Top Ten Movie & Music Combinations That Give Me Goosebumps

Let's be honest first. When I say give me goosebumps, I mean make me cry like a little baby. I cry all the damn time, not just when I'm sad, but all the time. When something is sentimental, or really happy, or really conflicting, or obviously very sad. Music is one of the most important things in my life, and when you pair one of these sentimental/happy/conflicting/sad scenes with good or beautiful music, I will cry forever.

Here is my very carefully thought out list of my top ten movie or television scenes that accomplish this. Obviously I have more than ten - these were just the ones I could think of at this time.

Warning -There will be spoilers. I will try to warn you before each one if it contains spoilers.


10. The ending of Interview With the Vampire
SPOILERS
I love Anne Rice, and her book Interview With the Vampire was one of my favorite's of hers. The movie was also very good. It was released in 1994 and stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. The ending was just perfect, the way we see the elusive Lestat one more time, and how it is paired with "Sympathy For the Devil". Unfortunately it does use the Guns N Roses version of the song rather than the Rolling Stones, but it still works quite perfectly.

9. The car accident scene from the movie "Crash"
SPOILERS
This scene is beautiful for a number of reasons. It redeems Matt Dillon's character for his previous crimes, both in the audience's eyes, and the eyes of the woman he treated with so little respect. The addition of Mark Isham's beautifully written score makes this scene a jaw-dropper. Mark Isham is one of my all-time favorite composers, he captures the mood of a scene so well.

Here is the clip from Crash, there is another clip before it, so if you would like to skip right to the scene I am talking about, it starts at about 3:45.

8. The opening scene of Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko will always be one of my favorite movies. Not only is the musical score as haunting as the film itself, but Richard Kelly's choice of music to use in the movie is equally as haunting. I love the opening scene because it starts with Michael Andrews' score, and then suddenly changes into "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen. This clip isn't the best, you can tell it is slightly sped up, because the music is in a higher key. But it is the only one I could find. It is a clip of the whole first part of the movie, but the part I am talking about is only the first 4 minutes.

7. "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago (the movie version).
There are tons of scenes in the film Chicago that give me goosebumps, but the Cell Block Tango tops them all. I don't have to explain it, just watch it and you'll see why...

6. Bella Reborn
SPOILERS
Now I know all you Twilight haters out there are rolling your eyes, but this scene actually is quite beautiful. Bella has just died (a horrific death I might add) after giving birth to her daughter, and Edward tried to save her by injecting vampire venom into her. It appears he was too late, and everybody believes her to be dead. We then see her start to transform, and I believe they did a very good job with this scene. I never was a mega Twihard, I didn't like the first movie at all, and my friends had to actually beg me to read the books before I ever did. I did enjoy the second movie, and the third, but this scene is the one that got to me the most out of the whole franchise (until I saw Breaking Dawn Part 2...). You see this painfully awkward girl that makes you at times just cringe, die a terrible death, and then transform into this beautiful strong and fierce creature. Pairing it with Carter Burwell's beautiful score, and it brought me to tears. I'm pathetic, I know.You don't have to tell me. Really. I know how pathetic I am. I'm a sucker for a beautiful piano piece and a romance story.

5. A bike ride in the sky with E.T.
Stephen Spielberg said that when he created E.T. he was creating what his childhood dream looked like. This clip makes it easy to see how this could be anybody's childhood dream. E.T. has been one of my favorite movies since I knew how to watch a movie. John Williams is and always will be my favorite composer, and this scene is just classic Williams. If you haven't seen the movie, seriously. What the hell is wrong with you? Do it now.

