The Book Bully

Day 16 - A Song That You Used to Love But Now Hate (Hate is such a strong word.) I should preface this entry with the statement that I adore Michael Buble. He is funny and sultry and smart and Canadian and a great singer. But when I got his first album, as I am wont to do, I listened to it on repeat. "Fever" was my particular favourite, largely because the song had been a hit on American Idol  a season or two earlier. In any case, I listened to it so much that I've become weary of it (yes, weary) and I've deleted it from my iTunes library. (I still love you Michael!) Jillz

Day 15 - A Song That Describes You This song needs no explanation or introduction. It is my theme song. Jillz

Belated posting! I spent the weekend trotting all over Vancouver with Jeanette, eating ice cream and watching comedy and buying things at IKEA, as well as finishing school work and packing! AHH so much to do! Anyway, onto the song challenge, because that's what really matters. Day 12: A Song From a Band You Hate Since my high school days, I've hated AC/DC. My friends really liked Led Zeppelin and AC/DC and other bands from the 1970s. I tolerated their music, even enjoyed some of it, but I always hated AC/DC. Whenever they come on the radio, I turn it off immediately in order save passengers and other sharers of the road from my angry rampage. Day 13 - A Song That is a Guilty Pleasure The movie Fame  was painful. It was poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly directed. Even the song and dance numbers left much to be desired. But as soon as I got home from the film, I bought Asher Book's "Try" on iTunes. It's such a sappy love song, but I can't

Day 11 - A Song From Your Favourite Band Again, how do you choose? I have lots of artists that I really love - Billy Joel, Josh Groban, Adele, Feeder, Starfield, downhere, and et cetera. I suppose if I had to pick a favourite band, I'd choose Take That. If we were in England, I'd be teased and harrassed for liking a band that peaked in the early 1990s, fell apart when Robbie Williams left, and are now back as 40-somethings with a cheesy pop style. But I love them. I love their two latests albums: Beautiful World  and The Circus . "Hold Up A Light" is my favourite song from The Circus , and my favourite Take That song, I think. Jillz

I've posted 50 blogs! This is a monumental moment in my life history, as I've never stuck with a blog or journal for this long. Happy anniversary to me! Day 10 - A Song That Makes You Fall Asleep I can't say any music makes me fall asleep, but I remember when *NSYNC's No Strings Attached  album came out, I listened to it every night when I went to bed. I would hit play and by the time track 4 came around, I was usually sound asleep. It just so happened that the song "Just Got Paid" was lucky number 4, and I hardly remember any of the songs after it on the album. So I suppose this song was just uninteresting/stupid enough to lull me to sleep every night for the better part of seventh grade. Jillz

Day 09 - A Song That You Can Dance To This is pretty much a no-brainer, let's be real. If I ever want to just "break it down," which I do quite often, I listen to "Safety Dance" and "Forget You" - the Glee versions of both. The Glee version of "Safety Dance" is 10 million times better than the original, PLUS it's my favourite moment of Glee ever. "Forget You" is amazingly catchy, and I love Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday. Get your groove on! Jillz

I'm not a feminist. I used to say that about myself all the time. I would resist the label because I imagined that it went along with the extreme belief that women should be more powerful than men, that they should never have to wear bras or bear children or wear dresses. I am very pro those things. I also believed that being a feminist meant that you had to believe that men and women are exactly the same, and therefore should be treated as exact equals in all things - sporting events being a prime example. And I don't think that's true, so I adamantly denied the title. I took a course in literary theory and criticism in my fourth year at MUN where I had to give a presentation about a feminist theorist. At the time I was displeased, to say the least, and begrudgingly began studying feminism. I was assigned Luce Irigary's article "I Love To You." At first I rolled my eyes the entire read-through, and then I started studying about her work, her philosophy

Day 07 - A Song That Reminds You of a Certain Event At the end of my month studying in England in June 2008, our group decided to get tickets for a once in a lifetime opportunity - Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday party. The concert was a massive outdoor festival of music and celebration in Hyde Park with 46664 - Mandela's prison number - people in attendance. The concert went on for hours, hosted by Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, and featuring musicians from around the world, including Josh Groban. Another one of my favourite celebs, Stephen Fry, spoke eloquently about the inspiration that Mandela has been around the world. Mandela himself, stooped with age but smiling like young child, spoke briefly. At the end of the concert, the band Queen - or what remains of it - finished their set with "We Are the Champions." Previously, the song had mostly annoyed me because they played it over the PA whenever a sports team won something at my high school. But as I stood there

I was out at Whistler this weekend with Steve and Paul, so I missed posting yesterday. There will be a post about that soon, complete with pictures, but for today I'm going to double post: day 05 and day 06 of the song challenge. Day 05 - A Song That Reminds You of Someone A lot of music reminds me of a lot of people, but for now I'll go with *NSYNC's "Pop." A lot of music from this time in my life reminds me of when Kayla, Jana, and I hung out all the time. In particular, "Pop" reminds me of Jana because she would do this chair-dance move during the chorus that made me laugh. A lot. Day 06: A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere Again, I have two songs. I've heard it said that the sense of smell has the strongest connection to memory, but I disagree; I believe sound does. I associate a lot of my adventures and important times in my life with the music that accompanied the occasion. Coldplay's X&Y  album came out the summer of the s

