tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79061808285448289942023-11-16T10:59:12.184-08:00I Wear My Snark Upon My SleevePaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.comBlogger360125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-57358813200246768942011-02-12T09:22:00.000-08:002011-03-19T13:50:05.226-07:00Goodnight BlogThanks to all the people who've ever read this blog. Thanks especially to the people who've ever read closely enough to leave even a single comment. I'm retiring this blog, not because of a new addition to my immediate family (or for lack of comments), but because I noticed I was starting to repeat myself. The risk of repetition always comes up when I'm making music playlists. It's not that I have so few favorite songs that I'm like a teeny bopper who wears out the grooves on a record, but my wife does think I'm ridiculous for never allowing the same song to be included on two different playlists. I've broken my own rule this time as half of the songs listed below have been mentioned before on this blog (I'll make notes for when and where). After realizing that certain songs I wanted to use for my daughter's "Sleepytime" mix had already been used on my son's a long time ago, I came up with a new rule - and sole criterion - her songs had to be girlier. Now that's not to say that the songs on my son's were more rough and tumble. All the songs on both playlists are peaceful, but as I went back through my son's mix I noticed for the first time that his songs are a little more mischievous (and so is he). So far my daughter has proved to be more mellow (she only cries when hungry and sleeps the rest of the time). She has also brought me to tears more than my son ever did (and so does her playlist). If you make it more than halfway through her mix without choking up, either you have no heart or maybe you just like your music a little more playful (so does my son).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RqLt3TcDtiG2YnvzLvf5VMOYOOBitArSUong6WRJfEpM_uVl_1JhEesn0WE7zndEoTV2_qZ-0wksckbZLm9bbI62VYnMIYUoR4O0MqYuSqQHI6mpOLpS2_e1QT2CaM88KbNk8H4gXT8/s1600/DSC08427.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RqLt3TcDtiG2YnvzLvf5VMOYOOBitArSUong6WRJfEpM_uVl_1JhEesn0WE7zndEoTV2_qZ-0wksckbZLm9bbI62VYnMIYUoR4O0MqYuSqQHI6mpOLpS2_e1QT2CaM88KbNk8H4gXT8/s400/DSC08427.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572644676707121442" /></a><strong>Sleepytime Mix for My Newborn Daughter</strong><br />1. "Lazy Calm" - Cocteau Twins (see also my 6/19/10 post)<br />2. "Pay Attention/In a World of My Own" (from the movie, <em>Alice in Wonderland</em>) - Kathryn Beaumont <br />3. "La vie en rose" - Édith Piaf (see also my 3/10/09 post)<br />4. "Somewhere My Love" - Jo Stafford & Paul Weston & His Orchestra<br />5. "Sumiregusa" - Enya<br />6. "Canção da America" - Milton Nascimento<br />7. "Granada" - Emilio de Benito (see also my 12/27/08 post)<br />8. "December" - Norah Jones (see also my 12/22/10 post)<br />9. "Brahms Lullaby" - Nat "King" Cole<br />10. "Good Night" - The Beatles<br />11. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" - Billy Joel<br />12. "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor" (from the movie, <em>An American Tail</em>) - James Horner <br />13. "In Pace" - Sarah Brightman<br />14. "Strauss II: Die Fledermaus Act 1 Duettino" - The APM Orchestra<br />15. "Delibes: Flower Duet" - Cerise (see also my 10/4/10 post)<br />16. "Debussy: Rêverie" - Zoltán Kocsis<br />17. "Saint-Saëns: The Swan" - Jascha Silberstein and Marie Goossens (see also my 5/2/09 post)<br />18. "Borodin: String Quartet No. 2 (Nocturne)" - Prague Quartet<br />19. "Bach: Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major" - Yo-Yo Ma (see also my 2/25/09 post)<br />20. "Doug Reflects" (from the movie, <em>The Town</em>) - Harry Gregson-Williams and David Buckley<br />21. "Made By Maid" - Laura Marling<br />22. "Mockingbird Hill" - Leo Kottke<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzVZZwHwWgQOEOCZyic0-sZ3VeKmSyqVsIfyIsBc0wrSFEpMvzA5F3560lX5E-Jfry9P-_po4w14iH4Wb5K3IXGSppaPmpwjWARACiroJLHaDAgS_JVb-EJKkBVey89l6jg5_g8G3myo/s1600/christmas07+002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzVZZwHwWgQOEOCZyic0-sZ3VeKmSyqVsIfyIsBc0wrSFEpMvzA5F3560lX5E-Jfry9P-_po4w14iH4Wb5K3IXGSppaPmpwjWARACiroJLHaDAgS_JVb-EJKkBVey89l6jg5_g8G3myo/s400/christmas07+002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572642452246218674" /></a><strong>Sleepytime Mix for My Son (from four years ago)</strong><br />1. "Red Rabbits" - The Shins<br />2. "Soldier Jane" - Beck<br />3. "March of the Celts" - Enya<br />4. "Extraordinary Machine" - Fiona Apple<br />5. "The Medals" (from the movie, <em>Flags of Our Fathers</em>) - Clint Eastwood<br />6. "When You Wish Upon a Star" (from the movie, <em>Pinocchio</em>) - Disney Studio Chorus<br />7. "Exploring/Say Bird/Flower" (from the movie, <em>Bambi</em>) - Disney Studio Orchestra<br />8. "Intro Versailles" (from the movie, <em>Marie Antoinette</em>) - Brian Reitzell<br />9. "Couperin: Les barricades mystérieuses" – Brian Reitzell<br />10. "Fools Rush In (Kevin Shields Remix)" - Bow Wow Wow<br />11. "Avril 14th" - Aphex Twin<br />12. "Tommib Help Buss" - Squarepusher<br />13. "Rameau: Tristes Apprêts, Pâles Flambeaux" - W. Christie<br />14. "Opus 23" - Dustin O'Halloran<br />15. "Es ist ein ros entsprungen" - Baltimore Consort<br />16. "Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro Act 3 Duettino" - Deutsche Oper Berlin (see also my 3/2/10 post)<br />17. "Return to the Heart" - David Lanz<br />18. "Bach: Sleepers Wake (Cantata 140)" - Balázs Szokolay<br />19. "Vivaldi: "Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Largo" (Winter) - Anne-Sophie Mutter<br />20. "Puccini: O Mio Bambino Caro (Instrumental)" - Alexander Warenberg<br />21. "Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat major" - London Philharmonic Orchestra<br />22. "All That Makes Us Human Continues" - BT (see also my 9/9/08 post)Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-55661063349664431822011-02-01T05:04:00.000-08:002011-02-03T22:35:14.269-08:00January BooksThese are some titles from last month's <i>New York Times Book Review</i> section and <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> that I might like to read at some point:<br /><br /><b>Fiction</b><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfXECsfT-92M1AZfLvoXOHlnhQ9SmdkPFeEWcOAScysL0aaDvk0ylSGNc6YZh0-6CxgLE7rc-bj4RqzYEWrwBkbdXbIGbQ0SFULWM5hQFPt5eCdbRhXW5wrK_2ikGTDagpctCwogWCbs/s1600/selected+stories.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnfXECsfT-92M1AZfLvoXOHlnhQ9SmdkPFeEWcOAScysL0aaDvk0ylSGNc6YZh0-6CxgLE7rc-bj4RqzYEWrwBkbdXbIGbQ0SFULWM5hQFPt5eCdbRhXW5wrK_2ikGTDagpctCwogWCbs/s400/selected+stories.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569719089814984466" /></a><i>The Intimates</i> - Ralph Sassone; "Apparently, people didn't look at pictures anymore and ask if they were lifelike. They looked at their lives and compared them to images they'd seen somewhere."<br /><br /><i>The Lost Books of the Odyssey</i> - Zachary Mason; "Chapters are told from the point of view of Odysseus, Achilles, even Polyphemus the Cyclops; throughout, Mason envisions alternate fates for these characters."<br /><br /><i>The Lost Gate</i> - Orson Scott Card; "There is a hidden library with only a few dozen books that are written in a secret language which Dan and his cousins are expected to learn. But they are never to speak a word of it with anyone else, or even where anyone else might hear. There are other secrets too, even secrets kept from Dan. And that will lead to disaster."<br /><br /><i>Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!</i> - Douglas Coupland; "Takes a pop-culture approach to the man known for the phrase 'the medium is the message,' a deep thinker who ended up popularized almost in spite of himself."<br /><br /><i>The Radleys</i> - Matt Haig; "The parents know what they are, and have concealed this knowlege from their teenage kids, who, inadvertently abstaining from the blood they don't know they need to drink, suffer from nausea, insomnia, weakness, 'photodermatosis,' and mortifying high school unpopularity. Then one night, attacked by a large ogre of a boy, the daughter discovers her true nature the hard way, precipitating a vampire family crisis."<br /><br /><b>Nonfiction</b><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiim7KuCHBOiQOzkUhaJreMoWBh_VFEE6DqFfAM7079GBuEhNFCADqx2gxjjOid4jWjlVfjJCIsbbvJleilEkOgWw-VXWZ0h7o5_OKOYCX_8bwnJyYd3K55iQysgaYfloIvlWV5QttwD5c/s1600/bird+cloud.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiim7KuCHBOiQOzkUhaJreMoWBh_VFEE6DqFfAM7079GBuEhNFCADqx2gxjjOid4jWjlVfjJCIsbbvJleilEkOgWw-VXWZ0h7o5_OKOYCX_8bwnJyYd3K55iQysgaYfloIvlWV5QttwD5c/s400/bird+cloud.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569719085467806402" /></a><i>Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed</i> - Larry Rohter; "A <i>Times</i> reporter's affectionate account."<br /><br /><i>The Function of Criticism Today</i> - Alfred Kazin; "Any critic who is any good is going to write out of a profound inner struggle between what has been and what must be, the values he is used to and those which presently exist, between the past and the present out of which the future must be born. This struggle with oneself as well as with the age, out of which something must be written and which therefore can be read - this is my test for a critic."<br /><br /><i>A Good Talk: The Story and Skill of Conversation</i> - Daniel Menaker; A former executive at Random House, Menaker draws on an array of sources - the dating scene, Socrates, studies on the hormone oxytocin, Barack Obama - in this exploration of how conversation has evolved and how it works."<br /><br /><i>How I Killed Pluto: And Why It Had It Coming</i> - Mike Brown; "The astronomer behind the discovery that led to Pluto's demotion from planethood discusses his work and his family life."<br /><br /><i>Public Enemies: Dueling Writers Take On Each Other and the World</i> - Bernard Henri Levy and Michel Houellebecq; "Scorned by the French public and media, the two provocateurs decided to examine all that hatred with this epistolary collection in which they assault each other, the public, and, most often, themselves with an arsenal of bitterly sarcastic bons mots."Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-4404444437734680222011-01-01T06:34:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:53:16.324-07:00Happy New Year, Part IIII will remember 2010 as the first year I saw a movie trailer where the only release date was for iTunes (no attempt at a theatrical run or DVD pressing to boot), that the video game <i>Guitar Hero</i> got a functioning six-string guitar and people called it progress, and Wendy's burger chain changed their fries recipe to be more "natural."<br /><br /><b>My Favorite Non-New Release Movie I Saw for the First Time</b> - <i>My Geisha</i> (1962); second place goes to <em>Mr. Saturday Night</em> (1992) and third place goes to <em>Biloxi Blues</em> (1988)<br /><br /><b>My Movie-Watching Resolution</b> - to give up on new releases; as much as I love going to the theater, I gotta get used to the fact that they might not be around forever; I hate this trend toward 3D (especially as a last ditch effort to "save multiplexes") and as much as I enjoyed the remake of <i>True Grit</i>, it mostly just made me realize that all movies used to be that good; it's been bothering me for years when people say that the quality of Hollywood movies has been steadily decreasing because I don't think box office numbers are a true measure of anything, but then a movie like <i>Avatar</i> makes as much as it does and it makes me question the entire direction that Hollywood is heading<br /><br />For the "Best and Worst Movies" I saw the first half of the year, see my 7/8/10 post (combine the lists there with the ones here for my top ten of 2010).<br /><br /><strong>Best New Movies I've Seen Since July</strong> (in order of personal significance; although I enjoyed <em>Black Swan, Inception</em> and <em>True Grit</em>, I wouldn't call any of them favorites; I still look forward to watching <em>127 Hours, The Fighter</em> and <em>The King's Speech</em>)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-64g1ShJ9kDSuOaDCsY6VnhwL4wgcaArrmyVaJ3uycpjXQK2K3baY9ePO9NBaZKGhRhgvgfpxfIuKje1LFxRP4z3xa4T4BLypUDRYtIH5gniHpxUo88gR6EbsR8LNt6zHh0eP1Iz_Iw/s1600/220px-Going_the_distance_2010_poster.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 326px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF-64g1ShJ9kDSuOaDCsY6VnhwL4wgcaArrmyVaJ3uycpjXQK2K3baY9ePO9NBaZKGhRhgvgfpxfIuKje1LFxRP4z3xa4T4BLypUDRYtIH5gniHpxUo88gR6EbsR8LNt6zHh0eP1Iz_Iw/s400/220px-Going_the_distance_2010_poster.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557401665865024242" /></a>1. <em>Burlesque</em> (November 26) I keep telling everyone that if they liked <em>Coyote Ugly</em> they'll love <em>Burlesque</em> (and that's coming from someone who never liked Cher or Christina Aguilera). Then people keep telling me that they've never seen <em>Coyote Ugly</em>. But that doesn't exactly refute my point, does it?<br /><br />2. <em>The Social Network</em> (October 1) read my 12/28/10 review<br /><br />3. <em>The Town</em> (September 17) really got me thinking about the lack of choices left to ex-cons; this isn't nice guy Ben Affleck, and the scene where he throws the child (his own?) out of the room was almost more than I could bear, but so were a lot of scenes in <em>Gone Baby Gone</em>, which he directed years before this; forget about all the other characters besides the community itself, because that's the one the movie's named after<br /><br />4. <em>Going the Distance</em> (September 3) not funnier than <em>Burlesque</em> or <em>The Social Network</em>, but certainly on par with <em>Despicable Me</em> (which is missing here because of all the lame disco dance numbers) and <em>Easy A</em> (which is absent from this list because of an unlikely Mark Twain claim)<br /><br />5. <em>Monsters</em> (October 29) if you don't mind slowpaced indie movies that randomly scare you and simulaneously break your heart, here's a dreamy picture with minimal characters, minimal dialogue and best of all, minimal but believable cheap special effects (using the director's laptop); I may not have liked it better than <em>The Eclipse</em>, which is comparable, but I can't remember if I saw that movie before July or after (it's been available for instant viewing on Netflix for months now)<br /><br /><strong>Worst New Movies I've Actually Seen Since July</strong> (in order of offensiveness; keep in mind that I kinda liked <em>All About Evil, Predators</em> and <em>Shrek Forever After</em>; call me a masochist, but I still look forward to watching <em>Cop Out, The Last Airbender</em> and <em>The Switch</em>)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYv1Fp9Wk3hNGUDA5qOskqQJT6kcLk5AH4HGwrtkOzt4RfZDTvjF3TsAYJHtbjQebjkVeSQOm0IAqDOEVEdOkgWdl0XnAarIOzVZ-5ijifwM_JoxWLjySZyVwbw5Gptge6zDaErwxrK20/s1600/tiny-furniture-poster.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 296px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYv1Fp9Wk3hNGUDA5qOskqQJT6kcLk5AH4HGwrtkOzt4RfZDTvjF3TsAYJHtbjQebjkVeSQOm0IAqDOEVEdOkgWdl0XnAarIOzVZ-5ijifwM_JoxWLjySZyVwbw5Gptge6zDaErwxrK20/s400/tiny-furniture-poster.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557402618804032770" /></a>1. <em>Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?</em> (April 2) I keep telling everyone that if they ever make a Michael Jackson biopic, they should get his sister Janet to play him. Then people keep telling me that's an ignorant thing to say. But is it any worse than having Janet play a divorcée who drives her ex-husband to kill himself in front of his friends and coworkers?<br /><br />2. <em>Sex and the City 2</em> (May 28) Ignorant, ignorant, ignorant. The only reason this is here and not <em>Date Night</em> is because I couldn't make it all the way through <em>Date Night</em>.<br /><br />3. <em>Tiny Furniture</em> (November 12) I liked the handpicked music, the smart dialogue, and the trendy sets on this movie and on <em>Greenberg</em> also, but why do the main characters on most indie movies have to be such horrible people? And not even antiheroes - just boring, spiteful, ugly people.<br /><br />4. <em>Grown Ups</em> (June 25) There is no way that these guys would ever be friends in the first place, much less bring their families together decades later. When Adam Sandler slapped Rob Schneider with his own banana the first time, it was mean, but funny. After the fourth or fifth or sixtieth time...