To Build a Home

 

I have officially been an “inner looper” for two weeks now and through setting up my new apartment I have come across a few decorating deficiencies with which I figured you blog friends could help out.  Gift registries courtesy of BoingBoing, Gizmodo and io9.  There’s a wide variety of items and price ranges to chose from, so spend spend spend!

Carved Gourd Lamps: Calabarte’s stunningly intricate lamps come in a variety of styles and sizes.  Check out his homepage for more examples his work.  Also, seeing as how it’s been just shy of six months since I’ve put up a new header I figured this was as good a time as any to change it up. (Plus it seems appropriately October-y for some reason).

 

 

 

Fancy Pantsy Toothpaste Squeezer: For just the price of around a hundred tubes of toothpaste you too can own this absurdly opulent device intended for the laziest and richest amongst us.  Yay dental hygiene!!

*Note—$10.00 tube of Marvis toothpaste not included

Elipson “Sound Tree”: Umm… do I really even need to explain this one?! It’s a tree made of speakers!!  Also, feel free to throw in that pair of chairs on the right and we’ll call it a joint housewarming/Christmas present.

“Tree of Life” poster (option 1): It’s a tree trunk made out of ANIMALS!!!  Noah would be so happy.

 

Tree of Life poster (option 2): I mentioned previously how I was lucky enough to catch this movie showing at the Michigan Theater when I was in Ann Arbor this summer and I’m a bit ub-sessed with the movie poster. PRETTY COLORS!!!

Blown-glass Goldfish Bowl: The only pet I’ve had since moving away from Crockett was when I was living in Ann Arbor.  My friends Will and Clinton had a guinea pig, Mr. Piggles, that seemed reasonable enough to deal with so I decided to get one, thinking they might become friends as well—they just ended up fighting a lot.  At any rate, I decided to give Phineas away after about a year because I wasn’t home enough to spend any quality time with him.  A goldfish, though… you don’t even have to pet them! (In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s recommended you don’t do so).

 

Tsunami Hurricane Capsule: And now perhaps the human equivalent of a fish bowl—a Japanese designed survival pod intended for use in a tsunami but, I’m assuming, perfectly acceptable for hurricane season here in Houston.  Plus… it “could hold four adults and had survived many crash tests.  It has a lookout window and breathing holes, and could also be used as a toy house for children.” 

A. Can’t you see me floating down Richmond in that?  B. I LOVE that he removed his shoes before going into the capsule.

 

Artist: The Cinematic Orchestra/ Album: Ma Fleur

Put Your Records On

 

This last Saturday across our great land was “Record Store Day,” celebrated by hipsters and audiophiles alike in musty smelling shoebox sized buildings masquerading as retail establishments. 

Cactus Music even got into the spirit with live music!

 

One of my prized possessions is a record player I got several Christmases ago.  When I informed my parents it was what I wanted they seemed perplexed.  “You mean… … … like vinyl?”

It’s like the iPod version of a record player

 

One of the best things about this one is that it is completely portable and can work off batteries if needed.  It has it’s own speaker so in a pinch you don’t have to plug into anything else to listen.  I have many great memories on the screened-in porch at the Broadway house in Ann Arbor with this lil’ biscuit providing the entertainment. PLUS, I can hook it up to my computer and digitally transfer the record into mp3’s which is buh-mazing because a lot of the records I have aren’t available on CD at all.

Very appropriate, I might add, seeing as how all my friend’s Facebook wall’s in Michigan have been lighting up because of the recent snowfall there this week!

 

I’ve amassed a nice little collection since then and take any opportunity to at least peruse stores when in another city. Ann Arbor had a really great store, Encore Records, and when visiting Jeremy, Clinton, Nate or Jamison I always reserved at least three hours for Cheapo Records.   Luckily, Houston has a handful of them and I spent several hours just hopping across the city and looking at their choices. 

