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Gadgetology Music

Player two

The big BOSSI didn’t accumulate much of a stash at OVGE this year, because I was worried about spending too much time away from my table where I hoped to be getting rid of the stash I brought to sell. And the past couple of years have really been a bit of a “break even” proposition, because I sold stuff and then turned around and bought stuff. With me out of work, that just wasn’t in the cards this year. I did some horse trading and landed a copy of Super Mario Bros. Wii for Little E (he’s been begging for it since seeing his cousin’s copy of it), I got Brett Weiss’ new book (which I’ve been glued to here lately, because it delves into systems and games that I’ve only bothered with in retrospect) and one of Deann Stone’s hand-decorated Christmas ornaments (I’m gonna have Q*Bert cussing on my tree this year – top that!). And then there was one last item that was handed over to me for free. … Read more

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Music

Breaking into song

PDFIn case you couldn’t tell, this week’s theme is creative endeavours. Even the silly ones. (Sometimes those are the best ones.) As part of that, I’ve undertaken a much-needed revamp of the music page of my blog (as seen in the “music” tab above), which has been mostly broken since the whole indicent earlier this year when my hosting service was hacked into and stuff was deleted wholesale. I’ve now put fresh music files on the server and divided things up by “project”. I’ve done soundtrack projects, I’ve been in short-lived ad-hoc bands of sorts, and I’ve just experimented randomly on stuff. You can now hear bits and bobs from all of these “eras,” including the surprisingly oft-requested music from Phosphor Dot Fossils. I’ll try to get downloadables set up for all of this stuff soonish, since I know the idea of sitting around parked at the page and playing stuff from there is probably a bit behind the times.

Go forth and enjoy.Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Music

Little E vs. the original motion picture soundtrack

Children challenge you in ways you hadn’t imagined, by forcing you to re-examine and explain/justify stuff you hold to be somewhat self-evident. Case in point:

Little E’s favorite movie right now (and mine too, if I’m to be honest) is WALL-E. He likes cute robots doing stuff without a lot of WALL-Edialogue required to understand it. I think it’s actually a cracking good little high-concept science fiction piece that got snuck in the back door in the packaging of a kids’ movie (nicely done, Pixar!). And the soundtrack by Thomas Newman is just this side of brilliant – with the long, dialogue-free stretches of the first half of the movie, Newman has the responsibility of cluing the audience in on the implications of what’s going on.

During the scene where WALL-E is chasing a laser dot (part of the landing sensors of what he doesn’t realize is an approaching spacecraft), the music really kicks in, and at one point, out of the blue, on what had to be WALL-E viewing #39 at the very least, Little E said “Dad, why is that music doing that?

That brought me up short. I was enjoying the music tremendously, but my enjoyment of music is very much an instinctual, gut-feeling sort of thing. And now I had to explain it. Uh…?

I quickly turned it around into a question. “How does the music make you feel?” (At about this point, WALL-E was burying himself to protect himself from the heat of the ship’s engines.)

“Scared,” he said.

“I bet WALL-E’s pretty scared right now too,” I told him.

He thought about it a moment. The movie continued and the music quieted down, and took a different tone as EVE started exploring the planet. “What is WALL-E feeling right now?” he asked.

I responded, “Well, what’s the music telling you?”

“I don’t know,” Little E said.

“Well, WALL-E doesn’t know anything about EVE yet either,” I said.

He either started to grok what I was saying, or he was tired of me answering his questions with further questions. It’s a very Zen teaching method, but I can also see where it’s an exasperating one at times. (I think that’s why I’m not a teacher.)

They're flying on instruments!I really hope that it was the former, because the movie score (and its frequently budget-addled nephew, the television score) is an art form I love dearly, and I’d love to share my knowledge (and sheesh, my library) with him. He’s showing signs that he may just be “getting” music on the same gut-feeling level as his old man, who couldn’t sight-read sheet music to save his life or sing well enough for his supper. If this is an Area Of Interest, maybe some more intensive edumacation – more than what I’ve ever gotten – is something he’d be up for.

