Movies and Mozart

We were talking at work this week about our favourite moments in film. It became a bit of a heated discussion actually – I was surprised at what spoke to each of us; the moments that moved us and stuck with us.

I love movies; my idea of a perfect day is curling up on the couch watching movie after movie after movie (or doing a movie “marathon” at a theatre.) I never get tired of watching them. There are so many moments in movies that I love – sometimes it’s just a look, like the one Rachel McAdams gives her character’s boyfriend at the end of The Family Stone. Sometimes it’s all about how the music makes a scene – like the cathartic road trip in Elizabethtown or this moment in Almost Famous when Kate Hudson twirls around an empty concert hall to Cat Stevens’ The Wind:

Sometimes it’s the dialogue and the acting that brings it to life, like this moment from Kramer vs Kramer when Dustin Hoffman’s character is telling his son that he’ll now be going to live with his mother, following a long separation (start it at the 2:11 mark). OMG – if I need to get a good cry out and over with, I’ll just pop this movie in, fast forward to this moment and get it done! (Seriously…I really do this.) A brilliant performance by Justin Henry (who, by the way, received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his performance in this movie).

“You’re not going to kiss me goodnight anymore, are you Dad?” – it just rips your heart out, doesn’t it?

So many great moments…..so little time.

I find most of the “moments” that I love and keep going back to are the heart-wrenching, ache-to-the-depths-of-my-soul moments. The ones you can feel to your feet. There are quite a few of these, for me, in the film Amadeus. If you’re not familiar with it, F. Murray Abraham portrays Antoni Salieri, a frustrated, jealous composer driven to the brink by jealousy and envy. His performance is absolutely breathtaking. Watch his expression as he talks about the point in the music that the clarinet takes over from the oboe….it’s just a wonderful combination of writing and acting.

I feel much the same about Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A minor. This piece of music – honestly, I can hardly bear it. It literally exhausts me; takes it all out of me. I can hardly breathe by the end. It may not be complex or intricate, but it is brilliant in its simplicity. I love the way it builds as each layer and instrument joins in. This isn’t music you put on while you dust – you really have to surrender to it completely and let the notes take you for a ride.

And check this scene out….just look at the pain on his face as he talks about the music that he so desperately wants, but is unable, to compose himself. You can tell that he still feels it to the bottom of his very soul. F. Murray Abraham is just outstanding in this role.

“All I wanted was to sing to God,” he says at one point in the film. “He gave me that longing… and then made me mute. Why? Tell me that. If He didn’t want me to praise him with music, why implant the desire? Like a lust in my body! And then deny me the talent?”

I know that feeling……I often call God out on the same things. I share that longing to create music; the desire has been implanted in me. But, alas, I – like Salieri – have been denied the talent. Sigh…… Sometimes it’s just not enough to love and appreciate something.

What are your favourite movie “moments”?

Ready, Set, OK Go!

Have you seen this? Ya, probably…. I mean, I don’t tend to be on the “leading edge” of much these days. It’s a really amazing video by the band Ok Go for their song Needing/Getting. If you haven’t seen the video itself, you may have seen bits of it in a Chevy Sonic commercial (weird though, as the commercial features another band’s music…) In any case, a friend was telling me about it a couple of weeks ago and then I came across it on another blog – Making Tracks – over the weekend. It’s so cool…..!

Can you imagine the work that went into making this video? I love it….. If you’re at all into that kind of thing, there’s a series of videos that show how it all came together – from concept to completion. Here’s the first one:

These guys are incredibly fun and creative (or at least the people they hire are!). If you haven’t seen any of their other videos – you should check them out on their YouTube channel. Very fun stuff.

I really like this one. You have to see it – this is ONE CAMERA/ONE COMPLETE TAKE people! Apparently, they did 124 takes when timing this video and only 30 were complete takes. (Only 30….LOL!) They also claim that no editing was done on the “final” take. Amazing….. (And ya just gotta’ love the dogs!)

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Well-Shot

The more I learn about photography and the more time I spend on video sets (all work-related, unfortunately – but still fun!), the more I find I  watch movies differently. I’ve really started to notice the way a shot is set up, how its lit …  I see how different takes are edited together – and try to guess how many cameras are on an actor at any given time. I like the role the camera plays in telling the story – how it can draw you right in and make you feel more – how it impacts the overall feel of the film.

