Complementing Pictures with Melodies

I love songs with great lyrics. After watching WALL-E, I found a great song which I downloaded as soon as I got back and has been in my "Favourites" list ever since. The song is great in itself, very meaningful with nice melodies. But it becomes even greater because it complements the film WALL-E.

Did you think that your feet had been bound
By what gravity brings to the ground?
Did you feel you were tricked
By the future you picked?
Well, come on down

All those rules don't apply
When youre high in the sky
So, come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

Did you think you'd escaped from routine
By changing the script and the scene?
Despite all you made of it
You're always afraid of the change

You've got a lot on your chest
Well, you can come as my guest
So come on down
Come on down

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

[This is my favourite part]
Like the fish in the ocean
We felt at home in the sea
We learned to live off the good land
Learned to climb up a tree
Then we got up on two legs
But we wanted to fly
When we messed up our homeland
We set sail for the sky

We're coming down to the ground
There's no better place to go
We've got snow up on the mountains
We've got rivers down below
We're coming down to the ground
We hear the birds sing in the trees
And the land will be looked after
We send the seeds out in the breeze

We're coming down
Coming down to Earth
Like babies at birth
Coming down to Earth
Were gonna find new priorities
These are extraordinary qualities

Peter Gabriel is a lyrical genius. If you don't believe me also check out Don't Give Up (used for another movie, The Bone Collector) and In Your Eyes (also a soundtrack for Say Anything). Don't forget Big Time, Mercy Street (I think this been used in a movie also) and the 80s classic Sledgehammer.

And you must see the movie. It will certanly makes you want to jump on that dusty treadmill.

This song reminded me of another soundtrack. This song played during the credits of Kate & Leopold. It's by Sting and titled Until. The movie is so-so but the song is great. One of the most romantic song I've heard.

If you've never heard the song before, just read the lyrics. While you're reading imagine this, a dashing and intelligent Duke unexpectedly travelled 100 years into the future where he meets a lovely but insecure girl. They fell in love but have to surrender to love's worst enemy, time. For the melody, imagine Sting during Ten Summoner's Tale's era, imagine Fields of Gold and the tick-ticking of a clock throughout the song. Genius.

If I caught the world in a bottle
And everything was still beneath the moon
Without your love would it shine for me?
If I was smart as Aristotle
And understood the rings around the moon
What would it all matter if you loved me?

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing would I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing's end

If I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon so we could ride
Until the stars grew dim, Until...

One day you’ll meet a stranger
And all the noise is silenced in the room
You’ll feel that you're close to some mystery
In the moonlight and everything shatters
You feel as if you’ve known her all your life
The world’s oldest lesson in history

Here in your arms where the world is impossibly still
With a million dreams to fulfill
And a matter of moments until the dancing ends
Here in your arms when everything seems to be clear
Not a solitary thing do I fear
Except when this moment comes near the dancing’s end

Oh, if I caught the world in an hourglass
Saddled up the moon and we would ride
Until the stars grew dim
Until the time that time stands still,
Until...

Isn't it great? Isn't it romantic?

Shanta...ummm?

Intro:
Actually, I started this post in March. I finally got the urge to write because I hated this book so much. Isn't that so human? I still haven't started a review for The Book Thief, a book that I love but I already posted a review about a book that I hated. That's mankind for you, driven by hate...


The review:
I stopped reading halfway through the book. And I assure you this is quite a feat considering it has 900++ pages in it. So, page-wise you can say I read a whole book.

Shantaram is about an Australian who after escaping prison ran to India and settled there. He befriended a local man who started out as his guide but in time became the most trusted friend. Along the way he met other colourful and shady characters, and embarked on various jobs which include trading in the black market and a doctor. Yep, a doctor. And this is based on a true story. To me, right of the bat, it's like The City of Joy meet The Beach. A white man searching for salvation found it in a distant country in Asia, learn the culture, accepted as one of their own and became a doctor to them. I've also come to the conclusion that merging 2 great books DO NOT yield one great novel.

After 200++ pages I was already tired with his philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Actually, 10 pages in I got a bad feeling already. I just think he's trying too hard. And the philosophy he presented in the book, to me it's more like The 70's Show 20 years later than anything else. It's like a bunch of stoned dudes sitting around the table and discussing about stuff, which I can imagine since he's probably high most of the time when he was in India. Clearly a first novel, a novice attempt. But I kept reading because I have the habit of reading the book before watching the movie and I rarely drop a book.

Halfway in, I just can't stand it. The simile! It's just too much! "the forest of her brow", "lavishly perfumed with rain", "the monsoon was probing the village", yadayadayada... It's kind of cheezy after a while. and i thought a good piece of writing is one that holds back on the similes. I think it's like the first rule of writing. I'm sure Strunk and White mentioned it. Sure enough, Section 4. No. 18, "Use figures of speech sparingly." Not exactly first but still important enough to be written down. Heck, I learned that in Writing 101. But then, I gotta give him some slack. Maybe he didn't take any writing class back the, being busy with robbing banks and treating the poor etc. But then, his editor must have, right? God, somebody should fire him/her.

And the plot? What plot? The only continous theme throughout the book (at least the first half) is his obsession with this girl. I thought things would get interesting with the introduction of Khader Bhai, but no luck there. After a short introduction and a loooong discussion about the 'philosophy of pain', I never saw him again.

Another thing that I can't stand is those great reviews he's been getting. Check out Amazon.com. One person even said he should get a Pulitzer!

[imagine a smiley face puking here]

I don't know what those people are thinking nowadays. Pulitzer is Euginides' Middlesex, or Walker's The Color Purple, not a bunch of random thoughts.

Sideline:
A tip when choosing a book, if you see that the cover features any quotes commenting about the book, check who they are quoting. If it's by reknown journals (NY Times, New Yorker), you're okay. BUT if it by some magazine you never heard of or "other authors" no matter how famous they are, you gotta be careful. You've been duly warned.

I'm looking forward to the movie though. The book is way too long so maybe the movie can give it justice since most of the time the book got cut in the adaptation process. I also love Johnny Depp. The book kinda remind me of Sideways, average book, great movie. I hope it's the same with Shantaram. Anyway, I think Roberts should write screenplays IF he can 'reign in the multiplicity of his simile' (haha, had fun with that one. goes to show anyone can write cheezy prose).

If anyone wants to read about the slum/lepers life in India, read City of Joy. It's way better.