Saturday, May 17, 2008

Music Soothes the Savage Breast

Just a quickie this arvo. The weather turned sour about 3 ish and DrummerBoy returned with a kick ass sound system for his Playstation so not to be outdone, my subwoofer sounded decidedly under par. He was sent marching back to J & B Hi Fi to buy a big bastard that will make the roof tiles flap. Sadly, my amplifier isn't as big as his . . size does matter . . anyway, I hired some movies that might do the new sub woofer justice. I've only watched Jurassic Park III so far. I remember when the kidlets were in primary school and the first Jurassic Park movie came out . . I used to work 9-3 and we hit the movies at 4pm too many times to count to watch this ground breaking movie. Not for it's plot or acting but for the incredible graphics which then, were truly out of this world. A Brachiosaur with skin that moved when it walked. We're so used to this sort of digital animation now that we don't bat an eyelid but back then, it was incredible.

Prior to the DVD I watched this arvo were ads for digitally remastered Star Wars, ET etc. and I realised what a fantastic movie theme writer John Williams is. Not to be confused with the brilliant classical Australian guitarist of the same name . . He wrote the themes for Superman, Star Wars, ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Hook, Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan . . and I'm sure a whole lot more. . . .could he be the Tchaikovsky of the 20th Century. Actually I think he's in a battle with Danny Elfmann, Tim Burton's favourite in Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Corpse's Bride, Harry Potter, Good Will Hunting, Spiderman and Charlotte's Web to name a few.

Damn, they're playing The Prodigy and their sub-woofer is WAY louder than mine! Parental unit goes into mummy mode! NO ONE has a more powerful sub woofer than me and lives to tell the tale!



Then I think that music makes the movie ... it's subtle and unnoticed . . .subliminal are these the unnoticed composers of our times . . .Hell, I thought the theme to transformers was brilliant! Can you think of any others? (Am I the only person in the world who actually liked the soundtrack to Titanic?)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Baino,

My 1965 Dansette has no sub-woofer at all and the Rolling Stones sound entirely authentic on it

Anonymous said...

Sorry, woofers and subwoofers are a total mystery to this techie illiterate. The highlight of my Saturday night was seeing Anthony Head and Sarah Jessica Parker on the Jonathan Ross show. SJP was very charming and flirty and witty. And still amazingly thin. JR showed an ancient clip of a very young SJP singing to some stoney-faced oldies in an old folk's home. The audience was in hoots.

Anonymous said...

Oops, I meant Friday night - I'm a day ahead of myself!!

Unknown said...

You cannot talk movie soundtracks and themes and not mention Ennio Morricone!

And talking of graphics and it's development, I remember how struck we all were when Who Framed Roger Rabbit first came out and there was a human character interacting with a cartoon, now that too is old hat.

Unknown said...

I think most of the old movies are better than new ones. Such as old Star Wars are better than the newer ones.

Unknown said...

By the way, you've been tagged for a meme over at my place!

Anonymous said...

Hello pet,

You will need earmuffs in that house. Although, I am a big big fan of loud music. I have the theme from Oliver blasting all over the house at this very moment as I clean the mess from last night.

I love, lovev love ET and Star Wars.

Nonny

Excellent Adventures said...

I;m so jealous! The best I get is dodgy movies downloaded from Limewire played on tinny laptop speakers! I'd kill to watch a decent quality movie. Although Indiana Jones, Prince Caspian and Sex and the City are out this month, think I'm gonna end up at the movies! Yay!

Anonymous said...

We have woofer wars! There's one in five rooms in the house and sometimes next door even wins! Hhehee!!! Lets hope the weather keeps improving today, brrrr windy...

Baino said...

Ian, Ian, Ian *dispairing tone* . . you've gotta build it with base. If you're chest isn't pounding like it does at a Chemical Brothers gig, it's just not music! Atually, I like it more for science fiction and war movies!

Nick: It is my dream to have a massive home theatre system with a data projector and huge speakers so I can sit in my Jason Recliner and feel the action.

AV: Too true. I pinched that one from You Tube and it had a few of my favourites missing. I remember being absolutely flabberghasted when I first saw that dinosaur on Jurassic park, or even the digital animation in Toy Story. Now there's barely a need for an actor! Just a body flailing around a blue screen background! Ah . . music from The Mission . . haunting.

Baino said...

Ropi: Agree wholeheartedly with you on Star Wars but I love a big boom in Blackhawk Down or Jarhead!

Anony: Poor thing, you live in the testosterone zone! I only got a new one so as not to be outdone by he who has the loudest sound system . . now I have to by a new amp . . and a bigger screen . . and more speakers . . .and . . .mwuahahahahah

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention the garage! There's a party down there now ... MWHAHHAHHAA!!!

Anonymous said...

Blimey, you lot are so self-indulgent. I have a tiny CD player with headphones and that's it. I actually prefer listening to music on headphones, I like the sensation that it's right inside my head.

Baino said...

Now now Nick . .the effect of earphones is to amplify . .you're being subliminally 'woofed' and you don't even know it! Rock on!