Yesterday, despite today's exam hanging over my head, was one of the nicest days I've had in recent memory. In between studying, I found time to watch two films with my favourite of this year's flatmates. We later had a conversation lasting several hours that was full of all kinds of 90s nostalgia.
Before I went to bed, the urge to listen to Hootie & the Blowfish overwhelmed me. It rather came out of nowhere, and I very nearly side-stepped indulging myself.
So glad I went through with it.
I looked up "Only Wanna Be With You" on Youtube and remembered watching the goofy video when it was all the rage on MTV years and years ago. It's actually a nice little song, and I don't care what anybody says. There was a link to "Hold My Hand," which was my favourite of their songs... as I was listening to it, I thought a lot about the negative, judgemental, and stifled way with which I've conducted myself since my mid-teens, especially as it relates to any form of art. I'm a terrible film snob, and pretty snobby about music and television, as well.
I can't really help that I prefer my entertainment to, on the whole, be challenging and engaging...but I sure can help flat-out refusing to look for the good in mindless entertainment, and I think I'll be a happier person overall for it.
So, today, I decided I'd either dig out my old Hootie CDs (still have them somewhere) or just download them. Ended up going to download them. I entered the band name in the search bar of my favourite pirating system and the first result was called something like "Top 250 Hits of the 90s." Hmm. I read through the song list and saw a bunch of songs I haven't heard in years...even music I would be embarrassed to be caught listening to now. Or, at least, would've been embarrassed to be listening to before yesterday.
It's fantastic. I'm 30-something songs into it and am listening to Counting Crows - "Mr. Jones" at the moment. I always had something against the song for some reason, but I'm enjoying it now! Other highlights that made me smile:
Seal - "Kiss From A Rose"
Everything But The Girl - "Missing"
Boyz II Men - "Water Runs Dry"
Suzanne Vega - "Tom's Diner"
Dishwalla - "Counting Blue Cars"
All of these songs are bringing back some great memories!
I watched the Karate Kid remake tonight and really had to fight to not rip it to shreds. First of all, having grown up watching the originals, I'm naturally biased against a remake. The one thing I couldn't get over was the film's title... there was no karate! The acting was generally pretty terrible... BUT! I did find some enjoyment in the fight scenes and liked the music the little girl played. One of my flatmates commented that it'd have been one of his favourite movies had he seen it when he was 8 or 9. I viewed it from that perspective, and sure, I can see it. That helped put a positive spin on the overall experience.
This won't be easy for me anytime soon, but I'm tired of being an outsider of sorts. I gave "House" a shot a little while ago, but ahhh, the guy's too big of a jerk for my taste. Immediately following it, however, I let myself laugh at Family Guy which was almost like Jesus coming back and announcing that God doesn't exist. Shocking. Terribly shocking.
All of this is kind of a personal fix for my anxiety issues. I don't reckon it could hurt. haha!
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Everlasting light
I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a patient yesterday who has done more than I could ever possibly imagine to make the world a better place. When I walked into the patient's room, there were people packed in like sardines...all smiling, laughing.
Went through my usual routine, got roped into conversation, and stayed for over an hour. It was impossible to tear myself away. The amount of joy and honest-to-goodness kindness and sincerity was absolutely overwhelming.
My face hurt something fierce from smiling so much.
The whole time, I kept thinking, "YES, YES! This is precisely why I want to go into medicine!" In all of my life, and in all of the different roles I've played, I've never been so lucky as to be a part of the lives of so many wonderful people.
I also had occasion to sit with a little old lady who'd been admitted only hours earlier. She was incredibly sweet, but definitely lonely and a bit worried. I sat and talked with her for a while and had her smiling within a few minutes. To enter a room and see someone a bit shifty-eyed and panicky, and leave with them happy and laughing...yeah, it's an indescribable feeling.
Lately I've been listening to "Brothers" by The Black Keys basically non-stop. When I got into my car, the first song to play on the disc is actually the first on the record (and my favourite)... "Everlasting Light." It's really more of a love song, but it feels appropriate when applied to my new-ish role as a volunteer. I especially like the second verse.
