On Sunday at seven I watched Immortal Beloved with my seminar class in the first floor of our dorm. It told of Beethoven and the search to find out who his immortal beloved was. It was a good movie, but the film was very obvious in the fact that it pointed out directly who they interpreted the immortal beloved to be. There was no guess work for the viewer, no way to include your own opinion which I was not a fan of. But it was nice to hang out with the people from my class. The next movie we watch will be this upcoming Sunday. It’s called Melody Masters, but I’m not sure who it is about. I’ll have to see then!

هفته قبل اگر هفته کتاب بود این هفته رفتیم سراغ فیلم. البته فیلم دندانگیر نبود. اما برای اطلاع دوستان مروری بر چهار فیلم دیده شده اخیر می‌کنیم. شاید از جهت روشنگری برای هدایت و جلوگیری از انحراف قاطبه جوانان مفید فایده افتد.

Prime: یک کمدی رمانتیک دیگر، فکر کن شیخ صنعا که البته اینجا یک بانوی مکرمه زیباروی 37 ساله به نام اما ترومن به جای شیخ صنعا نه یک دل بلکه هزار دل و دیگر جوارح عاشق جوانی 23 ساله مجوس می‌شود. البته این خواهر اِما خیلی هم خوب مانده است و اصلاً نمی‌زند که به چشم خواهری این قدر سن داشته باشد. عاشق چی این جوان می‌شود حالا بماند. خلاصه از چرخش چرخ دوار و غداری روزگار این خواهر یک روان درمانگر دارد که مادر آن جوانک از آب در می‌آید که روی ضرورت مجوس بودن عروس خود خیلی غیرت و تعصب دارد. خلاصه فیلم صهیونیستی هم است هر طرف که نگاه‌اش کنید. نقش مادر گرانقدر را هم مریل استریپ بازی می‌کند که چندان هم در این فیلم استریپ‌اش تیز نیست. جوانک بازیگر که برای خودش یلی‌ست انگار برایان گرین‌برگ نامی است بد آکتوری نمی‌کند. فیلم محصول سال 2005 ولایت اتازونی است و بن یانگر که از اسم‌اش مشخص است دل جوانی دارد یا این که توی خط جوانان است فیلم را کارگردانی کرده است.

پیش نهاد: دیدید دیدید، ندیدید هم ندیدید.

Immortal Beloved: نمی‌دانم چه اصراری است که این نخبگان و هنرمندان غربی باید حتماً یکی دو تا سه تا ده تا شکست عشقی بخورند تا به جایی برسند و نخبه‌ای از توی‌شان در بیاید. در این فیلم مذکور هم جناب بتهون عزیز هم تا سه بار شکست عشقی پر و پیمان نمی‌خورد نمی‌تواند مثل آدم بنشیند و سمفونی نه را بنویسد. فکر کنم مشکل مملکت ما هم همین باشد که نخبه و نابغه به دردبخور تولید نمی‌شود. یعنی اصلاً کار به عشک و عاشقی نمی‌رسد که با گذر آن برویم سراغ مرحله بعد که شکست عشقی است. همین خود جوانان گراش عزیز باید بروند توی کار شکست عشقی شاید ما در آینده شاهد ظهور نخبه‌ای، نابغه‌ای گهی چیزی در شهرمان باشیم. جناب آقای گری اولدمن و سرکار خانم روسیلنی نیز در این فیلم ساخته شده در سال 1994 ایفای نقش می‌کنند. فیلم را ترجمه کرده‌اند محبوبه ابدی

پیش‌نهاد: حالا اشکال ندارد نگاه کنید.

The art of travel: از اسم‌اش مشخص است درباره سیر و سلوک در آفاق و انفس است. فیلم آغاز جالبی دارد اما بعد از جذابیت آن کم می‌شود و می‌زد توی خط درس زندگی دادن و عشق و عاشقی. خلاصه پیام این فیلم این است که «سفر کن تا مرد شوی». خلاصه درس زندگی می‌دهد. اگر به دنبال درس زندگی است و در کنکور زندگی در حال ریپ زدن ببنید.

پیش‌نهاد: ضرورتی ندارد دنبال‌اش بگردید.

Love me: فیلم فرانسوی است دیگر و البته مونیکا بلوچی هم در آن بازی می‌کند. فکر کنم همین برای تعریف کافی باشد که بدانید چه خبر است. در ضمن برادر دوپاردیو هم در آن موجود است. در این فیلم خواهر مکرمه بلوچی طبق روال نقش یکی از زنان ویژه را بازی می‌کند.

پیش‌نهاد: گیر آوردید هم از دسترس خانواده دور نگه دارید.

There could be others, and I’m sure if I sat here long enough I would think of other films I should’ve and would’ve included.  I think when I make one of these lists that it’s all about the day I’m making it.  Tomorrow the list would include some of these same films, but there would probably be differences.  That’s the way it goes.  That’s life.  For now, today, these are some of my choices for the top films that always make me cry.  Honorable mention would go to films like Piano, On Golden Pond, Old Yeller, Fried Green Tomatoes, and countless other films you might be thinking of right now.

