Tag: music

Peppermint sprig

James HoganLeave a comment

It’s a lovely Aberdeen morning! I so much love being able to sit inside by the window with my coffee, staying toasty warm…and looking outside to see the clouds gently float by in the cornflower blue sky…

And I suppose you all wouldn’t mind a minor update, right? Right?? Honestly, not too much to report, except that all is well and I’m learning that a scarf and gloves are very nice to have. Oh yeah, and it sort of snowed this past weekend. In October!! When we were getting ready to leave for work this past Wednesday, Uche looked out the window and said, “It’s snowing.” I didn’t really believe him at first…until I looked outside. And yes, it was definitely snowing. Warm enough that it was a pretty wet snow, but snow nonetheless. The snow only stayed on the ground until noon, when the sun melted it all away…but now we’ll see if this early snow is a sign of a crazy winter to come.

Oh and had a couple sweet nights this past week at church – Wednesday night was Bible study/prayer time, which was of course sweet(talking about Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1), but the best part was the praying at the end and then talking with some new friends until we figured out we were the last people left(standing outside in the not-quite-bitter cold). Good times!! And Thursday night was game night at the church, which involved much crazy quiz games and running around and human Pictionary…and generally all-around smashing times.

Now it’s the weekend and I’m so far having a relaxing Saturday morning(soon to be noon!) and getting ready to walk down Union Street in a few minutes. Probably going to check the used book shops and see if they have any good books in! And I am displeased – the sky’s starting to cloud up a bit…looking like it may become overcast. Oh well, I won’t complain…because it’s not raining. Yet.

And because it’s been a little while since I’ve posted a top songs list…here we go! Except this time, you get two for the price of one!! I’ve decided that, since I’ve always talked about which hymns/worship songs are in my top five, but never actually defined that list, I probably have seven top five hymns. And that’s just bad math. So…hymns top five – count ’em down! (And before you start castigating me for the order I have these in, the order is very fluid and subject to change…so no whingeing allowed):

5. Amazing Grace – This is an all time classic and deservedly so. Every time I sing it, I feel overwhelmed with joy. How can I not?? Sidenote: the inclusion of this music in Star Trek II made the movie all the better. True story. And I feel I have another hymn that may actually be number five in place of this one…but I can’t think of it, so Amazing Grace gets this spot.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me…
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

4. Be Thou My Vision – A beautiful prayer to the King of Kings, rightly focusing on our Lord. Oh how I love singing this…I sadly realized I did not have a copy of this on my iTunes, so I just found a Jars of Clay version recently, a cause for great rejoicing!

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

3. And Can it Be(Amazing Love) – Whenever I see we’re going to sing this song at church, my heart skips a beat. One of the most lovely songs depicting salvation. EVER. When I sing it, my mind joyfully remembers and rejoices in what Jesus our Lord has done for me!!

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2. Holy Holy Holy – This has long been one of my favorites, probably longer than any other song on this list. And for good reason. It oh so majestically reminds me of the Lord God Almighty to whom all glory and majesty and dominion and power belongs. I can’t describe it…except that I love it. If you want to hear it, youtube the Keith Green version of it. I love hearing the passion in his voice(another recent iTunes addition). Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!!

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

1. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – And here we come to number one. This song became my number one favorite song of all time one Sunday morning at Creekside Community Church, freshman year at UF. Singing it and being reminded of Jesus who saved me by his glorious grace, and his grace alone!! And that despite my sins and slips and failures…He holds me still. I love it so.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Honorable mention: Hallelujah Chorus – really, I LOVE singing this, especially in a MASSIVE group of people…alas, it is not often done, so I’m not including it. But one of my favorite experiences of all time was singing this purely God-praising/glorifying/worshiping song in a group of ~300 people. Amazing. A very picture and faint image of heaven.

And there we go. To summarize:
5. Amazing Grace
4. Be Thou My vision
3. And Can it Be?
2. Holy, Holy, Holy
1. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

YES.