One thing that I think my mom got absolutely right with her parenting method was that she never, ever tried to steer me toward being a doctor, a lawyer, or anything like that. She waited for these Areas Of Interest to make themselves known and would kick some doors open to fuel those interests and see if there was Something There. That, too, is a bit unorthodox, but it’s something I intend to turn into a family tradition.

In the meantime, thanks to WALL-E, my son can hum “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from memory (I’ve played him the full version of the movement quoted briefly in the movie) and knows the words to that Peter Gabriel song in the end credits. Not a bad start.Read more

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Music

Late 2010 album anticipation list

I do this once or twice a year as upcoming music releases line up like ducks in a row – very expensive ducks in a row, in some cases – just for giggles. And because the anticipation is part of the fun. And because you may want to have some participation in my anticipation. Okay, I’m done, let’s talk music. … Read more

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Cooking With Code Music

The worst podcast ever…

… has been made by me, and you can enjoy (or, perhaps more appropriately, endure) it here. It’s just me playing some music that I liked from last year. Unfortunately, it’s also me rambling on without a script, “ah”-ing and “um”-ing a lot, and sounding like deep fried crap because my allergies were giving me trouble that day. (The whole thing was recorded several weeks ago, but honestly, I’ve been sitting on it since then and pondering whether or not it would be possible for me to make it suck less. Ultimately I decided the answer was “probably not, this is me we’re talking about here.”) … Read more

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Gadgetology Music

Eruptive, disruptive, the whole works

Evan’s having a hard time sleeping, so daddy’s having a hard time sleeping. There’s some strange correlation there that I can’t put my finger on – maybe it’s the whole disrupting-daddy’s-sleep-by-coming-into-the-room-and-crawling-on-top-of-me-in-bed thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll love little E until I breathe my last, but man is it ever hard to sleep through a little 40-pound person climbing on top of you. Try it sometime (pending the availability of little 40-pound people in your immediate vicinity). You know I’m right.

Whiplash-inducing gearshift… CRUNCH! … Read more

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Gadgetology Music Television & Movies

Open letter to an online music retailer who shall remain nameless…

Gentlemen (and by gentlemen, I mean “unidentified label who has just released the downloadable edition of the soundtracks to a couple of movie spinoffs of a certain favorite British sci-fi show of mine”), I’ve called you here today to discuss your download service. … Read more

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Critters Music

Kittenized

The sleepers awaken!

Taxi's kittens

All eyes are now open (when the little buggers aren’t sleeping peacefully through most of the day – it’s tough work being a rapidly-growing kitten…) and we’re walking around on little stubby kitten legs. One or two of them are already having to be nudged back into the box by Taxi… jumping is next. And then, of course, world domination.

Got most of the editing done today on the Atari software programmers’ panel for the Best of CGE ’05 DVD set. It’s a little bit on the epic side – very nearly a full hour and a half – but incredibly interesting, as a lot of questioning from the crowd focuses on the crash, the recovery, and what’s next. And these guys? They knew. Right on the money. It’s really interesting. It’s also interesting to see them talk at great length about the blessing and curse of licensed games, whether movie tie-ins or coin-ops. Let’s just say there weren’t anyone’s favorites from the game-making side of things. Best of CGE ’05 will debut simultaneously at OVGE in Tulsa and CCAG in Cleveland, and if you didn’t know already, you can pre-order any of the DVDs I produce for pickup at either show. (Just wanted to pimp that one more time.) I’m really looking forward to this year’s OVGE event – I like to spend my grown-up get-together time reminiscing about games I played in my childhood. 😆

Remember a few days ago when I pointed out a convergence of releases and/or potential releases by a bunch of my favorite musicians that may well signal the end of the world, or at least my ears exploding in sheer delight? Add one major surprise to that list: Jason Falkner‘s just released a new studio album, once again only on a Japanese label. Considering that his last album released in this manner has never seen the light of day on a domestic label, I might as well try to see if I can find 40 bucks in the couch cushions for this one…… Read more