Alexandre Desplat provides the score for Eric Roth’s film, which was adapted from Johnathan Safran Foer’s book. The plot offers a family’s tale revolving around the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers on 9/11.

This score was my personal favorite of the three. It’s moody and brooding, sticking to piano and strings almost entirely. There are woodwinds present, but they are not featured as much as strings. There is even electric bass on “Oxymorons,” providing an even stronger rhythm.

Although the score is minor key all the way through, the second-to-last song, “Reconciliation,” is in a major key and light-hearted.

The entire score has a pulsing, defined meter that makes it amazingly listenable. This is one of the strongest attributes of the score.

Conducted by John Williams, the score for “War Horse” has a timeless element that is predicted before it’s even heard. Williams, who has worked with director Steven Spielberg in the past, is known for conducting the film scores for “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and “Jaws.”

The preconceived notion that the music will be classic is not undeserved. The score is triumphant and evokes pride in the hearts of listeners. It has an incredible, all-American tone that wouldn’t be out of place in an old western movie.

As per Williams’ style, there are easily recognizable motifs that recur throughout the score, making themes and moods unmistakable for listeners.

The final movement, “Homecoming,” encompasses a wide variety of emotions and themes from earlier before concluding with a flute solo over increasingly quiet strings.

Dario Marianelli’s score for Cary Joji Fukunaga’s “Jane Eyre” is different than the other two film scores. It’s eerie and creepy.

There are vocals featured throughout the score, providing an ethereal tone that raises goosebumps and puts listeners on edge.

The pieces are extremely short, which keeps the momentum of the score moving and compelling.

Instead of expressing moods through dynamic range or quickened tempos, Marianelli creates tension in the solos of violins. They repeat and grow more melodically frantic, which is a very effective tactic.

Personally, I found the score for “Jane Eyre” too ominous for enjoyment. There were very cool ideas presented, but ultimately, it was too abstract and fluid to latch onto.

Between the ages of 5 and 7, all I wanted for Christmas were life-size Barbies, Giga Pets, Yikes! pencils, Silly Putty, Garfield comic books and a Gameboy. I still look back at those gifts with glee and nostalgia. What cool toys. Kids nowadays don’t know what they’re missing.

I have two nieces and three nephews whose Christmas lists I have thoroughly judged. Four-year-old Taylor wants something calls Squinkies — little figurines trapped in plastic balls. Lame. Austin, who’s 11’ typed his Christmas list in alternating green and red fonts, wants Halo Legos … and a pocket watch.

I decided to do my own research — scratch that, Rachel Pyle asked me to do research —  to see what kids these days are requesting for Christmas. I thought maybe my nieces are nephews are just weird anomalies. They’re not. It turns out kids across America are asking for the weirdest toys this year.

Here are a list of some of the top gifts for Christmas 2011:

My Keepon
Picture a snowman. Now picture a yellow snowman (gross, right?). Now picture that snowman on a pedestal, dancing to the beat of your music. If you can picture this, then you can picture My Keepon, one of the hottest toys for grade-schoolers this holiday season. I haven’t figured out why this is the case. It reminds me a lot of a Ferbie, only creepier!

Fijit Friends
If you want a dancing robot but are totally creeped out by My Keepon (more like Kreepon!), get a Fijit friend. This robot dances to music like the Keepon, but it also says more than 150 phrases and responds to more than 30 keywords. Plus, it’s a robot just for girls! Each Fijit Friend has its own girly name and personality, and they talk to other fijit friends — again, like a Ferbie.

You and Me: Hide and Seek Friend Dolls
When I saw these dolls I immediately thought, “Cool! Dolls you can never lose!” You throw one in a closet and it beeps or giggles till you find it. Or maybe you lose one and the other one finds it — creepy but cool. But it turns out, after reading the product description, these dolls do nothing like that. You can feed them, brush their hair and when you lay them down, their eyes close. So, they’re pretty much like every other baby doll on the market, except they have a misleading name to trick you into buying them.

Crayola Color Studio iMarker
This is the gift for any future child of Nick Graham: a Crayola marker for the iPad. The iMarker works like a stylus, only it’s the size and shape of a marker for tiny hands to grasp. Instead of coloring on paper, kids can borrow Dad’s iPad and scribble away. (This means next Christmas, Billy’s asking for his own iPad. Start working overtime, Dad.)

I Am T-Pain Mic
Kids need role models, right? Well, good thing they have T-Pain. The folks at JAKKS Pacific created a recordable, auto-tune-able microphone in honor of the rapper. According to iamtpainmic.com — which you should definitely check out for laughs — the mic has three original beats, a T-Pain Effect button, and another button with a picture of T-Pain’s face. (I haven’t figured out what that does.) After little Jimmy records his rap jams, he can plug the mic into his computer to save the mp3s. The microphone comes in three designs: black, black with flames and white with skulls for girls.

A Sojourn staffer takes on the challenge of listening to Justin Beiber’s new Christmas CD track-by-track.

Going into this piece, I was challenged to rid my mind of all the biases I had against Justin Bieber. Really, I’d never heard a complete song by the artist until listening to his Christmas album. The only thing I could hold against him was the fact that I used to be told I had a “Bieber haircut.”
Anyway, here are my first reactions to Justin Beiber’s Christmas album, “Under The Mistletoe.”

