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october spoke softly It's quarter after one in the morning, Sarah McLachlan is singing Sweet Surrender and I'm eating vanilla ice cream with crushed pineapple liberally draped over it. Maybe this is the way that I welcome the month of October. That may or may not mean anything, but my mood has certainly improved from yesterday and that is good enough for me. Someone in the online world can't seem to tell the difference between Harriet Wheeler and Sarah McLachlan. What I mean is that the song Wild Horses from the Fear soundtrack is sung by Harriet and not Sarah. Now I've never seen the movie, but I know that Harriet does not sound like Sarah. The two women have very different vocal styles. I'm not sure why that bothered me that much, but it did. I do have Sarah doing an excellent cover of the XTC song Dear God. I also have her doing a rendition of Blackbird which is also very good. Even better than those two selections is a duet with Jewel and Sarah. Of course none of this is new to long time fans of Sarah, but as I said I never really got into her that much and that first wife of Adam fair sent me running in the other direction. ... After some mixed feelings the first few weeks, I've come to like my second class. Finally I can see where the professor is heading with the course and that makes a big difference to me. ... After class I finally got around to watching the fourth movie that I had rented last week. This last selection was another foreign film and I wish that I would have watched it in one sitting, but I just didn't seem to have the time. Putting aside the time issue, I still really liked Farewell My Concubine. Without a doubt China opera is unlike anything that I have ever seen and I wonder if such a thing is even done here in the States. Obviously I don't understand a word that they are singing but that is usually the case with European opera. Actually I almost like the Chinese music better than the Italian music that I've heard. Although I must confess that I have a soft spot for Wagner ever since I saw the Elmer and Bugs rendition many years ago. There were elements in the film that I had seen in other Chinese films such as Raise the Red Lanterns and to a lesser degree The Last Emperor. Upheaval seems to be the running theme for China in the twentieth century with one new regime after the next taking control. I can't imagine having lived through those various revolutions. What was once considered good suddenly becomes bad and vice versa. Besides the political portion of the film, it was good to see the ever alluring Gong Li again. Sigh. ... On the vacation front, I am seriously thinking that New Mexico is going to take the place of Barcelona. The expense would be far less and it would still be something new for me. Plus I like the idea of being in a desert in December. |