Time Capsule Post!

I watched the video that Laci Green uploaded earlier this month in which she reveals to us the time capsule video that she made for herself in 2009, her present-day reaction to it and a new time capsule video to be viewed in 2019.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to write a blog post to myself in 2009 but I have the next best thing...Facebook! So let's delve into a bit of recent history:

I don't remember what I was doing just that I thought I was cool

Allow me to set the stage a bit. 2009 Tiffany (as of March 2009-when Laci posted her video), was 15.5 years old. She lived in Hopkinton, MA and was pretty obsessed with getting into college. And not just any college of course, but a prestigious one with lots of academic and adorkable guys (ha). For some reason she thought it was appropriate to treat Facebook the way that 2014 Tiffany treats Twitter; that is to say she had no filter. She thought was really witty and edgy. 2009 Tiffany had just learned that she had to leave her hometown though which was devastating for her. She thought she had just found her niche in school. She had just wrapped her head around the idea that maybe being a doctor wasn't such a bad dream afterall. Sure, not as glam as being a fashion designer like she always wanted but she had a real shot at being good at it. During that academic year she had become really close to this one girl who she had kind of always known but been way too intimidated to get close to. But she had started talking to this girl and they became really close friends. 2009 Tiffany had been a swimmer for basically her entire life but she really started coming out of her shell and thought she had made some really good friends on the team. Following a tough break up she had found solace in being with her teammates and her coaches. And of course, don't forget about the boys. I think she was technically dating someone at the time but it had either just ended or was about to end. There were a couple of guys that she liked in her year but there was also a senior who seemed a little bit interested too. So there was that. In March, 2009 Tiffany thought she had finally gotten herself settled and established a firm base that she was willing to jump off from and really excel. But she never got to because she had to leave shortly after that.

It's a little odd to be doing something like this because even though I obviously have some distance from 2009 Tiffany (it is 5 years afterall), I still remember her vividly. I remember how she felt about things and it's kind of odd to be coming back to her years later with the perspective that I have. Going through the Facebook posts is every bit as cringe-inducing as you might imagine it. I can't even vilify myself because....I just think I was young. There are so many 'firsts' that 2009 Tiffany hadn't even experienced yet and she was already pretty jaded. Retrospectively, I think it kind of makes sense that the guys I liked didn't like me back because they probably thought I was as flighty as 2014 me thinks 2009 me was.

I have to wonder what 2009 me would think of 2014 me. She would probably be happy that I'm at Wellesley, though I don't think she would realize how difficult that road was. She would probably be disappointed that I haven't made my way to France with my best friend yet. (Said best friend actually has been to Paris, I just couldn't follow her.) She would probably be happy that I'm still swimming because going to the pool provides her immeasurable comfort. She would probably be disappointed that I neither have a boyfriend nor am hooking up with tons of cute Harvard guys. She's probably wondering why I haven't gotten myself to Tokyo yet (2014 Tiffany wonders the same thing). She probably wonders how I forgave the people in my life who it seemed had wronged me so terribly. She also probably wonders how I could have lost touch with the people that she was so close with and would probably tell me that I should text them ASAP to fix that-now that she has unlimited texting!

It's also funny because all through high school, I used to keep thinking of those days as me being in my athletic and mental prime. Spring 2009 was me at my best, or so I thought. Looking at it from now though, Facebook doesn't allow for such nostalgia-I can see exactly how silly I probably seemed to other older people at the time. But it didn't seem silly to me in the least. 2009 Tiffany felt everything so intensely and that's something I think I kind of have to admire her for. I wish I had her absolute confidence in herself that she could make anything happen for her. The world was her oyster. Which is not to say that the world doesn't still hold wonder/mystery/promise for me, I just think she had more trust in the Universe making sure that everything worked out okay.

The more that I think about this, the more that I actually still have in common with that girl. She wanted attention from boys (that hasn't really changed all that much), felt awkward around some of then (also hasn't changed much) but was most importantly at a crossroads in her life. She had to move on from something stable and good and happy and just plunge herself into the unknown. She hated it but she gave it her all nonetheless. She came off a rough romantic and academic place and I'm much in the same position now. Even though she ended up in a place that she probably would be happy with, it probably doesn't feel like she thought it would. It probably didn't happen quite the way she wanted.
Somehow I feel like history is going to repeat itself again. But I feel like the more important part of this is to just keep going, keep trying until you get what you want.