For quite some time, I've had a lot of pent-up feelings of wanting to just pour myself into doing things for people in need, and I'm really glad I've finally hit on something that allows me to do it...and gives me the freedom to pour it on as thick as I please!
Let me be your everlasting light
Sun when there is none
I'm a shepherd for you
and I'll guide you through
Let me be your everlasting light
Let me be your everlasting light
I'll hold and never scold
In me you can confide
when no one's by your side
Let me be your everlasting light
Oh baby, can't you see
it shining just for you?
Loneliness is over
Dark days are through
They're through
Let me be your everlasting light
A train going away from pain
Love is the coal that makes this train roll
Let me be your everlasting light
Went through my usual routine, got roped into conversation, and stayed for over an hour. It was impossible to tear myself away. The amount of joy and honest-to-goodness kindness and sincerity was absolutely overwhelming.
My face hurt something fierce from smiling so much.
The whole time, I kept thinking, "YES, YES! This is precisely why I want to go into medicine!" In all of my life, and in all of the different roles I've played, I've never been so lucky as to be a part of the lives of so many wonderful people.
I also had occasion to sit with a little old lady who'd been admitted only hours earlier. She was incredibly sweet, but definitely lonely and a bit worried. I sat and talked with her for a while and had her smiling within a few minutes. To enter a room and see someone a bit shifty-eyed and panicky, and leave with them happy and laughing...yeah, it's an indescribable feeling.
Lately I've been listening to "Brothers" by The Black Keys basically non-stop. When I got into my car, the first song to play on the disc is actually the first on the record (and my favourite)... "Everlasting Light." It's really more of a love song, but it feels appropriate when applied to my new-ish role as a volunteer. I especially like the second verse.
For quite some time, I've had a lot of pent-up feelings of wanting to just pour myself into doing things for people in need, and I'm really glad I've finally hit on something that allows me to do it...and gives me the freedom to pour it on as thick as I please!
Let me be your everlasting light
Sun when there is none
I'm a shepherd for you
and I'll guide you through
Let me be your everlasting light
Let me be your everlasting light
I'll hold and never scold
In me you can confide
when no one's by your side
Let me be your everlasting light
Oh baby, can't you see
it shining just for you?
Loneliness is over
Dark days are through
They're through
Let me be your everlasting light
A train going away from pain
Love is the coal that makes this train roll
Let me be your everlasting light
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Tuned in
My dearest Nora, wherever thou mayst roam,
I find myself this morning, as I have found myself on many mornings, pining for a time gone by; a time that preceded my entrance in this world by a strong sixty years.
Radio is something I hold with high esteem. When I was but a wee six year-old, my family did not have cable television...for any sort of visual entertainment, one would rely on the local broadcast stations or VHS tapes out on loan from the library. While I partook in many of the aged delicacies both sources provided (The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, etc.), radio stepped in to fill the vacancies left by my limited selection.
Never shall I forget that little portable radio I toted around with me, what one fine summer morning exposed to me a type of music that I loved then but swiftly forgot about, but was to return to focus in my late teens. Yes, at age six, when Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald came on, a sense of contentment, joy, but longing, overcame me. My, my.
Many a time I sat with the radio before me, listening to fantastic swinging numbers, whilst counting and organising my baseball card collection. As crazy as it may seem, I felt a real connection to those days gone by, especially since other areas of my life produced the same.
When we got our first video game system, the NES, on Christmas of 1989, the radio was neglected, never to rise to prominence in my life again, except in memory.
I was in my early teens when my paternal grandmother had somehow introduced me to those tape recordings of old radio shows one can purchase at The Cracker Barrel, for example. The adoration was swift in onset. There was something in the voices of radio announcers and personalities back then that one just cannot find anywhere else these days. The quality of production of many of those old shows, what with the fancy sound effects (all hand-made!), let you close your eyes and see it all in your mind's eye...your creativity filling in any blanks, or adding quirky details. I imagined what it must've been like to sit around the big radio set with family after dinner oh so many years ago, and take in such programmes.
As it was 21 years ago, I find that radio presently makes up the bulk of my entertainment needs. I listen to a station my university puts on which broadcasts a variety of music, from reggae to opera, but mostly jazz. Mostly, however, I listen to NPR. It's good to not be yelled and screamed at, bought and sold, and swayed in one direction or another by newscasters. Furthermore, I take great delight in shows like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and especially A Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keillor and his crew presents to me weekly a slice of those days I've somehow, and quite inexplicably, have longed for most of my life.
