Album Review

"Begin to Hope" by Regina Spektor
2006
4.8/5



In my opinion, a lot of modern music is way too autobiographical. Quite a lot of whining about personal problems and the like (although I guess this has always been present in music.) I'm not claiming to fully understand the album, but I can definitely see that a lot of thought and inventiveness went into it's creation. Unlike some other albums I've picked up recently (which as a general rule are usually composed of 8 mediocre break-up songs slapped together without much thought towards the order), Begin to Hope is truly something unique and enjoyable.

The best thing about Regina Spektor's music is that nothing she attempts fails to work. Funny little breaks in the vocals or the song becoming almost entirely different in the middle of the track are acceptable things on her albums. Nothing sounds off about them.

Most of Regina Spektor's music is pretty much exclusively piano and vocals, but occasionally some percussion or guitar is brought into the mix. The amazing thing about this, is that despite the fact that throughout the album the music is generally being made by a woman and a piano, the songs feel completely different from one another.

Track 1, "Fidelity" is Begin to Hope's most well known song, and the music video is pretty nifty as well. The lyrics seem to be about preventing yourself from falling in love in order to avoid being hurt in the aftermath (although I've heard it's actually about the film "High Fidelity.") Track 2, "Better" has a sort of cutesy, childish sound to it and is horribly catchy. It's followed by "Samson", a comparatively slow song that references the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. This is actually a faster-paced version of "Samson" from Spektor's album Songs. Track 4 is "On the Radio" is a bouncy and extremely well-written song, but it's difficult to interpret parts of it. The next track is "Field Below" which is a beautiful, melancholic song, and the lyrics often flow from soft to powerful. "Hotel Song" is another reasonably bouncy song. "Apres Mois" is a truly amazing piece of music; the lyrics are intriguing, possibly written from the point of view of a statue, and it also quotes Madame Pompadour. "That Time" is the first song on the album that I wasn't completely thrilled with, because the ending struck me as a wee bit cheesy, but I still like it a lot, especially everything before the verse about overdosing. "Edit" incorporates a lot of neat sound effects. "Lady" is reminiscent of the kind of blues my cousin would take me to hear in coffee shops the 90s, if that makes any sense. It has a very smooth, sad vocal track. "Summer in the City" has a similar feel.

All in all, I would say that it's more than worth the money.

songthing.

Alright, so, songs.

Uh.

#1: Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell.

Why? Because it is fun, and far easier to for me to listen to than the Counting Crows cover. (Then again, a lot of people feel the exact opposite.) But, uhm, I guess I'm supposed to describe it. Basically it's one of those songs that every folksy person with an acoustic guitar at every pub ever is sort of required by law to play. If that makes any sense. Anyway, what makes this song appeal to me is the lyrics. Because it's catchy and all, but the sound isn't all that interesting to me and it just wouldn't be a good song if the lyrics were scrawled out in two seconds.

Also, a picture: (hopefully html was the right choice.)

#2: White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Now when I hear this song I can't think of anything else but the scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where the stoned guy who I can't remember the name of (not Hunter S. Thompson) tries to electrocute himself with a radio playing this song. Er, anyway, I really like this song and the sound is actually interesting all on it's own.

Picture: On a side note, this image makes me feel like I'm being mugged by hippies.

#3: Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones

You know, I actually really like this song, despite the fact that now the lyrics are beginning to remind me of bad teenage 'my heart is a cesspool' poems I've (unfortunately) seen floating around on deviantart.com. Er, anyway I like the way this song begins quite a bit.

Picture: Hey, none of their faces are falling off. :D

Jubilation!

Or not.

I'm enjoying 'The Color Purple' quite a bit, and I'm finding it much more difficult not to read ahead than I initially thought I would. It kind of kills me to know that I could find out what happens next at any moment, but I can't because I have to be at (basically) the same part as everyone else in my literature circle group. They're a nice bunch.

ANYWAY, as for themes I've noticed thus far...

- Sexism: The men in this novel are married and running around with other girls like that's their right, and nobody really seems to have a problem with it even though the characters seem to be Christians and as far as I know very few branches of Christianity do not find adultery to be sinful. It also feels strange that in those times your father pretty much selected a wife for you like an animal, based on their looks and family history. (Note: I'm not disregarding that Sofia also cheated on her husband, but quite frankly, Harpo was being an ass. :D)

-Abuse: Celie and many others in this book are frequently treated like material possessions. I was shocked at the reasons behind it all, too. "Oh, well, your mother is on her death bed, so I'll rape you instead. :D" "I'm really upset that I couldn't marry Shug Avery, so I'm going to hit you to relieve some stress. :D" I may joke about it, but it's honestly disgusting.

