Empty Places

I’ve been mesmerized by birds lately.

Each day on my way home from work I sit at the same stoplight, a busy intersection near a train track. Lately, between 5:15 and 5:30, there have been hundreds of birds there. I have no idea where they all come from. I sit in my car, listening to the click click click of my turn signal, and stare at them. Small, dark colored birds, I don’t know what kind, flying in swarms, flitting back and forth and up and down and close together and far apart and back and forth again in a pulsating motion, suspended in mid-air not unlike schools of fish in the ocean. They dance in groups, directed by some invisible choreographer, rising and falling as if on cue. They seem to know exactly how to move in order to keep from running into any of the other eight hundred flapping dancers.

Because of the recent time change, the sun is already starting to set during my drive home. The shimmering disc floats just above the horizon, casting a warm glow on the clouds, turning them into puffs of strawberry cotton candy strewn across the sky. The telephone lines reflect the fall sun as bright orange strings where the birds gather to rest. For one brief moment they all clamor to balance on the phone lines. They squeeze in, fill in the gaps, chattering noisily like a crowd. I start to wonder what it’s like to be a bird. What do they do all day? Is their entire life comprised of dancing and resting on telephone wires? What did they do before telephone wires? What must it have been like to be out for a walk, and come across a tree, full of birds that were chirping and hopping from branch to branch, buzzing with life like a beehive? The verse comes to mind about God caring enough to keep every bird fed, and how much more important we are to God than birds. I wonder if He has named each and every one of them.

Then, at some unseen signal, in one swift rippling motion they all lift up, fly away, disperse, filling the sky with small dark dots. The golden lines are suddenly vacant. I am no longer thinking of them as wires, but as empty places were birds used to rest. I wonder if they will all return, if ten minutes from now someone else will be sitting at the light and notice the birds all sitting there anxiously waiting for takeoff.

But then the light turns green and the car in front of me moves. I forget about the birds and focus on the traffic. I drive away, my turn signal silencing itself, leaving the road behind me, an empty place were I used to rest.

Top 5: 2012 Grammy Moments

I have become one of Those People who watch awards shows and live-tweet commentary. My twitter feed was full of updates with the hashtag #Grammys for the entire three-and-a-half hour ceremony. (Sidenote: What did people do before Twitter? Write down their snarky comments and take them to work to read off at the water cooler? Stay on the landline with their friends for three hours?)

In the grand-scheme of Grammy awards shows, this was not a spectacular one. There were no out-of-this-world amazing performances or scandalous acceptance speech interruptions. It was still a good show, nonetheless. And because I couldn't narrow my favorite moments down to five, and forgot to post a Top 5 last week, you get a list of my Top 10 moments from this year's Grammy's!


10. Dave Grohl was EVERYWHERE 

The lead singer of Foo Fighters was like a bad penny during last night's awards. They performed out in the tent with Deadmau5, on stage, and Grohl was part of the closing jam session with Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen. I think the only person to get more airtime was the host.

9. Bruno Mars' Throwback Dance Moves 

We all know Bruno Mars loves vintage pop music (his album is named Doo-Wops and Hooligans), and his performance last night channeled the early 1960s like no other. The matching costumes, synchronized dance moves,  horn section, even his Elvis hair-do was a throwback. Did you know that guy could do the splits?  And dance like James Brown?

8. Bon Iver for Best New Artist (not really new...?) 

It makes me happy when somewhat unknown artists win big at the Grammy's. Last year, between Esperanza Spaulding and Arcade Fire, America was in a tizzy over having no idea who was onstage. I'm glad Bon Iver won (who doesn't like Skinny Love?) but their first album came out in 2007. I guess putting out a self-titled sophomore album is enough to confuse the Grammy voters? 

7. Glen Campbell's Quote

The tribute to Glen Campbell for his farewell tour was very sweet. I understand he's old and is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, but I think the entire viewing audience laughed when he left his mic on and kept talking after his performance, saying: "Am I supposed to go somewhere or just shut up?"