May the grace of He keep you always,
J.O. Morris
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A glimpse inside my mind
To whom it may concern:
As I was flying down the motorway this evening at a crisp 45 MPH (precisely the speed limit on this one stretch of road), I decided that my gum had gone bad and I'd like to to get rid of it. Normally, I would use an old kleenex, notecard, or whatever might be available at present, but having cleaned out my automobile just the other day (several weeks ago), there was nothing to find. I took a cue from my father, who was notorious for spitting gum out of the window whilst driving. I don't make a habit of this, but tonight I thought I'd make an exception.
Zzzwwwwwppppp, down goes the automated window. The wind comes a-roarin' on in and whips my hair around every which way. One, two...THREE! And with that, the gum with which I'd spent 90 endearing minutes was gone. As it flew from my lips, I noticed the arc...sort of parabolic, I thought.
This is where you step across the threshold of my mind, and all of that sort of lovely-sounding foolishness. Ah, yes, I wondered how one might calculate the speed with which the gum travels from the very second it left my mouth until it hit the ground. I knew I was traveling at 45 MPH, and estimated (took a wild guess) that I expelled the gum at around 20 MPH. I wondered how one would calculate the slowing effect of the wind on the airborne gum once it left the confines of my automobile.
Having not yet started my physics sequence, I'm in the dark.
I think I quite like that. It's a mystery, and mysteries are sometimes marvelous things.
So, there you have it. A moment in the mind of J.O. Morris... on a Saturday evening, no less! On the bus home Friday afternoon, I noticed a nice pattern from a leafless branch against the sky and was remind of fractals. I spent a Sunday morning once (when I should've been in church, studying something, or any other number of things) watching a program on PBS about fractals and was pleased with what I saw.
Scope that out...two thoughts for the price of one. There are plenty more, and I'll do what I can to document them in the future. It's generally the case that I forget what it was I was thinking about moments after thinking it, for I've moved on to something else. It's occurred to me to carry around a tape recorder. Who knows what genius might gush forth.
Gush forth? Well, too late to change it now, I reckon. Go, go, go.
As I carry on with my studies just now, and as I write this, I'm listening to a radio program called Smokestack Lightnin' via the Internet. It's a blues program. New blues, though....it's a top 25 countdown for the month of January. Some of it is really terrible and cheesy and vanilla that it sickens me to hear it, especially upon consideration of the old, black greats. No, there's nothing like the original, but some of this new stuff does come close. A guy who calls himself Taildragger (after the Howlin' Wolf song...and from whom his vocal stylings seem to have been lifted), starts the program off, which you can hear even after the broadcast is over. It's about the best blues I've heard made in the post-1960s world.
Give it a whirl!
All the best,
J.O. Morris
As I was flying down the motorway this evening at a crisp 45 MPH (precisely the speed limit on this one stretch of road), I decided that my gum had gone bad and I'd like to to get rid of it. Normally, I would use an old kleenex, notecard, or whatever might be available at present, but having cleaned out my automobile just the other day (several weeks ago), there was nothing to find. I took a cue from my father, who was notorious for spitting gum out of the window whilst driving. I don't make a habit of this, but tonight I thought I'd make an exception.
Zzzwwwwwppppp, down goes the automated window. The wind comes a-roarin' on in and whips my hair around every which way. One, two...THREE! And with that, the gum with which I'd spent 90 endearing minutes was gone. As it flew from my lips, I noticed the arc...sort of parabolic, I thought.
This is where you step across the threshold of my mind, and all of that sort of lovely-sounding foolishness. Ah, yes, I wondered how one might calculate the speed with which the gum travels from the very second it left my mouth until it hit the ground. I knew I was traveling at 45 MPH, and estimated (took a wild guess) that I expelled the gum at around 20 MPH. I wondered how one would calculate the slowing effect of the wind on the airborne gum once it left the confines of my automobile.
Having not yet started my physics sequence, I'm in the dark.
I think I quite like that. It's a mystery, and mysteries are sometimes marvelous things.
