Classical

     Within the past 6 months or so, I have developed a liking for classical music. It's not that I hated it before, but I just didn't feel it. My previous attitude being that it was more cerebral, whereas other forms of music, rock, jazz, &c., were more emotive, and that's what gets me with music: the almost indescribable "soul" of it, the compounding of human experience, emotion, and other indefinable mysteries coalescing to become these moving works of art. And to me, the music I listened to had that, and classical didn't. It was equatable to a mathematical equation, a sum of parts put together just so to please the old kings, aged queens, pious pontiffs and other ancient patrons of the arts.
      But, of course, that was stupid. Writing a good rock song can be just as formulaic as composing a symphony (albeit the symphony will have a vastly more complex equation), and a classical piece can stem from, and extract, emotions just as deep and strange and human as that favorite piece of contemporary music that grabs your heart and squeezes and doesn't let go, ever. Both types of music can be composed of mind and magic.
      Still, though, classical music doesn't do it for me in the way that the music I've grown with does, and I don't expect it to. I listen to it mostly in the mornings: it's good music to clear your head and think to. It helps keep me calm when driving, something that I find more difficult each time I get behind the wheel. I'll never scour classical record bins or prefer this conductor's treatment of a classical masters opus vs. that conductor's, or be put off by a certain piece being played on not-period-correct instruments, but I like classical music now more than I did before. And if I hear a piece that really gets me or that I think is interesting or fun to listen to, I'll write it down and, if you're lucky, I'll share it here.

P.S. If you get a chance, listen to Towe on Thursdays w/ Teri Towe onWPRB Princeton 103.3 FM, 6-11 AM on Thursdays. His DJing is extremely passionate and entrancing and is almost more of a joy to listen to than the music, but I find he always plays good music, too.



Franz Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (1847)- You'll recognize this from 'toons of old. Do today's cartoons introduce children to music that will endure for hundreds of years? Probably not.

Still Ill...

     I hope all of you people with fully-functioning appendages have been enjoying the beautiful weather, while I sit in solitude in my "drug den," as Jeannine has affectionately called the living room since my injury. It's not bad now, but before, when I was on the pain pills and drowsy and all the blinds were closed all day, I'd say her label fit. Now the blinds are open, my bike is set up on the trainer so I can start to get some exercise again, and the sleeping bag is away (well, on it's way to being away. It's tricky impossible to roll up a sleeping bag with one hand). I've been reading more now that the percocet fog has lifted, revisiting Hemingway  (if any one has my copy of The Sun Also Rises, gimme!) and continuing my stay with Raymond Chandler.

     Also, I have been gardening some. In fact, I was just doing that when I came inside to check some planting info out, and in just the few minutes I was inside that monster above (Henry) proceeded to take advantage of the fence being momentarily down, obliterating one whole square of the garden. Casualties: 16 lettuce, 8 spinach, 18 beets, 2 collard greens. Fortunately, they were just little seedlings, but still. What a monster.
     I'm still watching an inordinate amount of movies, too, so here:

3:10 to Yuma (1957) - Pretty exciting if you like westerns, which I do, but only good ones. I'll probably watch the new one soon.


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Just watched this last night. It's been a while since I read the book, but from what I remember, this film got it pretty spot on. The story is incredibly heartbreaking and heavy, but not without its many moments of light. This was one of those films where you don't say much after, and just let the credits roll for a few minutes and think.

While the movies I've been watching see to be all over the charts content-wise, there is a theme to some of them, and this fits into the "become more acquainted with Audrey Hepburn movies" category. This may be my favorite so far, but that also might go to Breakfast at Tiffany's. Directed by Billy Wilder; also starring Humphrey Bogart and William Holden.

A classic, but I hadn't seen it in a while and came across it on my netflix queue.

Went to see this in the theatre and was completely blown away, basically because all I knew of it was this trailer, which doesn't begin to touch on what the movie is really about. Woody Allen has come out with a lot of great films the past few years, but this might be my favorite. Just as good on the second viewing, and I kind of want to watch it again. If you don't know anything more about the movie than the information in the above trailer, see it that way and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Quicksilver - 1986 - If a young Kevin Bacon with a tiny mustache as a super-successful 80s Wall Street-type guy doesn't exude smug jerkiness, I don't know who does. Of course, he loses everything, and decides to become a bike messenger. Not a bad movie. Roger Daltry does the theme,"Quicksilver Lightning."

Also, I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie yesterday. I am a huge fan of detective fiction, be it hard-boiled or Golden Age or otherwise, but am ashamed to say that up until now I had never read any Agatha Christie. This novel is, according to some, one of her masterpieces, partly owing to the huge convention-defying twist of an ending. Great, colorful, well-fleshed characters throughout. I'll be reading more Christie, someday.

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday - 1953 - Starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. About a ago we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was such an excellent movie that it got me wondering why I hadn't watched more Audrey Hepburn films. So now I am.

     I think the content on this blog will be limited because A) I'm not doing much and B) it's annoying to type with one hand. But I will be watching a lot of movies, so I will continue a tradition started in the last entry, and post the trailers.