schneefink | Entries tagged with music

Sometimes I enjoy watching game playthroughs (sometimes in the background), and recently I watched a playthrough of Death's Door. I might have enjoyed playing it too, the combat and exploration look fun and the art is nice, but I currently prefer games with a little more story and/or a bit less bleak. However, the music is so great that I have since listened to the OST three times, and to "Avarice" (at 24:58 below, or as extended version) even more often. I can't listen to soundtracks of games I've played in the background because it's too distracting, but soundtracks of games I haven't played work well.

Watch on YouTube

I stumbled upon Some nights I stay up (reading AO3 fic) on Tumblr, and shortly afterwards found an entire article: The Archive of Our Own lyric trend brings a Tumblr meme to Twitter. Fun! I wonder for how many other songs this could be done without too much difficulty. Maybe next time I have trouble coming up with fic titles I should listen to music.

Today is a meh day and in theory I have exams in two weeks and pretty much no studying is happening and I hate it. (I know that PMS is a factor and that I did not go running this weekend because last time my knees hurt but still, bäh.) At least I bought fruit yesterday. They didn't have strawberries but the apricots and cherries are very good.

Saturday was Eurovision! I still have several of the songs in my head playing in random order at random times, leading to weird combinations.

It's odd, I never used to be very into Eurovision, not even when it was in Vienna. Then the past few years I started watching with LB, but I only really got into it last year, when it didn't happen. There was a virtual Eurovision event by Rusty Quill on Twitch though, which I enjoyed a lot. (Iceland won before Sweden, which I was fine with. My personal favorite was the Ukraine, I also liked Lithuania a lot, and Ireland and Latvia. (Though, I made those notes last year and now watched it again and went… okay, last year was weird.))

So this year DD and I (and LB via Skype for the final, because during the week our internet didn't want him to) watched both the semi-finals too. (I was sad that disco ball man from North Macedonia didn't make it to the final. So shiny.) Turns out that only adds to the experience of watching the final because I'm already invested in the songs. Several of them grew on me a lot when listening to them the second time, like Cyprus and Ukraine. I also really enjoyed Iceland and Lithuania, and also Norway, and France and Switzerland were enjoyable too, but I didn't really care for Greece or Portugal or Bulgaria. Italy also wasn't one of my favorites, but so many people are happy that they won that I'm glad they did.

I have now listened to Tarantella-Coronatella about two dozen times, not sure if that's a good sign (but it might be good for my Russian, at least?)
And

isis collected some coronavirus humor which I enjoy a lot. Sometimes I have to laugh about things.

DD and I have completely opposite reactions to the pandemic when it comes to food: DD currently wants to eat extra healthy, to the point of avoiding salt and oil and of course sugar, while I suddenly want meat and cheese, and of course chocolate and fruit etc.
I was planning to at least keep running regularly, but it snowed today (for about an hour but still, snow! we had twenty degrees a few days ago!) so I decided to be lazy.

I still haven't found time, or more accurately brainspace, to read any books. I keep distracting myself with mostly news, and some fic, and my ability to concentrate is, uh, has been better. Same with my ability to interact with people, and my study progress, and work. But the schedule on Friday seemed to work, we'll see. Overall I think I'm doing pretty well, considering! Thinking of all of you, I hope you're okay.

Back home, but I'm exhausted. On top of the 14 hours of driving this weekend I also started out with three hours of sleep, because a friend of mine is leaving to study in Berlin so we had a goodbye party on Friday night. (My cousin MH was very impressed when I told her it lasted until 3am, less so when I told her we mostly played card games ^^ My favorite kind of party.)

As promised LB organized the music for the drive, and a lot of it was film soundtracks. I learned that The Hunchback of Notre-Dame has good music, and so does The Nightmare Before Christmas; maybe I'll watch the movies too. Listening to the Aristocats and Jungle Book soundtracks was nostalgic. Music only, I didn't like the Frozen soundtrack as much as when I saw the movie the first time.

I missed the first D&D session since our campaign started -.- I really hope someone is writing the summary.

Our third roommate told us on Friday that against her original plans she will move out when her lease ends soon, so DD and I posted an ad. Tomorrow four people are coming to take a look at the room, and five on Tuesday. They all sound very nice!, but it'll be tiiiring.
On top of that tomorrow evening is my first climbing class, I'm excited and a bit nervous because I'm not sure what to expect.

Other things to do: finish my Yuletide letter, some organization stuff like arranging a plumber to check the therm, read fics posted for the hockey RPF rarepairs exchange, finish this fic I'm writing (Meng Zhi time travel), oh and then there is the whole job-hunting thing that I'm not very good at and really should do more of...

