Why on Earth did this song just pop into my head today?

Perhaps it's because I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of Quantum of Solace. Who knows?

Damn Paul McCartney and his catchy tunes; I'm going to be singing this for the rest of the week...



I wonder if this movie holds up? I remember liking it at the time, but maybe there's a reason I've never caught it on cable. Then again, they played Summer Rental with John Candy a dozen times last month, and that wasn't exactly laugh-a-minute.

Well, back to singing while I work...

Congrats to A.R. Rahman

...for his Oscars for Best Score and Best Song. This is a long time coming, believe me. He's scored more than 50 films, starting in South India in Tamil and Telegu and reaching Bollywood with Rangeela (the title number "Rangeela Re" has a cute little rapping kid who's the son of Udit Narayan, playback singer for about half the movies in Bollywood. I expect to be hearing more from little Aditya in a year or two). He's done historical dramas like Lagaan (from which I got the working title for my WIP, "Mitwa"), Jodhaa Akbar, which I posted a clip from last month, and Mangel Pandey: The Rising (so many great songs; I'm picking "Main Vari Vari" because I love Rani's dancing on this one).

He's also done modern sounds with movies like Rang de Basanti ("Khalbali" being my fave) or Janne Tu Ya Janne Na ("Pappu Can't Dance", a song rumored to be about Salman Khan, although Aamir Khan says that's totally not true; Salman doesn't have an MBA...). He even did the music for the Mandarin/Japanese film Warriors of Heaven and Earth (gorgeous look, gorgeous sound, woefully deficient in the story department, as I've blogged before).

But my favorite A.R. Rahman piece is still the soundtrack for Dil Se. I've shown you Chaiyya Chaiyya before (with Malaika Arora Khan dancing on top of a train, not to be missed), but my favorite from that film is "Satrangi Re", I love the way it twists around itself. The Himalayas are beautiful as well, of course. This is totally where I'm building my writing cabin:



You know, that was the first Oscar ceremony I've seen that was just fun to watch all on its own. The tributes to animation, comedy, and romance and especially the musicals were all cool; getting Judd Apatow and Baz Luhrmann involved was a killer idea. The stage was so beautiful, with the lights and the crystal curtain, and the elements they changed in the back drop for each award. But I particularly liked how they ditched the clips for the acting categories in favor of having five nominees give little salutes. It was so much more personal. And of course Hugh Jackman is always the bomb: "I'm Wolverine!!"

Still planning on finishing up those movie and book posts

I'll get to that before the end of October. Finished up some other projects, so that's good. In the mean time, the literal interpretation to a-ha's "Take on Me".


Pipe wrench fight!

At the expense of seeming like I spend too much time on You Tube...

Look, I was a die-hard MTV fan back in my teen years. You know, back when they used to play music videos. These days, I'm just grateful that my favorite band has so many Brazilian fans who post crappy copies of their videos on You Tube or I'd never see any of it. (Music videos are basically advertising for records, yes? So why don't more bands put them up on their websites? You know, like OK GO does.)

Now, it would not be the weirdest thing I've ever seen on You Tube to see 20-year-old concert footage of my favorite band cut to a John Lennon song (at the very least, it loses out to the scenes from The Matrix cut to "Lifelines". Most a-ha songs don't really mesh with The Matrix; that one really doesn't). Imagine my surprise, that's not John Lennon singing! How is it possible that an a-ha cover of a John Lennon song exists, and I don't have it?

Just one way: it's part of an Amnesty International compiliation which won't be out until June 25 (which just happens to be someone's birthday; however, I don't think this is on his wish list).




(Look, my house is still in disarray as that quick finishing of the bookcases that was supposed to be done in one day still isn't finished. My computer is all-but-inaccessible. Perhaps next week I can write a blog that takes more than five minutes. Like my May book report, for instance. Soon. Soon.)

I have nothing much to say...

...working hard on that thing I'm working on. I did want to post this video I saw, possibly the funnest music video I've seen in a great long while (it's not in English, so you'll never see it on MTV). These kids must go to hip-hop dancing cram school; they've got the moves. I saw this with the family on IMF the other night. During the middle bit, Quin remarked he didn't think they had any open fields in Japan. I said I think there must be just the one; I would swear that's the same field the Prince of Space lands on in that classic movie.

Oh how I love this record

As some among you may know, I adore Cat Stevens. I've loved his music since I saw the movie Harold and Maude way back in high school (I of course knew "Peace Train" before that, but to be honest, that's not in my top 10 Cat tracks). I loved the songs in that movie and had to hear more. Sadly, my entire Cat collection was on LP and I no longer have a turntable (or even the records, actually; there is no room in this house to store stuff. I'd kill for a house with an attic). But a few years back my husband got the Cat Stevens boxed set for me for Christmas, and that has almost all of the good stuff on it. (and "Peace Train").

So anyway, Cat, who is now Yusuf Islam, has a new record out this week. It took me a while to find it on itunes, as he is going just by "Yusuf" for this one, and the sucky itunes search engine didn't realize that this record could in any way be what someone typing the keywords "Yusuf Islam" or "Cat Stevens" might be looking for. I presume the one name thing isn't a bid at Prince or Madonna hipness, and I sincerely hope it's not a political thing. I imagine it has to do with why he hasn't done any new music until now: he wants to separate the spiritual and secular sides of his life, and this record is meant to be secular.

I say "meant to be" not because it's secretly meant to proselytze you. Cat is like George Harrison; his spiritual journey is too much of who he is for that not be what the music is really all about. (See: it's about the journey, not the destination. If it were about the destination, that would be proselytzing).

Now I liked his single from a few years back "Indian Ocean", but I was doubtful whether a whole new record would manage to strike a chord with me. It's been decades since he's recorded, it might have sucked. Happily, it doesn't. It's not quite Tea for the Tillerman, but it can stand next to it without shame. And he still has the most amazing voice. I've only had this record for a couple of days, but I can already tell I'm going to be playing this one a lot. If you like Cat, definitely pick this one up.

(You know, I just can't bring myself to call these things "CDs". I don't know why. It just doesn't seem to encapsulate the creative product like "record" does. Maybe it's like with writing. I don't think of myself as writing a "book", I'm writing a "novel". I dunno, just a ponder.)