It is finally the first Sunday in September and I am thrilled to announce that The Sunday Sound has officially returned to its standard weekly activity. My very necessary "I need to take a break so I can go get married right quick" hiatus is over and I am filled with new ideas and new material (not to mention renewed enthusiasm!). I have missed producing and posting new pieces each week... I hope some of you are still with me after a summer of silence! Today is a special day, friends (and not only because of The Sunday Sound's triumphant return). Today also marks Brian and I's three-month anniversary. I guess I should say monthiversary. We got married on June 2nd and have now officially made it through the new-hire 90-day performance review. The first fiscal quarter. And wow... I'm not sure where to start. It has simultaneously been sublimely rewarding and sublimely difficult. Brian and I were together for less than six months before getting married, and we had never lived in the same city until we arrived at our apartment a week after tying the knot. Again, simultaneous reactions (elated and terrified). But every time we come together on something, I feel a renewed hope that we'll make it through that whole "as long as you both shall live" thing. And to that end, enter today's Sunday Sound. Join with us in our little backyard ceremony. THE SUNDAY SOUND: September 2, Our Wedding Vows. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece.
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It looks like The Wiseawesome Series will only be five parts. I'm sure you're as brokenhearted about this as I am. I have no excuse for last week's absence other than a feeble "planning a wedding in a mere six weeks is hard, you guys!" Yeahhh, I'm getting married on Saturday, June 2nd. The Wiseawesome Series was originally conceived as a countdown to my wedded bliss (Tommy Wiseau is my personal Dick Clark). There is only ONE Sunday between me and wifehood. Aaaaaahhhhh!!! Today's bit of Tommy: The beginning of the interview. He gives some interesting insight into how The Room stumbled into being a midnight screening staple, but my favorite part is the interview opener... Peter Flynn: Could you tell us maybe, just in brief, of the history of The Room as a midnight screening? Tommy Wiseau: Yeah, hey, this is Tommy Wiseau, uh, uh... what's your question? Classic. THE SUNDAY SOUND: May 20, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 4. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. And here is where reality breaks down. One question from a "cute" but disrespectful young lady inspired Tommy to offer a sermon on turning the other cheek, what love really means (teaser: "it is more than S-E-X"), and ends in a powerful show of crowd patriotism, with the chant... "U. S. A.! U. S. A.! U. S. A.!" You get two minutes this week. I promise it truly was necessary to share this shining highlight of the Q&A session with Tommy Wiseau from start to finish. It taught me to NEVER ask where he is from and that Tommy Wiseau is really proud to be an American. Can someone tell me which part of America this accent hails from? THE SUNDAY SOUND: May 6, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 3. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. Part 2 of The Wiseawesome Series is entirely self-indulgent. I recorded every moment of direct contact I had with Tommy Wiseau, which comes to just over two minutes. The only reason I was in the room (The Room!) was to monitor sound for an interview with the visionary. But as things were wrapping up, I had to jump in. I could not stomach failing to get a photo with the dude. So today's audio begins with the goodbyes between the interviewer and the interviewee, and then you hear me jump in... reeking of desperation... "Can we snap a couple pics with you?!" From there, we hear more of Tommy's shameless self-promotion, the kind he is famous for, and more of my shameless fandom. I even say that this is the "opportunity of a lifetime." That's right. I said that. And since Tommy mentions his trailer, that is today's bonus material. Listen to our interactions and watch the trailer. It will be the best five minutes of your life. THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 29, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 2. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. To truly grasp the significance of this series, you need to revisit a post from February: The Brilliance of Tommy Wiseau. At that screening of The Room, it was announced that Tommy Wiseau would be IN PERSON at another screening in April. Naturally, I bought tickets immediately. Now that we're all up to speed, this long-anticipated event occurred Friday. I knew I would be the lucky attendee of a sold-out Q&A session with Mr. Wiseau, but I had no idea that I would spend over half an hour roughly four feet away from the genius himself! Peter Flynn, a dude I know from work (the perks of working in Visual and Media Arts!), was shooting at the screening for a documentary he is doing on art house cinema. He had an interview scheduled with Mr. Wiseau and needed someone to monitor the audio (!!!!!!!). I recorded the entire Q&A session and the entire interview, so I've got some seriously good stuff to share with you all. The whole thing was so amazing (and so many amazing things are happening in my life!), that I decided to create a whole series around it (titular credit goes to my pal Dean Egan for the apt "Wiseawesome!"). From now until the Sunday before my wedding day (talk about burying the lead!), I will share 60 titillating seconds of sound from the exceptionally (charmingly!) crazy mind of Tommy Wiseau. Let's think of it as my extended bachelorette party. Today's minute? The audio from the infamous (!) coffee shop scene, featuring all the glory of Coolidge crowd participation. THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 22, The Wiseawesome Series, Part 1. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. Before last weekend, Brian had never stepped foot in New York City. THIS. HAD. TO. CHANGE. So, as I mentioned last week, we took a mini road trip down to NYC. I am happy to report we made it through our first road trip as a couple! Granted, it was only 3.5 hours. But I'll take milestones where I can get 'em. (Let's hope we survive our next road trip... roughly 2,400 miles [39 hours of driving!] across the U.S. so we can actually live in the same town.) We did all sorts of stuff... from the typical (pizza/cheesecake in Times Square and exploring the Top of the Rock) to the not-so-typical (a trek to see the Ghostbusters firehouse and a stop at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop with my good pal Luis). Amidst all our adventure, we took a siesta on Umpire Rock, a big chunk of bedrock in the south end of Central Park. We lounged about in the sun and listened to birds chirping and kids playing. Brian suggested I record a bit for the Sunday Sound. I appreciated his suggestion. THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 15, The Sound of Central Park. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. Brian came to visit me this weekend. We had all sorts of adventures, including one that I'll expound upon below! Another adventure, a 36-hour trip to New York City, was delayed roughly two hours because I was determined to give you all my weekly post. BUT ALAS! I wrote the post all up, edited the sound, spruced it all up, etc. and when I went to publish, my stupid blogging client deleted the draft/post. I was so irritated; poor Brian had to hear me complaining for at least 20 minutes. I'm well-adjusted, I swear. But anyway. We went to the Mapparium on Saturday! The Mapparium is a three-story globe that you can walk through. It reflects the world as it was in 1935. I have wanted to check this out (along with the rest of the Christian Science plaza) since I moved to Boston in 2006. I finally had an excuse! Today's Sunday Sound is a 2-minute segment from the tour audio featuring the words of various peace activists. Recording and photography were prohibited, but I like living on the edge! I embarked upon a covert ops mission to take the photo below and sneak some audio. Enjoy! And I'll see you here next week, no matter what trip I have to delay. THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 8, The Mapparium! For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. The theme of today's Sunday Sound post: RETURNING HOME. First, I am beginning the process of returning to my commitment to creating. That sounds so non-committal, I recognize. I simply haven't had much creative inspiration lately (I can come up with a number of reasons for this, but that isn't the point). I haven't posted a Sunday Sound in weeks, and the ones I have posted have been decidedly lackluster. I am hoping to move forward and resume the series; my posts may not have the same Colleen sparkle right at first, but I am convinced that forcing myself to resume will stir up some creative juices. So there we are. Returning to my creative self. Returning home. Second, I have been blessed with another option for decent Mexican food in Massachusetts. While there are countless world cuisine options around these parts, there is no MEXICAN. This has always depressed me as a sizable chunk of my life (ten of my nearly 28 years!) was spent in the El Paso, Texas / Ciudad Juarez metropolis. Living in a border town offered all sorts of delights... knowing plenty of Spanish by age 10, an enduring fascination with el Dia de los Muertos, walking amongst a group of Crip Killers (I was excited that they were throwing out my initials!), and a dependence on copious amounts of tortillas, cheese, salsa, and beans. And I returned home when I