Philadelphia

The humanity in this scene is sort of overwhelming.  You have to ignore the crappy dubbing and the Greek subtitles, but it’s powerful none the less.

Beaches

Friends know each other for years, have their differences, lead disparate lives, stay bonded through everything, and love each other to the end.

Steel Magnolias

Nothing more heart wrenching than mother losing daughter. I distinctly remember seeing this and crying and laughing out loud and crying again.

Mystic River

Again… parent losing child.  This is powerful.

Playing By Heart

This whole movie takes the watcher on a roller coaster of emotion.  I cried a few times.  This scene is just sort of indicative of what the movie is about.  Not really a scene that made me cry.  It’s got an amazing cast and is a great film, if you like emotional movies about love and relationships that is.  If not, skip it.

Schindler’s List

This is one of, for me anyway, the most powerful scenes in film, ever.  Schindler is leaving and he breaks down wishing he could’ve saved more, done more.  It makes me cry just thinking about this scene.  Spielberg is a master.

Ghost

Sort of a common choice, but good none the less.  A classic tear jerker.  The moment when they see each other and he gets peace.

Powder

Fighting and then giving over of yourself… if you haven’t seen this movie it is a powerful film about humanity.  Just strange and amazing.

The Hours

I could’ve picked more than just two scenes from this movie.  It’s another character study kind of film about choices and consequences and living with both.

E.T.

I had to include this… E.T. goes home.

Boys on the Side

Love… loss…

Immortal Beloved

I don’t know why this gets me so much, but it does.  Partly it’s the music, partly watching him remember and knowing, finally, as an audience member, what the music was born out of.

Saving Private Ryan

This is the worst battle scene I’ve ever seen in film, for me.  I started crying almost immediately and by the end I was a mess.

Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey” is famous for among other things, its innovative use of classical music. Traditionally, film scores had been composed of music written specifically for the film itself. But in an interview with writer Michel Ciment, Kubrick stated, “However good our best film composers may be, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms. Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time? When you are editing a film, it’s very helpful to be able to try out different pieces of music to see how they work with the scene. . . . Well, with a little more care and thought, these temporary tracks can become the final score.”

Well for my money there’s never been music by any classical music composer let alone any other film composer that matched the beauty of film composer John Barry’s score for “Out of Africa”. So take that Stanley Kubrick.  Nevertheless, here’s a quiz that celebrates the use of classical music in some classic movies.

Answers to this quiz will appear next Monday, but if you just can’t wait to find out the answers til then, you can go to this page: http://www.sploofus.com/triviaquiz/classic_cinema_that_uses_classical_music.html 

It’s a great trivia web site. If you sign up with them, don’t worry I’ve found that  I don’t get any spam as a result. But please tell them “billkozy” sent ya. That’s my user name there. That way I’ll get lots of points worth no cash value whatsoever. Now on to this week’s quiz:

1. In that score for “2001: A Space Odyssey” the music from composers such as Aram Khachaturian and Johann Strauss II (“The Blue Danube”) is used, but it is especially famous for “Also sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, a musical piece now inexorably linked to the film’s depiction of the wonder and awe of space. Kubrick had at first hired a very well-respected film composer to write original music for the film, but wound up not using it at all and then sneakily not telling the composer. The composer only discovered this when he finally saw the movie. Who was this 15-time Oscar nominated composer whom Kubrick had actually worked with on a previous movie?

2. Stanley Kubrick’s next film, “A Clockwork Orange” also employed classical music. Coincidentally, composer Wendy Carlos had already been writing a score to the Anthony Burgess novel when a friend of hers alerted her to a London newspaper article mentioning that Kubrick had begun filming an adaptation. Wendy was already famous because of her electronic music album “Switched-On Bach” that adapted various famous classical music pieces, and when she learned after more time passed that Kubrick had  finished shooting, she contacted him and offered her work. They met and Kubrick liked the combination of a classical sound with a futuristic sound that the score suggested. What name was Wendy Carlos recognized as on the film credits?

3. Bach’s music is used again in the 1973 Ingmar Bergman film classic “Cries and Whispers”: “Suite No. 5 for solo Cello in C Minor, 4th mvt ‘Sarabande’”. One of the most cinematically influential scenes in the film occurs when two of the sisters in the story share the inner thoughts that they’d kept secret for so long, but without any dialogue, just the music “Mazurka in A minor, Op.17/4″. Who is the famous classical music composer of this piece?

4. Five years later, in 1978, Ingmar Bergman used the same two composers in his film “Autumn Sonata”: Bach’s “Suite Nr 4, Ess-dur” and “Préludium Nr 2a, a-moll” by Chopin.  Frédéric Chopin was played by actor Hugh Grant in what live action feature biographical film of Chopin’s life that naturally uses his music in the score?