And don’t worry, since I decided that an epic two-cookie post has been far too long in coming, that’s not all the music we have for today. But before I finish the musical program for today, just wanted to muse a bit over…life, the universe and everything? No, not quite. Well, at least not today. But wanted to talk a bit(really, I will try to be brief!) on the subject of marriage. And yes, I know, I am most definitely not married, so take all my words with several grains of salt. But I’ve been for some reason bombarded lately by discussions and messages on marriage(whether it be the recent sermon series at church or the blog topic at several blogs I read or talking to my good friends), and so that’s been on my mind more often than not lately. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I leave to you. Well actually, it’s not bad as long as I don’t overly focus on it to the detriment of my walk with the Lord and seeking after His face. And I talk about it little enough on here, I felt I’d share these thoughts. And now that my long-winded(really, did you expect anything else?) introduction is coming to a middle, just consider these words and feel very free to correct or rebuke me! And encouraging words are always nice too!

Anyways, I was talking to my flatmate Uche this morning, and were(for some reason!) talking about the extravagances of weddings. Apparently, some things never change, from America to Scotland to Nigeria. But as we were discussing this, it struck both of us that the strong emphasis on the wedding is sometimes to the detriment of the actual marriage! Some people will go deeply in debt to put on an impressive wedding and then a year later, the divorce papers are filed. Truly, truly tragic. But why are the weddings so important? We do want to celebrate the two becoming one flesh, yes. And there’s nothing wrong with joyful celebrations! But I feel that sometimes a wedding is seen as an event, something that is an epic event in and of itself. Oftentimes(I will not admit to this!), we dream of “the wedding” and all the pageantry that is so involved. Why do we do this, when the wedding day is gone in the blink of an eye.

Rather, as a man and a woman come together, their focus and goal should be a marriage and life together. That is forever(well, sort of). Instead of spending all our pre-marriage time pondering and looking towards a celebration, let us look towards a life of oneness and unity! A life of serving each other! I wrote down a good quote from a sermon at my church a few weeks past…I’m sure it won’t be foreign to any of you: “Love is a willful decision of giving one self to another”. I love that. I won’t be spending a multitude of words talking about the nature of love(I think I’ve done that before anyways), but is that not beautiful?? We shouldn’t be looking towards marriage as something that will satisfy our needs or make us happier or fill an emptiness in our souls. Should I be thinking that a woman will answer my heart’s deepest longings? Absolutely not! (And neither should a woman think that of a man. Um, yeah, we men are definitely not all that) We should be looking to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ first and foremost. As we pursue Christ, we will see that we can serve as He served. And that marriage is one of the best opportunities to serve that will ever come along. Or so I’m told. In marriage, love is serving and loving and encouraging and correcting and feeding and sacrificing. And the foundation of that is our love in and of Christ. True that? Yes.

Now I’m trying to remember what my point is(that’s the problem when I semi-stream-of-consciousness-write…*scrolls back to top of page* Ah yes) But if I really wanted to talk about marriage and all the intricacies and beauties therein, it would take more words than I have. I might possibly discover the word limit on livejournal. But marriage is a man and woman coming together as one. A man will love his wife above himself. Whoa. And marriage is a picture of Christ and His church and the amazing love that is the very cornerstone of that relationship! Marriage is a man and a woman truly loving each other, every second of every day, and seeking to use their oneness as a vehicle to serve and love others, whether they be in the Church or not. That. Is. Beautiful. And yes, yes, I know it very often doesn’t look like that. But that’s what we(who are married, or may one day) should be striving after. Let’s strive, yo? Sweet.

And now that I’ve either thoroughly bored you(please don’t tell me though) or underwhelmed you(don’t tell me that either) or encouraged and uplifted you(you can tell me that!!)…time for our musical postlude.

Just made a new mix-CD…well actually, a mix-iTunes playlist. Once I get some CDs, I’ll burn it. BUT, this will give you an idea of my current favs. Also, I sort of cheated…I have a rule I made for myself: one song per group. Yeah, couldn’t do that this time. Nightwish and Muse both ended up with two. Oops. Also, if this list doesn’t convince you of my weird crazy eclectic music taste…yeah, nothing will.