4. Battle of Hogwarts
SPOILERS
In the last Harry Potter film,  we witness the battle of Hogwarts, and the destruction of everything we know and love and that is good in the world. I actually bawled through this whole movie, it wasn't just this scene. But I actually cried a little bit harder at this one. In this scene we witness the Death Eaters blowing Hogwarts apart. We also see the death of Lavender Brown (I didn't like her anyway), and then we see Aberforth Dumbledore cast one hell of a patronus. Put it all together with Alexandre Desplat's almost funeral-ish theme, and it truly does seem like the death of an era. I live and breath Harry Potter. I will never love any book series or characters more than I love Harry, Ron and Hermione, and this scene truly made me realize that the days of waiting in line at midnight for the new book to come out, and then waiting in line at midnight for the new movie to come out, turning pages frantically at 3 in the morning to find out what happened next... they were gone, and this was how they were going to end. Sorry if I'm getting sentimental. I just really love Harry Potter.

3. Moulin Rouge
SPOILERS
So if I could, I would put the entire movie Moulin Rouge on here, but that would be a really long clip. My all-time favorite scene is the ending music scene, but I can't find a clip of it for the life of me. I included the clip of "El Tango de Roxanne" because it is quite an amazing scene. Imagine trying to get however many couples are in this scene to tango in sync with each other? It baffles my mind. The music in this movie is incredible, and every part of it gives me goosebumps.

I am also including an audio only version of the scene at the end that I like the most. It is all I could find, and I wanted to include it anyway. The beginning part is Satine (Nicole Kidman) singing to Christian (Ewan McGregor) telling him that she really does love him, and his singing response is him forgiving her, all in front of an audience for a play Satine was supposed to be performing. It really is an incredibly beautiful scene.

2. The Titanic Sinking
I think we all know the Titanic sank, so I'm not going to mark this one as a spoiler.
If you know me at all, you know what my all-time favorite movie is, and it's Titanic. One of the main things that draws me to the film is the music, how it can be beautifully romantic one moment, and horrifying and heartbreaking the next. James Horner (another favorite composer of mine) does a wonderful job capturing the terror and pain that these people felt as the ship was sinking. This part in the score never fails to bring  tears to my eyes.

1. The Finale of the HBO Series Six Feet Under.

While I am not going to show you the actual series finale to the show Six Feet Under, I will play a clip of a trailer for the fifth season, which uses the same song that is used in the ending scenes.

Six Feet Under was a show created for HBO by Alan Ball (creator of True Blood). It was 5 seasons long, and its story was based around the Fisher family, who owns and runs a funeral home. The ending of the series, at the end of the 5 years, was one of the most thought out, and incredibly beautiful endings I have ever seen for anything, movie or television. If you have not seen this series, I HIGHLY recommend watching it (which is why I am not going to show you the real ending). The show changed my view on life, and I cannot say that about a lot of things.

The song used is "Breathe Me" by Sia.

That is all.


For now.

Fangirl much?

So apparently Fan Community Nicknames are a popular thing now, there always was the Trekkie (and still is)... but for a while that was pretty much the only one people ever heard. Today I realized that without even knowing it, I belong to a lot of these Fan Communities.

I am a...

Backie (Back to the Future)
Ghosthead (Ghostbusters)
Warsie/Jedhead/Fandalorian (Star Wars)
Potterhead/Potterite/Potthead/D.A (Harry Potter)
Ringer (Lord of the Rings)
Twilighter/Twihard/Team Edward (Twilight)
Tribute/Mockingjay/Team Peeta (The Hunger Games)
Team Coco (Conan O'Brien)
Dunderhead (The Office - U.S)
Leaper (Quantum Leap)
Lostralian/Lostaway/Lostie (Lost)
MSTie (MST3K - Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Robot Skeleton Army (Craig Ferguson)
Cortexifan (Fringe)
Trekkie (Star Trek)
Trubie/Team Eric (True Blood/Charlaine Harris book series)
Whoser (Whose Line is it Anyway?)
Unsullied (GoT fan who hasn't read the entire book series, the opposite of Bookwalker)
Beatlemaniac (The Beatles)
Areaologists (David Bowie)
Spuds/Beautiful Mutants/Devotees (Devo)
Ledhead/Zephead (Led Zeppelin)
Muser (Muse)
Boingoloid (Oingo Boingo)
Gianthead (They Might Be Giants)
Candy Cane Children (The White Stripes)
Wholigan (The Who)
Cheesehead/Packer-Backer (Green Bay Packers)


I think the Fringe one might just be the most clever.



