Port Blue: The Airship

If you have never heard of Port Blue, then right now slap yourself on the wrist because you have missed out on an ambient experience that can only be described as breathtaking and undeniably beautiful. I have never been able to describe what makes the combination of notes and sounds that piece together an unmistakable beauty so capturing. But the fact is that Port Blue, is the work of a master.

Port Blue is the creation of Adam Young, the mad genius behind the more famous project Owl City. He is an accomplished producer and musician who has the ear for magic.

Port Blue is nothing more than instrumental and background noise combined together to make some of the more fascinating music of the 2000s. His first work with Port Blue began with the full length album The Airship  in which he based his writing off of the Kenneth Oppel’s book Airborn. Although some of the song titles were changed due to copyright issues, the feelings that take you on a sailing ship of wonder and imagination whenever you listen to this album are magnificent. I will never forget the first time I discovered this album and listened to track number four, “Sunset Cruiser (AKA Mr. Chen, Sailmaker).” I fell in love. There is so much to say about each song so I will just start at the beginning.

#1. Up Ship!
This first track consists of a mainly a piano and a sampling from what sounds to be a jet taking off. The sweeping melody brings you in and takes you straight up with the airship that is taking off into the sky. This also coincides with the second chapter of Airborn.

“Up Ship!”

#2. Over Atlantic City (Over Lionsgate City)
This track starts off with a French phrase which when translated comes to, “It’s funny, or At the time I was employed in the office of inventions, I wondered what our world would look like if I moved at the speed of light going up on a motorcycle ….” Some say this was said by Albert Einstein which I can neither confirm or deny. But nevertheless it adds a strange ambience to the song that pulls you in. With a catchy beat and converging piano it makes for a wonderful song. It comes together with the departure of the airship the Aurora as it flys over Lionsgate City in Airborn.

“Over Atlantic City (Over Lionsgate City)”

#3. The Grand Staircase
By far one of my favourite tracks on this album. The synthesizer that makes those repeating two notes that last the song is so beautiful and fills you with the exact sense of going up and down a staircase. It’s incredible. The beat is also similar to just taking steps on a staircase almost. This song is actually named after  the grand staircase aboard the Aurora in Airborn where Matt Cruse and Kate de Vries begin the ship’s tour near the book’s beginning.

“The Grand Staircase”

#4. Sunset Cruiser (Mr. Chen, Sailmaker)
This song takes the cake as my top favourite on the album. No question. When at first glance, it’s eight minute long time seems a bit daunting. But once you begin the song, you completely forget and lose yourself in what can only be described as perfection. This song has helped me drift and daydream many a time. It also includes a sampling from the movie Sleepless in Seattle, and a clip from an unknown sermon. The only significance to Airborn that this song carries is that it was originally named after a sailmaker that only appears a couple times in the book. He is not a major character, but he does pop I will admit.

“Sunset Cruiser (Mr. Chen, Sailmaker)”

#5. The Axial Catwalk
The Axial Catwalk. The song starts off almost completely silent save for the tweeting of birds and the distant sound of passing cars. And then the piano begins. And then you’re hit with the beat. The original version also contains another sermon sampling that I am unable to determine its location but you do not need to know where it’s from for it to be worth something. The many different sounds that come into this song are numerous from the piano all the way to an accordion at the end. The inspiration that evoked this song from Airborn  was the same named catwalk on the ship that is mentioned several times throughout the book.

“The Axial Catwalk”

#6. Of the Airship Academy
This song is interesting. It’s a softer song with a quiet synthesizer and the muffled sounds of several people conversing. Later on in the song you are introduced to the ambience of what sounds like a water wheel turning or so you are led to believe….but all in all it comes to be another favourite off the album. It’s significance with Airborn is the moment when Matt finds out that someone else is taking his place as a sailmaker aboard the Aurora.  You can hear the sad undertones of the song that eventually get to a happier sound at the end.