Now presenting…Granite Realism

1. Wildfire – Sonata Arctica
2. Slaying the Dreamer – Nightwish
3. Holy Thunderforce – Rhapsody
4. Showbiz – Muse
5. Fireflies – Owl City
6. Far Away – Ingrid Michaelson
7. Ballad of Bilbo Baggins – Leonard Nimoy
8. Please don’t Leave Me – Pink
9. Alejandro – Lady GaGa
10. Fix You – Coldplay
11. Just – Radiohead
12. Unnatural Selection – Muse
13. May It Be – Enya
14. Girl Named Tennessee – Needtobreathe
15. Sleeping Sun – Nightwish
16. Be Thou My Vision – Jars of Clay
17. Savannah – Relient K
18. Holy, Holy, Holy – Keith Green

It’s been real, y’all. It’s been fun. But, it’s time for this party to come to an end. I did say this was a two-cookie post. I lied. Three-cookie post. I made peanut butter cookies recently…if you read this all, you can claim ’em. Rock on, y’all!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Well, it’s been a long Saturday(but a good one!!) and I am now quite exhausted…but I figure it’s been too long since I’ve written a decent update. All my latest ones have been under 100 words! Terrible! So I’ve decided it’s time for a proper multi-page entry…so buckle your seatbelts, boys and girls…it’s time to rock and roll.

By update, I really mean I’ve had lots of random thoughts and I keep meaning to put them to paper yet I almost always have my best thoughts in the car where it’s quite impossible to write anything. Although I have been known to scribble in my notebook at stoplights…hmm, let’s keep that under wraps, shall we? But seriously, why do my best(and strangest) ideas come when I’m driving? Most annoying.

Anyway, something I realize anew almost every morning is the grandeur and might and beauty of God…as I watch the sun rise over Houston. I’m so very blessed in that I drive east on the interstate to get to work, and thus as soon as I get on the on-ramp, I’m struck full in the face with the sun striding up through the clouds…sometimes in a sky clear as crystal, other times(most times!) in a sky where the clouds diffract the light into a spectrum of gorgeousness. And as I see the light wash over the cars rushing off to work and money and ambition and power…and as I see the rays strike the skyscrapers so suddenly diminished in comparison to the massive clouds of brilliance overwhelming all Houston has to offer…I feel conflicting emotions of utter joy and deepest sadness. Joy to see the works of the LORD arrayed in the heavens. Sadness because so few see it so. How can everyone else driving to work not see the Hand of the Almighty????

And now pause for a piano interlude.

Because no, this party isn’t over yet! Consider the previous as Musings, Pt. 1. Part 2 will follow shortly, but before I dive into the scary contents of my thoughts, I thought I’d give you all a chance to catch your breath. Seriously, all you who read everything I write get mad props, because I don’t even fully grasp all that I’m writing! My thoughts(and everyone’s, I’ll wager) seem to be a interweaving of multicoloured threads…and to follow one thread to completion would be a marvel. But, enough on that tangent. Have I lost everyone yet? Ok, good.

Another thing I think about enough on my drive to work is the power and danger and beauty and poison and utter mystery that is music. I hinted at this subject in my last post, but as I didn’t have enough time to explain myself, I kept it vague. But now my time is unlimited and my fingers are spry and I’m ready to drown you all in a flood of words. Gosh, I really am getting long-winded in my old age.

