(no subject)

[snowystingray]

Spent the day trying to teach myself some embroidery. So far I have learned that 1) I think I need glasses and 2) I'm not very good at embroidery. :/

I'm also catching up on all the greatness currently coalescing at rh_drabblefest. God, I love this fandom.

In light of my current Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes phase, I've had the soundtracks for both on constant rotation for the last week or so. You might think it'd be possible to outlisten "Vienna," buuut you would be wrong. At any rate, I feel suddenly moved to compose a semi-tribute to television series that make excellent use of music. (There are some mild spoilers behind the cut, but I've marked what episode each is from in case you're not caught up, and then clips with overly spoilery preview frames are linked instead of embedded.)

I suppose it's appropriate to start off with LoM/A2A first, then. All you have to do is look at the show titles to know that music plays into the very core of their identity, and yet somehow I still managed to be surprised by how multi-layered the soundtracks really are. Yes, there's certainly a very significant element of song choices just being fun and goofy and ridiculously over-the-top and camp, yet I feel like I get something new out of them on each listen -- they develop narrative, build atmosphere, explicate unspoken feelings, subtly form cognitive links between different scenes to hint at over-arcing mysteries in a way that usually goes completely over my head on first viewing but then afterward makes me go OH GOD I'M SO DUMB THAT'S WHAT THAT SONG WAS SAYING THERE. It's made me look at a lot of songs differently (I never used to be a big fan of "In the Air Tonight," but I fell so in love with the way the sequence was edited around it in 2.02 that now I can't stop listening to it), and even step out of my genre comfort zone somewhat (definitely more so for Life on Mars, though; I'm already a complete junky for corny 80s music). Specific scenes that I love:

Life on Mars
"Live and Let Die" chase scene from 1.02:

(No, I didn't just pick this because it features everyone running around in their wee little trunks yes I totally did. "There's no badge down there, Sammy-boy. Mind you, does tickle open a few doors, eh?" MY LOVE FOR THIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS.)

Cruising in the Cortina to "Ballroom Blitz" in 1.03:

"Life on Mars" (OF COURSE) in the final episode, huge huge huge massive spoilers seriously don't watch unless you've, uhh, already watched it: most epic scene EVER? I totally thought this was going to be the very end of the episode, actually. And I love how perfectly this echoes the "Live and Let Die" scene from 1.02, gah. God is in the details!

Ashes to Ashes

In picking my best song uses for this show, I almost just want to say the entire opening episode because every. single. thing. in there is so spot on and so perfect. As I posted earlier, though, I think "Same Old Scene" has to be my favourite (and, forewarning, basically all of the clips I'm choosing for this show are rather spoilery).

Much as "Vienna" sets the tone for 1.01, though, I'm infinitely more in love with its reuse in 1.06. ...And auuuugh it would seem that every single clip of it on YouTube has had the sound disabled. Well thanks a bloody lot for that! It was supposed to be the crux of my post. SIGH. Moving on before I give in to irrational anger!

ETA: In my annoyance I completely forgot to mention the one failing I have with the music on Ashes to Ashes -- namely, how is it that they have yet to use a single track from Time? It came out in 1981! It's about time travel! IT'S COMPLETELY EFFING PERFECT. The only thing that I can think is maybe they're saving it up for series three; either that or they're saying, "Pish posh, Bethany, it's just too darn obvious for us to use it!" (to which I say in return -- PISH POSH OBVIOUS OR NOT I'D LOVE TO HEAR IT ON THE SHOW).

Double ETA: Gosh, predicting song choices for this show is so much fun; and perhaps even more perfect than pulling something off of "Time" would be to use Elvis Costello's "Man out of Time." Just. Showrunners. PLEEEEASE. Has there been a more Gene-y song than that? No, I didn't think so. Depending on the direction they take with next series, this would quite possibly be the most freaking awesome and fitting song ever to use in the opening episode.

Chuck

Considering that there are like ten soundtracks available for The O.C., how is it that there is not yet even one for Chuck? Its music is such a fun mix of classic and contemporary, complementing high-stakes chase scenes and heartfelt emotional montages alike. There are times that I literally cackle with glee at how brilliantly a particular song has been used on the show. The gun-cleaning sequence in 2.18? So clever it HURTS.

"We're Not Gonna Take It" in 2.20 is such a perfect action sequence (and, ha, it just struck me that this kind of makes up for missing that Ultravox clip for A2A; I guess I just really love busting up windows):

And then the sweeping romantic chorus of "Love on the Rocks" from 1.12:

Sometimes I suspect that it would be easier for me to talk about this show if I did so Wile E. Coyote style, with just a few key phrases on poster board to communicate my feelings. In fact I would only need one to say all I ever need to say about this show: DO ME JOHN CASEY.

