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Continued from part 1. After the concert the rain was still awful. No cab was in sight so we decided to try the subway to get back to Ren and Dan's hotel. After some trouble actually trying to find out which station to get out of(Renovia looking on the app at her phone while a subway map way right in front of us....and her ignoring Dan and I pointing that fact out....) After some difficulty we managed to take the correct one and ended up fairly dry at the Hotel. Me more than my companions though. Sharing umbrella's is such a bitch! There was a club in the hotel, so we rocked up there and had a few drinks. And talked. I walked home to my hotel just as the Cider, red wine, proscecco and Vodka were starting to have an effect. Climbed in my bed as best I could and slept...for a little while. Woke up at 5, really needed to go and I was thirsty (I had drank a bunch of water before bed though). I was also really hung over. Since I was wide awake and suffering I took a few painkillers and watched The Search For Spock on my tablet. Texted with Renovia about where to meet up for breakfast. (Dunkin' Donuts again). There were about 3 or 4 within a mile distance, so we met up near the closest one, where I was bought breakfast, and my only decent cup of coffee by Daniel. (it's stronger if you add something called a "turboshot" on it.... Still a bit on the weak side, but perfectly adequate. This coffee, the bacon and egg bagel and the company cured my hangover, which had been a lot more savage then I had admitted to them. We geeked out for a while and Daniel took what is probably the nerdiest pic I'll ever post of myself..... Like the Star Trek TNG finale, "All Good Things..." Ren and Dan had to drive back to Maine, so I said my farewell to them (after first seeing her tattoo). and headed back to the Hostel, feeling whistful. I had hours to kill before the next JWFan meet up, so decided to explore Boston. The rain of the day before had seem to have never happened, the temperature was pitch perfect and the sun was out. The previous day I had seen many shops and homes displaying rainboy flags, today was the day of the Boston Pride. So I headed over to Boylston and had a look. Pretty tame compared to the ones I've seen in Amsterdam and Brussels. No angry militant lesbians going topless, or mean in tight leather trousers, waxed chest and moustaches frenching each other in public. But I'm sure the former colonies will one day reach European levels of debauchery... Video CLICK THE PIC ABOVE Parade Of The Ewo...eeehhh Trannies! It was time for lunch so i found i nice, but fancy looking seafood place and had my first ever lobster. Both Ren and Joeinar had advised me to try one. Ren had proudly boasted Maine lobster to be the best kind, so I went for that, and found it the second thing from Maine that had delighted me. (not cheap though). Meanwhile Jason and Marcy where in the area. We texted and I slowly went looking for Uno's. (i had planned to go to the Hostel first, but time was running out a bit, and I had everything I needed for the Concert anyway.) Met up with Jason and Marcy for the second time. Jason, while already drinking did not appear drunk...yet.... We hung at the bar for a while before heading into the reserved room they had arranged for us. It was a while before anyone else rocked up. But one after another the Fellowship assembled. I think Francis joined us first, looked like a million bucks. Sylvain (obiwan71) who had landed from Paris that day and looked tired but gratified. Josef arrived too. Joe Brausaum and company later. I sat next to Jason and across Marcy. Who was a delight and we ended up talking a lot about American holidays versus European ones. I gave Jason something that he had wanted badly, but was unable to get, since it...did not exist. People with long minds will remember the prank Alice and I pulled with the CD sleeve for the Lord Of The Rings Rarities disc. Alice had made a very nice custom sleeve and send me a copy. We then decided to pass if off as a real official case on the MB, and things got a bit out of hand. Jason had like the design, so Alice, being the kinds hearted soul that she is furnished him a new nice one. It was wrapped in gift paper with little hearts on it, and I told Jason it came from a secret admirer.... Marcy looked bemused... Jason definitely like his gift! He explained the gift to Marcy. Both of us assured her Alice was an unattractive 65 year old from Sweden... Unlike Jason, Marcy has travelled around. So when Jason said "Scandinavia, I thought Alice was from Sweden" justly chided him! Marcy herself was disappointed to find out I never wore cloggs though... At about 7 we paid our bills and went to Symphony Hall, only 5 minutes walking. While almost there we bumped into Meghan (JWFangirl1992) and Damien (dfenton85). We parked ourselves near the side entrance and waited. And then John Williams arrived! To be continued....