6. Taylor Swift Being Adorable

Taylor isn't one of my favorite artists, but you have to admit that she is cute and talented. Her song Mean may not have been the most musically advanced song of the evening, but the majority of her fans are girls as young as 8 - and with that in mind, her performance was spot-on. It's nice to know that there are young women out there that can be good role models without any of the drama that usually comes with growing up in the spotlight. Plus they dressed like it was the early 30s and she played a banjo! Adorable.

5. Beach Boys/Foster the People/Maroon 5

Last year the performance I looked forward to was the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons playing with Bob Dylan (and it was fabulous). This year the trio of artists was just as good - Maroon 5 and Foster the People playing with the Beach Boys for their 50th anniversary. Adam Levine's falsetto was perfect for Little Surfer Girl and Foster the People had just the right sound to pull off Wouldn't It Be Nice even if they did look super nervous about being at the Grammy's.

4. The Civil Wars

It was really a shame that The Civil Wars were only able to play part of their hit song Barton Hollow. Their beautiful vocals - almost completely acapella - were one of the best performances of the evening. I could listen to them sing all day. Maybe next year they can be more than an opening number?

3. Betty White Won a Grammy???

 This cracked me up when I heard it announced on the radio this morning. One of the Grammy's awarded off-screen last night was for the Best Spoken Word Album, which Betty won for the audio edition of her memoirs. Is she up for a Nobel Peace Prize yet? 'Cause I'm pretty sure it's the only award she hasn't yet won.

2. Adele Winning Every Award 

 Last night's show cemented my love for Adele. We watched her interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes just before the ceremony started, where she talked about how crazy it was for her to write songs to recover from a break up and accidentally take the world by storm. Did you know that after she won the Grammy for Best New Artist back in 2009 she took a part-time job at a record store to stay up on music trends? I can't see Katy Perry doing that anytime soon. Adele took home all six of the awards she was nominated for, sang live for the first time since her vocal surgery, and looked gorgeous in that black dress. I loved that she didn't use any gimmicks - where other people had loads of back-up dancers, stunts, and blacklight graffiti, Adele just had a microphone and her back up singers. Simple and beautiful.

1. Jennifer Hudson's Whitney Huston tribute 

The music industry, and the nation in general, was surprised and devestated to hear of Whitney Huston's untimely passing on Saturday. Many kind words were said in her honor, including the lovely prayer by LL Cool J to open the program, but the most moving tribute of the night was 
Jennifer Hudson's beautiful cover of Huston's song from The Bodyguard's soundtrack, I Will Always Love You. The entire audience was reverently silent and even social media was quiet for a brief moment. It's embedded below.

Top 5: 100

This is my 100th post! When I was in kindergarten, we spent all year learning to count to 100 and had a special celebration on the 100th day of school by bringing in 100 of something. I brought 100 buttons from my grandma's sewing box. My best friend that year, a little girl named Ashley, brought in her collection of 100 pencils and let me keep one! It's blue with white snowflakes, and I still have it somewhere. I don't have gifts to send to all of you, but I'm dedicating my Top 5 list today to things with the number 100 in them in celebration! (I considered doing a Top 100 list but that just seemed too time consuming.)

5. Billboard's Top 100 of the 2000s
We all know that Billboard keeps a running total of the Top 100 songs, which is why this is relegated to last place on my list. Although instead of linking you to the current Top 100, I'm sending you to the best of the last decade. For me, 2000-2009 encompasses parts of junior high, high school, and college, which means a lot of these songs remind me of prom.

4. IMDb's Bottom 100 Movies
If you love torturing yourself by watching horrible movies and laughing at them, or just want to see how bad movies can be, then this list is for you. IMDb asks their users to rank movies on a scale of 1-10  and the bottom 100 includes films with average reviews of 2.5 and under. You can contrast this with their Top 250, whose highest-ranking film is The Shawshank Redemption with a glowing 9.2.