She did it once and she can do it again.

Spring Update-2 Years of Writing and other things

Spring is on its way to Wellesley!

I can hardly believe that it's Spring break already and this is my first post of the "new" semester!

I am not entirely sure why but I feel like the Spring semester always catches me a bit off guard every year. Even though it's snowing and disgusting for what seems like forever in the beginning of the semester, come March it starts to get beautiful and then it feels like we have about one week to savor the weather before it's time to take exams and leave for the summer.

Not to mention actually doing work! This semester has been a really busy one for me so just making sure that I sleep and have clothes on when I leave my room has been a bit of a struggle. It's been hard enough to notice what's going on around me without sitting down and writing about it.

But we have (thankfully) reached Spring break which means that I finally have a bit of time to catch up on writing a bit! There is a lot that I have meant to write about like various TV shows (How I Met Your Mother, Sherlock, Glee), the books I've been reading, and of course some current events.

And of course, earlier this month my blog turned 2 years old! Yay! I think that also merits a post as well.

As you can see there are lots of things currently waiting in my queue but I'm looking forward to working through them in the next week!

Bises,
t

Just one of those nights.

I'm just having one of those nights.

You know, those nights. In my twenty years on this Earth I haven't had the misfortune of losing many people and certainly not any members of my immediate family, though we've had some close calls.

Yet, not everyone who has come in and touched my life is physically here anymore. And tonight was just one of those nights where I happened to think about those who are not around anymore. I have those occasionally.

And somehow, no matter how long it's been there are those occasional crushing moments. The ones where it all hits you. It's not that you forgot necessarily, but it wasn't in the forefront of your mind, not the highest priority on your everday list of things to think about. But when the realization hits you, it hits you like a ton of bricks.

I'm not going to write about them here because I could not possibly do them the justice they deserve (and they deserve every praise that I could possibly give them). But I will say that it is such an odd thing to keep carrying on when they can not.

I think these nights happen to me so that I don't forget to remember them. So, tonight I think a little reverence and remembrance is due. Not because these people were saints or the like. But simply because they were and I would very much like them to continue to be.

January Book Review: A History of the World in 6 Glasses

A couple weeks ago I made the pseudo-resolution of trying to read more books in 2014 and I decided to kick off the year with Tom Standage's "A History of the World in 6 Glasses". The book outlines six different types of drinks that have featured prominently throughout history. They are beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca Cola. The underlying premise of the book is that these drinks have had medicinal, political, religious and societal influence far beyond what drinks are for: becoming less thirsty. The actual text of the book is 274 pages long.  

As someone who has a whole Pinterest board dedicated to tea, choosing this book was a no brainer because I thought I would fly through it and it would be enjoyable to boot. Now, I actually flew through a majority of the book in the span of about two days. The book is a pretty easy read so you might be wondering then "Well, why did it take so long for you to write a review for it then?" The answer to that question is that one afternoon I just put the book down...and it took me almost 20 days to pick it back up to finish the last drink section. While there were some interesting moments to the book, there wasn't much to compel me to finish reading it. 

One thing worth mentioning is that while the book was a "breezy" read, it was actually a little bit off putting to read a work of nonfiction that didn't have any forms of citations on the page. I know that's a little bit of a weird comment and maybe it's just that I have spent too much time trying to read academic papers/articles. However, it felt very bizarre for the author to make assertions in every paragraph about different historical topics without citing the sources directly in-text or in footnotes. There is a full bibliography of course, but I feel like that's not as an efficient way for readers to go find information about a certain topic if they felt like researching it. 

The book as a whole felt like a laundry list of facts and for me at least, it wasn't a particularly compelling one. I don't consider myself to be a huge history buff but I felt as though I already knew about 75-80% of the information that was presented to me in the book. All of this does not detract that some people would definitely find the different connections and roles that these drinks had really really interesting. And yes, as someone who is a relatively new adult learning about some of the different alcoholic beverages was interesting and informative. However, I already knew that the Greek scholars drank wine at symposia. I already knew that tea was really important in China and mostly consumed by the British. I already knew that Coca Cola was originally intended to be taken as a medicine. It was somewhat predictable and as a result felt a little dull to me. Not to mention that this book felt very Western-centric in general and I would have liked to have had more elaboration on the parts that included South America, Africa and Asia. So while there were tidbits of new information, there wasn't enough to really sustain my interest. 