The Story of Ten Fingered Stefancos and the Concerts of Doom This was my first flight to another continent since I was 10, and the very first time I had to connect to another flight. The first 7 hour one to Washington was a breeze, I had the window seat and the other was vacant, so plenty of space. I put some movies on my tablet and time flew by. I had heard horror stories about passing through US customs but it was very easy. (i was grilled earlier in Amsterdam though). My flight from DC to Boston lasted about just shy of an hour, was feeling a bit tired, but Doctor Who was on BBC America so it was fine. Boston had a free bus service from Logan Airport to South Station. From there is sight greeted me: South Station Panorama Thankfully the Hostel was new, and clean. The beds were comfy. I met Josefsuma at the entrance, checked in my stuff and we had dinner at a local seafood restaurant where I had my first of many Ciders. I was surprised to get carded here. I'm 36 and never been asked to show ID before getting a drink. After dinner we walked back. I saw that the hotel Ren booked was literally 4 minutes away from my Hostel. (I later timed the walk to 3 minutes and 47 seconds. Measured from the Doors of the hostel to the Valet parking service of the Reverre Hotel) I was pretty tired and fell asleep quickly. But Jet lag had taken me and I woke at 4, and stayed awake. Waiting for breakfast. I had my first US breakfast. a bagel with what i suspect was butter, a slice of (quite thick) bread with peanut butter and coffee...this was the first of my now new pet peeves about the USA. I has heard from my mom that the Coffee in the States was bad. I poured the coffee into a glass, and it was transparent....I took one zip and found it absolutely too weak. Simply not a good cup. Week ago, before I set off I had looked at the various options of getting a US simcard, so I could have mobile Internet and use Google maps to get around, stay in touch with people like Ren and Jason and post on the MB and Facebook. The usual options of ordering one especially for tourist all went for a price per month deal and the cheapest I found was 84 bucks. My alternative was to order a bog standard T-Mobile sim card and so when I got to Boston i could use their 3 Dollar a day Unlimited Data, Calls and Text option. T-Mobile did not accept payment from a non-US Credit Card online, so Ren had to order for me. But when I checked into the Hostel my sim card was there waiting for me! I advice anyone coming to the US to try this. It is SUCH a convenience being able to use Google maps to find your way around a big city you have never been before. I never got lost! So I typed "Boston Symphony Hall" into Google Maps and slowly walked there. it was beginning to rain. Picking up my tickets. I was peckish and headed over for the nearest Dunkin' Donuts (In Holland we think the USA has a MacDonalds or Burger King on every corner, but it's really DD) Luch was fine, the coffee too weak, and far too big (i ordered small, what they gave me was not small. I was feeling very jet lagged, so headed back to the Hostel and got a bit of a nap. When I woke I took a shower, shaved and get myself looking decent enough for the concert. In all modesty I have to agree with Lee and say i scrubbed up rather.....well. I am glad I brought my umbrella, by this time the rain had become torrential. And even the 4 minute walk to the Reverre Hotel would have left me soaking wet. Which is no way to Meet the Queen of the Messageboard. I have known Renovia since 2002 when she joined. I had at some point planned to meet her and Neil in Boston for the 2004 concerts, but that fell through. They called me on my birthday from the Hotel though. Since she rejoined the MB last year we had become closer than ever, so it was amazing to finally meet her in real life. Exactly the Ren I had known for years. Except she was expecting, which just added to her awesomeness. She had brought with her Dan, her fiancé, for his first orchestral concert. The first of many, I assume. It's actually weird, you meet someone for the first time, yet in many ways you don't. Talking in the cab on the way to the JWFan meet up felt pretty much like talking to Ren on the MB, Facebook etc... We were the first to arrive at The Pourhouse. We ordered a Table for 6 and ordered drinks. My second cider, Magners Irish Cider. (Ren had stated I would not be able to get any here, thankfully she was wrong.) We talked for a while and decided to order dinner. Ren