Mondays Music Haunts Me Bwaaa Haaa Haaa Haaa

Welcome, well it isn't Halloween yet, but we are just days away, so here is my tribute to one of the funnest times of the year.

How to begin, Hmmm, maybe we need a vampire slayer to begin things with... Who can we get?  Maybe what's her name? Buffy....





That wasn't Buffy, how'd that happen???

Since we're talking bats... Here's a tribute to someone who really is.  Bats that is.  20 Years of Batman.

Not a piece of music but a clip from a classic suspense series that lasted only years on NBC, from 1960, to 1962, and featured a myriad of stars, such as William Shatner, John Carradine and the two up and coming stars seen here, Tom Poston and Elizabeth Montgomery.  The show Borris Karlofs' Thriller and this opening segment is from their 1961 Halloween episode Masquerade.  

The intro to one of the most horrifying shows of all times.

A Difficult question to answer

A while ago, I was asked what I would do if all I had was anger?  If there was nothing more to me than just this one aspect.

Now this is a question you don't normally get, but there was a reason this person asked me this.  

For the past several years, I have allowed myself to be angry most if not all the time.  I had excuses for this, they are not important because they were just that, excuses.

This question came about because I have exploded for no reason at all, just suddenly I have become angry and vented and not in a positive or proactive manner.

These explosions have lost me jobs, friends and prevented relationships from happening.  These explosions have put a barrier between me and my brother, which every time we begin to move forward, another explosion for no reason.

So this is the background.

As to the answer.  Well I am not sure if I could live life being angry all the time.  I mean I exploded tonight because of a caption of a blog, I did not calm down and read further and it caused me to just explode blindly.  There will be consequences for this, but this most recent explosion comes after a long period of calm and peace.  I have for the past couple weeks been very calm and anger has been no where around.

Now it shows up and I feel lost and frustrated by this.

I feel as if the best part of me can be ruined by these sudden and abrupt explosions.

I know that if anger really is all I am then I have a hollow and empty life, one that is meaningless because it rotates around not thinking and not being level headed.

I don't like myself when this anger rises in me, and I really need to get it under control.  If I can't I feel I will lose anything I gain, and that is not what I need to be allowing.

I liked the calmness, the peace, the success that was finally becoming the center of me.

I feel I have written nothing here.  I feel as if I was working toward something then ran from the answer I came to, because it terrified me.

Yet I have to confront this.  If anger is all I have, what will I do?  I will probably have to go into intensive psychological care, and get on meds to control it.  I could see no other answer, or at least one that would not be a cop out.

I know I will be dealing with this tomorrow, but I know I am also being open about it and that is a first step to overcoming it.

Mondays' Music Moves Me with an international flavor

Okay, this is my week, to set the tone, so lets' do something international.  This can be music from England,Germany Ireland, Even Hawaii

Have fun, and be creative.

To start off one of my favorite songs from the 1980s' Nena and 99 Luftbaloons, in the original German.

This next piece is from Hawaii.  I know, some of you are saying it is one of the United States, however it was settled by the Polynesians originally, rediscovered by the British under captain Cook of the HMS Discovery, and made a protectorate of the British Empire, as the Sandwich Islands, settled again by missionaries and made a protectorate of the United States until 1960 when it became the 50th states in the union,  So here is a beautiful song from the Islands, with lyrics included in Polynesian and English.

My favorite Irish/Celtic groups. Clannad doing a medley of their music from the Robin of Sherwood television series of the early 2000s.  This is the first time I have seen them play as a group, and they are as amazing to see as to hear.  The music stirs the blood, especially Lady Marion, which has such a haunting refrain.  Amazing to see and hear,

Lastly music from the land of the Rising Sun

A Book well worth reading

I just finished a book that was originally published in 1940, now that isn't surprising, after all many books were written in the past.  This book though was a college thesis of a young man at Harvard, a book that shows the intellectual capacity of a man who would be President of the United States just 21 years later.

