Super Sounds

In April 2005 I reviewed John Williams' Revenge of the Sith score. This morning a preview copy of the Superman Returns (merchandise link) soundtrack CD (pre-order link) fell through my mailbox courtesy of Rhino Records! The retail release is July 10th.

Expectations are nigh high! Would John Ottman's score rekindle the sense of wonder that this author experienced at the Exeter ABC Cinema (circa 1978)? Would my yearning for unabashed heroics transport me back to Boots Corner and take flight?

01 - Main Titles (3:49)

John Williams' iconic leitmotif, arguably one of cinema's greatest and most recognizable themes, returns with joyous gusto, aplomb and new flourishes. Christopher Reeves' memory has been served well.

02 - Memories (3:07)

After the jubilant opening salvo. This cue quotes from John Williams' original score before Ottman begins his enigmatic musical journey. Shades of Fortress of Solitude and Batman Returns (1992).

03 - Rough Flight (5:13)

Bernard Herrmann collides with John Williams heroics in a dazzling display of audio pyrotechnics.

04 - Little Secrets / Power of the Sun (2:49)

The original Love Theme is introduced albeit in troubled form!

05 - Bank Job (2:21)

In a post 9/11 world there's no reprise of John Williams' humorous March of the Villains. Owes much to the brutal mechanization of movie composers Jerry Goldsmith and Basil Poledouris.

06 - How Could You Leave Us? (5:49)

Conjures comparison with Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Abyss (1989).

07 - Tell Me Everything (3:13)

Enter the Jedi! Feel the force.

08 - You're Not one of Them (2:22)

A solitary piano and yearning string section, which culminates in a choir. Ultimately left unresolved.

09 - Not Like the Train Set (5:12)

Urgency underpins the action with a nod to John Williams' abstract Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) soundtrack! Overcast by the shadow of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (The X-Men).

10 - So Long Superman (5:31)

The main theme is deconstructed as discordant voices duel string and wind instruments. This orchestration is an evocation of Return of the Jedi (1983) and Revenge of the Sith (2005)!

11 - The People You Care For (3:27)

Batman (1989) confronts Darkman (1990).

12 - I Wanted You to Know (2:56)

Sentimental and poignant.

13 - Saving The World (3:12)

Does what it says on the tin.

14 - In the Hands of Mortals (2:11)

Melancholia meets enchantment.

15 - Reprise / Fly Away (4:15)

If this doesn't draw a tear... Life affirming.

In summation. I'm giddy from my sonic flight and can't wait to see the movie. Rejoice in the return of THE super hero! My deepest regret, listening to Superman Returns, is that my Mother will never be able to savor the sights and sounds of Krypton as she once did...

Know Your Roots

Since picking up a Nintendo Game & Watch with Multi-Screen in 1986 (along with Transformers Autobot Ultra Magnus), I've owned gaming portables from each generation. With the spectacular release of DS Lite. Here's my list of hardware owned to date.

*Nintendo Game & Watch with Multi-Screen (Mario Bros)
*Atari Lynx
*Game Boy Advance
*Game Boy Advance SP
*DS
*PSP
*DS Lite

Switching to the PSP for a moment. Sony's mini-marvel has been a revelation! PSP is more media-centric than gaming nirvana per se. I've spent more time surfing the web (via Wi-Fi) and listening to music than playing the shockingly brilliant Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and WipEout Pure. PSone emulation will be available in a forthcoming firmware update. And then there's the Sony Location Free TV Base Station.

Tron Scherzo

The release of PIXAR's Cars has prompted me to reprint an article that I wrote, for my online portfolio, a few years ago.

An interest and appreciation of CGI began, like many of my contemporaries, with watching the movies 'Tron' (1982), 'The Last Starfighter' (1984) and playing video games at arcades and on consoles - from the Atari VCS CX2600 to Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - in the 1980s.

In the summer of 2000 I began reading 3Dworld. The inclusion of Bryce, a 3-D landscape generation application, reignited further self development within this flourishing arena.

Off-the-shelf software, such as the Academy Award®-winning Maya and Shake, had developed to the point where many of the DTP (Desk Top Publishing) skills for fine art and graphic design can now be successfully transferred to a 3D context without exhaustingly steep learning curves! The artist can now focus on issues of composition - colour, movement through the frame et al - without trying to reconcile with an alienating UI (User Interface).

