Anticipating more anticipation

For those of you who are not Lord of the Rings or film score fanatics, the announcement of the third and final installment of the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King complete recording is due any week now. There are no words to describe how much I am looking forward to this set. Rumors have it that there will be four discs not three (plus the usual DVD of 5.1 complete recording). There is a book in the works also on Shore's music for the movies and now I read that more rarity discs may pop up. I am guessing rejected portions of the score. While the price tag is high, the hours of listening make up for it. There is no comparison

Hello, David

I only just said the other day that David Beckham's worth is if he can make those shots. You know the ones where he is 30 feet back and it bends right into the goal. Well, last night he knocked my socks off by doing just that. The first goal of the game at 27', he gets a free kick which soars over the wall in lands right in the back of the net. It was fabulous and a fantastic debut (he played for eight minutes on Sunday but we won't count that). Welcome to the US, David.

Dynamo duds

Well it was exciting. Four goals, two overtime periods, and a PK shootout ending up with CF Pachuca moving on to the Superliga final. I had a blast in Houston cheering the Dynamo but they disappointed me one time too many. Their attacks were few and far between and their middle men could not hang on to the ball. In my opinion, the better team won. The final semifinal is tonight at 10pm EST.

One more for the books

A literary giant praising talent. Let us hope that books written for adults can capture what J. K. Rowling did. I can safely say that my bar has risen.

J.K. Rowling's Ministry of Magic by Stephen King

I have always enjoyed Entertainment Weekly and King's and Stein's back pages. They always had something to say and usually did it with reverence.

My seven

Greg and Selena are so creative. After reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, how fitting to list your own Horcruxes. Here goes...

1. My Lorée oboe
2. My DVD copy of Mononoke Hime
3. My first Christmas ornament
4. My piano charm on my charm bracelet
5. The picture of me, some sorority sisters, and Brutus Buckeye circa 1997
6. My copy of The Star Wars Trilogy: The Complete Soundtrack Anthology by John Williams
   
7. My Ph.D. thesis

If you were to ask me who I would kill for these, I would say I am not as picky as Voldemort. Just line up seven lawyers, politicians, and a few cockroaches.

thoroughly entertaining

It is one of my favorites. Not sure why, but Thoroughly Modern Millie is just plain fun. So when I heard and read that Austin's Summer Stock program was putting on the production, I jumped. The Summer Stock program consists of high school and college students working with professionals to put on full productions. They are the cast, the crew, and everything in between. I must say, I was wholly impressed. The Mary Moody Theater at St. Edward's University is about a 200 seater theater in the round (or square) and the choreography played to its strengths. Both Millie and Billy were top notch and Ms. Dorothy topped them both. She had some pipes and a great presence. The dancing was even great, feeling quite professional. Kudos for an exceptionally good time.

There are not many chances of Broadway productions in Austin. The theater that usually hosts the tours is down for the year. Guess I will get my kicks elsewhere.

Reality TV, anyone?

"Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."

~ Clive Barnes
New York Post Dance and Drama Critic

Tribute

Though it ends, I am not sad. Though there is death, all is not forgotten. Though we weep, there is also laughter.

For years of pleasure, many thanks.

rats and machines

Remember when I said it looked like fun? Well it was. Transformers is a fantastic bout of transforming action full of world peril and hilarious moments. There were only a few corny lines and two horrible characters. With these oversights, perfect summer fun.

As per usual, I skipped into a second feature (I hate paying full price for a film these days) and found Ratatouille enjoyable but not up to the charming standards of its predecessors. Again, extremely gorgeous to look at but almost hard to believe. That sounds silly about an imaginary kids film but because it took place in the human world, it was hard to convince me. I am sure that is my practical engineering side talking and I should get over it. A nice film but for me, only just that.

Seven Deathly Questions

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/downloads/bookmarks.htm

Scholastic asks seven questions as the Potter series comes to fruition. By far, the most interesting question is whether Snape is good or evil. As I have just finished re-reading book four, I believe that he is good. There is just too much evidence for this argument, the top one being that Dumbledore trusted him beyond all measure. We have to trust our late noble leader. Furthermore, Voldemort himself says that one of his most trusted Death Eater is lost forever something that I think will come back to haunt our fearless army for never would Voldemort really trust Snape again. I fear that Voldemort will betray Snape which will eventually lead to the cheater of death's downfall. Optimistic me believes all will be well in the end.

And I must say that the last few chapters in that book are the hardest ever to read. How much that poor boy goes through in one night. How much we love him for it.

Riding the rails

If one thing bothers me about this country, other than the media and the lawyers, it is the fact that we have no high speed ground mass transit. The highway system, while impressive and longstanding, is becoming atrocious. Roads fall apart in no time with the amount of traffic and poor weather. Construction is a never ending hindrance. Gas prices are not decreasing and please do not get me started on people sitting in the left lane talking on their phones and going under the speed limit. I understand the logistics, the fact that we would need to invest quite a bit of capital to get things moving, pun intended, but perhaps we should be investing in this country more than we are currently.

Here in Austin, after seventeen years, we will have commuter train transit (on existing tracks) into the city and to San Antonio. Why this was not adopted earlier, I will never understand as traffic in Austin is very poor with only two north-south routes that envelop the city and only an east-west that sits at the south portion of the city. Rush hours are parking lots and enough to make my blood pressure rise to the outside summer temperatures.

Let us hope that this country thinks ahead and starts planning for a better way to travel throughout.