and Daniel Ren, not noticing I am taking a picture of her....ummm.....Evenstar Foxfan, or Francis as his proper name is was the first of the other to arrive. Having come all the way from London (though he is of course, Canadian) After a while Jason and his girlfriend Marcy joined us. And I had met my second Moderator (having met Mr. Breathmask in 2007) Dinner was fun, even though the music was a bit loud. Dan did not seem too bored surrounded by film score freaks. Marcy had obviously been through this before and had fun. Jason admired the JWFan Tie Pin I had commissioned for this evening. And loved the JWFan t-Shirt Ren showed him. (Design by AliceBrallice, the use of the names JWfan.com and John Williams Fan Network used with permission of Ricard L. Befan) About bloody time! Dinner was short, pretty much everyone had to rush to get there. So after a while me, Ren, Dan went to Symphony hall. Francis very kindly offer to guide us there even though he only had a ticket for the Saturday show. The rain was pretty savage. The best way through symphony hall was through the Shopping Mall near the Prudential Centre. This awoke Ren's natural instinct and desire for shopping. Thankfully we did not have the time...... At Symphony hall Francis took his leave of us and went back...umbrella less to the Pourhouse. We all grabbed out tickets and went inside. The three of us sat together. First Balcony, left side, great view at the stage and John Williams. The Concert was great. Much of the program was not the standard fare. I guess since JW does Boston every year, he does try to put in some music that seems fresh. I never really liked the BPO on disc (their brass is flimsy, but live, in Symphony Hall, they sounded fine.) My fav selection of the program was Far And Away. Really great themes performed with gusto. The Cowboys is always fun (Francis actually had a premonition they would open with that) Hook was great, so was star Wars (though I have heard star Wars in concert a lot now. I had not heard Lincoln at all, but the 3 pieaces, arranged for concert were good. And her new arrangement of Marion's theme finally gives it it's due. Most fun was The Last Crusade. John first showed the train fight without his music, and narrated some of what would be his musical choices, then he performed the cue synced with the movie. Really great! There were 2 encore pieces. Luke and Leai (not my fav piece, but well doen. Flying from E.T. which had me in tears. And Stars and Stripes Forever. Apparently a pops tradition. Ive been to a lot of concerts, but have never seen an audience clapping away with the music. Fun and cheesy...but fun. To be continued

The black sedan with personalised number plates parked at the side entrance and John Williams got out, I had 2 markers ready, and my LP of The Phantom Menace, but he began signing on the other side. It didn't seem like I was gonna get my turn, till quite suddenly he turned and did our row. I think he signed only 3 or 4 people at our row. I think. I was the second. He took my LP, my mind became a void, i was fumbling which marker to give him....thankfully he had his own gold marker and signed my LP. I can't even remember if he said anything, or if I said anything. It was so quick, but it had happened.... He actually went inside pretty quick. Lot of people did not get a sig. Jason got close, but no cigar. We all went in through the main entrance. I took my seat, which was opposite to where I sat the day before. There was a guy sitting next to me who said he was a lurker at JWFan and actually recognized me. Jason and Marcy were on the second balcony on the other side. Meghan had a good seat in front My view was even better then the day before. perfectly in line with the conductors box So I had a great profile view of JW. The program was identical to the one from yesterday. Though I experienced it completely differently. Friday was a strangely "narrow" experience for me. I was only focused on the stage, John Williams and the two people sitting next to me. As if the rest of Boston Symphony Hall, the audience...did not exist. Saturday was much wider. I felt like part of a great crowd. Less intimate, though not less breath taking. VIDEO: CLICK PHOTO TO PLAY VIDEO: CLICK PHOTO TO PLAY I can completely see the difference between a Pops concert and the regular film music concerts I have been too. For a start, they used a lot of video projection. John music underscoring montages. Flight To Neverland was played to a montage of scenes from