Who's Oscar Anyway?

I'll be honest - I took a look at the lists of nominees for each of the 2008 Oscar categories and I've only seen two of the movies. American Gangster (highly recommended), nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Ruby Dee) and Best Art Direction, neither of which they took away the award for, and I saw Norbit (Best Makeup), which despite what I've heard people say about how bad that movie was and how it was an hour and a half of their life that they'll never get back, I actually enjoyed it and found it, call me crazy, very funny.

Dont get me wrong, it's not like I don't get out of my house or anything, it's just that I don't get enough cash flow to be able to see all the movies nominated for Oscars. Evening showings nowadays run for about nine dollars a person that I can't be spending every weekend to see what apparantly is "the best picture of the year," even though there's only a small handful that I've seen previews for that haven't claimed that same statement.

With only two awards dealing with music, and both including only motion pictures that I've never seen, I had to brush up on what went on in these movies. Winner of Best Original Score was "Atonement," a soundtrack written by Dario Marianelli (also wrote for Pride & Prejudice - great movie) and performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet. I can see why it won such a prestigious award, as the music is moving and allows me to picture some kind of on-screen emotion that would be fitting for the tune. Other nominees included The Kite Runner, Michael Clayton, Ratatouille and 3:10 to Yuma.

The award for Best Music in a single song went to Once and the song "Falling Slowly," written and performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I listened to it on YouTube and then immediately downloaded it, despite never even hearing of the movie Once ever hitting theaters close by. The Irish singer-songwriter duo combines Irglova's femininity with Hansard's deeper tone, giving off a contrasting yet still pure sound. Mixed with some light piano and background strumming, "Falling Slowly" was very deserving, along with its contenders from August Rush and Enchanted. I took a look at the songs nominated from Enchanted (all three of them) and saw that producers Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz and Mark Bright wrote songs from other Disney films including the Little Mermaid, and my second all-time favorite Pocahontas (right behind the Lion King). It brought back some memories of the type of music I would exchange with my Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys CDs on the way home from Allenwood School, so I'll admit it was almost refreshing.

But in all seriousness, I'm not some kind of person that is against movies or anything, it's just the movies I risked my money on weren't nominated. Personally, I would have liked to have seen I Am Legend nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Art Direction, Makeup, Visual Effects and most definitely Best Picture (it was worth the nine dollars to say the least). But from the looks of it, I'll surely be keeping Blockbuster busy in the future when all these movies hit shelves.

Little Manhattan, Big Soundtrack.

"Love isn't about rediculous little words. Love is about grand gestures. Love is about airplanes pulling banners over stadiums, proposals on jumbo-trons, giant words in sky writing. Love is about going that extra mile even if it hurts. Letting it all hang out there. Love is about finding courage inside of you that you didn't even know was there." - Gabe, "Little Manhattan"




It was a quiet night, so two of my cousins and I decided to rent a movie. One of them suggested we rent "Little Manhattan," a 2005 production that I had never even heard of before, so we decided to give it a shot. Usually I'm not the kind of person who will rent a movie without hearing anything about it from anyone, but I soon found out it was a risk worth taking. Mark Levin, director of "Little Manhattan," teamed up with writer Jennifer Flackett (also wrote "Wimbledon" and "Madeline") to come out with more than just a cute story about children's romance. The story takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride from the perspective of 10-year-old Gabe and his quest to break the separation between girls and boys and the dreaded cooties that girls brought. Gabe, played by Josh Hutcherson, experiences troubles in his home life, where his father continues to sleep on the couch while divorce papers are in the works, and his mother begins to date again, despite still living with her husband. These troubles only add to the heartache as Gabe is filled with love for karate partner Rosemary Telesco (Charlie Ray), a picture-perfect rich girl who has the social calendar of a celebrity.

The movie brought much more than I ever thought it could, and when I was watching it (feeling myself heartache during Gabe's trials for Rosemary) I couldn't help but realize the music it was accompanied with couldn't have been better chosen. Somehow the movie found a way to successfully incorporate songs that were perfect to suit the mood of Manhattan life, even if it was just the three-by-three block area that Gabe's parents allowed him to scooter around. These tunes included "Sleepless in Brooklyn," performed by Californian group Lazlo Bane, as well as the fitting "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" performed by Freedy Johnston.