“Of the Airship Academy”

#7. In the Control Car
A short, little diddy that makes you want to hit the replay button over and over again. A nice song with a catching hi-hat and a repeating tune that you can play over and over again in your head. Also ends with an organ. Airborn coincides with its main operating station being called the control car.

“In the Control Car”

#8. Under the Glass Observation Dome
This is a most ostentatious piece that seems to sweep you in in the beginning and then lull you into a sweet sense of wonder. You can hear the glass cracking around you and you can see the stars coming ever closer. The glass observation dome is actually where we first find Mr. Matt Cruse in the beginning of Airborn. Sit back and join Matt as you both scan the night skies for any dangers that may be impending upon the Aurora. 

“Under the Glass Observation Dome”

#9. Into the Gymnasium (The Resilient Miss Kate de Vries)
I believe the second album title fits just a tad better only because it describes exactly what is going on in this little melody. I did not fully appreciate this song until I heard it through the glorious double pleasure of headphones. You can hear ever so slightly in the background the sounds of what I believe is supposed to be a jungle. I conjured this belief due to the fact that the latter title refers to when Kate refuses to obey orders and runs off into the jungle on the island they are stranded on in order to research the “cloud cats.” Hence the “jungle” noises. Listen to this song with headphones. You’ll understand what I mean.

“Into the Gymnasium (The Resilient Miss Kate de Vries)”

#10. The Cargo Bay (The Cargo Bay and Aft Hatch)
Both names of parts of the Aurora this song provides an interesting ambience. The sound of something being processed in a factory or being packaged quite possibly is what greets your buds at the beginning. And then you are settled into a stretching synth pattern that ends with an uncontrollable and large string orchestra playing the sweetest and saddest tune you’ve ever heard in your life.

“The Cargo Bay (The Cargo Bay and Aft Hatch)”

#11. Arrival at Sydney Harbour
“Now, gentlemen, in this country, ourcourts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I’m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system – that’s no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality!”
This is a quote taken from the 1962 film version of To Kill a Mockingbird. The quote is stated by our very own Atticus Finch and is also the titler that starts off “Arrival at Sydney Harbour.” Of course in the final released version it was taken out for copyright purposes, but I believe it sits well with the song. The song also boasts a soothing guitar and  killer drumbeat and piano to play along with it. The song fits in well also with the arrival of the Aurora to its intended destination of Sydney, Australia in Airborn.

“Arrival at Sydney Harbour”

#12. The Gentle Descent (The Descent)
This song doesn’t seem to really need to be explained except that it is the perfect method of stringing notes together to create a beautiful, synthetic sound to make your eardrums and heart melt. As the Aurora lands softly in Sydney at the end of Airborn you will hear this song playing in the back of your head.

“The Gentle Descent (The Descent)”

#13. At Anchor
The final song that ends off the masterpiece The Airship is the titled “At Anchor.” It is the end of a finely written album and a finely written book. The footsteps and crowd ambience that hang with you until about 2:20 into the song, our immediately replaced by a headbanging beat drum for the ages and a soft piano that under normal circumstances would never be friends until you hear this song and know now that they will forever be friends. Then 45 seconds after they’ve left, the footsteps return to click along perfectly until they send you off home at the end. Perfect.

“At Anchor”

All in all, this album holds no flaws to my ears. I love it. And I forever will wish that Adam Young finds it in his heart to release more Port Blue masterpieces for our listending ears. I myself cannot wait for that day. Also an author’s note for you, if you have never read Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, I immediately suggest you go to your local bookstore and purchase a copy because that book is very much worth the read. Every page is a new adventure just like every Port Blue song.

Like Fountains: Movies that Made Me Cry

While I will be the first to admit that I am not an exceptionally overly-emotional person, I do have my moments. One of those times is when I am watching a sad movie. There are those certain few that do make me well up and reach for a big box of Kleenex to stop the inevitable fountains of tears. But it takes certain ingredients. There have been times where my entire family will be welling up and I just reach for another bag of popcorn and move on. It does make me feel a tad strange to be the only one that is not falling to pieces, but there are just some things that do not make me feel quite as sad. So here are a few of the flicks that have me made me ball my eyes out.

