Author: Aubrey Leaman

I love pushing the boundaries by mixing and matching both between and within genres because I believe that the resulting fresh perspective can be both fun and illuminating. So I use books and music (and more) as diving boards to plunge into the cosmic pool that encompasses anything and everything that can be imagined. You know, in a light-hearted, casual way.
Classical Music Stories

Classical Music Stories: Bilbo Baggins and His Search for Adventure

Aubrey Leaman

Hobbit Bilbo Baggins J.R.R. Tolkien

It’s Hobbit Day! I stumbled upon this fact thanks to Holly’s blog over at The Nut Free Nerd, so I thought what better way to celebrate than with our beloved Bilbo Baggins and some short but hobbit-y classical music?

Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible! Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Bilbo Baggins and His Search for Adventure” →

Songs For Every Book

Songs for Every Book: Rubblebucket and Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights

Aubrey Leaman

Rubblebucket is an alternative rock group who recently came out with a song with major Catherine Earnshaw vibes. “If U C My Enemies” has a lot in common with her frenzied, mentally unstable state just before her death in Emily Brontë’s classic novel, Wuthering Heights.

Continue reading “Songs for Every Book: Rubblebucket and Catherine Earnshaw from Wuthering Heights” →

Books

If Shakespeare’s Characters Were High School Stereotypes

Aubrey Leaman
Ellen_Terry_as_Lady_Macbeth.jpg
“I want the throne AND your lunch money…” –Lady Macbeth

While stereotypes are harmful and incorrect in the way that they oversimplify people, they’re everywhere in books, movies, and TV–especially when the setting is high school! If the characters in some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays were to be recast in this format, then, which high school stereotypes would we find?

1. The jock

Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare: We’re always hearing about how Romeo and his friends are getting into fights with the Capulet boys, which surely keeps you in great shape. Sword fighting itself can be a sport, in a way (albeit a bloody one…). Plus, Romeo manages to kill both Tybalt and Paris, so he’s got to be pretty swol.

2. The loner

Continue reading “If Shakespeare’s Characters Were High School Stereotypes” →

Books

Who Would Win an Escape Room Faster: Moira or Katniss Everdeen?

Aubrey Leaman

escape room Moira Katniss 2.jpg

Both fictional characters are spunky, determined, and creative, but when it comes to logic puzzles who would really be faster? Would they even make it out?

Escape rooms have become really popular recently, and it’s not hard to see why. The idea is that you and your group have to solve a certain number of interconnected puzzles in order to shut off, for example, a device that will cause the world to get sucked into a black hole if not disabled in 60 minutes (no pressure). The puzzles you have to solve include Continue reading “Who Would Win an Escape Room Faster: Moira or Katniss Everdeen?” →

Books

Mr. Darcy and Whiskey: If Literary Characters Were Beverages

Aubrey Leaman

Mr. Darcy is whiskey

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that whiskey makes for an excellent character arc. –Jane Austen, probably

Have you ever thought about how different drinks have different personalities? If chocolate milk were a person it would surely have different hobbies, character traits, and life goals from Wine or Orange Juice, for example. So naturally, this question simply begs to be asked: if certain characters from literature were beverages, what type of beverage would they be?? Continue reading “Mr. Darcy and Whiskey: If Literary Characters Were Beverages” →

Music

Top 10 Song Adaptations: The Quirky, the Funny, and the Intriguing

Aubrey Leaman

Quirky funny song adaptations; cat banjo

Some are quirky; some are funny; some are both. Some are even inspired by books and movies!

Back in Music Mash-Ups: Rock + Chopin, Rock + Opera, I talked about how retellings of fairy tales and books like Jane Eyre (Jane Steele/Jane Slayre) are a lot like mash-ups between different genres of music–and how amazing they both are. But lately I’ve come across some new mash-ups, as well as some looser “adaptations” of music where it’s less about two genres coming together and more about importing a song into a new context (like in the Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightley).

The best part is that depending on the song and style, adaptations can be hilarious, moving, or just plain quirky! So without further ado, here are ten song adaptations to brighten your day: Continue reading “Top 10 Song Adaptations: The Quirky, the Funny, and the Intriguing” →

Books, The Other Stuff

Holden Caulfield Answers the Sunshine Blogger Award (Exploring What Makes a Favorite Character)

Aubrey Leaman

VS 2Answers coming from both myself and The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield in this post!

Thanks so much to Nicole at Sorry I’m Booked for the Sunshine Blogger Award nomination! I’m very honored that such a fun blogger enjoys my blog!

As I was writing out my answers to her questions, I started wondering how some of my favorite book characters would answer the very same questions…so I decided to share one character’s (imagined) answers alongside my own! J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye may have actually recently overtaken Wuthering Heights as my favorite book (gasp), so I was curious as to how Holden Caulfield, the narrator of the story, might answer these questions. He’s one of my favorite book characters, but would our answers be similar or different?

Some of Holden’s answers I drew directly from the book, but some I imagined based on his personality. Here are the results, with both of our answers:  Continue reading “Holden Caulfield Answers the Sunshine Blogger Award (Exploring What Makes a Favorite Character)” →

Classical Music Stories

Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina’s Mental Illness

Aubrey Leaman

15823480.jpg

There’s a frantic undercurrent in this music that reminds me a lot of Anna Karenina’s mental struggles, complete with lush orchestral textures and a solo flute!

Classical Music Stories is a series that connects music to your favorite books and characters. Since listening to classical music can be like hearing a story, imagining specific stories that match the music can make it that much more fun and accessible!

WARNING: As fitting the novel, the story I describe at the end of this music is dark. Please do not enter into the mind of a depressed/suicidal character if this is a trigger for you. Make sure you are comfortable and safe. Continue reading “Classical Music Stories: Anna Karenina’s Mental Illness” →

Comics: ARRRiel the Pirate Mermaid, The Other Stuff

Create-Your-Own-Comics: ARRiel the Pirate Mermaid and the Trampoline to Space

Aubrey Leaman

Version 6

You’ve waited a long time. You’ve lost sleep in anticipation, in fact. But now, FINALLY, ARRRiel the Pirate Mermaid is back with some new adventures (featuring my *cough* super impressive drawing skills).

Previously on ARRiel the Pirate Mermaid, ARRiel met a dinosaur and they sailed off into the sunset.

Now for their next adventure: Continue reading “Create-Your-Own-Comics: ARRiel the Pirate Mermaid and the Trampoline to Space” →