band-aids and poetry

                                                                                                 08.March 2014

Have you ever watched "Music and Lyrics"? It's actually one of my favorite romcoms. mostly  because of the 80s music video at the start.




Anyways, in this movie they discuss how music and lyrics make up a song together and which is the most important. Of course the answer is none. They are equally necsessery to build a good hit song.

But I personally value lyrics the most.
Of course the music has to be there when I want to dance or just, you know, bang my head.
And the music is important for the presentation of the lyrics and can both empesize or ruin the message of the song. And sometimes I fall in love with a song purely because of the beautiful music.

But I have discovered that if the performance of the text is good enough, you don't need the music for it to be captivating. And I surprise myself by listening to this poem on repeat as if it were a song.
I didn't even know that I cared for poetry, but then I remember that lyrics are just that.

We can be us

Moulin Rouge is one of my absolute favorite movies.
For multiple reasons.

I've met people who think it's a bad movie because it's "just pop songs". I guess they think it fails as a musical because of that.

I think that's one of the great things about it.
Having been raised on music, and being a apart of the social group that I am (The "I'm SO not a hipster"-group) where 60% of our interactions and entertainment revolves around cultural references; I find this a brilliant movie.
How satisfying to sit and get reference after reference!
And how fascinating to discover the ones you didn't know!
I love that.



Also; I do hold a fascination for cover songs (as long as it's done in a respectful manner, art is supposed to be interpreted and shared). Maybe that's why I enjoy the movie. Besides being a cute love story (/tragedy) in a sparkling wrap-up it works as a tribute to so many good artists.
That's what I think.


I recently watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Partly because I wanted to see Emma Watson as someone else than Hermione (She did good).
Mostly because I've seen the book in the stores and heard people recommend it. I picked it up time after time, but never brought it home. Being caught in the atmosphere of High School through a whole book didn't tempt me, but I can bear it for an hour and 43 minutes (and I don't regret it).




Anyways, my point isn't really the movie itself or ms. Watson. What struck me was how Heroes by David Bowie became such a meaningful song for the characters in the movie and gave me an equally meaningful feeling. It took me back to my discovery of David Bowie when I was young and my daddy would play his concert-DVD and praise Gail Ann Dorsey's beautiful voice (which deserves praise; it really is out of this world. And that version of Under Pressure really is the best one). And it reminded me of how I fell in love with Ewan McGregor during the Elephant Love Medley in Moulin Rouge the first time I watched it.

It's a good feeling, remembering feel-good moments and being reminded of good music.

About The Hunger Games

So I watched the movie. And found it surprisingly captivating.
It's actually a pretty decent movie.
No shame in watching it. ;)

The Games of Death

Which is what you get if you take the title of the Norwegian version of The Hunger Games and translate it back to English.

I haven't read the books, I haven't watched the movie. Maybe I'll watch the movie someday just to know what everyone is screaming about, but I don't think I'll ever read the books. I'm sure they are great, but I sincerely think I'm not in the target group.

HOWEVER.

Some Norwegian paper (was it Aftenposten?) spoke kindly of the movie's soundtrack. And as I was raised to have/born with an open and curious mind towards music; I had to check it out (I mean; the soundtrack to Sucker Punch is absolutely fantastic, so why not?).

It's great. the soundtrack is great.

So to all you other people out there thinking like me ("I'll never get this Hunger Games-hysteria, but I'm glad people are having fun"), or to all you people convinced that this phenomenon doesn't interest you the slightest, I urge you to give the soundtrack album a chance.

i.e this song. One Engine by The Decemberists.

The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond at Spotify