5. Ludwig von Beethoven himself is portrayed in no less than two autobiographical films: by Gary Oldman in 1994’s “Immortal Beloved” and by Ian Hart in the 2003 TV movie “Eroica,” both films benefitting from a score of Beethoven’s fantastic music. All of the following films are biographies of classical music composers except for one. Which is the film that doesn’t exist?

A. Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert and Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan in “Topsy Turvy”
B. Richard Chamberlain as Pyotr Tchaikovsky in “The Music Lovers”
C. Robert Alda as George Gershwin and Darryl Hickman as Ira Gershwin in “I Got Rhythm”
D. Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler in “Mahler”
E. Roger Daltrey as Franz Liszt in “Lisztomania”

6.  The Gershwin Brothers movie is the bogus film above, although Woody Allen’s classic film “Manhattan” makes exquisite use of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Coincidentally, director Ken Russell directed three of the films in the previous question, including “Mahler”. Gustav Mahler’s music (“Adagietto From Symphony No.5″ and “Sehr Langsam Misterioso From Symphony No.3″) provide the score to the classic Italian cinema adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novel “Death in Venice” (1971). What famed Italian director helmed that movie?

7. We turn to another Italian artist, this time a composer instead of a filmmaker: Antonio Vivaldi’s “Mandolin Concerto”  provides the score for what classic French cinema film by classic film director Francois Truffaut?

8. Truffaut’s fellow Frenchman Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” features prominently in the Dudley Moore/Bo Derek comedy “10″ by Blake Edwards, but it provides the more prominent overal soundtrack to what worldwide classic film of the Japanese cinema?

9. Milos Forman’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture “Amadeus” is a biodrama featuring the music of its subject Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In 1984, when the great film composer Maurice Jarre accepted his Academy Award for “Best Original Score” he jokingly thanked the Academy for not nominating “Amadeus” in the category, which of course it couldn’t since none of the music in the film is original but is instead that of Mozart’s. For what film did Jarre win his Oscar for Best Original Score that year?

10. For many people, the first time they heard Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon in D major” was in this classic movie, an Academy Award winner for Best Picture featuring this hauntingly melancholy piece throughout.

11. An Academy Award winner for Best Actor was Geoffrey Rush in 1996’s “Shine”. Rachmaninoff’s Rachmaninoff piano concerto 2 was part of the soundtrack along with the well-known “Flight of the Bumblebee.”  We’re all familiar with “Flight of the Bumblebee” but who was its composer?

12.   Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” plays eerily in the classic Billy Wilder film “Sunset Boulevard.”  That same famous musical piece is featured in the classic animated feature film “Fantasia.” That very entertaining film features a few other of the classical music genre finest and most well-known works. Which of the following pieces is NOT part of the “Fantasia” soundtrack?

A. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn
B. “A Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky
C. “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert
D. “Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky
E. “The Nutcracker Suite” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

ANSWERS TO LAST MONDAY’S QUIZ OF THE WEEK, “Tune a Fish on Wry”:
1. I Am The Walrus
2. Vanilla Sky
3. Creeque Alley
4. Dolly Parton
5. Honky Cat
6. Jimmy Webb
7. Irving Berlin
8. Tangled Up In Blue
9. Stone Cold Crazy
10. Led Zeppelin

A few excerpts from Beethoven’s letters to his Immortal Beloved:

“My angel, my all, my very self,

Canst thou help not being wholly mine, can I, not being wholly thine.

Oh! gaze at nature in all its beauty, and calmly accept the inevitable — love demands everything, and rightly so. Thus is it for me with thee, for thee with me, only thou so easily forgettest, that I must live for myself and for thee…

My heart is full of the many things I have to say to thee — ah! — there are moments in which I feel that speech is powerless — cheer up — remain my true, my only treasure, my all!!! as I to thee.

Either I must live wholly with thee or not at all. Yes, I have resolved to wander in distant lands, until I can fly to thy arms, and feel that with thee I have a real home; with thee encircling me about, I can send my soul into the kingdom of spirits.

Calm thyself, and all the more since thou knowest my faithfulness towards thee, never can another possess my heart, never — never…

Be calm, only by calm consideration of our existence can we attain our aim to live together — be calm — love me — to-day — yesterday — what tearful longing after thee — thee — thee — my life — my all — farewell — Oh, continue to love me — never misjudge the faithful heart
Of Thy Beloved
L.

ever thine
ever mine
ever each other’s.”

