Morning May Mix

As the weather gets warmer, the list of fitting songs gets longer.

I don't even have a proper introduction for these awesome songs and remixes that I'm come

ing across, so I'm not gonna try. Here they are.

- If (Kaytranada remix) by Janet Jackson

- Hot Jazzybelle by Kaytranada

- Seeds by Georgia Anne Muldrow

- Hello by Martin Solveig & Dragonette

- The Yo-Yo by Little Brother

- Sunday Morning by K-OS

- Nothing Like This by J Dilla

- Sunshine (remix) by Raul Midon (featuring Blaze and Louie Vega)

- Brrlak! by Zap Mama

- Anywhere You Go by Shawn Colvin

- They Don't Care About Us (Mikkas Bootleg Remix)

- Crown on The Ground by Sleigh Bells

- Only Love Can Break your Heart by Saint Etienne

Friday Fondue: Sprinkles Of Spring

Spring Break is just around the corner, and If there is one thing I know for sure, it's that everyone who can't go down to the beach to enjoy it will probably surround themselves with anything that could remind them of it.

Like Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers."

The story is simple: four girls stuck in a boring college want to get away to the Spring Break party in Florida. Three of them (the ones with the dyed hair) resort to robbing a restaurant to get enough money to fund the trip, and the four of them embark on a trip to Florida to enjoy the raves, warmth and wildness of Spring Break. But then a party gets raided, and the girls are expected to pay a fine that they have no money for (either that or spend two days in jail.) That's when Alien comes into the picture. Alien, the white-boy rapper slash hustler, played by friggin' JAMES FRANCO, takes the girls under his wing and shows them the world he likes to live in--drugs, money, partying, and Gucci Mane. To which one of the girls, Selena Gomez, decides that contrary to the bikini and booze bash she's been partaking in, this side of Florida is a lot less spiritual. So she hightails it out of there. Leaving behind the three hair-dyed girls to tote guns and rob parties with their new ringleader...until it goes way, way too far.

I gotta hand it to Korine, I've never seen ANY of his movies, and now I have to see all of them. When you see the trailer, you automatically assume after the first thirty seconds that it's going to be a glorification of the "dumbass party kid" life. With Skrillex pumping in the background and a sea of tanned faces gulping vodka, it's hard not to see anything else. But the way the film is shot, the way certain phrases are spoken over certain scenes, changes that perspective. At least for me. In fact, from the start of the movie, I had a feeling it was gonna take a turn that no Young Adult viewer wanted or expected. Suddenly the loud music seems like a nuisance, the middle fingers are a bore, and every scene of so-called defiance through partying just looks like the epitome of LAME. After grappling with emotions ranging from exasperation to pure horror, we're left with an open ending that either asks us a question we didn't think of or answers the questions we already had. Whatever we can debate about acting skills or certain sections of writing, the overall presentation of the story makes this a movie worth seeing. And yeah, I would take my parents.

Another taste of Spring, but from less recent times, is an album I only knew about because I saw the trailer for the animated movie "epic" and I loved the song in the background. "A Hundred Million Suns."

Some of you know what I'm talking about, and are probably rolling your eyes at the fact that it took a movie trailer for me to notice it. Especially when I know of the Snow Patrol and have bought a couple of their songs ("Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking," anyone?) And I admit, to the die-hard fans of SP, I'm a disgrace who is just now jumping on the bandwagon. But any kind of way that good music can get noticed, be it through a trailer or a commercial, is good enough for good-music hunters like me. 

But the song from the trailer comes at the very end. Before that are beautifully acoustic ballads and jams laced with synthesizers and other-worldly pads. To name a few of my favorites: 

• "Crack the Shutters," a sweet ode to a love interest whose beauty shines with the rays of the sun. 
• "The Golden Floor," a more haunted version of the classic dance floor theme. 
• "Set Down Your Glass," which I like mainly for the daydreaming spree it sends me on with its soft guitar and soothing synths. 

