I was 4 when Star Trek: First Contact came out. It is not difficult for me to remember watching the film with my parents: them, sitting together on the couch; me, cowering behind it.
The Borg, a race of humanoid life forms who have evolved to include synthetic technology, haunted my dreams from a very young age. They are ruthlessly strong, able to adapt to different types of weapons, and intent on assimilating all races until they achieve perfection.
However, recently, I found our ancient VHS tape of Star Trek: First Contact and watched it.
Ironically, the film begins with Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) waking from a nightmare of the Borg, who have reentered known space and now present a direct threat to the United Federation of Planets. A Borg cube is headed for earth with the intent of assimilating the entire planets population.
Picard and his crew are sent to the Romulin border; it is believe by Starfleet command that Piccard, who was previously assimilated by the Borg, would be an unnecessary risk to Earth’s defense. As the Borg Cube approaches earth, the Enterprise decided to defy orders and head for earth to help in its defense.
He arrives just as his fleet is falling apart and takes control of the battle. After rescuing survivors, he destroys the Borg Cube.
However, a minor Borg space craft manages to escape from it’s dying mother ship and heads for earth. The Enterprise pursues it through a temporal rift, into the past, where the Borg Sphere begins firing on the planets surface. It is 2063, just after the third world war, and the Borg is attacking an area where Dr. Zefram Cochrane is located. Cochrane, in 2063, is attempting to build a space ship that will surpass the speed of light.
The Enterprise destroys the Borg Sphere and sends a search team down to the surface to discover the fate of Cochrane, who’s flight will be the turning point in human history, as it results in Earth’s first contact with aliens.
Without the knowledge of the Picard or his crew, however, several borg managed to transport the Enterprise before their own ship was destroyed. This leads to a struggle that will decided the fate and history of mankind.
Star Trek: First Contact has become a favorite of mine. It was made in the early nineties so the visual effects aren’t particularly stunning, but it is certainly much more visually appealing than any of its predecessors. The film also stands out from other products of the Star Trek franchise because the quality of the acting is great. The performance given by Alice Krige as the Borg Hive Queen is easily one of my all time favorites.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Almost Famous
I doubt William Miller (Patrick Fugit) had any idea where his love for music would take him when he, under the instruction of his older sister, listens to the rock album Tommy with a candle burning to see his future.
Almost Famous is the story of William Miller, a teen who is among the social rejects at his high school, and his travels with the fictional rock band Stillwater. It begins, however, several years early when Anita (Zooey Deschanel) leaves their home amidst a troubled relationship with William’s mother, Elaine (Frances McDormand).
Before she leaves, she passes on her collection of rock music that she had hid from her mother with instructions that he listen and come to appreciate what he’s missing.
Fast-forward several years, and William is now in high school, writing for his local underground paper and sending pieces on to renowned rock critic Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who asks William to meet him. From then on, Lester assumes the role of his mentor while William begins to write, first for him, and then for Rolling Stone.
While out on a writing assignment for Bangs, William meets Miss Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) a band-aide who tries to get him a backstage pass to talk to Black Sabbath. However, while waiting for Penny Lane to return, the opening act Stillwater arrives and brings William in with them.
William is contacted by Ben Fong-Torres of Rolling Stone who assigns him a story on Stillwater.
From there, William embarks on a journey with them as they travel around the country playing shows. During this time, he falls for Penny Lane but only finds out that she is involved with Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), the lead guitar player for Stillwater.
But it isn’t all fun for the famous: problems occur, however, when the band begins to have internal arguments and William finds out that Russell is trying to sell Penny Lane to another band because his wife is meeting the band in New York.
Things continue to go downhill when Rolling Stone rejects William’s story because the band denies its validity.
The performances of all the actors in this film are phenomenal: Frances McDormand’s role as Williams mother is spectacular. During one particular scene, she has a lovely and inspirational phone conversation with Billy Crudup’s character that is absolutely hilarious.
Full of humor, drama, and spectacular acting, Almost Famous is one of my all time favorite movies.
Almost Famous is the story of William Miller, a teen who is among the social rejects at his high school, and his travels with the fictional rock band Stillwater. It begins, however, several years early when Anita (Zooey Deschanel) leaves their home amidst a troubled relationship with William’s mother, Elaine (Frances McDormand).
Before she leaves, she passes on her collection of rock music that she had hid from her mother with instructions that he listen and come to appreciate what he’s missing.
Fast-forward several years, and William is now in high school, writing for his local underground paper and sending pieces on to renowned rock critic Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who asks William to meet him. From then on, Lester assumes the role of his mentor while William begins to write, first for him, and then for Rolling Stone.
While out on a writing assignment for Bangs, William meets Miss Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) a band-aide who tries to get him a backstage pass to talk to Black Sabbath. However, while waiting for Penny Lane to return, the opening act Stillwater arrives and brings William in with them.