Only Thing I Ever Get for Christmas
Nice little intro with acoustic guitar strumming accompanying Bieber’s voice.
Also, a choir singing “ooohs” in the background. Cue the electronic drums and melismas that lead into the the chorus!
Psychedelic synthesizers add a really cool feel to the bridge. I really wish there were more synthesizers in the entire song and less drum machine.
So many vocal tracks!
Intimate, slow ending with Bieber singing about mistletoe: “I’ll be waiting, kiss me there.”

Mistletoe
Jingle bells count the rhythm, then Jason Mraz-style acoustic guitar and finger-snaps come in.
The lyrics are all about evoking imagery of Christmas.
Bieber keeps singing about things he should be doing, but instead he’s under the mistletoe with “yooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-oou.”
There are some pretty weak lyrics going on here. “Don’t you buy me nothing / ‘cause I am feeling one thing / Your lips on my lips.”
This song may as well be a Christmas cover of Mraz’s “I’m Yours.”

Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
Spacey intro of acoustic guitar, piano and some weird-but-awesome synthesizer in the back drenched in reverb.
This is a nice, slow and swanky version of this song. Finger snaps keep the rhythm, again. There is a pretty cool effect on the vocal echoes.
Anytime Bieber sings a high note, the auto tune becomes pretty obvious.
Hey, it’s Usher!
So many harmonies are happening right now.
I can hardly take the male-diva love going on right now.
Holy ‘80s guitar solo, Bieber! This is so cheesy.
I think the production of these songs is really hurting more than helping.

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
Funk! That is fun.
Bieber shouting, “Santa’s coming, girl! Whoo!”
This is what Christmas music is all about! Having fun and being happy in the season instead of trying to pick up girls!
There’s a choir in the back, a really appropriate organ, and Bieber almost sounds like he’s a member of the band instead of a celebrity who records his vocal tracks at a different time than the other musicians.
Did he just say it’s the time of year to, “Shake it, baby”? I’m not going to let that ruin this song for me.
Fun track.

Fa La La
Electric piano, drum machines and Bieber saying, “This is the time of year we can give it, give it, give it, give it all.”
Boys II Men is serving as Bieber’s backing choir?
The track so auto tuned, but I can’t tell whether or not it’s intentional. It’s kind of like Bon Iver’s “Woods,” except there is a ton of additional instrumentation. There’s a lot of cool counter-rhythms going on, too.
Man, that last little vocal solo was long. Awkward too.
Side note — the a cappella version of this song on the deluxe album is much more rewarding to listen to.

All I Want for Christmas
Strings, French horn and bells are the first thing you hear before Mariah Carey and Bieber enter.
Lots of wordless singing going on here.
Drums come in really strong and Carey begins singing.
This is upbeat! What a relief; I don’t know if I could handle another power ballad.
This is pretty enjoyable.
Wow, that was a really cool soul-infused bridge. Carey does some really cool whistle-tone stuff at the end.

Drummer Boy
Such a dramatic intro.
I feel like I’m trapped in a futuristic Christmas dream. Oh my, cue the dance party.
Bieber’s rapping. It’s not terrible.
What is happening?! Now Busta Rhymes is shouting.
Now Busta Rhymes is rapping. His lyrics are terrible, but there was just a huge swell of synthesizers and everything but his voice and drums dropped out after that.
It sounds really cool, but his lyrics are still lame. He just gave a shout-out to his Twitter followers, haha.
Oh, another chorus, then Bieber raps the last verse about donating to charity and thinking about less fortunate families. A good message? Yes. A good verse for a rap song?
No way, Biebz. That song just blew my mind.

Christmas Eve
Nice, pretty piano introduction. Of course it can’t remain that way.
Drum machines and hand-claps come in after. “I don’t need presents / girl, you’re everything I need.”
Apparently, that message wasn’t delivered enough in the first few songs?
Maybe it’s just because it follows “Drummer Boy,” but that song was painfully boring.

All I Want is You
Two fake intros? Bieber, you jokester. It’s a sappy, lonely winter ballad.
“Sitting here all alone watching the snow fall / looking back at the day we through them snow balls / I can’t believe I’m putting the tree up by myself / I need you and nobody else.”
It’s not bad. It’s pretty much the same idea as the first song on this album, but this song does a much better job of evoking the desperation of missing a loved one.

Home This Christmas
Immediately I can tell this is going to be a country ballad because of the big piano, mid-tempo and twangy country guitar.
The Band Perry’s presence is obvious.
Bieber and the Perrys’ voices compliment each other well. Maybe Bieber should do more country stuff. This is a really solid track.

Silent Night
Just Bieber’s voice and piano.
Pretty and relaxing. I’m really glad the second verse didn’t add any drum machines or other instrumentation. It would have tainted a classic.
In general, this Christmas album wasn’t too bad. There were too many ballads and all the original songs that Bieber helped write were sappy love songs that all revolved around the idea of kissing girls under the mistletoe or only wanting a girl’s love for Christmas. The covers were fun and most of the guest musicians attributed nice variety to the songs.