And finally, "The Lightning Strike," a 16 minute symphony, if you will, comprised of three parts, each getting more upbeat and light-hearted than the last. But it is the first act, "What If The Storm Ends?" that grabs my attention still, the way it did when I heard it in the theater. 

I think the major appeal, besides the beautifully crafted musical composition and lyrics, is Gary Lightbody's voice. His is a soft tone, a pleasant vibrato, a perfect pitch, but certainly not a loud, strong voice like some artists. Yet his voice clearly rises above every song he is featured in, from the stripped down ballads to the hard-rock jams. I can never get tired of his voice. 

"A Hundred Million Suns" is the breeze of warmth that creeps in after February, the blooming flower after a snowstorm, and clear skies after months of cloudiness. A Spring album if ever I heard one.

Finally...I have to make something known.

I am a serious and avid listener of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson has been a part of my listening life since I was in diapers. I loved his music, his performances, his own self-made fashion (he could have made his own line of sequined military jackets and gotten even more rich), and I always had major respect for his humanitarian work, the effort he put into giving back to the world. I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard he died. And it sucked big time because when your musical icons die, you feel the void like you lost an old friend.

But I'm getting off point. The point is I will always be a fan and collect MJ memorabilia (within my budget) because hell, I want to. And recently I came across this little gem.

If the Author's name is not familiar to you, Michael Bush was MJ's costume designer. All the outfits you saw him wear on stage, and a few outfits offstage as well? That was Bush. And Dennis Thompkins, his partner in crime, who sadly died in 2011. IN this book, Bush writes about the process of dressing the King Of Pop, the way he and Thompkins would get calls late at night asking for a coat to be worn a week later, the way Bush learned never to mess with MJ's shoes, the secrets revealed behind the armband, the military signature silhouette, and that "CTE" shirt Mike used to wear in the early 90's (think "Man In The Mirror" performance at Bucharest in 1992. yeah. THAT shirt.)

I couldn't stop reading the moment I bought it. What made it so great were not only the anecdotes, but the VISUALS. I mean, there are full length pictures of the historic outfits, the sketches, the socks while they were being made, past outfits  that never made it to the stage! Once upon a time, MJ asked Bush and Thompkins to make a coat made out of money! And they did! There's a picture of that too!

For those of you who love the process as much as the finished product, who like going behind the scenes and in tot he mind of the artist, who wonder about the reasonings and ideas of the genius, this book is perfect for you. I don't know about y'all, but I was truly satisfied. This book is a fitting tribute of a master of his craft because it focus on what should have always been focused on--the artist. Bush steers your attention to the elements of what Michael Jackson wanted to be remembered for, for that I am truly grateful. And also, I finally understand what the Dinner Jacket was all about.

Yes. Those are tiny utensils on a leather jacket.

So take these ingredients and make something warm for your soul. Especially if you live on the East Coast, because there's been TWO snowstorms this month and low degree temperatures even on the sunny days.

Not Cool.

-CDM

The Monday Mocha: E.L., Thief, And Eddie

Happy Inauguration Day AND Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King Jr! Monday's have never been so good! Today, while our president was sworn in for the next four years, we also reflected on the life of a great leader for equality in the past. This whole day I was feeling that nostalgic aura follow me around.

So there I was, rummaging through my box of old books, deciding which to give away (like I ever could part with my precious books) when I came across one of my favorite reads as a child.

A Proud Taste For Scarlet And Miniver. One of my favorite book titles yet. When I was younger, I associated "miniver" with "vinegar," so I always ate salad with dressing when I read the book. LOL.
The story is set in Heaven, where Eleanor of Aquitaine is waiting with her fellow companions, Abbot Suger, Mathilda-Express, and William the Marshal for her husband Henry to be sent "up" to Heaven with them. As they wait, they each help to tell the story of the darling Eleanor Aquitaine's life.
Now, it was much later in life I realized this was based on a true story, but at the time I read this (I think I was about 9) I found it to be an amazing read. It's hard to explain the joyful challenge to reading something like this at such a young age, and I always grouped it with the other classics I was reading at the time. I suggest you take a look inside for yourself, no matter how old you are. You will enjoy it.