So, there you have it. A moment in the mind of J.O. Morris... on a Saturday evening, no less! On the bus home Friday afternoon, I noticed a nice pattern from a leafless branch against the sky and was remind of fractals. I spent a Sunday morning once (when I should've been in church, studying something, or any other number of things) watching a program on PBS about fractals and was pleased with what I saw.
Scope that out...two thoughts for the price of one. There are plenty more, and I'll do what I can to document them in the future. It's generally the case that I forget what it was I was thinking about moments after thinking it, for I've moved on to something else. It's occurred to me to carry around a tape recorder. Who knows what genius might gush forth.
Gush forth? Well, too late to change it now, I reckon. Go, go, go.
As I carry on with my studies just now, and as I write this, I'm listening to a radio program called Smokestack Lightnin' via the Internet. It's a blues program. New blues, though....it's a top 25 countdown for the month of January. Some of it is really terrible and cheesy and vanilla that it sickens me to hear it, especially upon consideration of the old, black greats. No, there's nothing like the original, but some of this new stuff does come close. A guy who calls himself Taildragger (after the Howlin' Wolf song...and from whom his vocal stylings seem to have been lifted), starts the program off, which you can hear even after the broadcast is over. It's about the best blues I've heard made in the post-1960s world.
Give it a whirl!
All the best,
J.O. Morris
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Some favourite music
To whom it may concern:
Music is one of my strongest passions, and there are certain artists and/or songs that are just inexplicably good and have an enormous effect on me. Here I shall list some of my all-time favourite songs, partly in hopes that what I present is unfamiliar to you in some manner.
Django Reinhardt - "September Song"
This song is so warm and inviting...it's lazy, like a nice Sunday afternoon lounging around with family. Every single time I listen to this version of it (there are several that ol' Django did), I feel some strange sense that I heard this while on some travel to lands faraway...a beautiful time, full of happiness and remarkable joy. Beyond this, I cannot find sufficient words to describe just what the music stirs up within me.
Spiritualized - "Lay It Down Slow"
I've been a huge fan of this band (okay, yeah, J. Spaceman) for nearly ten years now, starting after I first heard the record "Ladies & Gentlemen...We Are Floating In Space." I bought "Let It Come Down" via pre-order (special edition and everything!), which had come out a few months after I graduated high school. In fact, the day I received it in the post, my band at the time had a birthday party to play that night and we all got drunk on some nasty grape-tasting wine and some other junk. Apple flavoured Boone's Farm wine, probably. This one's off "Amazing Grace," but that story was somehow worth telling anyway.
This song, unfortunately, appears to have been used on the season finale of some show called Prison Break. On one hand, great for the exposure, but knowing this somehow cheapens my association with it. Probably just as well, since I mostly think of Old Flame when I hear it. Still, it's a beautiful and delicate song. So fantastic. So Spiritualized. Listen to everything ever recorded under that name. Do it.
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - "A Fine Romance"
I don't recall precisely how I came across this one, but it was the spring of 2006. So many changes were taking place within me and around me during that time, and this song cheered me up on many occasion while I was getting screamed at by unruly customers on the telephone. It's a cute song, and fun to sing Louis' part when I'm feeling particularly outgoing. I can do a fair impersonation of Mr. Armstrong, you see.
The Beatles - "Within You, Without You"
This one, I'm sure, is known to just about everyone on the face of the planet. I don't even know where to begin about how much this song has impacted my life. When I first heard it on Christmas day, aged 17, I thought that maybe it was just some weird effects that they'd whipped up in the studio. I soon learned that there were a lot of Indian instruments present and, while it was cool, I focused my attention and adoration elsewhere. When I was working that terrible call center job, I took a liking to this one much more than ever before. I understood more of the spiritual aspect of the song and got swept up in the mystic qualities of the sweeping, droning music and vocals. I wanted more music like it. This led to Ravi Shankar naturally, and then to Nikhil Banerjee, and on down the line. As I was exploring this, Buddhism and Hinduism became incredibly appealing from a very Western, "How so very strange!" point of view. I soon saw the beauty in it, and loved all of the peace and altruism I was reading about. It fit in so nicely with my views as a Christian, and with my political beliefs. For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to go to India, grow my hair and beard long, wear a kurta and salwars and whatnot, learn to play Indian classical instruments and spend the rest of my days practicing patience, love, generosity, graciousness, and so on. This is still a dream I hold close to my heart, and I think that I should like to travel to India to provide medical care and explore this fantasy.