-Self-worth: I consider this a theme because one of the things that bothers me the most in the story is how Celie pretty much let's herself become a doormat so that she doesn't get hurt, and I really want to see her overcome her inferiority complex.

Etc.

I don't think I have any literal questions except "When does this take place?"
From what I've looked up it seems to be written about the late 1800s, but I'm not sure if my source is trustworthy. I really doubt that it's going to be revealed in the book if it hasn't by this point, so I hope to find out for certain some other way. I do so love the internet.

I'm really curious as to how this is going to end - so far, while it's really well done, it's basically just been snippets of Celie's life. I'd normally have an idea of what was going to happen, but most of the plot of 'The Color Purple' has proven to be pretty unpredictable. For me, anyway.

I'm a little iffy about what to do for the quotation analysis; while to me the story as a whole is really poignant, no particular quote has jumped out at me during this section. If I think of one later I'll edit the entry, though I'm not sure what good it'll do.

Er, instead I'll talk about the essay a very little bit. I think that I'll be writing about while most consider the issues presented in 'The Color Purple' to be uncommon now, the message is still really relevant to a modern audience. :D

And now I'm quite done.

Guacamurder

Oh right, I can write about that mini-project I did while everyone was in Mexico.

Making bread. Is difficult. I like cooking, and it was terribly difficult. D: Because the dough gets so hard to mix after awhile. I got so tired doing it, but then I felt bad when I realized that people've been making bread long before electric mixers and that no one really complained about it in the days of the wooden spoon. Still, it made the paper look like a minor issue.

Well... It pretty much was. I would post it, but I don't particularly want to sit here while word loads, so this blogpost can do without it.

Then also I got to draw, which is always fun. Oh, the subjects were anatomically incorrect skeletons, too, which was also fun. I really didn't have a clue as to what do draw them doing. I had planned to draw a band, but after looking through artwork of this genre on the internet I felt that my sketch was a bit hackneyed.

So I called my friend from out of state for a bit and we spoke about our plans for when I fly there during Spring break. She mentioned how she had to teach me to cook fishcakes when I was over there, and so I ended up drawing skeletons cooking. Huzzah.

CALL MY FRIENDS AND-- *crashes into wall*

I recently went to Point Loma Nazarene to interview college students. We had planned to go to SDSU, but we were rapidly running out of time to do so, and I go to Point Loma Nazarene for voice lessons as it is. So, in the end, while we did not get a frat boy, we got a rather interesting opinion that goes against Mr. Turner's 'San Diego Christians for Secure Borders' theory. (A student at Nazarene, a Christian college, said that as a Christian, the idea of borders troubled her since "everyone is equal in the eyes of God.")

I don't know. I thought it was interesting.

We also filmed/recorded the rest of our video clips in school the other day, although it took awhile since I couldn't get my lines out right and people kept slamming doors/walking in front of the camera/singing loudly and crashing into walls. Hilarity ensued, etc.

We have one more clip that we need to film tomorrow (Thursday the 15th of November) so we can close it out.

Taco Guacamorder~

It might be good to post here now and then.

Since we're supposed to have a daily average and all.

Er, I'll be posting a boatload tonight.

So. This evening I recorded a lovely (or not) piano piece to use as background music for our documentary. It is just the right length for the credits. What the actual piece is shall remain a mystery for now, but I'm certain nothing this hideous... er, well-done, could possibly have been copyrighted yet.

Credits! Speaking of credits, this evening I created them. For our documentary.

Right. Making separate posts for the sake of catching up on over a month's worth of this.

That's super chocolatey.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-blackmagic5sep05,1,402692.story?coll=la-latinamerica

NOT EVEN THE DEAD ARE SAFE IN CARACAS.

So apparently, psycho grave-robbing black magic cults do exist. And a femur goes for about $30.00... In what way is that worth it? I mean, one would think it would look and feel disgusting, for one, and honestly, I've no clue how anyone could be alright with strolling into someone's crypt. Kind of gross.

Well, anyway, some people in Venezuela, where these lovely grave robberies are happening think it's being allowed to happen because of a rise in leftist power, since leftists see the Catholic church as an enemy.

I can't say I agree with that, since taking power away from the church is different than saying "Hey guys, worship Satan."

People are funny.