Alias' decision to provide Personal Learning Editions (PLE) of Maya and now MotionBuilder (from its purchase of Kaydara) is fostering consumer loyalty. Using their free FBX Converter I'm now able to import older projects into Alias applications for future enhancement. The FBX SDK will be worth investigating.

This is a sample collection of original 3-Dimensional images created using Bryce, Corel Photo-Paint, Maya 6 PLE, Painter and Poser (and retouched in Photoshop).

Now you can add Google SketchUp to the Mac OS X application honor roll!

Attention Bounty Hunters

You can now subscribe to my new eBay RSS Feed, which displays live auctions from across the world.

Once its been tested for robustness (isn't yet compatible with Firefox) I'll be customizing the feed - by keyword, category, price, location and more! Incidentally, I'm testing GBuy (Google's answer to PayPal), which has been enabled in Google Base.

Happy bargain hunting.

World In Motion

It's that time again! FIFA World Cup. Crank up your copy of New Order's World In Motion and... Altogether now... We're playing for En-ger-land...

Go Becks!

Introducing RSS 2.0

On Monday night I noticed that Blogger had soft launched RSS feeds in addition to Atom! This had been reported as early as May 31st! Until now RSS was only available to Pro Blogger users and via services such as FeedBurner.

In anticipation of new enabling technologies, from today I've switched (on both blogs) the FeedBurner Full and Summary Feeds source from Atom to RSS. There is no need for existing subscribers to resubscribe. Apologies for any transient service bumps, bruises, cuts and grazes.

At time of writing there is still no official announcement from Blogger!

Google adds another peice to the GooOS puzzle. Firefox users can now download Google Browser Sync! I'll soon be cancelling my .mac account and trashing Microsoft Office in favor of Writely and Google Spreadsheets!

Ovide

Google Video Player is now available in Mac OS X flavor and is sure to quench your thirst for eye candy! As a follow up to yesterday's PS3 post. Here's the PS3 Network Information keynote from E3 2006.



Expect to see more embedded video clips in the future!

I really hope Picasa isn't too far behind! I mean, if Linux users can play photo editor why can't we?

PS3 at Play

UK gamers can pre-order Sony's PlayStation 3 with 60GB HDD from Play.com. This configuration is purportedly the only option available to European consumers at launch and weighs in at a hefty £549.99. Will consumer resistance and Sony’s stratification afford Nintendo’s Wii an advantage?

Due to an expected European shortage of the PS3, retailers are unable to guarantee delivery of your PS3 before Christmas. All pre-orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis and game titles in the package may be changed, subject to availability.

My best advice would be to pre-order a PS3 today (even if you're still undecided) because there's no deposit and you'll only be charged once the item is dispatched. I'd better download the LocoRoco demo and complete my PSP product review!

Super Mario Sunshine

Blue skies over the South West of England, sunburn, high humidity and high street retailer WH Smith are already taking deposits for Nintendo Wii, which isn't available until the profitable holiday season!

The DS Lite is only a few weeks away and Amazon UK bumped their pre-order price from £89.99 to £99.99 within hours of listing Nintendo's trailblazing portable. I'll wait until a few Amazon Gift Certificates (to the value of £5) come my way before bagging Metroid Prime Hunters and New Super Mario Brothers (selling like hotcakes in Japan)!

These Words

Keeping pace with enabling technologies is a desirable, if inherently problematic, goal. Pursuant to this, I've branched-out from HTML into that of its more exotic sibling. XML.

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). Its goal is to enable generic SGML to be served, received, and processed on the web in the way that is now possible with HTML. XML has been designed for ease of implementation and for interoperability with both SGML and HTML.

The first fruits of XML authoring (using Dreamweaver 8) can be found in the Full Feed where I've added bespoke FeedFlares. FeedFlares are on open API developed by RSS stalwarts FeedBurner.

This June posting frequency may slow for a while! However, time permitting, I'll be reviewing Writely which allows you to edit and publish documents online, either privately, in collaboration with specific people, or publicly on the web.

My initial impressions of Writely are highly positive - the ability to save files in other formats including HTML, Microsoft Word and PDF is forward looking. New sign-ups are currently closed. If anyone would like an invitation, please leave a post.