Music
List of Books I like to Read
01/02/09 01:53
that has yet to be
written:
Let me know if you like to take on one of these or you see something similar to what’s on the list on your shelf. More to come in the next instalment where I list all the books that I would rather not read that has yet to be written.
- Remembering Names for Dummies Vol.1 Names of the People You Care About
- Remembering Names for Dummies Vol.2 Names of Unimportant People
- Conversing with Women: The Official Manual of Style, 10th Ed.
- Cognitive Dissonance Resolution: Advanced Techniques
- Principles of Musical Pathology
- Diagnosis and Evaluation of Atonal Pathology
- Your F!#@k Up Mind: The Owner’s Manual
- In Praise of Ars Turpis
- Sweat it! - the 5-week intensive program for fighting stress
- Be Nice - A Practical Guide to Totalitarian Management
- Cranial Data Recovery: Theory and Practice
- 100 Superpower for the Average Joe - Study Guide
- Tutti! Tutti! - One man’s quest on becoming his own orchestra
- Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Musicoholism
- How to Quit Music: A Complete Self-Help Guide, 3rd Ed.
- Seven Weeks to Sobriety: The Proven Program to Fight Musicoholism through Reading
- Lowering Expectations: Aligning Student and Institutional Views of the College Experience
- SAS Manual of Mental and Physical Endurance: Special College Edition
- A Minimalist’s Apology
Let me know if you like to take on one of these or you see something similar to what’s on the list on your shelf. More to come in the next instalment where I list all the books that I would rather not read that has yet to be written.
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In Response
04/01/09 01:43
Knock knock knock knock
19/04/08 17:56
Knock knock knock knock, knock Knock
knock knock,
knock knock Knock knock, knock knock knock Knock.
Knock knock knock knock, knock Knock knock knock,
knock knock Knock knock, knock knock knock Knock...
Knock knock who's there, knock Knock who's there,
knock knock Who's there, knock knock who's There.
Knock knock who's there, knock Knock who's there,
knock knock Who's there, knock knock who's There?
Philip Glass. (Glass glass, glass Glass glass glass,)
Lucky guy is having a movie made about him, see the trailer. Although "our greatest living composer" is debatable.
p.s. yep, that site is made in iWeb.
knock knock Knock knock, knock knock knock Knock.
Knock knock knock knock, knock Knock knock knock,
knock knock Knock knock, knock knock knock Knock...
Knock knock who's there, knock Knock who's there,
knock knock Who's there, knock knock who's There.
Knock knock who's there, knock Knock who's there,
knock knock Who's there, knock knock who's There?
Philip Glass. (Glass glass, glass Glass glass glass,)
Lucky guy is having a movie made about him, see the trailer. Although "our greatest living composer" is debatable.
p.s. yep, that site is made in iWeb.
Just Add More Guitar
22/01/08 00:27
You got to wonder what is going on behind the
curtains sometimes. In this case, behind your frail
CRT or your shiny new plasma or LCD panel, or more
directly, on the other end of that RG-6/U coaxial
cable.
When the last Star Trek show Enterprise
premiered in 2001, its evitable decline in rating
started right away. In fact the 1st episode received
the highest Nielsen rating of 7.0 in the
entire show, with the 2nd episode garnered 2nd
highest at 5.7. (Wikipedia: List of Episodes) 2
years and 50 episodes later, at the end of
Season 2, the rating dropped to and hovered
between 2 and 3.
Then Season 3 came, and a few changes were made. The one viewers would notice first, literally, was a new version of the introductory main theme song (song, not just a theme, it's a song). The other changes includes that the captain of Enterprise, once the exemplary model of compassion, courage, acumen and all excellent qualities there are of the 22nd Century humankind, has declined into a persistent agitative state in Season 3.
In the midst of falling ratings and unimpressed fans, it would make sense that the minds behind the show would to do something to salvage the situation, and so let us assume they did, and that the theme song is one of these changes.
Before: Theme for Season 1 & 2 Where My Heart Will Take Me
Despite criticism from polarized fans, the main
theme is by all accounts a very fitting one, given
that everything about the series is supposed to be
different from the traditional Star Trek. Gone are
the bold, bombast main themes with French horn,
strings, timpani and the rest of brass going at 110%
capacity. In a positive light, the new theme is a
much more personal, solitary effort.
Also gone are the credits flyby in bold trek typeface at Warp 8.4, instead we see familiar and relatable images like a sea-worthy Enterprise, a doctored clip of space shuttle Discovery with the name changed to read Enterprise, the Sojourner mars rover, and other things of more earthly origin (see a full list).
With the new inspirational pop theme all these present a clear message: this is no longer Boldly Go where No Man has Gone before, this is Boldly Go where No Man has Gone before, Alone, For the First Time, Ever.
After: Theme for Season 3 & 4 Where My Heart Will Take Me with 100% More Upbeat!
Now why does the new theme sounds more like Degrassi: the Next Generation, than Star Trek: the First Generation? What had transpired would entail such a damnation of the original theme?
Producer: "Latest focus group shows that our core viewer of 17 ~ 28 Caucasian male find the intro theme too long, and many changed the channel by the time the story starts, can you speed it up?"
Guy at Mixer: "Ok, let's give it a straight regular tempo, let the drummer beat in 4 instead of 2, so it would perceptively feel faster, and shave 10s off "
or,
Creative Head: "Response from Advanced Showing of Season 3 is that Archer gets all moody and gloomy chasing the Xindi, viewers feel too depressed, can you do something to lighten it up at the intro?"
