Harmonic Journal 02/28/15

Harmonic Journal
Saturday, February 28, 2015

"Scheherazade" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as played by the Santa Clara Vanguard in their 2004 production of "Scheherazade" and their 2014 production of "Scheherazade: Words 2 Live By"







That's right, folks:  2 for the price of one, in honor of their biggest fan's birthday.

Happy 40th, Bro!!!

Harmonic Journal 02/27/15

Harmonic Journal
Friday, February 27, 2015

"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who as sung by Anthony Head

Harmonic Journal 02/26/15

Harmonic Journal

Thursday, February 26, 2015

"Adventures on Earth" from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial film score by John Williams

Harmonic Journal 02/25/15

Harmonic Journal
Wednesday, February 25, 2015

"Appalachian Spring" by Aaron Copland, as played by the Santa Clara Vanguard in their 2009 production of "Ballet for Martha"

Harmonic Journal 02/24/15

Harmonic Journal 
Tuesday, February 24, 2015

"Carry Me Along" by Scott Leonard

Harmonic Journal 02/23/15

Harmonic Journal
Monday, February 23, 2015

"The Rhythm of Life" by Edwin McCain

Harmonic Journal 02/22/15

Harmonic Journal
Sunday, February 22, 2015

"Glory" by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn, from Selma

Harmonic Journal 02/21/15

Harmonic Journal
Saturday, February 21, 2015

"Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, as played by the Santa Clara Vanguard

Harmonic Journal 02/20/15

Harmonic Journal
Friday, February 20, 2015

"Our Day Will Come" by Ruby and the Romantics

Harmonic Journal 02/19/15

Harmonic Journal
Thursday, February 19, 2015

"Flamingo Sing" by Scott Leonard, sung by Rockapella

Happy Birthday to my flamingo-fan friend, Ilene!

Harmonic Journal 02/18/15

Harmonic Journal
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

"Kingdom of Shy" by Sean Altman, as performed by Rockapella

Harmonic Journal 02/17/15

Harmonic Journal
Tuesday, February 17, 2015

"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built For Two)" by Harry Dacre 

While There's Life, There Is Hope

Tonight, I rented "The Theory of Everything" on demand.

• Eddie Redmayne is AMAZING as Stephen Hawking.  Even when the disease first hits, you can see his posture change to the familiar one we know as he sits in his chair.
• "Wouldn't that be nice, professor?  That one simple, elegant equation could explain everything."
• There's David Thewlis, playing an educator again.  Hi, Professor Lupin!
• "That's perhaps the most English thing that anyone has ever said."
• Watching at home means I can sing aloud with "Ave Verum Corpus".  And criticize all of the unnecessary breaths that the choir makes.  Sorry.
• Why couldn't he just let Jane have that moment for at least a day?  I didn't like that.
• That was way more than 2 years.  I'm glad that doctors can be wrong sometimes.
• "Exterminate! Exterminate!"  Awesome.
• OK, that's funny that the voice only came with an American accent, because I thought until this year that he was an American due to the voice.
• Cast listing in order of appearance:  backwards.  That's cool.
• Oh my gosh, I am done with tears for a while, OK?  Geez, people!

Enigmatic

It's nice to have a 3-day weekend to catch up on these movies.  Today: "The Imitation Game".

• CUMBERBATCH!  He's such a great actor.  
• It's crazy to see how far we've come since that first computer.  I mean, here I am, typing this on a computer, which people can read on their mini-computer smartphones.  "Christopher" was huge.
• The sounds that the computer made reminded me of the sounds they were listening to in "Contact".
• If I was clever, I'd do this blog post in a cypher, just for fun.  I don't have the energy for that right now, though.
• Hey, that speech on the radio was the one we heard in "The King's Speech"!  
• "Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."
• "You don't like sandwiches."
• "We're going to have such a wonderful war together."
• Sigh.  It's tragic that the government treated such a brilliant man that way because of his sexual orientation.  I wonder what else he could have done had he not been so distraught.
• "Now, if you wish you could have been normal... I can promise you I do not. The world is an infinitely better place precisely because you weren't."  Thank you for your persistence, Mr. Turing.

Harmonic Journal 02/16/15

Harmonic Journal
Monday, February 16, 2015

"You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore




RIP, Ms. Gore.

Legend

Yesterday's Best Picture-nominated film was "American Sniper", which I watched with Linda.

