Favorite underdog pump-up scenes, part 2

March 16th, 2010 Posted in Watching | No Comments »

This is a continuation (finally) of a “series” started last month.

This month I bring you the most memorable scene from what is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. In this scene, our underdog hero, Jim, attempts to win the girl by winning her father’s approval…by winning a challenge to round-up the herd of brumbies (aka Australian mustangs) who have been terrorizing ranchers and trampling people because they’re led by a reckless stallion (see face-off at the end of the video: that’s him. p.s. he killed Jim’s dad! sort of). The hoarde of dudes in this video are all trying to round up the brumbies because they want the monetary reward, but JIM IS DOING IT FOR LOVE. At 2:27 you will encounter one of the best moments in all of horse film, as Jim and his horse show the slimy mob who’s really got the heart and hooves of gold. Cue the French horns!

Be aggressive

March 14th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Organ mania

March 4th, 2010 Posted in Listening, Pittsburgh | No Comments »

I just wrote a post about organs for my Other Blog, and then found out that the Organ Historical Society is having its convention in Pittsburgh this year! OMG guys! This will definitely mean good concerts. For now, check out this nice website they’ve got, complete with a photo gallery of some (or maybe all) of Pittsburgh’s lovely instruments. Hmm…this or ALA…what a hard decision…

Update: I cannot believe the coincidence of this. After I wrote about John Cage’s ASLSP, I picked up a City Paper and saw that Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church is launching its Lenten Concert Series with a five-hour performance of the piece, by organist Robert Morehead. What are the odds of me learning about the existence of this composition in the morning and then reading about it in the paper later the same day?!?!?! My head is exploding. It’s not like this is common fare, right? The planets must be aligning…

Listening

March 3rd, 2010 Posted in Listening | 2 Comments »

I think I want: joannaJoanna Newsom’s new 3-part album, Have One on Me. Her sound is really different now, a lot gentler. I think I might like this. Amazon has previews.

NPR All Songs Considered: Guest DJ Bonnie Prince Billy (March 23, 2009). Interesting discussion and some great songs – especially “The Girl in Me”, about the feminine aspects of a man and the manly aspects of a woman and enacting/appreciating them with one’s lover. There are a few songs from his (then) new album, “Beware”, which was not up my alley. I got it from CLP and just couldn’t get into it. But the other songs in this show are pretty great. Among them is a Susanna song that reminded me I’ve been meaning to get some of their/her music.

I’ve been listening to a series of podcasts about the organ music of J.S. Bach, from a favorite radio station I discovered while studying abroad (sorry, it’s in French). When I couldn’t sleep I would listen to their program, Musique en mémoire, which features really interesting performances and scholarly discussion of classical music history. I think being able to download their podcasts has finally converted me to the world of podcasts. I discovered these from the BBC that I want to try next: Best of Natural History Radio and Excess Baggage – a travel “magazine”.

sparkles

February 19th, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

8-bit Kraftwerk covers

February 4th, 2010 Posted in Listening | No Comments »

album here

minipics

February 2nd, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

snowman
a snowman in the arms of … one of those Carnegie statues.

pens1
happiness is a Pens game

pens2

Favorite underdog pump-up scenes, part 1

February 2nd, 2010 Posted in Watching | No Comments »

I’m going to try to do a series of posts featuring clips from movies with serious underdogs, and serious inspirational pump-up scenes involving said underdogs…and, preferably, music. They might all be sports related, but maybe not.

The first is a song from the Bollywood movie Lagaan. Now before you Bollywood-haters dismiss it, I suggest you just watch the video and appreciate the craftsmanship of some of the shots. It’s cheesy, but in that undeniably heartwarming way that only musicals are.

This version has English subtitles but the song doesn’t start right away. The one below is better quality, but has no subtitles. The background story is that these underdogs have been coerced/tricked into playing a cricket match against their stinky British overlords. If the villagers win, they don’t have to pay tax (lagaan) for two years; if they lose, they have to pay double. They don’t know how to play cricket, and they’re out of shape. Hence, the pump-up sesh (led by the inspiring and ripped Aamir Khan *swoon*):

Lesson from this scene: all an underdog needs is some homies to beat the Imperial powers that hold you down.

Next week: all an underdog needs is a brave and dependable horse to overcome cheating goldiggers who wanna steal your girl.

Oddities of our health care system

February 1st, 2010 Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

All I’m sayin’ is it’s weird how they have TVs and radios EVERYWHERE in doctor’s offices and hospitals. Like… I will never be able to think of the song “Brick House” in the same way again. miheborp

developments

January 27th, 2010 Posted in Listening | 2 Comments »

a possible hint of progress on the job front immediately made this song come into my head:

holy overalls!