There are some albums that I will ALWAYS buy, and on the top of that list is anything that Martin Katz has played on.  For those of you not in the know—Martin Professor Maestro Katz, called “the gold standard of accompanists” by the New York Times, is the professor of collaborative piano at the University of Michigan.  Oh, and he’s played with basically every great opera singer of the last thirty years, written a book, and is basically a musical genius (and I’m not just throwing that word around willy-nilly). In the four years I was a student at Michigan I had the privilege of taking every one of his song classes and being conducted by him in two operas (Puccini’s La boheme and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin).  Needless to say, any chance I see one of his records I snnnnnnatch it up, and on this most recent trip I got TWO!

  

                  It’s the return of Flicka!!!!!                             Martin Katz + Stephen Sondheim= BUH-LISS!!

 

One of the other reasons I really wanted to get out on this day was that Adele was releasing a special edition remix of some songs from her album just for “Record Store Day.”  I’ve extolled my love for her before (here and here) so it should be no surprise that I was on the hunt for the disc! The first three places I visited had sold out and it was at the last stop that I was able find one—and it was their last copy!!! 

 

And, if anyone out there is making a list—though to be fair, I am still waiting on that watch—if you ever run across Astor Piazzolla records puh-lease get it for me and I’ll pay you back.  The guy who owned Encore in Ann Arbor was a big fan and would always hoard them away for himself whenever someone brought one in!

 

Artist: Corinne Bailey Rae/ Album: Corinne Bailey Rae

The Ballad of Booth

 

Last Friday Houston was host to **SNOWPOCALYPSE 2011!!** that engulfed our fair gulf city, effectively bringing Beltway 8 and my mother (in town with dad for business) to a complete halt.  So when I got a call from Paul, Keith and Zach to see if I wanted to hang out, my evening was as free as Interstate 45!

I got over to his house and the first thing he says is:

Paul: So… do you know who Yann Tiersen is?

Me: The name sounds familiar, but that means nothing really.

Paul: He’s the guy who wrote the music for that French movie Amelie.

Me: *mouth wide open* OMGILOVETHATSOUNDTRAAACK!!

Paul: Oh, so then I guess the answer to “Would you be interested in going to see him perform at Fitzgeralds later tonight, then?” is going to be a… … … “yes”?

Me: YEESSSSSSSSSS!!

 

I don’t remember exactly when I first saw Amelie, but I do know that it actively changed the way I watched movies.  Suddenly I was noticing the subtleties of cinematography, the way shots were composed, how long scenes would last until being cut to a different camera angle, the use of color, and (more relevant to this particular post) how a score can effectively enhance the viewer’s experience.  As you can see from the poster to your left and the film trailer above, this movie is where color saturation goes to binge.  Think of it as Snookie at a Spec’s… but with ultraviolet tanning booths. 

The use of reds, greens, blues and yellows was inspired by Brazilian Artist Juarez Machado, and it’s actually something that always comes to mind when I’m decorating my apartment.  I know it sounds rather, I don’t know, pretentious to say that “this movie changed the way I see the world,” but it kinda did in both a literal and metaphorical way.

Also, don’t believe me about my apartment? CHECK OUT BELOW!!

 

We had a couple of hours to spare, so we watched the most recent episode of 30 Rock, a couple of backlogged  How It’s Mades, and grabbed some Tex-Mex for dinner.  As we were pulling up to the place I realized that I had been here before when I first moved to Houston and hung out with Brad and Michele the first time.  Except… it has two different stage areas and we sat downstairs for about an hour listening to a god-awful rock band wondering where the hell the act we came to see was.  (The answer is: upstairs in the main stage).  Needless to say, I wasn’t going to let us make that mistake.

We found a pretty good spot to the left of the stage near the (quite paltry) merchandise station. The guy manning the table absolutely looked like he didn’t want to be there and we all started joking around that it was probably Yann’s nephew, who, after his father died in a tragic bus accident, was shuttled away by his mother (Yann’s sister) so that he could have a good father figure in his life.

 

Dani Tiersen: Drifter of the first order (Also, I’m not sure why this looks like a still shot from The Shield)

 

We also all agreed that, if ever there were to be a movie made about his life, that Meryl Streep should be cast.  Need I remind you?… I think I shall!

