Salmon

Okay, I know that I said I wouldn’t post until I had something interesting to say, but this has gotten ridiculous.  I mean, it’s been like, a week and a half.  So here goes- make your own judgment.

At this moment, I’m sitting in my pajamas listening to the soundtrack to the Full Monty musical.  It’s hilarious and in some places, touching.  And in some other places, completely offensive and inappropriate.  However, it makes me laugh.  That probably says something about my character.  I was listening to Ragtime, which is beautiful and depressing, so I had to stop it.  This is my partial day off.  I don’t need to be depressed on my partial day off.

I technically had something to do today, that being a meeting with the youth directors in town to plan community-wide youth events.  I learned about it sort of at the last minute so it wasn’t on my schedule, but the people involved are really nice and I want to get involved with them.  The reason I declined was that I have been stopped up full of snot for the last couple of days, to be blunt. I have not felt incredible.  I have to perform next week, so I decided not to take any chances.  I decided to be a bum today and just take some time to rest, so I’ll be fresh for rehearsal tonight and next week.

On to pop culture:  Hugh Laurie won the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama!  I was so happy for him.  I didn’t get to watch the awards show, but I read about it in USA Today the next day and was overjoyed to find Hugh on the front page of the Life section.  I think that I am going to cut out the picture and put it on our refrigerator.  He looked quite handsome, as a matter of fact.  My obsession with House and Hugh have now reached epic proportions.  I’m actually surprised that I haven’t watched any House today- I’ll have to do that before I go to praise team practice.  I don’t know what it is, I just love Hugh Laurie.  I mean, I would have been happy for Matthew Fox or Patrick Dempsey (nominated for Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, respectively) but I’m just overjoyed that Hugh won.  Lost won best drama and Sandra Oh from Grey’s Anatomy won best supporting actress and I was rooting for them, too, so it was an altogether enjoyable awards experience for me.  

I think it’s telling that I got most worked up about the TV category at the Golden Globes this year.  Most of the movies I liked this year aren’t really being recognized in the awards, with the exception of Pride and Prejudice.  Actors that I really like (Laura Linney, Rachel Weisz, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) have all been in movies that I haven’t seen, and it doesn’t matter anyway because Brokeback Mountain is going to win it all.  This movie is probably great, but I just don’t like having something shoved down my throat like Brokeback Mountain has been.  It’s all anyone has been talking about.  I haven’t seen it yet, and that’s not because it’s about gay people.  I mean, Rent is one of my favorite musicals, for the love of Pete.  

I think it’s just because I don’t like fads.  I haven’t read The Da Vinci Code, and I won’t touch any of Oprah’s books with a ten-foot pole.  That’s not saying that they’re bad books or that I’ll never, ever read them.  And, I’m not immune to liking something that a lot of people like- Lost is one of the most popular TV shows in America, and The Lord of the Rings movies did a ton of box-office.  The thing with those is, I liked them from the beginning, so it was like everyone else in the world was catching on to something that I already knew was awesome.  I know that I’m a terrible snob, but I think that the reason that I don’t like fads is that I don’t like being told what to like an what not to like. I like to form my own opinions.  I would rather be a salmon than a sheep.  So maybe I’m not a snob as much as I’m allowing my rebellious nature to rear its ugly head.  Not necessarily a pleasant thought.

Anyway, this has turned into a long and exhaustive post, so I’m going to go watch one of the episodes of House that I have on DVD.  Gots to have my Hugh Laurie, that’s right.  Thank God he’s British and was basically unknown to American audiences before House, right?  Otherwise I couldn’t like him.  Hee hee.  Till later,

Brianne <><

The Boringest Post Ever.

Ahh, a day off.  Last week I didn’t get one, so today is a welcome rest.  Not that I didn’t have things to do today- I had to do dishes and laundry, and later I have Annie rehearsal, but it’s nice to be able to sleep late and catch up on my blogging.  I’m also listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Hair, which I had never listened to in its entirety before.  I think I like it.  It’s different from typical musicals, and I can see how it was a forerunner for many of the more recent shows that I like.  

Tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind with work at the bookstore and rehearsal directly afterwards.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job at the bookstore, and I’m really grateful that I’ve been getting more hours.  It’s just that we’re shorthanded right now and all our shifts are weird, so that’s why I didn’t get a day off last week.  I mean, there were days that I didn’t have to work, but they were Sunday and Thursday, two of the days when I have multiple responsibilities at church.  (The other day is Wednesday, but I also work on that day.)  Also, since I have such weird shifts at the bookstore and business is so bad in town right now (tourist season is over,) it’s almost impossible for me to get an additional job right now.  So for now, I’m stuck.

But anyway, my work issues are boring.  What’s exciting is that there’s a new episode of House tomorrow night.  (How shallow am I?)  Lost is also new on Wednesday.  It’s like Christmas all over again!  I have watched the entire first season of House two times waiting for it to come back from its winter break.  This week is supposed to be really good, and it looks like House and Sela Ward kiss.  Morally, that’s bad because she is married, but action-wise, it’s really interesting.  And Lost is supposed to be about one of the new characters, Mr. Eko, this week.  Plus, everyone finds out that Charlie has the Virgin Mary statue with the heroin inside this week.  Holy crap!  