P.S. Happy Thanksgiving.

Hey Soul Sister

WARNING: The following blog post will be really long. That is all.

So, first I'd like to say that I hate that song... the "Hey Soul Sister" one. But it fits for this blog entry.

Now that that's out of the way...

So I have always been a very shy person... how I ever made any friends at all baffles me, but I made some good lifelong ones in elementary, middle, high school, and college that have changed my life. This story is about a series of strange coincidences leading up to a friendship that changed my life in the best ways possible.

I have always been a musical person, and always loved to sing. I was always in choir, but I was always too shy to sing in front of people. One day in 6th grade my music teacher did a test where we all had to sing a song in private with her and she gave us a grade on it. I was incredibly nervous, I have never sung in front of anyone by myself before. So I did it and sang for her and she sent me back to class. A little while later she contacted my parents and said that she wanted to nominate me to attend some conference choir in Cleveland, Ohio that was I believe through MKMEA, which is the Midwest Kodaly Music Educators of America? Maybe that's what it was called? It was 11 years ago people. Anyway, the people from this organization send me a tape (yes, a tape) of a woman singing these songs, and then the sheet music to all of them with my part highlighted. Over the summer I was supposed to memorize these songs by myself and then attend a conference in September and perform them with a full choir, with only one day to practice together. I hesitated, but I practiced almost every day, because I loved singing so much.

Finally it came time to actually attend the conference. My parents paid the couple hundred dollars or whatever it was to go, and I started to feel sick. I kept telling my Mom I didn't want to go, I wasn't going to know anybody, I would be one of the only people from Wisconsin there, only 2 other people from Wisconsin had been selected to go. I finally talked my parents into letting me bring my cousin Jasmine along so I would have someone there that I knew, and we left to make the long drive to Cleveland.

The closer we got to Cleveland the sicker I felt. I hated meeting new people... I was terrible at making friends, and what if they made me sing in front of other people? We finally got to the hotel in downtown Cleveland, which was very tall and scared me a lot (this was the end of September, 2001). We parked in the parking garage and carried all of our stuff to the elevator leading us to the hotel lobby. The doors started closing when we heard "Wait!" and we saw a family rushing towards the elevator towards us. It was a Mom and Dad who looked to be close to my parents age, and a young blonde girl who looked to be close to my age. In the elevator our parents got to talking and we found out that they were from Wisconsin too... one of the other 2 people invited to go! I remember being shy around this girl, but our parents kept jabbering away talking about where we were all from and introducing us all to each other. We checked in to our room and eventually I had to go down to the first meeting with the full choir, by myself. No Jasmine there to comfort me. I went down to the crowded room, where groups of kids were huddled together, some joking around and laughing, and others singing their parts to our songs. It was a mixture of boys and girls. Finally I found the girl I met in the elevator, and she refreshed me on her name (I'm terrible with names) Jamie. We started talking and learning things about each other. I learned that she had a brother and a sister, but they didn't come with to Cleveland, she learned that I was an only child. I learned that she was from a small town in Wisconsin called Lomira, and she learned that I was from Appleton, which were only about an hour drive away from each other. I found her very easy to talk to for someone I just met (not sure if she thought the same about me... I probably didn't say too much), and immediately became proud of myself. I made a new friend! The group finally got together and we ended up doing some song exercises and stuff to get to know each other, the whole time Jamie and I stuck together.

I'm really bad at remembering the timeline of everything that happened that weekend, but I don't really remember what else we did the first night there. The second day we were there, we made plans with Jamie's family to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. The whole time we were at dinner Jamie, Jasmine and myself kept goofing off and joking around with things. Like we knew each other the whole time. I remember we kept putting packets of sugar in our Coca-Cola, because we wanted to be more hyper.

I also remember at one point going to the hotel gift shop and all buying matching necklaces, which I still have :).

That night we roamed the hallways of the hotel causing trouble. At one point asking a group of guys for change so we could all buy sodas.

