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Due to the fact that Giacchino's obviously not the only one whose music is used for Alias now despite having sole credit, it's getting even more difficult to analyze the music. Especially since I can't really take notes as Ellie immediately deleted the episode after viewing. Needless to say this review will have a little less score analysis than usual.
( Spoilertastic for the past few season 5 episodes; you've been warned )
( Spoilertastic for the past few season 5 episodes; you've been warned )
I am vindicated!
Apr. 19th, 2006 07:40 pmI'm generally not the bragging type, but it was so worth cramming nine post-it notes of music score notes from the last Alias episode ("The Horizon") down to predict what would happen tonight. Score analysis really does work!
And all of my predictions were right! If only I could find all of the predictions that I made-I swear I posted a bunch up on my LJ a few months ago, but I can't remember which tags they're under...
( You hear that boom? That's my mind blowing (i.e. spoilers at your own risk) )
And all of my predictions were right! If only I could find all of the predictions that I made-I swear I posted a bunch up on my LJ a few months ago, but I can't remember which tags they're under...
( You hear that boom? That's my mind blowing (i.e. spoilers at your own risk) )
it's a sydney bristow kind of day
Mar. 23rd, 2006 10:37 pmIngredients for an Alias episode:
Intertwining storylines: check
Random conspiracies: check (I don't know if I've ever publicly shared my dishwashing gloves theory, have I?)
Journalists checking out a vague sort of conspiracy theory: check, if you loosely define "conspiracy"
Having to work on multiple missions/assignments all at once for fear of being killed/tortured by superiors: check. Newspaper editors behind schedule are SCARY.
Occasionally freaky family dynamics: half a check?
Having issues balancing public and private lives: check
Surveillance measures: half a check? There was a random bunch of people around the shared driveway with my neighbors' house taking pictures of said house for reasons unknown, and said house is right across from mine. I personally suspect it has to do with the whole armed robbery thing, and that these spectators are morbidly curious neighbors who have come to feast upon misfortune.
Outrageous disguises complete with wigs: I'll have to work on that one
My life is bearing a really eerie resemblance.
I've felt a little like that Mad TV spoof of Alias-where does Sydney Bristow get all of that time to go to grad school, save the world but actually work for the opposition, actually save the world while having to disguise these heroic activities from the opposition, keep her best friend from discovering the opposition as well as help open up her roommate's restaurant? I need those time management skills! I've been working on at least four different articles for two different publications in a mad process of interviewing, writing, rewriting and editing this afternoon and the distinctions between all of the stories are starting to get really blurry. I have seriously earned newfound respect for professional journalists whose word counts are longer than 600 words and have to do more research for their stories on just as short deadlines. I haven't even finished layout for my own paper yet because InDesign wouldn't open on the first two computers I was working on and then claimed that Times New Roman as a font didn't exist and started highlighting all of the text boxes in this awful shade of salmon pink.
I carried on my longest interview ever with the school counselor for my eating disorders article; as I spent an hour instead of twenty minutes talking to her with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eyepiece_simile accompanying me, I missed an appointment. Time flies when you're talking about misperceptions of bulemia. It was a very informative interview, certainly, but I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to incorporate all of these perspectives I'm getting in 800 words when I can think of even more people I should to talk to. My story angle keeps on making multiple revolutions around the unit circle.
That was a bad attempt at a math joke. I'll shut up now.
( The rest of this entry dissolves into self-centered tripe; read with caution )
Intertwining storylines: check
Random conspiracies: check (I don't know if I've ever publicly shared my dishwashing gloves theory, have I?)
Journalists checking out a vague sort of conspiracy theory: check, if you loosely define "conspiracy"
Having to work on multiple missions/assignments all at once for fear of being killed/tortured by superiors: check. Newspaper editors behind schedule are SCARY.
Occasionally freaky family dynamics: half a check?
Having issues balancing public and private lives: check
Surveillance measures: half a check? There was a random bunch of people around the shared driveway with my neighbors' house taking pictures of said house for reasons unknown, and said house is right across from mine. I personally suspect it has to do with the whole armed robbery thing, and that these spectators are morbidly curious neighbors who have come to feast upon misfortune.