A few times I have posted a song or album by Clara Hill, the Berlin native who mixed jazz with electronics and funk and house. She's worked closely with Jazzanova, another Berlin-based act comprised of different DJs and producers who've been creating nu-jazz/house music since 1995. I listen to both of these artists quite a bit, and it's because of this the ITunes STore Genius section recommended to me....Thief.

Now, I couldn't find a lot about them, since they only have a couple of singles and one full album, but I do know that it's a Berlin-based trio of guys and their style is Folk Rock/Indie/Pop. At least, that's what their MySpace page tells me. So I checked out what music they do have on ITunes, and boy, they did not disappoint. Genius got it right! Their songs are so laid back and chilled out, yet retaining one of my favorite elements in music: melodic progression. Their progressions kept me on my toes without twisting my brain, and I eventually started humming their tunes under my breath for the rest of the day. IN particular, I liked these two songs.

Sooooooo relaxxxxxxiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggg...........for music made in 2006, this is TIMELESS.

Finally I just wanted you all to remember how much you love Eddie Murphy. Because you DO love Eddie Murphy, right? RIGHT???

Of course you do. 

Until next time, folks. Happy Monday!

-CDM

First taste of Django. Happy New Year!

After Christmas, the year felt pretty much over. So my new year began a little early! What else was there to do but marvel at the lights and get great deals on clothes and prepare for the avalanche of business that is January?

What I did, with a cup of hot chocolate/tea and a meal of my choice (preferably takeout), is sit on the couch and watch my favorite winter movies.

Tonight, I've just come back from my first movie in 2013: Django Unchained.

You know of this movie. It's the one that was being criticized before it even hit the big screen. It's the one that's got a soundtrack involving a mashup of James Brown and Tupac. It's Jamie Foxx playing the slave given a chance to rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) with the help of the bounty hunter who freed him (Christopher Waltz). The trail of blood they leave behind is so tangible you could taste it. When you watch it.

Now I've seen Inglourious. So I'll say what I know many were thinking; When I saw the trailer for this movie, I figured it was going to be the black version of that. It bothered me that there wasn't a planned coalition of freed slaves with a few undercover spies to take down the entire salve-holding corporation. But as I watched Django and Schultz roam the land, playing characters to gain access to the plantation and then skillfully picking out their targets with an ease second only to breathing, I could appreciate that this movie was meant to zero in on the vengeful triumphs of one man who deserved that chance more than anybody. As he had to tell the worst lies of his life, that would allow him to get close to the enemy, I saw, in painful detail, just how much of the violence he was used to. It magnified every murder and whipping of a slave, and sweetened the revenge exacted on the culprits, because it was only two guys causing rightful disruption in perfectly ordered inhumanity. Soon enough, everyone in the audience was laughing or clapping when a pack of slave owners thinking they could kill Django were taught how impossible that was.

This violence and pain was softened by the revenge AND the steadfast love story between Django and Broomhilda. Kerry Washington's depiction of the bucked and scorned house slave is captivating and riveting, considering that she barely says a word and doesn't truly materialize until over halfway through the movie. Oh, she appears before then: in flashbacks and momentarily in lakes and fields until Django blinks a second time. It is in those moments, those saddening and hopeful moments, that we see the fuel behind Django's fire. It begins to burn in us as an audience. When we finally see them reunite, not a dream or a flashback, that ache in your chest is relief mingled with awe at a bond so powerful it transcends all the ugliness surrounding the couple, even when it threatens to consume them. In other words, the scarcity of their interactions on screen magnifies their romance. Less was much, much more.