<br /><br />5. <em>The Kids Are All Right</em> (July 9) Based on the hype, I thought I'd be exposed to a less shallow, less voyeuristic gay movie, but instead I got an is-she-gay-or-isn't-she soap opera love triangle, same as you'd see on Showtime's <em>The L Word</em> and a ripoff of that scene in <em>Love Actually</em> where Emma Thompson discovers her husband is definitely cheating<br /><br /><strong>Songs I've Discovered (and Rediscovered) Since July</strong> (in alphabetical order):<br /><br />1. "Acapella (Benny Benassi Remix)" - <strong>Kelis</strong>; at first I thought this was the same girl that performed "Let's Go Crazy" at the BET awards, but that was Janelle Monáe; I must have heard of Kelis from her work with Björk, Robyn or David Guetta, who did last year's "When Love Takes Over;" I like it when R&B artists go electro, as further evidenced at the bottom of this playlist<br /><br />2. "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" - <strong>T. Rex</strong>; when I heard "Children of the Revolution" on <i>Lords of Dogtown,</i> I sat through the end credits to find out who wrote the original song; T. Rex turns out to be that rare '70s rock I always avoided for no good reason<br /><br />3. "Ça Pourrait Changer" - <strong>Brigitte Bardot</strong>; from the <em>Youth in Revolt</em> soundtrack; name me one current singer who sounds like she's having this much fun<br /><br />4. "The Clap" - <strong>Bostich + Fussible</strong>; minimal techno meets Tejano accordion; where has this been all my life?<br /><br />5. "Derezzed" - <strong>Daft Punk</strong>; from the <em>Tron: Legacy</em> soundtrack, which I thought was an <em>Inception</em> ripoff until I read that Hans Zimmer (of <em>Inception</em>) helped out, but I guess that really doesn't stop it from being a ripoff, does it?<br /><br />6. "Dog Days Are Over" - <strong>Florence + The Machine</strong>; I avoided this group for the longest time but eventually surrendered to the harp<br /><br />7. "Everywhere" - <strong>Fleetwood Mac</strong>; I heard this in a restaurant with my parents and when I said this song was a forgotten gem, my dad said, "I have this one;" anyway, it may be from a bygone era, but we can be sure it hasn't been forgotten<br /><br />8. "Fader" - <strong>The Temper Trap</strong>; it's like <strong>Jimmy Eat World</strong> but better; it's all about that "semi-charmed kinda" chorus<br /><br />9. "In Motion" - <strong>Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross</strong>; who could've guessed that <strong>Nine Inch Nails</strong> and <strong>Sigur Rós</strong> would become the stuffy soundtrack music of Oscar-type movies?<br /><br />10. "Keep Looking" - <strong>Sade</strong>; I didn't see any difference between the sound on her new album this year and her old stuff from the '80s, like this song<br /><br />11. "Little Green Bag" - <strong>George Baker Selection</strong>; I recently caught up with the British TV series, <em>Coupling</em>, which did a <em>Reservoir Dogs</em> reference on one episode and it reminded me of this song<br /><br />12. "Me and the Moon" - <strong>The Drums</strong>; for fans of <strong>New Order</strong><br /><br />13. "Only Solutions" - <strong>Journey</strong>; from the movie, <em>Tron</em>, which led to <em>The Matrix</em>, which in turn led to <em>Tron: Legacy</em>, so it takes one to know one<br /><br />14. "Raise Your Weapon" - <strong>Deadmau5</strong>; hauntingly beautiful, especially after it goes dubstep in the second half<br /><br />15. "The Reeling (Groove Police Remix)" - <strong>Passion Pit</strong>; from the movie, <em>Going the Distance</em><br /> <br />16. "Scott Pilgrim" - <strong>Plumtree</strong>; from the movie of the same name (actually, it's the song that inspired the books which were then adapted into a movie)<br /><br />17. "Sequins" - <strong>Abe Vigoda</strong>; for fans of <strong>The Cure</strong><br /><br />18. "Too Much" - <strong>Sufjan Stevens</strong>; for fans of indie rock falsettos and electronic music that's unpredictable<br /><br />19. "What's My Name?" - <strong>Rihanna & Drake</strong>; I would include this on my top ten list below if not for Drake<br /><br />20. "Your Love" - <strong>Nicki Minaj</strong>; one of many pop songs this year to use an '80s sample (it uses "No More I Love You's" by Annie Lennox), the most obvious being "I Like It" by <strong>Enrique Iglesias</strong> (which uses "All Night Long" by <strong>Lionel Richie</strong>)<br /><br /><strong>Ten Best New Songs I Heard from 2010</strong><br /><br />1. "Running from the Cops" - Phantogram (February 9)<br />2. "Blessa" - Toro y Moi (February 16)<br />3. "Ghost in the Graveyard (Ulrich Schnauss Remix)" - A Sunny Day in Glasgow (March 16)<br />4. "White Flag" - Gorillaz (March 2)<br />5. "Rill Rill" - Sleigh Bells (May 11)<br />6. "Revival" - Deerhunter (August 2)<br />7. "Glass Printer" - The Besnard Lakes (March 9)<br />8. "Stick to My Side" - Pantha du Prince (February 9)<br />9. "Bang Bang Bang (feat. Q-Tip & MDNR)" - Mark Ronson & the Business Intl (August 17)<br />10. "As We Enter" - Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley (February 23)Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-66775985197030224712010-12-31T08:27:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:26:32.517-07:00December Books"When you're a young writer, you subtract the birthdates of authors from their publication dates and feel panic or hope. When you're an old writer, you observe the death dates of your favorite writers and you reflect on their works and their lives." (Gail Godwin, <em>The New York Times Book Review</em>, December 12, 2010)<br /><br />These are some titles from last month's <em>New York Times Book Review</em> section (and Stephen King's year-end list from <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> magazine) that I might like to read at some point:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRzFFtHEmPNjaUOu0WT34mlcUvXKPu9cEsxUHhYvYFpNPYKIGGiYs2skPbBW72iLnCx9Rp63dKrJX4gn1BkJgqN4WvUBfyjzsKCEKMS970w6KE3Jw2uwBQWbcQxPX3XVAxWHtdd_cr7Y/s1600/tinkers.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTRzFFtHEmPNjaUOu0WT34mlcUvXKPu9cEsxUHhYvYFpNPYKIGGiYs2skPbBW72iLnCx9Rp63dKrJX4gn1BkJgqN4WvUBfyjzsKCEKMS970w6KE3Jw2uwBQWbcQxPX3XVAxWHtdd_cr7Y/s400/tinkers.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555511147363653650" /></a><strong>Fiction</strong><br /><br /><em>Anathem</em> - Neal Stephenson; "Delights in the language and etymology he has designed for his fictional world . . . and in the 7,000 years of detailed history he has given it." <br /><br /><em>The Finkler Question</em> - "A mugging prompts a quest for self-discovery in this tale of anti-Semitism, friendship and wisdom; winner of this year's Man Booker prize."<br /><br /><em>The Imperfectionists</em> - Tom Rachman; "Journalists, long taught to never make themselves the story, now have Tom Rachman do it for them. His alternately acute and poignant debut novel, about the dramatic follies at a Rome-based English-language newspaper, is divided into chapters dedicated to different characters, each as distinct as a newspaper section."<br /><br /><em>Major Pettigrew's Last Stand</em> - Helen Simonson; "Set in an English village, Simonson's first novel wraps Old World sensibility around a story of multicultural conflict and romance. A retired major - the starchy widower Ernest Pettigrew - is mourning the recent death of his brother and frustrated by his materialistic son. Gradually he's drawn to Mrs. Ali, a shopkeeper of Pakistani descent who shares his love of Kipling but is regarded by village society as a permanent foreigner."<br /><br /><em>Rich Boy</em> - Sharon Pomerantz; "The ambitious son of working-class Jewish immigrants gains entree into a world of pedigreed wealth and privilege through charm and smarts alone - but will he always be defined by where he came from? A gripping narrative that doubles as a sweeping rumination on the American class system."<br /><br />Stephen King's Top Five Books of 2010<br /><br />1. <em>Infinite Jest</em> - David Foster Wallace; "To my mind, there have been two great American novels in the past 50 years. <em>Catch-22</em> is one; this is the other. For pop culture vultures like me, the central plot is fascinating: The late James O. Incandenza has created an 'entertainment' - <em>Infinite Jest</em> - so irresistible you can't stop watching it. Three dozen terrific characters spin out from this, my favorite being Joelle Van Dyne, a.k.a. the P.G.O.A.T.: Prettiest Girl of All Time. But it all comes back to that lethal film - because for guys like me, irresistible entertainment, lethal or not, is the holy grail."<br /><br />2. <em>Freedom</em> - Jonathan Franzen; "If you haven't met Walter and Patty Berglund of St. Paul, it's time. Franzen chronicles their ups and down (mostly downs) with a cold mind and a warm heart. Two wedding rings go into the toilet over the course of this novel, but there's a measure of redemption for both of those who do the casting away. I finished uplifted and energized by Franzen's storytelling ability."<br /><br />3. <em>I'd Know You Anywhere</em> - Laura Lippman; "The best suspense novel of the year. Eliza Benedict has got a nice house and a nice family, and has managed to put the trauma of her life behind her. At least until the serial killer who kidnapped and raped her - but let her live - when she was 15 gets in touch from death row and says he wants to see her."<br /><br />4. <em>Savages</em> - Don Winslow; "Chon and Ben, the antiheroes at the center of this novel that's every bit as savage as its title, aspire to be kinder, gentler drug dealers, but when the smoke clears, one is tempted to quote Sarah Palin: 'How's that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?' This is <em>Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid</em> on autoload. Winslow's stripped-down prose is a revelation."<br /><br />5. <em>Last Night in Twisted River</em> - John Irving; "It starts with the accidental killing of a Native American woman (the youngster who brains her with a skillet mistakes her for a bear). Father and son take off, pursued by the relentless Constable Carl for nearly 50 years. There's a lot of Canada here, a lot of cookin', and a lot of gorgeous (and cynical) Americana. Irving's best since <em>Garp</em>.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKEIUe7PGjy7MID8zRYwElHI5B6p64az-vzhxBOwdOWJOCDgr_WXlMGVlLRYjzV6BW-5YpxC1_G8A5K7oOGE3MD9ZDg6G-F2_fu6gqN6OnSy1MlKN84P3rs7oJPZSvTxCMLVWTvCfPPM/s1600/smithsonian.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKEIUe7PGjy7MID8zRYwElHI5B6p64az-vzhxBOwdOWJOCDgr_WXlMGVlLRYjzV6BW-5YpxC1_G8A5K7oOGE3MD9ZDg6G-F2_fu6gqN6OnSy1MlKN84P3rs7oJPZSvTxCMLVWTvCfPPM/s400/smithsonian.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5550274539492324242" /></a><strong>Nonfiction</strong><br /><br /><em>Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights</em> - Jessica Kerwin Jenkins; "This gilded, graceful book is nothing less than a miniature encyclopedia of style, exploring everything from the origins of badminton to the art of origami."<br /><br /><em>How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less</em> - Sarah Glidden; "Vivid dialogue and deceptively simple line drawings that are shaded with delicate watercolors, resulting in a graphic memoir of subtlety and understated wit."<br /><br /><em>The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War</em> - James Bradley, "whose Flags of Our Fathers recounted how his father helped plant the American flag on Iwo Jima, here contends that William Taft's covert 1905 diplomatic mission to Japan helped set the stage for World War II in the Pacific, the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Korean War. With each port of call, Bradley assesses the effects of American race-based foreign policy calculations in Asia; the brutal counterinsurgency in the Philippines, the forced annexation of Hawaii, the betrayal of promises to protect Korea from Japanese expansionism."<br /><br /><em>Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void</em> - Mary Roach; "Much more interested in the small steps for man than in the giant leaps for mankind, chronicling all of the niches and pecularities of exploring the outer reaches . . . simultaneously informative and get-strange-looks-on-the-subway hilarious."<br /><br /><em>Yours Ever: People and Their Letters</em> - Thomas Mallon; "Intended as 'a kind of companion volume to <em>A Book of One's Own</em>,' Mallon's 1984 study of people and their diaries, this exploration of the art of letter-writing embraces old friends - Flaubert, Freud, the Mitfords - and plenty of unknowns."<br /><em></em>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-45758558303594010172010-12-29T07:02:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:40:33.595-07:0012 Albums in 10 Years, 1983-1992<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gx1GFwlt9S__z7K8eZ74Ht2zSsP0DJzP-igyW6B1MiaLth_Ur4pkB6_go8ttl9hj5DbUXN9YzUvDfmtc_eg1XDItPvvPfqOJyoR_RTwRkLkK_2Ei0I0yKeqpyNADa84lJTcWhVIGM5I/s1600/beethoven+was+deaf.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548188461752642050" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9gx1GFwlt9S__z7K8eZ74Ht2zSsP0DJzP-igyW6B1MiaLth_Ur4pkB6_go8ttl9hj5DbUXN9YzUvDfmtc_eg1XDItPvvPfqOJyoR_RTwRkLkK_2Ei0I0yKeqpyNADa84lJTcWhVIGM5I/s400/beethoven+was+deaf.jpg" border="0" /></a>Strangers sometimes tell me I look like Quentin Tarantino, and unfortunately that may be true, but I like to hope I also look at least a little like Steven Patrick Morrissey (you can judge for yourself with the album cover pictured here). I used to work with a punk rock girl who was possibly a cokehead but admittedly a swinger. You wouldn't think I'd share anything in common with her but one day I combed my bangs up high and she smiled when she asked me if I was going for the Morrissey look. Now the pompadour hairstyle dates back to French court of Louis XV and it reached its height (no pun intended) of popularity with <strong>Elvis Presley</strong>, so my coworker should've made those comparisons first, but she didn't. She could've called me a retro hipster or wannabe cholo and I wouldn't have been as surprised, so I said, "Yes! I mean, wow, how did you guess?" She told me that her amputee mechanic husband had been trying to perfect the Morrissey hair for years. Then she followed up with a concert story about someone throwing a water bottle at Morrissey after he complained about the smell of "burning flesh" (he's a vegetarian), and how he dropped the microphone right on the spot and walked off the stage, ending the show less than halfway through. She also mentioned that tickets for that show weren't cheap, but he didn't seem to care. From what I've read about Morrissey, that story sums up the singer/songwriter pretty well. If it doesn't mean anything to you, check out the funniest of his many funny, mean song titles: "Dial-a-Cliché" (<em>Viva Hate</em>), "Lucky Lisp" (<em>Bona Drag</em>) and "You're the One for Me, Fatty" (<em>Your Arsenal</em>). I don't know him personally so it's not really my place to comment on his demeanor or personality, but I do know that he was prolific. If you count official live recordings and singles compilations, he was involved with the releases for twelve albums in only ten years. This is the twelfth top twenty playlist I've posted for a band or individual music artists, yet I haven't even covered all of my top ten favorites. The reason for this is that some of my favorites, like <strong>Panda Bear, P.M. Dawn and Propaganda</strong>, released less than a handful of albums, so a top twenty list would just come off as a ranked list of ALL their songs. I'd love to do top twenty lists for other prolific favorites like <strong>The Rolling Stones</strong>, but I don't I'll ever be able to evenly weigh all their thirty-some albums and EPs. Similarly, what follows is not a career-spanning top twenty list for Morrissey, but know that if you like what's here, he's still performing and recording to this day.<br /><br /><strong>Morrissey with The Smiths</strong><br />1. "Accept Yourself" (1983) - from the compilation album, <em>Hatful of Hollow</em><br />2. "Back to the Old House (acoustic version)" (1983) from the compilation album, <em>Hatful of Hollow</em><br />3. "This Charming Man" (1983) from the single of the same name<br />4. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" (1984) from the single of the same name<br />5. