Payphone: Behind the Scenes of Cerulean Jade's latest Cover Song

Payphones in Santa Barbara

On June 19, a month ago, I promised the "Payphone" cover Steven and I was working on would be released that week, but it wasn't until this week we finally got it up. 

When I first found out about the song, I was browsing the Billboard Music website, checking out new songs for cover ideas.  The clean, rap version of Maroon 5's "Payphone" was doing very well, and I instantly fell in love with it and convinced Steven we needed to do this song.  Everything was going well with the Steven's arrangement and recording went smoothly, so on June 22 I went to bed while Steven was mastering the song.  

That morning he uploaded the song privately on Youtube, I gave it a listen, and knew there was no way we could make that version public.  The problem?  The vocals were so loud that the arrangement was dwarfed.  It was impossible to hear what made the music unique.  Unfortunately I didn't know anything about mastering to help, and Steven was stressed, having stayed up all night, and having obligations to his friends wedding (he was a groomsman) that's where his mind was, and needed to be.  But that night Steven was so warn out and stressed that he got really sick.  It was a very low point for both of us, and we needed to distance ourselves from the song and figure things out.  A break was needed.  

My Grandpa had suffered a heart-attack, he's doing better now, but my Mom was in California helping him, and since she didn't have a car to get back to Utah, Steven and I drove down to help her out.  We spent that week providing a service to both my Mom and Grandfather.  

When we got back we were ready to tackle the project again, but we still were having a hard time, and I was at a loss to how I could help.  Then earlier this week Steven was ready to throw in the towel and pay one of his friends to master the song.  In my gut I knew we couldn't do that, and Mom and I went down again to listen to the latest stage of the master.  Between the three of us we took the song bit by bit, and offered comments "Can you turn the voice down?"  "That instrument, yeah that one, it's too loud" "You're going to turn that instrument up?  Oh wait, that's a little muddy" "Make the voice flat" "Up the piano, it might balance the sound" etc.  By the end, and after trying the song on many players, we were finally happy with the finished product, and knew it was something we could all be proud of.

Originally the video was going to be just Steven and I singing, the studio shot with us behind the mike, and that was it.  Nothing more.  But if you've seen the video you know that's not what we ended up with.  A couple mornings ago I realized how cool it would be to show the music in action with screen shots, so Steven set out to figure out the best way to achieve that.  And then he decided it would be fun to do behind the scenes video as well.  This worried me, because of time, but we decided that taking a couple more days was worth it.  We dug up some video we taped while working on the song, and then shot new video with us outside and next to the piano.  Overall I loved the affect, and the added material makes for a video that's more fun to watch.    

This was such a learning curve!  But I'm glad for it.  The video is better then it would have been a month ago.  And I learned a lot too.  I may not know how to master, but I can learn, and it's a skill I can, and should, develop.  Technology scares me.  I'm afraid of messing up, not learning the software properly, etc, but this fear is only holding me back.  There's a lot more I could be doing.  

Steven and I learned the most important lesson.  Never give up!  Never quit.  If you keep at it, you can solve the problems that are plaguing you.  

And we learned more about ourselves as artist and what we're capable of.  That knowledge is invaluable.   

If you haven't seen the video you can watch it by clicking on these words. 

Have a great day,

Sarah

The Cover Paypohone is Online!!

Finally, after a month of waiting, I'm ready to announce that Cerulean Jade's Cover of "Payphone" is now on Youtube.  I'm so happy!  And I'm so proud of the work my brother Steven and I have done.  This has been quite a learning process, one we gained much from.  And I hope our music will continue to get better.

It's interesting and fun doing covers, but the experience we gain will only add to the original songs we're working on.  

Hope you had fun watching the video:0)
Sarah

Snow White and the Huntsman: Movie Review

"Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, 

lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony"

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

I just finished reading my Grimm's copy of "Little Snow White."  In this version Snow White is seven when she comes of age and is sent into the woods to beg for her life, only to be tricked three times by her wicked step-mother and die by poison apple.  She awakes not by true loves kiss, but by the jostling of her glass coffin causing the apple to dislodge.  The Prince bought the coffin from one of the guarding dwarfs (no idea how old he was) after falling in love with her beauty.  