Nothing makes me happier than seeing that he used multiple exclamation points to convey his feelings. I feel like Beethoven would own at online romancing. If only he had a Facebook.

do u happen to be in love with both music and films? then films about music are the best ones for you! i’ll offer a few trailers to watch and choose from:

Control >>Ian Curtis, Joy Division http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/

The Wall >> Pink Floyd http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084503/

trailer:

full movie:

Let’s Get Lost >> Chet Baker, jazz http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095515/

 beginning of the film (watch the remaining 12 parts on youtube)

I’m Not There >> Bob Dylan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368794/

Impromptu >> Chopin http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102103/

watch the trailer here: http://www.reelzchannel.com/trailer-clips/23671/impromptu-trailer

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould >> Glenn Gould http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108328/

Amadeus >> Mozart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086879/

Immortal Beloved >> Beethoven http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110116/

Bird >> Charlie “Bird” Parker http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039852/

Lady Sings The Blues >> Billie Holiday http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068828/

Today I mourn the death of an old friend, someone I’ve known consciously and unconsciously since I was a year old.

The King of Pop. Michael Jackson.

I guess what  hit me so hard is two things; one is the fact that he died the exact same way as my sister — cardiac arrest, followed by futile resuscitation. The other is the fact that at one point, my sister had plans to marry him. But whatever it is, it hurts. Bad. I lost it, sobbing for him, my sister, his mother and his family.

One of my earliest memories is the 8-track tape of the Jackson 5’s Maybe Tomorrow sitting next to my parent’s stereo. I also remember watching the Jackson 5 cartoon on Saturday morning and commericals for Alpha Bets cereal featuring the group.

I remember going to the Metro Theaters with my mom and sister to see The Wiz, where Michael, as the Scarecrow, stole the show with the song, “You Can’t Win.”

Then there was junior high, when the Off the Wall album came out, serving as the background music for a friend’s party (the guy I had a crush on was singing the song “Girlfriend”).

In high school, Motown 25 came on, and my family gathered around the TV to see Michael join hands with Jermaine after their feud and do the Moonwalk (which I learned last night was actually pioneered by one of the members of the group, Shalimar, but I digress).

The legendary Victory Tour launched in my hometown. The town was abuzz about being the center of the universe with the arrival of the Jacksons. And my sister sang ”Ben” over and over  in tribute to a guy she had a crush on (the Steve Harvey show played the song today and I of course I fell apart again).

In college, a friend and I saw him during the Bad tour and, of course, Michael stood and delivered. Here recently I’ve gotten misty-eyed over the State Farm commercial featuring “I’ll be There.”

I laughed with Eddie Murphy did his bit about Michael getting choked up during a song — “Tito hand me a tissue; Jermaine, stop teasing.” And I rolled when Chris Rock talked about your interview with Ed Bradley “Get off the stage you nutty . . .” well, never mind.

Michael had his problems, and we hurt along with him. But despite the pain, he was man enough to keep his head up and move forward.

When all is said and done, Michael is ours.

He won’t be replaced

Man From Snowy River – Chase sequence – Fantastic music here and beautiful photography to go with

High Fidelity – Let’s Get It On – Jack Black doing his thing

Reality Bites – All I Want Is You – WARNING – There’s a brief speaking part that’s not in English (a person has to take what they can get with YouTube when movie rights, etc. are in effect).

Jackie Brown – Across 110th Street – Opening credits of the movie

Pulp Fiction – Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon – WARNING – drug overdose scene in this clip right near the end – I absolutely love Tarantino’s film making.

Once – Falling Slowly

Trainspotting – WARNING – Foul language alert

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – Goodnight Moon – Quentin Tarantino knows how to use music in his films

Moulin Rouge – Come What May – This is a great song, and I was totally surprised to learn these two could sing.

Chicago – Cell Block Tango

And, of course, a couple of additions because I never stop at 10…

Immortal Beloved – Ode To Joy (love the visualization of ode to joy… beautiful film making here)

Duets – Cruisin (cheesy, sort of, but who knew Gwyneth could sing… not I, until this)

Right now, I’m celebrating one of the first black queens I ever met – my sister, Stacy. Trying to write about her is like trying to hug a cloud – from a distance it seems easy, but up close the words are as elusive as the vapors in the sky.

You see, my sister died recently, taking part of my heart with her.

Right now, I’m stuck in the “what ifs.”

Such as, “What if you’d lived about a month or so longer, and we’d gotten the chance to meet up in Dallas to have tea with our cousin at American Girl Place?  And who cares if we’re in our 30s/40s? We both could’ve gotten new dolls.”

Or, “What if you’d lived just a week or so longer, and we’d gone to see the play The Breakfast Club Live, featuring a black woman in the role of the popular princess, Clare?

But instead, I settle for “What if you’d been at your funeral? I hope you would’ve liked the arrangements. I hope I didn’t embarrass you with what I was wearing or said/did something you might’ve thought was stupid. I hope I did you justice.”

Through faith, I know you’re in a better place.

I can almost hear you say from Heaven, “Girl, I made it. Whew. I was worried there for a minute but I made it.” Your hair is now long and flowing, swinging the way you liked it. You’re hanging out with Nana, Grandma Green and our grandpas. You’re singing with the greats like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Darling, I never told you, all I wanted to say . . .

So I still can’t find the words to celebrate you. All I can say is that I love you.

And I miss you, girl.

