This has just been one of those weeks. Occasionally I have a bunch of topics to discuss in my head and whatever happens to erase them. I've got nothing at the moment. I'm still writing on my projects, and consistently, so it's not all bad news. I know I haven't talked about comics in awhile but, to some degree, there haven't been that many worth talking about either.
I'll try to fix all this. No reason to worry. More soon.
07 November 2009
03 November 2009
'The Life of Newton' - in brief
My senior year of high school I had but a handful of classes. One was Calculus. There were only three of us in the class. I was taking a math class in order to stay on the Math Team (I have a high school letter... in Math) and Calculus quickly proved to be over my head. I mostly gave up on it.
The problem with this was that there were only the three of us in the class. My buddy Jesse was having no issues understanding it, balancing me out, and Chris (aka Garth) was sort of getting it. There hadn't been a Calculus class at the school in years and they wanted us to succeed or at least look good.
For the final grading period, we were given a project to do instead of more math problems. It could be anything so long as it had something to do with Calculus. The projects could be done as individuals or as a group. When our teacher said the word 'screenplay' as an option, our eyes lit up. We were making a movie. It would be 'The Life of Newton'!
We researched Sir Issac Newton, determined our main characters based on his life, threw some math in there, and wrote some Monty Python inspired material. It is ridiculous, not always in a good way. The final 'movie' runs about 23 minutes long, including some long credit sequences and a music video. One of the best scenes was not written but improvised in one long take. There are silly voices, poorly developed themes, physical comedy, and some cross-dressing. The blooper reel is longer than the movie!
It's long been my goal to 'remaster' the original 'film' from the master tape as the original edit was poorly done with a camcorder and VCR. I'd put it off since I couldn't do a 'special edition' with a commentary track. Recently, I went to convert the tape to a digital file and the tape may not have survived the process. Sad. I think I got most of it, perhaps enough of it.
Sections of this seem destined for YouTube...
The problem with this was that there were only the three of us in the class. My buddy Jesse was having no issues understanding it, balancing me out, and Chris (aka Garth) was sort of getting it. There hadn't been a Calculus class at the school in years and they wanted us to succeed or at least look good.
For the final grading period, we were given a project to do instead of more math problems. It could be anything so long as it had something to do with Calculus. The projects could be done as individuals or as a group. When our teacher said the word 'screenplay' as an option, our eyes lit up. We were making a movie. It would be 'The Life of Newton'!
We researched Sir Issac Newton, determined our main characters based on his life, threw some math in there, and wrote some Monty Python inspired material. It is ridiculous, not always in a good way. The final 'movie' runs about 23 minutes long, including some long credit sequences and a music video. One of the best scenes was not written but improvised in one long take. There are silly voices, poorly developed themes, physical comedy, and some cross-dressing. The blooper reel is longer than the movie!
It's long been my goal to 'remaster' the original 'film' from the master tape as the original edit was poorly done with a camcorder and VCR. I'd put it off since I couldn't do a 'special edition' with a commentary track. Recently, I went to convert the tape to a digital file and the tape may not have survived the process. Sad. I think I got most of it, perhaps enough of it.
Sections of this seem destined for YouTube...
02 November 2009
Music Monday - Covers
Some bands are just over-rated. Really any band that gets 'big' gets over-rated to some degree. The level of how over-rated the band is depends on your opinion of the band. If you liked them when they were 'small', maybe you remember when they were 'good'. Maybe you think they were never any good. Maybe you're impressed by how creative the band has managed to stay. Whatever.
There are certain bands that are big but, in my opinion, they aren't all that great. A fine way to tell is when other bands cover their songs and the cover versions are superior to the originals. That's why I say I don't like the Eagles or Metallica. Bah.
As regards the Eagles, I can admit that my opinion regarding the song 'Desperado' may be influenced by the fact that their version wasn't the first one I heard. My mother has been a long-time fan of singer Johnny Rodriguez and it's his version that I'm most familiar with hearing. The phrasing in his version sounds right to me, the way that the lyrics pour from him capture the emotion of the song better than the Eagles version, in my opinion anyway. Listen, see what you think:
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.2713081&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=&__pcode=cmt
It's the vocals that often make the difference. 'Enter Sandman' may be Metallica's best known song but James Hetfield's vocal sounds like it's sung by a pre-teenager compared to the growl that Lemmy of Motorhead can apply to it. It's a creepier song in Lemmy's hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8_RTe5Pz0
For that matter, Dicky from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sounds growlier and creepy than Hetfield. How does a ska band sound more metal than a 'metal' band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBNuTNWHso
Covers. Man I love them. Sometimes.
There are certain bands that are big but, in my opinion, they aren't all that great. A fine way to tell is when other bands cover their songs and the cover versions are superior to the originals. That's why I say I don't like the Eagles or Metallica. Bah.
As regards the Eagles, I can admit that my opinion regarding the song 'Desperado' may be influenced by the fact that their version wasn't the first one I heard. My mother has been a long-time fan of singer Johnny Rodriguez and it's his version that I'm most familiar with hearing. The phrasing in his version sounds right to me, the way that the lyrics pour from him capture the emotion of the song better than the Eagles version, in my opinion anyway. Listen, see what you think:
http://www.rhapsody.com/player?type=track&id=tra.2713081&remote=false&page=&pageregion=&guid=&from=&__pcode=cmt
It's the vocals that often make the difference. 'Enter Sandman' may be Metallica's best known song but James Hetfield's vocal sounds like it's sung by a pre-teenager compared to the growl that Lemmy of Motorhead can apply to it. It's a creepier song in Lemmy's hands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8_RTe5Pz0
For that matter, Dicky from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones sounds growlier and creepy than Hetfield. How does a ska band sound more metal than a 'metal' band?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRBNuTNWHso
Covers. Man I love them. Sometimes.
01 November 2009
Crossed fingers
Well, it's a bit mangled but seems to be okay. It still drives normally and there were no puddles of fluid beneath the car this morning. It might be okay. Okay enough anyway.
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