I know I mentioned a while ago my intentions of rebranding this blog, and I'm still planning on doing that. I'm just still in the consideration and procrastination phase. But I'm already thinking about some of the things I'd like to write about. One of those things is music. I'm not a huge music aficionado, but I think everyone lives their life with their own soundtrack, and every song means something different to each person, depending on when, where, and how they heard it. Exploring all of the ways we identify with music, and the sometimes surprising reactions I have to music, continues to fascinate me.
So perhaps consider this a kind of sneak preview of the things I'd like to write about in the (hopefully near) future...
For many years, I had a morning ritual every school day that included spending a little time watching music videos, flipping between VH1 and MTV to pass the time before I needed to walk out to meet the bus or (for the last few years) drive myself to school. Now, when I'm working from home, I occasionally like to indulge in some melodic nostalgia and do the same channel surfing. That's how I found this music video about halfway through, which caught my eye when I recognized the Yamanote train line. I immediately went to YouTube to watch the whole thing, and I've since replayed it several times over and had the song stuck in my head. And so, I pass it along to you, "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne:
Tokyo! And not just Tokyo, but some of the lesser-known but extra-special bits that maybe not everyone will recognize. The fish market, which I've wandered around quite a bit of in search of our favorite conveyor belt sushi restaurant; the Yamanote line train, which my dad loves and even downloaded an album of ringtones from; and the quintessential yakitori on the grill serving straight-faced businessmen (before the burst into song), which just rings so true.
It's enough to bring my always-latent desire to return to Tokyo up to sigh-inducing levels. But since that won't be happening any time soon, I should probably just focus on making something out of the yarn I bought the last time I was there from Avril yarn store in Kichijoji. And maybe drink a cup of Karel Capek tea, which I've been hoarding and drinking only on very special occasions.
Are you also from the TRL generation? Do you have any favorite music videos? Do you ever watch them now? Alicia from Woolen Diversions is having a hopefully great time on her honeymoon right now, but I'm sure she'll have lots of inspiration from Costa Rica when she returns.
Instead of offering knitting inspiration this week, I wanted to share some of what I'm using as the inspiration for the stories I'm trying to write throughout NaNoWriMo. I know that it's National Novel Writing Month, but I've had this collection of short stories in me head for too long, and I needed a means to get them out. The idea is simple: each story has a song in it. Playing on the radio, being sung in the shower, whatever. The song may or may not make total sense to the story right off the bat, but each story came out of my listening to the song and making some connection to a lyric or something.
So here are just a few of the songs that I'm using to create little worlds (note: for most of these, I've never seen the music video, so I have no idea if the story a director came up with might be in any way related to my own):
'Empty Room' by Marjorie Fair:
'Caramel' by Suzanne Vega
'Too Bad You' by Megan Slankard
'Rock & Roll Queen' by The Subways
'Manic Monday' by The Bangles
Just a small sampling. Maybe one day I'll reveal what the story lines are, but for now I'm more concerned about getting my word count for today done, because I've had a busy day that did not involve being on the computer until now!
When I was a kid, I dressed up as a Spice Girl for Halloween. Baby Spice, for those who know what that means. I had my hair in high pigtails, a face full of makeup, and a short blue dress that actually came from the sleepwear section of Target. Add to that my mother's high heeled shoes (no platforms available), and I'm sure that at least half of the people that gave me candy that night thought I was trick or treating as a prostitute. But these are the things you only realize in hindsight.
I don't go trick or treating anymore, and I didn't have any parties or anything to go to, but I decided to dress up a little for Halloween last week anyway. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, though, so I had to source the costume from what was already in my closet. Thankfully, I have some dramatic 'moments' in my wardrobe that could be combined to create a look. Like a pair of sort of tweedy black shorts with some shiny thread to them and suspender buttons on the front. And a black cardigan covered in sequins. Add some basics, black leggings, black tank top, a pair of black Mary Jane-esque shoes. Then top it off with a feathered headband and black ribbon tied around the neck, and voila! Life is a 'Cabaret', old chum.
I have to admit, though, that I hadn't actually seen the entire movie when I wore the costume. I had seen bits and pieces, but we rented it on iTunes on Saturday and watched it all the way through.