But, music. One of the craziest and most beautiful of the creative gift our Father’s bestowed upon us. Driving off to work, I tend to play my favorite “pump-up” music to get my mind in gear for the work day…and one of the albums I’ve been playing a lot lately is one by Sonata Arctica. The album(“Reckoning Night”) is a work of pure genius. Remember that top five album thing I did a few months back? Well, if I repeated it now, I’m pretty sure this album would take at least the 3rd spot, if not higher. For me, the album’s melodies and rhythms and crazy awesome guitar and haunting piano and intermingling of raw emotion throughout struck me deeply. The songs range from heartrendingly sad to breathtakingly furious and they strike a chord in my soul. And why have I practically written a review of this album? Precisely because it echoes so well what I feel music does for everyone. I doubt everyone will feel the same I do about this album(and please don’t think I’ve fallen in love or pledged my life to these songs!), but haven’t you ever felt the emotions whirling within you when you heard your favorite album, or band, or song? Haven’t you ever felt like the song matches your deepest desires and feelings that you didn’t even know you had? Haven’t you felt like the music opened up a mirror in which you were looking at yourself? And this is why music is so beautiful and yet so dangerous. It opens us up to ourselves. And we are dangerous indeed.

Music opens up ourselves and gives the key of our emotions to the stereo. It releases our cries of longing and pleads of love into the open. The intellectual is subdued before the power of the emotional. At our depths, we are people who want to be loved. Who want to be wanted. Who want to be known. And our soul screams for meaning and begs for fulfillment. And in music, there is that faintest echo.

And I don’t want you all to think I’m decrying music as the work of the devil! Indeed, I love music(and will continue to!), but music is not the answer. It’s a thing of beauty that our most glorious Father has given to us! But it is not the balm that will heal our souls. It is not the jewel of great price. It is not the answer to our heart’s pain. But there is One who is.

And that’s all for tonight, folks. Enjoy the epicness of this post. And if anyone read all that, they get TWO cookies. That’s right. Enjoy the beauty of the night!! …and this little present for anyone who made it this far:

The orange disc slid across
the curve of the
early morning sky.
The traveler’s mouth dropped
open in awe,
so shattering was the
beauty of the sun
in the soft gray sky.

It seemed as if a
smear of purest light had
been dropped on a
dirty canvas.

James HoganLeave a comment

Ok, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while but just now getting around to it…and what is this mysterious thing? Well, my top five music albums…of all time!! That’s a very lofty statement to make, and really it’s going to probably end up being my top five albums right now. It’s gonna be fun. I know some people who listen to much more music than me…*coughcoughKadycough* have named their top thirty albums, but I seriously don’t know if I can think of that many that I love! Anyways, yes, this format and idea is all stolez from Kady. So props for the sweet idea…and now, how shall I do this?

5. Rhapsody of Fire: Legendary Tales
Favorite Tracks:  Warriors of Ice, Rage of the Winter, Flames of Revenge
Alright, now that is a seriously epic album cover.  Just saying.  I had the hardest time deciding which Rhapsody album to choose, but this one made the cut just because of its all around awesomeness.  A couple of their other albums have some of my fav Rhapsody songs, but listening to this album straight through is just a treat!!  For those of you that haven’t heard Rhapsody(of Fire), they’re a fusion of power metal and orchestral rock and epicness.  Yes, epic in the Tolkien sense of the word…all of their albums are fantasy themed, with heroes and dragons and demons and…well, you get the idea.  This album is one of my favorite music standbys because I can play it and rock out…no matter what mood I’m in.  That’s rare for me…I very much choose my music by my mood.  So hey, give ’em a listen.


4. Coldplay: Viva La Vida
Favorite Tracks: Violet Hill, Life in Technicolor, Cemeteries of London
I have a feeling this is probably going to be the album you all have heard of!  This is a very recent favorite of mine…dating back to when I discovered it listening to someone else’s shared iTunes music in the Christian Study Center!  It helped me dominate writing a paper…and well, I’ve loved it ever since.  Coldplay has such amazing chill music.  So relaxing.  And at the same time…passionate.  Violet Hill is one of my favorite songs of all time and the rest is simply top-notch.  This is an album I can’t really listen to only part of it…I have to go through the whole thing – it’s just that good!!  If you ever need to get some serious homework/paper-writing done…use this album.