All throughout Europe there are different variations to the Snow White tale.  In some her heart is wanted by the queen, in other versions it's her lungs.  The dwarfs are even, in one incarnation, robbers.  And as we've seen this year, Snow White has been retold three times, in three entirely different ways, and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of Snow White.  She's been around since the 1800's after all.

 

So what makes this retailing different?  Snow White and the Huntsman, according to the title, highlights the connection between these two characters, but by the end of the movie you can't help but feel this wasn't achieved.  Charlize Theron as the evil Queen is clearly the star of the movie, and it seems a movie title "Fairest of them All" would have been more accurate.  

Charlize steals the movie with her screen presence and beauty.  She commands attention and gets it, though I feel at times her need for control comes off temper-tantrum like, garnered through years of getting her way

In the movie, after Snow Whites true mother dies, the King is a total wreck, and like the great father figure he should be, he runs off to battle, leaving his daughter to be raised by others.  Because his pain obviously is greater then Snow White's.  They're fighting a dark army when a carriage pulls up.  A prisoner has been captored!  One prisoner!  It's a beautiful women!  Marry her tomorrow!  And he does, which leads to his immediate demise after she kills him.  

I have to stop and wonder how great a King he really was.  Everyone says he's great, and yet he selfishly and foolishly leads his Kingdom to darkness and ruin.  But he's great!! We need to honor him!  And of course Snow White, at the tender age of seven or eight, is thrown into a tower, because the queen doesn't want to kill her.  Let her live and grow old in a tower . . . just because.

Enough of that, back to the review.  Snow White comes of age and is fairer then the Queen, not necessarily thanks to her looks, but her heart.  Snow White has a pure heart, and that gives her magic powers.

 Snow White flees to the forest, a Huntsman is sent to follow, only for them to become love interest!  Well, the movie is called Snow White and the Huntsman after all. We expect it.  Only Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth don't have believable chemistry.  And the plot misses opportunities to bring them together more often then not.  Then you've got the Duke's son trying to find Snow White, running with the bad guys as an archer.  Honestly I like Sam Claflin's William, the Dukes son, and by the end of the movie I felt real bad for him.

The tragedy of this movie is that there was a lot of promise.  I loved the darker tone, but it was a little too much at times.  Too many battles.  And the movie felt long.  A mark of a great movie is that you don't feel the time pass, but I did with this movie, and it was painful at times.  

The movie clearly wants the Huntsman and Snow White together.  He teaches her a fighting technique that helps her defeat the Queen.  He kills the Queens brother which weakens her.  At the end it's the Huntsman's kiss, not the Duke's son, that awakens her, only she never learns this.  Snow White just wakes up and gives a rousing speech which leads everyone to battle.  The last shot of the movie is Snow White being queened and the Huntsman looking on from the back of the hall.  It feels empty, hallow even.  

I like the idea of the Huntsman getting together with the princess.  Like I said before, there's so many versions of this tale that this would be an interesting twist, and in the story I read Snow White doesn't even get kissed.  (And if you think I read a version that appeals to children, you should read Rapunzel.  That girls got problems!!)    

What the movie gets right is the incredible CGI.  The visual affects are amazing, and I loved the fairy forest.  The dwarfs were fun.  And I heard other people say Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman felt like Thor was cosplaying.  I didn't feel that way at all.  I liked his portrayal.  I didn't care so much for Kristen Stewart's Snow White.  Gennifer Goodwin, from Once Upon a Time, wins the Snow White wars.  She is hands down my favorite.  

I can't really say I recommend anyone see this movie, though I must admit I have seen it twice.  I'm sure the producers and studio was hoping this movie had the same success as 2010's Alice and Wonderland, which grossed over a billion worldwide.  Snow White and the Huntsman, since June 1st, has only grossed $151,630,800 domestic and $370,430,800 worldwide.   Not bad, but not great. 