a while bunch of movies about flying...many of then scored by JW, many not. The duel music from Tintin was played to a montage of Swashbuckling film. Really the only 2 times JW performed in sync was with The Last Crusade, and his "A Tribute To The Film Composer" montage. Which got a lot of laughs. Particularly the slashing strings of Psycho. Also several times light effects were used. The more serious concert goer might not be amused by this (Ren commented that the video was a bit of a distraction). The crowd did not seem to mind, and once again joined in with Star and Stripes Forever! I guess if you want a performance where everyone is quiet...don't goto the Pops. Jason had previously warned about taking pics. I could see two people cautioned in the balcony across me. A woman was escorted out for making a video, and late in the game I was also warned. Pretty scary actually... The concert had concluded and most JWFans headed out back to the side entrance hoping to catch a glimpse of JW, and a sig or two. It was more busy. Security was there to keep people in check. I had a second LP ready just in case, but didn't really expect anything. It took a long while for JW to come out. When he did the crowd really went for it. I decided not to chance it. I had gotten lucky already, better to let others have a go. Sadly some professional autograph dealers from New York did not share my philosophy, and Jason was denied a sig, while they got two. JW got in the card and it was over....Some of us had gotten lucky, others did not. I genuinely felt bad for Jason. He bounced back pretty quick and we found a nice bar near the Prudential Centre. Silvain was visibly tired and needed to sleep, Josef once again had no ID on him, so it was just Marcy, Jason, me and Francis. I decided not to mix drinks this time and went for Limeade's. Quite delicious actually. It was at this bar where Jason got himself shitfaced pretty quickly. We got to talking about the concert. The MB, and many of its members. Many things can not be repeated here. I will once again repeat though that Jason got shitfaced, and said the line "Stefan, I love you!" about 40 times... He also accidentally let it slip that Alice was not an ugly 65 year old, though I think Marcy suspected that. I got pretty drunk as well, but not out of control After quite a while Marcy and Jason needed to drive back (thankfully Marcy was not drunk). We said our goodbyes, and Francis and I walked back. (we were in the same Hostel). Me standing in front of 500 Boylston, from Boston Legal (taken by Foxfan) He hummed the theme to the New World Symphony by Dvorak. Much to my disappointment, because for years I thought that theme was something I made up myself.... We arrived at the Hostel, and I went to bed. already knowing i would not be hung-over the next day... The next day I woke up right as rain. And thankfully there was no rain in Boston. I decided to be a typical tourist and went on a Boston Duck tour. Basically a 2 hour sightseeing trip in an amphibious vehicle. It was a lot of fun and a great way to see the interesrting parts of Boston without ahving to walk. After that concluded it was lunch time. I headed over to the mall in the Prudential center. I wanted to get seafood but the place recommended to me was closed. When looking for something else I came across a Vulcan! I had actually seen a few Trekkies walking through town the day before, somehow it did not really register though. this Trekkie did....for obvious reasons. I greeted her with the Vulcan hand sign and asked for a picture (after my earlier request for Pon Farr was kindly denied). I asked if there was a convention, and she told me that there was a big, official one at the Hynes Convention Centre, just minutes away. I bade her "Live Long and Prosper". I needed to eat so I went to Five Napkins, the very place Jason told me not to go for Burgers and had a burger. The burger was average, the Woodchuck Cider was good. I found my way to the convention center, and bought a ticket. To fit in a got myself a Deep Space Nine shirt. So after endulging in my JWFan geekdom for days I could now enjoy being a Trekkie. Got a signature and a pic from Marina Sirtis, a handshake from René Auberjonois (Odo) and... Many older posters will remember my obsession with Kira Nerys from Deep Space Nine. The actress Nana Visitor was doing a photo op in a few hours time. I signed up for it. (Conventions are great fun, they are also money pits, but when am i ever gonna get another