Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Indulgences

Ah…indulgences. Catering to mood or whim.

Give me chocolate. Give me rock-n-roll. Give me a decadently dark and bordering-on-Gothic environment of gargoyles and dragons and Pre-Raphelite paintings in which to enjoy them simultaneously.

That would be a kick-ass weekend,

Anyone know where I can get that? Is there a goth/rock cruise ship? A castle B&B with both luscious chocolate and metal heads?

Speaking of weekends, I interrupt the post for this timely announcement: **This weekend, March 5, I will be signing books at the Barnes & Noble in Crocker Park (198 Crocker Park Boulevard Westlake, OH 44145) S.A. Swann, Cinda Williams Chima, and Mary Ellis will be joining me. At 1pm we're going to each give a short presentation on some aspect of writing. If you're in the area, come check it out!** And now back to my regularly scheduled post:

Not to diss the yumminess of the sugared up cocoa bean, but in case you haven’t guessed, I indulge in music daily. It plays as I write, as I cook, clean, etc. I’m happier when music is playing, and more inspired. And not just 80s big-hair rock-n-roll.

*fangirl moment alert* I LOVE HANS ZIMMER, my favorite composer ever. Unlike the atmosphere of a rock concert, I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to fling your sexy underwear at a conductor/composer during a symphony performance, but smack me starry-eyed and call me a groupie. That man’s music is hands down the most fabulously arranged, most brilliantly orchestrated themes ever. EVER.

We’ll get back to Hans in a moment. First, here is an indulgent video for an indulgent techno band which isn’t available for embedding. It’s cool music, great clips pieced together to accentuate the music, and well, seriously, the clips are from the movie 300 –one of the most indulgently costumed, set, portrayed, filmed, and acted films I’ve ever seen.

Now, back to Hans.

I beg you to indulge me, your Hump Day Word Whore, for a moment.

Think of a character you love.

You can choose someone you’ve written, someone you’ve read about

or seen on tv or in a theater or a historical figure you adore.

This video below has no moving images. Hit it to play, close your eyes and just listen.*

(*better with headphones)

How can you not build a story out of the places your imaginings take you?

Tell me if the the ebb and flow of this melody inspired you in the comments.

Enjoy! --Linda


7 comments:

  1. Oh, I love Hans Zimmer! Admittedly, it's more likely that I'd try and paint something than write, but it's wildly inspiring either way. He's brilliant.

    And yes, absolutely have to go work on something after listening to that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG - I LOVE Hans Zimmer too!!! :) I have a ton of his soundtrack music as well. (The You're So Cool song from True Romance? Jesus, I start bawling every time I hear it when I'm driving. No, I don't know why.)

    @Dar - I'm sure you'll come up with something brilliant, as always. :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hans Zimmer, eh? I admit, I didn't see that one coming. Music as your indulgence, totally, but Zimmer... well, shows what I know.

    That bit from 300 has me all hot and bothered, which is a stark contrast to the floaty feeling of the embedded clip. I'm all musically bipolar now. Dare I listen to Zimmer's work from Inception?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hee hee. Rock-n-roll & movie scores don't typically draw the same fanbase--movie soundtracks sure, but not so much with the scores. :-D

    And, since the link didn't show up in a different font, if you mouse over the "here is an indulgent video" in the last justified paragraph, the link will darken so you can see the other video. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. I do like some of Hans Zimmer's stuff - some of it makes me want to rip my hair out. Don't know what the difference is. I'm a big Nox Arcana fan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP3zLExMIzE Because creepy = better for me. Still addicted to all of the Myst soundtracks as well. This is for writing...in real life, it's all about electronica/dance. :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mmmmm, 300, lots of testosterone. Now that's what I call indulgent!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Marcella-I have some Nox Arcana and if that'a the creepy I remember it didn't do it for me. I'll check the you tube link though, am curious.

    ReplyDelete