birthday, LJ!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LJ

Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Hero

As detailed by the NYTimes, the road to the vote to legalize same-sex marriage in New York was paved with support from big-dollar donors as well as personal changes of heart stemming from family pressure. But at the heart, it was Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desire to make a meaningful difference, to have a legacy. This is what I wish we could have in a president. (To be clear, I knew when I voted in 2008 that Pres. Obama would not be that kind of a president.)

Andrew Cuomo, you're my hero:

There, in a speech the public would never hear, [Gov. Andrew Cuomo] offered his most direct and impassioned case for allowing gays to wed. Gay couples, he said, wanted recognition from the state that they were no different than the lawmakers in the room. “Their love is worth the same as your love,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Their partnership is worth the same as your partnership. And they are equal in your eyes to you. That is the driving issue.”

Discouraging Midwestern Values

I guess barn-raisings are out of the question these days. Obviously I don't know the whole story but one thing I've always admired about the MN, WI, SD, ND cultures is that whole everybody helps everybody else out kind of mentality. Hope that's not changing.

The Revolution turned off forever yesterday

Too bad, thought it was a really cool song.