William is contacted by Ben Fong-Torres of Rolling Stone who assigns him a story on Stillwater.
From there, William embarks on a journey with them as they travel around the country playing shows. During this time, he falls for Penny Lane but only finds out that she is involved with Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup), the lead guitar player for Stillwater.
But it isn’t all fun for the famous: problems occur, however, when the band begins to have internal arguments and William finds out that Russell is trying to sell Penny Lane to another band because his wife is meeting the band in New York.
Things continue to go downhill when Rolling Stone rejects William’s story because the band denies its validity.
The performances of all the actors in this film are phenomenal: Frances McDormand’s role as Williams mother is spectacular. During one particular scene, she has a lovely and inspirational phone conversation with Billy Crudup’s character that is absolutely hilarious.
Full of humor, drama, and spectacular acting, Almost Famous is one of my all time favorite movies.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Body of Lies
Explosions have occurred in several major European cities; terrorists have claimed responsibility and pledge to continue the attacks. Amsterdam, Manchester and other cities have fallen victim to the jihadist war against the West.
Agent Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) of the CIA is a special operative who’s mission it is to find information on the Al-Qaeda terrorist Al Saleem. His mission takes him around the Middle East from places like Iraq, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
With the help of his supervisor, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), Ferris makes contact with the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, headed by Hani Salaam (Mark Strong).
Ferris and Hoffman discover the existence of an Al-Qaeda safe-house which, with the assistance of Hani Salaams operatives, they stake out. However, another of Hoffman’s agents blows the operation and sends one of Al Saleem’s men running. Ferris is forced to kill him in order to protect the mission.
Having received several injuries from rabid dogs while trying to prevent Saleem’s man from escaping, Ferris goes to a hospital to receive treatment. There, he meets Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani), whom he immediately begins to like.
The continued cooperation between the Americans and the Jordanians ends when Hoffman sends men to kidnap one of Hani’s best operatives inside the safe house, an operative that Hoffman had personally asked Hani to turn over.
Ferris then leaves Jordan for the United Arab Emirates where he begins work on his own project to create a fictional terrorist group which he hopes will be contacted by Al Saleem’s organization. However the plan backfires when Al Saleem finds and interrogates the man that Ferris arranged to be the head of his false terror cell (the man he chose was not aware of his new job).
After this, Ferris looses complete trust with Hani, who had welcomed him back to Jordan on the condition that Ferris be truthful from then on. Aisha is kidnapped and Ferris offers himself as a trade.
The film, directed by Ridley Scott, is a fast-paced and thrilling experience. Full of violent and very realistic gunfights and scenes of torture, the film paints a very real picture of the violence in the Middle East.
The performances given by the main stars in the picture, particularly Crowe and Strong, are very good. Many of the lesser characters also gave very convincing portrayals.
Agent Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) of the CIA is a special operative who’s mission it is to find information on the Al-Qaeda terrorist Al Saleem. His mission takes him around the Middle East from places like Iraq, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
With the help of his supervisor, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), Ferris makes contact with the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, headed by Hani Salaam (Mark Strong).
Ferris and Hoffman discover the existence of an Al-Qaeda safe-house which, with the assistance of Hani Salaams operatives, they stake out. However, another of Hoffman’s agents blows the operation and sends one of Al Saleem’s men running. Ferris is forced to kill him in order to protect the mission.
Having received several injuries from rabid dogs while trying to prevent Saleem’s man from escaping, Ferris goes to a hospital to receive treatment. There, he meets Aisha (Golshifteh Farahani), whom he immediately begins to like.
The continued cooperation between the Americans and the Jordanians ends when Hoffman sends men to kidnap one of Hani’s best operatives inside the safe house, an operative that Hoffman had personally asked Hani to turn over.
Ferris then leaves Jordan for the United Arab Emirates where he begins work on his own project to create a fictional terrorist group which he hopes will be contacted by Al Saleem’s organization. However the plan backfires when Al Saleem finds and interrogates the man that Ferris arranged to be the head of his false terror cell (the man he chose was not aware of his new job).
After this, Ferris looses complete trust with Hani, who had welcomed him back to Jordan on the condition that Ferris be truthful from then on. Aisha is kidnapped and Ferris offers himself as a trade.
The film, directed by Ridley Scott, is a fast-paced and thrilling experience. Full of violent and very realistic gunfights and scenes of torture, the film paints a very real picture of the violence in the Middle East.
The performances given by the main stars in the picture, particularly Crowe and Strong, are very good. Many of the lesser characters also gave very convincing portrayals.
