One hundred eight and counting:
:: I swear, that ramp-up to the final battle felt like Mousecateer roll call ("And now here's Oliver Wood, who we haven't seen hide-ner-hair of since Book 3, come to join the fray!"). (Remember how lots of people complained about too many "Classic Trilogy" characters showing up in the Star Wars Prequels? No such complaints about the Potter books. Spoiler filled post; new blog to me.)
:: Being smart is cool. Being stupid is embarrassing, despite what you see on the MTV and the YouTube. Listen to me, I'm a wise middle-aged old man now. Also, get off my lawn with your big brains and your hot pants and your culture I don't understand (but understood as recently as the day before yesterday).
:: I couldn't help but wonder why people live in some of those spots...what took them there? What holds them? (I've often perused the map of Oregon and wondered the same thing.)
:: Thank God Joseph Heller and James Jones and Erich Maria Remarque and countless others aren't trying to write their books today. They'd be burned as heretics by a bunch of nasty boys and girls who have fetishized "the troops" into a strange form of Boy Band eroticism --- that empty, nonthreatening form of masculinity the tweens use to bridge the scary gap between puberty and adolescence. Private Peter Pan reporting for duty.
The real men for them are the civilians on 24 torturing suspected terrorists for an hour each week, keeping the lil'est tough guys safe from harm with hard sadism and easy answers. That's where this wingnut war is really being fought. With popcorn.
:: The first step into making the hollow book is to select a book. (Crap, and I sold my copy of Atlas Shrugged years ago! It would have been perfect, since in terms of content it's already hollow. Still, this looks like a really cool project. I may have to make one of my own someday.)
:: The FCC is so concerned about protecting the public from indecency that it doles out huge fines for swear words that accidentally go out over the air. And God forbid for one nanosecond America sees Janet Jackson’s breast. Our whole nation could collapse. If terrorists really want to bring down this country they should organize suicide streakers. (Had I read this post yesterday, a couple of the links therein would have made the Burst of Weirdness. Naughty language, but on a "meta" level.)
:: With you here, I'd still be happy. (For some reason I'm drawn to stories of heartbreak like a moth to a candle these days.)
All for this week.
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
I'm so pleased you're not dead!
I have to admit that my geek heart goes a little pitter-pat every time I read something about Indiana Jones and the Journey Back to the Well One Last Time. This time I learn that Karen Allen, who played Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark, is back on board. And what's more, it appears that since 1981 she has aged about six years:
I'm still skeptical about this movie, but we'll see.
As long as I'm on the subject of Dr. Jones, I may as well run down my thoughts on the original three movies:
:: Raiders of the Lost Ark is, of course, a great movie. When I saw it in 1981 it pretty much took my breath away, being the first cinematic adventure of its type I had ever seen. (Within a year I would discover Errol Flynn. What a great time that was to be a ten-year-old geek!) My father, who attended the movie with us knowing nothing about it at all, was appalled at the violence, especially at the very end, but I thought it was just the coolest thing. The movie was rollicking fun, it contained exactly enough romance to convince a ten-year-old that seducing lovely women is what adventurer-archaeologists do and not one minute more, it had surprises, it had exotic stuff, it had John Williams at the height of his powers. How good was Raiders, in my eyes? Well, for one summer it got me to stop wondering if Han Solo would survive carbon-freeze.
I remember seeing it several times in 1981. The first movie we rented when we got a VCR was Raiders, naturally enough. It was when we rented it that I first saw the reflected cobra in the glass pane in the Well of Souls. Strangely, it took me until the late 1990s before I worked out the math of how high the Staff of Ra is and compared it to the scene in the Map Room, which would have to imply that Indiana Jones is four feet tall. I don't remember when I noticed the fly crawling into Belloq's mouth, but I think that was pretty early on. (And I've always wished that the film would have explained better just how Indy knew not to look on the power of the Ark.)
:: I was in seventh grade when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came along. I loved it too at first, but then I decided at some point that I hated it -- Willie Scott's whining got to me, I guess, as did the bit where they jump out of an airplane with only an inflatable rubber raft to break their fall. However, I gradually came to like it again when I watched it in college. It has a very different flavor than Raiders, which I appreciated; I liked its much darker tone and its foray into Eastern mysticism. I actually like the Short Round character, particularly the scene where he awakens Indy from the "Fever of Kali" (or whatever it was called). If anything, I now feel that Temple of Doom is underrated. (And another cracker of a John Williams score -- his "Parade of the Slave Children" theme is one of his very best.)
:: I also loved Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when it first came out, and I came to like it a bit less over time. With this one, however, my opinion of it hasn't really rebounded. It's still a lot of fun and compulsively watchable, but it suffers a lot on several key grounds. Yes, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have great chemistry, but the whole bit about how they both slept with Elsa the Nazi Archaeologist is just creepy and doesn't really add anything to the plot. The plot itself is basically a massive retread of Raiders. (Don't believe me? Which film am I describing here: "An old authority figure from Indy's past turns out to have been very near to discovering the last resting place of one of Christendom's most famed and legendary artefacts, and Indy is off to pick up the trail where this old authority figure left off. Along the way Indy enlists the aid of his friend Sallah, where he eventually ends up in the Middle East racing the Nazis to finding the artefact, at one point engaging a thrilling chase with an entire convoy of Nazi vehicles. In the end, the villains are undone because they've failed to understand something about the power of the Christian artefact that Indy has already figured out.")
Sallah is turned into something of a buffoon, and Marcus Brody -- whom Raiders implied to be Indy in later, civilian life -- is reduced to near Jar Jar Binksian status. (The scene where the Nazis manage to capture Brody is just painful to watch.) Last Crusade is the most directly cartoonish of the Indiana Jones movies. And at the leap of faith toward the end, when Indy takes the step and plants his foot down on thin air, he looks astonished that it's worked. Shouldn't that look of astonishment therefore represent that he didn't have faith at all, and thus he should be plunged to his doom?
Anyway, I hope this new movie is good. I really do.
(Photo of Karen Allen via)
I'm still skeptical about this movie, but we'll see.
As long as I'm on the subject of Dr. Jones, I may as well run down my thoughts on the original three movies:
:: Raiders of the Lost Ark is, of course, a great movie. When I saw it in 1981 it pretty much took my breath away, being the first cinematic adventure of its type I had ever seen. (Within a year I would discover Errol Flynn. What a great time that was to be a ten-year-old geek!) My father, who attended the movie with us knowing nothing about it at all, was appalled at the violence, especially at the very end, but I thought it was just the coolest thing. The movie was rollicking fun, it contained exactly enough romance to convince a ten-year-old that seducing lovely women is what adventurer-archaeologists do and not one minute more, it had surprises, it had exotic stuff, it had John Williams at the height of his powers. How good was Raiders, in my eyes? Well, for one summer it got me to stop wondering if Han Solo would survive carbon-freeze.