It's so funny, looking back, that I grew up watching musicals as a kid. Because outside of Disney cartoons, and 'The Sound of Music', musicals tend to have some pretty inappropriate subject matter that they're so melodically portraying. I wonder how my child-self would have naively processed everything from the divine decadence of Liza Minnelli's polished finger nails to the Nazis. Well, I guess I already understood those from 'The Sound of Music'. While some of the sexual or political stuff might make it controversial for some people, to me it all adds to the depth of experience. The musical numbers are catchy and fun, but the characters are conflicted, and there's a kind of grotesqueness to the cabaret that the film is clearly playing with, and juxtaposing various elements to interesting effect.
When it comes right down to it, this is a classic. I'm glad I finally got to see it. And while I'm not in a hurry to watch it over and over again to memorize every line like other musicals, I do have some of the songs stuck in my head.
And I don't regret dressing up in its honor. From Spice Girl to Cabaret doll, that's what Halloween is for, right?
Thanks to Amaryllis Musings for starting me on the movie madness meme.
Last night I snuck a post in about going to see the new 'Much Ado About Nothing' directed by Joss Whedon, and I'm still in a Bard-ly mood. So I took a stroll down project memory lane.
First, in my own projects. I participated in a Shakespeare swap last year, where my spoilee's favorite play was 'Macbeth', and she particularly loved Lady Macbeth. Well, who doesn't, really? So I tried to pick out some of her quotes in my crafting, like this owl cowl, for 'I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Did not you speak?':
See the owls around the neck? This was my first time doing beading:
I really want to do more things with that owl pattern, it is so cute.
Of course, you can't reference Lady Macbeth without the damn'd spot that won't come out. I used Kool-Aid to dye some yarn rather than kill a king:
Okay, onto some other, less bloody, things from Stratford. I also received a wonderful swap package myself, if you're on Ravelry you can see the post about it. Part of my spoilage was a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in Ruby River:
I already have a project all queued up for it, funnily enough inspired by another literary genius, Jane Austen. I want to make the Rose Garden shawl from the Summer 2012 issue of Jane Austen Knits.
And having inspired myself to want to knit that now, I must get back to my spinning. One week of Tour de Fleece down and I haven't crashed yet! For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.
Rain tends to have a lot of negative associations, and I can understand why. A gray, wet day just doesn't have the same appeal as a bright, sunny one. But it does have a few things to recommend it, not the least of which is the actual water coming from the sky.
Here in Texas, we seem to be in a neverending drought. The past year or two have been particularly bad, though. It has gotten to the point where unless we start needing to gather up pairs and draw up ark plans, we're probably not going to make up for lost inches. So the stormy weather this week still illicits an initial response from me of, 'Oh, good!' rather than, 'Aww, puddles!'
Today was actually a lovely, sunny day. We went for a walk near Bastrop at the McKinney Roughs and enjoyed some of the blooming wildflowers, another reason to be grateful for rain. Bluebonnets, Evening Primrose, Indian Paintbrushes, Prickle Poppies, and a few others I can't identify. And I know I'm a hopeless knitter because I kept thinking about how beautifully those colors would be in yarn.
While days like today are great for walks, there is also a certain satisfaction in the rainy days. Staying in, cuddling up with some cocoa perhaps, and watching a few movies. Like, perhaps 'Singin' in the Rain' starring Gene Kelly, obviously a classic in the wet weather media:
More musical melodies, I can't not mention 'My Fair Lady' and how the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plains:
No movies for me tonight, I'm still a few episodes behind on the latest 'Downton Abbey' season, so it's time to settle in for the night's recorded viewing. Until then, I leave you with the song that this blog post has gotten stuck in my head, 'Only Happy When it Rains' by Garbage:
I am notoriously cold all of the time. Hot showers are the perfect ambient temperature, and walking out into hundred-degree heat in summer is a welcome relief from the excessive air conditioning of most places. It's just unfortunate that snow and heat tend to be so mutually exclusive. But on my ski trip last weekend I managed to make it through without blue fingers, thanks to a few warm things, some knit-related, some not. And even though I'm back in Texas, where we expect a high in the 60s today, I'm still relying on a few of them.
Soup
Somehow, a warm bowl of soup seems more comforting than a warm plate of anything else. Maybe it's that all-important slurp factor, which is so integral to my beloved ramen. No ramen in Ruidoso, though, unfortunately. But I did have a green chile corn chowder, minestrone, and Wisconsin cheese soup over the course of three dinners. Plus those cup-o-noodles (with dried shrimp!) for lunch on the mountain.