Overall, I think that the book has a really interesting premise. Thinking about drinks being more than just drinks and thinking about their role in history is a really cool idea. However, this book felt somewhat superficial to me because it was a compilation of facts, a textbook in a slightly more palatable form. In this sense, it was easy to read but not especially innovative or compelling. There was a lot of background information on the drinks(which again, for beer and spirits I really needed), but I really wish that the author made some kind of really interesting argument as to why these drinks in particular are so influential. Standage makes the point in the introduction that half of the drinks that were chosen were alcoholic and half are caffeinated. After reading that, my immediate thought was that he could potentially could have geared the book around the thesis that perhaps these were the most influential drinks due to their ability to induce an altered state of being. Or really just anything that would have made the reader think "Oh hey, he put some real effort and thought into crafting this argument."

I haven't read any other historical non-fiction books in a while so I really can not compare Standage's style to those of other contemporary historians. However, I would rate the book a 2-2.5 out of 5. While he hooked me in with a really interesting concept, the execution of the book leaves something to be desired. 

Some thoughts on Identity

Hi. My name is Tiffany. 

I am a cis-female. A Junior at Wellesley College.  An ally. A relatively new "twenty-something".  Born and bred in New England, I have never lived outside of the state of Massachusetts. I've never actually lived in Boston city proper, but will nonetheless call myself a Bostonian. American with Canadian citizenship. 

Well, Asian American if we're being specific. Of Taiwanese and Cantonese descent but I really only capitalize on that when there is food involved. One who has in recent years taken an interest in almost every single asian culture except her own, but not intentionally so. Lover of J-doramas and Jpop and Kpop. KissMe with a bias towards Eli at the moment, but that's flexible. Mildly obsessed with sushi, dim sum and frozen yogurt. Will not turn down offers for Korean BBQ. 

Other Identifiers?: Student, former musician but life-long music lover. Lover of bossa nova, jazz and classical but will also listen to One Direction and Taylor Swift on a regular basis. Former film photographer who gave up and has since decided to use her phone exclusively. Writer sometimes. Perpetually observing and thinking about life and the Human Experience. ISTJ-The Inspector. Sister. Daughter. Friend. Not incredibly self-confident but working on that. 

Swimmer with Yogi tendencies. Not clinically overweight but there's always room for improvement. Occasional rock-climber that has been known to spend quite a bit of time on a boat (dinghies or otherwise). I would spend almost every moment I have by the sea if I could and would be ridiculously sad if I had to go and live somewhere that did not at least have a fairly sizeable body of water nearby.

 Biologist by trade but have experimented(haha) with the other sciences. Art Historian on the side. Classics enthusiast. Kind of multilingual-some French, Greek, Latin and Japanese. A few German and Italian phrases for flavor. Nerd sometimes, nerd fighter all the time. Occasional Tumblr user with a strong preference for Pinterest. Gryffindor. Stark sympathizer but Daenerys supporter. Member of the Sherlock fandom. Social media addict. 

Lover of all things pink and fluffy(as well as sparkly), proud unicorn owner. Currently obsessed with bows, tweeds and brightly colored pants. Will not compromise comfort in fashion. Tea enthusiast.

Liberal-ish. Slightly addicted to YouTube, particularly vloggers (the British ones are awesome). Avid film watcher who used to like rom-coms a lot but is working on branching out. Despite the fact that it is a very unpopular standpoint amongst feminists: I still love fairy tales. 
_________________________________

So those are just some of the ways that I identify myself. I could probably say a lot more(I kept going back to put more things in) but I think you get my point.

I think I became much more aware of identity and trying to find my identity the moment that I stepped on campus. I think it's just the nature of our school that finding your identity is more prominent/encouraged than it might have been at other schools. That being said though, I think I hesitated writing anything about identity because I thought mine wasn't interesting enough (as though I had some sort of obligation to you to be interesting). And I thought that I wasn't qualified to talk about privilege and identity because I am a cis-heterosexual female. How could I possibly have anything interesting to add to the conversation?