I remember seeing it several times in 1981. The first movie we rented when we got a VCR was Raiders, naturally enough. It was when we rented it that I first saw the reflected cobra in the glass pane in the Well of Souls. Strangely, it took me until the late 1990s before I worked out the math of how high the Staff of Ra is and compared it to the scene in the Map Room, which would have to imply that Indiana Jones is four feet tall. I don't remember when I noticed the fly crawling into Belloq's mouth, but I think that was pretty early on. (And I've always wished that the film would have explained better just how Indy knew not to look on the power of the Ark.)
:: I was in seventh grade when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came along. I loved it too at first, but then I decided at some point that I hated it -- Willie Scott's whining got to me, I guess, as did the bit where they jump out of an airplane with only an inflatable rubber raft to break their fall. However, I gradually came to like it again when I watched it in college. It has a very different flavor than Raiders, which I appreciated; I liked its much darker tone and its foray into Eastern mysticism. I actually like the Short Round character, particularly the scene where he awakens Indy from the "Fever of Kali" (or whatever it was called). If anything, I now feel that Temple of Doom is underrated. (And another cracker of a John Williams score -- his "Parade of the Slave Children" theme is one of his very best.)
:: I also loved Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when it first came out, and I came to like it a bit less over time. With this one, however, my opinion of it hasn't really rebounded. It's still a lot of fun and compulsively watchable, but it suffers a lot on several key grounds. Yes, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have great chemistry, but the whole bit about how they both slept with Elsa the Nazi Archaeologist is just creepy and doesn't really add anything to the plot. The plot itself is basically a massive retread of Raiders. (Don't believe me? Which film am I describing here: "An old authority figure from Indy's past turns out to have been very near to discovering the last resting place of one of Christendom's most famed and legendary artefacts, and Indy is off to pick up the trail where this old authority figure left off. Along the way Indy enlists the aid of his friend Sallah, where he eventually ends up in the Middle East racing the Nazis to finding the artefact, at one point engaging a thrilling chase with an entire convoy of Nazi vehicles. In the end, the villains are undone because they've failed to understand something about the power of the Christian artefact that Indy has already figured out.")
Sallah is turned into something of a buffoon, and Marcus Brody -- whom Raiders implied to be Indy in later, civilian life -- is reduced to near Jar Jar Binksian status. (The scene where the Nazis manage to capture Brody is just painful to watch.) Last Crusade is the most directly cartoonish of the Indiana Jones movies. And at the leap of faith toward the end, when Indy takes the step and plants his foot down on thin air, he looks astonished that it's worked. Shouldn't that look of astonishment therefore represent that he didn't have faith at all, and thus he should be plunged to his doom?
Anyway, I hope this new movie is good. I really do.
(Photo of Karen Allen via)
Sunday Burst of Weirdness
I didn't see a whole lot of standout weirdness on the Intertubes this week, for some reason. I do note that apparently Dark Horse is re-issuing the Gor novels. Now, I never read the Gor novels, but from what I've gleaned, they're a series of planetary romance novels in the attempted vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs that happen to feature a healthy dose of misogyny. So far I've read a lot of "What is Dark Horse thinking?!" style of commentary on this. Has anyone out there read the Gor books? How bad are they? I have to admit that I might read a couple just out of curiosity.
(Sorry about the fairly lame Burst this week, but that's what I had to work with, folks!)
(Sorry about the fairly lame Burst this week, but that's what I had to work with, folks!)
Spiderpig, spiderpig!
Yup, I saw The Simpsons Movie the other night. A great time was had by all. Well, by me and the three guys I went with. The rest of the theater? Don't much care if they had a great time. Jerks. (Especially the idiots who can't seem to go ten minutes without sending a f***ing text message, whether there's a movie on or not. Sure, texting is less pernicious than, say, actually talking on the phone or getting up from the middle of a row of theater seats to go outside and answer the call, but it's still a darkened theater, and the sudden blue-white glow of a cell phone being opened so someone can text back to some idiot friend of theirs is really distracting.)
Anyhow, I found the movie very funny, although not quite "Marge versus the Monorail" funny, or "Stonecutters" funny, or "Twenty-two Short Films About Springfield" funny, or "Bart's Comet" funny, or "King-Size Homer" funny, or "Cape Feare" funny, or...well, you get the idea. But it's very funny indeed. It's got all the hallmarks of good Simpsons humor: subversive stuff that skewers, well, everything; entire subplots that turn out to be mere set-up for something completely different later; Homer exhibiting cluelessness on a scale unimagined before; perfectly-placed one-liners from Ned Flanders and Ralph Wiggum.
Nearly every negative review I've read of this movie basically boils down to a laundry list of favorite characters who don't get enough screentime, which is frankly unavoidable, given the sheer numbers of memorable people in Springfield. I think that some people expected the movie to be about Springfield, rather than about the Simpsons, but like any Simpsons fan, I wish more had been seen of a number of folks: Mr. Burns, Smithers, Apu, Principal Skinner, Superintendent Chalmers, Patty and Selma, and so on. And I think it would have been great if the movie had been dedicated to the memory of Troy McClure -- they could have even had a screen credit reading, "To the memory of Troy McClure, whom you may remember from such films as..." and then list them.
A film music geek moment: The music by Hans Zimmer was actually decent, although when the end credits roll got to the music credits, there were so many names listed as assisting with the music, orchestrating it, and conducting it (how does the score for a movie that's not even ninety minutes long require two conductors?!), that as always, I end up wondering just what it is that Hans Zimmer actually does when he's "composing". I can never make up my mind about Zimmer: more often than not I end up liking the resulting product just fine, but his "composition by committee" thing rubs me wrong somehow. I also wish that somehow they could have had an Alf Clausen musical number in there, although I did love how the throwaway "Spiderpig!" ditty improvised by Homer ends up actually playing a funny role later on. (And make sure you stick around through the credits, so that you can hear the "Springfield Anthem".)
So yeah, I liked the movie. It was a lot of fun, which is exactly what it should have been.
By the way, I went to simpsonsmovie.com and made my own avatar:
(No, there's no option for overalls there that I could find, so it's blue pants. And no, I don't own shoes in that color. But I would, because they're pretty and I'm all about the pretty.)
