Time for One of My Favorite Music Today

I feel like listening to one of my favorite music today!

My favorite section is On the Trail. Enjoy

https://youtu.be/IVGOUHcdXy4

Ferde Grofé (27 March 1892 – 3 April 1972) was an American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé. Grofé is best known for his composition of the Grand Canyon Suite (1931), a work regarded highly enough to be recorded for RCA Victor with the NBC Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini (in Carnegie Hall in 1945, with the composer present). The earlier Mississippi Suite is also occasionally performed and recorded. Grofé conducted the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in his Grand Canyon Suite and his piano concerto (with pianist Jesús Maria Sanromá) for Everest Records in 1960; the recording was digitally remastered and issued on CD in 1997.

My first posting on the Grand Canyon National Park: https://lifeinus1960present.blogspot.com/search?q=grand+canyon+suite

The Sound Track of the Movie-The Hours by Philip Glass

Its time for some great music: Macrine and I just finished watching an old movie-the Hours. The movie was great and sad but what really attracted our attention was the music or sound track of the movie. Macrine kept asking me during the movie, what was the title of the music during some of the dramatic scenes, because she thought it sound familiar. So I did my web search ( Wikipedia) and was not surprised that this sound track received numerous awards as follows:

The album won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (lost to the score of the film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers).

The Hours is the original soundtrack album, on the Elektra/Nonesuch label, of the 2002 film The Hours, starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. The original score was composed by Philip Glass. Not all of the music in the film was composed specifically for it: earlier music by Glass, including a theme from his opera Satyagraha, was also featured and credited separately at the end of the film.

Michael Riesman and Nico Muhly arranged the soundtrack for piano solo. This score was published in 2003 as a 64-paged book containing most of the tracks (excluding "For Your Own Benefit", "Vanessa and the Changelings" and "The Kiss").

Here's the sound track for your listening pleasure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXyMywvHF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXyMywvHF0

Track listing
No.
Song title
Time
1.
The Poet Acts
03:40
2.
Morning Passages
05:30
3.
Something She Has to Do
03:09
4.
"For Your Own Benefit"
02:00
5.
Vanessa and the Changelings
01:45
6.
"I'm Going to Make a Cake"
04:01
7.
An Unwelcome Friend
04:08
8.
Dead Things
04:21
9.
The Kiss
03:54
10.
"Why Does Someone Have to Die?"
03:53
11.
Tearing Herself Away
05:00
12.
Escape!
03:48
13.
Choosing Life
03:50
14.
The Hours
07:44

Total time
56:43

Note: This is the first time that both Macrine and I enjoyed the music sound track more than the story line of a movie. The movie had received also numerous awards for acting ( Nicole Kidman), but to us the score composed by Philip Glass is outstanding and worth our time. It is a sad movie with two suicides and one attempted suicide. The acting however is superb particularly the child actor playing the boy, Richard. Kidman, Moore and Strep were also fantastic. We highly recommend this movie if you have not seen it.

Binging On an Award Winning TV Series-Shameless

I started watching this comedy drama last week. I am now in Season 3 and looking forward to be current ( Season 8) in the next few weeks. The show makes me cry and laugh. It has some nudity, vulgar language and a lot of sex scenes both hetero and homo. The lead actor and actress won several acting awards. In case you have not heard of this TV show, here's a summary from Wikipedia.

Shameless is an American comedy-drama television series developed by John Wells that debuted on Showtime on January 9, 2011. It is a remake of the British series of the same name created by Paul Abbott. The series features an ensemble cast, led by William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. Set in the South Side of Chicago, the series is filmed in Los Angeles, with the exterior scenes shot in Chicago.

The series has been renewed for a ninth season, which will make it the longest-running original scripted series in Showtime's history

The series depicts the dysfunctional family of Frank Gallagher, a single father of six children. While he spends his days drunk or in search of misadventures, his kids learn to take care of themselves.

The show's producers sought to distinguish it from previous American working-class shows by highlighting how Frank's alcoholism affects his family. Paul Abbott, the show's creator, has said, "It's not My Name Is Earl or Roseanne. It's got a much graver level of poverty attached to it. It's not blue collar; it's no collar." When John Wells, the showrunner, began pitching the show, he had to fight efforts to place the show in the South or in a trailer park. He explained, "We have a comedic tradition of making fun of the people in those worlds. The reality is that these people aren't 'the other' – they're people who live four blocks down from you and two blocks over".

Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Shameless is excellent, compelling television from the first moment. As long as it stays true to the roots of the original, it's going to be essential viewing". The show's first season score on Metacritic is a 66 of 100, which is a generally favorable review.

The second season score on Metacritic is a 76 of 100, indicating increasingly favorable reviews. Tom O'Neill of the Los Angeles Times reported on the Emmy buzz about Shameless, especially with respect to the performance of Emmy Rossum, stating "she didn't have much Emmy buzz after Shameless debuted in January, but that changed after she gave powerhouse turns in such episodes as 'But at Last Came a Knock'".

Buddy TV ranked Shameless #8 on its list of 2011's best new TV shows. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 'fresh' rating of 74% based on 31 reviews, with the critical consensus "Shameless is a dark, urban dramedy that overcomes its leaps of logic thanks to fantastic casting, intriguing ambiance, and shock value." Seasons 2-5 each have a 100% rating as of January 27, 2015.

For more details on the widely nominated and award winning TV series read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shameless_(U.S._TV_series)

My Prediction for the Three Major Oscar Winners for 2018

I have been following the Oscar Winners for the last three decades. This year my prediction for Best Picture is Call Me by Your Name, for Lead Actor-Timothee Chalamet and for Lead Actress-Sally Hawkins ( from the Shape of Water). The are nine movies nominated for Best Picture, five for Lead actor and five also for Lead Actress.

For the Best Picture category, I based my prediction from the Trailers and Reviews and from opinions of friends and relatives who have seen the movies. I have only viewed the movie, Get Out.

For the rest of the 8 Best Picture nominees: I have read all the reviews, trailers and TV interviews, story lines and viewers reception published in the Web. My second and third choices for best Picture is The Shape of Water and Lady Bird respectively. The nominees for the three major categories ( best picture, lead actor and actress) are as follows:


Best Picture:

“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Lead Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Phantom Thread”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Lead Actress:

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep, “The Post”

The Oscar nominations for the 90th annual awards in all categories were announced last week from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.

Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” lead the pack with 13 nominations. “Dunkirk” followed behind with eight nods and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven. All three films earned best picture nominations.

The rest of the category was rounded out by “Call Me By Your Name,” “Darkest Hour,” “Get Out,” “Phantom Thread,” “Lady Bird,” and “The Post.”

The Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and will be aired live on ABC on March 4.

Binging on the Widely Acclaimed TV Series-Damages

Last week, I started watching an old TV series that I have heard but have never watched. The series is titled Damages which premiered in 2007. It has 5 seasons and I just finished Season 1 and 2. I enjoyed these two seasons very much so I did some web search on this series and here's a brief summary from Wikipedia.

Damages is an American legal thriller television series created by the writing and production trio Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler. It premiered on July 24, 2007, on FX, and aired for three seasons before moving to the DirecTV channel Audience Network in 2010, airing for two further seasons and concluding in 2012.

The plot revolves around the brilliant, ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her newest protégée, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). Each season features a major case that Hewes and her firm take on while also examining a chapter of the complex relationship between Ellen and Patty. The first two seasons center on the law firm Hewes & Associates (located in New York City). Later seasons center more on Patty and Ellen's relationship as Ellen attempts to distance herself from Hewes & Associates professionally and personally.

Known for its depiction of season-long cases from the point of view of both a law firm and an opponent, the series is also noted for the technical merit of its writing, including its effective use of plot twists and nonlinear narrative. The series has received critical acclaim and various award nominations, with Close and Željko Ivanek winning Primetime Emmy Awards for their performances.

Other established actors in the cast include Ted Danson, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Timothy Olyphant, Martin Short, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman, Ryan Phillippe, Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer and John Hannah.

Season 1 focuses on a class action lawsuit against the fraudulent multi-billionaire CEO of a defunct company; the plot was inspired by various corporate scandals and characters involved in them, most notably the 2001 Enron scandal. Season 2 deals with the energy industry and related environmental issues; the story is influenced by recent and ongoing environmental cases in the United States in the mining industry and by the events of the 2001 California energy crisis. The writers were guided by environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who shared his experience in the field with various corporations and CEOs. Season 3 is largely based on the 2009 Bernie Madoff scandal. Season 4 describes events based on the Blackwater Security Consulting scandal. Season 5 storyline was inspired by the vicissitudes of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

Looking forward to viewing Season 3,4 and 5 in the next three weeks. If you like legal drama, mystery and thrillers, this is a must viewed TV series.

https://tv.xfinity.com/entity/6408176172496624112/7478805043051761112

Binging on the TV Series-The X Files

The 11th Season of the TV show "The X Files" premiered the other day. I watched it and triggered pleasant memories of this TV show first released in 1993. So, I started Season 1 with 24 episodes two days ago. I am only in Episode 9 but plans on binging until I am current with Season 11. In case you have not seen this longest running show in Television, here's a summary from Wikipedia.