Additionally, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson were phenomenal. DiCaprio plays Calvin Candie, Broomhilda's charismatic and repulsive slave owner. His performance reminds me vaguely of Waltz's performance in Inglorious as the comically horrific Hans Landa; you would laugh one moment and then cry out in disgust in the next breath. Samuel L Jackson, who played the despicable head servant Stephen, effortlessly pulls off his character's pitiful devotion to his Master, even helping him decode why Django and Schultz really came to his plantation. I started off nearly laughing at the two ("I can't take evil Leo and Samuel seriously!") and ended snarling at the scream ("you horrible sick loathsome..."). And this is what true acting is all about; making people forget your real name and falling for your fake one.

I think this is the longest review of a movie I've one yet, so you can see the effect it had on me was great. I strongly suggest that those with weak stomach do NOT see the movie until it comes out on DVD; then you can mute and walk away from the violent parts. For those who can handle it, be my guest and experience Django on a big screen. Either way, if a movie can make me write a review so effortlessly that I don't even realize who I've written until I've passed the third paragraph, then it can affect others in many different ways as well. So start off the year with a little Tarantino. :)


New movies are always fun, but usually for the first month of the new year, in my spare time, I tend to re-watch the classics of my childhood and the pleasures of my adulthood. Most of these movies, by the way, are romantic. Because winter, to me, is like Valentine's Day for three months.
Here are a few to name. Check them out yourself, and next time we speak again I'll be filling you in on what BOOKS you should check out. Happy New Year everybody.

1) Tootsie

2) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

3) Kate And Leopold

4) Love and Basketball

5) How The Grinch Stole Christmas

6) Brown Sugar

7) Stepmom

8) The Holiday

9) Love Jones

---CDM

Dilla's December: Cold Night Music

Greetings, all!

On November 29th, this little blog here hit its one year birthday. I merely listed pictures of albums that I liked, and moved on. Safe to say this blog has grown since then. And I continue to hope that the longer I do this, the better I'll get at it. Happy One Year Old Birthday, Art Batter! LOL.

Anyway, it's DECEMBER. That last hurrah of 2012 before we are supposedly all going to die.

(Uh, NO.)

But it's also a great month for me to delve into one of my favorite facets of music--the cold night section. it's that kind of music that you listen to when you're walking along the city/neighborhood after sundown, when those orange streetlights are your only guide OR when the buildings light up and show you the route you're taking while driving. That kind of nighttime beauty, especially in the winter, can only be more enhanced with the right music to play. here I want to present some of my best Cold Night selections, starting with the incredible J Dilla (RIP).

Make of it what you will. :)

--CDM

Last Bite of The Apple: The End Of The Sparkly Vampire Reign

Great Sky-Shot. But why the big face?

**DISCLAIMER: This is not a piece about how sad the end of Twilight is to me. That would be a lie. Because I've already been sad at the end of a Book-Era (Harry Potter) and could never be sad about any other Era again. This is simply a humorous recount of my fling with the vampire life and what the end of it means for its fans.***

I have never found myself caught in the throes of sparkly-vampire passion the way so many fans did when "Twilight" first came onto the scene as a debut novel for Stephanie Meyer. I had no interest in the black book with an apple on the cover, not until it was made into a movie and I recognized three actors from my early teen-hood: Kristen Stewart, Cedric Diggory, and Sharkboy. 

My mom and I decided to go to the opening night of the first movie. What the heck, why not? we said. We were sitting cramped between billions of girls in Team Edward T-Shirts giggling happily. As the screen darkened, the theater exploded in screams and a few vain calls "shut up!" I looked at my mother and silently vowed to never ever make her do something like this again. There was no way this movie would be worth it.

Oh, how wrong we were. 

