a study of music

This is gonna a boring post.

There are pieces of music, that when heard, inspire some kind of action, or stir emotion, in you. No doubts there. While empowering, the truth is that they tend to follow certain patterns. It's not plagiarism, nor a copy of styles, and of course, this is a generalization, but it has been studied.

The simplest and most common is the rising crescendo type of music. It is typically associated with epic battles, or some clash of the titans kind of struggle. The first and most common one that sticks in my head is the track called Escape by Craig Armstrong.

The notes go from low, and they rise, the pitch begins to grow, until the it is at an all time high, and you can feel the fever pitch coming - example HERE. The rising crescendo is the most common type of EPIC music. Another common track example the rising crescendo is the Adagio in D Minor by John Murphy, soundtrack to the movie Sunshine.

The opposite of the rising crescendo is the falling dimineundo, or decrescendo. The music follows a V shape, a moderately high tune falling to a low tone, and then rising slightly, and then depending on the mood, may keep rising, or start to fall again. The objective is to provoke the opposite of the crescendo, which is to reflect, think back, reminisce... Example of a decrescendo that keeps rising is the soundtrack to Kick Ass, the track titled Armenian Superhero, the opening of the movie. Example of a decrescendo that falls instead, is the track called Standing Ovation, from the movie Hancock.

While the first 2 themes follow distinct wave patterns, the Crescendo being A-shaped, and the Decrescendo is V-shaped, these 2 themes are typically used for EVENTS. But not all soundtracks follow singular events. Some follow LINEAR paths - in movie terms, it is usually a journey, a serious revelationary actions in a due course. Whatever. Basically, it's in a SINE wave, ups and downs rhythmically spaced out to show a journey, a progression, movement in general. Best example I can think of would be from The Village, the track called The Gravel Road, as Ivy hurries to find medicine for an injured Lucius.

While this track is mostly calm and thought-provoking, this sine wave of peaks and valleys can also be used in fast-paced themes, take Death and Transfiguration, from the Hancock soundtrack once again - start from the 1:40 part onwards.

Anyways, there it is, a quick study of movie music, and what its trying to make us do.

popcorn 2

Last week, I was seized by an immense desire to watch a movie. I ended up watching Forrest Gump, a true cinematic masterpiece that is both thought-provoking as it is abstract.

And this got me thinking - what movies did I watch LAST YEAR?? In fact, what GOOD movies did I watch in 2010, if any??

Thankfully, I have a bad habit of keeping movie ticket stubs.

So, again, what good memorable movies did I watch in 2010?? Well, here goes...


LEGION


I sat down on my couch one fine day and picked up a DVD that my dad had just bought. Turns out it was THIS movie.

Big mistake.

Religious zombies and angels. And Dennis Quaid. What the fuck??


THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT


Pretty remarkable movie. It was one of the first that I've watched that Jackie Chan didnt flatten an entire army of pple with his skills.

All I can remember is that it was SUPREMELY depressing, this movie. And I will never EVER eat roasted chestnuts again. Why? (Hint: They cut off a man's hand with a giant roasted chestnuts spatula. Geee-ross!)


SHUTTER ISLAND


Ah, trust good ol Leonardo to come and save the day. All this while running around an island filled with creepy crazy ppl.

The CREEPIEST scene of the year came from this movie - the scene when Leo is walking into the asylum, and there's this partially balding lady with the blackest eye I've ever seen who turns and looks at him, then silent raises her finger to her lips in a 'shuuush' motion. That totally freaked me out.


KICK-ASS


I totally boycotted this movie at first. Then the rumors began running around. Whispers were heard. Whispers echoing... that... it... was... awesome??

By the way, this movie had in my opinion, the BEST opening scene of all 2010. If it doesnt stir something in you, then you have not had a childhood.


THE A-TEAM


LoL... this movie was hardcore action, setup-for-action, more action... Nothing in it in terms of storyline. The story looks like it was picked up at the reject shop, but BOY, was it fun to watch.


INCEPTION


Once again, Leo set the standard. I watched it in the cinema. I watched it at home. I watched it on my com. I keep watching it til today. I even watch it in my dreams, within a dream.


THE KING'S SPEECH


Once I heard about Yogi Bear and Tron Legacy, I thought to myself, "It is the end of the goddamn world."

There was absolutely NOTHING intelligent to watch. It was either that retarded hat-wearing bear running around a jungle stealing honey, or actors wearing spandex with LEDs attached to them. WTF man?

It was, ironically, thanks to dad, when he came back with some DVDs and one of them, was this movie - The King's Speech. I'd been very much used to Geoffery Rush as Captain Hector Barbosa for quite some time, so it was refreshing to see him in a tidy royal outfit, giving speech lessons to the s-s-s-stuttering king of england.

A marvelous movie. A beautiful savior to the year.

I need more time

I'm writing this after coming off a long marathon of Craig Ferguson + Sid youtube vids that I have no doubt left me speaking, writing and even THINKING in his addictive accent. So before you proceed onto further paragraphs, let me just say that this is best read in Ferguson voice, i think. Oh shut it, im making it as I go along.

I need more time. Yes, I mean, it's true, alright? I walk into the office 30min before I'm PAID to be there, I make a list of 300 things that need to be done and I slave away, task after task, feeling like a master sweat shop boy for Nike, and then i think I tick off ONE item on the list. DONE! 

And then the bell rings at 6pm and I have to go home, and tomorrow there's bound to be another 300 or more odd things that need to be done.

I mean, what the heck, rite?

I realize that.. 24 hrs just isnt enough anymore. Someone should rewrite the clocks or something, give us 40hr days or something. I mean, I only did ONE thing at work today, and then the day's over. I need a longer day - not that i'd spend more of it in the office anyway... but I do.

The full realization of it came today, while, I was sitting in a cab, taking a cab from Marina Bay Sands over to the warehouse at Penjuru (it's where I keep all the dead bodies). ANYWAY, Im on my way to Penjuru, when at a zebra crossing, the cab lurches to a stop and a school girl crosses.

She doesnt cross like she's walking or something. No, I mean, iPod earphones plugged in, tweetering on her smartphone, talking to her friend, and she was also doing her homework with her other 20 arms or so. The point is... she was walking DEAD BLOODY SLOW.

And I was seriously considering, leaning over to the driver's seat, putting the car in gear and turning her into roadkill, i mean literally turning her into mince-meat.

And then i stopped. I stopped and I realized that *I* was like that when I was a kid, except I had no iphones, or ipods, heck even my damn EYES didnt really work right.

I thought I had all the time in the world back then, and I now, now I don't.

And then it hits me, after seeing this poor girl slowly, slowly, AGONIZINGLY slowly crosses that piece of pavement - this is APPLE's FAULT.