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (1984) B-side on the single, <em>William, It Was Really Nothing</em>; <strong>my absolute favorite Morrissey song</strong><br />6. "How Soon Is Now?" (1984) from the single of the same name<br />7. "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (1985) from the album, <em>Meat Is Murder</em><br />8. "Asleep" (1985) B-side on the single, <em>The Boy with the Thorn in His Side </em><br />9. "Unloveable" (1986) B-side on the single, <em>Bigmouth Strikes Again</em><br />10. "London (Live)" (1986) from the album, <em>Rank</em>, released a year after the band broke up<br />11. "Is It Really So Strange? (BBC session)" (1986) from the compilation album, <em>Louder Than Bombs</em><br />12. "Shoplifters of the World Unite" (1987) from the single of the same name<br /><br /><strong>Morrissey on his own</strong><br />13. "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me" (1988) from his debut solo album, <em>Viva Hate</em><br />14. "Interesting Drug" (1988) from the compilation album, <em>Bona Drag</em><br />15. "The Loop" (1990) B-side on the single, <em>Sing Your Life</em><br />16. "King Leer" (1991) from the album, <em>Kill Uncle</em><br />17. "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" (1992) from the single of the same name<br />18. "Certain People I Know" (1992) from the album, <em>Your Arsenal</em><br />19. "Seaside, Yet Still Docked" (1992) from the album, <em>Your Arsenal</em><br />20. "Suedehead (Sparks Mix)" (2006) from the remix compilation, <em>Future Retro</em>; original version (1988) from the album, <em>Viva Hate</em>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-15214229690466738562010-12-28T07:23:00.000-08:002011-01-01T13:55:18.864-08:00This Is My Last Movie Review"Unbeknownst to most moviegoers, the saddest story in films concerns the emergence of brutal scorekeeper critics." (film critic Manny Farber in 1965, as quoted this year by film critic J. Hoberman, <em>Harpers</em> magazine, July 2010)<br /><br />"For the past month, I've been trying to fully engage with the social layer. I joined and contributed to such services and platforms as Quora, Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, Blippy, Swipely, DailyBooth, Goodreads, Daytum, etc., etc. I tried to tweet five times a day. I gave two sites access to my credit cards so I could share my purchases with friends. I did my best to check in wherever I went on Foursquare. And what it all made me feel, mostly, was stupid. And anxious - that I didn't have enough people following me and then that I was the kind of person who wants people to follow him." (Bartholomew Cooke, <em>GQ</em> magazine, December 2010)<br /><br /><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mdbhP5tml318_dNuBnQTghyphenhyphenBTcQDv-QS6vhaNR4ab6QcMcmifOZ7rnz2F7cHiL9Mrd3zM_z1W0j-DZRSD-zOAZA6_TUj-wn-lddVMZjmjZDual1R7i7_ThUkdxePOf1rz2x7GJQHFb0/s1600/red+star+little.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542117416783104642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 20px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 20px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mdbhP5tml318_dNuBnQTghyphenhyphenBTcQDv-QS6vhaNR4ab6QcMcmifOZ7rnz2F7cHiL9Mrd3zM_z1W0j-DZRSD-zOAZA6_TUj-wn-lddVMZjmjZDual1R7i7_ThUkdxePOf1rz2x7GJQHFb0/s200/red+star+little.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAfARE7hlsUnkVPWRGXelwGSU-DNEcmSF5a7JAq1y3SPrHdCYUNmUmJKtXp1ixQsjDbtpMbWKOo1rWS9jQbJEa74QCNkJTTIhyphenhyphenK2ndDcD5BLpGwSyPAX09z-stfvpdPzETGgf13OCMy8/s1600/star+o+little.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542117412946388178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 20px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 20px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAfARE7hlsUnkVPWRGXelwGSU-DNEcmSF5a7JAq1y3SPrHdCYUNmUmJKtXp1ixQsjDbtpMbWKOo1rWS9jQbJEa74QCNkJTTIhyphenhyphenK2ndDcD5BLpGwSyPAX09z-stfvpdPzETGgf13OCMy8/s200/star+o+little.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AQYu6UAO2jCF55NYZX7_ZoR7JcE257z0bt9Huvsz8-56P_FerQDcaw6IVOuVZmuf88-vt9ZCILrm_VZff5iACmyOu-pIoDfJZXTUKjn9jz3O5epK6Eb_yDIKpdSmNyDZYMNFw5zy1_Y/s1600/star+y+little.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542117410266261490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 20px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 20px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7AQYu6UAO2jCF55NYZX7_ZoR7JcE257z0bt9Huvsz8-56P_FerQDcaw6IVOuVZmuf88-vt9ZCILrm_VZff5iACmyOu-pIoDfJZXTUKjn9jz3O5epK6Eb_yDIKpdSmNyDZYMNFw5zy1_Y/s200/star+y+little.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPe-Vhf7osdZCFB8_MBgSfWIWxkTkDOy8jYwXxXGF40nc2-t7RKIQJLMYUbgXMu5axdgncCkZ1ZOqjuAF0cDfI8BVtNfLdEknuWgDQstdlBusPQNX-J9nHcXLku3SlsIWnJ5JspIGPSU8/s1600/star+g+half.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542117396703929570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 11px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 20px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPe-Vhf7osdZCFB8_MBgSfWIWxkTkDOy8jYwXxXGF40nc2-t7RKIQJLMYUbgXMu5axdgncCkZ1ZOqjuAF0cDfI8BVtNfLdEknuWgDQstdlBusPQNX-J9nHcXLku3SlsIWnJ5JspIGPSU8/s200/star+g+half.png" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzag73lOk84BRuMzGu8OlAoQ7WUFbw7ppyq9Vt13Wud9Ty5Q5fLv5lxdtITNE7rbhyAjzcKsorR2VgoKoOKPZtSYSRQ4c82UhFugZRWSAG3BqeJ2kPgQAOz-bZmPB4TNCK_OHS7YN-8cY/s1600/star+b+little.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542117377747272642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 20px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 20px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzag73lOk84BRuMzGu8OlAoQ7WUFbw7ppyq9Vt13Wud9Ty5Q5fLv5lxdtITNE7rbhyAjzcKsorR2VgoKoOKPZtSYSRQ4c82UhFugZRWSAG3BqeJ2kPgQAOz-bZmPB4TNCK_OHS7YN-8cY/s200/star+b+little.jpg" border="0" /></a>The Social Network</em> (four and a half stars total) has the second best soundtrack of the year, the first being <em>Inception</em>, which is all about the music, in my opinion. Just based on those movies' trailers, I'd already awarded a blue star to each, long before I ever saw either one. The music on <em>Inception</em>'s trailer instantly inspired parodies on YouTube (including an acapella one) and <em>The Social Network</em>'s trailer earned a record deal for some Belgian women's choir (Scala & Kolacny), all because of their version of Radiohead's "Creep." The trailer for <em>Catfish</em>, AKA "the <em>other</em> Facebook movie," even tried subtly connecting itself to <em>The Social Network</em> by playing a children's choir (Langley Schools) version of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." I mention this for my own future reference, but also to point out that music is very important to me, moreso than story or visuals in a movie, therefore the different-colored stars under my "movie review guide" are not all equal. Whether that's a flaw in my system or a flaw in my use of the system is up to you. This applies to <em>The Social Network</em> in that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg created a system for communication that, according to the movie, is either flawed by its very nature or at the very least, used by some for very flawed reasons. I'll admit that I don't have a Facebook account nor do I know the exact defintion of the term "algorithm" but that doesn't prevent me from appreciating a movie derived from these things. The story is metafictional enough to comment on itself with lines like "there's got to be a land speed record for talking" (the dialogue and pacing require multiple viewings). I've heard people complain about the ratio of fact to fiction in this unapologetic "biopic," but they do make it easy to tell the difference whenever there's a melodramatic scarf burning or cinematic workplace violence. If reality is what you want, look no further than the irony of the special effects "twins." Where most movies would have stopped short with that "achievement" by itself, this movie gave each twin a unique personality. Now that's how you use special effects for the story's sake, and not the other way around! But back to music, when "Baby You're a Rich Man" started playing over the end credits, I knew one era had ended and another had begun. Much like the movie's protagonist, The Beatles' back catalog has spent far too much time in litigation, but if these kids with their new-fangled Webhacktweeterwalls can save the past from itself and get oldies playing on the big screen again, maybe they can save the future too.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-13304809588376846012010-12-26T18:51:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:26:32.476-07:00Unconventional Christmas Movies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasA4FaebGp6UnuOKQf1gyMgv_f5xuhjcpOb4xTM9ITEl8ujxk0cieXR7eksZVP1sfahYBKE3t0R5Dx41Ageh_Z3EPggTkb8cSblFJnxtzW7AsTQ2Urwh_kXIBYmHkhYXydSV99iH03_A/s1600/IMG.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasA4FaebGp6UnuOKQf1gyMgv_f5xuhjcpOb4xTM9ITEl8ujxk0cieXR7eksZVP1sfahYBKE3t0R5Dx41Ageh_Z3EPggTkb8cSblFJnxtzW7AsTQ2Urwh_kXIBYmHkhYXydSV99iH03_A/s400/IMG.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555939091268873938" /></a>So many people told me today that they were glad that Christmas was behind them or that it didn't feel especially Christmasy this year. If you're like me, it was over too soon and you can never get enough. That's why it pays to know where you can go for a discreet Christmas fix without tipping off any haters who might make fun of you. Perhaps you looked at the <i>EW</i> poll pictured here (click to enlarge) and thought, "<i>Love Actually</i> can't possibly be the second most popular Christmas movie, it's not even a Christmas movie, and neither is <i>Die Hard</i>!" If so, you were half right. They may not be Formal Christmas movies per se, but any movie that doesn't star Santa Claus and/or include singing about snow can be an Informal Christmas movie. You can watch the latter kind of movie anytime throughout the year without fear of being judged. If you think <i>Gremlins</i> (1984) and <i>Edward Scissorhands</i> (1990) are pushing the envelope when it comes to what's considered Christmasy, check out the <b>five highest rated theatrical releases on IMDb under the keyword "Christmas:"</b><br /><br />1. <i>The Godfather</i> (1972)<br />2. <i>Goodfellas</i> (1990)<br />3. <i>The Apartment</i> (1960)<br />4. <i>Full Metal Jacket</i> (1987)<br />5. <i>Annie Hall</i> (1978)<br /><br /><b>If those don't make you feel that extra something special, you can always turn to my unconventional favorites:</b><br /><br />1. <i>The Family Man</i> (2000)<br />2. <i>Serendipity</i> (2001)<br />3. <i>Better Off Dead</i> (1985)<br />4. <i>Donnie Brasco</i> (1997)<br />5. <i>Batman Returns</i> (1992)Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-82749551127500876212010-12-25T08:01:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:25:13.331-07:00The Twelfth CD of Christmas<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QtSLEyJIMy9YTqUHf4fpqFFYq2Dm0e5vhroO0zWzYdkcsfxU0VTCanZ1ZlJf4sfdgMtwZhL69NU0CHyes4HromSAcw7V6wyyVRpg8Il7p1S2zhZDQe9jPyaHG1xJdkdjYaE7CTBrPxU/s1600-h/IMG_0025.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411968883357295570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 172px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5QtSLEyJIMy9YTqUHf4fpqFFYq2Dm0e5vhroO0zWzYdkcsfxU0VTCanZ1ZlJf4sfdgMtwZhL69NU0CHyes4HromSAcw7V6wyyVRpg8Il7p1S2zhZDQe9jPyaHG1xJdkdjYaE7CTBrPxU/s400/IMG_0025.jpg" border="0" /></a>When we got into the car yesterday, we asked my son what he wanted to listen to and he said "Christmas tree music" (for him, Christmas is all about the tree still). I have a Christmas mix CD in the car which starts off with <strong>"Skating,"</strong> one of Vince Guaraldi's jazz songs from <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em>, but even when I play jazz that's not Christmas-themed, he calls it "Christmas tree music." Well anyway, my wife had just finished burning a CD with a different Christmas mix, so she popped that in but the first track wasn't jazzy. Lo and behold, my son cried out, "That's not Christmas tree music!" So from the mouth of babes, <strong>Christmas is jazz.</strong> Just in case you didn't know. And that's really interesting to me because for a lot of kids that grew up on <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em>, that's probably true. But even if you hated those holiday specials like I did, there's still all the jazz crooners that seem to dominate Christmas: Dean, Ella, Frank, Louis, and Sammy. Okay, maybe not so much "dominated" by Louis Armstrong, but since his name has come up here, it gives me a great segue into the final CD, Wynton Marsalis' <em>Christmas Jazz Jam</em>. You see, when most people think about jazz, they think about Louis Armstrong, but whenever I hear the name Louis Armstrong, I'm always reminded of Wynton Marsalis. That's because everything I know about Louis Armstrong, I learned from the Ken Burns <em>Jazz</em> documentary, which is mostly about Armstrong and relies heavily on interviews with Marsalis, who pronounces Louis with an "s" instead of "Louie," like everyone else I've heard talk about him. Modern jazz purists criticize the Burns doc for only covering the music before 1960, much the same way they criticise Marsalis for being "stuck in the past" musically. I personally don't care that his Christmas album is mostly Dixieland jazz. It's sure happier than a Charlie Brown TV special is. But if you're looking for sad and slow, there's a bluesly take on <strong>"Blue Christmas."</strong> If you're looking for something more modern, at least give his <strong>"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"</strong> a try. When I bought this CD, it had a sticker on the wrapper that said it was a Target exclusive, like two other awesome mix CDs that I already owned, <em>A Holly Jolly Christmas: 15 Kids' Christmas Classics</em> and <em>Santa Baby: A Romantic Christmas</em>. Now I see that <em>Christmas Jazz Jam</em> is available on iTunes and I feel a little cheated. I'll get over it though because I know Christmas isn't actually about trees or even jazz, it's about sharing. So thank you for sharing the Twelve Days of Christmas with me while I shared my favorite CDs.<br /><br /><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3fMfOtBivxl2f2UxLEnWOZj_2NBatwdQ93pzGQPepvse0GD2ya25s31xcGyf40GxIS-6U2BbRpT-YlM_TA4-l4B5IrLJKQCXDoh6ak32nU9CyHgXvKcspIsSlLX2aRTCGUpBkE_zjhY/s1600-h/IMG_0023.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411969563650457234" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy3fMfOtBivxl2f2UxLEnWOZj_2NBatwdQ93pzGQPepvse0GD2ya25s31xcGyf40GxIS-6U2BbRpT-YlM_TA4-l4B5IrLJKQCXDoh6ak32nU9CyHgXvKcspIsSlLX2aRTCGUpBkE_zjhY/s200/IMG_0023.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTZTNpnPyihOXg-FIdUhbzsifGozNS9EXnizAAVtu3ETN4aicM33UnK_TUMSgfAqeIyotzf68HUtBB9e9_2MVRTPm4tHMYoQkF6D2bwT8k-NNrkobhn79xbO3gTVQCuK2JHUAzuChXMA/s1600-h/IMG_0024.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8n07fq-subvOtwXZdvIWMFfJowYwD5OdlNfJWJOb6N7I1Q63w650ON4Jl0Qc6IbzbBlxfBGQWDt_-Ld-oztANJOM1A4d2uVYFnvdYochnZ3AXWKvwHV9P6u_VsbHe2ZGauT6UyG-ueg/s1600-h/IMG_0026.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411969577090803106" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 172px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL8n07fq-subvOtwXZdvIWMFfJowYwD5OdlNfJWJOb6N7I1Q63w650ON4Jl0Qc6IbzbBlxfBGQWDt_-Ld-oztANJOM1A4d2uVYFnvdYochnZ3AXWKvwHV9P6u_VsbHe2ZGauT6UyG-ueg/s200/IMG_0026.jpg" border="0" /></a></em></div><br /><br /><strong>As a bonus, here is a list of my top ten Christmas songs, regardless of artist or style</strong> (in alphabetical order, with the number of versions I own):<br />1. "Ave Maria" (5)<br />2. "Carol of the Bells" (10; betcha can't guess which song is my popular favorite; for a version that's scarier than the tubular bells on <em>The Exorcist</em>, check out the sustained dissonance at the end of Ray Conniff's "Ring Christmas Bells") <br />3. "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (4)<br />4. "The Little Drummer Boy" (8)<br />5. "Mary's Lullaby" (the two that I own are two completely different songs; there's the LDS Children's Songbook song and the John Rutter one that I sang in choir at the University of Utah; yes, I can be heard on iTunes, albeit in a sea of voices)<br />6. "Merry Christmas Baby" (5)<br />7. "O Holy Night" (7)<br />8. "Silver Bells" (7)<br />9. "Sleigh Ride" (6; this is probably my personal favorite, even though I don't own that many versions of it; the only contender would be "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and I own even less versions of that; for a very contemporary sound, check out KT Tunstall's new release)<br />10. "This Christmas" (5)Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-67798016226432345312010-12-24T07:59:00.000-08:002013-06-24T18:40:33.602-07:00The Eleventh CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBV5qmCbkWzUnfb2Ca5_fHaHw575crZJ4hl6won2TVb8KvP1tITmJYso0F2YnTjTIxDFjPcZJuQrfCUcxPAG5A6cB6ZNQqhqsBl5BfaaZavdHzC2cZFsTPtooIFG3ATEpsVdDX-lLmaIw/s1600-h/IMG_0009.