What I realized when I saw this video from Sexplanations that not only am I qualified to talk about identity but EVERYONE is able to talk about identity. Why? Because there is no one who knows more about being me than me and no one who knows more about being you than you.

The one point I would disagree with Nick is that identity isn't just a part of who we are, it is everything that we are. The way we feel, act and treat others(while hard to define in words per se) is still a part of our identity, how we can know ourselves and how others can know us. And to paraphrase Hank Green, the creation of the self is one of greatest things we will ever create. Identity transcends gender, race and sexual orientation because yes, it encompasses all of that but also so much more.

I think the most common problem that I've encountered is that the people I see only get to see part of my identity at any one time. I haven't stopped being all the things that I wrote above but in different settings with different people, different things take precedence. I'm not actively trying to be different selves for different people or that I'm trying to be deceiving, it just sort of turns out that way.

Over the years, I've always gotten kind of offended when people have tried to distill me into a few facets of my personality. An example of this is that I am "addicted to studying". Someone once told me that "oh, I miss having you around because I know I never have to worry about anything because I know Tiff will do enough worrying for the both of us". And then there's the "Oh you're Asian, so all of this math and science stuff must come really easily to you"(No, it doesn't.) Someone even used to liken me to a baby panda, which retroactively I'm realizing that even though it wasn't meant to be racist, it probably did have racial undertones and was undeniably condescending and I probably should have been much more offended than I was. Anyways.

Now, I don't think these remarks were made with any sort of malicious intent but when they came out they just didn't sit very well with me. I think I've come to the realization though that these people who tried to make these generalizations about me already thought of me in a certain way and probably had no intentions of getting to know me to find out the nuances. It showed to me an incomplete understanding of my identity and that made me sad and a little frustrated. I started worrying about whether or not I should be changing the way that I act or what I talk about so that I could leave a better impression. But then I realized that it would probably not make a difference. And that I have every prerogative to not include them in my life in any significant capacity if I don't want to. The best friends that I have made have realized that I have good days and bad days and everything in between and are incredibly supportive of that. Because I am human and so are they, and so are you. And because we are human, things are inherently complicated.

And that's okay.
____________________
The Videos I was referencing:

Sexplanations: Nick on Identity

Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers: "We're all scared"

Kiss, Kiss, Fall in Love!-Ouran Highschool Host Club Review

As some of you might know, I’m in my second year of studying Japanese at university. I was first really introduced to Japanese culture by my brother when I was in middle school and have continued to follow it on and off since then. Since a lot of the elders in my family are fluent in Japanese, I thought I would use the Foreign Language requirement here to really learn the language. Because I had some extra time over break, I decided to take the plunge and do something a little bit out of the ordinary: watch an anime.

When I first really got into researching Japanese media, it was mainly the live action dramas and J-pop music rather than the anime series. My knowledge of Japanese animation mainly consists of Studio Ghibli films, which are not really quite different. I think I watched a couple bishonen animes back in high school under pressure but I just didn’t find them all that interesting. So this was my first really genuine attempt at watching an anime on my own.

That being said, I decided to give animes another shot and since three separate people had recommended that I watch Ouran Highschool Host Club (桜蘭高校ホスト部), I decided to give it shot. Besides, watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles would help me improve my Japanese while killing some time; win-win!

Haruhi: All the androgyny. 

To set the stage, Ouran is a satirical anime set in a fictitious high school. It chronicles the doings of a “host club”  in which incredibly wealthy male high school students entertain their female counterparts. A female “honor” student Haruhi is initiated into the group after breaking a very expensive Ming Dynasty vase. Haruhi is a "commoner" who was accepted on scholarship. She works as a male host to pay off her debt and to make use of the fact that she could (conveniently) pass as a guy. The premise of rich Japanese teenage guys basically doing whatever they felt like is a similar premise to Hana Yori Dango (花より男子), which was the first Japanese dorama that I ever watched. 

The Host Club is comprised of seven members aside from Haruhi, each of whom plays up a one thing about themselves in order to establish a variety of “types” to please their “clients”.

