Healing Rain (2004) – Michael W Smith

Posted on June 1, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Michael W Smith is one of my favourite Christian singer-songwriters and has featured here a few times. Healing Rain is the title song from his 19th studio album. It debuted at No 11 on the Billboard charts and some of the album’s tracks were recorded at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound, located in Marin County, California. I have to hand it to Michael, he really knows how to tap into that vulnerable part of oneself to realise how with Grace we can all transform, if we so desire and have the courage and committment. From my first listening I was enamoured with this song and I still love to hear it.

Healing rain is coming down
It’s coming nearer to this old town
Rich and poor, weak and strong
It’s bringing mercy, it won’t be long

Healing rain is coming down
It’s coming closer to the lost and found
Tears of joy, and tears of shame
Are washed forever in Jesus’ name

Healing rain, it comes with fire
So let it fall and take us higher
Healing rain, I’m not afraid
To be washed in Heaven’s rain

Healing Rain rose to No. 1 on the Radio & Records Charts and combines the pop style of his previous recordings with the religious feel of his two live worship albums. It was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. Michael W. Smith’s career has spanned three decades, with over seven-million-records sold and 25 number one singles.

I was weighing up which video of Healing Rain to present here. The official release is a bit cheesy with stereotypical messaging and the live performance here is not so well sung by Michael, but it has a grandiose guitar solo at 3 minutes and the other instrumentals and choir bring it home. The performance of the abridged duo of Healing Rain / Majesty is really powerful and Michael sings immense (as seen below).
Whatever the case, if you like the message and melody, I hope you hear all three versions to immerse yourself. It’s one of the greatest Christian song releases in my opinion of the 21st century.

Reference:
1. Healing Rain – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 18) – Syncretism, Erogenous & Sequela

Posted on June 1, 2022 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Syncretic (ie Religion)

  1. The combination of different forms of beliefs or practice.
  2. The fusion of two or more different inflectional forms.

Hellenistic culture in the age that followed Alexander the Great itself showed syncretist features, essentially blending of Mesopotamian, Persian, Anatolian, Egyptian (and eventually Etruscan–Roman) elements within an Hellenic formula.

Gnosticism is identified as an early form of syncretism that challenged the beliefs of early Christians. Gnostic dualism posited that only spiritual or invisible things were good, and that material or visible things were evil….In the first few centuries after the death of Jesus, there were various competing “Jesus movements”. The Roman emperors used syncretism to help unite the expanding empire. Social conversion to Christianity happened all over Europe. It became even more effective when missionaries concurred with established cultural traditions and interlaced them into a fundamentally Christian synthesis.

Buddhism has syncretized with many traditional beliefs in East Asian societies as it was seen as compatible with local religions. Notable syncretization of Buddhism with local beliefs includes the Three Teachings, or Triple Religion, that harmonizes Mahayana Buddhism with Confucian philosophy and elements of Taoism, and Shinbutsu-shūgō, which is a syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism.

Reference:
1. Religious Syncretism – wikipédia

Erogenous (Adj.)

(Of part of the body) Sensitive to sexual stimulation.

Sequela (Noun)

A condition which is the result of a previous disease or injury; a secondary result. As for example, a sequela of polio.

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Posted in Health, Reading

Happy (1998) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on May 31, 2022 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

This song wooshes me back to living in Northcote, Melbourne cerca 2005. I had a girlfriend called Claire who was a clairvoyant. She was a busty, curly-short haired blonde who had these little freckles peppered around her face. I don’t think we ever had chit-chat, rather a fully transcendental conversation about the big questions in life.

I was smitten…Us two lost souls hang out a lot in her big yellow family-house beside the train-tracks and we shared moments in time that just clicked.
Claire and I often played today’s track Happy to represent what all was ‘good’ in our world together. Even when I hear it now I can’t help but think of these idealic – surreal capsules of time and place with her. Sure, they were short-lived, but we did achieve this ‘happy‘ which Bruce conveys in his song.

Some need gold and some need diamond rings
Or a drug to take away the pain that living brings
A promise of a better world to come
When whatever here is done

I don’t need that sky of blue, babe
All I know’s since I found you
I’m happy when I’m in your arms
Happy, darling, come the dark
Happy when I taste your kiss
I’m happy in a love like this

Happy comes from Tracks, a four-disc box set by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released in 1998 containing 66 songs. This box set mostly consists of never-before-released songs recorded during the sessions for his many albums. I went to town with this goldmine of music. Many songs like Happy were unknown until their release and some of them will feature in my project. Happy is a little gem and I never grow tired of listening to it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any specific information about it online. It’s impressive how this song was never released on an album or even performed live. What a great repertoire!

