Dahlia DeWinters - Author

Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Tuneful Tuesday – The Great American Songbook

New feature.  Every Tuesday I want to feature a song I’m listening to for the week.  It could be part of a playlist for a story I’m writing or it could be a random song that popped into my head. Whatever its origins, I’m going to share it with you!

Today’s Tuneful Tuesday is the song “Fever” as done by Michael Buble.  It’s on my playlist for Love Bytes, a previously published story that I’m revamping.  I personally think this is a great version of the song by a male, although Peggy Lee is the ultimate version.

And what, you may ask, is “the Great American Songbook”?  Well, let me allow Wikipedia to step in:

From Wikipedia:

The Great American Songbook, also known as “American Standards”, is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. Although several collections of music have been published under the title, it does not refer to any actual book or specific list of songs, but to a loosely defined set including the most popular and enduring songs from the 1920s to the 1950s that were created for Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musical film. They have been recorded and performed by a large number and wide range of singers, instrumental bands, and jazz musicians. The Great American Songbook comprises standards by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, and also Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, and others.[1][2][3][4][5] Although the songs have never gone out of style among traditional and jazz singers and musicians, a renewed popular interest in the Great American Songbook beginning in the 1970s has led a growing number of rock and pop singers to take an interest and issue recordings of them.

Some of the most famous singers of these “standards” are Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday and others.

Without further ado, “Fever” by Michael Buble.

 

If you have a favorite American Standard, leave it in the comments!

Terrific Tuesday – Best Book to Movie Adaptations

Greetings and salutations!

Today I’m going to talk about some of my favorite book to movie adaptations – just like it says on the tin.  I love books and I love movies, and when the two come together, it touches a chord in me that cannot be duplicated.  I won’t tarry on a long-winded introduction:  let’s get to the meat of the post, shall we?

 

What makes a book to movie adaptation terrific?  If the movie captures the essence of the book, the characters and offers the same or improved ending from the book.  Mind you, a terrific adaptation doesn’t necessarily mean the movie sticks as close to the book as white on rice, nor does it mean the movie leaves you with a terrific feeling. It just means that as a reader of the book, you’re satisfied with the spirit of the movie.

Here, in no particular order, are my top ten terrific movie adaptations.

We Need to Talk about Kevin – Tilda Swinton can make anything good.  If you haven’t read the book yet, watching the movie gives you a taste of the awful foreboding of the book.  You know something is going to happen, the question is just. when.  This movie will not make you comfortable.

Jurassic Park – Now this movie was a bundle of fun for me.  Yes, the book was a lot more techincal and dense to get through, but the screen writers managed to sprinkle in the genetics along side the breathtaking spectacle of the dinosaurs on scree.  An excellent film that I watch every time it comes on television.

The Godfather – The book was good, but it did include a few side stories that detracted from the main narrative. The movie slashed and burned enough of those side stories and emphasized the family saga.  It helped that the author, Mario Puzo, had a hand in writing the screenplay.

The Silence of the Lambs – What more can be said?  The movie made me read the book, and I wasn’t disappointed.

To Kill a Mockingbird – The actors (Robert Duvall’s first screen role as Boo Radley), made the book come alive.  The only person I missed in the movie was Calpurnia.  Her part in the book seemed to be larger and wittier.

No Country for Old Men – The Coen Brothers helped bring Cormac McCarthy’s story to life. Both movie and book complement each other.

The Remains of the Day – I went to see this in the movies and I did have tears.  Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson really bring Kazou Ishiguro’s story to life.

Wiseguy – I never met a gangster movie I didn’t like.  Re-titled “Goodfellas”, the movie actually improves on the newspaper style reporting of the book and brings the characters to life in blooming color.

The Shining – While I did not care for the character death in movie, I really felt that Kubrick’s adaptation captured the essence (yes, that word again) of the book and the frightening visuals and hidden clues are quite effective.

Requiem for a Dream – This is a film that I never wish to see ever again.  A gut-wrenching odyssey of three separate stories of drug addiction, Requiem for a Dream is a visceral experience that leaves the viewer stunned. The book is a little more “in your face” than the movie is, but both are effective.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption – Renamed as The Shawshank Redemption….well, I’m pretty sure that you’ve all heard of the movie, yes?

Into the Wild – Written by Jon Jon Krakauer, who freaked me out with Into Thin Air, about folks climbing Mt. Everest, Into the Wild is the story of a young man who wanted to live off the land in the wilds of Alaska.

Tuneful Tuesday: My Top Songs of the 60s

the road of successAnother week is started and once again I try to revive this old blog.  Each time I declare that I’m going to post regularly, but you know what?  I’m going to take it easy and post when I can.

Today’s post is inspired by the break I was taking to day from writing.  As I surveyed new and old music on youtube.com, I realized how many old-time songs (I.e. songs before my time) that I enjoyed.  I decided to gather my top five songs of the 60s.  So get out your soul beads, your round glasses and your  knitted shawls, sit back and enjoy.

 

5. Stand by Me – Ben E. King

 

4. House of the Rising Sun, The Animals

 

 

3. Sounds of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel

 

 

 

2.   Georgia On My Mind – Ray Charles

 

 

 

1. I Heard it Through the Grapevine

Of course, I’m always curious to know what’s your favorite song or songs from the sixties decade.  Let me know in the comments!

Dahlia
BohoWriterChick

Tuneful Tuesdays – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

dahlia-63441_640I loved this song when it came out because of Cyndi’s don’t give a durn attitude and her style. I also liked the way the video included different types of women – giving you the feeling that if you were in the vicinity while they were filming, Cyndi might have pulled you into the video too!

From songfacts.com:

Lauper co-wrote many of her own songs, but not this one. Like “I Will Survive,” it’s a girl power song written by a man. A Philadelphia singer/songwriter named Robert Hazard, who had a band called Robert Hazard and the Heroes, wrote it. Hazard recorded his demo of the song in 1979. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Lauper said that she had to alter the lyrics from Hazard’s original. “It was originally about how fortunate he was ’cause he was a guy around these girls that wanted to have ‘fun’ – with him – down there, which we do not speak lest we go blind,” she said.

Enjoy this 80s flashback.