Outrageous disguises complete with wigs: I'll have to work on that one
My life is bearing a really eerie resemblance.
I've felt a little like that Mad TV spoof of Alias-where does Sydney Bristow get all of that time to go to grad school, save the world but actually work for the opposition, actually save the world while having to disguise these heroic activities from the opposition, keep her best friend from discovering the opposition as well as help open up her roommate's restaurant? I need those time management skills! I've been working on at least four different articles for two different publications in a mad process of interviewing, writing, rewriting and editing this afternoon and the distinctions between all of the stories are starting to get really blurry. I have seriously earned newfound respect for professional journalists whose word counts are longer than 600 words and have to do more research for their stories on just as short deadlines. I haven't even finished layout for my own paper yet because InDesign wouldn't open on the first two computers I was working on and then claimed that Times New Roman as a font didn't exist and started highlighting all of the text boxes in this awful shade of salmon pink.
I carried on my longest interview ever with the school counselor for my eating disorders article; as I spent an hour instead of twenty minutes talking to her with
eyepiece_simile accompanying me, I missed an appointment. Time flies when you're talking about misperceptions of bulemia. It was a very informative interview, certainly, but I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to incorporate all of these perspectives I'm getting in 800 words when I can think of even more people I should to talk to. My story angle keeps on making multiple revolutions around the unit circle. That was a bad attempt at a math joke. I'll shut up now.
( The rest of this entry dissolves into self-centered tripe; read with caution )
why I love today
Dec. 9th, 2005 09:13 pmReasons why I love today (and other moments of this past week):
1. I got an e-mail from Danielle, my Harvard summer roommate! I've been meaning to contact her for ages except I lost her e-mail address. But now we can actually talk again and it will be the next best thing to getting boba every night with the Matthews gang. Summer nostalgia is starting to wash over me.
2. (Note: non-classmates will be totally confused by this next point, which describes a slighty bizzare IHL tradition.) I was finally ringled this past Wednesday by Alecia! I never knew that she was such a great baker; she even figured out how to replicated the 007 Walther PPK in chocolate chips on my ringling cake! It was so gorgeous that I actually took a picture of it.
3. The winter concert this past Tuesday-I can't believe that was my last winter concert ever. And the regular choir sang two of the Majestic Britain tour trip pieces, "Ose Shalom" and "For The Beauty of the Earth." The few old Britain trippers waiting backstage and I couldn't help but join in. It's so strange to think that we seniors are the last class to have participated on that trip and have gone through some of the best two weeks of my life. I really hope that we can do a sort of "farewell" concert even though we've only got one unreliable alto (*coughs* me). I like the idea of going around to random train stations and singing like we did at the Bayswater Station.
4. This week's episode of Alias for the uber awesome score this week, a great blend of season 1/season 2 thematics and orchestral approaches and the fresh material for season 5. There's some really awesome development of the season 4 mission theme (love the funky low electric guitar and flute mischeviously calling each other), plus the season 2 "Balboa and Cluber" and "Hitting the Fan"-style circular figure in the strings for the fight sequences. And I can't forget to mention the delicious quotes of the Sark and Sloane motifs. For the quieter moments the lovely season 1 "rebuilding her life/S&V love" theme (best encapsulated in the season 1 soundtrack's "Double Life") at the end plus a little quote of the new "Sydney rebuilding her life" theme. Not that he needed to prove himself, but Giacchino is really hitting his stride in getting his score to reflect the blend of the old school seasons 1-2 feel with the new developments of season 5. I really hope that Giacchino will release a season 4 or 5 soundtrack (I honestly don't remember s3 except for "Almost Two Years" as the new love theme). And then there are some squee! plot developments. It's just a little sad that a TV show can brighten up my day as much as it is now.
5. Bead club and assembling bead kits for kids in hospitals. It's a terribly girly project but the hands-on work is incredibly soothing after dealing with random stress of which I now have none really to speak of.
