Song Of The Week

I Want To Hold Your Hand
T.V. Carpio


Sorry, I have been really tired and a little under the weather this week and have been slow to post. I am still crazy, crazy in love with the "Across The Universe" Soundtrack and my song of the week is "I want to hold your hand" sung by: T.V. Carpio. Scroll down to the movie review to listen. I will have a new song this weekend as I found a bunch of great new stuff. Happy Halloween!

Mav Out ... for now.

Iraq Stats

Support our troops and bring them home.

Stop This Illegal War

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As of October 28, 2007 there have been:

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3,839 Soldiers Killed.

28,171 Soldiers Seriously Injured.

75, 971 - 82,776 documented Iraqi Civilian Deaths.
(Civilians NOT Terrorists.)

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And it has been 1,642 days since "Mission Accomplished"
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Information gathered from:
http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Ailing and repeated viewings

I haven't been feeling very well this week. Just have had a real case of the blahs. I also hurt my knee somehow, but it is nearly all better. It just pains me a little on the stairs or if I try to stretch out.

Charley took Keilan to see "Across The Universe" today. I wanted to see it again but just feel kind of yucky and the weather is rainy and grey today, so I decided to stay in. I have been listening to the soundtrack all week and love, love, love it.

I got season 2 and 3 of Grey's Anatomy last week and have been playing them everynight while I do my nightly paperwork at the plant. I got up to the end of the second season with the Izzie and Denny storyline. I was an emotional wreck and was crying my eyes out last night. It's good that there are very few people working the graveyard shift, or I might have felt like a fool if I had to go out into the outer offices to work on a computer problem.

Well, I just felt like doing a small post.

Mav Out

Across The Universe

(This Musing may include what some would consider to be spoilers.)

Charley and I went to see the movie "Across The Universe" yesterday and all I can say is it was absolutely stunning. I know it is getting mixed reviews, but it is one of those that you love totally or completely despise. I don't understand the ones that don't get it.

The film uses 32 Beatles tunes to tell the story of a small group of dreamers in the sixties. It is not just a love story of the main couple, but a story about family. The songs were not merely covers, but reinterpretations and in at least one case will make you completely change your idea of what the original song was really about.

There are literally hundreds of remarkable visual moments that you will never forget in this film. The underwater ballet. The bleeding strawberries. The Statue of Liberty be marched across the fields of Vietnam. I could go on and on.

Everyone has scenes from films that touch them and they keep those moments locked inside as little snapshots they will always remember. This fantastic piece of art gave me several iconic moments that are forever etched inside of me.

When Prudence sings "I want to hold your hand" she isn't singing about being happy in love and wanting to joyfully walk hand in hand with the person she loves. She is painfully bearing her soul about how she loves someone she will never have and how that love she holds in her heart is killing her. Her longing is heartbreaking and beautifull at the same time. I looked at Charley at the end of that scene and we were both in tears. Big, ugly, tears dripping from your cheeks, crying. I will never hear that song again and think of it in a way other than just painful longing. (see picture above) Click play to hear T.V. Carpio singing "I want to hold your hand" from the soundtrack.



The "Let It Be" sequence. The scene starts with a little boy hovering next to a burning car during the Detroit riots singing, then changes to a church choir singing the song as a gospel hymn with blended scenes of two different funeral. The production of the song and visuals are quite amazing. It is simply a masterpiece. Once again not a dry eye in the house.

The scene where Lucy looks across the crowded room at a party and you can see that she is going to let herself fall in love again. She quietly sings "If I fell" and she is telling herself she can open her heart once more. This simple scene might get overlooked, but it is heartening to see when someone survives a tragedy and decides it is OK to live again.

The overhead sweeping shot across the wheat field to focus on the cast harmonizing while laying in a circle among the wind blown wheat stalks, takes your breath away. "Because" is not one of the better Beatles songs, but the shot was crazy beautiful.

After Jude's world crumbles and he is alone on the subway singing "Across The Universe", he is watching his life as it once was in the reflection in the train window. His dream seems to be gone and he is singing the lyrics "Nothing's going to change my world" but in reality everything he has ever wanted is lost. Tragic.