Anyhow, I found the movie very funny, although not quite "Marge versus the Monorail" funny, or "Stonecutters" funny, or "Twenty-two Short Films About Springfield" funny, or "Bart's Comet" funny, or "King-Size Homer" funny, or "Cape Feare" funny, or...well, you get the idea. But it's very funny indeed. It's got all the hallmarks of good Simpsons humor: subversive stuff that skewers, well, everything; entire subplots that turn out to be mere set-up for something completely different later; Homer exhibiting cluelessness on a scale unimagined before; perfectly-placed one-liners from Ned Flanders and Ralph Wiggum.
Nearly every negative review I've read of this movie basically boils down to a laundry list of favorite characters who don't get enough screentime, which is frankly unavoidable, given the sheer numbers of memorable people in Springfield. I think that some people expected the movie to be about Springfield, rather than about the Simpsons, but like any Simpsons fan, I wish more had been seen of a number of folks: Mr. Burns, Smithers, Apu, Principal Skinner, Superintendent Chalmers, Patty and Selma, and so on. And I think it would have been great if the movie had been dedicated to the memory of Troy McClure -- they could have even had a screen credit reading, "To the memory of Troy McClure, whom you may remember from such films as..." and then list them.
A film music geek moment: The music by Hans Zimmer was actually decent, although when the end credits roll got to the music credits, there were so many names listed as assisting with the music, orchestrating it, and conducting it (how does the score for a movie that's not even ninety minutes long require two conductors?!), that as always, I end up wondering just what it is that Hans Zimmer actually does when he's "composing". I can never make up my mind about Zimmer: more often than not I end up liking the resulting product just fine, but his "composition by committee" thing rubs me wrong somehow. I also wish that somehow they could have had an Alf Clausen musical number in there, although I did love how the throwaway "Spiderpig!" ditty improvised by Homer ends up actually playing a funny role later on. (And make sure you stick around through the credits, so that you can hear the "Springfield Anthem".)
So yeah, I liked the movie. It was a lot of fun, which is exactly what it should have been.
By the way, I went to simpsonsmovie.com and made my own avatar:
(No, there's no option for overalls there that I could find, so it's blue pants. And no, I don't own shoes in that color. But I would, because they're pretty and I'm all about the pretty.)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
If elected, he will not serve!
I've been remiss in not wishing Alan Bedenko well on his run for the Erie County Legislature. So, best wishes to him, and high hopes that he wins. I'd pledge to vote for him, but I'm not in his district.
I also didn't know that Alan grew a beard. Someone should have told him that bearded guys look shifty and evil. Of course, someone may have also pointed out that without a beard, Alan looked eerily like a dark-haired Dick Cheney....
I also didn't know that Alan grew a beard. Someone should have told him that bearded guys look shifty and evil. Of course, someone may have also pointed out that without a beard, Alan looked eerily like a dark-haired Dick Cheney....
Unidentified Earth 12
As expected, last week's installment was nailed within hours of posting: it was Monument Valley, Utah, that butte-dominated region where so many great Western films were made. To everyone who got it, award yourselves 146 Quatloos. Why 146? Because I'm the one with the Quatloos, that's why.
Time for this week's installment, which I expect to be identified very quickly -- but I couldn't not use this one, so tickled was I that Google's satellite image of it is so stunningly clear.
Where are we?
(Rot-13 your answers, please!)
Time for this week's installment, which I expect to be identified very quickly -- but I couldn't not use this one, so tickled was I that Google's satellite image of it is so stunningly clear.
Where are we?
(Rot-13 your answers, please!)
Hmmmm....
I just took this test thing:
If you mouse over the little color squares, their meanings are given, I guess. Not sure I completely agree, but then, I'm glad there's no square for "high self-loathing". And how did I get "slightly high attention to style"? I pay almost no attention to "style" -- in fact, what I feel for "style" or "fashion" is close to contempt. Maybe I misread a question or two and mismarked my answer or something.
(via)
If you mouse over the little color squares, their meanings are given, I guess. Not sure I completely agree, but then, I'm glad there's no square for "high self-loathing". And how did I get "slightly high attention to style"? I pay almost no attention to "style" -- in fact, what I feel for "style" or "fashion" is close to contempt. Maybe I misread a question or two and mismarked my answer or something.
(via)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The Interview Meme, still kicking!
Questions came my way from Tosy and Cosh:
1. What potential storyline set up in the third season of Once and Again are you most disapointed they never got to address?
Well, one major reason I'm frustrated at the continued non-availability of Season Three on DVD is that since the show ended five years ago, I don't really remember Season Three much! That said, Karen Sammler's journey back to love and Jessie's sexuality were fascinating threads that got cut short, I think.
2. What John Williams theme is your most treasured, and why?
Oh, heavens. I treasure so much of Williams's work that this is really hard -- but for once I'll go with the spirit of the question and not cheat, and thus name only one theme. The "Force Theme" from the Star Wars films, which is to my mind the most resonant of all of the themes from that series. (It started off as "Ben Kenobi's Theme", but then became more strongly associated with the Good Side of the Force over the course of the Saga. For those who aren't as geekily familiar with these scores as I, this is the first theme that plays in Star Wars during the Throne Room finale sequence, as Luke, Han and Chewbacca walk down the aisle toward their medals.)
3. What single location - not a town or region, but a discrete place (a single park, or field, or lake) - is your favorite?
See, now this is just mean! My favorite single location? Aieee!
Well, there's a creek that runs nearby the apartment complex where we live, about two miles away. This creek cuts through a surprisingly deep ravine for these parts, and there's a back road between my town and East Aurora, NY that drops down into this ravine to cross that creek. Sometime I should take pictures when I go that way. I love that in Buffalo you can be in the midst of urban settlement, but still be minutes away from terrain that feels remote.
(Now, expanding my answer out a bit, I adore Southern and Southeastern Erie County. There are spots so gently beautiful around here that I frankly never want to leave.)
4. What piece of art - a song, a tv episode, a film - made you cry the most upon first seeing it - the largest, wettest, most copious tears.
First time? Well, I've always been one to get misty-eyed, or sob outright, at movies. Always. I remember as a kid, watching Snoopy Come Home, and thinking that it was dead certain that Snoopy was never going to get home, and crying my eyes out...or the end of The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy's saying goodbye to her friends before clicking her heels to come home.
More recently? Well, the first time I read it, I was completely unprepared for the emotional wallop of the last half of The Darkest Road, the third book in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. To this day, re-reads of that trilogy bring me to tears.
Certain episodes of Once and Again make me cry, too -- "There Be Dragons", especially.
