Other Side of the Planet dot com

Star Wars: One Season More

Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Music, Star Wars.

This is a nice piece of CGI animation to accompany the song “One Season More” from Star Wars: The Musical, (which I have never seen.)  I listened to parts of the other songs, but I wasn’t really impressed.  “One Season More”, however, is a fabulous song in general - not only in the realm of Star Wars.

Lyrics are below:

One Season More
Lyrics by Timothy Edward Smith & Hunter Nolen

Is this all that there is for me?
How long ’til I am finally free?
This can’t be my destiny -
planned for me -
can it be?

Somewhere far, far away,
a new life is waiting for me.
For every sunrise
and every new day,
I know it’s closer than before,
but I’ll be waiting here
one season more.

Uncle Owen, I’m not like you:
I can’t just bury my dreams
(in the sands of Tatooine).

And I don’t want to turn around one day
to see that one season became
a lifetime thrown away.

So when the harvest comes
and the winds change,
no more waiting at the door:
I will spread my wings
one season more.

Biggs and Tank are gone away;
gone so far out into space.
That is where I long to be:
among the stars so alive and free!

But nothing seems to change;
just like before.
‘Til the harvest comes,
you will find me here
one season more.

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Entertainment: Pandora Radio

Posted on August 4th, 2008 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Music.

While I’m procrastinating…

I made a wonderful new discovery in Pandora Radio, a free online music service wherein you create stations by listing some of your favorite artists.  Pandora then starts picking out music from artists with similar music styles.  You can tell Pandora when you like or dislike a selection, and it will adjust the music it feeds you accordingly.

I currently have an Alternative / Geek Rock station and an A Capella station set up, depending on my mood, and I’ll undoubtedly set up more.  There are likely other, similar services available out there…this is just the one I stumbled across, and I’m absolutely delighted.  Now I’m discovering new artists whose music I enjoy…someday when I’m not broke, I’ll be buying some new CDs.  Wee!

For now, I’ll settle for Pandora’s semi-random selection.

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Music: Here Comes Another Bubble

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Music.

I was going to blog about this earlier (partly cause it’s an awesome song, and partly because hey have a line that says “Won’t you blog about this song?”) but then it got pulled off of YouTube and everywhere else because someone was bitter that they hadn’t gotten credited for one photo that is briefly shown.  Now, I sympathize with wanting credit for your work, but why not try asking nicely to be credited before going directly to YouTube and demanding that the material be taken down?

However, after some digging I did manage to find a copy of the video that is still up on a private blog - you can click here to enjoy the fantastic brilliance of the Richter Scales (you can listen to the song on their site, but it’s not as fun without the slideshow video that accompanies it.)

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Music: Crashing Through the Snow Lyrics

Posted on December 9th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Music.

One thing SantaCon is good for is bastardized Christmas carols, and being such a bitter woman myself, I do enjoy a dark and grim (yet cheerful) song.  Here’s my new favorite, direct from the SantaCon 2007 songbook:

Crashing Through the Snow
(to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) 

Crashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O’er the cliff we go
Shrieking all the way
Bell and sirens ring
Marking where we crashed
They put us in intensive care
They don’t think we’ll last
Jingle bells, funeral bells
Ringing all the way
Oh what fools we were to ride
In that one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, funeral bells
Ringing all the way
Oh what fools we were to ride
In that one horse open sleigh

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Meaningless Rant: Helsinki Complaints Choir (and Taipei Complaints Choir?)

Posted on December 16th, 2006 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Meaningless Rants, Music.

I was rather enchanted by the video of the Helsinki Complaints Choir, which you should totally watch by clicking on the words: Helsinki Complaints Choir.  (Yes, it’s so good, I’m linking it twice.  I may do it a third time before the end of this post.)  There’s something so heart-warming about peoples’ incessant complaining - it’s nice to know that the rest of the world is just as bitter as you are.

[About half of the Helsinki Complaints Choir is shown here.]

Apparently the first Complaints Choir was in Birmingham, but while the Birmingham Complaints Choir is still amusing, it’s just not on the same level as its protege.  Regardless, it got my friends and I to thinking: If it can be done in two cities, why not three?  What’s to stop us from establishing the first ever Taipei Complaints Choir?

[The Birmingham Complaints Choir.]

Certainly we have a good deal to complain about here in Taipei, such as natural disasters, plagues of cockroaches, and a horrid waste disposal system.  I know there are others out there with their gripes - so, if you have a complaint about Taipei, post a comment, shoot me an e-mail, share your misery!  Together, we can let the world know how awful our lives are.

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