Call me lazy, but I made a vlog. My fingers and shoulders are already annoyed with me from all of the typing I’ve been doing… but more on that later.
Disclaimer: I didn’t waste much time getting into the spoilers, so don’t watch this if you haven’t read #93 (or even #92, really). Also, I am now an iPhone nerd. This was the first video I ever made with the thing, so laugh if you want, but I’m pretty pleased with how good it looks.
I really only reviewed this for Jason. You are probably the only person who reads and watches my TWD reviews. Thank you.
PS: I take no responsibility for the absurd screenshots YouTube chooses to display. I always look like I’m trying to be goofy. #justnaturallygoofyiguess
PSS: I just remembered I have a Michonne action figure. She’ll have to make a cameo in my next TWD vlog.
PSSS: Psst. YouTube channel is here. More nerdiness coming soon.
When I first heard Porcelain and the Tramps, I wanted to grab everyone I saw by the lip and pour her songs into their ears. Porcelain and the Tramps was just Alaina Beaton, some lyrics and heavy industrial music she wrote and played herself. I couldn’t get enough. When I heard Alaina had finally landed a record deal, I couldn’t wait to hear new music and to finally have a polished version of the songs I’d downloaded from a friend who’d most likely downloaded it from a friend who downloaded it from a friend… You get the picture.
After waiting something like six years, she’s finally releasing singles… under the name Porcelain Black. Her first single, “This is What Rock ‘N’ Roll Looks Like,” came out a few months ago, and her second single, “Naughty Naughty,” “leaked” a few days ago. Before “Naughty Naughty” came out on YouTube, a three-song teaser “leaked” as well, featuring “Mannequin Factory,” “La Di Da Di,” and “Love Someone.” We were promised that her next single was coming out soon, so I listened to the teaser a few times and hoped that it wasn’t any of the three.
It’s not that I hate the teaser songs. I don’t hate them. I just don’t like them. They’re catchy and I find myself singing them all the time… but they’re not the Porcelain I’m used to, which is definitely the biggest part of the problem. I thought we were getting a more polished version of Porcelain and the Tramps when she landed this record deal, but it’s obvious that we’re getting the polished, pop version of Alaina.
That’s not the whole problem, though. The song “La Di Da Di” from the teaser goes like this:
La di da di da di,
we like to party
I know you hate it ’cause I flirt with everybody
La di da di da di,
we just wanna party
It’s all about fun and games until I hurt somebody
It’s the second song in the teaser; skip to 1:14.
I thought it was catchy, in a mindnumbing pop-y way, but fun in a guilty pleasure sort of way.
When her single was “leaked” — and I say so with quotes because she and producer RedOne have made it pretty obvious that it was an accidentally-on-purpose, because-we-love-you leak — I couldn’t get to my laptop right away and my phone refused to play the video for some reason, but I had a funny feeling that the “Naughty Naughty” single was the same as the “La Di Da Di” snippet I’d heard. I’ll let you take a listen.
The lyrics?
Naughty, naughty, naughty,
we like to party
I know you hate it ’cause I flirt with everybody
Naughty, naughty, naughty,
we just wanna party
It’s all about fun and games until I hurt somebody
I don’t like being tricked. I mean, I guess it was pretty obvious that the three teaser songs were probably going to be singles, but I really thought we were getting to hear something different.
My third issue with this song is how shallow and flimsy it is, albeit a good dance tune. “We just wanna party?” Compared with the lyrics to, say, “The Preying Mantis,” it just falls flat. Take a listen:
To visually compare, here is the chorus:
I hung you on a limb
made you bend over
backwards on a sin
quit crying on my shoulder
there’s nothing left to say
we’re beautiful garbage
throw it all away
wash you off in the shower
I love Alaina’s voice. I love her lyrical talent. I love her musical talent. I feel like all we’re getting out of this Porcelain Black deal is her voice, and even then I feel like she’s a lot less aggressive on these songs than her Porcelain and the Tramps songs. If it wasn’t obvious after hearing Lil’ Wayne* on her first single that this is not at all the same deal, it’s pretty obvious now.