If you’ve watched p/s: I Love You, you’ve probably heard an excerpt from one of Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved Letters. The origins of these letters are said to be as such:

In the summer of 1812, advised by his physician, Beethoven goes to the Czech resort, Teplitz. Even though the summer spent here didn’t have any positive influences on his state of health, it was very fruitful in memorable and interesting encounters. One of those encounters was the one between Beethoven and German poet Johann von Goethe. But the summer of 1812 is also important because it was the time when Beethoven wrote a set of mysterious letters that created numerous commentaries and assumptions among Beethoven scholars. The letters are known as “The Immortal Beloved Letters”. While there are no certainties regarding the subject, there are a number of preferred candidates for the Immortal Beloved title.These are Giulieta Guicciardi, Thereza von Brunswick, Amalia Seebald and Antonie Brentano. All of these women are known to have been the object of Beethoven’s affection at one time or another. However, recent research has lead to the conclusion that the immortal beloved is almost certaintly the last of the candidates presented above, Antonie Brentano. The letters were found in his effects after his death, and here is one written on the 7th of July.

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us – I can live only wholly with you or not at all – Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits – Yes, unhappily it must be so – You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart – never – never – Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life – Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men – At my age I need a steady, quiet life – can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day – therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once – Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm – love me – today – yesterday – what tearful longings for you – you – you – my life – my all – farewell. Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

I have the strangest feeling that this post might piss some people off… Ah well.

So, we just finished watching Citizen Kane in one of my classes, and I couldn’t help but thinking “Hm, Citizen Kane seems to have influenced Immortal Beloved to some extent.”

For instance, both are about trying to define some great character through one thing: Rosebud, last words, or the Immortal Beloved letter. Then the actual exposition and rising action comes from the stories people tell about this person– and of course, these opinions are all colored by the particular storyteller.

(Gah, I hate blogging in public spaces. The conversation of the people sitting next to me is very annoying-distracting).

Anyway, that’s my thought for today. I also had a rewatching of “The Legend of 1900″ yesterday, which makes me very happy and very sad (it’s just that kind of film). I’m thinking about buying a sheet music collection of piano solos based on Ennio Morricone’s compositions– or they’re directly his compositions, something like that– but I’m being indecisive. “The Best of Ennio Morricone vol.1″ is about $25, comes with a CD, includes “Playing Love” from 1900, but that’s really all that I want.

The collection also includes a selection from “Once Upon a Time in America” and “The Mission,” amongst other Italian films. Anyone want to give some opinions here? Is this purchase worth it?

I spent my morning contemplating peace.  Just that.  I left that space and time feeling more…peaceful.  Thank you, sound.  Thank you, friends.  Thank you, world.

Before I came to be in the company of friends who would support me in the search for peace and beauty, I sat in my car in an old neighborhood of our town.  I needed a few moments to myself.  A few moments where I could take in the colors of autumn, the sounds of leaves falling from trees.  I was gifted with colors and sounds that I rarely take time to notice.

Even when I don’t write here for a few days or more, people who’ve lost loved ones, write to me.  They’re looking for others who know their pain.  I know their pain.  And, I don’t.  Because, their pain is their pain.  I only know what losing Owen is like…what it’s like to lose my mom, my dad, my relatives, my friends.  I also know how beautiful and peaceful losses such as mine can become.  Huh?  Yep, I wrote that.  Because, it’s true.  I don’t want it to be true, but it is.

I wrote this post on November 8, and couldn’t post it.  I can now.  

It’s time to share some of Owen’s writing.  Oddly (and not so), I’m posting this on November 22 – my dad died 43 years ago today.  We handed out the poem below at Owen’s funeral.  He would have liked that.

All the Sea Soaked Songs

Black dogs on

skeleton sills

holding orchids 

in their teeth

red naked tulips dancing

on some sheer walls of reality.

~ E. Owen Riley

Song for the night:  Moonlight Sonata,  Ludwig van Beethoven (One of Owen’s favorite classical pieces.  He loved the movie, Immortal Beloved.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck&feature=related

So, I was at orchestra on Wednesday.  During break I was standing on the stage and talking to my friend, Sen.  He told me that he liked to play Disney showtunes on his flute in his spare time.  He proceeded to play “A Whole New World,” and I exclaimed “THAT’S SO CUTE!!”  I told him that I like to play video game music in my spare time, at which point I ran to get my violin out of it’s case.  I practically skipped/ran over to him, my excitable side having gotten the best of me.

Then, being the clumsy doofus that I am, I fell right into the timpani and heard a painful CRUNCH. 

I glanced down at my violin, and the fun was over because it had a huge crack in the front.  On the side where the chin rest isn’t O_O

My mom brought it to the man we bought it from the next day.  Luckily, as far as accidents go, this one was pretty good.  The crack is in a place that won’t affect the sound quality.  THANK GOD <3  It’s going to cost me $1200 to fix it, which sucks, but it’s definitely doable. 