Change In the Blog
I've decided, these next few months, to being reviewing movies as well as CDs. I hope to do an even amount of both types of reviews. Again, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My Pink Floyd Playlist
I know I reviewed a Pink Floyd album already, but I’m honestly in love with their sound. I can’t explain it and I know most of my friends don’t understand it, but my obsession with them is such that when I write my own music, I draw extremely heavily from their influence.
So, I went through my various Floyd albums and decided to compile a little list of my favorites, as well as playing a few of them on guitar (or at least the bits and pieces I know).
Perhaps you’ve noticed, but I tend to favor the long instrumental songs over the short and sweet ones with soppy lyrics. Of course, then, my first pick would have to be ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ from the album that shares the songs name. In truth I prefer the live version of the song on the album ‘Ummagumma’ but since I don’t like any other songs on ‘Ummagumma’ I try to pretend the live version is on the original album.
ANYWAYS, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ is a lengthy instrumental song with about 7 minutes of random instrumental passages followed by a further 6 minutes of what I consider the true song. Why do I choose a song with 7 minutes of what some people would call garbage? Well, because the 6 minutes at the end are, to me, one of the most moving Floyd melodies (Gilmours agonizing cries at the end, especially). And the base on the song is phenomenal.
My next song is yet ANOTHER instrumental, longer and stranger than the last. The song, ‘Atom Heart Mother’ was also an album-title-track what was released in 1970. I can’t express how much I enjoy the masterful combination of what sounds like an entire symphonic orchestra and the traditional instruments of rock and roll. The song goes through a series of stages (or parts, like many other Pink Floyd songs) all of which are unique, but usually feed off of each other as they slowly roll towards the final countdown where all elements are combined (if you’re not interested in waiting 22 minutes for the climax, I suggest you skip ahead to 19:10).
Third on my list is a lesser-known song by the band, which appeared on an album they created for a French film (La Vallée), called ‘Childhood’s End’. This song is a slightly more traditional rock song: it follows a basic chord prgression, has lyrics, and is only about four and a half minutes long. And oddly enough, I like the song for all of those reasons. It’s got a great main riff, a excellent solo and a nice amount of badass-ness to it.
Returning to my norm, my fourth song is, again, completely instrumental. It’s not that I don’t appreciate Pink Floyd’s lyrics, in fact, I love them, but it’s definitely more about the music to me. Of course people argue that the lyrics complete the music and that they are part of the music, but really, you know what I mean by ‘music.’.
The fourth song appeared on the legendary album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ which was released in 1973. ‘Any Colour You Like’ stood as the 7th song on the album and its thumpin’ bass line is all I need to get pumped up. Being a lead guitar player, you might find it odd that I enjoy Waters’ bass parts so much. But honestly, I’m desperately and sadly in love with the way he rocked the bass guitar. Its like someone took a gifted guitar player, told him to do the exact same for the bass and just let him at it. What I mean is that he plays the bass with as much variety as many play the guitar. Nowadays you hear songs with melancholy excuses for bass lines that just bore you to death, but with Waters its always unique.
Second to last on my list is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songs ever written. It appeared just one year after ‘Atom Heart Mother’ on the album ‘Meddle’. At more than 20 minutes long, ‘Echoes’ is my favorite Pink Floyd song. It combines a slow minor* melody with a major* bridge and beautiful, psychedelically abstract lyrics to create a musical masterpiece. I particularly enjoy the jam in C# after the first two lyrical verses and before the long period of what sounds like a humpback whale dying,
My final song is, again, from DSOTM and is the first track on that album. ‘Speak To Me/Breathe’ is perhaps the best way to being an album. I can’t explain what it is that makes me like this song, since nearly half of it as silence but for the soft thumps of a beating heart. Maybe is a combination of everything I’ve previously mentioned.
That’s my list. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for good music to try.
So, I went through my various Floyd albums and decided to compile a little list of my favorites, as well as playing a few of them on guitar (or at least the bits and pieces I know).
Perhaps you’ve noticed, but I tend to favor the long instrumental songs over the short and sweet ones with soppy lyrics. Of course, then, my first pick would have to be ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ from the album that shares the songs name. In truth I prefer the live version of the song on the album ‘Ummagumma’ but since I don’t like any other songs on ‘Ummagumma’ I try to pretend the live version is on the original album.
ANYWAYS, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ is a lengthy instrumental song with about 7 minutes of random instrumental passages followed by a further 6 minutes of what I consider the true song. Why do I choose a song with 7 minutes of what some people would call garbage? Well, because the 6 minutes at the end are, to me, one of the most moving Floyd melodies (Gilmours agonizing cries at the end, especially). And the base on the song is phenomenal.