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23/05/22 – 29/05/22 Top Gun, The Asteroid, Bristol Arm & Venus

Posted on May 30, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

news on the march

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Top Gun: Maverick a Blast from the Past
Movie review by Reely Bernie

I am enthused by all the positive reviews for the Top Gun sequal. My blogger buddy Reely Bernie who writes movie reviews has written an article here which seems consistent with the plethora of positive critique for this movie.

‘Top Gun: Maverick will leave less of an impact down the road, but it’s a worthy sequel, respectfully paying homage to its predecessor while capturing the daunting possibilities of g-force in today’s aircraft. The trip down memory lane might even draw a few tough guy tears amidst the action.‘ (Read more from Reely here)

I’ll leave you with another one of my other favourite critics of movies – The Critical Drinker:

The Day the Mesozoic Died – The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs
Video by biointeractive

Ever wonder why the dinosaurs disappeared? HHMI BioInteractive investigates the cause of the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period—and the clues come from paleontology, chemistry, physics, and biology. This three-act film tells the story of the extraordinary detective work that solved one of the greatest scientific mysteries of all time. Explore the fossil evidence of these prehistoric animals, and other organisms that went extinct, through this lively educational video. (View entire presentation here)

The Bristol Arm
Blog article at nickreeves

I enjoy reading Nick Reeves’ creative writing pieces. The article concludes with a very lucid and breezy version of Dylan’s – If You See Her Say Hello.

Martin Kettle, formally of Stoneyclough but now resident of Penn Beacon, was stood on a table in the Eight Kings. He was taping the fourth corner of a large poster of Bob Dylan’s face to the wall at the end of the bar.

“No, no, Sam,” he was saying. “It’s ‘uff’, not ‘ow’. Stoneyclough.” He stretched a little higher and I could see that there was still a price sticker on the sole of his left Chelsea boot. With a huff and a scuttle he got off the table and the three of us looked up at Bob.

Dylan is buttoned up, angular. Angelic, monochrome. Highway 61 Revisited. Words form from the very last tendrils of his hair: Penn Beacon’s 1st Bob Dylan Appreciation Evening.  In smaller print (and quite artfully placed on Bob’s shoulders), are penned the date, the details, etc. A speech bubble reckoned Dylan to be saying, ‘FREE! MUSIC AND QUIZ! Hosted by Martin Kettle.’…. (Read entire blog article here)

Venus Death of a Planet
Documentary at SpaceRip

This fascinating documentary examined how Venus has a surface of climatic death due to the following: its steady declining stores of water; lack of a magnetic field (to protect it from the sun’s rays); no plate tectonics to drag carbon down into its crust and hordes of volcanos blasting CO2 into its skies.

Earth has about 8 kms of hard crust under the oceans and 30km under land. The skin of Venus is twice as thick. The surface of Venus is so hot it can melt lead, but in the sulfuric acid clouds at a height of 50km the temperature is 25 degrees and perhaps useful when entertaining the following concept:

HAVOC (Height Altitude Venus Operational Concept) whereby Venus might be surveyed by developing a human outpost through a balloon-born habitat. A science city in the clouds. (Watch documentary here)

news on the march the end

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Posted in Movies and TV, Music, Reading, Science

Hang Down Your Head (1985) – Tom Waits

Posted on May 28, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment
Tom Waits, 1985 New York Photosession

Hang Down Your Head is the second song to feature here from Tom Waits’ highly acclaimed Rain Dogs record. The song is in the same vein as Tom Waits’ earlier work, featuring a more gentle and conventional melodic structure about lost-love. Allmusic critic Stewart Mason called the song “among the most direct and effective things Waits has ever written‘. I love the warmth of the guitar and other instrumentals which juxtaposes the sense of pain one hears in Tom’s voice as he languishes over a woman called Marie who he cared deeply about.

Tear the promise from my heart
Tear my heart today
You have found another
Baby, I must go away

Hang down your head for sorrow
Hang down your head for me
Hang down your head tomorrow
Hang down your head, Marie

The usual Tom style lyrics of dark imagery and story don’t exist here in this song in their usual way. But that should not be confused with something not up to the mark. The richness of language is vividly visible in the lyrics. The guitar lick is very jazzy. Overall a very good song. Vocalist Lucinda Williams recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack of the crime/drama series Crossing Jordan, released in 2003. 

Rain Dogs peaked at number 29 on the UK charts and number 188 on the US Billboard Top 200. In 1989, it was ranked number 21 on the Rolling Stone list of the “100 greatest albums of the 1980s.”

