2 of these things are best enjoyed together: Cooking a great meal and listening to film scores. Not many people know this about me, but I really enjoy composing my own scores as a hobby. These aren't for any movies or films in particular, but mostly, I write these and envision the type of scene that they would be a perfect accompaniment for. And it's very easy for me to write these bootleg mini-film scores because it's a truly organic process that happens like anything else organic - that is, they are created naturally. And I really believe the things that make us the happiest are the things that are organic in nature.
Ok, getting back to the cooking and film scores together. While I love writing film scores, listening to amazing musicians who score films for a living is just as much of a pleasure. Unlike any other sort of music, when I listen to a film score, it makes me lose my mind (literally). Again, difficult to explain, but it's the same feeling I get when I'm skiing in Montana, golfing alone, laying down with Maggie watching a movie, or drinking a great cup of coffee really early in the morning. On the contrary, when I'm cooking, my brain is on complete overload and I'm a bit of a maniac (think a quiet Gordon Ramsay). And I realized tonight why I think I love mixing those two worlds together.
Like with anything interesting in life, ups and downs and uncertainty make everything worthwhile. Listening to a great film score while moving around in the kitchen constantly brings me up and down... and I love it. One minute I'm frantically chopping some onions and the next minute I step back and I lose 2 minutes watching a steak sizzle in a pan while I'm lost in a great Rolfe Kent melody (Wedding Crashers - actually a great score, Up in the Air). One minute I can't remember what else to put in my bolognese sauce and then it's 4 minutes later and I've been leaning back on the counter drinking beer to a Rachel Portman tune.
If you're still confused about what I'm talking about, listen to the score in the background of this trailer. Ignore the trailer, listen to the music (except for One Republic at the end... don't listen to that). LISTEN TO THE SCORE... especially starting at 44seconds when it hits really hard... I get chills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU4qLmIXbOE
I don't know why I felt the need to write about cooking and listening to a specific genre of music. I think it's because I hope that other people lose time because they are startled and overcome by something simple. I know that I try and make myself feel this way pretty often, and it doesn't require anything more than some music or a good cup of coffee.
"it happens to me all the time...that's called Mescaline" quote from Matrix 1
ReplyDeleteThat's for the joke...but actually it happens to me also a lot...when I create, write scenarios and mostly when I do some abstract painting...when you paint figures, you're concentrating on getting the picture realisticly right. But when you paint abstract, you don't really know what you're doing at first and it takes time to get started, and all of a sudden, you figure out what it was all about from the get go, and your sense of time and your initial goal get distorted so that the only thing for you that matters anymore is the anxiety of putting the right and final touch on your piece.
I guess when can compare this with what Baseball hitters would qualify as being in the zone, don't you think?