1. Up

There is no denying that this is by far one of the better Pixar films that has come out in recent years. After you get past about the first ten minutes or so, the movie is not exceptionally sad. But that first ten minutes…..there are no words to describe them. They will tug on your heartstrings and make you bawl. Believe me. This is one of the few animated movies that has made me cry, but there’s just something so tender and precious about the love they have for each other. And it’s a real tear-jerker. It even made my dad cry. Yeah.

2. A Walk to Remember

This movie has always been one of my favorites. It’s one of those beautifully romantic stories that pulls you in and lets the bottom fall out of the world as you watch it. Just as everything is going well for Jamie and Landon, everything explodes. I won’t spoil it for you because this is one that you have to watch all the way through to experience the sheer  love and amour that this movie possesses. Go buy at Target. It’s only five dollars right now. GO. GO NOW. And don’t forget to buy some tissues while you’re there. You’ll need it.

3. The Notebook

Another Nicholas Sparks classic. An amazing story filled with the ultimate quest for love. Overcoming obstacles in ways you just cannot believe. The whole movie is not that sad until you hit the ending. That’s when it takes it up to the weeping factor. I cried straight through the credits on this movie the first time I watched it. And beyond that. Once again, you must watch the whole movie or the ending just will not seem as sad. You have to see it to believe in love.

4. The Fox & the Hound

This is one of the lesser mentioned Disney movies ever made. The reason I cannot explain because I recall it as one of my favorites when I was little. The scene that gets me is when Widow Tweed has to leave her beloved pet fox, Todd, in the woods after several years of keeping him as a pet. The song that plays while she’s leaving him behind is the worst part.  And the look on his face when she drives away and he’s left in the rain…it’s enough to make the tears cloud your vision.

5. The Lion King

Mufasa. Dies. I hope you’ve seen that movie or I may have spoiled an important plotline piece to it. But I’m pretty sure everyone has seen this movie. But I could be wrong.
Anyways, when I first saw the pathetically sad look on Simba’s face when he realized his father was dead, it was enough to make my heart sick. I wasn’t thinking of “asante sana squash banana” then believe me.

So here’s some sadness in writing for you today. And if you’ve never seen one of these movies, I suggest you sign up for Netflix and get ordering because you are missing out on some classics.

The Howling Wind

About a year ago, I had  an evening where I met someone I will never forget. He was just someone that I saw and thought, “He’s perfect in every way. There just cannot be anything wrong with him.”

And I was right.

But I am unbearably shy when it comes to things like this. I could never find myself able to say the words that I wanted to. The feelings that I had just seemed to dance around and laugh and say, “You’ll never be able to tell him.”

And they were right.

I recently found out that I had lost my chance with him for, what I believe, is forever.

….

Sappy and dramatic…yes?

That ship may have packed up and sailed out of the harbor, but I cannot help but pray that all the shouting after it that I do will stop it from leaving. But I do not seem to be able to flag it down. And that almost makes me feel hopeless.

…

The wind just blows past me and sails that ship farther and farther out to sea. And I just broke down on the pier as I watched it fade into the horizon. As tears flowed down my face and I felt the wind swirl and heard it scream around me, I felt myself sink into an almost unfathomable place far beneath the surface of anything.

 

But then as I sank, a sound stirred me out of the depths.

It was a chirp.

A small bluebird twittering on behind me even through the storm.

I lifted my head and wiped away my tears to see the small bird ahead looking at me with what almost seemed to be a smile. And I smiled back through my tears.

The clouds lifted and the storm broke and I grinned up at the sky.

The nightmare is over.

He is long gone, for what may be forever. And I can accept that. I pray that he is happy and that he will enjoy whatever is before him in his life. I pray that every moment he has will be wonderful.

And I will keep moving. Even through this storm, this deep regret, I have to keep going. And I will make it.

Quiet

Through all the pressing sounds of everything, I found peace.

