Sarah Burningham: Teen Author

One Pose Per Second. How many can you come up with?

I love super-creative YouTube videos and this one, featuring writer/performance artist Miranda July, is bizarrely captivating. (A lot of people have a love-hate relationship with Miranda July but after this video I'm more inclined to love.) She moves her body, doing a pose a second, to a new Blonde Redhead song. But the best part is the mock video someone made with a kitty cat doing a sort-of pose a second.

I figure that if Ms. July is really posing once per second, then she poses a total of 212 times for the entire song. But I don't have the patience to actually count. If you do, let me know!

Ask Sarah B - You Ask, I Answer - Questions from Real Teenagers

Here's your weekly Ask Sarah B sesh. Remember if you want to ask a question and get some advice, you can email me at: AskSarahB@gmail.com

Question:
My stepmom is always complaining about my music. She comes in my room and turns off my stereo and sometimes will pull my earphones out of my ears to check on what I'm listening to. She thinks all music that isn't like a choir or opera stuff is devil music. I listen to really good stuff but every time I tell her that she gets mad at me for talking back. What can I do?

- Melissa

Sarah Says:
Dear Melissa,
Music is one of those issues that some parents get really worked up about. I think the answer in your case, is to do some major music jam sessions with your stepmom. I don't mean actually going to a concert or anything (we're not there yet) but making her a mix of stuff that you think can ease her into your music.

The first step is figuring out exactly what she likes. Is it really opera? Then maybe she'd like Idina Menzel's new album (Idina made it big on Broadway with "Rent" and "Wicked" and has a truly amazing set of pipes.) Or what about some mellow country music? Carrie Underwood (the American Idol sweetheart) has a squeaky clean image and her new album is really good.

After you've figured out a few albums or songs that you think she'd like, make a mix and lend your stepmom your iPod for the day. Tell her you feel like you guys might not have such different tastes in music after all and that you made her a special mix. (Not many moms would turn that down.)

Then, when you get home from school, check in and see what she thought during the day. If she liked it then you're off to a killer start. If not, offer to listen to some of her stuff and try to get down to the bottom of why she likes it. Is it tune? Pace? The actual singers? Just taking the time to understand her will definitely earn you points when it comes to the next time she complains.

Good luck! And email me your playlist - I'm sure it will have some good stuff that I should check out too.

xoxo
Sarah B

**Note: the names of all teenagers in the "Ask Sarah B" section have been changed to protect individual's privacy

Are you a Rolling Stones Fan? Check this out!

I am a huge, huge Stones fan. I love Gimme Shelter - love it - and can listen to it multiple times a day. At the gym, on the subway, in the elevator at work, walking up the stairs to my apartment, writing this blog post. Love the Stones. So you'd better believe I'm going to see the new Scorsese movie Shine a Light that profiles one of their concerts. Check out this sneak peak at the movie:

New MacBook Air Commercial

I'm in love with the song on the New MacBook Air commercial so I tracked down the artist. Yael Naim is the artist and the song is called New Soul. I downloaded it off Amazon yesterday (did you know their downloads are an average of 10 cents cheaper per song than iTunes) and I've already listened to it like 10 times. I downloaded the rest of the album too, which on first listen, sounds great, but I haven't been able to move past this first song. I'll let you know what I think about her other stuff as soon as I get over my "New Soul" obsession!