Looking for music.

Sometimes I want some more music. I go on the hunt. I trawl through itunes "listeners also bought" links and listen to samples. I also listen to ABC Dig radio, and hear things I like and look them up. And also, if someone I like, like Brooke Fraser, mentions a band on twitter or something, I look them up. So The Civil Wars is pretty nice, sort of like an American Swell Season. I have bought 2 tracks from TCW to dip my toe in, but I'm not sure if they are for me. It's so hard to know, because I've realised I am very deceptive in my tastes. I have no idea if I only like something or I really love something until I've bought it. It's all good music and I like it all, but will I wear it? Is it me? Sometimes it's music I like because it's cool and cool people like it, but it isn't me, which is a disappointment. The Swell Season was that. Whereas, Hem, I just found it and loved it, even though it has some elements I find daggy. So I'm really trying to just find stuff myself and not be influenced by peer music taste, which is currently based around what I call "drummy-woo-woo music", or anything with banjos. I listen to samples for a few days in a row, to try and get past first impressions of like and see if it's love before I commit and put it on my ipod.

Much Ado About Nothing

There is at least one good DVD version out there, I remember really enjoying Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice. Liza reminds me Keanu was in it. Haha. The BBC modern Shakespeare version was goodish, Billie Piper was Hero and it was set on a TV news show.

I have just discovered an audio drama version with Rex Harrison (Henry Higgins) as Benedick, it's completely wonderful! And a BBC Radio recording with David Tennant doing his Scot thing. This is a handy way to access Shakespeare. You can read it to yourself but you have to be a pretty good reader to comprehend it. It's best to see it because it's easiest to understand if you can see the action. But listening to it is a pretty good experience.

Right now you can see the Bell Shakespeare production. The music, costume and simple set are perfect, as always. The cast are beautiful, particularly the male cast. The women jarred a little bit for me at first, they seemed a bit affected, their voices were silly or they wiggled their hips too much or something, but the men were spot on - the tall guy who faked Hero's betrayal was sinisterly funny, the evil Don was wonderfully slimy, the good Don was beautifully gentlemanly, Claudio was just like Marius in Les Mis, and Benedick stole the show: his physical comedy was brilliant, it was so sweet watching him confuse himself into being in love, the entire audience adored him. So it's all very entertaining, go and see it. Tickets are $30 if you are under 30.

Risen.

Second impressions.

Well, a second hearing helps me like the hookless songs a bit better. They do make a bit more sense now. I stand by only really liking the last 2 songs. I'd say the album is OK, with 2 songs worth considering for church. This is possibly because I tend to like morose hymns (currently my favourite hymns are Hard Times and It Is Finished from Come O Spirit Anthology) better than rock ones. Eg, I hate the boppy 80s/90s version of Holy Ho-oly Holy with the "praise him and lift him up" (nananananananana) and prefer the antique version "Holy holy holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning my song shall rise to thee…". Because which tune actually matches the word "Holy"?? The boppy one or the grand one? But some people prefer happy songs. Some people will do Never Alone boppy and try and clap along. TO JESUS' DEATH.

I'm preferring simple, direct lyrics at the moment. Risen is quite lyric heavy. Big piles of long words wash over people, even when they sing them. That's where the modern chorus wins, because sometimes less is more. And old-school ones like Nothing but the blood or I have decided to follow Jesus are cool. Not overly poetic, just honest statements. "The world behind me, the cross before me, no turning back, no turning back". So much Christian music is surprisingly good, if you can find non-daggy versions of the songs.

I shall listen to Risen a little bit more and report any developing changes in opinion.

Risen.

A subjective personal first impressions review, while I listen through for the first time:

Risen is not another Come Weary Saints or Valley of Vision. Some of these tunes are so hookless and plain that if I had written them I'd hide them. The song structures and chords are sort of interesting, but without nice melodies they feel clunky. And they haven't broken new ground with the lyrics. Its a lot of "glorious" and "risen" and so on, and although there are a few songs that are more impactful lyric-wise, again the melodies mostly don't make you want to sing them. And maybe they don't rhyme enough, or something, because they feel off balance to me.

The first half dozen all sound the same, drums and gritty acoustic arrangements similar to the album Sons and Daughters. To Live Is Christ is the first song with a female voice and the first one that I sense is telling a compelling story. Jesus Lives might grow on me, too. The last 2 songs on the album are the ones I like the most: Behold our God has male and female vocals in harmony, which is my favourite thing at the moment, and builds into a quality anthem. Hail the Day has that military beat we all like and is melodically closest to the beloved irish hymn, so it doesn't matter what the lyrics are—but they seem good, if not heart-punching. It finishes with a bonus refrain on an old piano, and I LOVE a sweet old piano sound, so that's the highlight of the album for me.

EDIT: I missed hearing tracks 1 and  2.

Alive is all rock n rolly, very catchy and slightly naff, but I like a good bass riff. Oh What a Day is also uptempo, and confirms that "glorious" is the new "deep" for Christian lyric cliches. So the first half of the album isn't as weak as I first thought. People might like this CD after all.

Rain.

One of the books has a lot of rain in it. I was worried that it would be difficult to paint rain so I left this problem for as long as possible. Fortuitously, Stephanie started getting tips about watercolour painting from Ian's mum, and bought me a bottle of masking fluid she thought might be useful to me for rain. You paint the rain drops in liquid latex, it dries into yellow rubber, and then you can paint a wash of paint all over it, I also paint a bit of an outline around each drop and a tail above them, and when it's dry you just rub the latex raindrops off and ta-da! Rain is falling down. I experimented a bit to get this look right. If they don't have a tail they look like snow flakes. They have to be reasonably subtle though.

I tried to find some examples of rain to copy from, but in the end I had to develop my own style to suit the books. Actually, the most helpful information I could use is what I remember from watching Playschool when I was little. One of my favourite episodes, I'm sure I saw it several times on repeats. The lady drew a street in crayons, blue for the houses and cars and yellow for the raincoats, and then washed it all in grey or something, and there was an observation on how yellow looks very bright in the rain so that's why we wear yellow raincoats for safety. So I basically went with that, painted everything sort of greyish and dull, did the raindrops, and went all out with the yellow raincoat. It's as good as I could have hoped! Is this cute or what:

This is one of the better rain pages. It's not as clear when the rain is falling on a garden background, but it's still effective.

No craft for the rest of April?

I just need to get through the month. I just need to do a load of washing, for starters. I have no clean hankies and I'm as snotty as I can be without actually having a cold.

Observation: I don't like it when I'm busy, even when all the things are good things. All the individual parts are fun, but the sum of them is stressful. So I'm not in the mood for creativity.

Also, my camera is still lost. I really want to cut up a skirt, but without a 'before' photo it won't be as satisfying to blog.

But, I do have some craft potential to enjoy anticipating. I'm going to buy a crochet hook and some wool and learn granny squares. Partly because I want Kim at church to teach me: skill sharing is such a community-building thing. That might be the bright point of my week. Don't disappoint me, Lincraft.

Miranda.

It's a TV show. I think it's on the ABC on Wednesday nights? I want someone else to watch it so that I can talk about it with you and so that I can use the good lines in my everyday life and you will get them. Such fun, such fun, such fun, SUCH fun.