We went to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the other night and I loved it. It was so well shot  - the camera work was spectacular. From the use of different focusing styles to the camera perspective to the overall shot set up -it really enhanced the story-telling and was extremely well done.

The story is great as well. And so emotional – I cried all the way  home. That may…or may not…be a selling feature for you.

Please, please go see this film. It’s worth every penny.

What’s your theme song?

Music enhances so much of our lives – it can turn the most every day moments into special memories; it can bring the most mundane of activities to life; it can create tension and drama…. Take any good soundtrack, for instance. Next time you’re watching a movie, listen to how the musics punctuates what’s happening in the script. I love a good soundtrack! But that’s another blog for another day.

I’ve written before about how well sports and photography go together. But when you add music into that mix – look out! I love a good sports video/highlight reel – but it’s nothing without the music behind it. Take this great promo video for the Vancouver Canucks – it uses the music SO well:

Doesn’t it just make you want watch hockey?

And this kind of thing just makes me want to strap my trainers on and get to the gym. The combination of music and photography is outstanding. It actually makes me (half) believe there’s still time for me to become an Olympic athlete :

When we’re talking about music in sports though, there are two songs that are inextricably linked forever to moment in sports for me - I can’t hear them without thinking about them:

Metallica – Enter Sandman

Sorry about the broken link here, but click through to YouTube….it had to be this video….

How great is this?! Wouldn’t you love to have your very own theme song (like Yankees closer Mariano Rivera) – and have it play every time you walked through the front doors of your office building? And have it keep playing until you reached your desk and were settled in with your coffee every day? What would your song be?

If you’ve never experienced this live, here’s a look at it – check out the 18 second mark when the  music starts….it’s absolutely awesome! It gets a little hard to hear after that for a bit, but you can feel the excitement. (Again…can you imagine people being this excited to see you come to work every day?) Love, love, love this!

Alan Parsons Project – Sirius -

Honest to God – this is one of my all-time favourite moments in sports EVER. It gives me goosebumps (seriously) every time I see it. This is how they open every Chicago Bulls home game (or they used to anyway…). It’s so well done – the song, the lighting, the crowd, the drama – absolute perfection. I’d love to see this live. (Can you imagine being there?) It just never gets old. Brilliant!

I just love the way that sports, photography/videography and music work together to excite, inspire and thrill spectators. I could spend hours watching highlight reels – a pretty big statement for someone who’s not a huge sports fan. It’s a real art – one that, I think, is often taken very much for granted.

My Valentine

How do we feel about this?

I can’t decide really. Normally, and I think if it were anybody else, I’d hate it. We’ve seen so many of the “greats” from the 60s and 70s fall prey to this shark jumping stunt: Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow spring to mind (though I’m not sure how big Barry’s shark actually was…wasn’t really much of a “jump” for him). But I know there are plenty of others I’ve managed to block out.

And it’s not that I don’t like the music or the songs they’re recording. I’m a huge fan of the genre. More often than not, though, these recordings smack of some kind of desperation: to hang on to fleeting fame – to keep a toe in the spotlight – an unwillingness to rest on well-earned laurels and to accept their inability to hit (not even just) the high notes. I understand it – I’m just usually a little embarrassed for them….

I know I’m brushing with a broad stroke here, but in most cases, it’s like they’re not even trying. If you listen to some of these recordings, it’s like they’re just going through the motions – reading the lyrics – there’s no feeling, no soul – no connection to the music or words. It’s painful.

Seriously!….. This is stuff best left to Sinatra.

In this case, though, I have a hard time because it’s Paul.

Growing up, I was a huge Beatles fan. Still am. But he was never my favourite Beatle – I was a Georgie girl. (Hey there..LOL) But you have to appreciate the man’s God-given musical talent and ability….it’s absolutely undeniable. This isn’t news to anyone. Hands down, he’s the most successful of the group post-Beatles.

But, I guess we knew this was coming – it was just a matter of time with him. The influence of the “standards” genre is heard easily on many of the songs he penned – When I’m Sixty-Four, Your Mother Should Know – and his romantic ballads, like Michelle and My Love, to name a few. Indeed, he has a long history of “schmaltz”, but he owned it – he sold it. He was connected to it. He meant those lyrics! And it was all good.

But this…. I don’t know. I’m really on the fence. My heart wants to love it but I know that, if this had been released by an unknown – it would bomb. That said, he still sells it – it’s head and shoulders above the other shark jumpers I referred to earlier in this blog entry. He’s a pro….

