Can music make you high? I think so...but only in the best and safest way possible. Some people, though, are worried that teens are using that kind of music buzz the wrong way. How does that even work? Read here for more details:

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I try a lot more sleep aids than I probably should, mostly because nothing ever seems to work and like most people I crave a good night's rest with (hopefully) as few nightmares as possible. That's why I was so hopeful about using Sweetest Dreams for the first time. I had never heard of the product and, noticing it was on sale at my local health food store, took it to the check-out counter for purchase.

It contains L-Theanine and Melatonin which made me think this was going to be a sure bet. L-Theanine is good for relaxing the brain and melatonin for good sleep and dream recall.

At first I found myself peaceful and having a good kind of buzz...I started feeling that great way you do when sleep begins to set in and all is right with the world. But an hour later, my eyes were wide open and I was awake for the night.

Four hours later I finally drifted off, but it was time for work two hours after that and I went through the day exhausted. Same thing the next night when I decided to give the product another chance.

Trying for one more chance I went for a third night, only to find that I had the worst nightmares of my life (the worst!) and a raging headache when I woke up. This morning I tucked the jar away until I can figure out what to do with it.

I hate to malign Solgar because their stuff is usually very effective, but I'll pass on this one. If you're in a pinch and just have to sleep, even knowing you'll be a bit off the next day, benedryl puts you out like that (snapping fingers)...but honestly, I look forward to the day more effective (and less groggy) sleep aids exist on the market!!

"We're going to need a Speak N' Spell and 7 pounds of mashed potatoes."- from the July 28th episode of Psych

I'm more of a Psych girl than a Burn Notice one.When I watch BN I feel like I did in high school, watching the popular kids (who were not only gorgeous, but knew all the right things to say) from afar, but never really understanding them...mildly curious about what it would be like to be one of them, but knowing I had a snowball's chance in Hell of ever finding out.

With Psych there are still lots of good-looking people to be found, but they're down-to-earth and about as subtle and suave as Roseanne at Fashion Week.

I don't think Burn Notice is a bad show at all. In fact, I like the writing and the voice-overs and the secondary characters played by Sharon Gless and Bruce Campbell very very much. But Psych makes me laugh and feel warm and welcome. It fills the big gaping hole that Monk, the USA character who most speaks to me, left behind.

from Amazon's website:

Having nearly exhausted their capacity for pop-song politics on War and The Unforgettable Fire, U2 turned toward themes of personal identity and complex relationships on The Joshua Tree. Not that the group was willing to come down off the barricades entirely: "Mothers of the Disappeared" and "Bullet the Blue Sky" turned a jaundiced eye toward Central America and the United States' role there. But the predominant mood here is one of self-discovery and the hunger for something more on tracks like the pulsating "Where the Streets Have No Name" and the gospel-ish "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The album's masterstroke, however, is "With or Without You," a nasty love song dressed up as an ode of devotion and care. It ranks with the Police's "Every Breath You Take" as the most misread smash hit of the '80s. --Daniel Durchholz




I was a junior in high school when Joshua Tree was released. I didn't understand the big deal surrounding the album and in fact ended up getting sick of all the talk and the constant sounds of  the hit singles on the radio. Bono irritated me for no reason I could explain.

But then last year I was driving home late at night, when the dashboard lights and the quiet hour make everything seem surreal and the mind is more vulnerable to loneliness and heartbreak. "With or Without You" came on unexpectedly on Jack 102.7 and suddenly I found myself bawling like a baby.

I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard, that it perfectly explained how you could both love someone and hate them at the same time. Of course I knew and know U2 is about far more than heartbreak and personal feelings...that they can be tied up in political messages as well...but that song haunted me for days afterward as did "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" when I finally listened (really listened) to Joshua Tree for the first time.

Now I can't imagine not owning the album!

The summer of 1994...my  friends and I were driving along the hills surrounding historic Ellicott City late at night, enjoying the windows rolled down and the feeling that usually comes with having a weekend and few things to worry about. Our fearless leader was driving just a tad too fast and blaring his van stereo as usual when a song I had never heard before came on the radio....synchronized beats and raw energy and lyrics about "f$*cking like an animal."

I asked one of my pals what the song was and she told me right away. "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. The guy singing was someone named Trent Razor and words like 'isolation' and 'absence of faith' and 'my whole existence is flawed' filtered out to me amidst all the carnal rage of the music. I loved it almost immediately, even though it was more harsh than the stuff I was regularly listening to at the time. But it felt wild and more honest than most anything I'd heard that summer.

To this day I think about that summer night whenever I hear Nine Inch Nails and I wonder how sixteen years have gone by and carefree times with old friends on summer nights is harder to come now that we're all on different paths. Somehow...summer seems more connected to songs that leave you open and ready for anything...