So... was E.T. an Illegal Alien?

· Hiking Time --- 2 hours 23 minutes

· Temperature: 28ºF (-2ºC)

· Trail Time in October -- 24 hours 6 minutes

____(starting Oct. 1)
· Weight Loss Goal -- 24 pounds (11 kg)
__________· So Far -- 7 lb.

7 pounds gone this month. Not bad but it was eight that I was hoping for. That means in November, with a day less than October, I've gotta do 9. Whew. All I've gotta do is lay OFF the ice cream and cheeseburgers... and not make any cookies. Or cannolis. An uphill battle but I did 7, I can do 9. Cooking with fresh ingredients and making ultra-healthy meals I do... almost every night but when I don't, that's when I really indulge. So I've gotta be more careful. Oh, and no popcorn? That means no movies and... and.... and no movies? Ugh.

Maybe I can do popcorn and not have to pass on a few of those cheeseburgers if I keep up with regular running and hikes like the one this morning.

Hit the trail, I did, just as the very first light was showing itself on the horizon. Each day that time is creeping ahead by minutes. Lately I hadn't even noticed that dawn's first light, on a morning without clouds, isn't until well after 8:00 a.m. In no time at all it'll be close to 9 a.m. and then first light will eventually creep all the way towards 10 in the morning. LOTS of darkness ahead.

In any case... it has been forever since I went out [for a hike] in the a.m. My hikes and runs, since getting back to this after my dang tibia fracture, they've been at the opposite end of the light of day. Straight through dusk is when I'm usually out there, right up until the sky is almost purely black. Today that's what it was when I started. But I turned around and came home no more than 4 minutes after getting out there.

False start.
Decided I needed some breakfast.
Mmmmm... pancakes!

Then off I was for a great hike on a relatively warm morning (for this time of year.) Same old trail, same old out and back but it was freedom and it was exercise. It was a time for some good music and a time for some good thinkin'. Same old trail, same old out and back but it sure beat being inside, sure beat sittin' gettin' fat, that's for sure!

Trail Tunes...

E.T.
The Extra-Terrestrial

Music From The Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack

Music By John Williams (1982)

[1996 Digitally Remixed,
Remastered And Expanded Edition]

Far From Home/E.T. Alone
Bait For E.T.
The Beginning Of A Friendship
Toys
"I'm Keeping Him"
E.T.'s Powers
E.T. And Elliott Get Drunk
Frogs
At Home
The Magic Of Halloween
Sending The Signal
Searching For E.T.
Invading Elliott's House
E.T. Is Dying
Losing E.T.
E.T. Is Alive!
Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye
End Credits

I've said it before and I'll say it again, when it comes to classical music -- give me Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, etc? No way, José! Give me a film score composed and conducted by John Williams!! Those other guys I just can't get in to. I don't care how immensely genius they or their music might be considered to be. Just not my cup of tea. But a film score with a classical music kind of feel to it, I always seem to dig.

With E.T., John Williams weaves together non-stop drama, bringing the listener on nothing less than a ride full of ups, downs, and back up again with a few nearly scary twists and turns thrown in for good measure. Knowing the movie, I was able to recognize Unknowing, Discovery, Fright, Dark Times, Fun Times, Relief and Freedom.

Forgetting the movie even exists, the music here flows effortlessly along. These individual pieces -- beginning and ending, beginning and ending, over and over -- work as one giant composition. At times the beautiful orchestration is lush and loud enough to reverberate through your entire body. Other times you've almost got to bend your ear to listen, to hear the quiet instrumentation before Williams brings the music booming to life again. And through it all that same familiar E.T. theme emerges here and there to tie it all together.

I haven't heard each and every Williams film score but it would be a great guess that this is perhaps one of his best!

320 kbps dload right here
E.T. -- Part 1 ·· Part 2 -- E.T.

Also on the trail:
Rebecca St. James...

Here I Am
I Thank You Lord
Above All Things
True Love
We Don't Need It

♫ Only 152 Shopping Days Left

John Williams
& The Boston Pops

We Wish You
A Merry Christmas (1980)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Christmas Festival

a. Joy To The World

b. Deck The Halls

c. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

d. Good King Wenceslas

e. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

f. The First Nowell

g. Silent Night

h. Jingle Bells

i. O Come, All Ye Faithful

A Christmas Greeting (The carols of Alfred Burt)

a. Come, Dear Children

b. All On A Christmas Morning

c. Christ In The Stranger's Guise

d. Caroling, Caroling

e. Some Children See Him

f. O Harken Ye

Holiday Cheer (A medley by Billy May)

a. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

b. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting...)

c. Jingle Bell Rock

d. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

e. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

f. I'll Be Home For Christmas

g. Silver Bells

A Christmas Carol
Carol Of The Drum
The Twelve Days Of Christmas

Sometimes it's nice to kick back and relax with some beautifully orchestrated Christmas tunes... even smack dab in the middle of summer. I should say -- especially smack dab in the middle of summer.