For me, it only works because he’s Paul McCartney.

And I guess that’s OK.

Good sports

I thought it would be fitting to write something sports-related, what with this weekend being Superbowl and all. The obvious thing for me to do, of course, would be to post this:

…..and write about how amazing his performance was in 2009.

That’d be easy and appropriate and all but, instead, I want to talk about how much I’ve come to love sports photography. It’s a little ironic, because I’ve never really been all that interested in sports. When I got my first “real” camera, though, and started taking shots of my kids’ hockey and soccer games, it all became clear to me.

Sports has it all: victory, defeat, drama, suspense, raw emotion, beauty, grit. It’s easily read on the participants’ faces: determination, courage, strength, vulnerability, joy…..

A good photo can bring back all the emotion of a triumphant win – remember these?

….and all the pain of an unexpected loss.

It can capture a moment

A great play

….or a trademark move.

I love it.

I love it all.

I’ve tried my hand at a few sports….

But the one I haven’t really tried (well, once…but I had zero luck with it) is football. And it’s a beauty through the lens……

This year, football is on my list of things to shoot. So, as I add that to my list, and,  in honour of the big game (and my Superbowl party hosts), I leave you with this video….

Go Patriots!

I meant to post this last week but never found the time……here it is – better late than never!

Each year around this time, I feel the need to build a closet in my basement to house my fully decorated Christmas tree for the “other eleven months” of the year. I usually dread hauling the tree and decoration boxes in from the garage, undressing the tree – ornament by ornament – and removing all other signs of Christmas from the house. It’s not that I’m not ready to take it all down. Believe me, I’ve usually had enough of the season by Boxing Day – it’s more the process itself and ensuring that all of the pieces of the puzzles fit properly back into their respective boxes. Wouldn’t it be great to just be able to pull out a fully decorated tree on December 1st, plug it in and enjoy it?

But…..there’s definitely something inherent in the process itself – at least of setting it all up in December – that makes it very worthwhile.

In addition to the shiny baubles and garland we decorate the tree with each year, we always make or purchase new ornaments each year – one for each of us – that have some special significance. Maybe it’s a new hobby or interest we’ve picked up over the year:

or a declaration of allegiance:

a personal passion:

gifts passed down to us that bring back happy childhood memories:

a reminder of a friend no longer with us:

or a new friend who’s come into our lives:

ornaments handmade by the boys when they were small (wasn’t that just yesterday?!):

or ornaments we just simply look forward to seeing again every year:

Rediscovering these ornaments each year is an activity I wouldn’t trade for the world. There’s nothing like spending a chilly winter afternoon listening to Christmas music and pulling them all out of their boxes again. The memories all come flooding back and, as each ornament is added to the tree, it becomes a beautiful, lit up scrapbook of our life together and it never loses its magical, warm quality for me. I just love it.

One day, the boys will move out and will take with them “their” ornaments – a ready-made tree should they need it – and should their significant others allow it! If they don’t, I will gladly keep a few spots on our tree for them!

My heart on my sleeve…..so to speak

I love music…all kinds of music. It’s like oxygen to me – I can’t imagine a day without it. It has punctuated the best moments in my life and seen me through the most difficult. It can completely transport me back in time to a moment, a friend, an experience in a mere three notes. The right song can completely snap me out of a bad mood, lift my spirits, make my cry – it’s a completely visceral experience to me – one that I truly value.

So when I found myself in a chair at a tattoo shop over the holidays there was absolutely no question what I would permanently scratch into my skin.

Anyone who knows me would find the thought of me willingly getting a tattoo completely ridiculous. I am notoriously weak of stomach and “quease out” at the mere thought of – well – countless things. That said, I’ve always kind of wanted a tattoo – nothing extreme – something simple and something very “me”. I’ve just never had the guts to go through with it when it came right down to it.

So I don’t know what forces came together to get me into that chair (not the least of which, I’m sure, was the gauntlet my youngest kept throwing out … “you’ll never do it….get serious.” But, whatever the reasons, there I was, slightly freaked out, awaiting my “fate”.  And so it began….

I only passed out the one time.

It ‘s not even that it hurt – barely at all, in fact. It was more the thought of what was happening that did it. I couldn’t watch, obviously….and my imagination, I’m quite certain, blew it just a tad out of proportion. But, despite all efforts by my husband – God love him – to distract me with gripping conversation topics like kids’ soccer stats, I was out a minute into it.