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/176664.html

Only two and a half weeks until the new Star Wars movie! I haven't even started my rewatch of the trilogies yet, I hope we'll manage to coordinate with my friends in time.
As the internet found out yesterday, J.J. Abrams and Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote some new music for their version of a cantina scene for the new movie. (My first reaction was "new cantina music, what, how, that music is so iconic", but I feel a bit more optimistic knowing LMM wrote it.) Inevitably a #Force4Ham hashtag was created, and it's a lot of fun. Some good tweets are collected here, and there are many more.

There is a Kickstarter for a documentary film about the inaugural season of the NWHL. They're one week and a little under 5,000$ away from meeting their goal, and I really hope they make it. It would be very cool.

Congrats to everyone who won NaNoWriMo! That's a lot of words :)
(I keep meaning to try it one day, but November is usually a time with many fic exchanges and for those I can't just write words without regard for quality. I almost finished my

hockeyfestivus fic, that's at least something.)

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/146366.html

Yesterday it snowed for the first time! Only very little in the evening and this morning, and there's nothing left, but it was a nice sign of the coming winter. That, and that it's freezing cold outside.

Together with mom and LB we watched Igudesman & Joo's "A BIG Nightmare Music" at the Vienna Konzerthaus yesterday, it was a lot of fun. My face literally hurt from smiling so much. Their version of "I Will Survive" was maybe my favorite (similar to this one), but I may be biased because it was also the last piece. Mozart Bond and "Kein Schwein ruft dich an" were also great, and all the others. Seeing the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra dance with them, including a Riverdancing cellist and a guy riding his tuba like a horse, and doing some sort of Ministry of silly walks thing was also great. Igudesman speaks great German (he studied in Vienna) and Joo decent, so they even had some jokes in German, which was extra nice.
Before the concert the older couple behind LB and I was surprised that the big hall was full, "they're not that famous." They kind of are. "And so many young people, young people don't like classical music." Oh please.
I told LB he should try to incorporate Igudesman's hip swing into his violin class mini concert today. I'm going to have to bake him something if he actually does xD

I watched the Captain America: Civil War trailer. ( Spoilers ) May 2016, much later than I thought.
"The Martian" seems to be almost out of cinemas here, I'll see if I'll still manage to see it.

Other random things: after a two week break because of my dental surgery I finally had hockey practice again, yay! (I love hockey practice, I don't like going to hockey practice, it's a problem.) I ate some good food in the last few days, in restaurants and by my roommate TW. I started playing Flight Rising and I already have some pretty dragons. I read Shadows of the Apt 5 because I have no self-control and I'll probably read the next one soon. I'm making good progress outlining my Yuletide fic and I'm having fun with it. I'm getting better at keeping the apartment clean but I really need to clean my room, and especially my desk. Pens won and Sid&Geno scored, nice.
Lunch now.

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/145635.html

I figured out how to turn on the heating in my apartment! It's getting colder outside so this is excellent. (Another chapter of "HY lacks practical life skills": her room was too warm, so instead of trying to figure out how to turn down the heating she opened the window directly above the radiator. *sigh*)
I need a new radio, my current one isn't working and that makes it even harder than it already is to get out of bed in the morning.

I just listened to Hamilton for the second time. Well, it's the second time I listened to the whole album, I've listened to the first act probably five times and to some songs probably over twenty times (Wait for It, Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story, Guns and Ships, …) I can't get it out of my head, though tbf most of the time I'm not trying all that hard.
Some of my favorite lines: "I am the one thing in life I can control" from "Wait for It", surprisingly motivating. And "Alexander wrote the other fifty-one", I get goose bumps every time.

The lyrics were very helpful, not only for some of the text but also for attribution (from the album alone I didn't realize King George sang "I Know Him", that's hilarious.) Now there are crowd-sourced annotated lyrics, I'm very much looking forward to going through them. I've even thought about reading Chernow's biography of Hamilton, despite its length, the musical made these characters so interesting. Maybe one day; I just finished "Rosemary and Rue" and I know what I need the next months' book budgets for.

I've also enjoyed going through the supplementary materials, like articles and Miranda's Twitter etc. I was delighted to discover that Hamilton being bisexual & in love with Laurens is as close as it gets to canon. I found the scene where Hamilton learns of Laurens' death, and when I realized that it goes between "Dear Theodosia" and "Non-Stop" that made it even more heartbreaking. "I have so much work to do", right after "we'll make it right for you"; the death of his closest friend who he hoped to have by his side to build the nation right before the constitutional convention, after the war had already ended. Ouch.

There is some American Revolution RPF on AO3, even some Hamilton/Laurens. I haven't read all of it, but two recent ones I really liked:

Disgrace to Danger by indigostohelit
Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton&(/)George Washington, 3.8k
Summary: "A livid sky on New Jersey, and I knew the end was near."
Or: Charles Lee has never had a real job in his liiiiiiiiiife.
Why I like it: Canon-compliant (takes place shortly before the battle of Monmouth, during "Stay Alive"), great look at a few hours in a quiet evening during the war. I really like the characters here.

every day is a gift that's why they call it the present by screamlet
A.Ham/Eliza, A.Ham/Angelica, A.Ham/Laurens, A.Ham&Washington, 4.9k
Summary by me: An "Everybody Lives" modern (kinda) politics AU.
Why I like it: This is absolutely hilarious. They are all such sarcastic shits, it's great. Perfect adaption.

