What’s better than Leslie Feist’s ’05 album release Let it Die? Not being Canadian. Oh, relax. I’m just joking. In fact, “some of my best friends are Canadian.” I love the Maple Leaf State and all I know who hail from therein, but sometimes I can’t keep a good wisecrack to myself.
My other recent purchase is the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. And speaking of wisecracks, why is it everytime I mention the film or the music people simply must make some sort of nervous comment? – yes, even those uber-PC PNw’ers I hang out with. “Oh, Fagback Mountain! … Yeah, how is the music, anyway?” It’s weird – we all know it’s fine to be gay, it’s fine to be a cowboy (altho’ there is a lot of anti-cowboy sentiment out there these days – maybe more so than homophobia), and that the movie itself is a good one, but we still get a titter thinking of Jake and Heath ropin’ steer together (another related and rather excellent titter awaits you here).
The soundtrack and score are brilliant. My favorite song is Steve Earle’s “The Devil’s Right Hand” which went unnoticed by me in the film but lept out while listening to the album. It’s been in heavy rotation with the kids and I. I have never experienced Steve Earle in any way besides knowing his name, as I have been heretofore terrified of country music (besides my Patsy, Willie, Johnny, and Emmylou which are trendy as all fuck these days). I am a sucker for a murder ballad, besides. And guys who mumble-sing – hot!
So obviously the iTunes Music Store is working for me. It’s fast, it’s affordable, the reviews are (often, though not always) helpful, and I can listen to clips really quickly with lightning-speed buffering and none of the choppiness I’ve always hated about audio online (the improvements are a combo of my connection speed and updated software, I’m sure). The iTunes 6 little mini-store window is doing me in. But – I love it. So, enough Apple fan-dom. I’m not going to go into my drawn-out iMac story, which is still sort of in a weird limbo. Maybe I’m just seeking out iTunes to dull the pain with pleasing, albeit Canadian, results (there I go again!).
Speaking of hardware, my husband has been doing a great deal of freelance work in his free time. I do not press him to do this, nor do I discourage. The extra jingle is nice. I’ve been noticing he’s been working to the point of distraction and several nights a week he tells me he is “dropping off [insert female name]’s computer” at 9 at night or so. I am beginning to think he is pimping his ass rather than installing drivers. Anyone with any information on that issue, let me know.
Now that I’ve offended everyone by my cow”boi” references, just-in-fun Canada-bashing, and intention to further foray into country music listening, I’m going to finish tidying up the house and have a rainy-day fort-building exercise with my kids.