3. Nightwish: Dark Passion Play
Favorite Tracks: Poet and the Pendulum, The Islander, Amaranth
It’s going to be hard to explain this album…it’s just amazing.  Nightwish is a sweet power metal band…and I don’t know how else to describe them!  This wasn’t the first album of theirs I heard, but it always touches me the most.  The emotions shown by the songs here is just too real to push away.  One of the first songs of this album I heard was the Islander(on youtube) and it has remained one of my fav Nightwish songs ever.  Just too beautiful.  And even if you don’t like metal, give this album a chance…it’s too gorgeous to ignore!!


2. Muse: Absolution
Favorite Tracks: Apocalypse Please, Butterflies and Hurricanes, Tsp
I didn’t originally think this album would be top five, but as I was listening to it recently, I thought there was NO WAY I could not have this album on my top five.  I originally didn’t know how good this album was until someone(Betsy!) mentioned how it was her favorite Muse album…I promptly went home and listened to it straight through and was blown away.  As I was trying to figure out of my favorite tracks, I started smiling because I realized I wanted to choose all of them.  Seriously, this is good stuff.

And now.

1. Muse: Black Holes and Revelations
Favorite Tracks: Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, Knights of Cydonia
Was there any doubt?  I actually wasn’t sure how most of the top five would turn out, but this spot was always going to Black Holes.  I still remember the first time I heard it(in Chris’ car on one of our journeys to Tampa/Gainesville!) and I remember being blown away.  For some reason, I didn’t listen to it again for some time…but when I did, I remember it vividly.  Sophmore year, staying up late to finish a project.  I played this album straight through.  Three or four times.  Starlight has been one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE SONGS for a good long time and I really can’t think of any other song that shares the honors.  And listening to this album all the way through is like riding through a an ocean of emotions…sorrowful, powerful, passionate…it has it all.

And there you go.  I know I probably shouldn’t have two Muse albums taking up the top two spots…but I couldn’t help it – they deserved it.  And I feel a little bad I didn’t have any Relient K or Jars of Clay albums up there!  Their problem is that they have great songs, but their albums aren’t meant to flow together…ah well, I still love ’em.

Now, time to get my laundry and then get ready for bed!  Tomorrow’s a work day but the next day is SATURDAY!

Rock and roll, y’all!

Peppermint mocha time!

James HoganLeave a comment

Soo, I’ve been at the christian study center relaxing, reading and enjoying life these past few hours…oh how I love to read and enjoy a good cup of coffee!! And for some reason I was rereading some of my old entries here(think high school era!) and I found this old song thing I did…and I thought I should redo it now to reflect my changes in music taste….so here ya go!

List your current six favourite songs, then tag six other people that have to do the same.

1. Starlight – Muse
2. Love Story – Taylor Swift
3. Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
4. College Kids – Relient K
5. Low – Flo Rida
6. Violet Hill – Coldplay

And yes, there are two Muse songs. I’m on a Muse kick right now, ‘k? I would have put more, but I thought I would try diversifying a bit…I also almost put more Taylor on there, but I refrained…

Now, I shall go back to drowning myself in espresso…and enjoying this delightful day!! Farewell all!!

Time for something a little different…

James HoganLeave a comment

Stolen from Kady…and I also didn’t want to try and list 30 bands so I’m also using last.fm for my 30…we’ll see how this turns out, since I’m not as big a music person as some people….hehehe.

List your 30 favorite bands/musicians (in no particular order) without looking at the questions, and then answer the questions using your list.

01. John Williams
02. Relient K
03. The Beatles
04. Trans-Siberian Orchestra
05. Hans Zimmer
06. Green Day
07. Muse
08. Blue Man Group
09. Howard Shore
10. Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori
11. Queen
12. They Might Be Giants
13. Switchfoot
14. Flogging Molly
15. Dropkick Murphys
16. BBC Big Band
17. Keith Green
18. Stratovarius
19. Blink-182
20. Lost Prophets
21. Kelly Clarkson
22. The Postal Service
23. Rhapsody
24. Nightwish
25. Jeremy Soule
26. The Royal Philharmonic
27. Coldplay
28. The Doors
29. Frank Klepacki
30. Apocalyptica

1. How did you get into 29 (Frank Klepacki)?
Haha, actually I think I deleted all of his songs(command and conquer soundtrack music) a little while ago…but I started listening because I got the soundtrack music from my friend Andrew. But on one of my random iTunes cleaning binges…he went bye-bye.

