Things I Have Enjoyed This Week

[10 min read]

Wisdom, Baby!

This is my favorite thing that has happened this week. By a mile. Or more. Wisdom the albatross has successfully hatched another chick at SEVENTY FOUR YEARS OLD. If not older. (They don’t know exactly how old she is.) I remember learning about her when she was estimated to be about 60 or so. Every year it’s such a thrill and so moving when she has another chick. In my book, she is second only to Pando in terms of the natural wonders of the world. And she’s so beautiful.

You can see Wisdom on Instagram. Or google her. She’s not hiding.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDHyAyygtBx/?igsh=anNhOHg5bWEzM28z

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDIYEZ9z1so/?img_index=2&igsh=MXN4bHN6Y2JobnUweA==

I also have this thing about animals getting dragged into people bullshit. Like, I hate the idea that black cats (or owls or ravens) are bad luck. Gimme those black cats! And I hate the expression that something is an albatross around your neck. SHUT UP! Albatrosses rule and you’d be lucky to have one on your stupid human neck. So I put an albatross pin on one of my guitar straps. That way I literally have an albatross around my neck AND IT’S AWESOME. It’s even specifically a Laysan Albatross, which is what Wisdom is.

This Elk Antler Wrapped in Christmas Lights

I carried it back from a hike once. Hard to tell from the pic, but it’s giant. It’s one of the most prized items in our Natural History Museum. This year it is also part of our Christmas decorations. Look at it! Makes me happy.

Reeses Peanut Butter Shapes

Seriously. “Shapes.” That’s what’s printed on the bag. And boy do I love…shapes. Shapes are delicious.

And you can see from the pics of them that they are, indeed…shapes.

Clouds Settling in the Valley

I had to wake up early on Tuesday morning to take Misty to the train station so the train could take her to the airport. We’re not early risers, never have been. But whenever we’re up early, it’s always so nice and I’m surprised we don’t then work to become early risers. When we got up to go to the train station, there was a thick layer of clouds or fog settled in the valley between where we are, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the Sandia Mountains. It was as if a big roll of weightless, white, fluffy sod had been strung out and laid down. By the time I was headed back home and thought I would stop to snap a pic, it was mostly burned away (or rolled back up). Beautiful while it lasted.

Just Like Heaven by EZ Band

A friend sent me this and I think I listened to it 5 or 6 times in a row. When the accordion comes in…so good. This is what a cover should be: maintain the necessary elements of the original while making it your own.

They have a ton other great ones, too.

Looney Tunes

Did you know a bunch of these are free on YouTube? Coyote and Roadrunner are, IMHO, the best cartoons ever made. So perfect, so hilarious.

Barr Brothers - Come in the Water, Beggar in the Morning

Come in the Water by the Barr Brothers came up on a playlist I was listening to. I hadn’t heard it in forever. What a great song. (“Tell me I’m wrong!”) It reminded me of the time my friend Kristin and I sang another one of their songs, Beggar in the Morning. It’s just a voice memo, but she sounds so great. We were mildly obsessed with them at the time. Or maybe I was super into them and she was obsessed. Something like that.

Come in the Water on Apple Music • Spotify

I think her husband/my buddy Shannon can also be heard singing. He’s the one who hit record on his phone and posted the recording. I’m just playing guitar and mumbling, as is my want.

If you don’t know the original, I suggest checking out the beautiful video.

The Conversation & Soundtrack

Coppola supposedly said The Conversation is his favorite of his movies. Gene Hackman, too. It’s so good, so unique. It really has a vibe/atmosphere to it, and a big part of that is the excellent score by David Shire, which was written and recorded before the movie went into production so that it could be played on set for the actors. Just like Fellini did. It almost sounds like if the Charlie Brown Christmas record by Vince Guaraldi was re-done as a horror/suspense soundtrack.

