a shameless request, ha ha!

Oh dear, yes, NaNo is all that is on my mind just now; apologies to any of the f-list who are deathly bored of all of this talk by now. So I will talk briefly of things unrelated to NaNo for a minute to appease you. Yesterday Hannah had a birthday party, which was an informal get-together uniting the gang; we talked, cleaned some, watched The Brothers Grimm, and took a walk up the hill. It was terrifically surreal, bicycling to my old house and past the hill and down the road into the parking lot, and then being inside of it, empty of our furniture and very different in many ways, with all of the painting and renovating that's been going on -- and oddly familiar, because things that were Right when the Meholicks last lived in the house are coming back -- the great massive table in the dining room, the couch, the hallway mirrors -- and it's a very odd sort of deja vu. But sometimes I'd have these funny flashbacks; it was very vertigo-y. Especially as all the time we'd lived there, I had ghosts of the old houselife putting their hands on my shoulders at unexpected times. Anyway, grand fun was had, and there was a magnificent chocolate raspberry cake made by the Divine Miss V, and the hill is so lovely in late autumn! 

Now, the main question of the hour comes. I have created a playlist for NaNo, comprised of mood-setting music. I have also set aside (in my head) at least two albums which I will probably have on repeat all next month -- PJ Harvey's spooky, Victorian White Chalk, and Dark Dark Dark's somewhat more whimsical and also spooky and Victoriany The Snow Magic (accordion prominence! banjo! cello! piano! and, once, musical saw!!). The playlist itself contains some Chopin and Debussy, some of the aforementioned artists, Vienna Teng (alas, only one song really works for the era, because Vienna = win), DeVotchKa, Patrick Wolf, the theme from The Illusionist, and a fantastic little Sarah McLachlan instrumental comprised of piano, cello, and musical saw. You all see what's coming, don't you? Yes, absolutely, you are not wrong: I want more music for my atmospheric NaNo playlist.

Piano-based things, mostly, and any music that would fit into the Victorian and Edwardian eras -- actual Victorian and Edwardian music would be amazing, but I will not count on it. Traditional English ballads, chamber folk, freak folk, New Weird America that doesn't sound too specifically American, anything with a musical saw in (well, I have a weakness for that), piano instrumentals that don't sound too modern, classical composers who would have been listened to and played at the time, especially pieces which are predominantly piano -- all of the sisters play, and Briony has a knack for it; I'd love music that evokes the Nox family home. In return I will make a Very Awesome Mixtape and post it all for you lot when November is finished.

Also, if anybody manages to dig up a traditional folk song that either a) specifically mentions vampires, or b) is probably about something else but could be about vampires, you will get a cookie. No, better still: you will get my very best and extremely rich chocolate peppermint pie.