April Favorites 2014

Hello again, everyone! Time to see what kind of random stuff I've discovered last month. The lineup for April is pretty slim, but there are a few cool things here.

Favorite Movie: The Monuments Men
Awesome movie! It's about a group of men who fought during World War II, and their job was to protect valuable pieces of art from being destroyed in battle or confiscated by the Nazis. Based on a true story, this movie will give you a whole new appreciation for art and what it means to society.

For any parents reading this blog, it's been over two weeks since I've seen the movie, but I believe the PG-13 rating is mostly for wartime violence and language. There is, however, one part that deals with mature content which you may want to be aware of. Nothing actually happens, and the man in question apparently chooses to do the right thing at the end of the scene, but it's something to keep in mind if you're considering letting young children watch the movie with you.

Otherwise, this is only a brief description of the film based on what I saw. If you want to research it more, here is the official website. I haven't checked out how historically accurate it is, but I thought it was enjoyable for its own sake. Hopefully you enjoy it too.


Favorite Music
There are several songs I want to share this week, since I've been spending a lot of time going through my collection of Celtic/Scandinavian music. I'll keep it brief and link to a video for each one.

Eriskummainen kantele, by Loituma, is now (and probably always will be) my favorite Scandinavian song. I can say I've heard this five hundred times, and I wouldn't be exaggerating too much. Yes, it's sad; but watch the video once and play it again with your eyes closed. Does it feel sad? Nope. Maybe I'm just biased, because I dance to this song every year in the Scandinavian Festival, and it also happens to be one of my favorite dances, ha ha. Either way, it absolutely earned its place on my favorites blog post.

Lover's Heart, by Silly Wizard. Yes...their name is Silly Wizard, and I'm totally biased because of that. Perhaps it's more than a coincidence, because this is a song I've loved since I was little. I can remember listening to this in my room at eight years old, before I was old enough to fully grasp everything he was talking about. Now I listen when I write scenes with Hugoh in them (people who have read my book will understand).

When Juniper Sleeps, by Seamus Egan. I love, love, love, love this song!

Siuil a Run, by Celtic Woman. The version I own is actually sung by an artist called Anuna, but this is the closest thing I could find on youtube.

Nil Se'n La, by Celtic Woman. Just so you know that I DO like uplifting music, ha ha. This song is great for writing fun scenes. (Hint...hint...winking eye at Abecedarian readers).


There are so many more songs I could list, but I'd be sitting here for another several hours surfing youtube. After going through all this work, I notice a definite pattern of melancholy tunes and themes, but they're beautiful sad songs. One of these days, I'll compose a blog post with nothing but music I listen to when I'm writing, which includes a wide variety of moods and popularity.

Hopefully you enjoyed this update and discovered a few new favorites for yourself.

Thanks for reading.

Until next time...