The Conversation soundtrack on Apple Music • Spotify

My only beef is my usual one when music is performed onscreen in a movie: the musical performances don’t match what you’re hearing. Gene Hackman took several months of saxophone lessons, but the couple of times he plays in the movie, his hands clearly don’t match what’s being played. I mean, it doesn’t matter. And it’s not a movie about him being a musician. It’s a thriller about surveillance and paranoia. But still…it bugs me.

In That Thing You Do, same deal. Those actors not only took lessons, but had weeks of time in a rehearsal space to play all those songs and “become a band” or something. So they can actually play. Yet many times in the movie, their hands don’t remotely match what you’re hearing.

I heard an interview with OMD once where they talked about how their only directive for what became If You Leave for the Pretty in Pink soundtrack was that it HAD TO BE 120 BPM because all the prom dancing scenes were filmed with all the actors dancing to Don’t You Forget About Me, which is also at 120 BPM. Since the actors were dancing to a particular tempo, the new song had to match that tempo so that the dancing would be in sync. But then OMD complained that all the dancing is out of time with their song. So what was the point?

A few movies get it (mostly) right. Inside Llewyn Davis. Gary Busey as Buddy Holly. A Mighty Wind. And, surprisingly, Ralph Macchio in Crossroads.

What’s the deal? Is the director choosing takes where the emotional performance is best despite the actor not getting the job done with their hands? Or is it that the editor is not musical and can’t match it? Or doesn’t care? All of the above?

We always hear this lore, that actors go to “boot camp” or “do ride alongs” or “shadow” the real people so they can “bring truth” to the character/activity. Yet in my limited areas of semi-expertise, it’s generally way off the mark. My only other area of half-assed knowledge is birds, and that is also pretty much universally WAY wrong. (Like, for example, the fact that a red tailed hawk call is always used for buzzards/vultures [who have no call—they only grunt and hiss] and bald eagles [which sound way more like seagulls than you may realize].)

I’m curious…is this the same with other professions and activities in movies and TV? Do filmmakers work super hard to really nail it with, say, lawyers, only for real lawyers to watch and think “they always get us wrong?”

Hit me up if you have insight for this. Please.

Anyway, I feel like now I’m veering into Things That Bugged Me This Week. What was I talking about? Oh! The Conversation! Great movie, great score. Check it out.

Coyotes!

I didn’t get a pic. But I was out running at night and a coyote popped out of the bushes about 15 feet in front of me. When that sort of thing happens, it takes a beat to register. So I was still heading towards it when a car drove by. When the headlights hit, the coyote turned and ran back into the bushes. It’s good to be reminded that there is still some wildness tucked away just out of sight, on the other side of the bushes or tree line.

Note: this particular coyote was not wearing rocket skates. To my knowledge.

Phil Collins and Hot Plates

Went out to eat. I ordered the pork tamales with red chile.

1) As I waited, a waitress danceshuffled by. Because Easy Lover by Phil Collins was playing and, like a lot of Phil Collins material, that song is somehow both awful and a total jam.

2) Then a guy brought my food out of the kitchen and said “Careful, bro, this plate is gonna be FUUUUUHHHH-KING hot.”

There’s no more to this story. Those are just two awesome things that happened back-to-back and made the evening.

And the tamales were fabulous.

…okay, in the video, why do they explain it at the beginning? “It’s so meta and so sophisticated, nobody will get it unless we set it up. This is cutting edge shit!” 🤔

TMBG vs Three Musketeers

I don’t know what’s happening here. I mean, I know and love this song, and I know they use the stick for percussion when they play it live (tho I don’t know why). The main curiosity is that there is a throw to a Three Musketeers ad at the end. But TMBG are always a delight, so I don’t ask questions.

This Sunset

This Sunset a Few Days Later When The Moon Was Hanging Out

What did you enjoy this week? I’d love to know. Leave it in the comments - thanks!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ✌️❤️🤘

Your pal,

Robert

2024 / Dec 2 - 8