5. You are given the magical ability to have any career in teh arts you want. But the gift comes with a price; you will no longer be able to physically write (or dictate - don't get picky about the details; youcan't write). Do you take it? And what would you do?
No, I don't. Writing's what I have. It might take me a little while to rule out becoming a musician, but ultimately, no.
OK, that was fun!
1. What potential storyline set up in the third season of Once and Again are you most disapointed they never got to address?
Well, one major reason I'm frustrated at the continued non-availability of Season Three on DVD is that since the show ended five years ago, I don't really remember Season Three much! That said, Karen Sammler's journey back to love and Jessie's sexuality were fascinating threads that got cut short, I think.
2. What John Williams theme is your most treasured, and why?
Oh, heavens. I treasure so much of Williams's work that this is really hard -- but for once I'll go with the spirit of the question and not cheat, and thus name only one theme. The "Force Theme" from the Star Wars films, which is to my mind the most resonant of all of the themes from that series. (It started off as "Ben Kenobi's Theme", but then became more strongly associated with the Good Side of the Force over the course of the Saga. For those who aren't as geekily familiar with these scores as I, this is the first theme that plays in Star Wars during the Throne Room finale sequence, as Luke, Han and Chewbacca walk down the aisle toward their medals.)
3. What single location - not a town or region, but a discrete place (a single park, or field, or lake) - is your favorite?
See, now this is just mean! My favorite single location? Aieee!
Well, there's a creek that runs nearby the apartment complex where we live, about two miles away. This creek cuts through a surprisingly deep ravine for these parts, and there's a back road between my town and East Aurora, NY that drops down into this ravine to cross that creek. Sometime I should take pictures when I go that way. I love that in Buffalo you can be in the midst of urban settlement, but still be minutes away from terrain that feels remote.
(Now, expanding my answer out a bit, I adore Southern and Southeastern Erie County. There are spots so gently beautiful around here that I frankly never want to leave.)
4. What piece of art - a song, a tv episode, a film - made you cry the most upon first seeing it - the largest, wettest, most copious tears.
First time? Well, I've always been one to get misty-eyed, or sob outright, at movies. Always. I remember as a kid, watching Snoopy Come Home, and thinking that it was dead certain that Snoopy was never going to get home, and crying my eyes out...or the end of The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy's saying goodbye to her friends before clicking her heels to come home.
More recently? Well, the first time I read it, I was completely unprepared for the emotional wallop of the last half of The Darkest Road, the third book in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry. To this day, re-reads of that trilogy bring me to tears.
Certain episodes of Once and Again make me cry, too -- "There Be Dragons", especially.
5. You are given the magical ability to have any career in teh arts you want. But the gift comes with a price; you will no longer be able to physically write (or dictate - don't get picky about the details; youcan't write). Do you take it? And what would you do?
No, I don't. Writing's what I have. It might take me a little while to rule out becoming a musician, but ultimately, no.
OK, that was fun!
The cuteness! Aieee!!!
Last night's episode of America's Got Talent featured the greatest ventriloquist act I've ever seen. Don't believe me?
Skip to the one minute mark for the actual performance. It's just sweet, folks.
(And what's with Piers Morgan? He hasn't pissed me off in weeks. Is he nicer this year, or am I off my game?)
Monday, July 23, 2007
Inspiring? Moi???
Judith Heartsong has bestowed upon me the Inspirational Blogger Award, which is rather like the Thinking Blogger Award, only it rewards, you know, inspiration. I'm tremendously flattered, inasmuch as I find it amazing anyone would be inspired by my blatherings in this space, but hey, I've always found it prudent to undervalue my own contributions to as great a degree as possible. And really, I'm glad that it wasn't called the Perspirational Blogger Award. (Which, in normal summertime temps, I could win in a walk, to be honest. Hence the fact that I generally never wear the overalls between May and September.)
So where was I? Well, as part of the Inspirational Blogger gig, I now have to name five recipients myself. The following inspire me (as do many others):
:: Belladonna's Mind Muffins, whose spirit of life-as-adventure (or slapstick!) makes her blog a daily read of mine.
:: Mrs. Mental Multivitamin, whose simple three-word philosophy might have been admired by Moses (it would, after all, have fit onto a single -- and smaller -- stone tablet).
:: Erin, who likes words.
:: I very much doubt she'll accept this tag, but I find Dorcasina's blogging terribly inspiring, in the face of circumstances that I wish weren't so.
:: He'd probably think it weird, but PZ Myers's fiery commitment to science inspires me.
So there we go. Inspiring, no?
Hallowing Deathly
There's a really fun free-for-all, spoilerific Harry Potter thread going on over at Making Light, and I just want to highlight this comment, which is as good a summation of the book's central theme as I'm likely to see. Kudos to Leah Miller, author of the comment.
Sentential Links #107
Installment One Hundred the Seventh! Let us commence!
:: I got through surgery and had my gallbladder removed. (You know, I was remiss in wishing Shamus well before his surgery, so I'll toss him a Sentential Link after it. Because that's totally the same thing. Best to him for his recovery!)
:: Don't even get me started on the gnashing of teeth and gouging of eyes I am reduced to when 'impact' is used as anything but a noun. (You know what's weird? Every person I've ever heard expressing this sentiment is Canadian. Is there something in the Canadian water that so impacts the linguistic centers of their brains?)
:: My marriage, unfortunately, is hanging on by a thread - a frazzled one at that. (My commiserations. And your five questions are on the way!)
:: Is this really a breast cancer blog? (Brand new blog to me. Check it out. In an odd coincidence, I've also started faithfully reading Funky Winkerbean over the last couple of weeks. I hope that this blogger's breast cancer tale has a better ending.)
:: If you've ever taken a creative writing class, you probably had to do that assignment where you take a line from a famous poem and build your own poem out of it. (Oh thank God, no, I didn't. But then, it now occurs to me that I've never taken a creative writing class. Another brand-new blog to me this week.)
:: I've said this before but I cannot stress this enough: I have an irrational fear of mayonnaise. I cannot abide the stuff. When that commercial for squeezable mayo comes on television, I mash my eyes shut and plug my ears and go "LA LA LA LA LA!" I can't handle it. (Yet another brand new blog to me this week! I'm certainly becoming quite the out-going denizen of Blogistan, eh?)
:: But how did you discover Superman and Satan were the same person? (I swear I didn't make this up.)
:: The whims of fate have tossed us like tumbleweeds. Now we have lived in this place for what seems like our average stay in a community. Out of sheer habit, I'm feeling like it's time to move again. (Well, Buffalo always needs good people! You'd always be welcomed here. And we have seasons and stuff.)
