SOUNDTRACK: KRISTIN CHENOWETH-A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas (2008).
Last year I thought about doing a Christmas CD every day in December as my soundtrack. But I forgot until a week or so in. But this year I remembered. Yuletide joy!
Since Sarah and I have a lot of Christmas CDs from over the years, I decided to just pick some at random this year. And we start with this one which I got for Sarah I thought last year, but if it’s from 2008, perhaps I got it earlier?
I knew Chenoweth from her great role on Pushing Daisies. I didn’t know she was a singer then. She has since done some amazing runs in various roles and her voice is great. This disc features a mix of traditional songs, a few more religious songs and a number of unexpected “mashups.” It works pretty well, although it tends to cross the line into cheese a bit too much for me.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” has her in great voice. Although I hate the cheesey sax solo.
“Christmas Island” is a new favorite song for me. Her version is fun (although the original Hawaiian version is much more fun).
“The Christmas Waltz” is a song I don’t know. It is probably best song on the disc.
“Do You See What I See” also suits her voice very well. It’s the first song to mash in another song (“Angels We Have Heard on High“) which is quite pretty
“Sleigh Ride/Marshmallow World” I like her part, I’m not sure about the blend. I don’t know who John Pizzarelli is, but he sings it too clean. The original of “Marshmallow World” is sung in an almost drunken fashion which makes the weird lyrics better. Nevertheless, the two of them have a good vocal chemistry. And there’s some goofy fun at the end.
“Sing” (you know, sing, sing a song). It’s a really weird inclusion here. But she sounds great.
“Silver Bells” also sounds great.
“Come On Ring Those Bells” is another song I don’t know. This version is way too pop country for my liking.
“What Child is This” is also perfect for her voice.
“Home on Christmas Day” is another song I don’t know (who knew there were so many unfamiliar Christmas songs?), and it works well “Born on Christmas Day” is a rather dull more religious song, which seems somehow out of place.
“Sleep Well Little Children/What a Wonderful World” is another mash up. It works pretty well and I kind of get why she chose it to end the album, but it’s another weird non-Christmas related song.
So overall this is a decent Christmas album. There’s some lovely traditional songs, some odd choices, and a few clunkers. But her voice is really fantastic throughout.
[READ: November 29, 2014] Aama
I’m surprised and delighted with how many unusual, translated graphic novels are being published in the States these days. There’s always something about the art that screams “not American.” So when I get books like this (especially if the author’s last name is Peeters), I immediately look for the translator to confirm my suspicions. This book was translated by Edward Gauvin.
While translated childrens book often seem slightly weird to my family (fun, but always slightly askew), the graphic novels don’t usually seem as weird to me. (Maybe the childrens authors just expect more existential thought from their kids).
Having said all of that, I found that I really couldn’t get into this story. There were some great elements to it, in both storytelling and character creation, but, and maybe more will be explained in future books, but the main plot was a little too vague to me.
But I loved the way it was constructed. We open on a man face down. As he comes to, he realizes that he has no idea who he is. While he tries to get himself together, a weird looking ape comes up and calls him Verloc. The ape has no hair on his legs (so they look human). The ape is named Churchill and he is a custom built robot. As Verloc tries to come to grips with what’s happening, Churchill gives him his “memoirs” to read. The book is “real paper” which Verloc appreciates. And they started just a week ago.
Pretty cool opening. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 