Music Monday: Water for Elephants trailer music

Life is the most spectacular show in Earth

Hello and Happy Music Monday to you!

I’m over the moon about this. Originally this post was meant to be more of me asking you to help me find out something but now it’s completely about me sharing amazing music with you. Allow me to explain...

Back in December the trailer for Water for Elephants came out. The title was not unknown to me. I had not read the novel but I had heard praise for it. However the plot never interested me, so I never investigated further. Even after watching the trailer, the story itself didn’t interest me (and maybe seeing Robert Pattison was a turn off as well ), but for me, I have a very nostalgic feeling when it comes to circuses, and would perhaps watch the movie just for that. But it was the music used in the trailer that caught my attention.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

The first song starts at about 0:27 and the second at about 0:57.

It was not too difficult to find out what the first song was. It’s “Song For Jesse” by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. It was part of the soundtrack for the film The Assassination of Jesse James.

But what everyone was dying to know was the second song? The question of what this song was got asked numerous times on Yahoo Answers as well as on the comment pages of YouTube videos of the trailer.

Some speculated that it was music for the film and had not yet been released. This was not the case because the song was used in the American trailer for Ponyo (the song starts at about 0:22), so the song had already been released.

It was YouTube channel TrailerMusicLabel who posted a teasing video showcasing part of the song. And just last week, they posted the full song. I hope they know how happy they’ve made people

It seems the composer’s name is Franois Paul Ache and the song is “Chimerical Dream”. Can’t seem to find out anything about Ache, but searches for his name connect him with the trailer.

And so here it is, after much searching by countless people, here it is:

It’s a very magical song, so soft and gentle, music for fairies, music to dream by. And when listening to it, you can’t help but think of the trailer and images of circuses pop into your head. Yes, there is much negativity connected with circuses, but let’s leave that topic for another time, shall we?

Stay Spooky,
Alice Grimm

Where Have the Fairies Gone?

“In th‘olde dayes... Al was this land fulfild of fayerye.”

Chaucer’s wife of Bath

Hello, what’s this, an unscheduled blog post? So it would seem :)

Lately some words shared between Peter and Wendy have been tumbling ‘round & ‘round my mind...

Peter Pan: There oughta be a fairy for every girl and boy.
Wendy: Oughta be? Isn’t there?
Peter Pan: Oh, no. Children know such a lot now. Soon they don’t believe. And every time a child says “I don't believe in fairies”, there’s a fairy someplace that falls down dead. ♥

If many children are in such a hurry to grow up, then surely many do not believe in fairies either. Is it any wonder why there seems to be so few fairies in the world?

Oh course, I cannot talk about fairies without mentioning the fairies in my home province of Newfoundland. As I talked about in a far earlier blog post the fairies of NL are different from what you might expect a fairy to be. They are often troublesome & it’d be best not to get involved with them. As Barbara Rieti’s explains in her book Strange Terrain, “The fairies are the ultimate strangers, and serve as metaphor for all that is strange, not only in nature but in other people.”

But where are all these fairies mentioned in tales of old?

I have heard that in NL it is believed by some that there are so few fairy sightings now because the fairies do not like all the lights that are on at night. The street lights, the car headlights, etc., they all have driven them away.

So maybe there are other issues with the world’s fairy population, other than disbelieving children. I take comfort though in the words of Rieti, “Always Going and Never Gone” the title for chapter one of Strange Terrain. This is a great way to look at the fairy beliefs and fairies themselves.

It seems each generation looks back at the one that came before & sees all that they had & how little they now have. But fairies are a sturdy sort who, I believe, cannot be gotten rid of so easily. It’s much like children, who always seem to be less and less like children, more anxious to grow up. Is childhood always going but never gone as well?

In closing, I’d like to share a little more about the picture used at the beginning of this blog post:

Bay Roberts, and all the Northern Avalon, is known for its Fairy Stories.
People tell of seeing mysterious lights - along the shoreline.
Once 'in the fairies,' the victim might be captured, experience fairy scenes, suffer mental and physical injury.
Fergus Island in top left.
Bay Roberts East Shoreline Heritage Walk.
4km Trail by the Atlantic Ocean on the Avalon Peninsula
Bay Roberts, Newfoundland and Labrador

What about the fairies in your area? Are they still about? What about other creatures and beings, are there still sighting?

Stay Spooky,
Alice Grimm

Fairytale Tuesday: When Imagination Disappears

Mood: Cold. Not a mood, but that’s exactly how I feel right now
Music: ASP – “Erinnerungen eines Fremden” ♥

“When a child doesn’t read, imagination disappears.”

♠

I love PSAs (public service announcements), honestly I do. Wither its singing pills or creepy syringes I always find something to love about them. But of all the PSAs out there, this is the one that breaks my heart every time. I’m not certain how old this PSA is, but I know it has been about for some time, but the message is still very relevant.

Literacy Foundation: The Gift of Reading - Cinderella
Uploaded by hourigan. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

For anyone else who holds fairytales close to their heart, I’m sure we all felt a tinge of pain watching that. It’s a tragic horror. The characters we always think of as untouchable living in their happily-ever-after are being hurt. But where do these character’s dwell but in the hearts of young children? And how do those stories find a lodging place there? By the children reading and being read the stories. Though many of our beloved classics are preserved in film form, they do not compare to the act of reading them. When watching a movie, you are limited to what you are seeing on a screen. When reading a book, the only limits are the ones you create. And being read to is very enjoyable! I have many fond memories of being read to by my mom.

I recall conversations I had with my mom in recent years. She was an elementary school teacher (now retired), and she’s told me how things have changed. When I went to school (yes, she taught me!), I would carry stuffed animals to school, my friends would bring their dolls. Now, children don’t do that. They are too concerned with cell phones, digital cameras and laptops. Seems children are becoming less and less like children.

This all being said, I’m not fan of children by any means, but it still hurts me to learn of things like this. If children are too caught up with digital devices and not playing, then what hope do fairytales have in their young hearts?

I feel like I have such a bleak outlook on it all. Is it really that bleak? I hope not. I really do hope we who love reading will pass it on, if not to our own children, than any children who may come into our lives.

Stay Spooky,