Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hawthorne to Hennepin


It's been a long time since I really and truly enjoyed a new episode of "Grey's Anatomy" (though there was a shining moment with Cristina in the most recent episode at the very end), but I still always like the music they play, even if it does sometimes drown out everything else...

I recently discovered this neat website that lists all the songs played in each episode. This guide especially comes in handy these days because there hasn't been a Grey's Anatomy soundtrack out since the third season. Now, when I hear a song on GA I just know I have to have, I look it up and go online to buy it...Take "Hawthorne to Hennepin" for instance...that played on the January 14th and just my heart away...it's a lovely, lovely song!!

http://www.tvfanatic.com/music/shows/greys-anatomy/episodes/


Way back when the first season soundtrack came out I couldn't get enough and posted about it on Amazon:

I fell in love with this soundtrack much the way I did the tv show it goes with: slowly, surely and softly. The music featured on "Grey's Anatomy" packs a gentle punch and can blissfully remind you of why music is the only thing you can purchase that touches your heart and soul completely. Clothes, food, even books can't reach that spot deep inside you that yearns to be free.

Think I'm exaggerating? Well then, listen to the opening track "Such Great Heights" by the Postal Service and tell me you don't levitate with tranquility off your living room couch...

As for the second song, the delicious "Ruby Blue" by Roisin Murphy, if you don't feel rhythym coursing through your entire body, you might consider getting a doctor to look at you.

"Song Beneath the Song" follows and continues the very mellow sounds of "Such Great Heights." Don't be scared by the word "mellow." This is the kind of peace anyone who works non-stop needs to unwind with at the end of the day. I promise you your mind won't turn to mush.

Though the overall tone of the album is set by a fairly languid pace, no two numbers are exactly the same. "Where Does the Good Go?" is a bit quirky with a persisting chorus that matches the demanding needs of the lyrics (especially with the line: "look me in the eye") while the live version of Ben Lee's fabulously pop "Catch my Disease" is light-hearted happiness.

I won't take up too much more of your time raving like a lovestruck lunatic. All I want to emphasize is how wonderful GREY's ANATOMY soundtrack is; how do you do justice to an album that features Rilo Kiley (a terrific group by the way!), Inara George ("Fools in Love" is heartbreakingly gorgeous and especially soothing during hard times), The Ditty Bops and Get Set Go all on the same project??

Even as I write this, I'm listening to the album for probably the 20th time since I got it the week before last. Beauty, sorrow, joy, peace, wacky instability ("Ruby Blue")...everything that makes the show so lovable is here on the soundtrack.

Take this home with you and be kind to it in the morning! Be careful,though, that you don't lose your heart to it too soon...


super+++tracks include: "Such Great Heights," "Ruby Blue," "Song Beneath the Song," "Wait" (you'd wait for anyone who sings like this!), "Could be Anything," "Portions for Foxes," "Fools in Love," and "Cosy in the Rocket" (a perfect closer to the album!!)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Adina Mocha Madness, 8-Ounce Cans (Pack of 24)Adina Mocha Madness, 8-Ounce Cans (Pack of 24)



I drink a lot of coffee AND I try a lot of different kinds, but the best coffee energy drink I've had in ages is definitely Adina (Natural Highs) Mocha Madness. Not only is it Fair Trade Certified (see below) it tastes amazing and leaves you feeling happy and light rather than cranky and confused the way you sometimes can feel after a major caffeine crash:).

http://transfairusa.org/content/about/index.php
Playground Love (With Gordon Tracks)


Last night I was watching a new episode of "Medium" and became enthralled with the haunting song that kept playing in different spots throughout the episode. As is usually the case (but not always because there have been some "iffy" ones this season) "Medium" was heartfelt and mesmerizing. Long after it was over I couldn't stop thinking about THAT song so I did what I always do when I've just seen a tv show and there is no credit given to a featured song...I went online.

Thanks to someone who really knows his music stuff I found my answer on the Internet Movie Database, though this thread:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412175/board/thread/155421133




After finding out the title I then went onto Amazon's website and bought the song:
http://www.amazon.com/Playground-Love/dp/B000TEVI3U/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1263664530&sr=301-1
(I use Amazon because it's digital library works on all MP3 players.)

"Playground Love" (like many Air songs) is deceptively light and frothy and just below the surface. This particular song opens with drums and piano and everything is low-key and sensual, yet somehow disturbing...it has also been featured on "The Virgin Suicides" soundtrack.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010




I am complete mush when it comes to Snow Patrol...like the way I feel when I get novocaine or go under before surgery or take too much Nyquil and am so utterly out of it and pleasantly unaware that nothing bothers me at all. It's not that Snow Patrol is boring or too easy on the ear. It's just that they are so relaxing and their music so warm for a group with the name Snow in it...

On their most recent outing (a two disc retrospective with the new "Just Say Yes" included) I find myself liking so much I'd never heard before and taking in the old stuff with pleasure all over again...

I've five-starred the ones that I think are absolutely knee-buckling in their beauty and peacefulness...



1. Chocolate
2. Chasing Cars ***** (their most well-known but still their most beautiful and sad)
3. Crack The Shutters
4. Set The Fire To The Third Bar *****
5. Crazy In Love
6. Just Say Yes
7. Batten Down The Hatch *****
8. You’re All I Have
9. Hands Open
10. Cartwheels *****
11. The Planets Bend Between Us (2009 Version) *****
12. Ask Me How I Am *****
13. On-Off *****
14. Making Enemies
15. Run (Live at the Union Chapel)

CD2

1. Take Back the City *****
2. Shut Your Eyes *****
3. An Olive Grove Facing The Sea (2009 Version)
4. Run
5. Give Me Strength
6. Signal Fire ***** (also appears on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack...heartbreaking!)
7. Spitting Games
8. Open Your Eyes *****
9. Dark Roman Wine
10. Fifteen Minutes Old
11. You Are My Joy
12. Golden Floor
13. Starfighter Pilot
14. PPP
15. Chasing Cars (Live at the Union Chapel)

Thursday, January 7, 2010




My favorite book of all time starts off like this:

"Katherine Muller had been dead for five years and two months the morning Isabelle received the letter from her."

Is there anything better than the first time we read the first sentence of what we feel will probably turn out to be (for each of us, the reader) the best book we ever read? No matter how much we reread and still love an amazing novel, nothing quite measures up to cracking open the beginning pages and not knowing what is ahead of us.