One last comment.  Florence + the Machine's end credit song "Breath of Life" is epic.  I've been listening to it on loop.

                     

 Have a great day!

Sarah

Albert and Music

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music.” 

-Albert Einstein

Spider-man: Movie Review

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A few years ago, after the debacle that was Spider-Man 3, there was promise of a Spider-Man 4, with a possible 5 and 6 to go along with it.  The first movie was great, and the second movie was brilliant, so maybe those behind the 3rd installment learned their lesson and the 4th would lead the franchise back on track.  Well, needless to say, everything fell apart, and two years ago Marvel announced they were going to reboot the whole thing.  The next Spider-Man movie was going to retell the origin story with a whole new cast of fresh faces and go under the title The Amazing Spider Man. 

But do we need another one!!??  That was my reaction.  Spider-Man, the first, came out in 2002 to great success, only a decade ago.  Why the reboot?

For the longest time I was hesitant, skeptical, but the last trailer that was shone proved intriguing, and last week I saw the movie and loved it.

I didn't keep up with the cartoon series of the 90's, nor have I read the comics, but my brothers are in the know when it comes to all things geek, and they gave me the heads up about the Spider-Man film trilogy that broke with cannon.  MJ was a love interest later in Peter Parker's life, he's supposed to make his own web, there's a humor about the fight scenes that were missing, etc, so even though the trilogy was well received, true fans wished the movies stayed truer to the comics.  A reboot was the fans hope that the movies would get back to canon, and they did.

What I liked:

Though I'm not a die-hard fan, I do like the fact that The Amazing Spider Man got back to the heart of the comics.  Gwen Stacy was Peter's first love, and they did justice to her character.  I loved Emma Stone's portrayal; she and Andrew Garfield (who plays Peter Parker) have fantastic chemistry (they're also dating in real life, which proves how great they get along together).  I never cared for Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as love interest.   

And, like the comic, Peter makes his own web device.  He also comes across as the geeky nerd he's supposed to be.  I think Tobey Maguire is a fantastic actor, but Andrew is the Peter Parker I imagined.  Overall I'm delighted with Andrews performance.  There was a lot of debate over who was going to be the better Peter, but I give the win to Andrew.

I liked Rhys Ifans as Doctor Connors.  He's a brilliant actor, and I've enjoyed some of his other work.  

Overall this was a fun movie flick.  Not perfect, but enjoyable.  All the characters felt real and relatable.  They were real people in extraordinary circumstances.

What I didn't care for:

I don't know how it was done in the comics, but I didn't like how Peter Parker ordered the web he uses from OsCorps.  Maybe its just me, but wouldn't someone figure out who is ordering all the web?  And what happens if it is no longer produced?  It's probably just a personal gripe, or a potentential plot point, I don't know.

Also, at the end when Gwen gets the antidote (to cure Doctor Connors and the police men who were turned into lizards) who gives it to her father, who then gives it to Peter, and a great antidote gas cloud heals the city, why wasn't Peter's mutation cured?  And that leads me to the mutation, animal DNA situation.  Peter gets bit by a spider and attomatically transforms.  Dr. Connors struggles, with Peter, to create a lizard formula that won't kill whatever is getting the new DNA.  How is it Dr. Connors overlooked the spiders?  And how were the spiders able to cause the mutation in the first place?  I do have to admit, the scene where Peter is in the secret room surrounded by all the spiders was really well done.

Also, one thing I think the original trilogy better accomplished was creating tension and tragedy surrounding the death Peter's Uncle, and how that ultimately shaped Peter into the hero he is.  In the new movie it was amusing watching Peter catch all these criminals, but there was something slightly hallow in it.  Though there was a great build up of Peter's character, always feeling abandoned by his parents. That struggle was believable and nicely done.