References:
1. Hang Down Your Head – wikipedia

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Posted in Music

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) – Joel and Ethan Coen (Friday’s Finest)

Posted on May 27, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Coen brothers’ movies have featured a lot here and today’s movie is another impressive film from their extensive canon. The Man Who Wasn’t There is an intriguing film noir set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with his boss. I just like how this film is stylised with its moody texture in black and white. The movie just lets things happen naturally. The Cohen brothers have a reputation for the old quirks and here is no different mixing the steady noir narration with talk of haircuts and bingo makes for a strange if humorous mix. Thornton as the meekish protagonist is a great selection as he features well in the black and white shadows and his voice suits the noir narration. His face becomes a landscape of shifting shadows, while he doesn’t move a muscle. He is able to give the impression of a man at war with himself even while sitting perfectly still and staring ahead.

IMDB Storyline:
1949, Santa Rosa, California. A laconic, chain-smoking barber with fallen arches tells a story of a man trying to escape a humdrum life. It’s a tale of suspected adultery, blackmail, foul play, death, Sacramento city slickers, racial slurs, invented war heroics, shaved legs, a gamine piano player, aliens, and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Ed Crane cuts hair in his in-law’s shop; his wife drinks and may be having an affair with her boss, Big Dave, who has $10,000 to invest in a second department store. Ed gets wind of a chance to make money in dry cleaning. Blackmail and investment are his opportunity to be more than a man no one notices. Settle in the chair and listen.

The Coens began developing the idea from a 1940s haircut poster they saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy. The plot was heavily influenced by James M. Cain’s crime novels, primarily Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. The film premiered and participated in the official selection at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where Joel Coen won the award for best director. Upon its theatrical release, it was lukewarm at the box office. However, it was well-received by film critics.

A significant portion of the filming took place over a day in the city of Orange, which was used to represent the exteriors of the town of Santa Rosa, where the majority of the film is set. Although only one day was shot in Orange, the team worked for more than two weeks setting the streets according to the year 1949: traffic signs were replaced, facades were modified and minor street repairs were made. The exterior scenes of Ed Crane’s house were filmed in the Pasadena neighborhood of Bungalow Heaven, a popular and affordable location in the mid-twentieth century. 

Presented below is the trailer to the film which effectively captures the style and feel of the movie. I really like the music in this too:

‘Sometimes the more you look, the less you really know‘

References:
1. The Man Who Wasn’t There – wikipedia

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Posted in Movies and TV

Handle With Care (1988) – The Traveling Wilburys

Posted on May 26, 2022 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

It’s fascinating watching the making of the Wilburys and the process by which they realised a track. Jeff Lynn recalled, ‘Just sitting around in a circle, like 5 of us just strumming acoustic guitars and coming up with a song in a couple of hours. It was almost ready to record. It was unbelievable stuff…The whole thing took six weeks from the first chord to the finished mix of the last song.‘
Petty said, ‘The whole experience was just some of the best days of my life and I think it was probably for us all. The thing that might be hard to understand is what good friends we were..it was a bunch of friends that just happened to be really good at making music….None of this would have happened without him (George Harrison). It was George’s band and it was a dream he had for a long time.’

Handle With Care is the 4th song to feature here from The Traveling Wilburys, but it was the debut hit single as the opening track of their album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. I think it’s one of the most significant songs of the last 50 years. It peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, number 2 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and was a top-five hit in Australia and New Zealand.

According to wikipedia: The song was the first recording made by the group, although it was originally intended as a bonus track on a European single by George Harrison. When he and Jeff Lynne presented the song to Harrison’s record company, the executives insisted it was too good for that purpose, a decision that resulted in the formation of the Wilburys.  With no professional studios available at such short notice, Harrison phoned Bob Dylan, who agreed to let them use his garage studio in Malibu (see image left – wikipedia). Tom Petty, who had also been working with Lynne in Los Angeles, was invited the following day, when Harrison went to retrieve his guitar from Petty’s house. George said, I have the first lines, ‘Been beat up and battered around‘, and Dylan asked: ‘So what will we call it‘? George saw a box laying there with the sticker and responded ‘Handle With Care‘ and Dylan responded ‘Oh yeh. Good.’  

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up, and I’ve been shot down
You’re the best thing that I’ve ever found
Handle me with care

Reputation’s changeable
Situation’s tolerable
But, baby, you’re adorable
Handle me with care

I’m so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won’t you show me that you really care?

Coupled with a fantastic lyric, this song has a stupendous acoustic and vocal harmony. I was in awe from first listen. I don’t know how many times I have heard this song over the years, but it’s a lot and I still find it a very pleasureable listening experience. It was an exceptional launching pad for the group. Petty and his band the Heartbreakers often performed Handle with Care in concert. Lynne sang it with them at the Concert for George, a year after Harrison’s death in November 2001. The music video below for Handle with Care was filmed at an abandoned brewery near Union Station in Los Angeles.