Guy at Mixer: "Sure, let's fill that empty song with some real rock beats, and a bit more exciting electric guitar flares, and get the keyboard guy to whip up some Hollywood strings for backdrop"
or,
Marketing Head: "Some of the traditional trek fans are abandoning the show, we feel we need to broaden our market appeal. I'm specifically talking about the fairer sex, which, aside from the young, technologically minded, is largely untackled. We can start by giving some empathizes on the sex appeal of Archer, yes, more of these inter-species sexual tension sub-story-arcs. And later we might consider more complicated relationship web. Definitely more stories for Hoshi and that alien girl. Oh, and one last thing, the music, give that intro theme a bit more, well how would I put it... think country-feel, upbeat, definitely more upbeat."
Producer: "Excellent ideas, I'll think about it. Meanwhile I'll ask the guy at the mixer what he can do with the music, it's about time we get something less dull... perhaps just more guitar will do"
Whatever transpired, it didn't make the theme any better. Not to suggest that the original is not without flaw or not cheesy ("And they're not gonna hold me down no more, no they're not gonna to change my mind"), but whatever merits it had before, there is very little remained after the transfiguration. And just as it should, the change elicited criticism from the fans who actually liked the original theme, and did nothing to appease those who disliked it before.
Note to Producers and Creative Heads: When you run out of ideas, don't do this! Change for the sake of change has often disappointing results; stop fixing things that's not broken.
Then Season 3 came, and a few changes were made. The one viewers would notice first, literally, was a new version of the introductory main theme song (song, not just a theme, it's a song). The other changes includes that the captain of Enterprise, once the exemplary model of compassion, courage, acumen and all excellent qualities there are of the 22nd Century humankind, has declined into a persistent agitative state in Season 3.
In the midst of falling ratings and unimpressed fans, it would make sense that the minds behind the show would to do something to salvage the situation, and so let us assume they did, and that the theme song is one of these changes.
Before: Theme for Season 1 & 2 Where My Heart Will Take Me
Also gone are the credits flyby in bold trek typeface at Warp 8.4, instead we see familiar and relatable images like a sea-worthy Enterprise, a doctored clip of space shuttle Discovery with the name changed to read Enterprise, the Sojourner mars rover, and other things of more earthly origin (see a full list).
With the new inspirational pop theme all these present a clear message: this is no longer Boldly Go where No Man has Gone before, this is Boldly Go where No Man has Gone before, Alone, For the First Time, Ever.
After: Theme for Season 3 & 4 Where My Heart Will Take Me with 100% More Upbeat!
Now why does the new theme sounds more like Degrassi: the Next Generation, than Star Trek: the First Generation? What had transpired would entail such a damnation of the original theme?
Producer: "Latest focus group shows that our core viewer of 17 ~ 28 Caucasian male find the intro theme too long, and many changed the channel by the time the story starts, can you speed it up?"
Guy at Mixer: "Ok, let's give it a straight regular tempo, let the drummer beat in 4 instead of 2, so it would perceptively feel faster, and shave 10s off "
or,
Creative Head: "Response from Advanced Showing of Season 3 is that Archer gets all moody and gloomy chasing the Xindi, viewers feel too depressed, can you do something to lighten it up at the intro?"
Guy at Mixer: "Sure, let's fill that empty song with some real rock beats, and a bit more exciting electric guitar flares, and get the keyboard guy to whip up some Hollywood strings for backdrop"
or,
Marketing Head: "Some of the traditional trek fans are abandoning the show, we feel we need to broaden our market appeal. I'm specifically talking about the fairer sex, which, aside from the young, technologically minded, is largely untackled. We can start by giving some empathizes on the sex appeal of Archer, yes, more of these inter-species sexual tension sub-story-arcs. And later we might consider more complicated relationship web. Definitely more stories for Hoshi and that alien girl. Oh, and one last thing, the music, give that intro theme a bit more, well how would I put it... think country-feel, upbeat, definitely more upbeat."
Producer: "Excellent ideas, I'll think about it. Meanwhile I'll ask the guy at the mixer what he can do with the music, it's about time we get something less dull... perhaps just more guitar will do"
Whatever transpired, it didn't make the theme any better. Not to suggest that the original is not without flaw or not cheesy ("And they're not gonna hold me down no more, no they're not gonna to change my mind"), but whatever merits it had before, there is very little remained after the transfiguration. And just as it should, the change elicited criticism from the fans who actually liked the original theme, and did nothing to appease those who disliked it before.
Note to Producers and Creative Heads: When you run out of ideas, don't do this! Change for the sake of change has often disappointing results; stop fixing things that's not broken.
Disclosure: I have not yet finished watching Season 3, and am therefore unable to comment on the effectiveness of guitars or whatnot on how the rest of the show turned out.
Sibelius 5 - Universal Binary
22/07/07 21:38
Finale, the main competitor of Sibelius, has already gone universal earlier in Dec. 2006. I dislike ugly things, especially ugly GUI and hard-to-use programs, so although both are standard notation programs, I never got into Finale (it has this 90s amateurish look to it with all the aqua orbs and faux-metal).
Besides the transition to UB, there are a few interesting things among the new features introduced. The new Panorama view let you view the score without the limitation of pages, which is what I always wanted. Often you want an overview of the whole score and having to worry about page layouts and spacing is very cumbersome. This seems to be something Finale had for a while and Sibelius should definitely have from the start. Apple's Garageband has something similar in its editor, but it isn't really a notation app, and doesn't output any scores.
The new idea hub to collect motifs and musical ideas and the support for VST/Audio Units are cool, but for Intel Mac user like me the universal binary is probably the biggest improvement.
More at What's new in Sibelius 5