OhMyTrill

4/10/06

iTunes/iPod Survey

...I know that you are all bored enough to do this too... How many songs=2407, 7.9 days, 12.07 gigs Sort by song title= first: 'Til Him by Mel Brooks from the Producers Soundtrack last: Zweiter Alleluia by Arvo Part from Berliner Messe Sort by time= first: a 12 second segment from the first Ligeti String Quartet last: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss Top Ten Most Played Songs= 1. Stupid Girls by P!nk 2. Everytime We Touch by Cascada 3. Strong Enough by Cher 4. Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani 5. Tehillim II by Steve Reich (performed by Ossia) 6. Believe by Cher 7. It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp by Djay and Shug (from Hustle and Flow) 8. What Are You Waiting For? by Gwen Stefani 9. Bubble Pop Electric by Gwen Stefani 10. I'd Be surprisingly Good For You by Madonna (from Evita) First song to come up on shuffle= Snow by Gustavo Santaolalla (from Brokeback Mountain) How many songs come up when you search for 'sex'= 13...but they are all sextets How many songs come up when you search for 'death'= 20...but most of them are Star Wars How many songs come up when you search for 'love'=81 How many songs come up when you search for 'you'=97

Ying+CCE

Announcing: The Ying Quartet will perform the first movement of the Mendelssohn Octet with the Cape Cod Experiment on May 14th. OMG! Details to follow.

Watch.

I'm kind of looking forward to Dreamgirls which will be coming out this year. I was introduced to this clip via Nathaniel...andI like it a lot...but it is kind of long. Enjoy.

Short is Good.

So I finally decided to let In Cold Blood go. I've been trying to get through it for several months now (after seeing Capote), and I love it, but its just not happening for some reason. I read one page really intensely and am really into it, and then I just put it down and don't touch it for weeks. In light of this I have recently purchased the following books on Amazon.

The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People by Susan Orlean
My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean
Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

You may notice a running theme in these books: they all are short, or consist of short stories/articles For some reason I can only deal with things that are short these days (short episodes of Sex and the City for example). This is not a good thing since I have to do a presentation on Robert Altman on Thursday (since his films are very LONG). Ugh. PS> I just walked to Blockbuster and they didn't have a single movie directed by Robert Altman...what gives?

Stuff.

Just got off the phone with Fred Sherry. I was like, "Too bad my Juilliard audition was a disaster." And he was like, "Well, not a disaster, but it could have been a lot better." So there you have it. But anyway, he is calling Mannes for me. So thats good.

4/9/06

MacBook Pro.

I've spent about 2 hours reading about the MacBook Pro. At first I was salivating over it (as you saw in serveral posts). Some are really happy with it, some really hate it. Not sure if I should be buying one or not. It doesn't have much software, but that will change soon (Finale already announced that the next version will work on the computer). What do you think...should I just get one or wait?

Template

This blog is in serious need of a facelift. While I do love the template that Rabsteen has provided for me, I think its time to move on. I mean, his changes a few times a day, so mine can change every few months correct? The problem that I face is that I don't really know what I'm doing and I don't have a photo-editor program. I just tried to change my template, but there is so much extra stuff I've added that it was too hard to transfer it all. Help?

4/8/06

Adorable?

4/7/06

Only in Brockport

Ho-Ho Grand Buffet

A buffet featuring Chinese food.
A Christmas themed restaurant.
A whorehouse/brothel of some sort.
A buffet featuring only Hostess products.

Official.

Fred Sherry accepted me into his studio at Mannes...now the begging for money begins. Anybody willing to call up Mannes and tell them how amazing I am? Thanks in advance.

Writing.

The Writers Guilds (West and East) have released a list of the 101 best screenplays. Its actually kind of interesting, mainly because, most of the movies actually deserve to be on it. I don't know when these organizations actually decided to award films that actually deserve to be awarded, but this is a very good step in the write (haha...get it?) direction. My Favs: #90=Sideways #77=Adaptation (should be MUCH higher) #74=Being John Malkovich #62=Moonstruck #61=The Silence of the Lambs #38=American Beauty #32=Fargo #24=Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind #7= Sunset Blvd. WTF: #97=The Searchers #68=Star Wars (an amazing movie, but the writing...no.) #28=Shakespeare in Love (well written, but so high on the list?) Its worth a glance...check it out here...what do you think?

Word of the Day

...OverBlogger... While being guilty of this in the past...the past few days are not an example of this. Usually when nothing happens, I can still manage to squeeze a blog entry out about it. Perhaps I have BlogBlock...the most dangerous disease to have as a blogger. I MUST PROVIDE YOU ALL WITH USELESS INFO! No fear...OhMyTrill will return shortly with a BlogRenaissance I'm sure.

