Top Picks: 'Frank Sinatra: A Voice On Air (1935-1955),' the movie 'Winter Sleep,' and more
Hello again, Adele
After attaining ubiquity with her bestselling album “21” as well as her powerhouse vocals for the James Bond song “Skyfall,” Adele releasing a new project is a pop culture event. And her new album, 25, doesn’t disappoint, from the lead single “Hello” to the soaring track “Sweetest Devotion.” Yes, the songs on “25” are going to be impossible to avoid, but for good reason.
Ol’ Blue Eyes
Dec. 12 marks the 100th birthday of the late Frank Sinatra. Along with other tributes (CBS airs “Sinatra 100 – An All-Star Grammy Concert” Dec. 6 at 9 p.m.) comes Frank Sinatra: A Voice On Air (1935-1955) from Sony Legacy. This four-CD deluxe box set culled from the archives of rare radio broadcasts includes songs that the master of timing and swoon never recorded, such as Cole Porter’s “Don’t Fence Me In,” Frank Loesser’s “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So,” and Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin’s “Long Ago and Far Away.”
Express your mood
From upbeat to down tempo, the music we listen to is often intimately tied to our mood. The music journaling application Cove helps users create their own melodies to convey complex emotions that may be difficult to express in words, particularly for teens. Choose from six different moods from “playful” to “struggling,” then drop a series of virtual “stones” into an animated flowing river on the app’s screen to create chords in an instrumental loop that says it all. It’s free and available at Apple’s App Store.
Movie shortlist
Looking for a flick for the cinephile on your holiday list? Winter Sleep is a surefire winner, earning an ‘A’ from the Monitor’s film critic. The film stars Haluk Bilginer and Melisa Sözen (in peerless performances) as a landlord and his wife living in central Turkey. The film is more than three hours, but the extra-long running time is perfect for a cold winter afternoon. “Winter Sleep” is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
Big-screen Nutcracker
Experience world-class ballet at the movie theater with the New York City Ballet’s production of the beloved holiday story George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. The show, which tells the story of a young girl, Clara, who encounters a magical nutcracker, will be screened at various movie theaters through Fathom Events on Dec. 10. Check out www.fathomevents.com to see if the holiday classic will be at a theater near you.
