Stuck In My Skull 330-- "With a Few Good Friends"

Song: "With a Few Good Friends" || Artist: Carly Simon || http://youtu.be/HrtK1zZ9oiA ||

[youtube http://youtu.be/HrtK1zZ9oiA]

Comments: Nevermind how, but I ended up watching Piglet's Big Movie last night with a friend of mine. The movie is ridiculously cute, and your classic Winnie the Pooh feel good movie. This song is the theme of the movie, and pretty excellent. I'm not terribly familiar with Carly Simon, but she has a really distinct vocal style that I want to listen to more of. Give it a listen!

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Entry 304-- "Rest in Peace"

Song: "Rest in Peace" || Written by: Joss Whedon || Peformed by: James Marsters || http://youtu.be/c9p4drDZXIg ||

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9p4drDZXIg]

Comments: Hello all! Amanda here! I'm excited to share with you a song from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, "Once More, with Feeling," written by none other than Joss Whedon. The whole soundtrack is fantastic, and impressive considering it was his first attempt at song writing, according to Wikipedia. The song is a small taste of Whedon's musical genius and Marsters, the actor portraying British vamp Spike in the series, gives a great performance, delivering both soft and hard vocals. If you're a Whedon fan but haven't checked out the show yet or just like what you hear, you should consider watching the entire episode. It's decidedly one of my favorites. Enjoy!

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Entry 270-- "A Little Priest"

Song: "A Little Priest" ||  Composed by: Stephen Sondheim || Performed by: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter || http://youtu.be/MGzpzJ4fzGY ||

Comments: Hey everyone! Amanda here! What better way to wrap up the week than with a sinister musical number. This tune is off the soundtrack for Tim Burton’s 2007 film adaption of the Broadway show Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It’s the story of Sweeney Todd, a wicked barber dead set on getting revenge on his enemies with the help of Mrs. Lovett, his partner in business and crime. Burton breathes new life into the popular stage musical, imprinting his signature style on the movie. As the leads of an all non-musical cast, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter deliver strong, haunting performances. Although not classically trained singers, they use their talents as actors to get to the heart of their characters and reveal their every motive and desire. They also manage to infuse new passion and drama into the original music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, the acclaimed composer known for West Side Story and other stage works. This duet is easily the sharpest, most cheerful song you'll ever hear about murdering people and baking them into pies. Like the entire film, it’s got a sense of humor that makes it quite charming. If you are a fan of the musical genre, I suggest checking out the movie. It doesn't disappoint. Have a great weekend!

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Entry 254-- "Manah Manah"

Song: "Manah Manah"
Artist: The Muppets

http://youtu.be/8N_tupPBtWQ
Comments: No, this is not a joke. This song is stuck in my head, and dedicated to a coworker of mine, whose easy jokes and startlingly clear insights into our jobs makes life so much more tolerable. Anyway, fresh from The Muppet Labs Stuck In My Skull, I present to you, "Manah Manah," as performed by the illustrious... wait, do they even have names?! ...The Muppets!

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Entry 241-- "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Ultimatum)"

Song: "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Ultimatum)"
Artist: Moby

http://youtu.be/JXtuVCgtDSY
Comments: Happy Monday, folks! For those of you (us?) who think that Mondays really suck, have an awesome song to make it suck less! According to Wikipedia, this version of the song "Extreme Ways" has been used in all three of the films (thus far) in the Bourne film trilogy, which you should definitely watch if you haven't already. Also according to Wiki-- and verified by the dedicated team of fact-checking monkeys here at Stuck In My Skull (read, me)-- the chord in the beginning of the song has a history. Before Moby used it in this track, it came from a cover of the song "Everybody's Talkin'" by Hugo Winterhalter, who covered the song (as best as I can tell) from the original by Fred Neil in 1966. So, it turns out the soundtrack for a 2000s action movie was something like 40 years in the making. Sometimes, music has got a crazy history. Anyway, enjoy the song!

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Entry 196-- Soundtrack Week, Part 4: "Brand New Day"

Soundtrack Week, Part 4
Song: "Brand New Day"
From: "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"

http://youtu.be/wx5xpwY0bNg
Comments: Oddly enough, this song came up in conversation this morning, and has been in and out of my head ever since. I'm short on time, but Neal Patrick Harris sings the point quite well, so I really see no need to comment. The link below the video leads to a slightly higher quality version. Enjoy!

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Entry 195-- Soundtrack Week, Part 3: "Diablo Rojo"

Soundtrack Week, Part 3
Song: "Diablo Rojo"
Artist: Rodrigo y Gabriela
http://youtu.be/2NAYojZY6aA

Comments:  Hey all, it's Miriah here with some Spanish for the week.  My apologies that my soundtrack song isn't from anything as awesome as Game of Thrones, but rather from an animated movie. (The movie was great for anyone wondering.)  Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican an instrumental guitar duet.  I didn't realize this when I bought their album, but I fell in love with the music.  Almost all, at least on the album this song appears in are upbeat, fast paced, and amazing.  Anyhow, this song (whose title means "Red Devil" in Spanish) was released some time ago back in '06 on the duet's self-titled album.  In the movie, the song plays during a dance off which was an excellent scene to put this song.  Enjoy!

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Entry 194-- Soundtrack Week, Part 2: Game of Thrones Theme

Soundtrack Week, Part 2

Song: Game of Thrones Opening Credits Theme

Artist: Ramin Djawadi

http://youtu.be/s7L2PVdrb_8

Comments: This song is just epic. Two minutes of catchy, orchestral bliss. I'd go into detail at great length about this song, but to be honest, I have a headache, and I think it speaks for itself quite nicely. Enjoy!

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Entry 193-- Soundtrack Week, Part 1: "Otherworld" (and Site Update!)

Soundtrack Week, Part 1
Song: "Otherworld"
Artist: Nobuo Uematsu (Vocals by Bill Muir)
From: Final Fantasy X

http://youtu.be/4umidcc_8rU (Cutscene from the game)

http://youtu.be/YWIDYnbexUA (Soundtrack Version)

Comments: It's a crazy day today on the blog! First and foremost, welcome to Soundtrack Week! To open things up, a song from the game that sparked my love of an entire of genre of games, Final Fantasy X. FFX was my first Final Fantasy game, and years later, I remember watching this scene with my jaw hanging open and my heart pounding. There's a popular misconception that the vocals in the song were performed by Rammstein-- this is not true. The soundtrack to this game was done mostly by Nobuo Uematsu, who composed the scores for most of the games in this series. Both the song and the scene are excellent. Enjoy!

As for the site update, there're a couple of changes. First, I made a few tweaks to some of the gadgets and such on the site. Secondly, I'm proud to announce we now have a Facebook "Like" button, which you should all go and click, so you can get updates and other fun stuff! And last but not least, I'm in the process of trying to get Amanda and Miriah added as authors, so you can more easily tell who wrote what. Come back tomorrow to see how it all looks!

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