walked in to El Potro. My roommate and I strolled in and were greeted by the familiar and comforting sounds of Mariachi. That's right. REAL MARIACHIS IN SOMERVILLE. I was immediately transported to the days of my youth when I could easily cross the border in to Juarez and eat outside the mercado on Avenida 16 de Septiembre. That was before all this drug cartel business. I captured one of the most amazing moments of this night... when the lead vocalist held out a note for TEN SECONDS. I couldn't keep myself from screaming out (don't worry, I captured that, too). Here's a listen... And finally, General Conference was this past weekend. It always has a way of re-centering me, but I felt particularly calmed by it at this moment in time. And, truth be told, I really needed some calming. The President of my Church shared a portion of Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth. I cut the below audio snippet from his talk. The entire poem strikes me, but mostly this line: We come from God, who is our home. THE SUNDAY SOUND: April 1, Mariachis and Monson. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. _A few weeks ago, Brian told me about The Room. I had never heard of it, but he described it as a movie so terrible that it's amazing; a cult classic. How have I never heard of this? Not content to live in the dark, I sought it out. And as miraculous luck would have it, there was a midnight screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre the weekend Brian would be visiting me in Boston. Which was this past weekend. It was obviously meant to be. Right out the door, you see Tommy Wiseau listed three separate times in the opening credits. Not "Written, produced, and directed by Tommy Wiseau" but three separate title screens: "Written by Tommy Wiseau" "Produced by Tommy Wiseau" "Directed by Tommy Wiseau" Oh, and I almost forgot... brought to you by Wiseau Films... a new production company. The viewing audience is then accosted with unnecessarily long sex scenes featuring Tommy Wiseau's vein-covered body, concentrating mostly on Tommy Wiseau's thrusting. What is it with this dude? And then, the awful dialogue and Tommy's completely deadpan delivery that later contributed to a lovely weekend of near-constant quotes by me and my boyfriend. I LOVE THIS MOVIE SO MUCH. Because of the sex scenes, it is not for the faint of heart. But holy crap, if you can get past those, it is so worth a viewing. I'm pretty sure Brian would disagree, but being opened up to the cinematic brilliance of Tommy Wiseau has changed me. For the better. Today's Sunday Sound: the Program Coordinator of the Coolidge Corner Theatre introduces the film, urging people to keep their audience participation reasonable. And to make up for this post being late, may I suggest the following: - A soundboard featuring all the greatest lines. Make sure you listen to "Anything for my princess" (the very top link). - The flower shop scene ("Hi doggy!") - Tommy's true emotive moment: I fed up with this world! - If you can take the time, over six minutes of the best Tommy quotes! THE SUNDAY SOUND: February 12, The Brilliance of Tommy Wiseau. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. I should never skip another Sunday Sound post. Today's post is lacking something. I attribute this to my three weeks of absence. Since you last heard from me, I have not done anything creative outside of the work I get paid for, my spiritual responsibilities, and my relationship. While all are worthy ways to spend my time (and all creative work in their own right), the extended hiatus seems to make subsequent projects a bit weak. Lesson learned. I have a complicated relationship with El Paso, my hometown. Does El Paso even count as my hometown? I lived there for ten of my twenty-seven years, so I'll say yes. At least for the purposes of this paragraph. The circumstances surrounding my move to El Paso were distressing, and my home upon arrival was less than ideal. After a few hard years, my mother made circumstances better and I started to flourish there. But there's a certain slowness to El Paso that never quite matched my natural metabolism. I describe El Paso like I describe my parents: I can talk trash all I want, but should anyone else talk trash... they're gonna get a beat-down. And thus the complication. Today's Sunday Sound: some video of the mountains and light of El Paso, all captured from the backseat of my step-dad's Ford Focus. We were on our way to a casino in New Mexico, if that puts things in context for you. This mostly formulaic video is set to some sound doodling I did with Björk's Jóga, a song that has not left my brain since Friday. THE SUNDAY SOUND: February 5, El Paso. Mountains. Light. Sound. For those following along in an RSS reader, click through to the original post to hear today's piece. |
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