Until then, I have to play on the violin that my mom and dad shared when they were still learning with me :p

Oh, by the way, I named my violin: Ibby!  As in I.B.  As in “Immortal Beloved.” <3

Though still in bed,
my thoughts go out to you,
my Immortal Beloved,
now and then joyfully, then sadly,
waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us -

I can live only wholly with you or not at all – Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you
until I can fly to your arms and say
that I am really at home with you,
and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits -

Yes, unhappily it must be so -
You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you.
No one else can ever possess my heart -
never – never -
Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves.

And yet my life in V is now a wretched life – Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men -
At my age I need a steady, quiet life -
can that be so in our connection?

My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day
- therefore I must close at once
so that you may receive the letter at once

- Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence
can we achieve our purpose to live together
- Be calm – love me – today – yesterday -
what tearful longings for you -
you – you – my life – my all – farewell.

Oh continue to love me -
never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

My sister and I watched Sex and the City last night. In a scene, Carrie read aloud to Big one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s love letters. The letter is actually the third of a series of love letters written by Beethoven to his unnamed “immortal beloved”.  The identity of Beethoven’s muse has been the topic of much theory and speculation for almost two hundred years. The full text of the third letter, as resonant with tragedy and passion as his music, is reproduced below:

Good morning, on July 7

     Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us -
     I can live only wholly with you or not at all -
     Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits -
     Yes, unhappily it must be so -
     You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart – never – never -
     Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves.
     And yet my life in V is now a wretched life -
     Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men -
     At my age I need a steady, quiet life – can that be so in our connection?
     My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day – therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once-
     Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together-
     Be calm – love me – today – yesterday – what tearful longings for you – you – you – my life – my all – farewell.
     Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

     ever thine
     ever mine
     ever ours

L.

I want to ignore my last posts. I’ve been myspace blogging a lot more and my poor wordpress blog has been neglected. I’m really only here because myspace won’t let me post. DAMN THEM.

So, I came across these gorgeous love letters. I think I want to devote a season of my life to strictly reading love letters. After reading these, I fell a little more in love with Beethoven:

Letter One:

July 6, in the morning
My angel, my all, my very self – Only a few words today and at that in pencil (yours) – I shan’t be certain of my rooms here until tomorrow – what an unnecessary waste of time is all this – Why this deep sorrow when necessity speaks – can our love endure without sacrifices, by not demanding everything from one another; can you alter the fact that you are not wholly mine, I not wholly yours – Oh God, look at nature in all her beauty and calm your heart with that which must be – Love demands all and rightly so – thus it is for me with you, for you with me – But you forget so easily that I must live for me and for you; if we were wholly united you would feel this pain as little as I do – My journey was a dreadful one and I did not reach here until 4 o’clock yesterday morning. As there were few horses the mail coach chose another route, but what an awful one; at the stage before the last I was warned not to travel at night; attempts were made to frighten me about a forest, but that only tempted me to proceed – and I was in the wrong. The coach broke down of course on the wretched road, no more than a country track. Without those two postilions I had with me I should have been stranded on the way – Esterhazy, who took the normal road here, met the same fate with eight horses that I had with four – Yet I got some pleasure out of it, as I always do when I successfully overcome difficulties – Now let me turn quickly from outer to internal experiences. No doubt we shall meet soon; and today also time prevents me from sharing with you the thoughts I have had during these last few days about my life – If our hearts were always closely united, I would entertain no such thoughts. My heart is full of so many things to tell you – oh – there are moments when I feel that speech is quite inadequate – Be cheerful – remain my faithful, one and only treasure, my all as I am yours. The gods must send us the rest, what for us must and shall be -
Your faithful LUDWIG

Letter Two:

Evening, Monday, July 6
You are suffering, you, my most precious one – I have noticed this very moment that letters must be posted very early on Monday – or on Thursday – the only days when the mail-coach goes from here to K. – You are suffering – Oh, where I am, you are with me – I will see to it that you and I, that I can live with you. What a life!!!! as it is now!!!! without you – pursued by the kindness of people here and there, a kindness that I think – that I wish to deserve just as little as I deserve it – man’s homage to man – that pains me – and when I consider myself in the setting of the universe, what am I and what is that man – whom one calls the greatest of men – and yet – on the other hand therein lies the divine element in man – I weep when I consider that you will probably not receive the first news of me until Saturday – However much you love me – my love for you is even greater – But do not ever conceal yourself from me – good night – As I am taking the baths I must go to sleep – Dear God – so near! so far! Is not our love truly founded in heaven – and what is more, as strongly cemented as the firmament of heaven? -

Letter Three:

Good morning, on July 7
Even though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear our prayer – To face life I must live altogether with you or never see you – Yes, I am resolved to be a wanderer abroad until I can fly to your arms and say that I have found my true home, and enfolded in your arms can let my soul be wafted to the realm of blessed spirits – alas, unhappily it must be so – You will become composed, the more so as you know that I am faithful to you; No one else can ever possess my heart – never – never – Oh God, why must one be separated from her who is so dear. Yet my life in V at present is a miserable life – Your love has made me the happiest and the unhappiest of mortals – At my age I need stability and regularity in my life – can that coexist with our relationship? – Angel, I have just heard that the mailcoach goes every day – therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once – Be calm; for only by calm consideration of our lives can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm – love me – Today – yesterday – what tearful longing for you – for you – you – my life – my all – all good wishes to you. Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your lover.
ever yours
ever mine
ever ours

L.