It was not easy if I am truly honest; but it is possible.

I sat for several hours just staring at one page in the middle of a book and all around me I could hear nothing but a buzz. Computers, cell phones, motors, beats- they were all pressing against me and I had no weapons to push them back. I just wanted it to be silent.

I have never been a big fan of ever having a cell phone. The sheer thought of  someone across the country being able to dial a few numbers and reach me makes me feel as if I will never be alone again. There is almost a sense of just irritability towards it. And I almost wish to leave it home if it was not for the obvious result that they can sometimes be useful. Sometimes.

Computers OBVIOUSLY are very good tools to have.  I just dislike the constant rush they bring that sweeps you into endless hours of social networking. It can be fun to speak to other people online, of course. I do not defy this argument. It’s just not for me.

I will not even begin to fight against cars. They are beyond any shadow of a doubt one of the best inventions mankind has ever created. I just often wish we had a less noisy alternative. Although there is something very pleasing to the ear about the sound of a good super car engine. That I will not disagree with.

Music is a big part of my life. If I did not have it, things for me would be a different story entirely. I would probably be studying some big dusty tome about the speed of a parsec in some forgotten cafeteria corner right now instead of enjoying the sweet beats of LIGHTS. But of course even music has a place. Sometimes I find myself just not wanting to listen to any for a while. Instead I just want to fill my ears with sweet and contented silence.

I just wish it could be still for a moment.

I’ll take a Schwinn bike, please. And I’ll ride it far away to a field I know of across the state border. It’s just a hop and a pedal away to get there. The only sound is the rustle of soy beans and corn stalks in the gentle breeze. And the occasional moo of a friendly passing bovine. But that’s it. I could sit a thousand hours in that field. I would stay the same through every heat stroke, rain storm, and tornado. I would just sit pulling apart every daisy in that field. And all just to listen to the peaceful stillness.

I just want it to be quiet.

Just Keep Swimming

Everything can change in a split second. You can be just waltzing down the street at the top of the world when everything can crash down around you with one step. This change can be good or bad. Even though sometimes when the change starts off bad, it can turn to good. That is definitely possible. With one phone call things can change. They certainly did for me.
My life to me is nothing short of a daydream in progress. Every day is guided by Jesus my Saviour whom I trust with my life and spirit and I am never anything but amazed at what He’s done for me. And I know that will never change. But sometimes life can throw you one mean curve ball when you’re least expecting it. My baseball mitt was definitely not ready for the slider I was thrown last week.

When you decide to yourself that life is comfortable and you don’t every want it to change, you may as well be building your comfort on top of sinking sand instead of a solid rock. The collapse is inevitable no matter what you do. You may feel a little wobble here and there in what you believe is the sound construction of your daily routine and complacency, but you ignore it. It cannot be there. Your life is too held together  to fall apart. Nothing can destroy your structure. But little do you know that one breath of wind or one lapping wave can shatter your familiar feel. And you feel as if the world may end with this one change.

I can definitely be described as a dramatic person. I can play up the smallest situation. For example: on a regular car trip the other night to a hair appointment I happened to notice the creeping leg of an arachnid feeling it’s way around the material where the car’s roof and windshield meet INSIDE THE CAR. Needless to say, the panic that ensued (from me alone) made me rush out of the car still screaming. My only thought was the spider tumbling down to land on my leg and then enter the scene from the Spiderman movie where Peter Parker is lying helplessly on the floor with a huge spider bite on his hand. My mind instantly jumped to the stage. I have never panicked over observing a spider before. I can stare at the ginormous tarantula in our local zoo for fifteen minutes without batting an eyelash. It’s the ones that sneak up on you that tend to disrupt my life. But all spiders aside (and gone hopefully), I am a dramatic in every way. So when something changes that to me is big, I go full-stage and lose it.