2. What was the first song you ever heard by 22 (The Postal Service)?
No idea…probably The District Sleeps tonight…but I heard them before I ever had their music, so not sure.

3. How many albums by 12 (They Might Be Giants) do you own?
Hm, well I don’t actually own any of their albums…but I have four albums on my computer.

4. What is your favourite song by 5 (Hans Zimmer)?
Probably the beginning battle music in Gladiator. Either that or the Pirates of the Caribbean theme music.

5. What is your favorite song by 15 (Dropkick Murphys)?
Hm, good question. Either “Do or Die”, “Heroes from our Past”, or “Amazing Grace”. All great songs.

6. Is there a song by 6 (Green Day) that makes you happy?
Haha, lots of Green Day’s songs makes me happy…but I’d have to say “Time of our Lives” simply because it brings back great memories of high school….

7. What is your favourite song by 10 (Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori)?
Seeing as they’re the Halo soundtrack composers…probably the main Halo theme. It’s pure awesomeness.

8. What is a good memory you have involving 30 (Apocalyptica)?
Hmm…just any time I’ve watched youtube videos of them and seeing my friends’ reactions to a metal cellist band…people get quite confused, hehehe.

9. Is there a song by 19 (Blink-182) that makes you happy?
“First Date”…so light and care-free and happy and awesome!

10. How many times have you seen 23 (Rhapsody) live?
Never. But…they would be one of the bands on my list I’d most want to see live. So that would be sweet if I ever could!!

11. What is the first song you ever heard by 26 (The Royal Philharmonic)?
Probably “1812 Overture” or something…I was actually sorta surprised they made it on the list…

12. What is your favourite album by 11 (Queen)?
A Night at the Opera. Definitely my favorite sound of theirs by far…

13. Who is your favourite member of 1 (John Williams)?
John Williams(Hehehehe…)

14. Have you ever seen 14 (Flogging Molly) live?
No, but it would be sweet!!

15. What is a good memory involving 27 (Coldplay)?
Writing my finance paper the day it was due listening to them the whole time…great fuel for the mind. That was also the day I first discovered their greatness.

16. What is your favourite song by 16 (BBC Big Band)?
“I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo”…very fun song!!

17. What is your favourite album by 18 (Stratovarius)?
Had to look up their albums on my itunes for this one…but definitely Dreamspace. Some of my favorite songs are on there..

18. What is your favorite song by 21 (Kelly Clarkson)?
Hmm…I don’t know if I have a favorite…probably either “Addicted” or “Behind those Hazel Eyes”…and yes, Kelly Clarkson is on my top 30. Nothing wrong with that!

19. What is the first song you ever heard by 25 (Jeremy Soule)?
He’s the composer of the Knights of the Old Republic soundtrack…so I guess the theme song from that game? Yeah, sounds about right.

20. What is your favourite album by 2 (Relient K)?
Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right…But Three Do. Great great album with tons of solid songs. Mmhmm is pretty awesome too.

21. What is your favourite song by 3 (The Beatles)?
“Here Comes the Sun”. Don’t think I’ve ever had another favorite!

22. What is your favourite song by 8 (Blue Man Group)?
Probably either “White Rabbit”, “Drumbone”, or “I Feel Love”. Yummy songs all!

23. How many times have you seen 17 (Keith Green) live?
Never…I think he died before I was born. 😦

24. What is the worst song by 12 (They Might be Giants)?
Umm…I can’t think of any of their songs I dislike!!

25. What was the first song you ever heard by 28 (The Doors)?
Um, not sure…but the one I always liked the most when I first heard them was “Riders on the Storm”. And I still do love that song…

26. What is your favourite album by 7 (Muse)?
Black Holes and Revelations. This also happens to be my favorite album of all time, ever…so…yeah. Awesomeness.

Fun survey time! Now maybe I should actually get something done….