Daytona Splendor - A Thesis (Part One)

Listening to: Various Artists - The OC Mix 1

I'm going to take the next few posts to do a little series on the things I think and have thought about in regards to the Music from the OC. I was considering doing it all in one go, but I know my readership (read: Ian) wouldn't necessarily appreciate the outrageous length, so I'm going to break it up into some small, bite-sized pieces. Keep in mind, also, that this shit's about to get real.

A few years ago, I came to some realizations about myself. One of them, in particular, was, to a degree, unsettling. It is this: I am not funny. Not that I don't understand 'funny', or that I am bad at telling jokes or anything, just that I am not innately funny on my own. Many, I'm sure, are already well-aware of this, but I must admit, that it came as somewhat of a shock to me. The problem lies in the fact that I am not 'originally' funny. Very little of what I say that appears to be funny actually comes from my own brain.

This problem began way back in the 9th grade, when I was on my way up in the ranks of popularity at school. Every Monday morning, all the guys in the class would make our way to the back of the class to, essentially, re-enact, almost entirely, the events of the previous evening's new Simpsons episode. It wasn't always strictly verbatim, but we would all do our best to impress the others with the accuracy of our quotes and the sharpness of our comedic timing. (We were pretty good.) This is something that led me to discover a strange phenomenon about myself, that somehow, in some way, I feel good about myself when I quote some movie or TV show lines to others and they laugh. This is strange, because I can't imagine why I would derive any self-worth from such a circumstance, as I am simply a vehicle through which the comedic genius of others flows. Because, let's be honest, they're not laughing at me, or with me, rather they're simply laughing at what I said, which was created by some 37 year-old writer in a cramped apartment in some neighborhood I wouldn't recognize, with life experiences that I don't have, nor can I relate to.

But, this is a part of my larger issue, and something I'll continue next time!

In the meantime, let me take a minute to extol the virtues of this album. It's pretty cool. (I guess that's not technically considered extolling, but whatever.) It's got some pretty classic tunes by some pretty classic groups. Probably I'm super-influenced by how much I was into the first season of The OC (which I'll expound on later), but some of the songs are really, really great. I enjoy this album.



Various Artists - The OC Mix 1 ★★★★★★✩✩✩✩

Favorite Tracks: The Way We Get By, Caught By The River, Rain City, Orange Sky
Least Favorite Tracks: We Used to Be Friends

1. Paint The Silence
2. Just A Ride
3. Honey and the Moon
4. The Way We Get By
5. Move On
6. How Good It Can Be
7. Caught By The River
8. Rain City
9. We Used to Be Friends
10. Dice
11. Orange Sky
12. California