I’m told I sported a bit of an Elvis sneer while I “drifted off” into my slumber. Charming…..

The whole thing should have taken about three minutes, but I managed to stretch it out to about twenty.

Anyway – here it is:

I know…I know….hard to believe this put me over the edge, isn’t it? But I love it. In fairness, once I regained consciousness, the guys at the shop told me that the wrist is the absolute most difficult place to get a tattoo and shared stories of how they, too, passed out getting some of their many (many) tattoos. I’m sure they were sincere and not just trying to make me feel better.

In the spirit of this blog-related mission, I suppose I could have opted for something like this:

or one of these:

Fortunately (for everyone…), I know my limits.

People keep telling me that it gets easier with each subsequent tattoo; that it becomes addictive even. To them, I say:

…..Uh…yeah…right…. Not happening, my friends.

The reindeer at the end of the street

Imagine waking up to find this roaming around your front lawn! LOL!

Seriously, this is part of my Dad’s annual Christmas display “extravaganza”. As long as I can remember (and even before that, I’m told) my Dad has been making wooden Christmas displays for his front lawn. As you can imagine, he’s now got quite the collection!

As the years went on, they’d get more and more elaborate, with more lights, moving parts, motors and, of course, speakers in his garden pumping out Christmas music 24/7. I remember coming home from school as a teenager, seeing the “glow” of our house from five-ten blocks away ( à la Clark Griswold….. ).

The street I grew up on is fairly small – about 16 houses, I think – so we really got to know our neighbours well. In the past few years, my father’s taken to “sharing the joy” of Christmas by setting up his displays on every lawn on the street (whether the residents want them or not!) He’s put many of his displays on wheels, to ease their transfer down the street. It’s quite the site – watching my Dad, brothers and nephews pulling these huge displays like giant Tinkertoys around the street.

I visited my parents yesterday – I hadn’t seen them in a while. But I was also pretty anxious to see my Dad’s latest creation…..this 14-foot white reindeer which he’s strategically placed at the busy end of the street – one can only assume – to “drive traffic” on to the street.

I have to tell you – it’s quite the sight! Especially at night when it’s all lit up – I wish I could share a photo of that. This is a photo of my 13-year old with it:

Here are a few of his other “creations”…… Enjoy!

This ferris wheel is fully operational, BTW......

Birds on a Wire

I don’t know why, but I love seeing those big groups of birds that huddle together on hydro wires, especially during the colder months. There’s something very cozy and social about it. (If only they had little scarves and hats…LOL!) Anyway, I’ve always thought they’d make a great photo but I never seem to have my camera on hand when I spot them. Even if I make a point of stuffing my camera in my purse in the morning, the birds seem to be part of some sort of “hydro wire exchange program” or something and aren’t gathering on the ones that line my route to work. Ever-hopeful though, I continue to lug my camera around just in case an opportunity presents itself.

Just such an opportunity came along the other day and I damn near drove off the road trying to get into a position to take some shots. Honestly….the sacrifices we make…

So here’s my favourite shot:

I love how graceful they look – almost like angels falling from the sky. (Kinda makes you forget how dirty and gross they really are…. )

Here are some others I also like:

Don’t they look like little music notes on a piece of sheet music? I love that!

So here’s what I learned:

I needed a different lens with me. In fairness, this was all part of another little experiment I was doing at the time, in which I was taking my camera out with one lens only to see what I could get. While it really forced me to get more creative than I might normally, I could only get so close to these birds, without climbing up on the roofs of surrounding buildings. As such, this is about as close as I got with the macro lens I’d attached that morning:

So….a longer lens would have been a great thing to have with me.

I really love photo editing software! ….for so many reasons…. In this case, though, because it’s pretty tough to shoot up from the ground with a grey sky as your background. I was actually pretty lucky, given that we’ve had several weeks of dreary, overcast weather; there was actually a bit of blue in the sky that day. Not a ton though, and my original shots looked like this:

It’s nice to be able to add a little colour into the background (and I really added in some cases, but I’m all about the drama…just ask my husband! ) – and to crop into the more interesting bits of each shot and, of course, to sharpen those VERY-far-away birds a bit. It really is amazing what software can do these days and I’ve barely scratched the surface on this stuff.

So, all in all, a fun experiment; one I’ll repeat when I have a longer lens on my camera.