The scene with 2 people in 2 different bars on 2 different continents reaching each other through the mirror.

When you see all of the crap that Hollywood puts out there, with either a number at the end of the title or a promotional deal with the likes of McDonald's and Hasbro it is overwhelmingly refreshing to see people that are trying to make something original ... something with feeling ... something that is ART.

This film was directed by Julie Taymor and she is a God amongst Gods.

Iraq Stats

Support our troops and bring them home.
Stop This Illegal War

As of October 21, 2007 there have been:

3,834 Soldiers Killed.
28,171 Soldiers Seriously Injured.
75, 383 - 82,126 documented Iraqi Civilian Deaths.

(Civilians NOT Terrorists.)

And it has been 1,642 days since "Mission Accomplished"

Information gathered from:

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Song Of The Week

Madonna
Forbidden Love (Live In London)

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Click on Play for Song of the Week

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Just one kiss on my lips

Was all it took to seal the future

Just one look from your eyes

Was like a certain kind of torture

Once upon a time there was a boy, there was a girl

Just one touch from your hands

Was all it took to make me falter

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Forbidden love

Are we supposed to be together?

Forbidden love, forbidden love

Forbidden love

We seal our destiny forever

Forbidden love, forbidden love

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Just one smile on your face

Was all it took to change my fortune

Just one word from your mouth

Was all I needed to be certain

Once upon a time there was a boy, there was a girl

Hearts that intertwined

We lived in a different kind of world

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Forbidden love

Are we supposed to be together?

Forbidden love, forbidden love

Forbidden love

We seal our destiny forever

Forbidden love, forbidden love

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Just one kiss

Just one touch

Just one look

Just one love

Music Player Problem Solved ... Finally !!!

After three days of searching, I finally found a player and file hosting site that work together to allow me to post my "Song Of The Week". Just click the play button on the grey bar in the SOTW section.

Each week there will be at least three seperate posts:

• SOTW (Song Of The Week) will be posted every Saturday.
• Iraq Data will be posted every Sunday
• General writing will be posted whenever I get the urge, but at least once a week.

Now that I have the music thing down pat, I am offically closing my MySpace account on 10/31/2007. So long Murdock.

The Light, the Dark and the Song of the Week.

Locating the Light:

· Birthday and Anniversary
· Home Made Mac and Cheese with Sausage
· Grey’s Anatomy
· R Blog
· Waffle House Wednesdays
· The Notebook and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on DVD
· Grocery Shopping
· Russian Music Websites
· Chesapeake Kitty
· Charley

Avoiding the Dark:

· Microsoft Products
· Perezhilton.com
· All Things Fox
· GWB Sound Bites
· Ann Coulter
· Misogynistic Murder TV


Song of the Week

Black Would Be White
By Plazma



Click to play "SOTW"



My tears don't let my flowers fade
My song fell silent in the shade
I'm numbed, I'm standing still in fear
All that I lived for disappears
The air I breathe is getting close
I'm choking, feeling so exposed
I've come to kneel here in the dirt
To everyone I've ever hurt

Black would be white
If you would only hold my hand
Black would be white
I'd be yours
Wrong would be right
If you would only touch my hand
Night would be light
I'd be yours

I tried so hard to keep the flame
From being put out by the rain
That was my poor and last attempt
The darkest dream I ever dreamt
My sun is black, my rain is blood
Mixed in the mourning-colored flood
It's true you won't know heaven well
If you have never been in hell

Black would be white
If you would only hold my hand
Black would be white
I'd be yours
Wrong would be right
If you would only touch my hand
Night would be light
I'd be yours

I just want to end this week's Musing by saying:

Support our troops and bring them home.
Stop This Illegal War

As of October 14, 2007 there have been:

3,829 Soldiers Killed.
28,171 Soldiers Seriously Injured.
81,756 documented Iraqi Civilian Deaths. (Civilians NOT terrorists.)