:: The format doesn’t need to be perfect, but seriously don’t switch back and forth between stage play and screenplay format. (Are you allowed to do spec scripts in stage play format? Because, truth to tell, I hate writing in screenplay format. Hate it. It makes me feel as though seven of every ten keystrokes are hitting the TAB key to get things in the proper place.)
:: He said of his wife, simply, "I can't live without her." (I don't care that this post is almost three years old. Read it, if nothing else from this batch of links. Blogging politics is one thing. Blogging a love story is something else.)
And so we wrap up for this week.
:: I got through surgery and had my gallbladder removed. (You know, I was remiss in wishing Shamus well before his surgery, so I'll toss him a Sentential Link after it. Because that's totally the same thing. Best to him for his recovery!)
:: Don't even get me started on the gnashing of teeth and gouging of eyes I am reduced to when 'impact' is used as anything but a noun. (You know what's weird? Every person I've ever heard expressing this sentiment is Canadian. Is there something in the Canadian water that so impacts the linguistic centers of their brains?)
:: My marriage, unfortunately, is hanging on by a thread - a frazzled one at that. (My commiserations. And your five questions are on the way!)
:: Is this really a breast cancer blog? (Brand new blog to me. Check it out. In an odd coincidence, I've also started faithfully reading Funky Winkerbean over the last couple of weeks. I hope that this blogger's breast cancer tale has a better ending.)
:: If you've ever taken a creative writing class, you probably had to do that assignment where you take a line from a famous poem and build your own poem out of it. (Oh thank God, no, I didn't. But then, it now occurs to me that I've never taken a creative writing class. Another brand-new blog to me this week.)
:: I've said this before but I cannot stress this enough: I have an irrational fear of mayonnaise. I cannot abide the stuff. When that commercial for squeezable mayo comes on television, I mash my eyes shut and plug my ears and go "LA LA LA LA LA!" I can't handle it. (Yet another brand new blog to me this week! I'm certainly becoming quite the out-going denizen of Blogistan, eh?)
:: But how did you discover Superman and Satan were the same person? (I swear I didn't make this up.)
:: The whims of fate have tossed us like tumbleweeds. Now we have lived in this place for what seems like our average stay in a community. Out of sheer habit, I'm feeling like it's time to move again. (Well, Buffalo always needs good people! You'd always be welcomed here. And we have seasons and stuff.)
:: The format doesn’t need to be perfect, but seriously don’t switch back and forth between stage play and screenplay format. (Are you allowed to do spec scripts in stage play format? Because, truth to tell, I hate writing in screenplay format. Hate it. It makes me feel as though seven of every ten keystrokes are hitting the TAB key to get things in the proper place.)
:: He said of his wife, simply, "I can't live without her." (I don't care that this post is almost three years old. Read it, if nothing else from this batch of links. Blogging politics is one thing. Blogging a love story is something else.)
And so we wrap up for this week.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Deathly Hallowing
Time for some first impressions on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I finished reading about an hour ago. I'll color-obscure the text here, so you'll have to highlight to read it.
Oh, and for the purposes of the comments thread for this post, I grant full spoiler power, seeing as how I'm writing spoilers in the post itself. So if you don't want spoilers, don't highlight the text below, and don't read the comments, either!
These are all just random thoughts, which I'm plopping out there as they come to me.
:: I love that Rowling had it come down to Harry versus Voldemort, for all the marbles, in front of everybody. That was a masterstroke.
:: There's a little too much deus ex machina in the front half of the book. Too many times Harry and company seem to get the key bit of information by sheer luck, with one particular instance -- when they just happen to be huddling somewhere in the countryside under the Invisible Cloak when a group of people who happen to know an awful lot about what's going on just happen to pick that exact spot to sit down and have a long conversation -- standing out.
:: Hey, David Weber! This is how you stop your final battle in order to have an infodump. JK Rowling has her stylistic faults, but she is the simple best writer on the planet at conveying plot information without grinding everything to a halt while she does so.
:: The single best thing in the book, and maybe the best moment in the entire series, is the moment of Severus Snape's death. He expires as he gazes one last time in Lily Potter's eyes (since we've been told many times that Harry has Lily's eyes).
:: Snape was a good guy after all. I always thought so. Except for when I didn't. However, it didn't play out the way I thought it might: turns out that Dumbledore didn't need to swear Snape to an unbreakable vow in order to commit Snape to killing him. (Of course, the interesting question there is, what if Dumbledore had not been already doomed to die?)
:: At times, the Death Eaters seem like Imperial Storm Troopers, don't they?
:: Well, a Weasley had to die sooner or later, right? I'm surprised Rowling didn't mine that for one last bit about everyone's inability to tell them apart.
:: I knew Neville would have some big role to play! Yay!
:: I was completely wrong about the Dursleys! Boo! I thought for sure there'd be some small way in which they turned out to be important in the end, but not so much. Just a bit of character growth for Dudley. (But I do think Rowling missed an opportunity here. In the Epilogue, it would have been cool if another of the new students heading to Hogwarts had been Dudley's, yes? Another Muggle-born?)
:: I liked that the events of Dumbledore's life as depicted in the tell-all book are true, and that it's all left up to interpretation.
:: What's next for JK Rowling? Hogwarts: The Next Generation? Something else entirely? Or will she just put down her pen and bask in the fact that she's made Harold Bloom's life miserable? No idea, here -- but for my part, thanks, Ms. Rowling. You told a hell of a tale here.
Oh, and for the purposes of the comments thread for this post, I grant full spoiler power, seeing as how I'm writing spoilers in the post itself. So if you don't want spoilers, don't highlight the text below, and don't read the comments, either!
These are all just random thoughts, which I'm plopping out there as they come to me.
:: I love that Rowling had it come down to Harry versus Voldemort, for all the marbles, in front of everybody. That was a masterstroke.
:: There's a little too much deus ex machina in the front half of the book. Too many times Harry and company seem to get the key bit of information by sheer luck, with one particular instance -- when they just happen to be huddling somewhere in the countryside under the Invisible Cloak when a group of people who happen to know an awful lot about what's going on just happen to pick that exact spot to sit down and have a long conversation -- standing out.
:: Hey, David Weber! This is how you stop your final battle in order to have an infodump. JK Rowling has her stylistic faults, but she is the simple best writer on the planet at conveying plot information without grinding everything to a halt while she does so.
