I get a lot of songs stuck in my head*. It happens a couple of ways. One is that the lyrics and music will repeat themselves in my head, like I'm subconsciously singing it to myself. The other way is that I will actually hallucinate that I am hearing the song. It's happening right now. It doesn't happen in silence, but when there's white noise around. I'm really hearing something, but my brain molds those sounds into this particular song I was listening to a few minutes ago.

How did that song get stuck in my head? It popped into there because I saw the word "recompense." That threw me into the line "If it's time to recompense for what's done." Do you recognize it? I didn't. It's a Nick Drake song. From The Royal Tenenbaums. I don't have the song, but it's prominent in the movie and easy to hear.

Oddly enough, I don't usually notice the music in movies unless it's in the forefront or my attention is artificially drawn to it. I suppose you generally shouldn't notice the music, or at least the score, unless the filmmaker does it deliberately to add meaning. I don't know, I've never studied film.

However, in the course of my detective work in trying to figure out what song it was, I found this website which discusses the music in that film and the extra layer(s) of meaning it provides. I happen to love the film, and if you don't that's okay, but the way music is selected to provoke exactly the right emotional reaction has always fascinated me, and it's sort of about that.

* Obsessive-compulsive to the max, but at least there's always music in my life.

UM?

Harry Potter and the amazing girls who saw it

since at least 3 of us have seen harry potter i thought all would enjoy this article. its the wired story of the special effects used. its pretty frickin sweet.
post out.

Necissity, need and the cost of value

Recently, I went shopping. I needed dress shoes for 2 weddings coming up in my family. So I decided I wanted something pretty and comfortable, as well as well built. Most of my shoes that I do own are really cheap. So I proceeded to be seduced, there really is not another word for these 4 inch leather heels by Ralph Lauren down from 90 to 60. blinded by beauty, craft and overall comfort, I purchased them with little thought.
It was only when I came home I realized i paid 70 with tax on a pair of shoes. 70, when I am desperately saving for a new( er) car before fall. ( long story but the car I'm driving now doesn't have a defroster/ working air vent)
After much panic, guilt, and almost crying; mostly at Amanda, I realized these are just a pair of shoes, and I can take them back, get a full refund and have no problem. Then, I found some spare cash that almost equaled the cost of the shoes. Now, the thought is to deposit this into the bank and use it to pay the bill for them, thus rationalizing the cost and value of the shoes.
Now, I find it terribly amusing that finding cash I didn't know I had ( I love when this happens, don't you?) can be justification to keep something I had prior decided as not worth the cost. What gives something value? Is it craftsmanship, want, desire, aesthetics, or is it something else all together?
What can we use to assign value? And where is it just impulse purchases or when is it an investment. Is Pleasure of object or ownership quantifiable?

the origin of love

I haven't seen this movie in about four years, but earlier today someone who had never seen the movie was explaining this "origin of love" story to me, and I had to direct her to this video:




It's such a compelling story, and I actually saw it in this move before I really knew anything about Plato, but the fact that it's been around for at least 2300 years makes me like it more. It reminds me of why humans created mythologies in the first place. Also, I'm very, very glad the Phonecians gave the Greeks an alphabet so they could write things down.

Also, Hedwig's hott. I'd forgotten.