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411968267912547746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 197px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBV5qmCbkWzUnfb2Ca5_fHaHw575crZJ4hl6won2TVb8KvP1tITmJYso0F2YnTjTIxDFjPcZJuQrfCUcxPAG5A6cB6ZNQqhqsBl5BfaaZavdHzC2cZFsTPtooIFG3ATEpsVdDX-lLmaIw/s400/IMG_0009.jpg" border="0" /></a>"The reggae Christmas tradition didn't just roll in overnight, it reaches all the way back to the old-school artists who cut their teeth in the pre-reggae days of ska and rocksteady . . . Ska pioneers Byron Lee & The Dragonaires pump some punchy horns and perky organ riffs into an old holiday standard, ending up with "Winter Wonderland Reggae." And historic harmonizers The Ethiopians stir up a rocksteady beat for the ring of that "Ding Dong Bell." (iTunes Essentials <em>Reggae Christmas</em> "Deep Cuts" introduction)<br /><br />The first time I ever heard a reggae version of a Christmas song was six years ago in Toronto. We were visiting my sister-in-law and at the time she lived mere blocks from Kensington Market, apparently the home of a significant Rastafari population. I'm always intrigued by music that's played loud enough to be considered noise pollution, so I made my way over to the tent where this old Jamaican guy was blaring his very own <em>Soul Vibes Reggae X-mas</em> mix CD from a speaker half as tall as me. For fear that nobody would believe what I'd heard, I asked him if he would sell me a copy. Next thing I know he's pulled out an suitcase full of bootleg CDs and wants to bargain. The CD (homemade liner notes pictured above) turned out to sound like crap on every other stereo system besides his and maybe I was high on whatever that guy was smoking when I bought it, but it has led to further enlightenment, also known as <strong>"My Top 20 Reggae Christmas Songs"</strong> playlist (titles in <strong>bold</strong> are personal favorites):<br /><br /><em>The Chistmas Album</em><br />1. "Rich Man for Christmas" - Lady Saw<br /><br /><em>Christmas Eclectic</em><br />2. "Silent in the Night (Dub Mix 2)" - Up Bustle & Out feat. Blaze<br /><br /><em>Christmas Greetings from Studio One</em><br /><strong>3. "Jingle Bells" - Roy Richards</strong><br />4. "White Christmas" - Bob Marley<br /><br /><em>Christmas Party Time in the Tropics</em><br />5. "Winter Wonderland Reggae" - Byron Lee & The Dragonaires<br /><br /><em>Now That's What I Call Christmas! Vol. 4</em><br /><strong>6. "A Child Is Born" - Rihanna</strong><br />7. "Drummer Boy" - Sean Kingston<br /><br /><em>Reggae Christmas</em><br />8. "Here Comes Santa Claus" - Winston Francis<br />9. "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" - Heavy Beat Crew (if just for the lyrics, "if you drink, then remember don't drive, want you all to stay alive") <br /><br /><em>Reggae Christmas from Studio One</em><br /><strong>10. "Hi Fashion Christmas" - Dillinger & The Brentford Harmonics</strong> (samples "54-46 That's My Number" by Toots & The Maytals)<br />11. "Real Christmas Rock" - Tennessee Brown & The Silvertones<br /><br /><em>Sweet Reggae Christmas</em><br />12. "Christmas a Come" - Chaka Demus & Ini Kamoze<br /><br /><em>Trojan Christmas Box Set</em><br /><strong>13. "Ding Dong Bell" - The Ethiopians</strong><br />14. "Merry Merry Christmas" - Alton Ellis & The Lipsticks<br />15. "The Night Before Christmas" - Eek-A-Mouse<br />16. "O Come All Ye Faithful" - Freddie McGregor<br />17. "We Wish You a Reggae Christmas" - Yellowman<br />18. "Santa Claus Dub" - The Aggrovators<br />19. "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" - The Rhythm Aces<br /><br /><em>Verve Remixed Christmas</em><br /><strong>20. "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Yesking Remix)" - Billie Holiday</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGp8oW5X-myYx-sSlx2avJAFSAm1qY-BYW1Zk6oiCgiMxGt_14B0GG8DIgccb7trXxH-fDz9blg2X9WZppXhaUIP14wFxp-8sBlpPlFJDY59-LJt-IrpYHsrJuinqDX05Oamz_VenIgs/s1600/studio+one.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGp8oW5X-myYx-sSlx2avJAFSAm1qY-BYW1Zk6oiCgiMxGt_14B0GG8DIgccb7trXxH-fDz9blg2X9WZppXhaUIP14wFxp-8sBlpPlFJDY59-LJt-IrpYHsrJuinqDX05Oamz_VenIgs/s200/studio+one.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553766424473836322" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJrNjidMkOI2T5d_fgZyNIQwdwaf0kGtMVsYtjVoAGXXRQEVS6NiJUdt6P8YCrj7Zn93ABqivoVMDSC4PhPJGcR66ZeLRS18fGgiChY6d29hCAa97A44pnrSljObfHn5G4_IEYVzuAeEI/s1600/trojan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJrNjidMkOI2T5d_fgZyNIQwdwaf0kGtMVsYtjVoAGXXRQEVS6NiJUdt6P8YCrj7Zn93ABqivoVMDSC4PhPJGcR66ZeLRS18fGgiChY6d29hCAa97A44pnrSljObfHn5G4_IEYVzuAeEI/s200/trojan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553765780133441698" /></a>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-9996758297096365692010-12-23T07:53:00.000-08:002010-12-28T12:06:40.235-08:00The Tenth CD of Christmas<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aakmRxxipnnNr1GfdqlNQOqEuWsbF_BaH9f9dvsK3iTaZ9M7nxF8X531QI6Y6iEqrQ6mNqL2YBx_-2n1vBplTvFDNrng4AewSLwkmg3HrhJ5pQqkkIsrUY_ItELSVXWmiNnISCJ3Obw/s1600-h/IMG_0007.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411967390880418930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 197px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aakmRxxipnnNr1GfdqlNQOqEuWsbF_BaH9f9dvsK3iTaZ9M7nxF8X531QI6Y6iEqrQ6mNqL2YBx_-2n1vBplTvFDNrng4AewSLwkmg3HrhJ5pQqkkIsrUY_ItELSVXWmiNnISCJ3Obw/s400/IMG_0007.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411967402030684994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk5c7klV6QT3pDm-sQ9nAMwX82Sd10LSuSSZFq0AXKkoGfOvJNPcSO_XBp3CaWGtvRN_3Kfs0ygGwRq0eb0tdOjVxfl0A6mvZ5Ha7EFdXNB64Ud64q8uX5X23yUvZbDLvpAFXXKw8BpPI/s400/IMG_0008.jpg" border="0" /></em> </p>"On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me" the last title for an unintentional top ten list of Christmas CDs (sorry tonot follow the meter or rhyme scheme of the song). I say "unintentional" because when I decided to blog about a different album each day during the Twelve Days of Christmas, the only order I put them in was the order that I bought them. Music is all about memories though, and the the CDs that bring back the most memories are the ones I've owned the longest. So by default, the first ten that I bought also happen to be my top ten of all time. If you told me I could only own one Christmas CD, I would choose <em>Music Box Christmas</em> (see my 12/10 post). But I understand that music boxes are my own personal obsession and might sound monotonous or shrill to someone else. Changing the scenario, if you told me YOU could only one Christmas CD, I would recommend <em>Christmas with Conniff</em> (1959). Why the switch? It's because of all the CDs I've blogged about thus far (there's two more on their way, but they're not "top ten"), none are as much middle-of-the-road fun for the whole family, perfect for parties without being too loud, yet reverent of the Christmas spirit without being too slow. In other words, if you don't like Ray Conniff, I don't want to know you.<br /><br />According to one reviewer on Amazon, Ray Conniff was "Muzak before Muzak was Muzak," but I disagree. The unique thing about Conniff's music was he had the singers wordlessly "sing" the instrumental parts, something like scat, but definitely not like elevator music. Most Conniff fans seem to agree that <em>We Wish You a Merry Christmas</em> (1962) was his best holiday album, but I disagree with that too. The tracklisting on the back of that CD may say that there are twelve songs, but half of them are medley segments, so there are really only six tracks. Even then the whole album is no more than a half hour long, and the last two tracks are annoying rhythmically, so you're basically paying the price of a full album for four good songs. (The liner notes describe it differently: "a rhythm sound that is one of the album's particular delights, and the chorus takes full advantage of the unusual alternating 4/4-3/4 beat.") This leads me to his third holiday album, <em>Here We Come A-Caroling</em> (1965), which according to another reviewer on Amazon, "replaced the harps with guitar," though it only bothered me on two out of the twelve unique songs. The bottom line is that Ray Conniff was always innovative, even if that goes against the definition of "elevator music."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ywWRHYYyyo2so3uOlXxr4s4E8vQQxgCv7z9HGpODvgN3FpKgmwMnvYpdJPCkeKvzTcC3A8srRXZoeJwLxDtpjUcs_MhFQRjHNFUN4EOiqsM9slAg04yOAgeiNlNev0RG3AXYk3XS8e0/s1600/IMG_NEW.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ywWRHYYyyo2so3uOlXxr4s4E8vQQxgCv7z9HGpODvgN3FpKgmwMnvYpdJPCkeKvzTcC3A8srRXZoeJwLxDtpjUcs_MhFQRjHNFUN4EOiqsM9slAg04yOAgeiNlNev0RG3AXYk3XS8e0/s400/IMG_NEW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553984174005500370" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIE9vwstlYLvvbQ3-lJCNlIJKxM5dxCo30Ti543h3J-Wc-RW8-sLaO_tT5-Ct_e-RXwXyTJzWubH-R9qaXJDr1eFeppDPAM6Lfnt-rSHzn3X3pJTCC5e-o6aGQIP_Nkuz-0armBdJHr4/s1600/IMG_0001_NEW.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIE9vwstlYLvvbQ3-lJCNlIJKxM5dxCo30Ti543h3J-Wc-RW8-sLaO_tT5-Ct_e-RXwXyTJzWubH-R9qaXJDr1eFeppDPAM6Lfnt-rSHzn3X3pJTCC5e-o6aGQIP_Nkuz-0armBdJHr4/s400/IMG_0001_NEW.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553984649566283074" /></a>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-23390349854447491342010-12-22T07:46:00.000-08:002010-12-25T22:31:07.557-08:00The Ninth CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIT5ElSQbpfNcUPRIUJ35RjJXMnr7PRFV5u9IQvK-ghx86bUOyPSHMtUIeDJ9W8y6_2d-xysxFCPZkcMK1YJbwSrEsD5Nvpe5Vr42Cu7Bpj5FiI0LyHMirPffjrTAEFs4cIzcfiRFHYjM/s1600/essential.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIT5ElSQbpfNcUPRIUJ35RjJXMnr7PRFV5u9IQvK-ghx86bUOyPSHMtUIeDJ9W8y6_2d-xysxFCPZkcMK1YJbwSrEsD5Nvpe5Vr42Cu7Bpj5FiI0LyHMirPffjrTAEFs4cIzcfiRFHYjM/s200/essential.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553764424303816834" /></a>There are currently four volumes in the <em>Now That's What I Call Christmas!</em> series, six if you count the <em>Country</em> volume and the single-disc <em>Essential</em> volume. You could own this series by itself and consider yourself a Christmas pop music expert. I'm not going to cover the <em>Country</em> volume here, but I have put in the research to blog the following consumer report on the main series and its <em>Essential</em> volume.<br /><br />Which volume is <em>actually</em> the most essential? "There can be only one."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOnwp-he_pJIN7xB2JsF1NtDoy-Jc9FrP0lfzUhs-H-3XH6SknNETcba_sAshc7CZUWt8TPyXRIleeLh6OfH1Z0zsfgZyHBCexm5mwwSLrMjjVYefUtr2mGiKDkpawMsC_HSHuwc-YNQ/s1600/vol%255B1%255D.+1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOnwp-he_pJIN7xB2JsF1NtDoy-Jc9FrP0lfzUhs-H-3XH6SknNETcba_sAshc7CZUWt8TPyXRIleeLh6OfH1Z0zsfgZyHBCexm5mwwSLrMjjVYefUtr2mGiKDkpawMsC_HSHuwc-YNQ/s200/vol%255B1%255D.+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553764560228849282" /></a><strong>Artists appearing multiple times in the series</strong> (my pick for each in <strong>bold</strong>):<br /><br />1. Christina Aguilera - <b>"Merry Christmas Baby" (</b><i><b>Vol. 3</b></i><b>)</b> vs. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (<i>Vol. 4</i>)<br /><br />2. Gene Autry – "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"Frosty the Snowman" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />3. Tony Bennett – "Winter Wonderland" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"My Favorite Things" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />4. Mariah Carey – <strong>"All I Want for Christmas Is You" (<em>Vols. 2 & 4</em>)</strong> vs. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />5. Nat King Cole – <strong>"The Christmas Song" (<em>Vols. 1 & 4</em>)</strong> vs. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />6. Bing Crosby – "White Christmas" (<em>Vols. 1 & 4</em>) vs. "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" (Vols. 1 & 4) vs. <strong>"Silver Bells" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />7. Celine Dion – "Don’t Save It All for Christmas Day" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. "O Holy Night" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. "Feliz Navidad" (<em>Vol. 3</em>); NONE - not because of Celine Dion but because of the arrangements<br /><br />8. Gloria Estefan – "Love on Layaway" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"Christmas Through Your Eyes" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. "’ll Be Home for Christmas"(<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />9. Ella Fitzgerald – <strong>"Sleigh Ride" (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />10. Amy Grant - "A Christmas to Remember" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>"Breath of Heaven" (<em>Essential</em>)</strong><br /><br />11. Burl Ives – <strong>"A Holly Jolly Christmas" (<em>Vols. 1 & 4s</em>)</strong> vs. <strong>"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. <strong>"Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong>; ALL - because Burl Ives is the man<br /><br />12. The Jackson 5 – "Up on the Housetop" (<em>Vol. 3</em>) vs. <strong>"Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town" (<em>Essential</em>)</strong><br /><br />13. Brenda Lee – <strong>"Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. "Jingle Bell Rock" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />14. Peggy Lee – "Happy Holiday" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>"The Little Drummer Boy" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />15. Dean Martin – "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. "The Christmas Blues" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" (<em>Vol. 3</em>) vs. <strong>"A Marshmallow World" (<i>Vol. 4</i>)</strong><br /><br />16. Johnny Mathis – "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"Silver Bells" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. "It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (<em>Vols. 3 & 4</em>)<br /><br />17. *NSYNC – <b>"You Don’t Have to Be Alone" (</b><em><b>Vol. 1</b></em><b>)</b> vs. <strong>"I Don’t Want to Spend One More Christmas Without You" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong>; BOTH - so deal with it<br /><br />18. Stacie Orrico – "O Come All Ye Faithful" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>"Christmas Wish" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />19. Elvis Presley – <strong>"Blue Christmas" (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. "Here Comes Santa Claus" (<em>Vols. 3 & 4</em>)<br /><br />20. Rihanna - "It Just Don't Feel Like Xmas (Without You)" (<i>Vol. 3</i>) vs. <b>"A Child Is Born" (</b><i><b>Vol. 4</b></i><b>)</b><br /><br />21. Kenny Rogers – <strong>"Kentucky Homemade Country Christmas" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. "Christmas Is My Favorite Time of the Year" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />22. Frank Sinatra – "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"Jingle Bells" (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />23. Luther Vandross – "O Come All Ye Faithful" (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>"Please Come Home for Christmas" (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong><br /><br />24. Andy Williams – "The First Noel" (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>"It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (<em>Vols. 3 & 4</em>) </strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrXO9f8Pagn_A4OmDLmqpWAVQwXkmYzwrdWaE4Kt3QvsFHXF_1BI5rDg7OMmslLZAGyFWpgPY_tlvlYbTD2siGMPffMGgNtMZ9x5I69I0qUQH5Q3sVVT8_YkTxXK7IquMvGI6JyyZF8c/s1600-h/vol.+2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415544570458579218" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGrXO9f8Pagn_A4OmDLmqpWAVQwXkmYzwrdWaE4Kt3QvsFHXF_1BI5rDg7OMmslLZAGyFWpgPY_tlvlYbTD2siGMPffMGgNtMZ9x5I69I0qUQH5Q3sVVT8_YkTxXK7IquMvGI6JyyZF8c/s200/vol.+2.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>Songs appearing multiple times in the series</strong> (my pick for each in <strong>bold</strong>):<br /><br />1. "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" – Tom Jones (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Dean Martin (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />2. "Blue Christmas" – <strong>Elvis Presley (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. Johnny Cash (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" – Frank Sinatra (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>Judy Garland (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />4. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" – Vince Gill (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Carrie Underwood (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />5. "Feliz Navidad" – Jose Feliciano (live version; <em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. Celine Dion (<em>Vol. 3</em>); NONE but the original studio version, which appears on the <em>Essential</em> volume<br /><br />6. "I’ll Be Home for Christmas" – <strong>Barbra Streisand (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. Gloria Estefan (<em>Vol. 3</em>)<br /><br />7. "Jingle Bell Rock" – <strong>Bobby Helms (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. Brenda Lee (<em>Vol. 3</em>) vs. Daryl Hall and John Oates (<em>Essential</em>)<br /><br />8. "Jingle Bells" – Diana Krall (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. Jimmy Buffett (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Frank Sinatra (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong> vs. James Taylor (<em>Vol. 4</em>)<br /><br />9. "The Little Drummer Boy" – Bing Crosby and David Bowie (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. Lou Rawls (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Harry Simeone Chorale (<em>Essential</em>)</strong> vs. Sean Kingston (<em>Vol. 4</em>)<br /><br />10. "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" – Johnny Mathis (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>Andy Williams (<em>Vol. 3 & 4</em>)</strong><br /><br />11. "O Come All Ye Faithful" – Luther Vandross (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. Stacie Orrico (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Luciano Pavarotti (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. Nat King Cole (<em>Vol. 3</em>) vs. Celtic Woman (<em>Vol. 4</em>)<br /><br />12. "O Holy Night" – Celine Dion (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Al Green (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong><br /><br />13. "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" – <strong>Brenda Lee (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. Cyndi Lauper (<em>Vol. 3</em>) vs. Toby Keith (<em>Vol. 4</em>)<br /><br />14. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" – <strong>Gene Autry (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. <strong>Burl Ives (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. <strong>Ella Fitzgerald (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong> vs. The Temptations (<em>Vol. 4</em>); ALL - because it's the ultimate Christmas pop song<br /><br />15. "Santa Baby" – <strong>Kylie Minogue (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong> vs. <strong>The Pussycat Dolls (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong> ; BOTH - because this song's funny whether it's done well or not<br /><br />16. "Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town" – Bruce Springsteen (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. B2K (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Burl Ives (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong> vs. The Jackson 5 (<em>Essential</em>)<br /><br />17. "Silent Night" – <strong>Boyz II Men (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. Charlotte Church (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. The Temptations (<em>Essential</em>)<br /><br />18. "Silver Bells" – Johnny Mathis (<em>Vol. 2</em>) vs. <strong>Bing Crosby (<em>Vol. 3</em>)</strong> vs. Martina McBride (<em>Vol. 4</em>)<br /><br />19. "(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" – <strong>Perry Como (<em>Vol. 1</em>)</strong> vs. Barry Manilow (<em>Vol. 2</em>)<br /><br />20. "This Christmas" – Joe (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>Donny Hathaway (<em>Essential</em>)</strong><br /><br />21. "Winter Wonderland" – Tony Bennett (<em>Vol. 1</em>) vs. <strong>Louis Armstrong (<em>Vol. 2</em>)</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeghk-g83DE9pWUZVrqZZwZEOizhxIV7L24cH-wFp7l4aI1ViPaXGtxyDo67L0utO7hgxDVA6Tp7YwtrgHrv9jMYNuTBY60DFtufvVQWZLNgj4CfYgCfWvyfKszJBMFk61GGmCaxTSjJc/s1600-h/vol.+3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeghk-g83DE9pWUZVrqZZwZEOizhxIV7L24cH-wFp7l4aI1ViPaXGtxyDo67L0utO7hgxDVA6Tp7YwtrgHrv9jMYNuTBY60DFtufvVQWZLNgj4CfYgCfWvyfKszJBMFk61GGmCaxTSjJc/s200/vol.+3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415649728273873250" /></a>If you count up my picks for each, <em>Vol. 3</em> appears to be the most essential for both artists and songs across the series. I stand by <em>Vol. 1</em> though, because it's the only one with the original <strong>"Jingle Bell Rock"</strong> by Bobby Helms, which is practically canon, or at the very least, required listening during the holidays.<br /><br />Most of the best selections from the <em>Signature</em> (<em>Vol. 2</em>) are repeated on the <em>Essential</em> volume: Chuck Berry, José Feliciano, Elton John and Wham! I still recommend the <em>Signature</em> (<em>Vol. 2</em>) for its Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey and Gloria Estefan tracks.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJvPnQAoyfmXtLguSaq5w7tdbByDBVErhA8_H_UIKL2pN8lpWTdx0fZzATAB9Mn3nxX493BpCHUNaMhdW3ckGK01El9bb0h1FAA87xEZoFxPSr4Tj1lPsDggjKdJ38q5pQZNCfNb6xlY/s1600/christmas4.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJvPnQAoyfmXtLguSaq5w7tdbByDBVErhA8_H_UIKL2pN8lpWTdx0fZzATAB9Mn3nxX493BpCHUNaMhdW3ckGK01El9bb0h1FAA87xEZoFxPSr4Tj1lPsDggjKdJ38q5pQZNCfNb6xlY/s200/christmas4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5553663590659476306" /></a><em>Vol. 3</em> is the only one to include "The Grinch" song and a punk rock version of a Christmas song. There are a couple of songs which are repeated on <em>Vol. 3</em>, supposedly because they're superior recordings, but they're not. You're better off with the <strong>"Little Saint Nick"</strong> from <em>Vol. 1</em> and <strong>"Winter Wonderland"</strong> from the <em>Vol. 2</em>.<br /><br />When I first looked at the tracklisting for <i>Vol. 4</i>, I couldn't see past all the contemporary country and top 40 pop artists on disc 1. Then I mistook disc 2 for a rehash of previous releases. While the Lady Gaga song is wrong on multiple levels, the poppy Kelly Rowland <b>"Wonderful Christmastime"</b> cover is an improvement over the Paul McCartney original. Last but certainly not least, I just found one of my new favorite Christmas songs, and that's <strong>"December"</strong> by Norah Jones.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-78750087809871461152010-12-21T07:40:00.000-08:002010-12-22T22:35:36.508-08:00The Eighth CD of ChristmasPop quiz, movie fans! See if you can match the movies listed below to the oldies tunes that each one featured:<br /><br />1. <i>Top Gun</i> (1986)<br />2. <i>Adventures in Babysitting</i> (1987)<br />3. <i>Dirty Dancing</i> (1987)<br />4. <i>Ghost</i> (1990)<br />5. <i>Father of the Bride</i> (1991)<br /><br />a. "(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Going to Marry" - Darlene Love (1963)<br />b. "Be My Baby" - The Ronettes (1963)<br />c. "Then He Kissed Me" - The Crystals (1963)<br />d. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" - The Righteous Brothers (1964)<br />e. "Unchained Melody" - The Righteous Brothers (1965)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fTQ1s6sD7dra_crwiZf6tyh0vFNqmDh42-ZIkZebN70WV_L28xkt66Qu8dJgacY8yscYyHKJV7yKqSNHiXJ4UWaVxgogoxT5Ejm-zmKFbwB72VGpOHZETvVSH8j4hKI-m1q57fSu2Kg/s1600-h/IMG_0001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411964236983549570" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 175px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fTQ1s6sD7dra_crwiZf6tyh0vFNqmDh42-ZIkZebN70WV_L28xkt66Qu8dJgacY8yscYyHKJV7yKqSNHiXJ4UWaVxgogoxT5Ejm-zmKFbwB72VGpOHZETvVSH8j4hKI-m1q57fSu2Kg/s200/IMG_0001.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ioilZKJ4VnJTyvDS0rMJXONekx37SvzuAGZacl-H8AnfgUn_lwDwJts1ck2mnrCCrCzYW2pa_wi3Pa2IZbtV2YS9BN2UOh48o5UwLpU3j57h0hMksEy-RHRIUpZvZxuduIJQOKtn0ps/s1600-h/IMG_0002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411964242320856930" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ioilZKJ4VnJTyvDS0rMJXONekx37SvzuAGZacl-H8AnfgUn_lwDwJts1ck2mnrCCrCzYW2pa_wi3Pa2IZbtV2YS9BN2UOh48o5UwLpU3j57h0hMksEy-RHRIUpZvZxuduIJQOKtn0ps/s200/IMG_0002.jpg" border="0" /></a>What do all of these movies and songs have in common? As unrelated as they may seem, these movies were all childhood favorites of mine, but that could be because they featured songs which were also childhood favorites. What these songs share in common is that they were all produced by Phil Spector. Perhaps you're familiar with Phil Spector and his Wagnerian "Wall of Sound," a recording technique which uses lots of reverb and over-overdubbing. When I went looking for the original versions of a couple covers that Erasure did ("River Deep - Mountain High," by Ike and Tina Turner, and "Walking in the Rain," by The Ronettes), I was interested to learn that Phil Spector had a hand in both songs. Years later I was surprised to discover that he didn't just do '60s girl groups, he also worked with The Beatles and The Ramones. Finally, I was shocked to hear that he'd gone to prison for murder. If none of that's news for you, what you may never have realized is that the album, <i>A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector</i> (1963), was released the same day as the assassination of JFK. I imagine the first few years of the '60s, before LBJ and escalation in Vietnam, looked and sounded more like the '50s. Since the Spector-penned "Spanish Harlem" (1960), my all-time favorite oldies tune, was released right at the turn of the decade, I get it mixed up with all the doo-wop that came before it. Because of its inauspicious release date, <i>A Christmas Gift for You</i> might similarly come off as behind its turbulent times. While it may have been wrong for the peace movement, it's so joyously innocent and hopeful that it's perfect for the holiday season.<br /><br />Here's a list of the songs on the album, grouped alphabetically by artist (titles in <b>bold</b> are my personal favorites):<br /><br />Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans<br /><b>3. The Bells of St. Mary's</b><br />12. Here Comes Santa Claus<br /><br />The Crystals<br /><b>4. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"</b><br />8. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"<br />10. "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers"<br /><br />Darlene Love<br />1. "White Christmas"<br /><b>6. "Marshmallow World"</b><br />9. "Winter Wonderland"<br /><b>11. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"</b><br /><br />The Ronettes<br />2. "Frosty the Snowman"<br /><b>5. "Sleigh Ride"</b><br />7. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"<br /><br />I'm sure you aced the pop quiz at the top, but just in case you have doubts, the correct answers are 1-d, 2-c, 3-b, 4-e, and 5-a.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-27782002716453317252010-12-20T07:37:00.000-08:002010-12-25T22:27:23.352-08:00The Seventh CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfa5W8c1P_ukgfwPTlswvn_G8ocLpQrx3gu37KtHrauD7fMtAcDqeurReQguNvuLkLOKmkN4uv3cvG8-O-nPTfnTVtcM3A_dvwH9bMAOeta9-hrZBQzHFWssJKMTLt_hfxgR8-W0onuI/s1600/gingerbread+007.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfa5W8c1P_ukgfwPTlswvn_G8ocLpQrx3gu37KtHrauD7fMtAcDqeurReQguNvuLkLOKmkN4uv3cvG8-O-nPTfnTVtcM3A_dvwH9bMAOeta9-hrZBQzHFWssJKMTLt_hfxgR8-W0onuI/s400/gingerbread+007.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552533316207669938" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0NRFuvhYo4o5rMzU66ila_MKYyoN5Xa9vdSgEPo4n86IM2Dc99wHfi2QSPwmrmvefqVEv-BMZhOqooxqzgtsp3W7MghfB8TFtDdrKQ9Wwpt41J4rWsVI033FPy4_Gngm59gTjdTxVY_E/s1600-h/IMG_0027.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411962579927089714" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 353px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0NRFuvhYo4o5rMzU66ila_MKYyoN5Xa9vdSgEPo4n86IM2Dc99wHfi2QSPwmrmvefqVEv-BMZhOqooxqzgtsp3W7MghfB8TFtDdrKQ9Wwpt41J4rWsVI033FPy4_Gngm59gTjdTxVY_E/s400/IMG_0027.jpg" border="0" /></a>There are two things under our tree this year that shouldn't have anything to do Christmas, but do. The snowman is representative of winter, which as everyone knows, begins a few days before Christmas. But how many people realize that the actual birth of Jesus didn't take place during the calendar month of December, or during the season of winter at all? I myself was surprised to learn that it does in fact snow in Jerusalem, but it probably didn't do so on the night that Christ was born. The nutcracker toy pictured above was a Christmas gift from my old college roommate and his wife, but it has no more to do with the true meaning of Christmas than the snowman does. It's great that both decorations are the same height and they're both equally cute. Now come to think of it, the cuteness factor must be why a nutcracker toy was the preferred Christmas gift for Marie (not Clara) in the <strong>short story, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816)</strong>, by German Romantic author, E.T.A. Hoffman. Having a Christmas party in the story was just a convenient way of getting a toy soldier into the hands of a little girl before he transformed into a human prince and took her on adventures in the Land of Sweets. But <strong><em>The Nutcracker</em> ballet (1892)</strong> and its music would never have become the holiday staples that they are without that Christmas party in Act I. Furthermore, if not for the success that Walt Disney had with his not very Christmasy <strong>movie, <em>Fantasia</em> (1940)</strong>, which included <em>The Nutcracker Suite</em>, William Christensen might not have brought the first complete performance of the ballet to the U.S. four years later. I learned that last tidbit from my wife, who once danced with Ballet West, the company that William Christensen founded another four years after he premiered <em>The Nutcracker</em> with the San Francisco Ballet. Anyway, my wife thinks my Kirov Orchestra CD is too fast to dance to, but the reason I bought it was because it was the only complete performance available on a single disc. You can easily fit <em>The Nutcracker Suite</em> on one CD, but that's only the eight numbers that Tchaikovsky selected for an earlier concert performance: the "Miniature Overture" (Christmasy to me), "March" (even Christmasier), "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy" (the Christmasiest, in my opinion), "Russian Dance" (Trepak), "Arabian Dance" (Coffee), "Chinese Dance" (Tea), "Dance of the Reed-Flutes" (Marzipan), and <strong>"Waltz of the Flowers" (my favorite on the <em>Suite</em>)</strong>. What's missing though are my absolute personal favorites: the grand Journey Through the Snow (Scene 8), the even grander "Arrival of Clara and the Prince" (Scene 11), the grandest "Pas de Deux" ever (Scene 14), Polichinelles ("Mother Ginger and Her Children"), and finally, <strong>the favorite of my many favorites, "Spanish Dance" (Chocolate)</strong>. If classical music's not your thing, check out Duke Ellington's jazz version of the "Overture" (1960), Trans-Siberian Orchestra's acoustic guitar on "The Silent Nutcracker" (1996), or D-Pulse's house remix, "Acid Dance of the Plum Fairy" (2005),Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-12870286225466168862010-12-19T07:33:00.000-08:002010-12-18T13:40:24.932-08:00The Sixth CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvB3EM5tAODT4h5zEoAf_GGqFEIMdSe2Cfp-x8Gyi0X2vzo2DHBFKPNUhYYnPJ-mEr_S70P0jOyIiSfOQWqN89Ox-jX7XngdvuT-OSNkFZqndlLTGIIEUwygmmc0tgshPyaDmQvU0BCaY/s1600-h/IMG_0001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421204012472007074" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 173px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvB3EM5tAODT4h5zEoAf_GGqFEIMdSe2Cfp-x8Gyi0X2vzo2DHBFKPNUhYYnPJ-mEr_S70P0jOyIiSfOQWqN89Ox-jX7XngdvuT-OSNkFZqndlLTGIIEUwygmmc0tgshPyaDmQvU0BCaY/s200/IMG_0001.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxauriwn2yXym6Gwqc16POw_RNVxVhvLe91YugpmY9XHue1-Gc6nPGwPI2Ncs6tgrc8A-amFusEp4mzNw3V80g1T-ZDW7Fq2BYgvwUYqnBzPqH8SQ0G7eNUTI6D4yYlKDhuZe5tCQOIM/s1600-h/IMG_0002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421204005280714690" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxauriwn2yXym6Gwqc16POw_RNVxVhvLe91YugpmY9XHue1-Gc6nPGwPI2Ncs6tgrc8A-amFusEp4mzNw3V80g1T-ZDW7Fq2BYgvwUYqnBzPqH8SQ0G7eNUTI6D4yYlKDhuZe5tCQOIM/s200/IMG_0002.jpg" border="0" /></a>When was the last time you bought a CD for one song only? In this day and age of digital downloads, it's not something you really have to do anymore. Maybe I should be asking a different question: When was the last time you bought an album on a factory-sealed CD from a store to which you had to drive? Anyway, I bought <em>The Voice of Christmas</em> almost ten years ago on Amazon for one song. My wife was looking for a <strong>Luciano Pavarotti</strong> version of "Gesù bambino" and this 2CD set, which was released the same year as the single-disc <em>Three Tenors at Chrismtas</em> (2002), just seemed like the best value. She wanted the song for a holiday performance that she had to choreograph back when she used to teach ballet.<br /><br />Turns out all the other songs are keepers. At first I couldn't dig the <strong>Dame Joan Sutherland</strong> solo pieces, but now even the squawking traditional French song "Il est né le divin enfant" brings a smile to my face. To this day, I've never seen the CD sold in stores, nor any of the other CDs in <em>The Voice of...</em> series (<em>America; France; Italy; Mozart; Puccini; Verdi;</em> etc.). You could easily buy one of the many Three Tenors' Christmas CDs anywhere, but if you're looking for an opera Christmas collection with variety, this one's got "old" (<strong>Choir of King's College, Cambridge</strong> - established in 1441) and "young" (Vienna Boys' Choir - established in 1498), both male (The Three Tenors' José Carreras) and female (the Met's Leontyne Price), religious (<em>Messiah</em> excerpts by the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the London Symphony Chorus) and secular ("White Christmas" by <strong>Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</strong>).<br /><br />2009 has been good for opera: Susan Boyle's <em>I Dreamed a Dream</em> (best-selling album of the year), Andrea Bocelli's <em>My Christmas</em> (best-selling holiday album of the season) and Josh Groban's 2007 <em>Noël</em> (now quintuple platinum). Lately the fine line between musicals and opera has become more blurred with these popular artists recording selections from both side by side on the same albums. On my iPod, I label anything orchestral with singing as "Opera" (including Charlotte Church and Sarah Brightman) and anything orchestral but instrumental as "Classical" (no matter if it was written in 1409 or 2009). If an orchestral song with singing is recognizable from Broadway or a movie, I'll label it "Standards" instead of "Soundtrack" even though I know it would be easier to use "Vocal" for both musicals and opera. Before I got the <em>The Voice of Christmas</em>, I might have considered <strong>The Mormon Tabernacle Choir's</strong> <em>Messiah</em> (1959) as my favorite holiday opera album. Now it's not even my favorite "Motab" album (that would be <em>The Joy of Christmas</em> with Leonard Bernstein).Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-29371831393544917222010-12-18T07:29:00.000-08:002010-12-18T13:48:05.064-08:00The Fifth CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk60neuptyx3TeSZEaTfB_KAeuTBgirhJ-de87VZasP0OJj6XD7hSmB3ENkGc7ZKN_oPeMgJfwA70IZ1j8hTbdCSmRXnAfM5YVhT5g5mipG0TNd8wws9_sMLkYBIi565kl7eRelaSHck/s1600-h/IMG_0021.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411960539078344626" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 355px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCk60neuptyx3TeSZEaTfB_KAeuTBgirhJ-de87VZasP0OJj6XD7hSmB3ENkGc7ZKN_oPeMgJfwA70IZ1j8hTbdCSmRXnAfM5YVhT5g5mipG0TNd8wws9_sMLkYBIi565kl7eRelaSHck/s400/IMG_0021.jpg" border="0" /></a>In "My Easy Listening/New Age/World" post (11/11/08), I wrote how my dad first got into Mannheim Steamroller with <em>A Fresh Aire VI</em> (1986). I know he'd always been a fan of the song "Classical Gas," but I'm not sure if he owned the Mannheim Steamroller version on an album of the same name (1987). Then there was <em>A Fresh Aire Christmas</em> (1988), the sophomore release in a series of Christmas-themed albums which celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a "best of" double-disc set last year. A few years after the release of <em>Yellowstone: The Music of Nature</em> (1989), my family went to Yellowstone and I'm sure the CD would have been featured prominently in all the gift shops. I'm not sure which year I got into Mannheim Steamroller, but based on the way it kept intersecting with my life, it was probably inevitable. I think my dad liked the folk side of it. For me, it was all about the synthesizers. "<strong>Carol of the Bells</strong>" was like the "Axel F" of Christmas songs. It exposed me for the first time to the concept that Christmas songs could "rock," (not that it was a rock song - maybe derivative of prog rock, but far from a power metal offshoot like Trans-Siberian Orchestra) yet at the same time, it was easy listening. Paradox seems to be the goal of Mannheim Steamroller, as it's always sounded both old and new and acted both silly and serious at the same time, kind of like most people around Christmastime. The traditional (and my favorite) songs on <em>A Fresh Aire Christmas</em> are "<strong>Veni Veni</strong> (O Come, O Come Emmanuel), "<strong>The Holly and the Ivy</strong>" and "<strong>Still, Still, Still</strong>." For a non-traditional song, check out the "<strong>Hallelujah (Remix) </strong>" on <em>Christmas Song</em> (2007). In case you're wondering about the other Christmas albums, don't bother. <em>Mannheim Steamroller Christmas</em> (1984), is almost as good as the album featured here (not as sentimental for me) but there are only ten songs from later albums that stay true to the sound and spirit of the holiday (and earlier works):<br /><br /><em>Christmas in the Aire</em> (1995)<br />2. "Joseph Dear, Oh Joseph Mine"<br />4. "Herbei, oh ihr Gläubigen (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)"<br />11. "Kling, Glöckchen"<br />12. "Jingle Bells"<br /><br /><em>Christmas Extraordinaire</em> (2001)<br />3. "Away in a Manger"<br />4. "Faeries (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)"<br />5. "Do You Hear What I Hear?"<br />6. "The First Noel"<br /><br /><em>Christmas Celebration</em> (2004)<br />1. "Christmas Celebration"<br /><br /><em>Christmas Song</em> (2007)<br />10. "Traditions of Christmas" (music box)Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-45324613200441118552010-12-17T07:22:00.000-08:002010-12-21T10:46:01.034-08:00The Fourth CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPF9ZVSHugE6aMQjWk1rRggw02MZaQqVFJlR4C1BRBFoi50ChH4dyUGlFphVM_nOoZ29zYiB11OWrghxANd4kuv1znz_Il4EPvHq0rtEzZaofPUAE2_SCO-bCxyMQ2oW5QCrcbIYL2Sus/s1600-h/IMG_0019.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411959697870477666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPF9ZVSHugE6aMQjWk1rRggw02MZaQqVFJlR4C1BRBFoi50ChH4dyUGlFphVM_nOoZ29zYiB11OWrghxANd4kuv1znz_Il4EPvHq0rtEzZaofPUAE2_SCO-bCxyMQ2oW5QCrcbIYL2Sus/s400/IMG_0019.jpg" border="0" /></a>This post is dedicated to those who limit themselves to the contemporary Christmas pop music that they play in department stores and restaurant chains. Anyone who understands the true meaning of Christmas knows that the holiday is 2010 years old, but most Christmas compilations only feature songs written within the last 200 years. <em>James Galway's Christmas Carol</em> (1986) remedies that by including the "<strong>Chorale</strong>" and "Sinfonia" from Johann Sebastian Bach's <em>Christmas Oratorio</em> (1734) and "<strong>Ave Maria</strong>," which is based on a melody that Bach composed for <em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em> (1722). Dates that old make "Frosty the Snowman" (1950) and its predecessor "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1939) seem like new releases. He also includes "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which is probably older than Charles Dickens' <em>A Christmas Carol</em> (1843) and the only other familiar carol, "Greensleeves," is older than Dickens himself. My personal favorites are the "<strong>Shepherd's Pipe Carol</strong>" (1975), "I Saw Three Ships" (first published in 1928, supposedly an upbeat variation of "Greensleeves"), "<strong>Zither Carol</strong>," "Holy Boy" and "<strong>Past Three O'Clock</strong>" (1924).<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411959688567723346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 199px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii-rf3I_5taZuVQgk372_X1kL3G-G_KEDqURm-Pzg7eih3IbKURl2fnBo8zqqa2TotKUuuabEsfRHEFS1QES1JHxVUQrjjrao6KGkb6kfLMzwNgRMTBKWpVeHOOf1GTDyBa1i5JWUe4qE/s400/IMG_0018.jpg" border="0" />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-91838352683569712392010-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:002010-12-16T15:34:41.242-08:00The Third CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ke6SNeAbEtgEAgWF-N9LRvV6e0L3Jlw7hT22EHHA8KWvGOIY9mnVLYDmXSeQsqNrumAc2V2l4emD7dzmrU9hcYBN45K6Y93WMnPCulP_DEV62xUXCMABW5VrWbDZxTNnRL5pcpFf-VA/s1600-h/IMG_0014.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413329919677464210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 171px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Ke6SNeAbEtgEAgWF-N9LRvV6e0L3Jlw7hT22EHHA8KWvGOIY9mnVLYDmXSeQsqNrumAc2V2l4emD7dzmrU9hcYBN45K6Y93WMnPCulP_DEV62xUXCMABW5VrWbDZxTNnRL5pcpFf-VA/s200/IMG_0014.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCZ3zFZ6ucRRN6yR4EzX05T10Dsw18D2V2dd8CwRqrSIAko83IUPMkAtSAHytpVg2uqsazx67dwBdWIV8KqeQauH2nnNI1wE04xiq0F2pnOq3p1pwsYlWfdEKrZNgndHHycICv0265Zw/s1600-h/IMG_0015.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413329922928808418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCZ3zFZ6ucRRN6yR4EzX05T10Dsw18D2V2dd8CwRqrSIAko83IUPMkAtSAHytpVg2uqsazx67dwBdWIV8KqeQauH2nnNI1wE04xiq0F2pnOq3p1pwsYlWfdEKrZNgndHHycICv0265Zw/s200/IMG_0015.jpg" border="0" /></a>If I were filthy rich, there are many things that I've said I would do: buy my grandparents' cabin and live like a hermit; visit all 50 states, stopping at every national park; build a lavish home theater and organize a film festival; fund a community skate park; curate an antique music box museum. That last one's not actually true. I've never said it before but now that I have, why not? A library of golden age comic books would only be of interest to English speakers but music is universal, especially instrumental music. In the case of an unlikely but possible post-apocalyptic future without electricity, music boxes would be invaluable to music lovers without any natural musical talent. I love music boxes. The Porter Co. (surprisingly available on iTunes) <em>Music Box Christmas</em>, as revealed in my 12/25/08 post, was<b> the album my parents played first thing on Christmas mornings</b> while we opened presents. Not that I think opening presents is the essence of Christmas, but this album IS the essence of Christmas for me. It evokes a baby being born in a manger. It twinkles like starlight and almost brings me to tears. All music boxes have a somewhat melancholy sound, no matter how joyous the songs they play. Considering that my absolute favorite musical instrument is the steel drum and one of my top five things in this world is listening to church bells in the distance, it should come as no surprise that I love the sweet, simple, haunting sound of music boxes. This album straddles the line between reinterpreting Christmas classics in a new and different format and remaining faithful to the original melodies (check out the unique intro on "Greensleeves"). It also has a nice, even balance between contemporary, pop standards and traditional, religious carols. For more on the man behind this, my absolute favorite Christmas CD, click to enlarge the liner notes below:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411989373040905842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 346px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNCc4i1Eb194tWDn5yx2N_BPM3RCibrb3J5OdYin5qWMmLSN98q6DewTDpzVVNeTN15Ej9pmEjnqvQJz9GIlRIAHtqac8Y7h6tRslVZR6_pcbM85j5-3hCSfB2bQRIUlkIUqdoo3vw8o/s400/IMG_0017.jpg" border="0" />Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-8920007195825943702010-12-15T06:33:00.000-08:002010-12-16T15:39:26.634-08:00The Second CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnXLRZtWbTQK9ipsXqDvcadRz8wbypq1u1Ra1VE3QxeDq7KYDVHmftZDF7uGmLUNd5cRD5R-u0ijSuMB057liGuFQwBBYonbG4QLtccv6E8ySE8GccZSw_LwDXL-8YHiqJgS3Vz9bCTk/s1600-h/shepherd+moons.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411979836832522962" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnXLRZtWbTQK9ipsXqDvcadRz8wbypq1u1Ra1VE3QxeDq7KYDVHmftZDF7uGmLUNd5cRD5R-u0ijSuMB057liGuFQwBBYonbG4QLtccv6E8ySE8GccZSw_LwDXL-8YHiqJgS3Vz9bCTk/s400/shepherd+moons.jpg" border="0" /></a>Call me a Philistine. Call me fuddy duddy. Worse yet, call me a hopeless addict, but I'll be the first to admit, I'm an Enya CD collector. In my 10/23/08 post, I mentioned that I consider a fad to be anything involving upwards of 20 million people and since Enya has had over 30 million sales in the U.S. alone, she could be considered trendy, but I'm not ashamed. You may see multiple albums pictured on this post, but "the second CD of Christmas" is really just <em><strong>Shepherd Moons</strong></em>, winner of the first of Enya's four Grammy Awards for "Best New Age Album." It doesn't have Christmas in the title like some of her later work, but it was released early one November and my dad must have bought it shortly thereafter, because I remember him playing it throughout the holidays and almost till spring. The opening and title track encapsulates the season of winter more than any other song I know. The second track, <strong>"Caribbean Blue,"</strong> doesn't transport me to a tropical paradise - instead, it brings to my mind the hustle and bustle of gift shopping, or of Santa's elves speedily building toys. The third track, <strong>"How Can I Keep From Singing?"</strong> sounds like midnight Mass because of the echo and organ. The tribal fourth track isn't very Christmasy, neither the popular single, "Book of Days," nor the last track with bagpipes. But I still like them all. My two favorite tracks on the album (and the most Christmasy) are <strong>"Angeles" </strong>and <strong>"Marble Halls"</strong> (which reminds my granddad of his childhood).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwzERkcTGbJszD_32Frqe_IGAss-oICVZKjmpUbcpstxTkYV-6ABsES1FlaBSyHLL7meKa_CKGGR4rkQX4gQBi9hoo2_vOtPgCCRKsSjxpp8dbJLuB3_QnCKwSZ0fX7I7ajsTmt6uiPk/s1600-h/amarantine.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412753623199566354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggwzERkcTGbJszD_32Frqe_IGAss-oICVZKjmpUbcpstxTkYV-6ABsES1FlaBSyHLL7meKa_CKGGR4rkQX4gQBi9hoo2_vOtPgCCRKsSjxpp8dbJLuB3_QnCKwSZ0fX7I7ajsTmt6uiPk/s400/amarantine.jpg" border="0" /></a>Enya's follow-up to <em>Shepherd Moons</em> was the <em>Oíche Chiún (Silent Night)</em> single. My dad immediately snatched that up too but I waited a few years and then bought <em>The Christmas EP</em>. They have different cover art but both feature the songs <strong>"Oíche Chiún" </strong>and<strong> "'s Fagaim Mo Bhaile"</strong> (very Christmasy). The reason I waited to buy the EP was that it had more songs than the single, but those songs turned out to be recycled from the albums <em>Watermark</em> and <em>The Celts</em>. Now I'm missing the song <strong>"Oriel Window"</strong> (more Christmasy), which is on the single but not on the EP, and I prefer that to the song <strong>"As Baile"</strong> (less Christmasy), which is on the EP but not on the single. I'm also missing the Target exclusive, <em>Sounds of the Season: The Enya Holiday Collection</em> (known as the <em>Christmas Secrets EP</em> in Canada). It starts with "Oíche Chiún" (which seems to be on everything including the charity compilation, <em>A Very Special Christmas</em>), but adds a couple new interpretations of the Christmas classics, "Adeste Fideles (Oh Come All Ye Faithful)" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Both of those versions are so-so, but the fourth track, <strong>"Christmas Secrets"</strong> is a must-have and I don't have it (the cheapest solution may be to buy the import-only<em> Amarantine: Special Christmas Edition</em>, an album I already own the original version of).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6w0KHxKJzt_ca-e-tPSps0TXtutNCKPxj846cDjxl2yL_ZxJrmX66UKt1J9qyIf4F0j8p1CUeIDZjb3q5GKiRPcMW1r6mqiDFiALx8metI5nemReTM7ZhFBubsKVW-pRMS7X1cvxsUXM/s1600-h/winter.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411979852683238418" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6w0KHxKJzt_ca-e-tPSps0TXtutNCKPxj846cDjxl2yL_ZxJrmX66UKt1J9qyIf4F0j8p1CUeIDZjb3q5GKiRPcMW1r6mqiDFiALx8metI5nemReTM7ZhFBubsKVW-pRMS7X1cvxsUXM/s400/winter.jpg" border="0" /></a>In my 11/11/08 post, I noted that both Enya and Mannheim Steamroller had come out with Christmas-themed albums on the same day. <em>And Winter Came... </em>was Enya's release that day and if you take away the song I discussed in that post, "Trains and Winter Rains," along with the rockin' "My! My! Time Flies!" (which just happen to be the first two tracks on last year's <em>Very Best of Enya</em> CD/DVD) what you're left with is like a new version of <em>Shepherd Moons</em>. The title track on <em><strong>And Winter Came...</strong></em> encapsulates the season almost as well as the title track on <em>Shepherd Moons</em>. The second track, <strong>"Journey of the Angels"</strong> takes me back to "Angeles" and <strong>"Last Time By Moonlight"</strong> is like the new "Marble Halls." The third track, <strong>"White Is in the Winter Night,"</strong> is the new gift shopping/elf toymaking addition. The fourth track, <strong>"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"</strong> is the new midnight Mass carol. I'm hardly the first person to suggest that Enya's albums all sound the same and I won't be the last that honestly doesn't care. Ireland's other, bigger, musical export to the world, U2, also cranks out albums which all sound the same to me and I'm fine with that as well (I like their "Christmas Baby Please Come Home" on the aforementioned charity compilation, <em>A Very Special Christmas</em>). There are lots of excessive and redundant holiday traditions and I'll take them all, thank you much.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-52016920763809797042010-12-14T00:27:00.000-08:002010-12-13T12:36:20.604-08:00The First CD of Christmas<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiemqJMmH6zuB8qi5G5RCglcHb3xqKaZCSQhWaukEhOVvclGFfTT59cYwV4CGaYWKm9cR2v9MkWwbvhzLXwrISglAwQhh6mSJeOMZeV4agh-_5ChcL4AyrjAeIMRMgSkRhRT2oH-ZBNAXk/s1600-h/IMG_0012.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411954768894336418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 172px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiemqJMmH6zuB8qi5G5RCglcHb3xqKaZCSQhWaukEhOVvclGFfTT59cYwV4CGaYWKm9cR2v9MkWwbvhzLXwrISglAwQhh6mSJeOMZeV4agh-_5ChcL4AyrjAeIMRMgSkRhRT2oH-ZBNAXk/s200/IMG_0012.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jT7DuAu7iXZk_iq_OoRdG2PizsvHHyFy4aKjtHiH639-Gk8vd8d4ebnk4WQBaCvf729o6llANm4nDvMVfz-6VWlgAJ9uVqCDLbJej1YZEliBa_fXhnLvujxYg9Q7gqpkvAMPhWEMsAg/s1600-h/IMG_0013.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411954779752827058" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 168px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jT7DuAu7iXZk_iq_OoRdG2PizsvHHyFy4aKjtHiH639-Gk8vd8d4ebnk4WQBaCvf729o6llANm4nDvMVfz-6VWlgAJ9uVqCDLbJej1YZEliBa_fXhnLvujxYg9Q7gqpkvAMPhWEMsAg/s200/IMG_0013.jpg" border="0" /></a>There are lot of Christmas movies and animated TV specials with songs and instrumental scores that I like: <em>White Christmas </em>(1954), <em>Babes in Toyland </em>(1961), <i>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</i> (1964), <i>The Small One</i> (1978) and <i>Gremlins </i>(1984). I only own one Christmas movie soundtrack on CD and that's <span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Home Alone</span> (1990). I didn't own a CD player when the movie came out, but when I started buying CDs, it was one of my firsts. <strong>It's not just a Christmas thing either.