What was most impressive to me, however, was that in the final two minutes of the movie, without giving anything away, I found myself singing along to a Matt Scannell rendition of The Beatles' "In My Life." The reason for my surprise was that I'm not even really a huge Beatles' listener, but maybe what it took was to listen to one of their songs actually reproduced WELL. The mood the song emits was perfectly chosen for the mood of the movie, and the tone of Scannell's voice is clean and pure. It is strong yet giving, which I felt more powerful than the typical either too soft or too overbearing sound that some musicians possess.
Hear it for yourself here, and non-Beatles fans, let me know if this helped you enjoy their sound more (definitely did for me): www.myspace.com/mattscannell

Also check out:
Lazlo Bane - www.myspace.com/lazlobaneofficial - "Sleepless in Brooklyn" isn't here, but you can get the taste of what their sound is like compared to...
...Freedy Johnston - www.freedyjohnston.com

Behind the Beehive: Amy Winehouse

Everyone's been talking about her, and singer Amy Winehouse has been getting tons of negative spotlight for her drug usage and unwanted trips to rehab. But finally, something that shows what's beyond her rants about rehab and the fact that her husband's in jail. Check it out from Rolling Stone:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/amy_winehouse_back_in_black_rehab_married_soul_beehive_diva

Speaking of American Idol...

My brothers and I noticed this when we were watching a Journey DVD that one of them had gotten for Christmas. I had to do this.

Alicia Keys Tour

On a short ride to field hockey my mom's XM radio told me that Alicia Keys will be touring with American Idol Jordin Sparks. I looked on her official site (and read some of her blog there!) and didn't see anything posted yet, but even though I'm not an American Idol buff, I appreciate the kind of music both musicians bring. I haven't heard much of her new album "As I Am," but I'm going out on a limb and calling "Superwoman" to be her next single to follow her current one, "No One," which has topped charts for months now.

When I find tour dates, that's something that might be worth going to. I'll keep you posted.


- Ashley

After 12 Days...

...I'm back to school again. After coming back from Florida and two trips to Pennsylvania, a lot has happened that I'm still not even caught up on. News has been scattered lately as everywhere I've stayed has had different T.V. channels, so I couldn't even keep consistent what kind of news I was watching. The politic-infested news we've been seeing is still completely engulfing the entire population of the U.S., but it's important we step back and look at what's going on outside the bloody world of politics and see what's going on music-wise. Going from Disney World and its princess love songs and the unforgettable, everlasting "It's a Small World" song OVER AND OVER again, back to sanity in the Blue Mountain Ski Lodge in Pennsylvania where the portable heaters were huddled around by resting ski instructors listening to Boston and Rush on their boom-boxes. The differences between the two places went way beyond temperature differences, as I saw how tailored music is to the audience it is playing for.

No matter how badly I wanted to travel on the "Mayercraft Carrier," a Carnival Cruise which sailed out of Miami, Fl. in the beginning of February, I checked out the setlists Mayer played and was glad of the variation between songs that he chose to play, with songs overplayed on the radio (but still great) and songs that have never touched a radiowave.

On another note, Arizona-based group The Format announced that they won't be making another album. Frontmen Sam Means and Nate Ruess didn't give an exact reason for the break-up, but more will follow if they post more on their MySpace (blog post by Nate, Feb. 4 - http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2823645&blogID=354665121)



- Ashley

Entry #1

When it comes to music, everyone has their own opinions. These opinions may be about their favorite band or singer, or might be completely against a certain musician as well. Favorites, and the hated, can sway and switch any day of the week or change with genre, which is where this blog comes into play. The contrast between the music of yesterday and the music of today is constantly growing, and someone, somehow, can make a comparison between rap and classic rock. If you have it "Any Way You Want It" with Journey frontman Steve Perry and live the "Good Life" with rapper Kanye West, and there's no saying what kind of music you'll like tomorrow, and you'll find it all here.