4/5/06

Music News {list form}

After some down time...Heather and I have become completely obsessed with the opening theme to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...a movie which has been slowly growing on me since I saw it last Thursday. What do you guys think about it?
Martino's Notturno is some crazy-ass shit. The parts are almost unreadable, and on top of that, they are almost unplayable also. But its pretty darn bad-ass. Gotta love the 2nd movement with really specifically notated finger tapping on the instrument (he tells you which and how many fingers to use and where on the cello to tap). The concert is next Thursday and you should be there.
Music For All is over forever. I think we had fun in our final presentation. I hate the prep, but the two performances are always kind of fun...especially with the amazing speaking skills of CCE. And presenting weird new music makes it even better.
GRAD SCHOOL...see below.
I didn't buy the P!nk album...I will eventually. Instead I got Daniel Powter. I can't see myself getting obsessed (don't speak too soon) but the music is def fun.

Thinking

So now that I have heard every school (sort of) it's time to make some decisions. I'm starting to get advice from various musical and non-musical figures in my life. I'm starting to think that maybe its a good thing that I didn't just get into Rice, since they really don't have the programs that I am looking for....I probably wouldn't be that happy there (although I do like Norm Fischer a lot). Of the three schools I got accepted to, I am most interested in Eastman and Mannes, mainly because they have some sort of New Music thing going for them (Eastman has Brad...Mannes has Fred Sherry). I dropped an email to Mannes and another to Dean Undercofler (who thinks that I should go to Mannes!)...now I'm just waiting for Mannes to confirm Fred Sherry as my teacher, then I'll give him a call and go from there. Maybe this will work out afterall!

4/4/06

Bad news.

All of the sudden things are not looking so good for grad school. The director of admissions at Rice called me to say that I'm on the waiting list. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. Now I have to start begging for money from the other schools that I was accepted to, none of which gave me a good amount of money. If I don't get money I don't know what I'm going to do. I think there is a VERY good chance that I won't be able to get more money...so I might as well assume I won't be going to grad school next year. That sucks. Things were going so well for me this semester...I should have known that everything would turn sour...it always does.

Top and Bottom

Today's top story: I have finally received my very own copy of the Umbrellas of Cherbourg soundtrack. I know...its a bit on the cheesy side...but I like it. Now I can listen to it at end. The unfortunate news is that today is also the arrival of P!nk's new album. I took a listen to the samples on iTunes...wasn't horribly impressed, so I'll just get it later. Today's bottom story: Lack of a letter from Rice. Seriously people...where the hell is it?

4/3/06

The Truth.

I think that Carrie (who also received negative results from a school today) had a very good comment: "I guess that's what happens when we play bad auditions." Ain't it the truth?

First Rejection

I knew things were going too well...got my first rejection today from Juilliard. To be honest, I had kind of lost interest in it a little bit (it was my first choice) but there is a lot of attitude there...I probably wouldn't have been very happy. Although if I did get in, I probably would have gone anyway. It was also my worst audition, by far. It was really crappy. Whatever. Mannes didn't come through with very much money. This leaves the big question mark of Rice University. I really have no idea whats gonna happen there. I could get in...I might not. I'll probably find out tomorrow or the next day. ACK! What looked like kind of a good situation (I had gotten in to so many schools) suddenly all depends on what one school says. I want this to be over. In other news, rehearsals for Sea Symphony start today. The opening line of the chorus is, "Behold, the Sea!" I think hilarity + CCE laughing sessions will commence shortly.

4/2/06

Sunday Afternoon Library Blogging

I think that last nights viewing of Bring It On was a success. Such a hilarious movie. Even the Ply was impressed (I know there are haters...but why?...its just good clean fun) I'm looking forward to Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette which should prove to be completely crazy. She carries Bring It On with her super ditzy "cheerleaders are dancers gone retarded" schtick and we love her. Several things should be come apparent in the next few days...such as: where I will be going to grad school. April 1st is that day that schools have to mail by...so those final two letters will be arriving ANY DAY NOW....maybe even tomorrow. Things have gone well so far...but who knows what those two envelopes could contain! Its exciting and terrifying at the same time. The next two days are also super busy=two papers, MSQ4 gig (dinner with the president of U of R!!) beginnings of rehearsal for Ossia (crazy ass Martino), and the final appearance of CCE at a Music For All event [sob]. Rest of the week is smooth sailing. And I finally broke down and bought the entire Cascada album...its really bad (Everytime We Touch is an obvious fluke) but at least I can work out to it.

4/1/06

Gotta Love Him

No matter if his playing an innocent naive college boy home from school, or an eccentric special agent investigating a really strange murder, or even the perfect husband (that has problems in bed) Kyle MacLachlan is always great. You may know him from his David Lynch days (where he played a wide array of strange/disturbing characters that were somehow lovable at the same time), or you may know him from his more recent appearance in Sex and the City (where I am right now rediscovering him). as Charlotte's (not-so) perfect husband. He doesn't seem to do much (save for a few appearances in movies and TV shows from time to time)...but maybe he's just hard to cast? I'm personally looking forward to his upcoming role in David Lynch's Inland Empire...who knows what he will be doing...

What do you think...love him or hate him? Any required viewing that I missed? The Zenith: Twin Peaks=Agent Dale Cooper The Classic: Blue Velvet=Jeffrey Beaumont (right) The Entertaining: Sex and the City=Trey MacDougal (above)