</strong> Every year at Thanksgiving, my mom's whole side of the family would get together and my uncle would offer to take all my cousins and me to the movies but it never happened. To this day, I've only ever been to the theater on Thanksgiving once, when all my aunts and uncles together took us to <i>Home Alone.</i> I think of that every Thanksgiving as it's one of the happiest memories of my life, plus I saw the trailer for <i>Edward Scissorhands </i>(another somewhat Christmas movie with a great soundtrack). I learned to comb my hair and put on deodorant from the aftershave screaming scene so you know the movie's ingrained in my daily routine. Speaking of the aftershave scenes, without the lip-synching one I might never have been exposed to Mel Tormé, and I personally think he's better than Bing Crosby OR Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately for the time being I don't own any of his Christmas albums. I just rewatched the DVD with the director's commentary and I learned that <strong>John Williams wasn't the first choice for composer</strong> on <i>Home Alone</i>. The director wanted Bruce Broughton, who coincidentally did lots of other holiday-themed soundtracks, including <i>The Thanksgiving Promise</i> (1986) and <i>Miracle on 34th Street</i> (1994). Nobody thought John Williams would do a "kiddie" movie, but then he followed this one up with <i>Hook</i> (1991). That leads me to my final point. What's so great about <i>Home Alone</i> is that John Williams didn't treat it like a "kiddie" movie and neither did the rest of the cast or crew. Director Chris Columbus even claims that he was inspired by Charles Dickens in <i>Great Expectations</i> (1860) and <i>Oliver Twist</i> (1837), which are both dark stories about kids in over their heads. This reminds me of an IMDb comment I read recently, by Lou Pine from Dublin, about the movie <i>Parents</i> (1989):<br /><br />"There is an aspect to childhood that is too often (and in the case of Hollywood almost always) forgotten and that is the dark side. <strong>The world for a child does not always appear as a bright, shining place of wonder and joy;</strong> more often than not the world is strange, forbidding and completely out of our control. That appearance is not deceptive; what is deceptive is the web of fictions we build up over time to help us deal with this. For me part of the thrill of horror (real horror, not simply the slash and stack variety), is the remembrance of that childhood chill, the memory of what Lovecraft termed cosmic horror and Freud called the Uncanny. Regardless of who those people are, parents as the symbol of unimpeachable, unquestioned authority whom we have to trust regardless of their real motives, are a potent representation of this chaotic universe, a universe that could crush us at any moment if it wanted to, but which we're stuck with."Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-16340928631359134252010-11-30T13:15:00.000-08:002010-11-30T22:37:33.743-08:00November BooksThese are some titles from last month's <em>New York Times Book Review</em> section that I might like to read at some point:<br /><br /><strong>Fiction</strong><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4fbTuM9At3lkRFXyzUuz2JyMsL6TlL2kEKlkra7RTV7lFwTYGRVSrejmAbGmDiFCf2F__xULXruYxpN-YASB0jhHsDnD9mXbGUCSx1hyphenhyphen9kkPqC6kwaiHFkOjhb9ne4XeAV4_8TChH7I/s1600/childrean+make+terrible+pets.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544775720783537938" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4fbTuM9At3lkRFXyzUuz2JyMsL6TlL2kEKlkra7RTV7lFwTYGRVSrejmAbGmDiFCf2F__xULXruYxpN-YASB0jhHsDnD9mXbGUCSx1hyphenhyphen9kkPqC6kwaiHFkOjhb9ne4XeAV4_8TChH7I/s400/childrean+make+terrible+pets.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>Art and Max</em> - David Wiesner; "Two artists mix methods and media."<br /><br /><em>The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey</em> - Walter Mosley; "The tale of an aged superhero who performs valiant deeds with the aid of a devoted young sidekick (pointedly named Robyn) may sound like the charming stuff of myth. But Mosley invests his wish-fulfillment fantasy with deeper meaning and higher purpose."<br /><br /><em>An Object of Beauty</em> - Steve Martin; "The actor's third novel is a dramedy of manners that doubles as an immersion course in the rarefied world of high-end art."<br /><br /><em>Shadow</em> - Suzy Lee; "More impressive than Lee's cartooning, however, is her understanding of the properties unique to the printed book as storytelling devices."<br /><br /><em>A Tale Dark & Grimm</em> - Adam Gidwitz; "Hansel and Gretel wander through a succession of lesser-known Grimm tales."<br /><br /><strong>Nonfiction</strong><br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvuUfGq76OAk-N1HjQDZLDbADs0DweQIjlpHCuu2wIukwOAHW528oYXyGdaWfDTtLHnn74shl5rZ7s8DZtL5TCrxzX-lmYZYg5D62DU75mf0oO4ASQR4ygGxES5OqVupzJS-XaulbjQc/s1600/my+reading+life.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5544782681346463266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvuUfGq76OAk-N1HjQDZLDbADs0DweQIjlpHCuu2wIukwOAHW528oYXyGdaWfDTtLHnn74shl5rZ7s8DZtL5TCrxzX-lmYZYg5D62DU75mf0oO4ASQR4ygGxES5OqVupzJS-XaulbjQc/s400/my+reading+life.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste</em> - Pierre Bourdieu "set out to show the social logic of taste: how admiration for art, appreciation of music, even taste in food, came about for different groups, and how 'superior' taste was not the result of an enchanted superiority in scattered individuals."<br /><br /><em>Googled: The End of World As We Know It</em> - Ken Auletta; "Depicts the sofware company, created in the mid-1990s by two Stanford graduate students, as a game-changing behemoth that, to the dismay of many media chiefs, has become synonymous with user-friendly efficiency and has the potential to disrupt whole industries."<br /><br /><em>In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Value</em> - Lauren Weber; "Combining personal memoir, social history and political manifesto, Weber guides readers on a history of America's complicated relationship with spending, and explores creative alternatives."<br /><br /><em>In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks</em> - Adam Carolla; "The radio host and comedian assesses modern culture through personal anecdotes."<br /><br /><em>Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How It Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation</em> - Ted C. Fishman; "Grew out of the research for Fishman's first book, <em>China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World</em>, and the two books share a fast pace, global scope and jaw-dropping facts."Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-1388351716933320882010-11-06T13:06:00.000-07:002013-06-24T18:25:13.295-07:00Steven Seagal's First Ten MoviesThere are few guarantees in life but in Steven Seagal movies, there are exactly three. Arms will be broken, there will be not-so-subtle messages about corruption, and in the first ten minutes of each movie, Seagal will go from being an innocent bystander to verbally challenging someone a) bigger than him, b) higher up the totem pole than him, or c) he will singlehandedly take on a whole group of guys that are even uglier than him. I never liked him as much as Jean-Claude Van-Damme growing up, and while we're on the subject of <strong>hypothetical, celebrity, death matches</strong>, I never liked Sylvester Stallone as much as Arnold Schwarzenegger either. As an adult, the accents of Van Damme and Schwarzenegger deflate my suspension of disbelief every time. In retrospect, it's good that Stevie and Sly stayed a little more down to earth, never taking scripts that bend the very fabric of space and time like their contemporaries (<em>Timecop</em>, 1994, and <em>Total Recall</em>, 1990), but if they had, I can see now how '80s playground meatheads would've eaten it up.<br /><br />Here is my ranking for Steven Seagal's first ten movies, <strong>from best to worst</strong> (number one being the very best):<br /><br />1. <em>Under Siege</em> (1992) this is the one where Steven Seagal has no ponytail and uses throwing knives to prepare "50 gallons of bouillabaise;" the <strong>technical jargon</strong> is what makes it for me but I can see how that might break it for someone in the know; <em>The Hunt for Red October</em> this is not; it's the second collaboration with director, Andrew Davis (<em>The Fugitive</em>, 1993); the first was...<br /><br />2. <em>Above the Law</em> (1988) this is the one where a young Seagal has long, bushy sideburns and speaks Japanese; its ideas are loftier than those in most <strong>revenge plots</strong> and its scope spans the globe from Asia to North and South America, but that's also what weighs it down; <em>Beverly Hills Cop</em> (1984) still has better '80s music and more spectacle <br /><br />3. <em>The Glimmer Man</em> (1996) this is the one where an old Seagal who's starting to put on some weight claims to be Buddhist and speaks Russian; he's partners with Damon Wayans, (the first of many gritty, <strong>urban, odd couple</strong>, action team-ups), and they make random references to <em>Casablanca</em> (1942) and Sun Tzu's <em>The Art of War</em> (600 B.C.)<br /><br />4. <em>Executive Decision</em> (1996) this is the one where he gets killed in the first half hour, but not before he barks orders at everyone and squints a lot at Kurt Russell, who takes over when it switches to a <strong>bomb squad suspense</strong> story that was probably trying to cash in on the success of <em>Speed</em> (1994); Seagal was just the head fake to get people in theaters<br /><br />5. <em>Fire Down Below</em> (1997) this is the one where he awkwardly keeps his arms folded in front and plays an impromptu guitar solo at the town dance; it features cameos by several country music stars, but they still manage to play some Jimi Hendrix right before the <strong>best truck chase</strong> scene since <em>Terminator 2: Judgement Day</em> (1991) <br /><br />6. <em>Out for Justice</em> (1991) this is the one where he wears a beret and speaks Italian; it's a mob story set in Brooklyn so you know it's got the worst language of any of the movies on this list; it also has the <strong>goriest fight</strong> scenes although not much happens in between those besides driving around listening to the Beastie Boys<br /><br />7. <em>Under Siege 2: Dark Territory</em> (1995) this is the only later movie without a ponytail and he lets kids like Katherine Heigl and Morris Chestnut (before they were famous) take most of the one-liners; the final <strong>knife fight</strong> is much longer than the awesome one at end of the first movie, but here Seagal also drops his knife halfway through and has to defend himself with his feet<br /><br />8. <em>Marked for Death</em> (1990) this is the one where he starts dressing all in black and tries to quit his corrupting job because it's making him feel corrupted; there's a <strong>machine shop music montage</strong> that demands manly claps and cheers; don't ask me what's up with the dancehall reggae and the voodoo resurrection, but if it leads to swordfighting and severed limbs, it's irie, mon <br /><br />9. <em>On Deadly Ground</em> (1994) this is the one where he wears a Native American fringed jacket and takes a vision quest with an Eskimo tribe; I would say this is the worst of the bunch because of the <strong>slow motion fight</strong> scenes but then there are deaths from collateral damage at the end which have nothing to do with Seagal and that's a breath of fresh air<br /><br />10. <em>Hard to Kill</em> (1990) this is the one where he comes out of a coma looking like Charles Manson and he wears an American flag bandana; it's convenient that he gets rescued by a hot nurse who's in love with him and she happens to have a <strong>secluded ranch with a weight lifting gym</strong>; it's not as cheesy as <em>Road House</em> (1989) but it has a soundtrack like a late night infomercialPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-53876663197610517182010-11-01T23:51:00.000-07:002010-11-30T22:39:49.129-08:00October Books<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1Y5qtJiqgNneqafSN2SejKoDM62DNK6WVXstD6n5AaL3isnPiuU5CCootGXTAT9pvs67_aUIURXQbtssw9kTr7CVzNmvnlk8KIukTLa-MGgZt-uuPFpVdaULpmwLi3Z30wfS6OPxymE/s1600/pointlomanazarene+055.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528814142071857314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1Y5qtJiqgNneqafSN2SejKoDM62DNK6WVXstD6n5AaL3isnPiuU5CCootGXTAT9pvs67_aUIURXQbtssw9kTr7CVzNmvnlk8KIukTLa-MGgZt-uuPFpVdaULpmwLi3Z30wfS6OPxymE/s400/pointlomanazarene+055.jpg" border="0" /></a>These are some titles from last month's <i>New York Times Book Review</i> section (and various issues of <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> magazine) that I might like to read at some point (plus pictures I took of the Halloween decorations at our local library):<br /><br /><strong>Fiction</strong><br /><br /><i>But Not For Long</i> - Michelle Wildgen; "Three members of a housing co-op in Madison, Wis., face a sort of apocalypse when gas stations run out of fuel, a prolonged blackout hits and honeybees disappear. Eventually people break out their bikes and begin foraging for mushrooms. The plot sounds didactic, but there is nothing preachy about this novel."<br /><br /><i>How to Read the Air</i> - Dinaw Mengestu's "own origins inform this novel about an Ethiopian-American tracing the uncertain road once taken by his immigrant parents."<br /><br /><i>Nemesis</i> - Philip Roth; "In 1944, a New Jersey phys ed teacher unfit for military service wages his own war against a polio outbreak."<br /><br /><i>The Odious Ogre</i> - Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer; "The legendary team behind <i>The Phantom Tollbooth</i>, join forces again . . . A natural read-aloud."<br /><br /><i>Spooner</i> - Pete Dexter; "A story about a man's struggle to help his troubled stepson by a novelist who writes about trouble better than most anyone."<br /><br /><strong>Nonfiction</strong><br /><br /><i>At Home: A Short History of Private Life</i> - Bill Bryson; "Centuries of history dwell in every nook and cranny of your home."<br /><br /><em>The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2010</em> - Dave Eggers; "A collection of the year's best writing - tweets, fiction snippets, blogs, letters to the editor, and so on - with an introduction by David Sedaris."<br /><br /><i>Daniel Patrick Moynihan: A Portrait in Letters of an American Visionary</i> - Steven R. Weisman; "Moynihan's correspondence makes absorbing reading because his grand ideas were always driven by his internal tensions."<br /><br /><em>Listen to This</em> - Alex Ross; "The <em>New Yorker</em> music critic follows up his best-selling <i>The Rest Is Noise</i> with this indispensable, erudite collection of his magazine essays, which span the aural universe from Schubert to Radiohead."<br /><br /><i>Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream</i> - Arianna Huffington; "The American middle class as an endangered species, from the editor of the Huffington Post Web site."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3c0FGt_SF92FqefLCH6NLTcJEDMprbJDPtBh-NZc2tFdQ7MRHoDIb-AtjcuST2ONehS9BUT2lmzJQ33uJoNeNQm1VyPuoRaeBTInlQKqfrVbWPf4dlhIemZ32FqWgNs3ZRzjmz6SWSk/s1600/pointlomanazarene+051.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5528814151688748786" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3c0FGt_SF92FqefLCH6NLTcJEDMprbJDPtBh-NZc2tFdQ7MRHoDIb-AtjcuST2ONehS9BUT2lmzJQ33uJoNeNQm1VyPuoRaeBTInlQKqfrVbWPf4dlhIemZ32FqWgNs3ZRzjmz6SWSk/s400/pointlomanazarene+051.jpg" border="0" /></a>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-85985419588292451282010-10-31T14:02:00.000-07:002011-01-15T10:29:46.191-08:00Happy Halloween, Part IIIOn this, the third Halloween since I started this blog, I'm reviewing not one, not two, but THREE totally '80s, cheesy, "atomic" horror, B-movie spoofs. There's also pictures of my son wearing his Lil' Frankie costume for the third year in a row and the Jack O'Lanterns that I freehanded (so don't judge my witch too harshly).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_oG23smOBwDqkhrDwnUFsbPpnrx5TE7I8RDv9yHDOaqvtkvUgJ5z579Yx_K4H2tdMbC9dgE7ipRQax69kJx4MDNh4HYCyGL8ZdVqIDewfnTLJuClkzCUFCfKrb6_U3mB6i9-rNzPKHk/s1600/halloween+007.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534393869705157778" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN_oG23smOBwDqkhrDwnUFsbPpnrx5TE7I8RDv9yHDOaqvtkvUgJ5z579Yx_K4H2tdMbC9dgE7ipRQax69kJx4MDNh4HYCyGL8ZdVqIDewfnTLJuClkzCUFCfKrb6_U3mB6i9-rNzPKHk/s400/halloween+007.