6. Finding new listening material: due to my vaguely magpie-ish "Oooh, shiny new music! Must pretend to analyze and stick on repeat excessively!" tendencies I have discovered the wonders of legally downloading music via MSN. Surprisingly I'm pretty impressed with their selection-I finally have an excellent complete recording of the Nutcracker (whose orchestrations are more nuanced and whose tempo is more in line with the energy of the work than the London Philharmonic Orchestra's "Highlights") and the film versions of various songs from the Sound of Music. The Bernard Herrmann sampling is quite extraordinary for a mainstream commercial enterprise; yay for finally getting his Jane Eyre composition and some of his chamber music! I could swear that he incorporates thematic material from Vertigo and Marnie with some hints of "Conversation Piece" from North by Northwest, but I'm not quite sure if it's meant to be a chamber music adaptation of those film scores.
And last but definitely not least:
7. My film score composer of choice, Michael Giacchino, is being nominated for two Grammy awards for the Incredibles. It's actually pretty pathetic how much I have been dancing around my room since hearing this lovely news (she notes as her friends list starts backing away from their computer screens, disturbed by this extreme fangirling). Once the winter holidays begin I might finally have the time to design those fangirl T-shirts.
1. I got an e-mail from Danielle, my Harvard summer roommate! I've been meaning to contact her for ages except I lost her e-mail address. But now we can actually talk again and it will be the next best thing to getting boba every night with the Matthews gang. Summer nostalgia is starting to wash over me.
2. (Note: non-classmates will be totally confused by this next point, which describes a slighty bizzare IHL tradition.) I was finally ringled this past Wednesday by Alecia! I never knew that she was such a great baker; she even figured out how to replicated the 007 Walther PPK in chocolate chips on my ringling cake! It was so gorgeous that I actually took a picture of it.
3. The winter concert this past Tuesday-I can't believe that was my last winter concert ever. And the regular choir sang two of the Majestic Britain tour trip pieces, "Ose Shalom" and "For The Beauty of the Earth." The few old Britain trippers waiting backstage and I couldn't help but join in. It's so strange to think that we seniors are the last class to have participated on that trip and have gone through some of the best two weeks of my life. I really hope that we can do a sort of "farewell" concert even though we've only got one unreliable alto (*coughs* me). I like the idea of going around to random train stations and singing like we did at the Bayswater Station.
4. This week's episode of Alias for the uber awesome score this week, a great blend of season 1/season 2 thematics and orchestral approaches and the fresh material for season 5. There's some really awesome development of the season 4 mission theme (love the funky low electric guitar and flute mischeviously calling each other), plus the season 2 "Balboa and Cluber" and "Hitting the Fan"-style circular figure in the strings for the fight sequences. And I can't forget to mention the delicious quotes of the Sark and Sloane motifs. For the quieter moments the lovely season 1 "rebuilding her life/S&V love" theme (best encapsulated in the season 1 soundtrack's "Double Life") at the end plus a little quote of the new "Sydney rebuilding her life" theme. Not that he needed to prove himself, but Giacchino is really hitting his stride in getting his score to reflect the blend of the old school seasons 1-2 feel with the new developments of season 5. I really hope that Giacchino will release a season 4 or 5 soundtrack (I honestly don't remember s3 except for "Almost Two Years" as the new love theme). And then there are some squee! plot developments. It's just a little sad that a TV show can brighten up my day as much as it is now.
5. Bead club and assembling bead kits for kids in hospitals. It's a terribly girly project but the hands-on work is incredibly soothing after dealing with random stress of which I now have none really to speak of.
6. Finding new listening material: due to my vaguely magpie-ish "Oooh, shiny new music! Must pretend to analyze and stick on repeat excessively!" tendencies I have discovered the wonders of legally downloading music via MSN. Surprisingly I'm pretty impressed with their selection-I finally have an excellent complete recording of the Nutcracker (whose orchestrations are more nuanced and whose tempo is more in line with the energy of the work than the London Philharmonic Orchestra's "Highlights") and the film versions of various songs from the Sound of Music. The Bernard Herrmann sampling is quite extraordinary for a mainstream commercial enterprise; yay for finally getting his Jane Eyre composition and some of his chamber music! I could swear that he incorporates thematic material from Vertigo and Marnie with some hints of "Conversation Piece" from North by Northwest, but I'm not quite sure if it's meant to be a chamber music adaptation of those film scores.