:: The single best thing in the book, and maybe the best moment in the entire series, is the moment of Severus Snape's death. He expires as he gazes one last time in Lily Potter's eyes (since we've been told many times that Harry has Lily's eyes).
:: Snape was a good guy after all. I always thought so. Except for when I didn't. However, it didn't play out the way I thought it might: turns out that Dumbledore didn't need to swear Snape to an unbreakable vow in order to commit Snape to killing him. (Of course, the interesting question there is, what if Dumbledore had not been already doomed to die?)
:: At times, the Death Eaters seem like Imperial Storm Troopers, don't they?
:: Well, a Weasley had to die sooner or later, right? I'm surprised Rowling didn't mine that for one last bit about everyone's inability to tell them apart.
:: I knew Neville would have some big role to play! Yay!
:: I was completely wrong about the Dursleys! Boo! I thought for sure there'd be some small way in which they turned out to be important in the end, but not so much. Just a bit of character growth for Dudley. (But I do think Rowling missed an opportunity here. In the Epilogue, it would have been cool if another of the new students heading to Hogwarts had been Dudley's, yes? Another Muggle-born?)
:: I liked that the events of Dumbledore's life as depicted in the tell-all book are true, and that it's all left up to interpretation.
:: What's next for JK Rowling? Hogwarts: The Next Generation? Something else entirely? Or will she just put down her pen and bask in the fact that she's made Harold Bloom's life miserable? No idea, here -- but for my part, thanks, Ms. Rowling. You told a hell of a tale here.
And there it is. So long, Harry. It's been fun.
Sunday Burst of Weirdness
Different kinds of weirdness from the week gone by:
:: I knicked this photo from this post by Neddie Jingo, because I thought it was hilarious. For all I know, this may be one of those types of graffiti that are known the world over and which I somehow have completely missed, but anyway:
In conjunction with this John Scalzi post, I envision John just standing there, hitting the button over and over again, chortling like a Vegas gambling addict who can't stop putting money in the slots, as he basks in vending-machine bacony goodness.
:: I work with this guy at The Store:
Here he is again, in a longer one, with some other guy:
:: Remember in Wayne's World, when Wayne and Garth engage in the pastime of lying face-up about twenty feet from the leading edge of one of O'Hare's runways? Well, check this out:
Here's another, and note the dust and wind that gets kicked up by the jet's wake:
MeFi has an entire thread about this kind of thing right now. That airport has a really short runway, with water pretty much flanking in on all sides. Here's the cockpit's point of view of that same approach:
And here's an entire gallery of landing sites to test the mettle of any pilot. Frankly, as neat as the St. Maarten Island landing looks, this one would scare the living crap out of me.
I wouldn't land there with Han Solo at the controls!
:: I knicked this photo from this post by Neddie Jingo, because I thought it was hilarious. For all I know, this may be one of those types of graffiti that are known the world over and which I somehow have completely missed, but anyway:
In conjunction with this John Scalzi post, I envision John just standing there, hitting the button over and over again, chortling like a Vegas gambling addict who can't stop putting money in the slots, as he basks in vending-machine bacony goodness.
:: I work with this guy at The Store:
Here he is again, in a longer one, with some other guy:
:: Remember in Wayne's World, when Wayne and Garth engage in the pastime of lying face-up about twenty feet from the leading edge of one of O'Hare's runways? Well, check this out:
Here's another, and note the dust and wind that gets kicked up by the jet's wake:
MeFi has an entire thread about this kind of thing right now. That airport has a really short runway, with water pretty much flanking in on all sides. Here's the cockpit's point of view of that same approach:
And here's an entire gallery of landing sites to test the mettle of any pilot. Frankly, as neat as the St. Maarten Island landing looks, this one would scare the living crap out of me.
I wouldn't land there with Han Solo at the controls!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The Interview Meme, yet again! (Part Deux)
Roger hit me with some questions from the Great Interview Meme, and I'm now getting 'round to answering them. Because I am just that prompt, let me tell you!
1. So what ARE the other bloggers, other than yourself, specifically griping about when they talk about "the folks in Albany"?
It's generally a short-hand for the state government, which in our state is rife with patronage, corrupt, devoted to maintaining the status quo of power, et cetera and so forth. Basically, "the folks in Albany" is a shorthand for "the giant f***ing albatross that's been hung around the neck of a region (Upstate NY) that is getting really really tired of shipping all of its homegrown talent elsewhere, like we're the Pittsburgh Pirates of the nation."
In truth, I don't even think of Albany as a place, in the sense that there are people living there who need to get groceries and fix the lawn mower and who worry about their back pain or get nervous about the fact that the car they just paid off three months ago is now making a suspicious knocking noise. A couple of years ago I received for review from GMR several CDs by a Celtic band from the Albany era (Hair of the Dog, to be precise), and I actually remember thinking, "Wow, they have music in Albany?"
So yeah, Albany is basically Mordor. With freeways running through it.
2. There's a new movie, You Kill Me, with Ben Kingsley as a Polish mob hit man from Buffalo. Is there a Polish mob in Buffalo, and will you see the movie?
If there's a Polish mob here, I know nothing about it. Really, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe one of my Buffalo readers can say something here? As for the movie, I kind of doubt it. Mob stories just tend to not interest me much.
3. How do you think the current and upcoming restrictions on travel between the U.S. and Canada affect the border economies, particularly the Buff/NF area?
Alan Bedenko has been all over this, but generally I think it's a whole bunch of incredibly stupid policy, which makes it perfectly in sync with the rest of the current Administration's "War on Terror". I'm a fan of trade and open borders (as open as possible), and in a time when the Niagara Frontier is suffering economically during an era of ever-greater globalization, sticking us behind a fence just makes me very sad.
4. How do you feel about the image of Buffalo as a loser? Four Super Bowl losses in a row (four more games than some teams have ever been in), snowy (even though Syracuse, on a year-to-year basis gets more), economically depressed (well, OK, there's something to that).
No other way to say it: it pisses me off. I get really tired of "media narratives", whether they're in politics or regional stuff like Buffalo's rep. It's just laziness: "Oh look, it's snowing in Buffalo again. Send a camera crew!" Bah.
5. Do you know the lyrics to "Erie Canal"? Did you learn them in school, or where? Have you heard the Springsteen version? Does it sound different to you from the one you learned?
I don't know the lyrics any longer, but we did do that song way back in grade school. Funny thing is, I distinctly remember doing that song at my grade school in Portland, OR, which makes me think that the historical significance of the Canal is sometimes undersold. As for the Springsteen version, I don't know it, but will look it up.
OK, if anyone else wants any questions, feel free to ask, since this rescusitates the Great Interview Meme!