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>Killer Klowns from Outer Space</em> (one and a half stars total) was my personal favorite of the bunch, despite the fact that I gave it the lowest rating. I don't think I've ever pointed out here that my "scientific method" for reviewing movies may subjectively rate craftsmanship, but it has no bearing on transcendental qualities, or unquantifiable sentimentalities. Just because I consider my favorite movie of all time to be a five star movie doesn't mean that any of my other favorites deserve the same rating. <em>Killer Klowns</em> (1988) doesn't sound like it would be a scary movie, it isn't really meant to be a scary movie, and yet, if watched with a certain state of mind, it becomes <strong>scary for fleeting moments</strong>. Its creators, the Chiodo brothers, also did the special effects on <em>Elf</em> (2003) and <em>Team America: World Police</em> (2004). It stars John Vernon, the bad guy from such silly classics as <em>Animal House</em> (1978), <em>Herbie Goes Bananas</em> (1980) and <em>Ernest Goes to Camp</em> (1987). The theme song was written and performed by The Dickies, the first California punk band to be signed to a major record label. I'd go on but there's nothing I can say that's going to change anyone's mind about this movie.<br /><br />The longer I watched <em>Night of the Comet</em> (two stars total), the less I liked it. You know a movie's bad when it has to use a cover version of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" instead of the original. It stars Catherine Mary Stewart, who was also the leading lady on <em>The Last Starfighter</em> (1984) and <em>Weekend at Bernie's</em> (1989). She plays an independently minded 18-year-old that works at L.A.'s historic El Rey theater, loves arcade games, and knows more useless trivia about Superman than her boyfriend, who becomes breakfast for a zombie the morning after a comet that killed the dinosaurs passes by Earth again. For me, the real star of the show was Kelli Maroney, the leading lady from <em>Chopping Mall</em> (1986), as the <strong>bubblegum-popping, younger sister</strong>. I defy you to name another movie where violence is so casually domesticized as in this one's line that goes "the MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives." Ah, the Reagan years. I honestly do miss some '80s styles, not the shoulder pads, but definitely the big hair. Despite the fashion revival that's happening right now, Halloween is my only chance to see the best outfits from yesteryear, the oversize button-down shirts with the sleeves rolled up under colorful vests. Wait a minute, maybe I'm thinking of the early '90s.<br /><br /><em>Tremors</em> (three and a half stars total) The early '90s kinda blend with the late '80s in my mind, hence the reason that <em>Tremors</em> (1990) can be considered totally '80s. I mean, it's got Kevin Bacon, isn't that good enough? He did <em>Flatliners</em> the same year as this movie, but over the last decade he's done almost all thrillers. I was living out of country when <em>Wild Things</em> (1998) and <em>Stir of Echoes</em> (1999) came out and I still haven't seen them, but I thought Bacon definitely brought his dark Everyman thing to <em>Mystic River</em> (2003) and <em>The Woodsman</em> (2004). Anyway, you gotta love him for doing <em>Tremors</em>, because he didn't have to and it appears as though he had fun. Granted, <strong>it's beautiful country</strong>, he gets to do an accent, cuss up a storm, be the hero and get the girl. The only other familiar faces are the dad from <em>Family Ties</em> (1982-1989), the grandpa from the <em>3 Ninjas</em> (1991-1997) series, and Reba McEntire as a survivalist gun nut. You gotta love survivalists, (at least you do in this movie, along with the harmonica, because they play a lot of it). The moral to the story happens to be the same as the Boy Scout motto, "be prepared." It got me wondering how many people would be able to handle heavy machinery in a pinch. It's a good skill to have in creature features where characters are cut off from the rest of the world. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kZlrAfZ4YQLZBLNW6hCf-t6rEMCqDrgJwEE94eoLUUtxyxoDhZCGa2jRk7QegTvF5GXcygb4rRk9TFTMaMfuiCvQ_6KcAYZNomMNttQJRoOkFZLySMVXKwYdPcxaiG5hv7LtJln8Uf4/s1600/halloween+023.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kZlrAfZ4YQLZBLNW6hCf-t6rEMCqDrgJwEE94eoLUUtxyxoDhZCGa2jRk7QegTvF5GXcygb4rRk9TFTMaMfuiCvQ_6KcAYZNomMNttQJRoOkFZLySMVXKwYdPcxaiG5hv7LtJln8Uf4/s400/halloween+023.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5534422019798203810" /></a>Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-5438127397768024492010-10-30T10:54:00.000-07:002011-01-15T10:28:26.260-08:00Recent Supernatural Thriller Versus Classic Supernatural Thriller"One of the most important things about the bedroom is the position of the bed (or, in the case of the first movie reviewed here, the crib). It must not be placed in front of the door leading to your bedroom. This bed position is called the 'coffin position' and it signifies death. If you have a master bathroom, you should not be able to see the toilet or have the bathroom mirror reflect your bed. In fact, <strong>it is inauspicious to have a mirror anywhere in your bedroom.</strong> Full-length mirrors on the doors of built-in wardrobes are considered to be particularly harmful. Feng shui practitioners believe that the resting occupant is disturbed by spirits created by the reflection of you in the mirror while you are sleeping." (Antonia Beattie and Rosemary Stevens, <em>Using Feng Shui: Easy Ways to Use the Ancient Chinese Art of Placement for Happiness and Prosperity</em>, p. 72)<br /><br /><em>Paranormal Activity 2</em> (four and a half stars total) Add babies or little kids to any horror movie and it's automatically scarier. Top that off with a language barrier between characters, a family pet getting hurt or killed, and you can add confusion, depression and frustration to the mix. <em>Paranormal Activity 2</em> (opened in theaters last weekend) isn't as funny as the first <em>Paranormal</em>, but I do believe a sequel can be better than its predecessor (see my 12/22/08 "Defense of Movie Sequels" <a href="http://snarkonmysleeve.blogspot.com/2008/12/in-defense-of-movie-sequels.html" target="_blank">post</a>), and it has nothing to do with budget. Overall, there seem to be less effects shots this time around (no fire or footprints), although I admit the "dragged out of bed" scenes are much longer. If anything, the security cam slideshow on <em>PA2</em> is more monotonous than the tripod, time-lapse photography on the original. The reason I think <strong>this sequel is better</strong> is that it has more of everything else: characters, rooms, and most importantly, ideas. It didn't make any sense for them to film each other while surfing the internet, to not have handy flashlights or a spare set of keys, but in our current economic climate, I'm still reeling over the idea of a family ancestor gambling on their posterity for wealth (for more on firstborn male heirs, see <em>Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers</em>, 1995). It's not necessarily a novel concept to have an average, American family feeling powerless to effect change against unseen forces (global warming, the rising cost of college tuition and oil prices). Here are some sample morals I got from this movie, which you do have control over: Don't try to make contact with demons. Don't leave toys all over the living room floor. Don't fire your housekeeper, especially if she recommends abstinence to your teenage daughter. Do learn a second language.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiKhlj2EXGrlc9ytonXQsOQNCj9aqXVSnq7R02G-fCVbUylzUtbTJSBgx-finTKBF3qFwH0uRvq6UFJOByYWknRNbjnL86XWWR6jWA55lyF-GaoP-oiXnBA4Cny8AjW8dH-WCaaZcysM/s1600/IMG.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533720375204421490" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 184px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiKhlj2EXGrlc9ytonXQsOQNCj9aqXVSnq7R02G-fCVbUylzUtbTJSBgx-finTKBF3qFwH0uRvq6UFJOByYWknRNbjnL86XWWR6jWA55lyF-GaoP-oiXnBA4Cny8AjW8dH-WCaaZcysM/s200/IMG.jpg" border="0" /></a>RiffTrax Live! <em>House on Haunted Hill</em> (four stars total) For almost as long as I've lived in San Diego, I've seen pre-show advertising at different theater chains for live entertainment like The Met Opera, UFC matches and FIFA World Cup games. Until now I've always wondered, who actually goes to the theater to watch these events? This week I attended one of these satellite broadcasts for the first time and I was shocked to find the room filled to capacity (screen number "13" for what it's worth). RiffTrax ("we don't make movies, we make them funny!") features the later hosts from <em>Mystery Science Theater 3000</em> doing comedic commentary from three, little, split-screen boxes on the side. Apparently they're based in San Diego and they've already done other live shows like last year's <em>Plan 9 from Outer Space</em> (1958) and then <em>Reefer Madness</em> (1936), earlier this year. I was excited to see a RiffTrax version of <em>House on Haunted Hill</em> (1959) because I'd forgotten most of the plot details since I last saw it, but also because I wanted to understand <strong>why other people seem to deride B-movies</strong> so much. Everybody laughed at the first jump scene, with the blind ghost rolling out of the closet, but I think that scene's scary. Maybe I like letting my imagination fill in the cracks, when budgetary constraints leave me cracks to fill in (for more on this, see my 4/5/10 "Fine Art Versus Popular Culture" <a href=http://snarkonmysleeve.blogspot.com/2010/04/fine-art-versus-popular-culture.html target=_blank>post</a>), or maybe other people just laugh nervously more than I do. The hosts made an astute observation that "the hill is what's haunted - the house is perfectly fine," but mostly they inserted current pop culture jokes about <em>Jersey Shore</em>, Lady Gaga, and Vincent Price's involvement with Michael Jackson's <em>Thriller</em>, along with the usual race and gay jokes. I came to the realization that the educational short films the comedians show before the feature presentation act as icebreakers while they get warmed up. I came to accept that audiences aren't any harder on B-movies than the characters in those movies are on each other, and I learned that the house in the movie was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in real life, so I think it's safe to say I had a very enlightening evening in a dark, old house.Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906180828544828994.post-36809633998488373752010-10-29T22:37:00.000-07:002011-01-15T10:27:19.190-08:00Recent Japanese Thriller Versus Classic Japanese Thriller"CGI running may be faster than real running, but it never seems like anybody is really working at it. We're watching an effect instead of an achievement." (Roger Ebert's review of <em>The Promise</em>, 2006, included in his book, <em>Your Movie Sucks</em>, p. 231)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQROXbrHo92l_ktPn76-jpch9qAS9UickrEAEraYJJ3gYhC-BEfQOQ4RsSdNTOxuFghxPFOSjbfhucEDVotU90zbX49HzF9mpIDS9b2_BxORr9xOVzMfm1a0SGElJ_BNMcVMElab4QAbM/s1600/images.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQROXbrHo92l_ktPn76-jpch9qAS9UickrEAEraYJJ3gYhC-BEfQOQ4RsSdNTOxuFghxPFOSjbfhucEDVotU90zbX49HzF9mpIDS9b2_BxORr9xOVzMfm1a0SGElJ_BNMcVMElab4QAbM/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533972699195083922" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvRuLQZjW1fdKttA50SL8mk-pyq-Cby9clZZBTgGKBGMj6VGsP_oJoNdRdlnVgsUaKKtpxRrDYeFMLuTzYTyO88FvFkCpjVcfkRdiJHpjDFBJtWiWJIAGcoadHMwQLFXTqfWQkIGw33k/s1600/casshern.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533875898548603346" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 142px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYvRuLQZjW1fdKttA50SL8mk-pyq-Cby9clZZBTgGKBGMj6VGsP_oJoNdRdlnVgsUaKKtpxRrDYeFMLuTzYTyO88FvFkCpjVcfkRdiJHpjDFBJtWiWJIAGcoadHMwQLFXTqfWQkIGw33k/s200/casshern.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>Casshern</em> (one and a half stars total) As anal retentive as it may be, there is a difference between war and war<em>time</em> movies. This movie and the other one reviewed below are evidence of that. <em>Avatar</em> (2009) would be a war movie. <em>Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow</em> (2004) would be a wartime movie. What both of these sci-fi/action movies share in common with <em>Casshern</em> (2004) is that they all were shot with digital backlots (live actors performing in front of a greenscreen) and they all suck. My wife really likes <em>Sky Captain</em> but what bothered me was all the times Gwyneth Paltrow's character put the movie on pause to stare at her camera. There are <strong>lots of lingering shots</strong> in <em>Casshern</em> too. My complaint isn't about the overall pacing on either movie. My complaint is that some scenes just need to be left on the editing room floor/computer hard drive. They may be redundant within the context of the whole movie (<em>Sky Captain</em>), but more often they are devoid of any meaningful content no matter what their length or position (<em>Casshern</em>). I've already written about movies with video game sensibilities elsewhere on this blog (see my 8/14/10 <em>Scott Pilgrim</em> <a href="http://snarkonmysleeve.blogspot.com/2010/08/book-versus-movie-part-ii.html" target="_blank">review</a>), so I'll just close by saying that I have no appreciation for most video game graphics, the world doesn't need another version of <em>Frankenstein</em> (1818), and while I own the original <em>Metropolis</em> (1927), I'm less and less motivated to the see the anime (2001) that it inspired with each Japanese movie I watch.<br /><br />"The first time I saw the film, I knew hardly a thing about Japanese cinema, and what struck me was the elevated emotional level of the actors. Do all Japanese shout and posture so?" (Roger Ebert's 2002 review of <em>Rashōmon</em>, included in his book, <em>The Great Movies II</em>, p. 362)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLn7HRqDRGJzJt20MKHNqiJ0PW0CVpQ_jjpA4IRvtm90CfSG5lLhKIkOFI4qIRzidIRSafhHJZVDGOXHmyy0EVrNJKFoIa4XIqCXwilWF3K5GCdrsTbAQMTOErDhYs2dG8XAo-hsZq3pk/s1600/The%20Haunted%20Mask-thumb-225x323.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533343544947706674" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 139px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLn7HRqDRGJzJt20MKHNqiJ0PW0CVpQ_jjpA4IRvtm90CfSG5lLhKIkOFI4qIRzidIRSafhHJZVDGOXHmyy0EVrNJKFoIa4XIqCXwilWF3K5GCdrsTbAQMTOErDhYs2dG8XAo-hsZq3pk/s200/The%2520Haunted%2520Mask-thumb-225x323.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5N1yNdT3p1ln_lzG9msCUmFqQihv7pM1y96Bfy07CWmrLbgEykiyuTbiTBj8g_Bz_3qrM8rboMizp8BLO1Q79K5LqWxoXhVpX4DP5Q-c5H_TgSLcmsycNz2IJOcRa7KmKX_7Sz9uya9M/s1600/OnibabaFront.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533344722975846610" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 142px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5N1yNdT3p1ln_lzG9msCUmFqQihv7pM1y96Bfy07CWmrLbgEykiyuTbiTBj8g_Bz_3qrM8rboMizp8BLO1Q79K5LqWxoXhVpX4DP5Q-c5H_TgSLcmsycNz2IJOcRa7KmKX_7Sz9uya9M/s200/OnibabaFront.jpg" border="0" /></a><em>Onibaba</em> (three stars total) Would someone please explain what's up with Japanese movies (anime or otherwise) and sex perversion? I haven't seen a lot of Japanese movies, less than a half dozen by director Akira Kurosawa, plus a couple of Cartoon Network imports (the "adult" in Adult Swim should've told me everything I needed to know). I've tried to read a fair share of (non-Shōjo) manga and all of it has included at least a passing reference to either cross-dressing, hermaphrodites, incest, striptease or supernatural rape. <em>Onibaba</em> (1964) literally translates as "demon woman," but the English title could just as easily be <em>Cougar Serial Killer Mother-in-Law</em>. An old widow throws herself at a neighbor who's half her age, but he goes after her young daughter-in-law instead. Nothing about this movie is suitable for network TV, and the funny thing about that is it's almost 50 years old. <strong>The setting alone is a horror movie waiting to happen.</strong> Two women, not blood relatives, are forced to live together in a rural swamp with no honest way to support themselves. They've taken to killing samurai and stripping them for items to pawn. When the older woman offs a samurai with a demon mask, she steals it to scare the younger woman away from the object of her disgusting desire. If you're familiar with the <em>Goosebumps</em> story, "The Haunted Mask" (either the 1993 book or the 1995 TV episode), you already know what happens next. Supposedly this movie (and probably the one reviewed above) are about the aftermath of atomic warfare, but not in the same way that <em>Godzilla</em> (1954; <em>Casshern</em> marks its 50th anniversary) is about the effects of the bomb. In one way or another, are all Japanese movies about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or just those that find their way to the U.S.?Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12265915298103710960noreply@blogger.com0