Media mix of September 9th

[Listen] What is the most comforting album that you have?

Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory. Just kidding. I'm hard pressed to name an album. I find more comfort in songs. Here's some candidates, though. Jai Uttal's Beggars and Saints. Ray Lynch's The Best of Ray Lynch, Volume 1.

I have a CD of the Philadelphia Orchestra doing Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition which is piece that I find oddly comforting.

I think my problem is that I don't look for comfort in music (opting for food instead. Hmmmm, perhaps a rewiring of the brain in that regard might be useful). I use music to inspire me to overcome whatever negativity might need soothing. If I'm angry or tense I'll listen to something fast and driving and try to exercise it out. If I'm feeling sad I'll look for something happy to lift my spirits. I don't equate that with comfort for whatever reason.

[Watch] Which movie(s) gives you the best kind of warm fuzzies inside?

I started to type an answer about how I like happy ending movies where the guy gets the girl and they live happily ever after. That's a nice kind of fuzzy but the best kind is the overcoming adversity just because of the buildup to it. There are two specific movie moments that do that for me and they combine an underdog character you root for, adversity, a great moment and, of course, an awesome musical moment.

The one is Roy Hobbs hitting the home run into the lights to clinch the pennant in The Natural. I have literally watched that in excess of one hundred times and it still gets me. Randy Newman's music is awesome in this movie.



The other is Dave Stohler clinching the Little 500 for The Cutters in Breaking Away. This is one of the most brilliant musical choices for a movie I've ever encountered. All the bike scenes use Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony which is such a fantastic selection. It really adds to the movie.

Oh, I forgot another one. Gets me every time. The "O Captain, my Captain" scene at the end of Dead Poet's Society. That probably gets the nod over the two sports moments.


[Read] Which books have given you a sense of comfort while reading them? (If you want, explain why.

Peter Cameron's City of Your Final Destination. The main character is a lost and confused graduate student who goes to South America to research an obscure author for his thesis/dissertation. He falls in love with the author's widow and they live happily ever. I'm summarizing it immensely. I find it comforting for a number of reasons. One, I associate with the main character's lack of sense of home. He finds it which I find comforting. Two, he finds love. Again, comforting. Three, he finds happiness. Comforting. But four, Cameron's writing is really great at capturing the essence he wants to capture. The book is set in Uruguay but from what I've read, Uruguay is nothing like the Uruguay about which Cameron writes. Wherever it is, Cameron captures it. You feel the weather, the heat, the humidity, the changing of temperatures from day to night. You smell the smells and hear the sounds. It all fits. Even if it isn't my idea of ideal, it is still comforting. So I like it for that.