I just realized that if you don’t care about my pathetic work issues or TV, this is has got to have bee the boringest post ever.  I know that the title of this blog is “Brianne’s mundane life,” but this has gotten a little ridiculous.  I don’t even know any good jokes.  

Ooh, they just got to the song “Hair” on the Hair soundtrack.  I really like this.  Anyway, since I am clearly boring and distracted, I’ll save you all the pain and suffering of reading any more and sign off.  You’ll next hear from me when I have something interesting to say.   Till then,

Brianne <><

  

Music-palooza

Right now, I feel like my eyeballs are about to fall out of my head.  I have been staring at a computer screen all morning long, working on projects, and I think it’s addling my brains.  However, I thought I might as well post while I wait for this CD to burn- that’s what I’ve been working on today, burning CD’s.

I promised last time that I would give the full rundown of David Gray’s Life in Slow Motion.  It’s been out for a couple of months, but I just got it for Christmas, so it’s new to me… and holy crap.  There are moments on this CD that just break my heart.  I’ve posted before on how much I love David Gray, especially his album White Ladder- I think it’s one of the best CD’s of the last 10 years, in my humble opinion.  His 2002 release, New Day at Midnight, wasn’t as strong (I still liked it) but Life in Slow Motion recaptures some of the “magic” that we saw on White Ladder.  When I first listened to it, I thought, “It’s like he recorded White Ladder with a band and an orchestra!”  The songs all have a sweet, gentle feeling to them, and some of the songs on Life in Slow Motion almost feel like a progression from the songs on White Ladder.  This is the height of compliments coming from me, because I think that the songs on White Ladder are some of the greatest.  
Special favorites of mine:

1. “Alibi”: the first cut on the CD, it’s kind of got a dark, dusky feel to it.  When I listen to it, I think of someone walking dark streets, maybe in London Chicago or some other city I’ve never been but which always seems dark and rainy and gritty.  It’s not a hopeless song, though- it definitely has a lift at the end, like dawn is breaking and the person is going home.
2. “Lately”: it’s a great post-breakup song.  “Honey lately/I’ve been way down/A load on my mind…” The person singing is bitter, he hurts, he’s on the receiving end of the breakup and he doesn’t understand why it happened.  This song exhibits why I like David Gray so much- he tells the story without telling all of it.  He doesn’t insult my intelligence by spelling out in kindergarten language.  He leaves a little room in there for me to think about it and figure things out on my own.
3. “Ain’t No Love”:  Holy crap.  I loved this song the first time that I heard it.  One of my favorite songs from White Ladder is “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.”  I think it’s just a masterpiece, bittersweet and sad and remembering the good times in the past… “Ain’t No Love” reminds me of “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” in that bittersweet way. The subject matter is a little different, but the feeling is still there.  I don’t know how to describe it.  It’s beyond words, and it’s my favorite song on the CD.

The orchestrations and arrangements on this CD are awesome.  Strings, percussion, guitars, are all used skillfully and to good effect.  He uses a lot of piano, and maybe that’s one of the reasons I like it so much.  I have a real weakness in my heart for piano-driven rock, and that is definitely what this.  Something else that I admire about David Gray is that his songwriting rings so true.  I don’t know about you, but I can always tell when someone doesn’t believe what they’re singing.  David Gray writes from his heart and his depth of experience, and you can tell in his songwriting.  It’s vulnerable, heartfelt, and mature.

Anyway.  Off that subject.  Like I said, I have been burning CD’s this morning- I’ve been making Jessica a “Broadway Musical Education.”   She wanted to know more songs from Broadway musicals, so I told her that I would make her a “mix tape.”  Well, that “mix tape” has turned into two CD’s of assorted Broadway tunes, in chronological order, and two other complete soundtracks of Broadway musicals (Songs for a New World and Wicked.)  And as soon as I can borrow The Last 5 Years from Danielle, she’ll get that, too. (Jason Robert Brown, you are a god among insects.)  I went a little overboard, but there’s just so much good stuff that I couldn’t bear to leave out.  As it is, I totally forgot to include songs from Big River (which I was in for TLC last year) and some other shows.  I admit that the compilation is a little biased- she didn’t get any Andrew Lloyd Webber because I don’t really like him (With the exception of… well, I can’t think of anything right off the top of my head, mostly because I don’t really like him.)  So it’s not really a comprehensive list, because I put six songs from Children of Eden on there because it’s my favorite musical.  While I was putting the lists together, I rediscovered some really good stuff that I forgot I liked, like the music from Chess and The Lion King (yes, two entirely different musicals, but both with lyrics by Tim Rice, so fancy that!)  

Time for me to go- praise team awaits, and after that, I have Annie rehearsal.  Adios,

Brianne <><