Short Stories About Art and Music

I've been kind of bummed that I hadn't had any real, "good" adventures in the last month or so. And I forgot that, well, I actually HAVE gotten out of the house quite a bit lately, it's just that not every outing turns into a great blog post. Sometimes going power-walking is just power-walking. Not everything is an epic story. So here are some short ones.

Keep Your Heart Open, and Love Blah Blah Blah
It's been kind of a joke between me and Matt since well before we got engaged that holiday jewelry commercials are universally terrible. They're cheesy, or have lame taglines, or weird scenarios, or bad dialogue. (I mean, the Jared commercial where the guy proposed on a plane? Planes are like, the least romantic places ever.)

So I was barely paying attention during the commercial break of one of our shows when this Zales commercial came on. But my ears perked up, and within seconds I was looking for the commercial on YouTube so I could figure out what the song was. A minute later, I had already bought "Ends of the Earth" by Lord Huron and was beginning the first of many replayings. So I guess jewelry commercials are good for something after all.

At The Museum

I needed to get out of the house and get inspired the other day, and I had heard about a presentation at an art gallery on campus about mass media and culture in the 1700s, which sounded interesting. So I went up to campus and headed to the art gallery, only to find out the presentation had changed to something about sustainable art. I didn't stay for the whole thing — no offense to the speaker, but that wasn't what I'd come for — though one thing that I found interesting about his presentation was that some people find museums to be a threat to sustainability, because they require a large carbon footprint to maintain. I thought that was an unusual thing to think about, because if not for museums, many people would never get a chance to experience art. After I ducked out, I headed over to the other gallery in the student union, where they had a series of Degas sketches I'd been wanting to see, which was much more up my alley.

Intricate vases I wouldn't have seen if it weren't for museums.

Dance, Humans
For a long long long long time, Matt was a member of a percussion organization that performed on campus a few times a year. They'd do STOMP-like performances as well as more traditional marimba and drum pieces, and it was always a really good time with good music. They'd play videos and do little filler bits that were fun too. A few semesters ago, he quit because as a Ph.D. student, he was the oldest in the group BY FAR, and since he was married and working all the time, he just felt like it was time to go. Besides, he had already achieved legendary status in the group by being the only group member to literally break his leg — in three places — mid-performance. (Some of the newbie members may not know who he is, but they all know about The Dude Who Broke His Leg and Kept Playing Anyway.)

Last night, we went on a date to this semester's show. The intro video was about aliens, and was set to the catchiest song ever, so the whole audience was up dancing and clapping. (No one broke a leg, as far as I know.) A lot of former members who have since moved away try to come back to these shows, so Matt got to see some old friends and enjoy the performance. My favorite song by far was a marimba cover of Mumford & Sons' "Below My Feet," and I kind of wish I'd gotten a video of it, because it was fantastic and no one has posted it to YouTube yet. (Plus, I was annoyed by the woman in front of us who kept standing up to take videos, so it was kind of on principle that I didn't film anything.) There was also a Christmas piece with dueling pianos that was pretty epic, and it made me wish that I had learned how to play piano when I was a kid, because it's a lot harder to learn as an adult.

What have you been up to this week? Are you planning to see any holiday shows? (I've convinced Matt to take me to see "The Nutcracker" in a few weeks, and I can't wait! I haven't been to the ballet since college.)