I can only hope that she’ll release a polished CD of her Porcelain and the Tramps songs as she promised, and while I’ll definitely be picking up her currently untitled Porcelain Black album, I don’t think I’ll ever like it as much as I love her PATT songs. She has so much potential. I hate to say it, but it’s being wasted; I feel like she would be just as successful — if not more — if she went with her earlier style.
I guess I’m just horribly disappointed, but I can’t really complain. It happens all the time.
*Do not get me started on that. I know they’re friends, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but… seriously?
Well, after almost three days of being off the grid, we got power back a few hours ago. I honestly feel kind of guilty, since we were managing just fine, and on the news tonight they showed all of the damage and further safety issues throughout the state. We could have had it so much worse, and yet now we have power and it’s almost like nothing happened here, while much of the state is at risk for flooding, is still off the grid, and suffered a lot of property damage.
Still, I also feel like we’re very lucky, and I’m very grateful. We spent the last few days cooking on the gas stove in our apartment. We lost a lot of food, but managed to save some of it, too. Last night, Mike, Lauren, and I walked around the corner to Mary’s house and played games by candlelight with Sandy, Mary, and Taylore. We had a lot of fun.
Saturday night, before Irene hit, we had everything ready; Mom and Dad had stocked up on water, batteries, and non-perishable food, I got Squirt’s cat carrier ready, I packed a bag of clothes just in case we had to evacuate, and we all tried to sleep without much luck. By the time Irene hit, though, it was only a tropical storm — which still does a lot of damage, but less than a hurricane, so Connecticut was fairly lucky, relatively speaking. I’m glad we didn’t have to evacuate or go into the cellar, because Biz Noni — my great-grandmother — would have had to go outside in it, and the thought of that really bothered me.
We also faced the possibility of looting and home invasions. Like Dad said, people get desperate and you just never know, so he loaded up the shotgun and we all, I think, slept with one eye open. It was a little unnerving, in the middle of a completely pitch black neighborhood that isn’t all that safe to begin with. Still, we didn’t have any major problems, and I’m more grateful than I could ever possibly express.
Unfortunately, we’re kind of back to reality, and my reality right now is my car, affectionately known as Ellie. It shit the bed a couple of days before the storm; poor Mike was driving by himself, and it literally died in the middle of the road. Right now it’s up in the BJ’s parking lot, and we have no idea what’s wrong with it. For the last few weeks, it’s been smelling like burning rubber after driving it for a while, but there wasn’t any smoking or anything wrong that I could see, so we don’t even know yet if it’s the same problem. Dad’s going to look at it tomorrow, now that we’re out of the “dark” and my sister Lauren is moved back into her dorm.
So yeah, it’s been an exciting week. I can definitely say I’ve never had this exciting of a birthday. Luckily, we had cake on Saturday, so at least I got my ice cream cake before we lost power Sunday, on my actual birthday. I think that would have added insult to injury, as shallow as that might sound. My mom and dad got me the Lungs album by Florence + the Machine, and I can’t stop listening to it. It’s really, really good. I’m pretty obsessed with it, and can already tell it’s going to be one of the CDs I will have owned for years and have come close to wearing out.
Today, the 31st, is Mike’s and my five-year anniversary. He had some super secret, big plans for my birthday and our anniversary, but because of the car it’s going to be a while. We’re still going out to dinner I think, because he said Mom and Dad told him he could borrow Mom’s car to take me out to dinner. As crazy as this might sound, I think a quiet night out will be more than enough of a gift in my eyes, after the week we all had.
If you’re on the East Coast, how are you faring after Miss Irene came to visit? I hope you’re safe.
Call me lazy, but I made a vlog. My fingers and shoulders are already annoyed with me from all of the typing I’ve been doing… but more on that later.