The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original television series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox. The program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes premiered on January 24, 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, Fox announced in April 2017 that The X-Files would be returning for an eleventh season of ten episodes

The X-Files follows the careers and personal lives of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). Mulder is a talented profiler and strong believer in the supernatural. He is also adamant about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and its presence on Earth. This set of beliefs earns him the nickname "Spooky Mulder" and an assignment to a little-known department that deals with unsolved cases, known as the X-Files. His belief in the paranormal springs from the claimed abduction of his sister Samantha Mulder by extraterrestrials when Mulder was 12. Her abduction drives Mulder throughout most of the series. Because of this, as well as more nebulous desires for vindication and the revelation of truths kept hidden by human authorities, Mulder struggles to maintain objectivity in his investigations.

Agent Scully is a foil for Mulder in this regard. As a medical doctor and natural skeptic, Scully approaches cases with complete detachment even when Mulder, despite his considerable training, loses his objectivity. She is partnered with Mulder initially so that she can debunk Mulder's nonconforming theories, often supplying logical, scientific explanations for the cases' apparently unexplainable phenomena. Although she is frequently able to offer scientific alternatives to Mulder's deductions, she is rarely able to refute them completely. Over the course of the series, she becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her own ability to approach the cases scientifically. After Mulder's abduction at the hands of aliens in the seventh season finale "Requiem", Scully becomes a "reluctant believer" who manages to explain the paranormal with science.

Various episodes also deal with the relationship between Mulder and Scully, originally platonic, but that later develops romantically. Mulder and Scully are joined by John Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) late in the series, after Mulder is abducted. Doggett replaces him as Scully's partner and helps her search for him, later involving Reyes, of whom Doggett had professional knowledge. The X-Files ends when Mulder is secretly subjected to a military tribunal for breaking into a Top Secret military facility and viewing plans for alien invasion and colonization of Earth. He is found guilty, but he escapes punishment with the help of the other agents and he and Scully become fugitives.

Critical Reception and Accolades:

The X-Files received positive reviews from television critics, with many calling it one of the best series that aired on American television in the 1990s. Ian Burrell from the British newspaper The Independent called the show "one of the greatest cult shows in modern television". Richard Corliss from Time magazine called the show the "cultural touchstone of" the 1990s. Hal Boedeker from the Orlando Sentinel said in 1996 that the series had grown from a cult favorite to a television "classic".

The Evening Herald said the show had "overwhelming influence" on television, in front of such shows as The Simpsons. In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #4 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years", describing it as "a paean to oddballs, sci-fi fans, conspiracy theorists and Area 51 pilgrims everywhere. Ratings improved every year for the first five seasons, while Mulder and Scully's believer-versus-skeptic dynamic created a TV template that's still in heavy use today."

In 2004 and 2007, The X-Files ranked #2 on TV Guide's "Top Cult Shows Ever". In 2002, the show ranked as the 37th best television show of all time. In 1997, the episodes "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Small Potatoes" respectively ranked #10 and #72 on "TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".

In 2013, TV Guide included it in its list of the "60 Greatest Dramas of All Time" and ranked it at #25 on their list of the "60 Best Series of All Time". In 2007, Time included it on a list of the "100 Best TV Shows of All Time". In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it the fourth-best piece of science fiction media, the fourth best TV show in the last 25 years and in 2009, named it the fourth-best piece of science fiction, in their list of the "20 Greatest Sci-fi TV Shows" in history. Empire magazine ranked The X-Files ninth best TV show in history, further claiming that the best episode was the third season entry "Jose Chung's From Outer Space".

According to The Guardian, Media DNA research discovered that The X-Files was on top of the list of the most innovative TV brands. In 2009, it was announced that the show's catchphrase "The Truth Is Out There" was among Britain's top 60 best-known slogans and quotes.

I am enjoying watching this show again and It is very addictive. I strongly suggest watching this show if you like science fiction, mystery, paranormal activities, drama or horror stories.