M/N Combo Platter

So this weekend was a little rough in terms of my busyness level, so I missed M day.  Today is N day, but I'm going put two slightly smaller than normal entries into one, one for M and one for N.  Enjoy.
M is for... "Minimum Wage" by They Might Be Giants


So far in my life, I've only worked for minimum wage.  Right now my minimum wage job is in a department store at the mall.  As I've said before, this job is kind of awful, because people don't always see fit to treat you like a human being when you stand between them and their acquiring of new stuff.  You also get to see things you never thought you'd ever see.
Dirty diapers in the fitting room?  Check.  Grown men stuffing their pants with rolled up t-shirts?  Check.  Eighty-year-old cougars asking to "take home" your male coworkers?  Check.
Sexual harassment is also something of an issue.  I've had men back me into corners, or come up behind me and air thrust until I notice and turn around.  Luckily things like this don't happen very often, but there's a sense of powerless that comes over me when they do, and I hate that someone can make me feel that way.  In case I hadn't figured this out in high school, boys are stupid.
More often than not, though, things are pretty funny.  My coworkers and I laugh a lot.  Mostly at our customers, but what can we do?  You people are funny.

N is for... "Now" by Eyedea & Abilities


For a long time I didn't like rap music.  I'm not a huge fan of people making money off of telling everyone how much money they have and how awesome they are, and for a while that's all I knew of the rap industry.  Of course, I'm a lot more open about music in general now, but the first rap song I heard and liked was this one.  It was on one of the Epitaph label's yearly compilation albums, Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9.  What's weird is that this song, and many of the song on the E&A album, are about how cool these guys are.

The different between Eyedea and the rappers I was hearing on the radio was the complexity of the lyrics.  Sure it was bragging, but Eyedea was so much better at it than anyone I'd heard before.  He was smart and funny, and DJ Abilities just kicks ass no matter which way you look at it.  I found out later that most of Micheal "Eyedea" Larsen's work, both with Eyedea & Abilities and his other projects, is more heavy-hitting and introspective, while this one album was about cutting loose and having fun with what he does.  Which made me like it even more.

My interest in all non-punk genres of music started out with these guys, and from there pretty much just spiraled out of control.  Now I've got a whole month dedicated to all the different music I like.

Good times.