Finally, would any post about music in Chuck be complete without giving a special mention to JEFFSTER? Of course not. The entire "Mr. Roboto" sequence in 2.22 seriously just rocked my face off (um, pretty heavy finale spoilers. Actually I suppose the other two clips above this contain spoilers also yet, errr, not as spoilery ones? People beat each other up a lot in the show, I guess that's not really a spoiler). Watching that again, I cannot believe there was serious debate about canceling the show. Really NBC? Really? I hope you see now the error of your mistake.

Lost

What could be more iconic than "Make Your Own Kind of Music"? (I may be on a LoM/A2A kick, but nothing could ever replace Lost as the highest and mightiest of my mindfuck TV loves.)

Then to backtrack to season one, I love Shannon's delicate rendition of "La Mer" and how seamlessly it transitions into the piano piece.

Another favorite is the "Moonlight Serenade" bit at the end of 2.13 (I'm afraid I could only find the scene in Spanish), which is all at once creepy and comforting, alien and familiar (and again, I love how it's then echoed in "A Tale of Two Cities.")

Pushing Daisies

"Olive often imagined there was an orchestra in her heart -- music heard only by her, except when her heart broke open and it spilled out into the world."

ILU OLIVE SNOOK. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WILL NEVER BREAK OUT INTO SONG ON MY TELEVISION SCREEN AGAIN. D: D: D:

"Hopelessly Devoted" from 1.02:

"Eternal Flame" from 2.08:

"Hello" from 2.11.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Vic Fontaine is the man. That is all.

"Here's to the Losers" from 6.26:

"The Best is Yet to Come" duet from 7.15:

Even when Vic himself isn't performing, his club still plays host to some talented musicians; Kira(/Lola) and Odo perform "Fever" in 6.20:

And now I have officially spent way too much time on this! This is by no means comprehensive (if so we'd probably be here all week), so please do feel free to contribute your own picks in the comments.

Comments

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

how do you do embroidery? how does anyone do embroidery? I wanted to learn to do it for a costume once (since abandoned )and signed up for my local sewing shop's embroidery class and then found out that it was a huge sales pitch for those $8,000 Bernina machines. Needless to say this has not led to much success. I tried to embroider something onto a jean jacket and it is sloppy and awful (and I since have broken the hoop that was used).

and anyway, hi! First comment on your journal.

[snowystingray.livejournal.com]

Ha, well, I'm probably not the best person to ask for advice... Like you I kind of had vague ideas of learning how to embroider for future costuming purposes but just found it so hard to know where to start! I did a lot of cross-stitching when I was younger, but it was all those terribly tacky holiday ornaments with frolicking teddy bears and kittens in Santa hats and such... yeeeah... Then in high school I became acquainted with the embroidery machine in our school's fashion production courses, but somehow that's not quite the same, is it? So anyway, right now I'm finding myself struggling against those two things -- not making something that is hugely pointless and tacky, and not making something that could more easily be done by machine. Armed with a sudden fit of inspiration and a JoAnn's coupon, I picked up this book (http://www.amazon.com/Embroidered-Flora-Fauna-Three-Dimensional-Embroidery/dp/184448341X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247003783&sr=8-1) which has a lot of really interesting ideas for how to improvise with some less traditional materials than just embroidery floss (so, again, it's more than just projects you could simply do with a machine) -- but at the same time it's hard to find a starting place because it has all these massive projects that are like ooh, what a gorgeous textile art piece but in terms of creating something both decorative and useful...? Well. I'm still working on it. Right now I'm doing some practice runs by embroidering handkerchiefs (my father is seriously the only man I know under the age of fifty -- or, honestly, under the age of one hundred -- who still carries a hanky around, so at least I know I'll be able to pass them off to somebody, ha) just to practice different stitches and stuff... I've only finished one so far. It's just a bee. A bad bee, even (I kind of screwed up one of the wings). A Barbarini family hanky, perhaps? I DON'T EVEN KNOW. I'm really bad at starting anything new because I get easily frustrated at spending time and money on something that turns out less than fantastic. Yes yes, I realize that you have to go through the stage of sucking and practicing and redoing before you can get good, but... I don't know. I guess I'm still waiting for lightning to strike on this endeavor so I can find some properly motivating end goal for something I'd like to work on (actually, while trolling around for medieval costuming links I happened across this completely badass coronation mantle (http://home.earthlink.net/~lilinah/Textiles/roger.html) and I kind of feel like I'd like to do a small-scale rip-off of the design. I also have dreams of recreating parts of the Bayeux Tapestry, possibly in macro form (http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Bayeux_Tapestry). ...I have strange goals).

[hulamoth.livejournal.com]

That is fabulous. The coronation mantle, if you do make it. And if you do make the macro-form.