And last but definitely not least:
7. My film score composer of choice, Michael Giacchino, is being nominated for two Grammy awards for the Incredibles. It's actually pretty pathetic how much I have been dancing around my room since hearing this lovely news (she notes as her friends list starts backing away from their computer screens, disturbed by this extreme fangirling). Once the winter holidays begin I might finally have the time to design those fangirl T-shirts.
a free agent
May. 23rd, 2005 10:03 pmHappy belated Victoria Day!
Among other things, I nearly got into my first serious car accident, but thankfully there's no damage to either party. I was waiting at the second to last stoplight on my way to my morning carpool meeting spot when I felt a sickening lurch forward as the car behind me. The guy who had bumped into the back of my car had drifted forward slowly, so the impact was fairly low. For the remainder of the red light I saw through the rearview mirror that he was holding his face in his hands and hitting his hands against his forehead. He followed me into the carpool meeting spot parking lot and apologized profusely. I noticed that he had some sort of brace on his right foot and ankle; perhaps he felt a pain there and accidentally let go of the brake? We inspected the nonexistent damage to both of our cars, and I assured him that he didn't need to worry about anything and to be more careful before he drove off.
As shallow as this is about to seem, he was pretty cute and came across as being very sincere. I should have gotten his number (telephone and licence plate) but I didn't because I didn't want to cause more trouble for everyone as there was no damage. After this incident, I have determined that as of this year, I have talked to a guy approximately once every three months. Not bad for a six year attendant of the Nunnery :P
It has suddenly struck me that if I ever want to figure out what bits of the Incredibles Michael Giacchino actually scored, I have to listen in depth to his other scores to familiarize myself more with his style. Really I am attempting to use semi-intellectual rationalizations to justify my soundtrack binge habits and my incredible urge to go get the seasons one and two Alias soundtracks. Who knew that there could be hope for balancing techno electronica with traditional live orchestra...
One of these days I really will make my Michael Giacchino fangirl T-shirt.
I have only a few more hours left to enjoy being my current age. The thought is somewhat unsettling, and it will probably take me a few more months for me to realize that I don't have much longer to be a teenager. How strange...
A lot of people seem to be having their birthdays, i.e. within May 20-May 25; I can think of at least nine: my advisor, Alex, Renee, Grant, T, Chrissie, Emily M., the drama teacher,zedhaus. This is probably the only reason why I haven't forgotten any of them!
Among other things, I nearly got into my first serious car accident, but thankfully there's no damage to either party. I was waiting at the second to last stoplight on my way to my morning carpool meeting spot when I felt a sickening lurch forward as the car behind me. The guy who had bumped into the back of my car had drifted forward slowly, so the impact was fairly low. For the remainder of the red light I saw through the rearview mirror that he was holding his face in his hands and hitting his hands against his forehead. He followed me into the carpool meeting spot parking lot and apologized profusely. I noticed that he had some sort of brace on his right foot and ankle; perhaps he felt a pain there and accidentally let go of the brake? We inspected the nonexistent damage to both of our cars, and I assured him that he didn't need to worry about anything and to be more careful before he drove off.
As shallow as this is about to seem, he was pretty cute and came across as being very sincere. I should have gotten his number (telephone and licence plate) but I didn't because I didn't want to cause more trouble for everyone as there was no damage. After this incident, I have determined that as of this year, I have talked to a guy approximately once every three months. Not bad for a six year attendant of the Nunnery :P
It has suddenly struck me that if I ever want to figure out what bits of the Incredibles Michael Giacchino actually scored, I have to listen in depth to his other scores to familiarize myself more with his style. Really I am attempting to use semi-intellectual rationalizations to justify my soundtrack binge habits and my incredible urge to go get the seasons one and two Alias soundtracks. Who knew that there could be hope for balancing techno electronica with traditional live orchestra...
One of these days I really will make my Michael Giacchino fangirl T-shirt.