The plot about a young teenager outcast Bella who falls for the brooding mysterious Christian Gr--I mean, Edward Cullen, actually pulled us in. My mother and I were reduced to girl-hood again, that age when you wish for a love like the movie stars have. Somehow, surprisingly, the audience reactions to certain parts in the movie (especially the entrance of Edward Cullen) enhanced the whole experience. Suddenly, I was giggling with my mom about how handsome Edward was, while she agreed with a twinkle in her eye (of course, by the time Taylor Lautner buffed up a year later, we would be talking about HIM). 

There were a lot of things about the first Twilight movie that makes it my favorite of all the movies. I am a sucker for good cinematography, and you cannot deny the attraction we all feel to the landscapes of pine trees and the faded effect of the entire film, as well as the well-paced change in shots to keep things from getting monotonous. Additionally, I thought the acting was pretty decent. Now, I know it's fun to make fun of Kristen's acting form, but I was used to it because I had seen her in other moves where her chops really got to shine. I hadn't known what to expect with Robert Pattinson. I'd only seen in as the bright-eyed Cedric Diggory, and, well, you know, he DIED at the end. But Rob did not disappoint, that cold November night in the theater. He pulled off the secretive romantic part relatively well, and his serious face doesn't look strained at all. I was especially impressed with how convinced I was by his American accent. It was believable, not over or underdone. I could see why they picked him. 

...If I had to sparkle, I'd be mad too.

The biggest factor that won me over was the soundtrack. Even those who don't like this series can't sleep on the compilation of that first movie soundtrack. The Black Ghosts, Mute Math, Blue Foundation, even a song by Pattinson, who got a VOICE on him! I liked it so much, I went and bought the album instantly. Songs from that album remain part of my personal winter playlist. 

Full Moon _Black Ghosts

Spotlight(Twilight Mix)_ Mute Math

Let Me Sign_Robert Pattinson

It was THIS first movie that compelled me to go see every other movie after that, even when the magic I once felt was completely diminished, as the plot annoyed me and the shooting-style was no longer enough, and when I never bought another Twilight soundtrack again. And it is THIS FIRST MOVIE that means I have to see this through to the end, on Friday tomorrow, even though I'm no longer the entranced watcher I was when it came to Eddie and Bella's first appearance on the screen. 

All of this goes to say that as tomorrow inches closer, I thought of the explosion this series has made for the past few years, the hype, the promotion, the posters and what not...and now I'm reminded of another grander book-movie era. Harry Potter. 

Yes, that is the album cover, and not the movie cover. Apologies.

That was MY era, the great story of my childhood. I have all seven books, two audio books, and four HP soundtracks. My entire childhood was shaped by debating whether harry or Ron would end up with Hermione and why Snape was such a jerk. And singing the Harry Potter theme at school until people begged me to shut up. When I walked out of the last Harry Potter movie (which was phenomenal) I wanted to cry. No more Harry Potter anticipation! Well, there's Pottermore, but I don't have that kind of time. :( 

And I do expect to see wet eyes by the time the credits roll tomorrow. Girls who came into this as 12 and 13 year olds and are leaving as 16-18 year olds are going to mournfully file out of the theater, lamenting the end of anticipation for another movie. People will make Internet Memes depicting how Twilight was a landmark for so many young people, and Facebook will be flooded with sad faces and one finally #TeamJacob hashtag.

Yet, like all eras, it will eventually die out, and the next author will have a chance to wow us with a grand series or novel in which literally unknown actors can become world-class superstars and people will happily but every poster, shirt, and mug that has their faces on it. We will have another literary celebrity series again, my friends. 

Is is this reality, and the fact I've already seen the others anyway, that will inspire me to say "one for Twilight, please," for the last time. So Dear Goddess, grant me the strength I need to sit once more in a theater full of screaming teenagers with old Twilight t-shirts and stare at a screen with sparkling vampires and furry werewolves, Kristen, Cedric, and Sharkboy...

and evil Dakota Fanning. (shudders)

Take Care, y'all!

-CDM