And it has been 1,601 days since "Mission Accomplished"

Thanks for reading,
Mav Out

Mav's Musings Episode 01

(Originally posted on my MySpace page October 8, 2007. I will be moving to this space completely once i figure out all of the details of how to make everything work the way I want them to work.)

This being my first chapter of this blog, I haven't quite figured out what the content will be and how often I will contribute prose to it. I am thinking maybe I will post on Sunday evenings. Something like "My thoughts of the week" or maybe "Mav's Musings" Yeah, I like "Mav's Musing." Well that will be the title for now.

Strangely enough, I have been thinking of starting a blog for a while now and really thought I wanted to do it a few weeks ago when I read an article on the web and wanted to talk about it. It is really crazy, but when I heard that Flower from Meerkat Manor had been bitten by a cobra and died, I was overwhelmingly saddened by that news. I only watch Meerkat Manor sporadically, but I found the news to be tragically upsetting. I don't know why and my guess is a shrink and 10,000 dollars in therapy might figure that one out, but for now it is a mystery why it affected me so. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it since I heard the news. Strange huh?

TV Update:

Grey's Anatomy: I still love it and can't wait to see where all the storylines go (even the ones that I wish would not happen.) I may not always agree where Shondra (creator) takes the characters but I enjoy the journey. Izzie is still my favorite.

Brothers and Sisters: I am glad that Justin survived the attack in Iraq and having him have a long recovery from his injury is just what America needs to see. The major news outlets only talk about the dead and seem to forget that there are over 27,900 wounded that will have a long recovery or even a lifetime of change. Sally Field is doing the best acting (male or female) you will see on TV - period. I would love to see another food fight between her and Holly.

Desperate Housewives: I'll admit it was better the first year, but is still better than 75% of all other network shows. Also Bree's battle with the new neighbor over who is the most perfect on Wisteria Lane is classically hysterical.

Private Practice: I enjoy this show because it is familiar. I like it very much and will enjoy it more once the characters are more developed over time. I have faith in Shondra.

Dancing with the Stars: I watch this just because …

I can't believe I have to wait until the beginning of the year to see Lost again. Oh Well – good things come to those who wait.

Other than HGTV and The Food Network, that is all I watch on a regular basis. Oh yeah, I still watch reruns of "As Time Goes By" on PBS every Saturday evening.

In the spring I decided that I would boycott all things Fox. I will miss American Idol this year but you have to have principles. Sometime in the near future I will be moving this blog somewhere other than the Fox owned My Space. For now I will use this free space to spew my liberal ranting and Rubert Murdock can suck it. (edit: Blooger account now open. I will close the MySpace account once I figure out how to add music player to Blogger)

Music:

Recently I have come across some new favorites:

Plazma - a Russian duo in the vein of Erasure or Pet Shop Boys
Infernal - a UK dance music duo very similar to Roxette
ATB - I have downloaded a couple hundred tracks by this fantastic DJ
Emmon - A Dance Diva from Sweden
DJ K-Chan Kim - He is from Japan and has this great High Energy Techno Dance album that is all covers of classic ABBA Hits. It is over the top cheesy and highly addictive.

My current top five ipod tracks of the week are:

The Only Promise That Remains – Reba McIntire featuring Justin Timberlake
One Man One Woman - DJ K-Chan Kim
Jesus Doesn't Love Me – Dragonette
Renegade – ATB and Heather Nova
Jesse – Ivri Lider

Also I am still buzzed that in August Charley surprised me with Concert Tickets to see my Beloved Aimee Mann. We drove to Reston and had dinner at a great Pub and went and stood in line for an hour and were able to get seats in the second row and it was all that I could have imagined. She didn't sing my favorite song (4th of July). But it was still so grand. Unfortunately we could not take cameras in, so there are no photos to post.

I just want to end this week's Musing by saying:

Support our troops and bring them home.
Stop This Illegal War

As of October 8, 2007 there have been:

3,800 Soldiers Killed.
27,936 Soldiers Seriously Injured.
81,405 documented Iraqi Civilian Deaths. (Civilians NOT terrorists.)

And it has been 1,635 days since "Mission Accomplished"

Thanks for reading,
Mav Out