I have only a few more hours left to enjoy being my current age. The thought is somewhat unsettling, and it will probably take me a few more months for me to realize that I don't have much longer to be a teenager. How strange...
A lot of people seem to be having their birthdays, i.e. within May 20-May 25; I can think of at least nine: my advisor, Alex, Renee, Grant, T, Chrissie, Emily M., the drama teacher,
zedhaus. This is probably the only reason why I haven't forgotten any of them!Just saw the rest of the Alias season premiere, and needless to say, it was kind of unexpected and rather easy to predict in certain parts. I'm still intrigued about the rest of the season. The fight sequences are getting a bit dull, though, and they're starting to reuse a lot of spy/adventure show standbys in terms of the missions and whatnot. Then again, I've probably seen more spy shows than the average teen viewer, so I guess for a lot of people it might not be so predictable. But seriously, Emma Peel will probably always be the spy girl for me. Sydney is starting to act more like a teen girl with her attitude; it's actually rather funny to watch. Freud would have such fun psychoanalyzing the Bristow family, needless to say. Pity there was no Sark, though.
Bell choir was tremendously fun today. Since we don't have any new stuff to play, we ended up going onto iTunes and looking at Z's shared music library. The guy must've uploaded his entire CD collection; there's literally 12.7 days of music stored on there! We ended up laughing at lots of Weird Al, and everything was very froody. Philosophical cheese-tasting was also rather nice today, too; I hope I can publish a film score review in the upcoming pamphlets. I figure that's obscure enough, right? The trip to the transplanted land of Thomas Kinkaid paintings sounds awesome.
Tangent (as if anything I'm writing at the moment is actually in some sort of logical progressive manner): Right know I really want to be unapologetically bizarre. I have absolutely no idea why, but I'm starting to get tired of always feeling like I have to explain myself to the outside world. I keep forgetting that I have a right not to give explanations (thanks to the assertiveness training article at the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy online), and I would like to take advantage of that right. So if next time I remind my fellow campanologists to show up to our Electric Penguin Anarchist Bell Choir meetings, I won't bother to explain the name anymore. It means what it is, you know? I am making no sense at all. I just feel that a true eccentric ought to indulge in absurd behavior without having to give a logical, comprehendable background all the time. People ought to figure things out for themselves more often.
And Sterling, if you get our carpool sick, we will all be very annoyed with you :P
Bell choir was tremendously fun today. Since we don't have any new stuff to play, we ended up going onto iTunes and looking at Z's shared music library. The guy must've uploaded his entire CD collection; there's literally 12.7 days of music stored on there! We ended up laughing at lots of Weird Al, and everything was very froody. Philosophical cheese-tasting was also rather nice today, too; I hope I can publish a film score review in the upcoming pamphlets. I figure that's obscure enough, right? The trip to the transplanted land of Thomas Kinkaid paintings sounds awesome.
Tangent (as if anything I'm writing at the moment is actually in some sort of logical progressive manner): Right know I really want to be unapologetically bizarre. I have absolutely no idea why, but I'm starting to get tired of always feeling like I have to explain myself to the outside world. I keep forgetting that I have a right not to give explanations (thanks to the assertiveness training article at the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy online), and I would like to take advantage of that right. So if next time I remind my fellow campanologists to show up to our Electric Penguin Anarchist Bell Choir meetings, I won't bother to explain the name anymore. It means what it is, you know? I am making no sense at all. I just feel that a true eccentric ought to indulge in absurd behavior without having to give a logical, comprehendable background all the time. People ought to figure things out for themselves more often.
And Sterling, if you get our carpool sick, we will all be very annoyed with you :P
The problem with watching too many spy series (I think I can safely be called an expert in three, and at this rate, probably four) is that you manage to figure out all of their merry little tricks, and the counterplots don't seem so very creative. And there are a few other spy series I've never yet seen but know enough about in terms of second hand information, so I can get away with sounding like I know what I'm talking about. I confess that I'm not so slowly being hooked on "Alias" (Netflix is my friend!); I'm near the end of season three and I've seen almost all of season two. I have yet to see the first, but I can live without it. Season three is infinitely more soap opera-ish than the second season (more Mission: Impossible (the original series, not that I have actually seen it...) and semi-the Avengers like there), but I actually don't mind the whole Vaughn got married thing because you know that Lauren is going to get killed off at the end. It might've been a little boring if Sydney and Vaughn stuck together as a merry little couple, but for season four I'd rather like to have Lauren out of the picture. And it's kind of fun to watch Jack kill off anyone who tries to harm his precious daughter, in a twisted sort of way.