So I listened to the Eight’n'Lucie audios. Out of order by accident. Not sure if that helped me or hindered me. When I started listening to them I was determined that I’d like Lucie.

I didn’t like her at first. She’s very reminiscent of Tegan. Without a lot of Tegan’s good points really. At least at first. I did end up liking her. I think if the quality of the audios had been a bit better I would really like her. But there was just some bad writing in there and thus my liking of it all was lowered. Perhaps with the next season? Anyways onwards and upwards in their proper order and not the order I listened to them in.

Blood of the Daleks (1&2)

I think having the Time Lords dump Lucie on him was an interesting idea as a way to get a companion introduced that wasn’t played very well. Lucie seemed far too accepting of her circumstances despite everything. I just find it hard to believe that anyone would take things as well as she did. There were a million ways to make the Doctor more accepting of Lucie that I can’t help but feel the lack of. The Time Lords would have at least tried something, because a cooperative Doctor is much better than a sulky Doctor. Well known fact of the universe.

The story in and of itself just kinda falls flat. Again I liked the idea in theory, but there just seemed to be too many attempts at humor that just fell flat. Not the least of which was to have Red Rocket Rising survive Daleks to be converted by the Cybermen. I didn’t find that funny, though I think I was supposed to. Other than that the storyline just seemed like your stock Cybermen storyline replaced with Daleks. Thus is didn’t really work nearly as well. I mean really if Hex worked on Red Rocket Rising it could have been The Harvest.

I liked Lucie and the Doctor’s interactions more towards the end of the story, but they still just weren’t clicking for me. I think a lot of it had to do with my dislike of the story itself.

Horror of Glam Rock

Yet another interesting idea that just didn’t seem to work. Aliens communicating through music should be a really neat concept. Lucie running into her aunt when her aunt was a twenty-something should be neat. Yet it wasn’t. I kept waiting for the story to be good and for Lucie to do something and it never happened. I don’t even remember much of the story and I listened to it a few days ago. That’s how little of an impression it left. Yeah.

Immortal Beloved

This one I liked. It was an interesting concept that was played with well. It showed Lucie in a positive light and not just as a nagging person the Doctor has to take around with him. I liked the idea of the planet where people had set themselves up as the Greek Gods. I liked the cloning and Lucie’s horror at it. This was really the episode that gave Lucie a few more dimensions. So that was good. I liked that Lucie wasn’t above being really shallow about a pretty boy. Of course in retrospect this one could have been good simply because the others were so very bad. Hmmm…

Phobos

Again they managed to make something of an interesting concept. Which is a win for the writers. Lucie seems to be a bit too free about saying she’s a time traveler though. That annoyed me a bit. Discretion girl. I just finished this one and I’m really kinda angry that they didn’t just go ahead with the Drew/Hayd stuff instead of chickening out with it. It’s annoying.

But I liked the idea. I liked that the Doctor scared the fear creator with what he’s seen. I liked Lucie doing the companion thing and talking and making friends with people. I liked her experiencing things. I’m just annoyed about the Drew/Hayd thing at the end. Do it or don’t do it but don’t fucking go halfway.

No More Lies

This one won me over due to Lucie driving. Just because I can see her telling the Doctor in no uncertain terms that she doesn’t want to be stuck in space dependent on his driving so he damn well better teach her how to drive the TARDIS thank you very much. Or else she’s not getting back on at the next stop. Because she would do that. I think Lucie has been moved to the head of the Companion Most Likely to Nick the TARDIS list.

I really liked that this episode finally highlighted that Lucie is an intelligent person even if she’s a mouth on legs to use Tegan’s self description. She figured stuff out and almost saved the day till the Doctor buggered it up.

Bonus points for referencing Ramsey. I like Vortisores and now apparently the other being that live in the Vortex. I hope we see more of them.

Human Resources

This one suffered from a lot of the same problem as BotD did. It wasn’t funny when it was trying to be and an interesting idea just somehow wasn’t written well. Also there was randomness that didn’t make sense. Like when did the Doctor get a cell phone? Hmmm? That confused me. I can see Lucie making him get one, but unless I fell asleep for that part we never had a scene where she gave him one or anything. He just suddenly had a cell phone.

Also I find it hard to think that Eight wouldn’t find out who they were fighting before sabotaging things. Maybe I’m wrong there but that’s the way I see it. Also after everything else and Lucie freaks out because she should have been a dictator? Really? I’m so glad it wasn’t her in the end cause that was just stupid. Why the hell would the CIA care about a human becoming a dictator on Earth? If it went against the Web of Time then they’d be able to fix it no worries from anyone else. Otherwise why the hell would they care? I haven’t listened to the Gallifrey stuff so maybe it’s explained there.