References:
1. Hand With Care (song) – The Traveling Wilburies

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Posted in Music

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 17) – Extraneous, Pluralism & Missive

Posted on May 25, 2022 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Extraneous (adj.)

“Not belonging or proper to a thing; not intrinsic or essential, though attached; foreign,” 1630s, from Latin extraneus “external, strange,” literally “that is without, from without” (as a noun, “a stranger”), from extra “outside of” (see extra-). A doublet of strange. Related: Extraneously.

Pluralism

Pluralism is a condition or system in which two or more states, groups, sources of authority coexist. The political philosophy of pluralism suggests that we really can and should “all just get along.” First recognized as an essential element of democracy by the philosophers of Ancient Greece, pluralism permits and even encourages a diversity of political opinion and participation.

Pluralism assumes that its practice will lead decision-makers to negotiate solutions that contribute to the “common good” of the entire society. It recognizes that in some cases, the acceptance and integration of minority groups should be achieved and protected by legislation, such as civil rights laws. The theory and mechanics of pluralism are also applied in the areas of culture and religion.

Missive

A letter, especially long or official. “yet another missive from the Foreign Office“. [From Middle English (letter) missive, (letter) sent (by superior authority), from Medieval Latin (litterae) missīvae, feminine pl. of missīvus, sent, from Latin missus, past participle of mittere, to send .]

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Posted in Reading

Hand in my Pocket (1995) – Alanis Morissette

Posted on May 24, 2022 by observationblogger — 4 Comments
Alanis Morissette MTV interview 1995

I wonder what talented so and so Alanis Morissette is up to these days and if she is still making great music? The last time I saw her was in a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode seen here where she sabotages her own set. I suppose it was to meet Larry’s storyline, which is self effacing on her part.

Hand in my Pocket is the first song to feature here from the Canadian singer-songwriter. It was the second single from the enormously successful album Jagged Little Pill which I once had in my humble music collection. This song received significant radio airplay and reached No1 on the US billboards. I still feel it holds up solid after all these years and I fondly rewatched her well-received music video. It’s great songwriting:

I’m broke, but I’m happy
I’m poor, but I’m kind
I’m short, but I’m healthy, yeah
I’m high, but I’m grounded
I’m sane, but I’m overwhelmed
I’m lost, but I’m hopeful, baby

And what it all comes down to
Is that everything’s gonna be fine, fine, fine
‘Cause I’ve got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is givin’ a high five

After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Her publisher funded part of her development and when she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio. The two wrote and recorded Morissette’s first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and by the spring of 1995, she had signed a deal with Maverick Records. Every other label turned her down. Ouch!

Ballard said to Rolling Stone: “I just connected with her as a person, and, almost parenthetically, it was like ‘Wow, you’re 19?’ She was so intelligent and ready to take a chance on doing something that might have no commercial application. Although there was some question about what she wanted to do musically, she knew what she didn’t want to do, which was anything that wasn’t authentic and from her heart.“

References:
1. Wikipedia – Hand in my Pocket

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Posted in Music

16/05/22 – 22/05/22 The Great Schism, Getting Old & Woody Allen

Posted on May 23, 2022 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

news on the march

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

The Great Schism 1054
Video at Ryan Reeves

Why did Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches split in 1054 A.D.? This video explores the political, cultural and theological issues between Eastern and Catholic faiths. For example, what is filioque and why was it important? What caused the Eastern Patriarch and the Pope to fight? All of this is covered in this video in the Great Schism of 1054.

Ryan M. Reeves (PhD Cambridge) is Assistant Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. (View entire presentation here)

Funny Prayer About Getting Old
Speech at Home Instead

This funny prayer about getting old was the addendum of a short story – A hearty speech by my esteemed blog enthusiast Bruce Goodman. Bruce described the speech as a delightful grace before meals.

With the timing of a professional comedian, this diminutive “little old lady” shines a very funny light on the foibles of aging, to the delight of an audience filled with senior-care experts. A friend of the couple who founded Home Instead Senior Care, Mary Maxwell was asked to give the invocation at the company’s 2009 Convention. Initially it seemed like a normal prayer, but it soon took a very funny turn. Her deadpan delivery and lines like …This is the first time I’ve ever been old… and it just sort of crept up on me … had everyone rolling in the aisles.  (Watch the speech here)

How did Woody Allen become Woody Allen?
Documentary at Sebastian Pereanu

‘I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member’

This is the first documentary I have seen about the Writer-Director Woody Allen and I was impressed by its scope, editing and video archive footage and that it achieves a good dynamic. At times the narration leaves a bit to be desired, but in a nutshell this is Woody from his stand-up career through his love life, beliefs, and into becoming the unique filmmaker he is today. (Watch documentary here)

news on the march the end

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