The book is WHY ENGLAND SLEPT, and its' author of course was  John F. Kennedy.  Kennedy at 23 wrote a book that showed the world his great ability to analyse complex issues and present facts in a sharp and honest tone.

The book chronicles The political, moral and emotional issues impacting England from 1931 to May of 1940, and explores in depth why it took England so long to arm herself for the impending war that was on the horizon.

Kennedy uses references to the White Papers that were proposals for what England would spend on defense and other issues inside her homeland.  He makes references to many speeches of the various political leaders of the day and explains the mindset of the people of England.

Although the people of England had peace since 1918 with the end of the First World War, the mindset of the people was, "we do not for-see any future conflict, we believe in the league of nations and we are dedicated to the principle of unilateral disarmament of us and all nations in Europe."

This mindset was understandable.   The people of England had lost a huge percentage of their young in the First World War, and the thought of being armed for a future conflict that no one believed would ever happen, only seemed to be a way of encouraging the conflict to come to be.

Because of this mindset, even when Hitler rose to power in 1933 and began the cycle of rearming Germany, both the people of England and the Political leaders refused to move from their beliefs in the disarmament talks and the support of the league of nations.  So ingrained was the peoples' belief that if England and the rest of the world were not an armed camp, and if war came, that the league of nations would be the solution, that the threat of Hitler was completely ignored by those with power.

The book goes year after year, showing how slowly this mindset was changed, but how it took seven years before England truly turned around its' beliefs, and even then how labor still resisted the changes needed to bring England up to a fighting force equal to Germany.

Kennedy uses references to how there was also an internal structure of English labor, how workers were opposed to the rearmament as well, because they felt, due to the experience of the last war, that they would lose their say in how things were done, how the government would put restrictions including the forbidding of labor strikes in place.

One point that comes across strongly, is that a nations' mindset takes time to change, and the people of a nation will resist change to the point that when it is forced upon them, they do not take the responsibility for the delay, but blame the leaders of their nation for their failing to bring on the change needed sooner; when the leaders were following the public mindset and maintaining the perceived reality the public was supporting.

Time and again Kennedy shows how the political leaders were being advised that armaments were needed, how they attempted to bring up the number of new aircraft, ships and weapons, and how they could not get these changes because members of all parties refused due to the public mindset, or at least not in the quantity that had been proposed in the white papers.

One thing that Kennedy explains clearly is why Neville Chamberland remained on the appeasement cycle instead of challenging Germany in 1938, and it was the fact that England because it had slept so long did not have the forces to defeat Germany, he had to buy time to build its' forces.  However  in all honesty Chamberland was a believer in apeasement, he believed in peaceful dialogue.

In all reality Chamberlain was a man who was still deeply in the mindset of peace can conquer all, even when the Bear was ready to rip the heart out of the English Lion.  Yet from what Kennedy wrote, Chamberlain was not a nieve man, he simply had difficulty dealing with the possibility that war was on the horizon yet again.

Why England Slept is a book well worth reading, whether from the perspective of the reasons a nation remained unprepared so long, or the ability to see how a young man at 23 was looking at issues complex and putting them into terms that anyone could understand and gain from.

Whether you are a fan of John F. Kennedy or not, this book is well worth the read.

****

Wordless Wednesday

Just a great photo I took outside the Aurora Public Library, no effects, except the smile of my beloved.

Now both my wife and I love Halloween, so this one is a Pickmonkey modified version of the above photo, that wishes everyone a happy spooktacular and fun Halloween.

Fall in Aurora Colorado

It has been a while since I last posted photos I have taken here in Aurora, so here are some of the latest.  Enjoy.

This is a combination of various pictures I have taken of the beginning of fall in Aurora.  This mixes the best of as close to pure nature scenes I can take, and nature scenes in the midst of buildings.  There will be more and some of the dread white stuff when it finally arrives.  Enjoy again.

