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Heard this on the radio last week, and then heard it again today – quite catchy and simple, so I looked up what the song is. I think this pick is something more in line with you guys’ taste, as opposed to… rap and 8 bit music :P.

It’s been such a long time since I’ve recommended a song that I’ve forgotten how to link the song to iTunes Store.

Today on my way home from work, I heard a commercial promoting Corinne Bailey Rae’s new album. I’ve always found a particular affinity to her music, maybe in part due to her jazzy tone or the fact that its just overall relaxing to listen to her music. I say its particular because I don’t like ALL her songs, but the ones I do like, I actuallylove a lot. One can really picture themselves sitting Starbucks drinking a coffee, while watching life pass by, against the backdrop of a warm sunsetting sky. But I digress, I came home and quickly checked out the popular songs on her new album on ITS, and immediately fell in love with the following track. Will be exploring the rest of this album in detail soon!

You Tube Link

I’ve always wanted to watch Annie since it is one of those Broadway ‘classics’, except I wasn’t sure whether I was going to catch this one. The show was in Seattle for a limited time only (Feb 12 to 14) since it is a national touring company, and I was busy the entire weekend. I had to skip a birthday party to watch this show, and even then I wasn’t sure I’d have went until very last minute after I got off work. I ended up watching the show by myself, which worked out because I found out there was student rush tickets 1 hour before the show started, so I got a really good seat (main floor center, 11th row or so) for a really cheap price :).

I thought Annie was like… Rodgers and Hammerstein old (like ’50s) but it ended being more recent than I thought – the musical was written in 1977, and apparently the lyricist is still around and is the director for this national tour.

As expected, the tunes are more classical styled, with lots of reprisals (makes me wonder why newer musicals don’t have much reprisals anymore), and overall the performance was well done as it definitely gave off an uplifting and heartwarming vibe. The plot is set in the Great Depression (1930s) and the plot talks about some of the national issues faced during that era (e.g. high unemployment rates) and how we ought to be optimistic even in tough times – the entire theme seems oddly applicable to the current “Great Recession”. The casting was impressive as well – there were I think 7 children involved in rather important roles, and more impressively, there’s a dog that’s part of the cast and the plot as well.

The musical is around 2.5 hours long with intermission. The encouraging tone is a plus for me, and I’ll give it 3.5 stars.

I am running out of iTunes monies!!!

After being infused with a fresh $20 giftcard about a month ago, I am almost down to nothing due to renting movies, $4.99 a pop! While the price feels steep in relation to buying single songs, it is:
a. in line with renting from blockbuster and
b. super convenient,
You’re able to start the movie about one-minute after you rent because it downloads in the BG, which makes it really convenient (and good for someone such as myself–re: instant gratification). My one gripe is that once you start the movie, you have 48-hours to complete it. I think originally, the time limit was 24-hours, but its been extended to 48-hours, which, still, IMO is a bit short, it’s not like they really need the file back to rent to others, so I’m not sure what the rationale is there.

Well, this was originally supposed to just be a comment in response to yfa’s SOTD post but it became too off topic and long to be a comment..

A strange pick this week. If you watched the pilot of this season’s House, AND stayed around for the closing credits, you’d have heard this already. If not, here it is below (this is different from the one he did with House at the talent show).

Well, I came across such an odd choice because I watched a play this weekend that made reference to Alexander Hamilton, but I didn’t know who he was (aside from the fact he’s an important US historical figure). My friend told me to watch this to learn about Alexander Hamilton, which apparently is a Lin-Manuel Miranda rap of Hamilton (who’s head shows up on the $10 USD bill) that he performed for the Obamas.