I can never stand in front of a mirror at any point present, past, or future and say the following words: “I am the model Christian. Perfect in every way.” And there’s a reason. I fail my Heavenly Father in so many ways. I often forget that when the wind blows down the perfectly built abode of comfort and security, to go to the One who will help me pick up the pieces and carefully build them back together. As I dramatize a situation and lose it, I forget to look at Him and say, “Can you take the wheel please? I can’t drive anymore without You.”

So after I lose control for about five minutes, I pray. It’s not always easy to believe that everything will come around and that life will go on. Sometimes it’s very difficult to trust when things have come apart at the seams. But God will always be there. No matter what.

So when life gets you down and things crash around you like an avalanche, pray. When the winds of change blow through the world of comfort you’ve built for yourself, pray. Pray for God’s protection and help. And as you lift up your head and move on, just sing along to Dori’s song.

“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…”

So really change is not all that bad. It can bring along with it a new world to you. Something different that you needed in your life. This change can destroy you at first, but then you’ll see the light eventually.

Jesus will always be there to swim along with you and stay beside you.  Even when the tide has gone out around you and you find yourself somewhere completely unknown, He’s there. He is your helper no matter what. He is your Saviour. Just keep swimming.

Can You Come Down from the Mountain?

Read this the other day in My Utmost for His Highest on April 16th…and couldn’t help but feel inspired to share it.

“We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, “I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!” We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there.

Never allow a feeling that was awakened in you on the mountaintop to evaporate. Don’t place yourself on the shelf by thinking, “How great to be in such a wonderful state of mind!” Act immediately— do something, even if your only reason to act is that you would rather not. If, during a prayer meeting, God shows you something to do, don’t say, “I’ll do it”— just doit! Pick yourself up by the back of the neck and shake off your fleshly laziness. Laziness can always be seen in our cravings for a mountaintop experience; all we talk about is our planning for our time on the mountain. We must learn to live in the ordinary “gray” day according to what we saw on the mountain.

Don’t give up because you have been blocked and confused once— go after it again. Burn your bridges behind you, and stand committed to God by an act of your own will. Never change your decisions, but be sure to make your decisions in the light of what you saw and learned on the mountain.”

-Oswald Chambers

Forget and Not Slow Down

I couldn’t even touch the sky without just the world to hold me back from you. I never expressed such a love as I did then. But then the creation fell.
I feel so lonely when the dusk turns grey and all the light seems to leave the world. That is you, going. Dwindling and darkening like fading candlelight. The flame can only last for so long.
And when the sparkle dies, I miss you. The box of sweet words and melodious phrases that gathers dust under my bed reminds me of you. But only because you were the one that penned them in the first place.
Those false romances that anyone can fashion in their head with just a simple hello do not haunt me the way you do. They are but a simple whisper in my head compared to the howling wind that you left behind. A screaming that never leaves but echoes and fills me with regrets. You are never coming back and I must accept that. I wrote it on the glass and when it is foggy outside, I want to smash it and never see the words again. But I let them linger. I need to remember.

The worst is when I wake up with your voice still clinging to my ears. And I believe for a few sensational seconds that you are still with me. But I am mistaken. I cannot express the feelings that press me then. There are no words. Just silence. The cold, unending dead air of a forgotten world. And that’s when I will be taken. Stolen by the nightmares of deep loneliness and hurt. The world we built together…destroyed by staggering boundaries; washed away by tears;  broken by the falling stars; burned by the loss. Nothing but a scar on the land behind me.

I felt as if the universe stopped then when you stopped me. But it didn’t. Only I did. And as this realization crosses my trembling mind, I look up. The path that stands before me is bright. Not because of you though. Because of the sun. Something I had not witnessed in so long. I smiled for the first time in months and whispered “Thank you,” to the sapphire sky. I stood up ,my legs still quivering, but so much steadier than they had felt in such a long period. I took a step beyond the crater that had entrapped me for a year and breathed out a sigh of sweet and unburdened relief.

The air is purer here;
the water more delectable;
the sky is bluer;
the plains are quieter;
the world is safer;
my heart is happier.

My life is healed.

I have been pulled out of my darkest place. Saved by grace.
Rescued.