Music

Where the Wild Things Are

/ still a dreamer / 4 Comments

Last week in the movies I saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and was all but jumping up and down in my seat – can I wait!!! I came across it again today while online, and for those who have not seen it – I just had to share.

WhereTheWildThingsAreI’m assuming everyone has read this classic children’s book by Maurice Sendak, but if you haven’t seen the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, check it out here on YouTube. The trailer alone is fabulous. The adaptation from book to movie is by Spike Jonze and from what I read, Sendak is very happy with it and feels Jonze’s interpretation enriches his story. Can’t beat Maurice Sendak’s blessing! The great song in the trailer is “Wake Up” by Arcade Fire and is perfect for the visuals. The movie is due out in October and will appear in iMax theaters as well.

Check out the Where the Wild Things Are Trailer – you’ll definitely have something to look forward to in October!

In Between Books…Green Angel-Alice Hoffman

/ still a dreamer

greenangelThere’s always something a bit sad about finishing a book. Maybe the word is empty. For so many pages we’ve been engrossed in others’ lives, an adventure, an intimate voyage through the eyes of another … the story reaches its peak then twists, turns, slips into its resolution. The last page. And it’s done.  Sigh. Can’t there be more? (At least for the really good books.)

I recently finished Green Angel by Alice Hoffman, a MG novel that I came across while buying Christmas gifts in a local town’s bookstore. I like Alice Hoffman’s writing, and this was about Green, a 15 year old girl, a tragedy, guilt, isolation, survival, and ultimately redemption through love. How could it go wrong? It didn’t disappoint. Both magical and moody, Green Angel drew me in. But all too soon it was over.

In between books, I mentally, if not physically, pace. It’s a restless time. I survey the books I currently have on hand, waiting to be read. Plenty to choose from, including the other book I’d purchased at the same time in the Clinton Bookstore. But I’m not quite ready for that one. I roam from bookcase to bookcase, perusing those waiting to be opened, considering some rereads, then returning to books already begun and put aside for one reason or another. Where is the inner gauge pointing? Fiction? Non-fiction? Indecision.

skelligFast forward to a stop at my local library to try and find some reference material for an illustration I’ll need to start. There, among some book jackets featured in a display, a word jumps out – Skellig. I know Skellig. It’s a song from a favorite Loreena McKennitt CD, The Book of Secrets. I ask the librarian about this, and she assures me they are not related. Skellig the book is an MG novel by David Almond – hawk or owl feathers are in the cover illustration, and the back cover asks “Man, bird or angel? Who or what is Skellig?”

The time in between books is over.

Good TV Music

/ still a dreamer / 3 Comments

Music has the phenomenal power to totally alter our moods, to make us laugh or cry, and to make us experience what a director in movies and TV want us to feel. Only because there is just one current show where I feel the music is truly memorable do I write this today. (But there were others in the past.)

That show is Boston Legal. Each time I watch it, I am always struck by the blues-y singing bringing us back from commercial or leading us in, the soulful guitar solos underpinning the points a cast member is making in court, or the yowzy upbeat notes when Gerry does a happy dance. For me, the music just underscores the juxtaposition of wackiness and dead serious attention to compelling issues that makes Boston Legal the show it is. I think it’s actually part of why I watch — the music is an extraordinary element of the show itself.

Perhaps no coincidence that the producer of Boston Legal – David E. Kelley – was also the producer of Ally McBeal, another show that was a favorite of mine, and again totally immersed in music. The unforgettable dancing baby that appeared in hallucinations to Ally to “I’ve Just Got A Feeling”, (or whatever the real name might have been), has made history, but her dancing to the song was every bit as memorable. Music was totally integrated into Ally McBeal and in part, why it was such a draw. Vonda Shepherd made a name for herself from Ally McBeal, but again, well-chosen music underscored the wackiness of the show and gave it tremendous appeal.

The unforgettable image of the stoplight swinging in the wind in Twin Peaks.But perhaps the most memorable use of music in a TV show for me was in Twin Peaks; I can hear the opening music to this day, 18 years later. The music was all written by Angelo Badalamenti, and while dark and brooding, it set the tone for a mystery set in an eerie town with unusual, (to say the least), characters in bizarre situations. Twin Peaks was far ahead of its time as a television show, but again, the music created a mood that deeply enriched our experience of this series.

I keep listening, but I’m not hearing much nowadays on TV where the music is drawing me to a show the way these did, and how Boston Legal does currently. Then again, I don’t watch a lot of TV, so don’t bother with scores of cable stations. I’d like to think there’s more innovation and creativity out there in engaging our ears as well as our eyes.

iTunes – A Wonderful Thing

/ still a dreamer

iTunesWho knew?

Was this on my previous Mac and I just never knew? I always had iTunes, but wasn’t aware I had a zillion different radio stations that I could listen to from all over the world. So as I sit working on a graphics job, I’m listening to an all-acoustic folk radio station – new stuff so far, but constantly streaming. The other day I listened to music with Celtic roots, another day Indian (as in American …) music.

Wow – what a joy. Here I sit in a valley where on the ground floor my cell phone only gets 1 bar, (inside the house anyway), and about 5 radio stations. And now I have the world. No doubt I sound like a naif at best, but hey – better to discover late than never. Thanks, Apple!

Jeanne