Tamaki-senpai

Tamaki Suoh is the leader of the group and the only son of the school’s superintendent. He is cast as the “princely type” and follows the bishonen aesthetic. Raised in France, he has silver blond hair, is incredibly tall and thin and charms girls by using over the top romantic gestures and words. He is a caricature of what storybook princes are supposed to be like and the main mastermind behind most of the Host Club’s over-the-top themes. Although is very bubbly, cheerful and dramatic in the anime, it is revealed that he had a rather unconventional childhood abroad and the conditions under which he was brought to Japan were not ideal.Throughout the series, he acts as Haruhi’s “father” within the club and is incredibly protective of her. I think in the manga version of Ouran, they eventually get married but the anime doesn’t get that far. They do acknowledge their feelings for one another but nothing really happens. 

Kyoya-senpai

The ‘mother’ of the group is Kyoya Ootori. He is cast at the “cool” type and he manages all of the accounts for the club.  He serves as Tamaki’s foil both in terms of looks and personality. While Tamaki is the dreamer, Kyoya is the planner. While Tamaki is gushes over his clients, Kyoya is more reserved and humble. As the third son of the Ootori zaibatsu, he is unlikely to be the heir to the family business and this is the main character issue that he struggles with throughout the series. Kyoya senpai is shown to be incredibly calculating and always tries to be several steps ahead of the game. Out of all the hosts, he is the most independent from Tamaki and will usually find his own way to solve whatever situation it is that the club has found themselves in. He also is hyperaware of his need to keep dipomatic relationships with his fellow students, something that was impressed upon him by his strict father. Kyoya senpai often remarks how well connected the people he encounters are and seems to only be concerned with people who could potentially help his business. However, it is revealed though that he is much more kind and generous than he initially appears.

Fred and George in anime form

Next are the brothers Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, who frankly remind be vaguely of Fred and George Weasley. They often come up with games to amuse themselves when they get bored with club activities as well as playing pranks on other students. As identical twins, they capitalize off of their ability to portray a caring and vaguely homoerotic (and incestuous if we’re being technical) relationship to please their female clients. Once they become friends with Haruhi, she is able to get to know them and is subsequently able to tell one brother from the other. Before Hikaru and Kaoru joined the host club no one could tell them apart and so the two kept to themselves. As a result, they were the most reclusive of the club members prior to being scouted by Tamaki. Indeed, Hikaru is still a bit abrasive at times.  However, they are both able to become more sociable with Haruhi’s encouragement.

Honey-senpai

By far the most adorable of the hosts is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, known affectionately as Honey-senpai. Even though he is the most diminutive of all of the members, he is actually the oldest member. He is the first to be openly affectionate to Haruhi and enjoys cakes and other sweets. Honey-senpai is often seen with his pink bunny named Usa-chan. How fitting is it then that he is the oldest son to a martial arts family and is indeed a master himself? This disconnect is shown to be a sore point for his younger brother who views Honey-senpai as unfit to be heir. Even though he looks adorable, he is a very capable fighter and is absolutely ruthless should you try to harm one of his friends.

Mori-senpai

Last but not least is Takashi Morinozuka, Honey senpai’s cousin. Takashi-kun is cast as the strong and silent type and is constantly looking out for Honey senpai. I believe that in the manga version, Mori senpai also has romantic feelings for Haruhi but this isn't really explored very much in the anime. Mori senpai is mainly painted as loyal and stoic. He also is a skilled martial arts practitioner. There is a nice fourth wall break during the episode that Mori-senpai takes an "apprentice" and the hosts remark that they don't really know what he does. Despite the fact that he doesn’t say much throughout the series, Mori-senpai has saved other students on multiple occasions and is very well liked.

Now there are any number of things that I could criticize the series for: the fetishization of homoerotic relationships, the superficiality of all the female students, all the neglectful parents of the hosts…but I’m not going to do that. This series is a satire and MEANT to be over the top and ridiculous. Trying to hold Ouran as the standard for portraying what it’s like to be a high schooler in Japan would be akin to trying to convince ourselves that Gossip Girl is a realistic portrayal of American High school life. Ouran is a story and as such I think it deserves a bit of leeway.