We then had our concert, which was incredibly beautiful, and I didn't even have to sing in front of anybody by myself. It was in a huge cathedral, probably one of the biggest ones I have ever been in, and we rocked it. That night they had a celebratory dinner for the singers and their families. My family and Jamie's family got a table together and we accidentally set a basket of napkins on fire (kind of a big fire) and caused a big scene. Jamie and I were jumping up in the air screaming, while Jamie's mom tried putting it out.... they came around and took everybody's table candle away after that.

After our fun-filled weekend was over, we said a sad goodbye to each other and our families parted ways. Before leaving the city, we decided we had to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was amazing. On our way out of the Hall of Fame, who do we run into? But Jamie and her family! We said one more sad goodbye and parted ways once more.

We were then driving for a couple of hours and were getting close to being back in Wisconsin... I think we might have been in Illinois. We decided to stop at a rest station, and who do we meet inside? Jamie and her family! Again!!! We decide then that our friendship is meant to be, and AGAIN... say one more goodbye before parting ways. A while later on the road, who do we pass on the Highway? JAMIE AND HER FAMILY!!! Seriously, it was getting creepy.

After we got home our lives went on as normal, except Jamie and I started writing letters to each other, and then she invited me to her Birthday party!

Jasmine (left) Jamie (right)

Top row: Jasmine, Me, Kelly, Kimmy, Katie (Jamie's sister), Lori, Jake, Kayla
Bottom row: Robert, Jamie, David, Tim (Jamie's brother)

After that, Jamie and I were constantly making our parents drive us to and from each other's houses. We ended up establishing an American Girl store in Oshkosh as "the meeting point" and always met there. Our friendship just grew and grew...

Jamie and my friend Cassie at my house

Me and Jamie

Me at one of Jamie's plays

Me and Jamie and her dog Ike

Jamie and I dancing

Katie (Jamie's sister), Me, and Jamie

Osama's Mamas

Jamie and I singing Karaoke (I guess I finally got over my fear of singing in front of people!)

Me, Jamie, and Cassie

It was amazing how much meeting Jamie has changed my life. I was suddenly a part of her family, and she was a part of mine. We stopped calling each other 'best friends' and started calling each other 'soul sisters' instead. Because that's what we are, we are sisters that found each other because our teachers decided to send us to some choir conference that I can't even remember the name of. We never got in a fight, she has never said anything cruel or hurtful to me, nor would she. I have never done this to her. I've always been bad at expressing my feelings and my emotions, so she may not realize how much she means to me and how much she has changed me for the better. Each of us has gone through our own obstacles and troubles, but we have gone through a lot together too. Helping each other through break ups, deaths of people in our lives,  school, college, family issues... and eventually... baby issues! :)

When Jamie called me to tell me that her and her fiance Travis were going to have a baby, I cried! (Not a big surprise there... I cry for everything. I get teary-eyed when I have to say goodbye to Jamie. I cried when she graduated high school for crying out loud.) I was so scared, and happy, and excited for her! When baby Amelia came into the world I saw a whole other side of my friend... a mother!

And I got to be Auntie Toni :)

Now, both of us are with wonderful, amazing guys (who get along just as well with each other, as Jamie and I do). Travis and Dan are hilarious, and when the 4 of us (5 including miss Amelia!) get together, I laugh so hard I either pee my pants or throw up.

Not really, I don't do either, that's gross. But I do cry.

Dan, Travis, Me, Jamie and baby Amelia, right after she was born.

Being an only child, I never really understood the closeness between two sisters, or two siblings. Thanks to Jamie, I do understand. While she does have a sister and brother of her own (who I love both to death) I will still always think of my time spent with Jamie as that sisterly experience I never got to have. 

Jamie and I with some friends and the band Lucy's Revenge

At one of our favorite restaurants

Me, Travis, Jamie, Amelia and Katie on another one of Jamie's birthdays!

So I guess I just wanted to say, thank you Jamie, for being there for me, for helping me through all the rough times, for being just the incredibly fun, caring, and loving person that you are. I don't know what I would do without you, and I sure don't ever plan on finding out.

I love you soul sister!