And it's great to make at home as well, where you can just toss in whatever you have and layer flavors all day long. Last night we grabbed a ready-made kit for baked potato soup at HEB, so that's clearly on the menu this week. I particularly love split pea soup made in the slow cooker. I've found that it's the perfect use for all of the random scraps of ham you have after all of the pretty spiral slices are gone. Tossing in the bone is a bonus if you have it. I also really want to try making my own chicken stock a la Recipe Girl one day.
Lana Del Ray
I have music associated with many memories throughout my life. Back in the days before iPods, I would bring books of CDs with me to visit my grandparents over the summer, because I needed to have as many options as possible. I usually end up with a theme for certain trips based on whatever I listen to around that time, and then whenever I hear it again, it brings back fond memories.
In the past, the Spice Girls' 'Goodbye' has been a ski song. This year, I went a little less pop with Lana Del Ray:
It occurred to me that 'Born to Die' is probably not the best message while careening down a mountain, but the opening lines of 'Feet don't fail me now, take me to the finish line' are appropriate. And the whole album has a strong but flowing rhythm to it that I like. So there's my first ever music recommendation. It might not keep you warm, but it could distract you from the cold.
Alpaca Berets
Most of the time, my need for warm fibers is superficial. Like I've said, I'm countering air conditioning or what Central Texas laughingly calls winter. But here is where the soft warmth of alpaca is really appreciated. Even in a relatively loose-knit beret like this one I made a few years ago:
It's nice and warm without having to be a thick beanie. I can't tell you the pattern, I received it in one of the Yarn Crawls, and it was full of errors anyway. But I found this one from Michele Wang which is gorgeous, the Cables & Lace Beret:
Photo credit: Michele Wang
I love the way the cables and lace weave in and out of each other, gives it a great texture. This isn't the kind of thing I'd wear on the actual slopes, but it would be perfect for walking down main street on the way to dinner.
I have a tendency to lament 'I'm so old!' a lot. Mostly I'm being facetious, I know that I'm not actually old. But I'm still shocked when I see evidence of how quickly time flies and how soon I transitioned from teenybopper awash in the trends as they took over, to the point where the 90s is considered...nostalgia. Wow.
Particularly jarring are the latest slew of Old Navy ads. First, it was a series themed around back to school that starred the 'kids' of Beverly Hills, 90210. That show missed me by just a few years, the purview of say, my best friend's older sister. And she's married with a kid now, so it makes sense that the store is looking to push her pop culture buttons to get her to make her clothing purchases there.
But now, now I see the Backstreet Boys providing the soundtrack to a parade of skinny jeans in a rainbow of colors:
Boy bands, now that was something I was right in the middle of. BSB, 'N Sync (my personal favorite), LFO, 98 Degrees, and even Brits BBMAK, I was singing right along with them at every opportunity. I even went to an 'N Sync concert, the Pop tour. Back then, of course, no one would have been caught dead in these pants.
But now, here are a much older gang of Backstreet Men, as it were, putting their catchy chorus back into my head while reminding me that I have entered the second phase of my sellability as far as companies are concerned. Now I am not the teenager with allowance to spend on CDs and magazines. Now I am the young adult, possibly with a family and buying trends for them as much as for myself.
I know it's a little weird to be demarcating the stages of my life based on what I'm being sold and how, but it's a big part of the cultural context. Plus, I can't help but get a little meta about myself. It's the liberal arts student in me.
This morning, Twitter had a present for me: the Spice Girls were trending! Why, I wondered, fearing as always that someone had died. I mean, that is the fastest way to trend. Thankfully, however, Posh, Baby, Ginger, Scary, and Sporty are all alive and kicking. They are making the news because there's a new musical based on their songs being launched at the end of this year in London.
I could say that the Spice Girls are a guilty pleasure, but that would imply that I feel guilty in taking pleasure in this pure pop display. And I don't. Because they are fabulous. I have fond memories of belting out 'Wannabe' with my British cousins over the summer, and coming back to Texas obsessed with the Spice Girls before anyone else had even heard of them on American shores. It may well be the only time I have every been ahead of the curve.
I went on to worship the girl group for several years. I dressed up as Baby Spice for Halloween, though I think a few of the parents handing out candy probably mistook me for some kind of hooker. Be that as it may, I never really turned away from the Girls. I bought their last album together when there were only four, and I have a few of their solo albums. I just barely missed the opportunity to see their reunion tour, something I will probably be a little bitter about for the rest of my life.
I probably won't make it to the Piccadilly to catch this show either, but if they ever make it into a major motion picture, I'm so there. And hey, this time I won't make my dad take me. Sorry, Dad.