Even with those gripes, I did like the movie, and will easily see it again.  Is it up to the slandered set forth by The Avengers?  No, but it's still a fun romp.  There's been a lot of buzz that Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man is going to make an appearance in the next Avenger movie, but according to a panel this weekend at the San Diego ComicCon, Spider-Man won't be teaming up with the Avengers.  I'm honestly very dissapointed with this information.  It would have been fun to see.  Does that mean he might be in the movie, but not team up with them? . . . .

Ah well,
Have a great weekend!
Sarah             

An Accident happened on the way through Baker California

On June 26, 2012 my brother Steven and I drove from Utah to California to join my Mom who was there taking care of my Grandfather.  I was supper stressed, as this was my first 13 hour drive with just the two of us, and when we got to Baker there was bumper to bumper one lane traffic.

I have no idea what happened, but was able to get these shots.  I've googled "Accident Baker 2012" but there was no information.  From the looks of it, it looks like a truck exploded from the inside. 

I hope no one was hurt as it looks quite serious.  I'm glad Steven and I got a late start, because being next to the truck when it exploded would have been no fun.

Have a great day!

Sarah

Tsunami: Warnings and Guidelines

On a recent trip to Santa Barbara I noticed these signs all along the beach.  They weren't there a year ago, and I imagine these were put up thanks to the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan on March 11, 2011.  On that day, an article was published outlining tsunami risks in Santa Barbara.

The city started putting the signs up, along with a couple other coastal communities, in December 2011.  They did it in an effort to become "Tsunami-Ready," to let people know, in an emergency, how far inland they must travel to be safe.  Of course, the sign pictured above is located next to a park, and I wouldn't feel safe at this location.  I would keep running.  But the guidelines are a nice measurement.    

I always get nervous now when I drive along Highway 101 between Ventura and Santa Barbara, because it's a road that runs along the ocean for a good 30 minutes with no way to travel inland.  It's beautiful, I love it, but it's amazing that something that seems so peaceful can become quite violent and deadly.  The Japan Earthquake, though terrible, woke us up to the dangers we face.  There's a possible 1 in 7 chance in the next 50 years for an Earthquake off the Oregon Coast; it would have the same repercussions of the Japan quake, which would cause a huge tsunami along the pacific coastline.    Where I live in Utah, scientist say there is a 1 in 7 chance of a 7 point magnitude striking the Wasatch mountain range, which I live next to, in the next 50 years.  Crazy how both fault lines have the same percentage and odds.  Over 90% of Utah's population lives along this mountain range.  It's humbling and scary.  We can't take anything for granted. 

Sarah

City Creek

City Creek Center, in Salt Lake City, opened last March to thousands.  Work began in 2003, so it’s taken about 8 years for the project to be completed.  I moved to Utah back in 2001, so pretty much my entirety while living here has been nothing but downtown construction.  The outside Mall, which can become covered in snow and rain, is beautiful, and here are a few of the pictures I took on a recent visit.  

    

Many new stores came to the mall, being the first in Utah, including Michael Kors and Swarovski.  And there is also a Cheesecake Factory restaurant, which is amazing.  I worry a little over the Gateway, hoping they won’t lose business, but I’m glad we have this new, beautiful shopping center. 

Have a great day!!

Sarah     

Brave: Movie Review

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 Stars (I need to find a fancy graphic for that).

Last Friday I saw Brave, the latest flick from Pixar, with my brother Steven, Dad, Alec (a cousin who is still quite young), and two Grandma's in tow.

There have been an incredible amount of anticipation for this film, and I've been doubly excited, and nervous, to see Brave.  For the first time Pixar is doing a Princess movie, taking place in Scotland, and it's also their first time piece.  I have a lot of Scottish ancestry, so that made it doubly exciting for me.

The problem is, going into the movie, much of the plot had already been spoiled by other professional movie reviewers, who know better, and Disney Store toys.  Out of all the toys Disney Store has produced, no other movie release had as much spoiler info then this one.  The reviews were mixed, having received a 75% fresh tomato rating, and that made me all the more nervous.  Cars 2 was a huge disappointment.  The visuals were stunning, and Cars, the first, despite popular opinion, is my favorite Pixar movie.  Brave had to bring it, and in a big way.