Day 04 - A Song That Makes You Sad There are two songs that I find almost impossible to listen to because they are so sad. The first is Chicago's "Hard Habit to Break." I find it so heartbreaking because the singer isn't begging his ex-lover to take him back. He doesn't even blame her for moving on; he takes total responsibility for their breakup. But even though it's been so long since she left him, he's still "addicted" to her, and he's just sad about it. It's just an honest ballad about loneliness and regret. The second song that makes me wince when I hear it is Gershwin's "But Not For Me" from the musical Crazy for You . I remember listening to Jackie French, who was playing the lead in O'Donel's production of the show, sing this song with such passion in our dress rehearsal that I started sobbing in the Arts and Culture Centre during the dress rehearsal. The last line of the song is so raw: "The clim

Day 03 - A Song That Makes You Happy Again, an almost impossible task. Doesn't music, in general, make people happy? Anyway, I've chosen Mika's "Love Today" because it's my favourite song to wake up to in the morning, and it just makes me want to dance. "Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today, gonna love today/ Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today/ Any way you want to / Any way you've got to / Love love me"

Do you ever feel that something or someone was placed on this earth just to give you something to fight against? Something to keep you on your toes, to combat and from which to save the world? For me, that someone and something is Barry Manilow and his music. Day 02 - Your Least Favourite Song For as long as I can remember, Barry has been a thorn in my side. His music haunts me. On one particularly bad occasion, I was lying in the tanning bed at the solarium (a task which I also detest; it's like lying in a heated coffin), and feeling hot, sweaty, fearing the eventual skin cancer, and all around miserable. I distinctly remember thinking "This can't get any worse," and as soon as that thought appeared, Barry's "Copacabana" came on the radio. And I couldn't escape!! It was torture. It pains me to even look up this video, but here she is, my least favourite song. "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow.

I think you can tell a lot about a person by the music that touches them. I'm intrigued by this 30 Day Song Challenge that's cropping up all over YouTube. I thought that I'd carry it over to my blog instead, so I can update every day, plus include a legitimate post every few days or so. Also, I usually have way more to say about a song than I can fit into a Facebook post. Day 01 - Post Your Favourite Song I feel like this is a lot to ask of people, because choosing one  favourite song is like being asked to not eat the last popsicle in the freezer when it's 40 degrees outside and the water has been shut off. Anyway, I've managed to narrow it down to three songs that are staples in my music library: 1. "Crash and Burn" - Savage Garden . Too bad that Savage Garden has ceased to exist as a band. Their album Affirmation  is the soundtrack to my seventh grade. This song is one I listen to/send to others when things are not so great, as a reminder that we

I am going to make a list. "A list of what?" you ask. A list of things I want to do. "Things you want to do when?" you query. At some point in my life. Now, a year from now, in a half hour, in another dimension. "Ok!" you respond, with gusto. Things I'd Like to Accomplish Someday: A List by Jillian Sexton Live in England for an extended period of time - four months, a year, 10 years. Doesn't really matter. But I want to live there long enough that I get to watch a full series of some British show from beginning to end. Meet David Mitchell - this is piggybacking off of the previous goal, but let's face it: if I'm going to live in England, I'm going to hunt down my favourite comedians. David's first on the list. Memorize ten famous poems and recite them frequently, to simultaneously impress and annoy people - on the list right now are "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," (T.S. Eliot), "i carry you

In grade six, the wonderful Ms. Glenda Ripley, teacher extraordinare with a passion for English literature, read aloud to our class from Kit Pearson's The Sky is Falling . The story, set in 1940, centred on Norah Stokes, a 10 year-old feisty girl from Kent, England, whose parents decide to send her and her 5 year-old brother Gavin to Canada for the remainder of the war. Norah is devastated to abandon her country in its time of need, and terrified of leaving her familiar life for the big, safe, unknown Canada. When she and Gavin arrive, they are assigned to live with Florence and Mary Ogilvie, the first of whom is bossy and proud, the latter: timid and quiet. Norah struggles with school, making new friends, and overwhelming homesickness, and tries desperately to adjust to her new home. As Ms. Ripley read, I fell in love with Norah. I fell in love with England and her experiences of war; I sympathized with her fear of meeting new people and trying to respect her new family;

You could've had it all Rolling in the deep You had my heart inside your hands And you played it to the beat I've been listening to Adele's new album 21  for the past few weeks, and I love her more every time I hit play on my iTunes. The lyrics are from the first song on her album, "Rolling in the Deep." She's a jazzy soul singer from England, and she's just incredible. Check her out , and you will not be disappointed. Thank you for all your helpful and thoughtful comments, Facebook messages, texts, and Skype conversations regarding my last blog post. I'm not much closer to a life plan, but I will be going home in April, probably staying in Newfoundland for the summer, and working out where life will take me in the fall. In any case, I'm still open to suggestions for making money / finding a career / general merriment. In other news: Two weekends ago I went to Galiano Island with two of my classmates, Stacey and Thea. Stacey's family has a h