Liv 4...Sondre Lerche

A week or two ago I saw the movie Dan in Real Life with one of my favorite actors of the moment, Steve Carell. Despite hearing some less than stellar reviews I was very excited about seeing it, and I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of The Family Stone: similar basic plot that makes you laugh and cry. (Although I did significantly more laughing at this movie than I did when watching The Family Stone.) But what struck me most about the movie was the music. I seemed to remember hearing something about the same person doing most of the music.


The next day I decided I would buy the CD, as I always need new music to blast in my car while driving my minimum of 10 hours a week to and from work. And I quickly fell in love with the music of Sondre Lerche. Although I had never heard of him prior to this the Norwegian singer has recorded 4 previous albums (which I am in the process of procuring). Some of the songs on this CD are recycled from previous albums, but several are new and many are also instrumental.



The music is very laid back and, simply put, it just makes me happy. It's also the kind of album I can listen to again and again without getting tired of it. Sondre has a unique voice that sounds great on its own but also is phenomenal on his duets with Regina Spektor and Lillian Samdel.



My favorites are the Sunday drive of "Hell No", the duet with Spektor; "To Be Surprised", a more buoyant number; and a cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door" (easily already one of my all-time favorite songs). Sondre's version is heavy on strings and a clap (a la "I Want to Hold Your Hand"...not the STD) at the end that will make you want to join in. It's more fun than the original (if that's even possible) and I don't mind admitting that I have a hard time suppressing a smile every time I hear it. Plus, if you've seen the movie it's reminiscent of one of the sweetest scenes.



This is one of the few albums that I can listen to without my finger itching to hit that Seek/Skip button. I especially recommend it for driving in the car (although I'm listening to it now and it's perfect typing music as well). In my experience it'll make a long commute fly by and help your blood pressure not to spike when that jerk cuts you off.



Oh, and one more thing: the icing on the cake. Probably the funniest scene in the movie (at least in my opinion, which I regard pretty highly) is when Dan's two brothers (played by Dane Cook and Norbert Leo Butz) sing an impromptu song about a girl from their childhood who Dan is going on a blind date with. They affectionately (or not so affectionately, depending on how you look at it) refer to her as Ruthie "Pigface" Draper. Enough said. I'll admit I was slightly disappointed when I saw the song wasn't on the soundtrack, but I hadn't really gotten my hopes up too high. Well, needless to say that the first time I listened to it and realized there were 17 tracks and not the 16 it had listed on the CD I was a little more than ecstatic. Hallelujah for hidden bonus tracks...it was as glorious as I remembered.

Liv 4...Mike Ticcino Images

Sorry everyone. I said I would blog daily and already I have gotten off of that schedule. So I lied. But I promise to try to do better in the future (and I rescind my earlier statement that I would blog daily.) So now, onward!

One of my passions is photography. I enjoy taking photographs, looking at photos, and, as pretty much everyone who knows me knows, sharing photos. So I am always excited to meet someone who shares my love of photography and to see what they're creating, especially when it's something as unique and exciting as what Mike Ticcino is doing.

I met Mike Ticcino a few months ago. I had been told how amazing and different his images were, but I definitely wasn't prepared for what I saw. The shots I saw contained interesting compositions, vibrant colors (or crisp contrast) and fresh perspectives. Many of the photos were of places and things that I was familiar with. But these images gave me a new way of looking at them. A beautiful way. The photo shown here gives a seldom seen view of the Arch at the Valley Forge National Historical Park, and, cleverly, it's called "Hide & Seek".

As I said, Mike creates images, and sees himself as an imager, so often his shots begin with the camera but are then added on to. He creates images that resemble oil and watercolor paintings. So much so that you'd be hard pressed to know that what you're looking at isn't a print of a painting but an altered photograph.

Probably the most impressive thing about Mike is that he isn't a photographer by trade, this is his hobby. And now he's getting a chance to share it with even more people. Today an exhibition of his work opened at Valley Forge National Historical Park in King of Prussia, Pa. It's a slideshow of sorts, set to music, which will be played in their Welcome Center now until February 29, 2008. I have seen the show and it's very impressive. Even if you're very familiar with the Park I guarantee you'll see at least one shot that will take your breath away and give you a new appreciation for that vast, grassy expanse.

If you're not able to check out the exhibit I suggest you at least take a look at some of his images on his website http://www.mjticcinoimages.com/. My personal favorite is in the third Valley Forge gallery, #14. Everything about it is spectacular. If I were to one day take a photo like that (and I have some good ones--don't worry, I'll show them to you soon enough--but nothing of that calibur) I'd be showing everyone I met, wearing it on a t-shirt, and handing copies out like business cards. But that's another great thing about Mike: he's a nice guy and very humble...nothing like me. ;)

Liv 4...Blogs

Finally. That's what writing this post feels like for me. As you can see by viewing my profile I have been on blogger since August. That is half true. I registered my blog then and have been thinking about posting something since then. (Okay, so I'm something of a procrastinator. Although, in my defense, it was the end of August that I registered.)

So now, finally, I have decided to actually post something. Blogs seem to be becoming more and more popular and I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon. I actually got the idea when one of my close friends started her own blog. I realized how simple it was for anyone to start blogging about anything they wish. (Side note: This is in no way implying that if she could do it any idiot could. She is very intelligent--and may soon be reading this.) So I decided I could, and would, begin my own blog.

As I noted, I have been formulating my plan for this blog for quite a while. (Probably much longer than was necessary.) I hope for this to be a place to talk about things that I think are pretty cool, and think others should check out too. This brings me to the name of my blog. I have never been one for stupid shorthand (i.e. lol--I have always been a haha girl myself) that has become so popular in the IM and text message crazy world that we now live in. So let me make clear that this title actually has some significance, and that I am not just too lazy to type out "live for".

It's really pretty simple. My name is "Liv" and I consider my lucky number "4" (it's my birthday, month and day, though not year. Let's face it, it would be pretty amazing if I were 3, or 103, and writing this.) And theoretically I will be writing daily to let you know about something that I like, or am for. Thus, welcome to "Liv 4 Today".