3. 25 Celebrated Saul Bass Title Sequences in 100 Seconds



I know that I'm a nerd because some of my fondest memories of college are the essays I wrote and presentations I delivered. I'm that weird person who enjoys researching and always had a knack for picking quirky topics that somehow still fit into the assignment (case in point: I once wrote a paper making the claim that Willy Wonka was a Marxist). One of my favorites was a group presentation for my History of Graphic Design course on the topic of title sequences in movies, which is how I first learned of the site Art of the Title, where this video is from. Acclaimed graphic designer Saul Bass is known for fantastic title sequences - see if there are any you recognize!

2. All-TIME 100 Novels
Time Magazine compiled their list of the top 100 novels, or more precisely, the top 100 English novels published since 1923, when Time began. Even with those parameters it's a great list and includes novels from all genres and audiences, such as young-adult classic Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, graphic novel Watchmen, historical fiction Gone With the Wind, and recent masterpieces published less than 10 years ago. I used this list when compiling my 2010 reading list.


1. 100 YEARS / STYLE / EAST LONDON

 

Posted by the Westfield Stratford City shopping center in London, this video reviews 100 years of fashion in one long choreographed scene. It's great to see how style changes over the years and subtly morphs into something completely different. And not just fashion, but hairstyles, dance styles, and even music transition from decade to decade from the early 1900s to present. I don't know if this was a commercial or just an online campaign, but whoever came up with the concept is a genius. Watch for the moment in the 1940s when the man dons a British uniform and heads off to war!

Top 5: Dance Sequences in Movies

For some unknown reason they just released a remake of Footloose. Who decided that was a good idea? Why are we reinventing the wheel? Wasn't Kevin Bacon good enough for you? I just don't understand. Anyway, all this talk of musicals got me thinking about my favorite dance scenes in movies. Avoiding typical and cliche segments like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, the lift in Dirty Dancing, and the rival gang dance off in West Side Story, I came up with 5 great dance scenes. What's your favorite?


5. Olive's dance at the talent show in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

 

This is one of those so-awkard-you-have-to-love-it moments. Olive is so innocent, she has no idea that what she's doing is vastly inappropriate.  She's just having an awesome time dancing like she did with her grandpa. You know, before he died and they drove him around in their van.

4. Napoleon's talent for Pedro's campaign in Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

 

Apparently the early 2000s were the epitome of so-awkard-you-have-to-love-it moments, because this movie was basically an hour and a half of them strung together. Somehow it became the biggest cult hit of the year, inspiring kids everywhere to wear Vote for Pedro shirts and complain about Tina being a fat lard. And re-enact this dance at their high school talent show (at least that's what we did in my hometown...)

3.  The Barn Raising Dance in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of my all-time favorite musicals. It's about a set of brothers living in the mountians that decide they need wives, so they do the only logical thing - go to town and kidnap some. They find the girls they like and bring them home just before an avalanche closes the pass for the winter, keeping all of them on one side and all the angry fathers with shotguns on the other. Doesn't sound like a happy movie, but it's fantastic. Also, if I am remembering Robert Osborne from TCM correctly, this scene was shot in one really long take. Beat that, new Footloose.
 

2. Jon Cryer's Otis Redding lipsync in Pretty In Pink (1986)

 

This is one of the best scenes of this movie. Duckie is one of the greatest John Hughes characters and it always made me sad that he didn't end up with Andie at the end - apparently the original ending brings them together, but test audience's didn't like it so she ends up with Blane. Lame, if you ask me. "His name is Blane? Oh! That's a major appliance, that's not a name"

 

1. Gene Kelly with Tom & Jerry in Anchors Aweigh (1944)
 

 

 My grandma has a big collection of musicals and this is one I loved watching as a kid. I don't really remember what else went on in the film, but at one point Gene Kelly dances with cartoon characters. Tom and Jerry, right there on screen with him! It's like they're in the same room, but one is real and one is animated...it blew my 8-year-old mind. And considering it was released in 1944, it's still pretty cool. Family Guy parodied it a while back. When a prime-time cartoon with the coveted 18-40 demographic references a musical from the 40s and people still get it, you know that it's a legendary dance scene. (Sorry about the German subtitles!)