Song of the Month November 2016

Shortly after the election, I concluded that it might be best for my psyche to take a break from the news, and also social media.  I stopped checking Facebook, put the newspaper in the recycle bin the moment I took out out of its plastic bag and I turned the radio from NPR to KINK, one of our local radio stations.

It wasn’t peaceful exactly, but it was less anxiety producing than staying informed.

No news meant more music and thus, this month we have a lot of selections for Song of the month.

Also!  New rule!  If I like a song by a woman, from now on, I’m buying the entire album.  Women don’t get much support in the music world and I’d like to do the tiniest bit to offset that.

Wish I knew you–The Revivalists
My notes for this song say “groove.”  And that is why I like it.  I’m not much of a get-up-and-dance person, but this song makes me want to do that.  I also think this band that was coming through town, so KINK played this song a lot.

Found it in the drawer–Band of Horses
This song was on the radio a lot, and it got stuck it my head.  But in a pleasing way, not a way of torture.  The video is good too.  Nicely done, Band of Horses.

Margaret Glaspy–Emotions & Math

One morning KINK played a song by a woman.  The song ended and I had the good luck of the DJ telling me the name of the singer and the song title. I only caught part of each, but I figured the magic of the internet could help me find the song.  Sadly, both the bits of song title and the person’s name were common enough that I could not locate the song.  In the process, though, I found this song, thus proving the existence of serendipity.  I love her voice, and this song is just cool.  Also, while I’m usually happy for Matt to go out of town, (introvert) I have noticed that my systems start breaking down after a few days.  It’s always nice to have him come back.

Fight Song
Rachel Platten

I’m not buying this song, because I suspect I will soon tire of it, but it’s on the radio a lot and I always sing along.  I like how Platten’s voice is wispy and small at the beginning and end and the song powers up in other parts.  Overall, I think it’s not a fabulous song.  The whole chorus drags in a way that makes me want to be more talented at music than I am so I could do a different arrangement.  The lyrics could use a rewrite, especially the verses.  It’s kind of plod-dy for an anthem.  Though I’m quite happy for Ms. Platten to find strength in her song.

Silver Falls Hike

One of the things I love about the digital photo area is that you can take photos of the map to refer to later in the hike.

We chose to do the big hike, seeing the maximum number of waterfalls.

Matt poses before a graphic warning sign.

Here we are at Upper North Falls. 65 feet.

A “twin” falls.

The view from behind the falls.

Lots of rain means lots of white water.

Matt consults the map.

That mass of white behind us is a waterfall.  It was powerful stuff.

Another view of the water.  We’ve done this hike in the summer and it’s fun, but it was a totally different experience in the winter.

Drake Falls says hello.  All 27 feet of it.

A double layer of falls.  Also: look at all that moss!

Matt looks at the sign for Lower North Falls.

This is a pretty one.

There was a very large amount of stairs near the end.

This was the first hike with my trekking poles and I was pleased with how well they worked for me.

Three sentence movie reviews: Loving

loving

This film does more with close-ups, facial expressions, and small gestures than it does with dialogue or action.  It could have been slow, but this was beautiful to watch.  Includes many small moments of joy.

Cost: $8.00
Where watched: Living Room Theaters

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/loving.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The Peacemaker

peacemaker

What Matt remembered about watching it in 1997: eh, it was fine.  My review: eh, it was fine.  It’s one of those action films that maximized their location budget, so there is a lot of  good lookin’ international scenery.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1997/peacemaker.html

Three sentence movie reviews: Somewhere

somewhere_ver2

Stephen Dorff’s blankness combined with Elle Fanning’s kind precision was magical.  On the one hand, he’s a guy who seems to shuffle from place to place as he’s told; on the other he’s a man spectacularly lacking in substance.  As he floats through life, the movie things are quite meditative and pretty, and I really liked this film.

Cost: free from library. (This was one of those movies I’ve probably borrowed five times before I finally watched it.  But it was good when I did.)
Where watched: at home.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2010/somewhere_ver2.html
I picked this version because it was the DVD cover, but with words in English.

Three sentence movie reviews: Hysterical Blindness

hysterical-blindess

Manages to pull of a miracle of movie making: Juliette Lewis as a character who doesn’t bug the crap out of me.  Aside from an excellent performance by Uma Thurman as a needy woman just looking for love, this also featured a romance between older people (Gina Rowlands and Ben Gazzara, both excellent).  This is one of those movies that I kept thinking about after.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.

poster from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysterical_Blindness_(film)

Terrible and intriguing flyer

This flyer appeared at my Max stop this morning.  What an unfortunate story.  Martha Marie Morrison was murdered in 1974.  Her siblings assumed she was reported missing, but she never was.  I’m curious about the details of the story. As a 17-year-old she was already living with her boyfriend.  She also suffered from psoriasis, which is something we have in common. This Wikipedia page has more information.  It sounds like she had a hard life.

Mediocre chain restaurant is now gone from the Pearl

At my previous job, it wasn’t unusual to end up at Noodles now and again, just because it was so close.  The food was always so-so.  It seems that others in the area might have felt the same.  I can’t say I’m too broken up.

Also, I’m amused that “not far” to them means Washington Square.  By my reckoning, they are very far away.