I've been listening to a lot of classical mixes lately, and I'll be darned if it hasn't turned my commute into the most lovely part of the day. I think this kind of music is especially fitting in big cities like San Francisco, where each patch of neighborhood has its own musical personality. Golden Gate Park is Satie. Duboce Triangle is a Mozart piano concerto. Downtown is Gershwin, because I've watched one too many Woody Allen movies (and that movie is Manhattan).
Everything seems a little bit more timeless, a little bit more deliberate: buses somehow look graceful when you're listening to a waltz, and everyone steps off the sidewalk in time when the streetlights turn green in FiDi. I love how music breathes life into every part of the city.
Streetcar music from gumboots on 8tracks Radio.
[Not-so-sneaky transition:] Speaking of personal soundtracks, I finally saw Birdman.
Hey guys, remember when I said Boyhood was my favorite movie of 2014, then changed my mind and said it was Whiplash? Yeah, I might have to do that again. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a movie lover's movie, and perfect in almost every way. I loved how it was funny and unnerving and the same time, just surreal enough to keep you on your toes, and super immersive (the whole thing is made to look like one continuous shot).
And the music! Really cool drum score, plus bits and pieces from Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mahler. Ugh, so good. After we got out of the movie we walked down Castro to get food and there was a string quartet playing in front of Cliff's and I felt like if I turned around there'd be a camera following us, and we'd start speaking in perfectly-timed dialogue. Life has been so musical lately; I love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku86iJ736S8