And having Vaughn impersonate Sark triggered a fit of embarassingly loud laughter on my part. That, and the bit where Sark is talking to the Covenant defector in North Korea, posing as a CIA agent from Oregon. David Anders is actually from Oregon.
Apparently Franck is a huge Alias fan, too, and also a Sark fan. It's actually kind of scary to fathom that there are actually guys who have caught on to Alias more than I have. Sure, I haven't seen the entire series yet, but I think I know what I'm talking about here. Serious hookage, yeah.
There were some interesting Prisoner and Danger Man ties in Alias's "Facade," (it's the whole let's-go-disorient-somebody-to-trick-them-into-telling-us-stuff
-by-putting-them-in-a-fake-hotel-room) I'll shut up before I say too much and not study for my math quiz tomorrow.
Oh, and I possibly took the shortest driving test in history, seriously. I failed when exiting the DMV driveway after waiting for an hour and twenty minutes to take the bloody test. I swear I looked both directions three times and was about to make my left turn out of the parking lot after looking to my left for the third time, but suddenly a car from the right came towards me. My driving instructor (who was not the Russian lady after all) technically had to intervene by alerting me of the oncoming car and telling me to stop. Heh, so now I have to wait until early December before retaking it. I cried for some time while driving back on 101 (which now strikes me as being rather dangerous, but actually I could still see pretty well), but I thankfully stopped being self-pitying and petty. The whole situation strikes me as being rather funny now.
I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend-I'll be going up to the City this year with the family, and probably see my godparents, which will be lovely. Yay! And I can also make a pilgrimige to the Border's at Union Square that had the best selection of soundtracks I've ever seen, and maybe my annual CompUSA one with Dad, too. And I finally get to see "The Incredibles" next Saturday! Needless to say I am in a good mood, except that I'm kind of screwed for my math quiz tomorrow. Back to the salt mines...
And having Vaughn impersonate Sark triggered a fit of embarassingly loud laughter on my part. That, and the bit where Sark is talking to the Covenant defector in North Korea, posing as a CIA agent from Oregon. David Anders is actually from Oregon.
Apparently Franck is a huge Alias fan, too, and also a Sark fan. It's actually kind of scary to fathom that there are actually guys who have caught on to Alias more than I have. Sure, I haven't seen the entire series yet, but I think I know what I'm talking about here. Serious hookage, yeah.
There were some interesting Prisoner and Danger Man ties in Alias's "Facade," (it's the whole let's-go-disorient-somebody-to-trick-them-into-telling-us-stuff
-by-putting-them-in-a-fake-hotel-room) I'll shut up before I say too much and not study for my math quiz tomorrow.
Oh, and I possibly took the shortest driving test in history, seriously. I failed when exiting the DMV driveway after waiting for an hour and twenty minutes to take the bloody test. I swear I looked both directions three times and was about to make my left turn out of the parking lot after looking to my left for the third time, but suddenly a car from the right came towards me. My driving instructor (who was not the Russian lady after all) technically had to intervene by alerting me of the oncoming car and telling me to stop. Heh, so now I have to wait until early December before retaking it. I cried for some time while driving back on 101 (which now strikes me as being rather dangerous, but actually I could still see pretty well), but I thankfully stopped being self-pitying and petty. The whole situation strikes me as being rather funny now.
I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend-I'll be going up to the City this year with the family, and probably see my godparents, which will be lovely. Yay! And I can also make a pilgrimige to the Border's at Union Square that had the best selection of soundtracks I've ever seen, and maybe my annual CompUSA one with Dad, too. And I finally get to see "The Incredibles" next Saturday! Needless to say I am in a good mood, except that I'm kind of screwed for my math quiz tomorrow. Back to the salt mines...
