music for the soul (!)

rain. rain makes everyone sentimental. me included. i love the cool weather when it rains especially during hot summer nights such as tonight. it kind of banishes all the bad air (literally) there is and refreshes the thick humid air even for just a while.

when it started to pour, i quickly opened the windows and put on my headphones because it was a perfect time to go sound tripping. the sounds drowned all the noise around me and it felt strangely comforting being drowned by the lyrics of the songs that i was losing myself to. music has a powerful force that overwhelms us with emotions. it either comforts us like hot soup on a rainy day and at the same time crushes us when we can relate too much to the lyrics. songs with beautiful lyrics take me on a high. add the upbeat rythym to it and i'm already flying. sometimes i think that perhaps the reason why i love listening to music so much is because the lyrics are things that are inside my head written into soulful melodies by talented/brilliant songwriters. or... they may be unspoken thoughts-- those things that i'm scared to say or admit whether to myself or to others. it's strangely comforting to be able to relate to songs with beautiful music because it's always a good feeling to know that you're not alone.

so excuse me while i sound trip some more. then maybe i'll get enough inspiration to work on my final projects for practicum due tomorrow. i've procrastinated enough.

on the lighter note, i'm officially on vacation (at least for another two weeks)! :)

Elizabeth Wurtzel and Sylvia Plath

i just finished watching Prozac Nation-- the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's novel and biography. oh wow! i loved it. halfway through the movie i remembered Sylvia Plath and her only novel (and semi-autobiography) "The Bell Jar" (which will always be on top of my top 10 list!). i only wish i could have read the book first before watching the movie because it's always a hundred and one times more interesting. then when i searched google for Prozac Nation, voila. guess what? Jayne Margetts wrote this about her:

SHE has been compared to Sylvia Plath on more than one occasion, and when Elizabeth Wurtzel first released her debut memoirs, Prozac Nation , in 1994, she was unprepared for the flood of reaction that lapped at her feet. While critics termed her book "controversial", victims of depression thanked her for her brutally honesty and harrowing insight into the literary depths of despair that she had penned.

from this article.

so yeah. that explained why i saw Sylvia Plath in Wurtzel. plus, after the movie Star Movies showed this trailer of Sylvia (starring Gwyneth Paltrow). isn't that a pleasant surprise? another biographical movie of my favorite poet/author! but the movie focuses on the story of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes rather than focusing on Plath's life alone (which could have been much MORE interesting) but i'm still looking forward to it. my only hope is that i won't get disappointed.

can you see a pattern here? if not, well... lately i've developed a knack for psychological novels. so far i've read:

1. The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
2. Veronika Decides to Die (Paulo Coelho) not yet finished, though
3. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger) (reread it. first time was in high school)
4. Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky)

a lot of real-life drama, cynicism, depression (whether clinical or not...), dementia, and most especially novels that are beautifully written in first person. these are the types of books i read these days because i've seen too many of the "sunny side" of the fictional world. besides, there's no harm in reading about anger and suicide once in a while because we have to face the fact that some people deal with these realities once in a while. and we learn from what the heroes/heroines learn in these books or in their lives. plus, IT'S PLAIN INTERESTING. :) i've been checking Powerbooks for Virgin Suicides but each time i check, i run out of luck. maybe one of these days...

wow! it's been an interesting night! now back to work...