1. So what ARE the other bloggers, other than yourself, specifically griping about when they talk about "the folks in Albany"?
It's generally a short-hand for the state government, which in our state is rife with patronage, corrupt, devoted to maintaining the status quo of power, et cetera and so forth. Basically, "the folks in Albany" is a shorthand for "the giant f***ing albatross that's been hung around the neck of a region (Upstate NY) that is getting really really tired of shipping all of its homegrown talent elsewhere, like we're the Pittsburgh Pirates of the nation."
In truth, I don't even think of Albany as a place, in the sense that there are people living there who need to get groceries and fix the lawn mower and who worry about their back pain or get nervous about the fact that the car they just paid off three months ago is now making a suspicious knocking noise. A couple of years ago I received for review from GMR several CDs by a Celtic band from the Albany era (Hair of the Dog, to be precise), and I actually remember thinking, "Wow, they have music in Albany?"
So yeah, Albany is basically Mordor. With freeways running through it.
2. There's a new movie, You Kill Me, with Ben Kingsley as a Polish mob hit man from Buffalo. Is there a Polish mob in Buffalo, and will you see the movie?
If there's a Polish mob here, I know nothing about it. Really, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe one of my Buffalo readers can say something here? As for the movie, I kind of doubt it. Mob stories just tend to not interest me much.
3. How do you think the current and upcoming restrictions on travel between the U.S. and Canada affect the border economies, particularly the Buff/NF area?
Alan Bedenko has been all over this, but generally I think it's a whole bunch of incredibly stupid policy, which makes it perfectly in sync with the rest of the current Administration's "War on Terror". I'm a fan of trade and open borders (as open as possible), and in a time when the Niagara Frontier is suffering economically during an era of ever-greater globalization, sticking us behind a fence just makes me very sad.
4. How do you feel about the image of Buffalo as a loser? Four Super Bowl losses in a row (four more games than some teams have ever been in), snowy (even though Syracuse, on a year-to-year basis gets more), economically depressed (well, OK, there's something to that).
No other way to say it: it pisses me off. I get really tired of "media narratives", whether they're in politics or regional stuff like Buffalo's rep. It's just laziness: "Oh look, it's snowing in Buffalo again. Send a camera crew!" Bah.
5. Do you know the lyrics to "Erie Canal"? Did you learn them in school, or where? Have you heard the Springsteen version? Does it sound different to you from the one you learned?
I don't know the lyrics any longer, but we did do that song way back in grade school. Funny thing is, I distinctly remember doing that song at my grade school in Portland, OR, which makes me think that the historical significance of the Canal is sometimes undersold. As for the Springsteen version, I don't know it, but will look it up.
OK, if anyone else wants any questions, feel free to ask, since this rescusitates the Great Interview Meme!
I win!
Well, the tenth time was the charm: last week's Unidentified Earth location has remained Unidentified, which means I win, and therefore I get all your Quatloo's. Heh!
As for the solution, the two hints probably weren't as helpful -- but the second one, referring to the movie that used that location coming out in 1969, pinpoints my favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The location is Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant that sits atop the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps. In the movie, Piz Gloria was the hideout of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, where he was masquerading as "Count Balthasar de Bleuchamp", and using Piz Gloria as a facility for "allergy research". (Turns out he was really developing a biological weapon for his next diabolical scheme.)
The construction of Piz Gloria was actually partly funded by the film's production company, in exchange for exclusive filming rights. As you look at the Google satellite, shot, the round conical shape is the roof of the restaurant, while the circular platform off to the left (connected by walkway) is a helipad. Piz Gloria is also accessible by cable car from below.
I think the location was also obfuscated a bit by virtue of the location having been apparently imaged during summer, when the Alps are quite a bit less snowy, except on their shadowed north faces. The almost "lunar" look to the location helped make it a lot different from in the film, when it's all snow as far as the eye can see (which it had to have been, really, since James Bond could hardly have escaped from Piz Gloria on skis had it been otherwise).
So there you go.
As for the solution, the two hints probably weren't as helpful -- but the second one, referring to the movie that used that location coming out in 1969, pinpoints my favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The location is Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant that sits atop the Schilthorn in the Swiss Alps. In the movie, Piz Gloria was the hideout of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, where he was masquerading as "Count Balthasar de Bleuchamp", and using Piz Gloria as a facility for "allergy research". (Turns out he was really developing a biological weapon for his next diabolical scheme.)
The construction of Piz Gloria was actually partly funded by the film's production company, in exchange for exclusive filming rights. As you look at the Google satellite, shot, the round conical shape is the roof of the restaurant, while the circular platform off to the left (connected by walkway) is a helipad. Piz Gloria is also accessible by cable car from below.
I think the location was also obfuscated a bit by virtue of the location having been apparently imaged during summer, when the Alps are quite a bit less snowy, except on their shadowed north faces. The almost "lunar" look to the location helped make it a lot different from in the film, when it's all snow as far as the eye can see (which it had to have been, really, since James Bond could hardly have escaped from Piz Gloria on skis had it been otherwise).
So there you go.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
But what's the deal with THE DURSLEYS???
Cracked.com's "Six Questions the Final Harry Potter Book Had Better F***ing Answer:
It's expected that the main narrative of The Deathly Hallows will be about Harry's hunt for the remaining Horcruxes before his final confrontation with Voldemort. If this is true, it means that the final Harry Potter Book will have the same plot as basically every RPG ever made, what with Harry having to "collect the Seven Important Things" to defeat the "loosely explained magic barrier" which will allow him to access the "final dungeon," and in the end he'll still be a "massive nerd."
Geez. I hope we didn't come this far to have JK Rowling end up channeling Terry Brooks. Wouldn't that be a let-down.
Personally, I think it would be funny if the book ended with Harry and friends sitting around a table at the Hogwarts dining room, munching Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, wondering if at any moment one of Voldemort's agents would burst in and kill them all -- and then the last page ended in mid-sentence, with seven or eight blank pages following thereafter, making people wonder if their book was somehow affected by a screwup by the publishing company....
Toonz
Apparently I was tagged the other day by Paul on a quiz-meme thing where I'm supposed to write about between 5 and 10 "songs" (which I loosely interpret as, well, any musical work at all) that have had a large impact on me. Hmmmmm...well, I'll try to stay away from my "usual suspects", i.e., works or songs that I've waxed poetic about in this space before. With maybe one or two exceptions.