Starting with TV commercials the day after Halloween, the Christmas holiday has become way too commercialized. The hectic ridiculousness lasts for almost two whole months all the way through November right up to the big return-your-gifts day of December 26. Why do people wanna dive right in to all that crazyness, particularly in the weeks immediately before Christmas? I don't get it. It shouldn't be like that. Just this much thinking about it is making my head hurt. On with the music...

Orchestrated by Leroy Anderson and conducted by the same dude who wrote the music for the real-life adventures of Han Solo & Luke Skywalker, as well as the Steven Spielberg film classics 1941, Hook, and some movie about a big misunderstood fish off the coast of some New England town named Amity, here's the Boston Pops in splendid Christmastime glory. It's a beautiful mix of trumpeter Alfred Burt's personally written carols and plenty of well-known favorites of the season. These 44 minutes of pleasant and powerful arrangements also include a bit of fun with some momentary swingy jivey Jingle Bell Rock. And what's, for me, usually an annoying copycat boring work (unless by Bob & Doug Mackenzie or The Muppets,) The Twelve Days of Christmas has been a little re-written making it an interesting listen here. In this version there are musical instruments for each of the days... no swans or geese or maids a milking, more like bassoons and oboes and trombones a sliding. Adding the vocals to that song and some angelic sounds to three others is the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. While not perfectly peaceful and relaxing the entire way through, it's still a wonderful collection perfect for anyone's relaxing at home, baking Christmas cookies, Christmastime rotation.

320 kbps dload right here
John Williams & The Boston Pops
We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Today, hiking boots...

Short hike today but as always it is great to be on the trail, even if it's the very same trail over and freakin' over -- a short hike on the same (here's that word again!) monotonous trail is better than sitting around being lazy and getting fat. There is absolutely no doubt about that.

Time on the trail:
an even 1 hour & 30 minutes

tunes...

John Williams, London Symphony Orchestra

Main Title/Approaching the Death Star/Tatooine Rendezvous

(from Return of the Jedi)

«»

Thelonious Monk -- Underground
(5 songs from the 1967 studio album)

Thelonious, Ugly Beauty, Raise Four,

Boo Boo's Birthday (Take 11), Easy Street

«»

Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!
(1972)

Marbles » Lava,
Evil Ways » Faith Interlude » Them Changes,
Free Form Funkafide Filth

192 kbps dload @ Music: Than And Now

Great music! The amazingness of Carlos & Buddy Miles really puts into perspective all of the mediocre albums that I listen to. That is such a fun album full of fantastic playing. Rather than just renting it, I might just hafta buy a copy for me very own. And the Monk, well, beautiful stuff. All in all a great selection of music for today.

news break

Had to turn off the tv and get OUTSIDE. All this news is a huge part of why people become desensitized to the worst shooting in American history. So I had to take a break from it and I went on a relatively short hike...

Time on the trail:
1 hour 38 minutes

tunes...

The Terminal (2004)
Music Composed & Conducted by
John Williams

&

Grateful Dead ~ 12-20-68
Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles

The Eleven,
Mountains of the Moon,
Turn On Your Lovelight

+

Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders ~ 7-11-73
One Kind Favor (from Keystone Encores)

Movie score classical... is there any better classical music? Many, many, many would say yes but I just don't have time for classical music but I love movies and every now and then some John Williams just hits the spot. It would probably drive me nuts to try to run to it but for hiking it's good thinkin' music... I don't especially concentrate on the composition or the instrumentation, it's really just nice background music allowing me to think about this, that, and whatever.

Followed up The Terminal with a little GD and oh how sweet that was!! Actually it's a bad recording, a lot of hiss for what one would want from a digital format but better that little piece of hissy show than nothing exisiting at all!

The Eleven fades in and is followed by a nice Mountains. Except for the aforementioned hiss, just a really good couple o' songs. Lovelight took me near the end of my hike and I had an epiphany or two along the way. Should I start a charitable foundation, I've got the name now, the perfect name to accompany charitable giving! And listening with headphones (earbuds) to a Pigpen Lovelight is just an awesome way to end a hike at sunset. This one from 12-20-68 wasn't the wildest but it wasn't bad at all. Two or three times I just had to stop hiking and dance along for awhile. To just keep walking would have done the Dead a great injustice; that ain't just listenin' music, that's dancin' music!!! (Bobby, at the start of the song, even urges the crowd, "You might wanna get up and dance now.") Ahhhh.... what an intense way to wind up a hike. Along the Applachian Trail I'm gonna plan to listen to a lot of Pigpen Lovelight-ending shows as I'm coming into a campsite or a shelter for the evening. So sweet! Unfortunately all the dancin' will make the body a lot sweatier and when the day hasn't been too hot, that dancin'll add up to the need to wash up a little more than you would have to at the end of the day on the trail... but oh how it'll be worth it!

I can understand no music when there's a chance you might bump into a grizzly (basically anywhere in Alaska!) I can understand no music when the scenery is especially breathtaking. But when a trail is just a trail and nothing particularly great about it except for the fact that it's a trail, there ain't nothin' better than some Dead in the ears to enjoy along the way!!!