why I love today

[theladyrose]

Reasons why I love today (and other moments of this past week):

1. I got an e-mail from Danielle, my Harvard summer roommate! I've been meaning to contact her for ages except I lost her e-mail address. But now we can actually talk again and it will be the next best thing to getting boba every night with the Matthews gang. Summer nostalgia is starting to wash over me.

2. (Note: non-classmates will be totally confused by this next point, which describes a slighty bizzare IHL tradition.) I was finally ringled this past Wednesday by Alecia! I never knew that she was such a great baker; she even figured out how to replicated the 007 Walther PPK in chocolate chips on my ringling cake! It was so gorgeous that I actually took a picture of it.

3. The winter concert this past Tuesday-I can't believe that was my last winter concert ever. And the regular choir sang two of the Majestic Britain tour trip pieces, "Ose Shalom" and "For The Beauty of the Earth." The few old Britain trippers waiting backstage and I couldn't help but join in. It's so strange to think that we seniors are the last class to have participated on that trip and have gone through some of the best two weeks of my life. I really hope that we can do a sort of "farewell" concert even though we've only got one unreliable alto (*coughs* me). I like the idea of going around to random train stations and singing like we did at the Bayswater Station.

4. This week's episode of Alias for the uber awesome score this week, a great blend of season 1/season 2 thematics and orchestral approaches and the fresh material for season 5. There's some really awesome development of the season 4 mission theme (love the funky low electric guitar and flute mischeviously calling each other), plus the season 2 "Balboa and Cluber" and "Hitting the Fan"-style circular figure in the strings for the fight sequences. And I can't forget to mention the delicious quotes of the Sark and Sloane motifs. For the quieter moments the lovely season 1 "rebuilding her life/S&V love" theme (best encapsulated in the season 1 soundtrack's "Double Life") at the end plus a little quote of the new "Sydney rebuilding her life" theme. Not that he needed to prove himself, but Giacchino is really hitting his stride in getting his score to reflect the blend of the old school seasons 1-2 feel with the new developments of season 5. I really hope that Giacchino will release a season 4 or 5 soundtrack (I honestly don't remember s3 except for "Almost Two Years" as the new love theme). And then there are some squee! plot developments. It's just a little sad that a TV show can brighten up my day as much as it is now.

5. Bead club and assembling bead kits for kids in hospitals. It's a terribly girly project but the hands-on work is incredibly soothing after dealing with random stress of which I now have none really to speak of.

6. Finding new listening material: due to my vaguely magpie-ish "Oooh, shiny new music! Must pretend to analyze and stick on repeat excessively!" tendencies I have discovered the wonders of legally downloading music via MSN. Surprisingly I'm pretty impressed with their selection-I finally have an excellent complete recording of the Nutcracker (whose orchestrations are more nuanced and whose tempo is more in line with the energy of the work than the London Philharmonic Orchestra's "Highlights") and the film versions of various songs from the Sound of Music. The Bernard Herrmann sampling is quite extraordinary for a mainstream commercial enterprise; yay for finally getting his Jane Eyre composition and some of his chamber music! I could swear that he incorporates thematic material from Vertigo and Marnie with some hints of "Conversation Piece" from North by Northwest, but I'm not quite sure if it's meant to be a chamber music adaptation of those film scores.

And last but definitely not least:

7. My film score composer of choice, Michael Giacchino, is being nominated for two Grammy awards for the Incredibles. It's actually pretty pathetic how much I have been dancing around my room since hearing this lovely news (she notes as her friends list starts backing away from their computer screens, disturbed by this extreme fangirling). Once the winter holidays begin I might finally have the time to design those fangirl T-shirts.

Comments

[madbard.livejournal.com]

I guess, out of fear of making you envious, I shouldn't mention that I got to attend a USC horn ensemble concert this summer that featured a concert piece by Mr. G. And that he was in the audience a few seats ahead of me.

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

Which concert piece would that be? The only concert work I know of his is Camden 2000.

[madbard.livejournal.com]

Don't remember the name. It was written for a large (as in, 30 or so piece) french horn ensemble, along with pieces by Don Davis, Randy Newman, and some other film and concert composers.

Although the group usually more or less produced "clouds of intonation" rather than specific pitches, it was still a wild concert. With such a large group, the composers could sustain harmonies like string chords. And it could be very, very loud.

[madbard.livejournal.com]

(I did write about it somewhere in my LJ, but I don't remember a more specific date than "this summer".)

[phoenixbird27.livejournal.com]

I'm seeing the Nutcracker being peformed tomorrow by our national orchestra and ballet company and I'm looking super forward to it!

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

That sounds terrific! I hope you have a good time.

[lacesilkvinyl.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* I got an e-mail from Danielle too.... We need to meet up again.

And don't worry. You haven't seen fangirling until you've put Sarah in a room full of Japanese and Korean rock stars.

And you're not writing fanfiction. Or are you.....?