29 October 2014 (Wednesday)

Finally we were back in our normal room and sure enough, no technical problems! :-)

7 students came to share their favorite scary/Halloween songs.

The first song chosen was "We Are The People" (video, lyrics, song info) by Empire Of The Sun (info). The band is actually from Australia but filmed this video in Mexico and used scenes from the Mexican "day of the dead" celebration (info). Each time I hear this song I like it more!

We started talking about Halloween kinds of topics and I asked all the students if they believe in ghosts and if they like horror movies. 

Interestingly almost none of them like horror movies. I have learned from teaching this class that the Japanese make great horror movies. They are scary because they are psychologically disturbing.

The next song was "Shake It Out" (video, lyrics, song info) by Florence And The Machine (info). The video is pretty self-explanatory for why it was chosen for Halloween.

The next song was "Born To Die" (video, lyrics, song info) by Lana Del Rey (info). The student chose this songs because it has a "creepy" feel to it. I agree, it seems strange.

When we talked about movies I told the class that there is a theater in North Seattle where movies only cost $4. It's called the Crest Theater (website) and it's not easy to get to without a car, but if you can get a ride there it's a good deal for watching movies!

The next song was "We Only Come Out At Night" (video, lyrics, song info) by Smashing Pumpkins (info). The student who picked the song said that you have to hear the whole album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness", not individual songs out of sequence. But it turns out this wasn't exactly the song the student meant to pick. Oh well, he'll have to chose the right song next year, hahaha!

The next song chosen was "Welcome To The Black Parade" (video, lyrics, song info) by My Chemical Romance (info). It's an interesting video. Not exactly Halloween or scary, but very strong, disturbing images.

The last song was "Cemetery Gates" (video with lyrics, song info) by The Smiths (info). If you read the lyrics this song doesn't really fit Halloween except for the title. Actually, the lyrics are even hard for *me* to understand!

With that time ran out for the day. Suggested theme for next class will be "Songs that remind you of home".