This is Haruhi's dad. 

Moreover, I think that Ouran actually does something interesting by portraying gender and sexuality in such a flexible manner. While it’s definitely true that all the guys in the club are supposed to fall in love with Haruhi, they always imagine her as being very cute rather than hypersexualizing/reducing her. Also, homosexual relationships, while mildly fetishized, don’t seem to carry the stigma that they often hold in Western media. In a scene where Haruhi (dressed in male clothes) is entertaining a male student, the other students are simply overwhelmed by how cute the two “boys” are together rather than trying to make the two feel any sort of shame. Another example is when the hosts meet Haruhi’s father, who works as a professional cross-dresser. The boys, and more importantly Haruhi, seem to take it in stride. And it's not because it's not because it doesn't matter but rather there are more important aspects to his character that the writers wanted to emphasize. There were lots of different ways to show that Haruhi’s dad is an ineffective parent-they could have made him depressed, a gambler, or a drunkard. Instead they opted for a different route.

These are the Hitachiin brothers.

Also there definitely seems to be a freedom of expression with the sheer amount of cross-dressing. The twins are shown to have been cross-dressing since their childhood, Haruhi cross dresses on a daily basis and in one episode, the hosts cross dress in an attempt to discourage Haruhi from transferring schools. Cross dressing is just so ubiquitous in this series that it kind of just loses the shock factor. And the same comment above still stands-it's not that we're supposed to think that this isn't substantial. There are just bigger things to worry about, more important plot points to make. 

In terms of romance, Ouran is really quite tame by Western standards. Even though the job of the hosts is to "make the girls happy", the plot mainly just plays with lots of unrequited love. Three of the members fall in love with Haruhi but no one really acts upon it. Mostly there's just longing gazes at the person of interest and other ways to show affection. There's only scene where there was the potential for things to go further but it is incredibly obvious that it is not going anywhere and that situation is diffused in under 20 seconds. 

I question this creative decision.

I will say that the portrayal of the Lobelia Academy students is a little bit problematic for me. Lobelia Academy is an all-female high school and an elite group of performers takes an interest in Haruhi, recognizing her immediately to be a female despite her attire. Perhaps this is just sensitivity as I currently attend a historically all-womens’ institution, but the Lobelia students didn’t really come off as liberated they just seemed militant. I don’t think this portrayal is particularly helpful from a Western perspective but I know that there are many all-women’s high schools and colleges in Japan so the breadth of the satire might be more widely received than it would be for a Western audience.

Even though I think it’s unlikely that I’ll be watching more animes, I found Ouran Highschool Host Club to be well-paced and wildly entertaining. I've noticed that watching a lot of media that is set in highschools has become a little difficult as a college junior, soon to be senior.  I distinctly remember highschool being exponentially less exciting and fun than these shows would make it seem so I was worried that Ouran would come across as stale. However, Ouran was actually quite enjoyable in its ridiculousness, though watching Hana Yori Dango definitely helped to prep me. Ouran Highschool Host Club did exactly what it was supposed to though, allowing the viewer to escape into a completely different world, if only for 25 minute increments.

A Step In Time: A Review of the "Saving Mr. Banks" Soundtrack

The Oscar Nominations are out and Thomas Newman's work in "Saving Mr. Banks" is up for an Academy award for Best Original Score. As soon as I walked out of the theater I told my friends that the score was amazing so while I'm not entirely surprised, I am definitely thrilled to hear about the nomination. I'm not a huge film buff so I don't usually follow awards season but I've always taken an interest in this category as a musician. The role of the orchestral score, like any other element of the film like the script, actors and cinematography, is to tell a story. It helps to define a mood and tone for the film. Music has the ability to completely transform scenes and it's my favorite part of analyzing a film.

And I can absolutely guarantee you that you've heard Newman's work before. He has had a long and illustrious career providing the soundtracks to such films as Finding Nemo, WALL-E, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Help (starring Emma Stone) and of course the latest Bond film-Skyfall. Newman is actually one of my favorite film composers (alongside Alan Menken, Alan Silvestri and Michael Giacchino). If I wanted a composer to write the soundtrack to my life, it would definitely be Thomas Newman because his work is often very subtle but still strikes a perfect balance between being fanciful and warm. His tracks do a wonderful job of supporting the storyline and actors because they fit into the scene so wonderfully that you could hardly imagine the scenes without them.