Anyways the plot was thin at best and the characterization overall seemed off. And for all the build up with the headhunter it was a rather small pay off yes?

Overall the series suffered from a number of similar problems. Good ideas not properly written. Bad ideas as to what is funny or should be funny. Shoddy character development and plot arc payoff. I did end up liking Lucie in the end, but I think I’d have liked her a lot more if her stories had been good.

The other night I was watching the 1994 film Immortal Beloved with some friends. I’d seen it a couple of times before, but this time around a particular scene really struck a chord in me. In the scene, Herr Schindler is the sole spectator of a performance of a Beethoven sonata for piano & violin. All of a sudden, Beethoven comes up behind Schindler…

Ludwig van Beethoven: [in reference to "Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 47" - "Kreutzer"... ] Do you like it?
Anton Felix Schindler: Shh!
Ludwig van Beethoven: I cannot hear them, but I know they are making a hash of it. What do you think? Music is… a dreadful thing. What is it? I don’t understand it. What does it mean?
Anton Felix Schindler: It – it exalts the soul.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Utter nonsense. If you hear a marching band, is your soul exalted? No, you march. If you hear a waltz, you dance. If you hear a mass, you take communion. It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like hypnotism. So, now… What was in my mind when I wrote this? Hmm? A man is trying to reach his lover. His carriage has broken down in the rain. The wheels stuck in the mud. She will only wait so long. This… is the sound of his agitation. “This is how it is… ,” the music is saying. “Not how you are used to being. Not how you are used to thinking. But like this.”

Interestingly, Beethoven is often referred to as the bridge between the classical period and the romantic period of Western music. But here we find no Romantic notions of the nature of music…note Beethoven’s quick denouncement of Schindler’s assertion that “It exalts the soul.”

I felt a bit like a Schindler the other day when I had lunch with an art history professor here at Wheaton. However, this professor is exceedingly more gracious than Herr Beethoven ever was. In my conversation with him, my romantic notions became all too apparent as he set forth his own understanding of art (in the broad sense)…that it’s a conversation between the artist and her world, and at best our creations provide epiphanies (“with a little e”) as to the reality of God’s reconciling the world to himself in Christ. But we must not downplay the creatureliness of our artistic expressions, because after all, we are creatures. Listening to a Beethoven piece will not reveal to you the identity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but that does not negate its significance. We are a relational people, and to listen to Beethoven, to view a Renoir, to read Dostoevsky – in these things we enter into conversation with fellow creatures in our respective contexts. Or as Herman Melville would say, we are all sons of Adam. We are made in the image of God, and though we forgot it and turned our backs on him, he did not forget us.

A favorite scene from the movie: the deaf Beethoven presses the side of his face to the piano in order to ‘hear’ the vibrations as he plays the Moonlight Sonata.

Chiar daca nu respecta adevarul istoric, un film care mereu l-am apreciat, si vi-l recomand cu toata inima.

Immortal Beloved

The movie ‘Immortal Beloved’ is a movie that I have mixed feelings about. Visually, this movie is great: beautiful interiors; the costumes are, even though not totally historically correct, very beautiful; the haircuts are a lot more varied then the ‘curly updo’ thing you usually see in costume movies. It’s also one of the few movies using mittaines (little gloves covering the wrist) and big shawls which to me are essential for Victorian outfits. And of course during the entire movie you can hear the beautiful music of Beethoven.
The use of two Dutch actors for two important roles seems curious, but their accented speech gives the movie a fitting, foreign, feeling.

What bothered me is above all, Gary Oldman, but that’s a personal quirk. The movie moves between different timeperiods so it’s hard to keep track of what happens sometimes. The movie shows Beethoven as a crazy, unlovable person, keen on bothering and annoying others. The movie puts Johanna van Beethoven forward as the Immortal Beloved, while current popular opinion favours Antonie Brentano.
The letter to the Unsterbliche Geliebte (immortal beloved) actually exists, but there is no consensus among Beethoven scholars as to the true identity of the intended recipient. Ladies who are considered possible recipients are: Giulietta Guicciardi, Therese von Brunswick, Antonie Brentano, Johanna van Beethoven, and Countess Anna-Marie Erdődy, almost all are featured in the movie.

Scholars have never identified who the woman was, but the film’s director, Bernard Rose, has controversially claimed in an interview that he has successfully identified the woman whom Beethoven loved and he shows his opinion in the movie.

In conclusion, this movie is beautifully made, with stunning visuals and music. Whether it is believable from a more academic point of view is to be debated. Some Beethoven lovers favour ‘Un Grand Amour de Beethoven’, so if you have the chance, make sure to watch it!

For more info on Beethoven himself you might want to check out this site (scroll past the Dutch intro), it has a great faq with lots of resources for further reading.