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Music might be the most important piece of culture through history. No other media has the power to engage or influence people like music do. It empowers our greatest moments, it comforts us when we cry over lost love, it helps us channel anger and it just makes us want to move our body to its rhythm. Music is in us, even as our surrounding is completely quiet. I think music works best when it is used as a mean to enhance an emotion. This is of course the whole purpose of music: To enhance/emote a feeling. That is why we make music and that is why we listen to it.

Something I really like is discovering a great song that I never heard before. It doesn't need to be newly written or anything, just new to me. I often pick up these new songs on the radio, on Spotify or iTunes but the place where I have discovered most of the new truly great songs is in the movies. It happens once, maybe twice a year: I visit the cinema or rent a DVD and halfway through the movie, an amazing song starts playing that fully encapsulate the scene and emotion that the film is aiming for. A perfect choice. Many of my favourite movies has introduced a song to me that really made me shudder out of pleasure. So I thought I'd make a Top five songs introduced to me in movies. The rule I follow here is that I mustn't have heard the song before I saw the film it was featured in. These are not just good songs, but they're featured in really good movies. So go and see the movie, as well!

Number five: The Promise by When in Rome (Napoleon Dynamite)

I was late to discover Napoleon Dynamite. The buzz about this low-budget nerd-comedy had already been going on for some time before I rented the film on DVD. I really liked it but I wasn't blown away by it. I saw it a couple of times and it grew on me. Especially the ending is a nice scene with Napoleon, the protagonist, and Deb, his love interest, playing a game of tether ball together. It's a scene of future promises and possibilities. This is where "The Promise" kicks in and really cements the feeling of true faithful love. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOyyrB1wj04

Number four: Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis (The Butterfly Effect)

I first saw The Butterfly Effect sometime during my second year in high school and by then it was a few years old, I think. I remember being totally sucked in into the plot and I really cared about the characters. Aside from the most obvious message, for me, the film is about a love that we yearn for so very, very hard in our hearts but can't reach. I felt touched by it and felt sorrow deep down, as if I were in the same situation. "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" is played right at the ending and sums up all those feelings of loss and lost love that the film contains. A very strong ending to a great movie and it was after seeing this movie that I really started listening to Oasis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BjQ3LrmkTY

Number three: Extreme Ways by Moby (The Bourne Identity) 

"Extreme Ways" is featured in all of the three films in the Bourne-trilogy but it was in the first mind blowing part where I first discovered it. I had heard a lot of praise for the Bourne-films and I bought The Bourne Identity and Supremacy on PSP UMD for a cheap price. At the time, Ultimatum hadn't reached the cinemas yet. I saw the first movie while travelling by train and though I had a hard time hearing the voices in the film (due to the weak sound of the PSP) I still quickly discovered a new favourite film. The Bourne-films were a whole new level of action and displayed some really amazing skills in editing fighting scenes. After seeing the movie, my heart beat quickly and I felt as in ecstasy and this is when "Extreme Ways" kicks in. Yes, just like number four and five this is the credit song of the movie but it was so fitting to end an action packed adrenaline rush as The Bourne Identity with this soothing techno song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOuPqeHXMzQ

Number two: Love Reign O'er Me by Pearl Jam (Reign Over Me)

Yes, this is originally a song by The Who and yes, the original Who-version is also featured in the movie. BUT the Pearl Jam-version is played earlier in the movie and it is specifically covered by Pearl Jam just for this movie and, dear lord, is it good? Yes, yes, it is. It is fantastic, amazing, incredible and f-ing AWESOME! The emotions caused by listening to this song cannot be described. Oh, I mustn't forget to mention the movie because I think that everyone who has an interest in movies, especially GOOD ones, should see this. If I tell you Adam Sandler is one of the main character you might think of some of the other films he's been in but no, this is nothing like that. This movie is an emotional powerhouse and the relationship between the different characters really feels real and honest. It's a nice change to the usual Hollywood formula of making movies. See it sometime. And listen to the unbelievably good song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=663L-GWQdws

Number one: Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes by Beck (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

Where do I begin to describe what this movie means to me? It is significant in so many ways that it may well be a definition of who I am. The movie is about love but not as you might think and it wouldn't be fair of me to define what Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind really centres around. For me, the most important aspect of this movie is how it reflects upon our memories and how utterly important some of our memories are. It may be all we have in the end. I won't go on with this incoherent review of this masterpiece of a movie but let me just say that the one thing that really made me fall in love with it was when Beck's "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes" began playing for the first time in the movie. I don't remember but I think I cried. The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will forever stand as one of my personal favourites, a movie dear to the heart and Beck's melancholy song is the very best song I ever discovered while watching a movie. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIVh8Mu1a4Q

  Today has been a busy day. I and Stella are moving out of our shared apartment, to our own little flat and I have travelled by bus to and fro, carrying heavy backpacks and various bags with all our belongings. We decided it was best if one person did all the "moving" since we'd save money if we bought one day-ticket. Stella stayed at home and made all the other arrangement.

  To be perfectly honest, I'm glad I got away from cleaning the old place, because every  bus-travel meant Zelda-time for me! I beat a temple and explored the vast world of Hyrule by train. I enjoy "Spirit Tracks" over "Phantom Hourglass". It is as many reviews have pointed out: They've looked at the old game and weeded out all the slow downs and made it smoother, more streamlined. Or should I say "Steamlined"? Sorry, but I really enjoy the new train-feature in the game! It's so much fun riding around and pull the whistle of the locomotive. Speaking of trains, this is the second really great game on the Nintendo DS that has trains in it, this year. Yeah, Professor Layton, and now Link. Peculiar fashion.

  But I'm getting off track here (haha). Living in a shared apartment have means that a lot of things comes for free. We had Internet from day one, all the furniture and kitchenware. Not to mention the fact that our flatmate took care of all the bills and things like that. In that way, many things will change. Starting tomorrow, we won't have Internet, we won't have a really big LCD-screen, hooked up to a computer and we won't have a guy taking care of all the bills and garbage-disposal. No, all that, we have to sort out ourselves. Personally, I think that the Internet-issue will have to be dealt with first and I have already begun to look at some alternatives. Until then, I'll have to visit the nearby library to check my e-mail and keep this website updated.

  Another thing happened today, of the more sad nature. Stella and I were working on a new short film, one which I have been anticipating for some time since it would mark our first try at making something more dark and serious. However, due to artistic differences, the project has been put on ice. It is sad and the short film had a lot going for it, being based on a novel by Sylvia Plath (The Bell Jar). But don't be afraid! I have many ideas of my own and as soon as we've safely moved into our new place, I will begin production! Be patient and you will be rewarded.

That's all for this time! I'll try to keep you updated as often as I can but from now on, it'll be more difficult. 

Regards,

Travis