In this film, Newman has to negotiate two different settings. The film takes place both in 1960's California and turn of the century Allora, Queensland. These two locations are completely different and the accompanying music needed to demonstrate that as well.

The Walt Disney Studios were moving forward, modern and to a certain extent....superficial. There are a few original tracks from the period incorporated into the soundtrack. Heigh Ho was the swing version of the song from Snow White recorded in 1957. This was a few years before the film takes place but I think it's nice to characterize the more casual and liberally creative ambience. Taking a classic and improvising it into a new style is exactly what a lot of jazz musicians do. However, deviating from the original is exactly what P. L. Travers is afraid that the creative team at Disney is going to do to her story and she is terrified of that.  One Mint Julep by Ray Charles was also featured in the soundtrack to underscore the bold, bombastic nature of California or at least as it appears to P. L. Travers. I think that it was definitely a good choice to include these because it lends a certain authenticity to those scenes.

Furthermore, it's also worth mentioning that Jason Schwartzman and BJ Novak recorded snippets from some of the original tracks from Mary Poppins. These are  played as the Sherman brothers wrote some of the songs that would become iconic. I really liked seeing the creative process and I think hearing unfinished versions of the songs helped to hammer home how awful it would have been had the film never been made.

The orchestral tracks by Newman used in the California and the Disney Studio scenes are as follows: Jollification, The Mouse, Mr. Disney, Beverly Hills Hotel, Penguins, Maypole, The Magic Kingdom. Not to give too much away but I think these sets of tracks are an interesting mix of the whimsical but also use a driving rhythm to build a sense of anticipation and excitement. Mr. Disney and The Magic Kingdom are both prime examples of the latter. Let it not be said that Newman can't do bolder tracks because both of these two pieces use the full drum section as well as the entire range of the orchestra to drive the music along and give it energy. It gives the listener the feeling that exciting things are happening and that there will be wonderful creative things to look forward to. And in the case of Mr. Disney, I think that the purpose of his pieces was the define Walt Disney as a character and to draw a further contrast to P. L. Travers. Where Travers is traditional, Walt Disney is innovative. Where she is disagreeable and mysterious, he is charming and has a larger than life personality. Where Travers is holding on to her past, Walt Disney is looking to the stories of the future. Even with these, the most vigorous tracks on the soundtrack, I never felt overwhelmed by the volume or breadth of the music.

By contrast, Newman takes a rather different tone with the music that backs the childhood memories of P. L. Travers. Certainly the Australia setting is more of a fairy tale setting than California so it makes sense there is a whimsy to these tracks and the use of the celesta helps to emphasize that nicely. However, this story didn't have a happy ending. The adults in her life disappointed Travers time and time again so there is also a sadness and gravitas to some of the pieces. The first track that we are introduced to in the beginning is an arrangement of Chim Chim Cher-ee with a voiceover track of the first lines from Mary Poppins spoken by Travers' father. The other tracks that comprise the Australia scenes are as follows: Travers Goff, Walking Bus, Uncle Albert, Celtic Soul, A Foul Fowl, Laying Eggs, Whiskey, To My Mother, Westerly Weather and Pears. These are definitely more subdued than the California tracks and I can definitely see the parallels between Newman's previous work with Finding Nemo and A Series of Unfortunate Events. He tends to use alternate between the use of a piano to establish the melody and then brings in the entire orchestra to answer it. One of my favorite things about Newman's compositions is that he uses instruments that don't normally get a lot of use in other scores. He make extensive use of the wind sections in these tracks as well as the glockenspiel and harp to emphasize the fairytale-esque aspect of the Allora scenes. They are heartachingly beautiful and truly transport you into a different make-believe realm. Rest assured though, strings are used to create drama and substance in those scenes where the fairytale begins to crumble.

Overall I think that Newman did a fantastic job of capturing the two aspects of the story, both the theatricality of California studios and the sentimentality surrounding Travers' childhood in Allora. Of course, it's always hard to tell whether or not a film will win Best Score since these things are highly political. However if it does, it will be incredibly well deserved.