As I’m far behind, this *ahem* Monday Music pick of the week is from the movie soundtrack Inception. Hans Zimmer is fantastic composer and working with Christopher Nolan certainly is a divine match as far as I can tell.

I’m two days behind for my music pick. One of my favorite bands for the past seventeen years (give or take a year) has been Massive Attack. The first time I recall hearing this song (Dissolved Girl) was back in 1999 in the Matrix. I was pleasantly surprised to also hear an earlier (but unreleased) version of Dissolved Girl in the movie The Jackal in 1997. Luckily, someone posted the unreleased version on YouTube. Here’s the Jackal soundtrack version – both with the same lyrics but Continue reading →

The week of Thanksgiving in the US ends with Black Friday and the following week starts with Cyber Monday. Along with these consumer-based traditions, I typically dig into the holiday playlist. Vince Guaraldi with Charlie Brown is a staple holiday jazz classic for me.  

Today, I’m starting off with yet another soundtrack from the film Broken Flowers. It’s a gem of a movie with Bill Murray as the lead and a superb complementary cast (Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Sharon Stone and Jeffrey Wright) that doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention. The style of the movie is very intriguing so if you’re looking for something on the stranger side but interesting I’d recommend seeing Broken Flowers. I’m not too familiar with Jim Jarmusch’s work other than this film. I won’t go into the Continue reading →

Last week, I had a great Octopus Deploy presentation at the Chicago ALM Users Group in Downers Grove. Promptly afterwards, I got the flu which I haven’t had in quite a while. From Wednesday to Friday I was completely out of commission. I started antibiotics on Friday for an ear infection and while everything has improved, my hearing has been significantly better. So to start this week off, I’m listening to yet another soundtrack. From Gone Girl and from the awesome duo of Trent Reznor Continue reading →

Today’s music is yet another soundtrack. I’m a huge fan of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s work. Their work is remarkable. The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl are a few of the movies (that I know of) that they’ve composed scores for and each soundtrack is distinctly unique and matches the mood set by director David Fincher (a personal favorite director of mine). There music tends to be of the “dark and ominous” genre but as a soundtrack lover, Continue reading →

In Chicago, everyday these past few weeks people have been talk about the Cubs in the playoffs. I’ve been a Cubs fan for a while, but this season for them has been remarkable regardless of the playoff outcome. While I’m not the most savvy baseball fan, there are a few baseball movies I gravitate towards: The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and Mr. Baseball all come to mind. But one baseball movie that I really enjoy is Moneyball. I’d argue it transcends the baseball/sports genre Continue reading →