Mondays' Music Moves Me A Souls Journey.

This song asks the question we all ask of ourselves at one time or another.  Who are you?  This is where I begin my journey of rebirth, asking who I am and what my life means/

This is where I am, asking to be brought back to life, from the long period of suffering and struggle I have dealt with for the past 30 years, and longer.

For many years of my life was this.  I was deep inside a world of darkness of self hate and destructive actions.

This music is that of healing, of moving out of what I have been, to what I am becoming, reborn a new beginning.  Calming the body, mind and spirit to renew and begin with new potential.

This was the world I was in.  I could not get outside the pain, the remorse of loss of so many who meant so much.  It becam a suffocating trap I kept around me and did not move out of because I was comfortable there.

This is where I am now, with a new horizon before me, and the potential for all things to come into being.

This is what I am doing currently, taring down the walls, I spent my life building.  Overcoming the voices that scream to keep the walls in place.

This represents again where I am, I am fired up, ready to move forward and put the past behind me.  A successful new life, built on Trust, honesty, love the believe in success, prosperity and achievement.

This is the end, but it is the beginning, a new beginning.

Just a reminder to myself to not allow myself to ever allow time to slip away, that it is so precious and once it is gone, you never get it back, and if you aren't paying attention you miss the moments completely.

All things are possible.  Moving ahead with the future before me, and positive beliefs surrounding me.  Destination, "Out there, that a way, first star on the right, and straight on til morning.

Mooove Me That's what Monday's Music Does.

What moves me, is music that has feeling or power to it.  It does not matter to me if this is from a movie, or a piece of music by an artist like Pink Floyd.

So this again will be an eclectic journey, hold and be ready for some surprises.

Well for the second week, I am beginning with another PINK FLOYD Video, hmmm strange how that is the case.  This is an amazing adaptation of the song, and a version I would not have considered.  I am a literalist at times, so I would have done more of a direct representation of the song.  That being said, this is very well done and takes the song in a much more intimate direction.

Also, have to admit I love the use of black and white as well as color in this.  So here is Pink Floyd's WISH YOU WERE HERE.

I am a huge fan of the music of THE ROLLING STONES, their music is expressive and definitely moves me.  When I can I look for other artists, who have done covers of groups music, just so I can hear a new perspective on a favorite song.  Well PAINT IT BLACK, has been a favorite Rolling Stones song, since I first heard it in the mid 1980s'.  So I was looking for a good version of the song, that was more than just a singer singing.  I found this version by WASP.  A group I had never heard of.  Now it is not a perfect rendition, but it is interesting.  So here is WASP's version of one of my favorite Rolling Stone Songs, PAINT IT BLACK, and this song definitely moves me.

This is not the official video, but it represents the song so well, with the images presented.  Now be careful, if you blink you will miss the image that goes with the song.  This is one of my favorite songs by Billy Joel, and it definitely moves me.  WE DIDN'T STAR THE FIRE.

Perhaps one of my favorite love songs of all times, sung by one of the greatest singers, from a great film.  Is that great enough for you?  The Song... SPEAK SOFTLY LOVE... The Singer Andy Williams, who passed just recently.  No one could sing like Andy.  The Movie, well I'll make you an offer, you can't refuse.  THE GODFATHER, with Marlon Brando.  So this song, singer and movie definitely move me.

So there you have it.  These are the songs, the music that definitely move me.  

Quick apology to anyone, who has gone to last weeks Mondays' Music and tried to view the clip from STAR TREK II, but Paramount Studios found out and has blocked the video.  Guess they don't want people promoting their movies.

So enjoy this music and in two weeks I will be leading you in something very interesting.  Until then.

Enjoy your week and may Mondays' Music always Move You.

Monday's Music Moves Me. Music of transfortmation and beginnings.

This week for me is about taking back ones life.  What better way to start, than with Pink Floyd's Learning to Fly.

For everything there is a first time...

It always begins with something to believe in.  Clannad,