It only seems appropriate, really.

I'll throw a few down to get us started:

Genre - Pop (Eurodance, Dance)

Gravity (Cahill Remix) - Pixie Lott

Turn It Up (Digital Dog Remix) - Pixie Lott

Party in the USA (Cahill Remix) - Miley Cyrus

Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cahill Remix) - Cascada

Genre - Pop (Pop Rock)

Naturally (Ralphi Rosario Remix) - Selena Gomez

Un Año Sin Ver Llover - Selena Gomez

Genre - Inspirational

The Climb - Miley Cyrus

Genre - Instrumental (Score)

Flow Like Water - James Newton Howard

The Healing - James Newton Howard

Heart of Courage - Two Steps From Hell

Arrival to Earth - Steve Jablonsky

The Battle - Harry-Gregson Williams

Now We Are Free - Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard

The Gravel Road - James Newton Howard

Interstellar - Groove Addicts

TML, another nom-de-plume?

Anyway, I've been digging on Opera recently; really into CBS Masterworks' "Mad About ... " series. Nothing Earth-shattering; mostly a "greatest hits" compilation of everyone's favorite lyric arias and patter-songs. Besides the below-copied, I've also downloaded "Mad About Puccini," "... Sopranos" and "... Tenors".

http://www.amazon.com/Mad-About-Opera-Thomas-Hampson/dp/B000001GIJ

Also some Sondheim. Specifically: http://www.amazon.com/Sondheim-Etc-Bernadette-Peters-Carnegie/dp/B00000GC22/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1295530260&sr=1-1

Yes, I'm still married. Why do you ask...?

Snow Patrol and Kirsty MacColl.

Is that good or bad?

TML, another nom-de-plume?

Yep. ToManyLetters is for regular content, Proudly Ravenclaw is for Spanish-language content, and Lettershort is for mature content (when I get around to writing some).

(I've actually been working on the Lettershort version of Let's Start at Hello, which currently only holds a working title "Angel of Deception". The change to mature has necessitated more extensive changes than I had originally anticipated.)

Yep. ToManyLetters is for regular content, Proudly Ravenclaw is for Spanish-language content, and Lettershort is for mature content (when I get around to writing some).

Freakishly and unecessarily complicated, yet somehow simultaneously awesome. I wouldn't expect any less, sir. Well done :)

Ah, but the necessity does exist.

Regarding Proudly Ravenclaw:

How would you feel if, after being a delighted reader of "WriterX" for years now, she suddenly posted ten stories, all of them in a language you don't understand? Your inbox flooded, you, excited beyond all reason, race-off to her "new" stories to see that... you can't understand a word. I'm trying to avoid that... Sure, my fan base may be small, but I prefer to keep the few I've got.

Regarding Lettershort:

Not everyone wants to read mature content. As someone who as not written any in the six and a half years I've been here, I feel I have a duty to my fans (yes, the ones that keep me cool) to keep such content separate from the main body of work. Think of it like this - after years of wholesome (or at least quasi-wholesome) content, the Disney Channel suddenly starts three new shows that run at 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm - all of them produced by a "Mr. Hugh Hefner". Pandemonium and freak-outs commence.

Don't you hate it when you type a reply and it dissapears into the ether never to be seen again? Attempt number 2.

I hadn't realise how strong and fresh the UK folk / indie scene was until recently – as far away from "Pop idol" as you can get.

Johnny Kearney and Lucy Farrell, a young duo just starting to make a name for themselves. You can listen to their "North Farm Sessions" album for free on their myspace account jonnykearneyandlucyfarrell "Letter to Lenore" WILL reduce you to tears

Megson – another great duo.

Stornoway, an indie band. "Zorbing" is great http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiLO4qPkA64&feature=related "Battery humans" is, imho, even better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj-QXey3gPk

For a more traditional sound, anything by Breabach is good.

I'm also listening to the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Those of you in the USA will probably be more familiar with them. How brilliant is "Christmas canon"? They're doing "Beethoven's Last Night" in the UK in March and I'm off to see them. Can't wait.

I've been having rather classical and jazz music influenced mood last weeks.

Especial highlights have been Beethoven's symphonies, especially 2nd movement of his 7th symphony. Some other pieces worth mentioning might be Serenata by F. Schubert, or anything from Debussy.

I also just got myself a joint record of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, which I've been listening quite ceaselessly. One sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCjiBvLOgz4

Those're some very classical tastes, Minerva? Do you ever find yourself listening to musical scores from television or films?

I know. I blame for the classical mood my friends who took me to listen Beethoven's 9th on a New Year's Day. Yeah, of course. I noticed you've listed Hans Zimmer's Gladiator soundtrack. I love that one! I also like music by John Williams (Star Wars), Thomas Newman (e.g. Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Meet Joe Black), or Graig Armstrong (his couple of pieces for Love Actually are adorable).

Are you familiar with the works of James Netwon Howard?

Are you familiar with the works of James Netwon Howard?

Well, I have the Batman Begins/Dark Knight soundtracks, which he composed in collaboration with Hans Zimmer. Other than that, don't know too much his stuff.

