Music, Movies, and Some Books

Last night I had the house all to myself. Well, me, twelve cats and two dogs. But what I mean is, no hubby or teen home, so more to the point, I had the television remote all to myself. I've been wanting to rewatch it again for awhile, so I popped in our DVD of Paris Je 'Taime ("Paris, I Love You."). If you haven't seen this movie, it's great. Directors from around the world were invited to make a five minute love story, each one who participated picked a different section of the city. I loved watching it again and this time 'round the closing song, which I guess is the theme song for the movie, really caught my ear. It's called "We're All in the Dance" by Feist. You can hear a bit of it here in the official trailer for the movie.




I looked the song up after watching the movie and that got me thinking about all the other odd, unknown, or beautiful songs I have discovered because someone has chosen them to play in a movie or show.

One of my favorite singers, Iris Dement, I discovered because her song, Our Town, was played in the last scene of the last episode of one of my very favorite shows ever, Northern Exposure. For a trip down memory lane, here it is, I just watched it again and got all teary eyed.



And who could resist the eerily beautiful Mad World by Gary Jules as the theme song for Donnie Darko. Here's the music video of the song.



More recently, I'd been intrigued by another lesser known movie I'd seen at the video store but every time I suggested it, everyone else vetoed my choice. I finally brought it home and everyone LOVED it. You have to see Darjeeling Limited. It's actually full of a lot of fantastic music but the song that stood out for me on first viewing was in a short clip on the DVD that precedes the longer movie. It's an old song from the 60's? 70's? Here's a recent clip of the singer in concert with it. It has a more surreal feel to it in the movie. It's called Where Do You Go To My Lovely by Peter Starstedt.



And of course Harry Nilson's Coconut has become the official song for any witchy women's gathering, particularly those where official midnight margaritas are served.



I could go on but, maybe another time. It will have taken you awhile if you tried to listen to all of the clips above.

Moving on for now, I'm having one of those rare times when I can't seem to settle on a book. I've tried several so far, gotten a few pages or chapters into them, and didn't want to work that hard. I have a lot of books I want to read, but apparently the timing is off for me or got bored. I finally gave up on anything serious and I'm halfway through another humorous Meg Langslow Mystery by Donna Andrews. This is the last one in the series before the latest, which is out or coming out soon in hardcover, so I'm gonna have to move on to another series. I've got a half dozen or so favorite series that I have a book or two left in paperback in but in each of them the problem is I can't remember which book I left off on and the bookshelves are boxed in with things I'm sorting in the studio right now so I can't get to them easily to figure out which books I already own and which I would have to find or buy.

I just finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. My friend Deb recommended it to me. Now don't get me wrong, I did like it. But I kept getting hung up on how similar it was to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic. Or rather, the movie made from Hoffman's book. At least I finished it, unlike the last few books I've tried. I think I'm just in the need for some totally fluffy summer reading choices. I wish Tanya Huff would do another in her Summoner's series. I miss that. Oh, and I forgot! I have another Jim Butcher to read. That would have been perfect. Oh well, I'll read that one next then.

What are you reading these days? Do you read more or less in the summer? I always think I'll read more but the truth is it's harder to find time to read when the days are longer. I used to think it was because I was out in the garden more, but since that hasn't happened this year, I'll have to come up with another excuse. And how 'bout music? What music did you discover through movies or shows? Or, what music do you think of as the theme songs for the times in your own life? Hmmm, interesting idea, maybe that's a good topic to post about tomorrow.