A new post, because (a) my exams are half over, and (b) I’ve broken the record now, so that’s all good. Plus 42 is, as Vivian says, an ideal number of comments. (Title is the quote of the week, yay for reading Shakespeare as a study break!)
So, we went for a walk the other day, as a study break, and as we were walking along we came past a lady with two children with her. This was all perfectly normal, except that when I looked at them (and their little dog), I was completely unable to focus on them. Like they were sort of fuzzy people designed only to be seen in the distance background in CGI movies or something. So, after they went past, I commented on the fact that either the people in our neighbourhood were badly-animated and out of focus, or I was going blind, and she said that she’s had exactly the same impression! *gasp!*
We had changed our minds and gone down that street on a whim, clearly what’s happened is this: the people in our neighbourhood are in fact CGI. Lilyfield is the Matrix! And/or it’s all a giant conspiracy. If so, (a) Cat’s either not in it, or else is pretty slow to the uptake, agreeing that people were out of focus would be a bit dim, and (b) I’m the main character, because I’m not in on it either. Regarding this latter, b, Yay! And also, how embarrassing to have people watching you all the time.
Not sure that all of my behaviour would stand up to scrutiny. Especially my tendency to talk to myself out loud in the car, and argue with myself. Hmmmm….
We were in the kitchen the same other day, on another hours-long study break, doubtless, when that song “goodbye my lover” came on. This sparked something of a debate. Cat asserted that its whiny maudlin-ness was highly effective, and probably captured the essence of the feeling that it was about. Conversely, I maintained that it’s whiny, maudlin, and, in point of fact, utter shit.
Further, I propose that it would never be a good song to listen to, psychologically, not just aurally. If [assuming it was a good enough song] you were single, it would make you lonely, if you were in a good relationship, it would make you fear for the end of it, if you were in a decaying relationship, it would fill you with dread, as well as making you jealous of the happy relationship that the singer is farewelling. If you’d just broken up with someone, but were trying to pick up the pieces, it would make that harder.
There is no good time to listen to that song. Plus, like I said, it sounds terrible.
This lead to a discussion of tragic music in general, and what made a song tragic, as opposed to sad. So we (naturally) made a 3-hour playlist of all the very sad songs on my computer.
On examination, however, I think that only a few of the songs are properly tragic. And cause that real stirring-of-the-soul, gosh-that-is-completely-unlike-my-situation-but I-could-just-cry-for-you ruth. Really tragic music has to sound heartfelt, have that depth of sound to them, and a real crescendo of sorrow. (Awww…). So here are the contenders, in my opinion:
Gregorio Allegri’s “Misere”;
Matchbox 20’s “You Won’t Be Mine” and;
The Whitlams’ “I Don’t Believe Anymore”, with possibly a side order of “Cries Too Hard”.
This is particularly irritating, since I’ve lost my copy of Torch The Moon, the Whitlams album, so I couldn’t put those last two on the list.
So what’s the difference between something that’s tragic and something that’s just really, really sad? I think tragedy needs to go that little bit further, add a dash of irony. So: the end of Romeo and Juliet is tragic. They both kill themselves, thinking the other to be already dead. (Especially in the Luhrman adaptation) Julius Caesar is maybe a little tragic, given that he disregards the warnings, but mostly the ending, where everyone ends up dead in various nasty ways is just very sad. Hmmm….
Deep. Deep and deeply pointless. I really should get back to work.
Have taken to reading Shakespeare’s sonnets in breaks. Am rather taken with them, actually. Some of those are tragic. Yay for Shakespeare, and sympathy for his/his persona’s sucky life.
Read Ben Lee’s Blog the other day. Ha! My comments are soooo much better. All his are like “OMG Ben Lee, you are like soooooooo totally awesum!!!!!11!!one!!!! I totuly worship you, and so do all my freinds!I can’t believe I’m writing to you!!!! I’m learning the guitar two! Can I be in your band?” Poor guy. You guys rock.
(Also, hi, Alex!)
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8 comments:
Maybe you weren't in the matrix (though I do not deny the fact that you could be, and that if you were YOU of course would be the main character) but it was merely a SKELETON family (aka death and cohorts) who were walking along the street and your mind just told you that it was a woman and her kids?
Or maybe they were high and the fumes were reeking off them.
Interesting idea! Yay. I post, I check the other blogs, I come back and ta-da! A comment!
A pity that doesn't work every time eh?
a tale of two cities is pretty tragic... i can't think of anything else as an example... but is tragedy a concept that is truly outstanding in its terribleness, or something that everyone can relate to and thus sympathise with but taken even further than people usually experience?
they could have been skeletons, didn't think of that, but the whole street was fuzzy i think... wow, too long ago and very hard to focus eyes at time, so visual memory bad.
For sad songs - perhaps you should start listening to folk music. All pretty tragic really. For example Drowned Lovers, Broken-hearted I'll wander etc.
Everyone loves your blog! Everyone!
oooh yeah, drowned lovers is so tragic. and lots of folk music... 'the blacksmith' is pretty sad. also country music. 'travelling soldier' and 'top of the world' for example. 'tortured, tangled, hearts' is relatively cheerful
Yes, but equally, listening to falok music would be tragic in and of itself. Yes Dan, they do.
How do I change windows file tyoes from Media file to audio?
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