Hey America, Make With the !@~$ High-Speed Rail Already

a beautiful Declaration

An impressive and throroughly enjoyable dissection of the Declaration of Independence by Stephen E. Lucas. It is a long piece but, to my satisfaction, speaks not only to the meaning of the document but the poetry, the sonorous phrases, and the linguistic nature of each chosen word. A must read by any person doubting or needing reaffirmation of the true genius on which this country is built.

Declaration of Independence: Stylistic Artistry

lucky me

More touring of Texas this weekend took me to Ft. Worth and Dallas. I stopped by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit, the only southwestern location of this tour. It was pretty interesting though I skipped most of the learning centers for kids. I just enjoyed the costumes and models of ships that were used in the films. The keenest thing was you could see how used they were with scuffs on the shoes and little LED lights in the models. While the gloss from the Star Wars universe, for me, has receded, the creativity of the series still rings true. A lot of the creatures, ships, and locations while extreme are based in fact and that will continue to make the fantastical story endure.

After a side trip to the Russel Stover outlet for some sugar free candies for my aunt, I headed to Pizza Hut Park for the FC Dallas - Houston Dynamo soccer game. It was great to be there and it is a great park. However the game was scoreless with little shots on goal. Not the best introduction to my professional game debut. I hope next time, and there will be a next time, is a better game.

Finally, after spending some time with my aunt, we drove to Shreveport, LA for some gambling at the casinos there. Shreveport is no Vegas or Atlantic City, but there are plenty of casinos and shopping. I suck at gambling because I hate to take risks. I cringe at televised poker tournaments watching these thousands of dollars being wasted on cards I know are going to lose. However, that day was my lucky day. I happened to win $172.80 on the penny slots. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

From 50,000 to 12 million

First printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: 50,000
First printing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 12,000,000
First and the many subsequent times reading the series in full: priceless

It is a phenomenon. That is the only way to describe it. A phenomenon in which a little boy grows into a wizard. One that garners friendships that would last a lifetime and a seven year (ten years in real time) struggle of good over evil. The laughs, the tears, the curses and magical feats that are etched in every reader's mind are proof of that phenomenon. And it only gets better with each and every read. While I am a person who reads, watches, and listens to things again and again, the iteration of reading Harry Potter has become a universal hobby. I am ecstatic to be a part of it.

Vive Harry Potter.

Summer fest

As a movie lover, it is very hard not to get excited when blockbusters arrive in the Summer. Sure, most of them are monotonous, vapid works but they provide just the right amount of distraction to the unbearable weather and monotonous, vapid piece that is my life. This Summer has already seen big money with the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean and those lovable thieves and their Ocean chronicles. More is yet to come with the third installment of Bourne in The Bourne Ultimatum. Also Transformers and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix step up to bat looking for that treasured All Star. But most interesting of all, to me anyway, is Ratatouille which is looking very good so far. I always think after each of Pixar's film that the next installment can not live up to its predecessor. I thought that of Cars, which while entertaining and glorious to look at, did not have that extra element that is found in Toys, Monstors Inc., Finding Nemo, or The Incredibles. Judging from the response of Ratatouille though, it may just make the grade. On a similar but un-blockbuster note, I am very interested in Vitus, a Swiss-German film about a piano wunderkind trying to live as a normal boy. It looks like the perfect companion to these action packed flicks with very little character development.

I have said before I do not go to movies in the theatre much anymore. But as the temperature and more significantly, the humidity, increases those dark cool theaters look more and more enticing. I may make it out more than once in the coming months to check out these titles and more.

A Gold Cup for the US

Congratulations to the US Men's team who defeated Mexico 2-1 in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. It was a clean match and an exciting game.

On a similar note, I have been to the past two Austin Lightning games and suffered through two 2-0 losses. I hope things improve. I make my way to Dallas next weekend to watch the top teams of the Western Conference of the MLS, FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo. There is no end to my excitement.

This week on repeat, rhythm and rhyme

I have previously written that I love Gershwin. Well now this means both George and Ira. This week I have "Fascinatin' Rhythm" on repeat and it is a superior version sung by no other than Ella Fitzgerald. The epitome of George and Ira's collaboration, this song does no wrong. I especially think that Ira's lyrics are perfect in rhyme and accent. Lyricists, especially then get little respect but Ira was pure genius and had to deal with an egotistical brother to boot. I definitely know how that feels (love you boys!).

TMNT and my love of acronyms

Yesterday I was in Target and saw that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles, the original movie not the recent one, was on sale for $7.50. Seriously how can you pass that up? I have fond memories of this movie, watching in the theater with my brother and then again and again. I was in love with Casey Jones. Of course, I could not sleep and had to pop in the 90 minute flick. I was ecstatic to find I was laughing out loud, a rare feat these days it seems. It is amazing how little things can cheer you.

Michaelangelo: I love being a turtle!

Who the hell is Nicolas Hooper?

He is the unknown composer to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, that's who. His clips of the score play at the movie's website and I have to say, I am pretty impressed so far. A fantastical feel, almost Elfman like to several clips with just the hint of the original Williams theme. In my mind, when a composer can hint at the theme with just a few notes and not beat you over the head with it, it usually works very well. I use Lord of the Rings as an example. By Return of the King, Shore had to play two notes and you knew to which theme he was referring. I was hoping Hooper could do this and the few bars we get seem to hold true. The official soundtrack release date is July 10, 2007.

Tommy, can you hear me?

This weeks track on repeat is "Cousin Kevin" from The Who's Tommy. I love this production. Maybe its the simplistic chorus that fills the air when that guitar starts playing. Most likely it is the fact the its signature colors are yellow and black. Whatever the reason, I love to sing along and this particular song is excellent. I particularly enjoy the guttural British that Cousin Kevin speaks as he says "nastiest play friend".