:: "Building the Barn", by Maurice Jarre, from Witness. OK, Witness is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think it's damned near flawless. The only faults I personally find with it are that (a) the subplot with Hochleitner's (Alexander Godunov) jealousy of John Book's relationship with Rachel is just slightly overplayed, and (b) the score by Maurice Jarre is, with one giant exception, disappointing brooding synthesizer crap.
The one exception, though, is absolutely remarkable: the cue that underscores the wonderful barn-raising set piece. I almost wonder if Jarre intentionally made the rest of his score as nondescript as it is, so this one cue would stand out, but stand out it does. At the outset it sounds almost like a retread of Pachelbel's Canon in D, but then it goes into its own thing.
On a more personal note, whenever I listen to this track now (a stunning version for full orchestra, as opposed to synth, can be heard on this album), I think back to this day, and the time I spent doing something rather like a barnraising, and at the side of my best friend.
:: "Wonderful World", by Sam Cooke. Featured in the other great scene from Witness (although in a version not sung by Cooke). I love Sam Cooke, and this is my favorite of his songs.
:: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, by Sergei Rachmaninov. OK, here's one that I've waxed poetic about before, but I can't help it. I often hear Ravel's Bolero described as "erotic" or "sensual", but damned if I can't ever hear those qualities. But you know what? I was listening to the Rachmaninov Second a week or two back, and, well, I can't help but use adjectives like that to describe it, the way it constantly ebbs and flows, the epic nature of its emotion. I don't usually describe music in such stark terms, but in the Rachmaninov Second I hear the distillation of love itself. I don't know how to say it any other way.
:: Irish Tune from County Derry, by Percy Grainger. This was the first piece we played in band, on the first day of my freshman year of college. I think my love of Celtic music was born here. I love this lush and gorgeous setting, with its ingeniously concealed dissonances.
:: "The Portrait", by James Horner, from Titanic. Bite me, Titanic haters. I love this movie, and that's a fact. The music, however, is another story -- there's some awfully good stuff here from Horner, as well as some tremendously lazy stuff, and the "action" writing during the sinking is mostly rhythmic thrashing. While I don't hate "My Heart Will Go On", I will certainly admit that it's been played to death to the point where it's pretty much a complete cliche of a song. However, the solo piano rendition of that theme, heard during the scene where Jack sketches the nude Rose, is soft, tasteful, and delicately beautiful.
:: "The Grand Finale", by Danny Elfman, from Edward Scissorhands. I'm not the biggest Elfman fan in the world, but he's had his moments, and this track contains about nine of them.
:: "Inside Your Heaven", by Carrie Underwood. The tune's nothing groundbreaking, and the lyrics are pretty much your standard insipid pop-ballad poetics. And yet, I love this song so. Shoot me. Right now.
:: "I Dreamed a Dream", from Les Miserables. How I want to see this show, someday, seeing as how I know every note in its score from listening to the complete recordings for so long. "No song unsung, no wine untasted...."
:: "One for my Baby (and One More for the Road)". Classic song. I love the version by Frank Sinatra off his Only the Lonely album. Can't listen to that album too much, though. It's never an easy listen, and these days, it would probably drive me to either suicide or body-piercing. Maybe even a tattoo or something.
OK, that's all. I guess I'm supposed to tag people now, but I think all the people I'd normally tag have already done this one, so feel free to grab-and-go, folks.
:: "Building the Barn", by Maurice Jarre, from Witness. OK, Witness is one of my all-time favorite movies. I think it's damned near flawless. The only faults I personally find with it are that (a) the subplot with Hochleitner's (Alexander Godunov) jealousy of John Book's relationship with Rachel is just slightly overplayed, and (b) the score by Maurice Jarre is, with one giant exception, disappointing brooding synthesizer crap.
The one exception, though, is absolutely remarkable: the cue that underscores the wonderful barn-raising set piece. I almost wonder if Jarre intentionally made the rest of his score as nondescript as it is, so this one cue would stand out, but stand out it does. At the outset it sounds almost like a retread of Pachelbel's Canon in D, but then it goes into its own thing.
On a more personal note, whenever I listen to this track now (a stunning version for full orchestra, as opposed to synth, can be heard on this album), I think back to this day, and the time I spent doing something rather like a barnraising, and at the side of my best friend.
:: "Wonderful World", by Sam Cooke. Featured in the other great scene from Witness (although in a version not sung by Cooke). I love Sam Cooke, and this is my favorite of his songs.
:: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, by Sergei Rachmaninov. OK, here's one that I've waxed poetic about before, but I can't help it. I often hear Ravel's Bolero described as "erotic" or "sensual", but damned if I can't ever hear those qualities. But you know what? I was listening to the Rachmaninov Second a week or two back, and, well, I can't help but use adjectives like that to describe it, the way it constantly ebbs and flows, the epic nature of its emotion. I don't usually describe music in such stark terms, but in the Rachmaninov Second I hear the distillation of love itself. I don't know how to say it any other way.
:: Irish Tune from County Derry, by Percy Grainger. This was the first piece we played in band, on the first day of my freshman year of college. I think my love of Celtic music was born here. I love this lush and gorgeous setting, with its ingeniously concealed dissonances.
:: "The Portrait", by James Horner, from Titanic. Bite me, Titanic haters. I love this movie, and that's a fact. The music, however, is another story -- there's some awfully good stuff here from Horner, as well as some tremendously lazy stuff, and the "action" writing during the sinking is mostly rhythmic thrashing. While I don't hate "My Heart Will Go On", I will certainly admit that it's been played to death to the point where it's pretty much a complete cliche of a song. However, the solo piano rendition of that theme, heard during the scene where Jack sketches the nude Rose, is soft, tasteful, and delicately beautiful.
:: "The Grand Finale", by Danny Elfman, from Edward Scissorhands. I'm not the biggest Elfman fan in the world, but he's had his moments, and this track contains about nine of them.
:: "Inside Your Heaven", by Carrie Underwood. The tune's nothing groundbreaking, and the lyrics are pretty much your standard insipid pop-ballad poetics. And yet, I love this song so. Shoot me. Right now.
:: "I Dreamed a Dream", from Les Miserables. How I want to see this show, someday, seeing as how I know every note in its score from listening to the complete recordings for so long. "No song unsung, no wine untasted...."
:: "One for my Baby (and One More for the Road)". Classic song. I love the version by Frank Sinatra off his Only the Lonely album. Can't listen to that album too much, though. It's never an easy listen, and these days, it would probably drive me to either suicide or body-piercing. Maybe even a tattoo or something.
OK, that's all. I guess I'm supposed to tag people now, but I think all the people I'd normally tag have already done this one, so feel free to grab-and-go, folks.
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