I loved the movie!  Sure, it's not perfect, but I'm fine with that.  Some complained the story was weak and not up to Pixar standers.  Personally I loved the story.  It does get a little weird in the middle (a plot point given away in a BIG WAY by the Disney Store toys.  Thank you Disney Store) but it's apart of the fantasy magic of the movie.  Every Princess movie must involve magic.  There's a law written somewhere declaring it.  But I loved the message.  For once a movie is all about honoring your elders, a theme I didn't anticipate, which is missing in a lot of big Hollywood movies, and loving your parents.  It's a movie that doesn't focus on a girl getting a guy, but on a Mother and Daughter working through their problems, albeit in an unconventional way.  Plus the lead character Merida and her younger brothers, three mischievous rascals (who stole a couple scenes) have both parents!  How many kid movies can you name where that happens?  Yes, there's Tangled and Mulan, but it doesn't happen as often as it should.  And I applaud Pixar for the strong family element this movie conveys.

 The music is excellent, with a Scottish flair, by composer Patrick Doyle (I've been a Huge fan of his since his work on Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility).  The art and landscapes are breathtaking.

What's even more amazing is Merida's hair.  It's lively, displaying perfectly her inner spirit.  I read somewhere that Pixar worked three years developing two software programs for her hair, and it shows.  Each piece of her hair is animated and brought magnificently to life.  Throughout the movie I couldn't decide whose hair had more magic:  Rapunzel from Tangled or Merida's.

My only real complaint would be the portrayal of the men in the movie.  There was a whole lot of testosterone running about like crazy, and not a whole lot of intelligence.  And I wish the little brothers had more scenes, because they were a lot of fun.

At the end of the movie I was quite satisfied (BTW, stay till the end of the end credits, because there's a tag scene with the witch).  My Dad was a little disgruntled, because he couldn't decide what audience this movie was aiming for, which was the same problem Owls of Ga'Hoole had.  Alec, who's about seven, I don't really know his age, liked it, but couldn't say why.  The Grandma's enjoyed the movie.  But my brother Steven, who holds a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media: Gaming and Animation, said it's the best Pixar movie of them all, and that he loved the story and visuals.

The movie brought in 66 million this last weekend, which is a very strong opening.  I'm glad, because I want this movie to do well.

If you haven't seen it, I hope you have the chance.
BTW, the 3D was interesting, but it can easily be enjoyed in 2D.

Sarah     

Saratoga Springs Fire

(I took this photo on Friday 6/22/2012)

Last Thursday night, on the way home after snatching a 1/2 off chocolate malt milkshake from Sonic, it was awesome BTW, I looked up at the mountain and saw a line a fire descending towards Saratoga Springs Utah.  I don't know how many fires there's been this season, but I wasn't surprised, and we both wondered if it was a controlled burn to help prevent future fires.  We were wrong. 

Last Friday the fire got within a quarter miles of some homes, which led to a 600 home evacuation, totaling around 2,300 people.  My Dad has an extra class Ham radio license and we were listening to the ARES       

(amateur radio emergency services, we have a very strong group here) communicate as they helped with the evacuation.  It was a bit eerie to hear.

I don't know the current state of the fire, but as of last night it was 30 percent contained, with hopes of it being fully contained by Tuesday.  The homes are now safe and the evacuees were allowed to return home.

Apparently the fire was started by gunshots, mostly by people target shooting.  Several years ago I went across the lake a few times for some target practice, and it's a really popular area for this activity.  But it makes me a little nervous with firework season coming up.  They went on sale yesterday, and all the booths are all over town.  Last year was the first year they allowed aerial fireworks, and on the 4th of July we got an epic 360 degree two hour show.  I hope all is well for the rest of the year.      

(This photo was taken on the same day as previous photo)

Have a great day!

Sarah