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Bronte & Titanium

4/15/2012

So, just want to share an awesome video and song, two actually, a little contrasting but I think they go together. The first one is Bronte by Gotye and damn if it doesn't make me tear up every time. The second is Titanium - by David Guetta ft. Sia. Both are, visually, a simple story told without words (save the song of course.) I mean, I love it when a music video tells a story and doesn't just have a bunch of people dancing around in their own perceived glory.

Both of these manage powerful stories without any of the characters saying a word. Both leave me wanting to know more, hoping for more, for the characters.

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One is something lost...one is something gained. Each is deeply affected, deeply affecting. Just, wow. Thank you to both and all involved for affecting my life and making me feel. Through feeling I experience this life and that life is richer because of these.

They make me want to dance, to go outside and rejoice in this world. You never know how long you have or what might be coming. OK, putting the computer down now...come join me if you want, I'll be the girl out dancing under the moon.

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Music of the Spheres

4/8/2012

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When I listen to a sad song, or a poignant song, I'm not sure what reaction to take. Do I follow the mood or not let it affect me? Should I fight the gut reaction? Am I giving into the spell to let it take me on the emotional ride the song promises? Everyone has been in love to some degree, at least enough to connect with a love song. We've also lost loved ones and fallen out of love and wanted to be more independent, or wished to be a little less alone. Songs resonate with us because the melody works on our subconscious while at the same time the lyrics trigger potent personal memories. We can see the singer of the song, be the singer of the song and the orchestration seals the deal. It is like magic. It can get our toes tapping even without our noticing. It can increase heart rate or draw tears from our eyes. It seems both foolish and dramatic to argue that to be strong we shouldn't let anything have that power over us, but it's just a song, just a couple of words put to a few notes on a guitar, or piano. Hands move over an instrument caressing or tearing out a melody. Wind instruments are breathed to life.

Music is CPR to a dead heart.

Again, is it worth it to follow the music's path through emotion? Are we being saps to sing bohemian rhapsody at the top of our lungs or croon some Sinatra tune? Is it ok to purposefully use music to affect others? Anyone ever heard of the words "mix tape?" Is it even legal to play Barry White around two people of the opposite sex? Would you use an accordion as the accompaniment to a marriage proposal? What harm is there to let a song get you in a better mood? Every single one of us has a song that, upon hearing the first few chords, can elicit an instant smile.

Do you ever hear music in a dream? Not that dreams are silent, but one would think that music would be related to the state of dreaming. REM is a band after all.

Movies would be nothing without music, without a score. Heck, most TV shows are amped up emotionally at the end not necessarily by the climax, but by the song that accompanies it, that plays throughout the montage of final moments. The now defunct WB was great at this and the current TV show Bones and Being Human also uses excellent and unexpected songs to give a little punch to the last few minutes of the show. It is effective and powerful.

What is your favorite song? For me, it's "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2. Followed closely by "All Along the Watchtower" - the Jimmy Hendrix version.

The song currently playing is Pride by Syntax. It makes me want to paint, or write, draw or get in the car and, without direction, drive with the windows open letting the wind blow my hair into knots. This song would come at the end of a movie. The main character has finally made a change to her life and is driving away from the bad or towards the good yet-to-be realized. Her smile is large and her car is red. She lets the hand not on the steering wheel dance in the breeze. She's alone, and that's ok.

What song did you last listen to? Did it move you?

Maybe music binds us because it doesn't even have to be in our own language to be enjoyed. Beating drums seem to stir something inside of us we really can't explain.

Music is a rhythm, a rhythm is a cycle, cycles are life, we are music.

"and i believe in reinvention
do you believe that life is holding the clue
take away all the lonely moments
give me full communication with you
your smile shine a little light, alright
don't hide, shine a little light
give up on your pride"

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Being Human

4/4/2012

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Being Human, the US version, really likes to tug at your heart strings...and by tug I mean pull your heart out and dance it around like a little marionette. It airs on the Sci-Fi channel (I refuse to acknowledge the spelling they recently changed the channel name to) Monday nights at 9pm. I highly recommend. The show is about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost all living in one house together. The ghost sort of had to because she died there, but the werewolf and vampire are friends and trying to be normal. One nice thing about the show is that, unlike True Blood where the supernatural is beautified and seen as the better thing to be, the supernatural parts of the main characters are treated like addictions (vampire), as afflictions (werewolf), as an altered state of being (ghost.) The characters are human first and then have to deal with their other half. (a note: I enjoy watching True Blood and this point is not to knock the show, just to offer a comparison.)

I've laughed out loud and cheered and, yes, lusted when watching True Blood...I don't know if I have ever cried. Being human is grittier, more real, more visceral because it's normal people sloshing their way through and sometimes they get it wrong and you feel the hurt with them as they experience it. The actors are phenomenal, the writing is excellent and the music is just barely there to guide you through the scenes. If you go to a sci-fi convention, I recommend meeting the actors, they're awesome people. And if you are going to watch the show, just be ready for it not to pull any punches, cause you'll feel it in your gut and in your heart. It'll make you think about your own life...and want to be better.

Cause, being human is hard enough. Period. Feeling your way through relationships and friendships and co-workers and family and all of these ties we have to everyone and there's no on-the-life training for any of it.

Sometimes you cling to the idea of love as if it were hope and your fingers meet only mist and sometimes you're at the bottom looking up praying for a little light and sometimes you're safe and warm in your bed...but it's still an empty bed. And there are many people who have far, far worse lives than I do and I by no means mean to sit here and bemoan my place in life. It's a good one, hell, I am blogging for <insert deity's name here>'s sake...

...it's just seems, the want of love makes fools of us all...even under the sway of a full moon, or the beat of a pulse in the neck.

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I'm a zoo keeper. I currently work with Rhinos and it is awesome.

These are my random observations about the world...and I do mean random. I write about what catches my interest and my imagination.

Just as a note: There is the possibility of the occasional curse word. I will not overuse - but those words have power when carefully placed.

Bronte & Titanium

Music of the Spheres

Being Human

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