The opening act was S. Carey, whose sound we can best equate to music written by a pod of whales trained by Rufus Wainwright in an aquarium run by Philip Glass. 

Me: What did you think about that first act?

Paul: I mean it was nice, I guess.  Very “chill”. I could have a conversation during the performance without A.) straining my voice [always a plus for singers] and B.) having to feel guilty about it.

During the long intermission (that’s what it’s called at a concert, right?) we took the chance to eavesdrop on the clientele.  Or as Zach put it: “Geez, I feel like I'm in an episode of Skins—the British version, of course. Not that bastardized new MTV one.”

WATCH OUT TEENS!!!! The Parents Television Council is after you!!!

One Christmas I went to Wal-Mart with my sister-in-law, Joanie, and while waiting in line she of the statistics background asked: “I wonder what percentage of people here are shopping for Christmas presents and what percentage are just here for every-day items.”  I had never really thought of things that way (my non-sequitors are generally seen through a pop-culture tinted lense).  Now when I am in large groups of people and trying to kill time I will ask a similar question.

Me: How many people here do you think watch How It’s Made.

Paul: Oh wow, probably not many.  How many people here do you think are teenage couples awkwardly holding hands?

Me: Hmmm, definitely more than my question.  OOH, I wonder how many people here both watch How It’s Made AND are a teenage couple awkwardly holding hands.

 

If only there were some way that we could visualize that raw data.

 

The break also gave us an opportunity to peruse the scenery, noting that the barn-turned-concert-venue feeling would lend well for a dinner theater experience, which quickly spiraled into our planned mounting of a musical version of the 30 Rock episode we had seen several hours previously.

It’ll be this decades The Producers, I promise!!

 

There was much excitement when Yann made the stage, the most emphatic being a fellow Frenchman screaming out something in their native tongue.  I really wanted to yell something out as well but my French isn’t that good.  About all I could muster was: “JE M’APELLE JOSEPH!!” “ICI-BAS!!!” “LE SANGE ET SUR LA BRANCHE!!!!!!!” 

At one point he pulled out a violin for an intro to one of his pieces, which always reminds me of my friend, Clinton, who said every time he used to play at his church in Lake Jackson someone would inevitably come up to him afterwards and say something like: “Yeah yeah, that Mozart was real nice BUT… can you play “The Devil Goes Down to Georgia?!?!”

 

HOE-DOWN!!!!

As Zach noted, it was interesting to see what music he performs when not in the context of a certain character or cinematic mood (ie: the whimsey and fantasy of Amelie’s Paris).  The whole time I was there I kept wishing that my former roommate, Lembit, could have been hanging out with us.  I always loved when he would just stroll around the house playing his accordion and sing-narrating whatever was happening: “Your saaaaauccccee needs more cummmiiiiiiiinnnn” or “Joseeeeeepphhhh, your laundry [dominant chord] is *dramatic pause*… FINNNIIISSSHEEEEDD [minor tonic chord]”.  Basically he was our very own wandering Amelie soundtrack long before Yann was even in the picture.

So once again a fantastic evening (and yet another shattered mirror of a blog post) was birthed from equal parts free evening and social happenstance! Unfortunately I once again forgot to get pictures of the four of us for the blog… so in our final WTF?!? moment, with the magic of photoshop and the pilfering of facebook I’ve taken some pictures from my dear friend, Heather’s, wedding last year when she had a photo boot at the reception and made an Amelie homage.  (Note to former brides—DO THIS!!!!  It was fantastic!!)  Also, as I am not friends with Zach and Keith on the fb I had to do the best I could…

(With special guest star body, Nancy Brooks!)

Artist: Stephen Sondheim/ Album: Assassins

BONUS ROUND!! As I was leaving the concert I spotted a classmate of mine  from High School, James, across the dance floor.   We were headed out the door at the time and I wasn’t able to say hi to him, but in a bit of serendipity he was actually at Heather’s wedding as well and got a shot in the photo booth.  So, sorry I couldn’t chat, but I’m giving you a blog shout out!!!

Heather and James Dean Franco Rains