For a change from the rest of the thread, I'm listening to a lot of Daddy Yankee lately. Laughable since my Spanish has lapsed to the point where I only recognize a few words and phrases. I think it's a combination of the different beats, the few lyrics I do understand and that this is all I listen to at work (at a Mexican restaurant).

Daddy Yankee

Name sounds like a redneck line-dancing music genre type but apparently it's not?

Mm, no. Not quite.

I'm listening to a lot of Daddy Yankee lately.

Yup. But around my neighborhood, that's more a question of having the windows open...

Yankee

redneck

Hi Minerva! Just a wee, well-intentioned American culture lesson for you: The above quoted words will never, ever be used to describe the same person or thing. Ever.

that's more a question of having the windows open...

Ah, so you live in a good neighborhood. Nice to know.

Hi Minerva! Just a wee, well-intentioned American culture lesson for you: The above quoted words will never, ever be used to describe the same person or thing. Ever.

Hmm. I kind of lived under the impression redneck is something that is part of American culture as well - though somewhere in Midwest/Deep South. Living on a different continent does set some limitations to getting a full grasp of other culture's nuances :)

Living on a different continent does set some limitations to getting a full grasp of other culture's nuances :)

Oh, absolutely. Totally get that. Really. We have a really, really big, really, really diverse country, and anyone who tells you they have a better grasp on understanding the USA than "OMG it's big" is lying and/or running for office. Ask someone from Koreatown in Los Angeles how much they have with a Korean-American in Fort Lee, NJ. They'll probably answer "Is that close to New York?". Really, really big.

But just to clarify: "Yankee" is a classification used by people from the Southeast and Mid-South for people from the Northeast and Midwest, probably as far west as Minnesota (In the Western part of the country, the North/South divide isn't applicable, except in California, but that's much, much different). It's often derisive, but not always (level of derisiveness depends on how long ago one believes the Civil War to have ended, but that's my own cultural bias, as well). In the Northeast, "Yankee" is used to describe people from New England, and it's used generally favorably. In Spanish-speaking North and Central America and the Carribean, "Yankee" (or "Yanqui") refers generally to "Americans" (whatever that means...), and is used matter-of-factly, but hardly pleasantly.

"Redneck" is a pejorative term used to describe poorer, less educated people, generally from the countryside (or those who wish they were), and often (but nowhere near always) from the Southeast or Mid-South. Like many pejorative terms, this one seems to have been reclaimed as rather a badge of honor, although if this Yankee were to refer to someone as a redneck, he'd probably get some funny looks...

Come to think of it, I've run across some folks in the backwoods of Maine who would probably qualify both as Yankees and Rednecks...

And even more on-topic, 'cause I get curious about these things...

From Daddy Yankee's website: "Yankee in Puerto Rico is the slang we use for someone tall, who is big in what he does," Yankee told Billboard in 2005. "So the name means Big Daddy."

Well, I have the Batman Begins/Dark Knight soundtracks, which he composed in collaboration with Hans Zimmer. Other than that, don't know too much his stuff.

I also have those scores and, to be wholly honest, his stuff done in conjunction with Mr Zimmer is among his worst (yeah, if you can believe that); and considering the nominations and awards they've received for those scores, that really ought to say something about this guy's work. Also, I should mention, that any time he teams-up with director M. Night Shyamalan, his stuff kicks some serious tail. Several times the scores have been far better than even the film itself. (His score for The Last Airbender beat every other score in 2010 for me, hands down.)

Songs marked with * are particularly impressive.

----------------------------------------------------------------

ToManyLetter's Sampler of James Newton Howard

01. Flow Like Water* - Avatar: The Last Airbender

02. The Healing* - Lady in the Water

03. The Gravel Road* - The Village

04. Carrying Audrey - Unbreakable

05. The Bielski Brothers - Defiance

06. Beauty Killed the Beast, Part V - King Kong

07. Flying* - Peter Pan

08. Destiny - Salt

09. The Hand of Fate - Signs

10. Silver Comforts Jim - Treasure Planet

11. Dani Remembers - The Man in the Moon

12. I Want You (Love Theme) - French Kiss

13. I Cannot See His Colour - The Village

14. Atolago (End Credits) - The Interpreter

15. The King Dies* - Atlantis: The Lost Empire

16. End Titles* - Lady in the Water

Hmmm. I think I liked the most of Lady in Water soundtracks.

For some reason, they reminded me of this scene. Which is IMHO the best scifi movie ever made! The soundtrack is quite fabulous as well. I do so like Vangelis.

Hmmm. I think I liked the most of Lady in Water soundtracks.

I don't understand what you mean there.

Hmmm. I think I liked the most of Lady in Water soundtracks.

I don't understand what you mean there.

That I liked the most Lady in Water movie's music files.

Oh, that you liked the score to Lady in the Water. Yes, it is among the best out there.

lady in water, lady in the water. Who cares? Anyways, it's almost the same! :D

Well, in my defence, the word the was originally the difference between me understanding and not. =-P

Are you familiar with Steve Jablonsky?

That's the point: you English-speakers pay way too much attention to articles. I mean, we don't even have them in Finnish! And you know, no one has ever complained about that...

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