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/137980.html

It was technically the second pre-season game, but the game the Pens played yesterday featured most of their stars and kind of felt like the first. It was a lot of fun! I only watched a part of the first period and got to see goals by Tanger and Olli. 7-3 overall, and Phil scored two goals. (Apparently more reporters wanted to talk to Phil than to Sid, this is probably not working out as Phil hoped *g* man it's great to see him smiling so much.) I can barely wait for the start of the regular season.
Me: Tanger with four points, Olli with a goal… Good game :)
DD: though I'm paranoid about guys with a history of injuries/illnesses starting the season with a 4 points game. (but it's the preseason so hopefully it doesn't count.)
Me: WHY WOULD YOU REMIND ME OF THAT
DD: do you really think I enjoy suffering alone? Hell yes I'm gonna share thoughts like that.
Ah, fandom friendships <3

Someone on Tumblr posted a Wait For It, a song from the new musical "Hamilton." As I sometimes do with songs I really like and/or can't get out of my head, I listened to it on a loop for hours. "Life doesn't discriminate/between the sinners and the saints/it takes and it takes and it takes…"

naye recced the musical and linked to an audio version. I just listened to Act I and I really liked it. I was a bit worried audio only would be confusing - I'm generally not good at telling voices apart, or at least not at remembering which voice belongs to whom – but it was surprisingly clear, I could understand the words well and follow the action (I'm pretty sure.) The lyrics are very good, especially the rhymes, and overall the music is excellent. I'm looking forward to Act 2 (though I've heard it's a bit sadder so it might have to wait a few days.)

I read "The Lost Steersman", the third Steerswoman book, and I liked it a lot. ( Spoilers )

( Blackhawks )

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/136194.html

I'm back from choir week! It was great. I also danced, I had soo many bruises and sore muscles that in the middle of the week walking was painful, but it was fun and the final show looked good. I also participated in the folk music ensemble for the first time, that was fun as well. And we had good pieces in the main choir.
I noticed that I needed a lot more sleep than in previous years so I didn't have as much time for socializing, but there was some and the people there were very nice. (One evening we played werewolf for hours, it was fantastic, even though I felt terrible the next day.)
I really want to find another choir next semester :) I even have one or two candidates in mind, looking forward to it.

At the entertainment evening I sang a song and spontaneously decided to accompany myself on the guitar. I hadn't played guitar in eight years or so, but it went fine!
So when I got home I took my old guitar, tuned it, and tried if I could still play. (Melody, not accompaniment.) I can :) I wasn't surprised, just that it went this well, while my mom was surprised that I could still do it at all, even though I used to play for many years before recurring tendinitis forced me to stop.
So far my hands seem to be fine! I'll keep trying in the next few days, and maybe I'll take one class or two just because of posture etc and then keep playing just for fun.

At choir week we had a schedule for each day and it worked quite well, I hoped I could carry some of that into my days at home but so for it hasn't really worked. I'll have to figure it out somehow. Still don't know what I'll do in two months...

The European Universities Debating Championship is currently taking place in Zagreb! A livestream and recordings of rounds can be found here. Several people from Vienna are there, best of luck :)

Crossposts: http://schneefink.livejournal.com/91521.html

Yesterday I went to a dress rehearsal for Verdi´s Requiem in the Musikverein (Vienna Symphony, Fabio Luisi, Singverein) and it was amazing. For the first "Dies Irae" they had additional trumpets, maybe also a trombone, playing from the gallery at the back of the hall - wow. But the best part is the very beginning: it starts very slowly, softly, with only one cello, and then the violins, and then the choir... Beautiful.

Then a friend called and asked if I wanted to see the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert in Schönbrunn. Why not, I thought. But she was going to be late and naive me said that I´d go ahead and we´d meet there. (My excuse: I´ve never been there before.)
I came just to hear the first Star Wars part. The Philharmonics playing Star Wars is wonderful in so many ways. Later, for the Imperial March, they had a laser show in the night sky, and with the palace and the gloriette and everything... I´m running out of adjectives.
They played other pieces, too, but I didn´t recognize those.

While I was walking up and down and around, trying to find the best place in the middle of five or ten thousand people (no idea), I discovered that my mobile phone network didn´t work.
Then I had to stop because I couldn´t walk one more step in those shoes (wrong shoes, no socks - yes, I know I´m stupid, and I did buy plaster at a gas station earlier, which probably saved my ~~life~~feet, but I ruined one set and it just kept getting worse) and started to walk barefoot. The park there has gravel walks. And it took me an hour to get home. Ow.

Live concerts of the Vienna Symphony and Philharmonic in one day. I love this city.

Unrelated,