My next song is yet ANOTHER instrumental, longer and stranger than the last. The song, ‘Atom Heart Mother’ was also an album-title-track what was released in 1970. I can’t express how much I enjoy the masterful combination of what sounds like an entire symphonic orchestra and the traditional instruments of rock and roll. The song goes through a series of stages (or parts, like many other Pink Floyd songs) all of which are unique, but usually feed off of each other as they slowly roll towards the final countdown where all elements are combined (if you’re not interested in waiting 22 minutes for the climax, I suggest you skip ahead to 19:10).
Third on my list is a lesser-known song by the band, which appeared on an album they created for a French film (La Vallée), called ‘Childhood’s End’. This song is a slightly more traditional rock song: it follows a basic chord prgression, has lyrics, and is only about four and a half minutes long. And oddly enough, I like the song for all of those reasons. It’s got a great main riff, a excellent solo and a nice amount of badass-ness to it.
Returning to my norm, my fourth song is, again, completely instrumental. It’s not that I don’t appreciate Pink Floyd’s lyrics, in fact, I love them, but it’s definitely more about the music to me. Of course people argue that the lyrics complete the music and that they are part of the music, but really, you know what I mean by ‘music.’.
The fourth song appeared on the legendary album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ which was released in 1973. ‘Any Colour You Like’ stood as the 7th song on the album and its thumpin’ bass line is all I need to get pumped up. Being a lead guitar player, you might find it odd that I enjoy Waters’ bass parts so much. But honestly, I’m desperately and sadly in love with the way he rocked the bass guitar. Its like someone took a gifted guitar player, told him to do the exact same for the bass and just let him at it. What I mean is that he plays the bass with as much variety as many play the guitar. Nowadays you hear songs with melancholy excuses for bass lines that just bore you to death, but with Waters its always unique.
Second to last on my list is, in my opinion, one of the greatest songs ever written. It appeared just one year after ‘Atom Heart Mother’ on the album ‘Meddle’. At more than 20 minutes long, ‘Echoes’ is my favorite Pink Floyd song. It combines a slow minor* melody with a major* bridge and beautiful, psychedelically abstract lyrics to create a musical masterpiece. I particularly enjoy the jam in C# after the first two lyrical verses and before the long period of what sounds like a humpback whale dying,
My final song is, again, from DSOTM and is the first track on that album. ‘Speak To Me/Breathe’ is perhaps the best way to being an album. I can’t explain what it is that makes me like this song, since nearly half of it as silence but for the soft thumps of a beating heart. Maybe is a combination of everything I’ve previously mentioned.
That’s my list. I highly recommend them to anyone looking for good music to try.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Hans Solo
This video does not relate to music in any way. But i love it. It is definitely one of the funniest videos i've seen in a while. Watch it.
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Indaba Music
I I was home ill the other day, sitting in my basement and watching a re-run of the Colbert Report. His guest on this particular episode was Dan Zaccagnino, the co-founder of the music sharing site ‘Indaba Music’.
The website was launched February 1, 2007, more than two years ago. I apologize for the delay; until now I wasn’t even aware of the existence of such a wonderful website.
As far as I am aware, the concept behind Indaba is unique to this website; while there are several other websites that allow users to remix preexisting songs, Indaba lets it's patrons lay down tracks to create entirely new songs with people all over the world. A dream-come-true for musicians like me who find they are surrounded by people with no musical talent.
Registering is easy and free and once a member, you have access to all sorts of different goodies.
Probably the greatest draw back is that, at first, the website is difficult to navigate; I think there is just so much to do, that it’s easy to get lost. But once you get past the initial shock of the websites capabilities, finding your way around is relatively easy.
The site allows you to not only create music, but listen to the music of other members or groups, view the records of others (by records, I mean their production history; how many tracks they've layed down, how many were used in songs, ect.), as well as comprehensive profiles.
Once i figure out how, I’m going to be putting tracks on here, both from the website and myself, to demonstrate the usefulness and awesomeness of Indaba Music.
The website was launched February 1, 2007, more than two years ago. I apologize for the delay; until now I wasn’t even aware of the existence of such a wonderful website.
As far as I am aware, the concept behind Indaba is unique to this website; while there are several other websites that allow users to remix preexisting songs, Indaba lets it's patrons lay down tracks to create entirely new songs with people all over the world. A dream-come-true for musicians like me who find they are surrounded by people with no musical talent.
Registering is easy and free and once a member, you have access to all sorts of different goodies.
Probably the greatest draw back is that, at first, the website is difficult to navigate; I think there is just so much to do, that it’s easy to get lost. But once you get past the initial shock of the websites capabilities, finding your way around is relatively easy.
The site allows you to not only create music, but listen to the music of other members or groups, view the records of others (by records, I mean their production history; how many tracks they've layed down, how many were used in songs, ect.), as well as comprehensive profiles.
Once i figure out how, I’m going to be putting tracks on here, both from the website and myself, to demonstrate the usefulness and awesomeness of Indaba Music.
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