All the best,
J.O. Morris
Music is one of my strongest passions, and there are certain artists and/or songs that are just inexplicably good and have an enormous effect on me. Here I shall list some of my all-time favourite songs, partly in hopes that what I present is unfamiliar to you in some manner.
Django Reinhardt - "September Song"
This song is so warm and inviting...it's lazy, like a nice Sunday afternoon lounging around with family. Every single time I listen to this version of it (there are several that ol' Django did), I feel some strange sense that I heard this while on some travel to lands faraway...a beautiful time, full of happiness and remarkable joy. Beyond this, I cannot find sufficient words to describe just what the music stirs up within me.
Spiritualized - "Lay It Down Slow"
I've been a huge fan of this band (okay, yeah, J. Spaceman) for nearly ten years now, starting after I first heard the record "Ladies & Gentlemen...We Are Floating In Space." I bought "Let It Come Down" via pre-order (special edition and everything!), which had come out a few months after I graduated high school. In fact, the day I received it in the post, my band at the time had a birthday party to play that night and we all got drunk on some nasty grape-tasting wine and some other junk. Apple flavoured Boone's Farm wine, probably. This one's off "Amazing Grace," but that story was somehow worth telling anyway.
This song, unfortunately, appears to have been used on the season finale of some show called Prison Break. On one hand, great for the exposure, but knowing this somehow cheapens my association with it. Probably just as well, since I mostly think of Old Flame when I hear it. Still, it's a beautiful and delicate song. So fantastic. So Spiritualized. Listen to everything ever recorded under that name. Do it.
Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - "A Fine Romance"
I don't recall precisely how I came across this one, but it was the spring of 2006. So many changes were taking place within me and around me during that time, and this song cheered me up on many occasion while I was getting screamed at by unruly customers on the telephone. It's a cute song, and fun to sing Louis' part when I'm feeling particularly outgoing. I can do a fair impersonation of Mr. Armstrong, you see.
The Beatles - "Within You, Without You"
This one, I'm sure, is known to just about everyone on the face of the planet. I don't even know where to begin about how much this song has impacted my life. When I first heard it on Christmas day, aged 17, I thought that maybe it was just some weird effects that they'd whipped up in the studio. I soon learned that there were a lot of Indian instruments present and, while it was cool, I focused my attention and adoration elsewhere. When I was working that terrible call center job, I took a liking to this one much more than ever before. I understood more of the spiritual aspect of the song and got swept up in the mystic qualities of the sweeping, droning music and vocals. I wanted more music like it. This led to Ravi Shankar naturally, and then to Nikhil Banerjee, and on down the line. As I was exploring this, Buddhism and Hinduism became incredibly appealing from a very Western, "How so very strange!" point of view. I soon saw the beauty in it, and loved all of the peace and altruism I was reading about. It fit in so nicely with my views as a Christian, and with my political beliefs. For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to go to India, grow my hair and beard long, wear a kurta and salwars and whatnot, learn to play Indian classical instruments and spend the rest of my days practicing patience, love, generosity, graciousness, and so on. This is still a dream I hold close to my heart, and I think that I should like to travel to India to provide medical care and explore this fantasy.
All the best,
J.O. Morris
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Parker's Mood
My dearest Nora, wherever thou mayst roam,
Charlie Parker.
It just does not get any better.
I can lay in my room, warm and snug in my bed, window open, watching the clouds roll on by, listening to the birds riffing with Bird, and feel like all is right with the world. This moment is perfection. I do so wish that you were here to share it.
May the grace of He keep you always,
J.O. Morris
Charlie Parker.
It just does not get any better.
I can lay in my room, warm and snug in my bed, window open, watching the clouds roll on by, listening to the birds riffing with Bird, and feel like all is right with the world. This moment is perfection. I do so wish that you were here to share it.
May the grace of He keep you always,
J.O. Morris
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