• Bradley Cooper really embodied his character.  I miss his clean-shaven face and longer hair, though.
• Hoo-yah!
• I don't think they were actually following the rules of that drinking game, because much more questions were being asked than shots were taken.
• That scene at the mechanic's waiting room.  "Your dad saved my life... He's a hero."  The look on the kid's face was the beginning of my being a complete mess of tears.
• I wish they had shown how his brother Jeff was feeling after he was done with his tour.
• He must have died while they were in production.  I wonder how the movie would have ended otherwise.
• Wow.  The sight of all of the Navy emblems on his casket has me crying all over again as I type this.
• I really liked Ennio Morricone's "The Funeral" piece.  Beautiful arrangement of "Taps".
• The silence during the ending credits was quite moving.  I'm pretty sure it made me cry even more as I thought of the story more.
• Thank you for serving our country, Mr. Kyle.  

We Shall Overcome

The final movie of the Big Picture Showcase yesterday was "Selma".  

• This is the only movie of the day that had me in lots of tears.
• David Oyelowo is amazing as MLK Jr.  I felt like I was watching King himself because he had the speech pattern down.
• Was that Shaq in the crowd at the march on the bridge?
• It's hard to believe that 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, racism was still so rampant...and 150 years later, it's still there.  People, come on.  Stop it.  I think this affects me even more because I'm currently reading a book about Abraham Lincoln.
• Giovanni!!!
• I didn't know that happened to Mahalia Jackson's son.  
• I thought it was really cool that MLK could just call Mahalia and ask to hear God, and she'd sing to him.
• I don't know if I would have been one of the people to go to Selma and march, but I think those people were quite brave to do that, after either being there themselves or seeing the TV coverage of the first attempt.  
• I like the song "Glory".  I'm looking forward to a performance of that at next week's Oscars.
• See, people, THIS is why we vote.  

That was a good film to wrap up the day.  3 more to go.

Harmonic Journal 02/15/15

Harmonic Journal
Sunday, February 15, 2015

"The Funeral" by Ennio Morricone from "American Sniper"

Tears.

Fly Away

The third movie from today's Best Picture Showcase was "Birdman".  

• Well, that was weird.
• I felt like Christian Bale's Batman was talking to Michael Keaton's Batman during the voice-overs.
• He said that he hasn't played Birdman since 1992.  That's the year that he was in "Batman Returns".
• Amazing job by Michael Keaton, even with the weird stuff.
• This was the second film today wherein Edward Norton plays a part.
• This was also the second film wherein drums were prominent in the story.
• So the theme today:  Edward Norton playing the drums.
• "Drum Score By Antonio Sanchez".  I don't think I've ever seen that credit listing before.
• What marching band was that?
• "We share a vagina".
• We get jellyfish off the coast in Malibu?
• Unlike the other 3 other movies I saw today, the audience did not applaud at the end.  However, when we voted before all of the movies started, this was the one that people predicted would win.  I wonder what the vote would have been if they took the poll *after* we saw the films?

I don't really need to see that movie again.  It was too weird for me.  The lady that sat near me felt the same way.  Perhaps this is my non-artsy self reacting, I don't know.  

Bloody Drums

Today I went to the AMC Theaters Best Picture Showcase, Day 1.  The first film was "The Grand Budapest Hotel", which I had already seen on TV, but it was nice to see it on the big screen.  

The first new film to me was "Whiplash".

• It's a movie about musicians.  How could I not like it?
• J.K. Simmons' character, Fletcher, is an a**hole.  Simmons is fantastic as this character.
• How does anyone think that girl has a big chin? 
• "I'M UPSET!!!" 
• I might need to get this soundtrack.
• I love musicians, even obsessive ones.
• "Not my tempo."  
• I couldn't tell if he was rushing or dragging, either.
• Why all the shots of little details, like the spider?  Was that meant as an "attention to detail that artists experience" thing, or did it mean something else?
• I honestly didn't know that drummers play until they bleed and need ice, like dancers practice until their toes bleed.  I've never done that with any of my instruments.
• Dude, that is a messed up thing to do to a guy's hope and career.
• Zildjian stuff!
• Oh, that's where I know Miles Teller!  Divergent!  He actually does play the drums, and is playing on some of the soundtrack.  Very cool.
• Paul Reiser, where have you been?  
• Was that a 14/8 time signature?  Crazy.
• That is a long-ass drum solo.

I really liked this movie, even though I wanted to wring Fletcher's neck.