chance???) At first I thought about doing the pic in my new DS9 shirt. But it would be even cooler to do it in Alice's JWFan shirt. I had plenty of time so rushed to the Hostel and got it. The resulting pic is the second most nerdy I will ever post of myself... Had to wait a long tome to get the pic printed, and had to pay even more to get the file on a CDr, but it was worth it. I went back to the Hostel. Ordered an Earl Grey, which they tried to Supersize on me. (that's almost a liter of water and one teabag????) Stayed sober and began posting some pics in this thread. The next day, the last day I went to the Boston Science Museum, saw a planetarium show. Fell asleep for about ten minutes. Did some souvenir shopping and packed up and checked out. Got on the bus to Logan Airport nice and early and checked in. The flight from Boston to Frankfurt was not comfortable! I sat in the middle of three seats in the center. I felt cramped. Also, when I wanted to get something out of my bag in the overhead locker, I asked the German guy next to me if he would mind getting out of his chair. He simply said "Nein!" So I had to ask the kind person on the other end, who had no problem getting up.... I know it's a stereotype, but German's are fucking rude people! Got about 2 hours of uncomfortable sleep, then waited for 4 hours in Frankfurt (the German customs officer talked to me in broken English about our recent defeats in soccer....urgh) After a typical German lunch. I took my flight to Amsterdam, my train to Hoorn and found myself home. Had a frozen pizza, a much needed shower...and went to sleep.

Met him coming in!!! No time for pictures, but he signed my Empire Strikes Back vinyl! Hoping to get a pic after the concert.

There are some that I have not yet posted, like another pic of you drunk, but not so drunk looking as the one I put up Various comments. My first trip to the US as an adult. I'm not gonna say I know all about America now, or even Boston (I barely got past South End, Back Bay etc etc) Some cliche's I have found to be true. Portions are bigger. Some are a lot bigger. Their service with a smile is not exaggerated. The Service sector is really geared towards helping their customers. So you are greeted with a smile and a "How are you doing?" and they help you out as best you can. To me foreign eyes it may be a bit honey, or even glib at times, But i certainly did feel like I was being helped. I have complained before about the prospect of tipping. it's not something I loike, being FORCED to tip, but accepted it as part of the culture I was in. even got a tipping app, so I could calculate the correct price. But oh my, did I hate the waiters and waitresses. They are soooo pleased to see you, soooo eager to help you, sooo encouraging of you to order something more. Not because they like you, just to boost their percentage. One waitress wrote on her bill the amount i should pay and 'thank you" one waiter called me his "brother" and said he was gonna look out for me. When he gave me the bill he put his arm around my shoulder. Grasping, glib, dishonest parasites! This is the behaviour of hookers in the Red Light District in Amsterdam, trying with their smiles and small talk to invite you in! This is the only aspect of an almost perfect holiday. It really fucking annoyed me! Overall Boston was a pleasant place to walk around (though I avoided Chinatown at night, it was a bit grubby). Lot of begging going on all over though. Particularly Boylston. It's a handsome city. Not that old to my European eyes (the city I live in is over 600 years old) but with really nice buildings. And while it is big, it never felt overwhelming. It has great character. I also noticed something. Posters of JW were plastered all over town. For his upcoming performances. The man really is famous here. He is part of their popular cultural heritage. The JWfan shirt was a huge success. audience members asked where I bought it. Orchestra members pointed me out to players sitting next to them. deep in my heart I hope it registered to John Williams. The Trekkies looked at me like I was a fucking freak though. Even the ones in full costume.....

Unexpected Journey should not have an extended edition, it should have a reduced edition

That's great, Andres. Good for you! However, as pointed out earlier, I'm still flabbergasted that there is no book about him in English. I'm still working on mine, though, so there is always hope.

He should have kept the miniatures and ditch the 48fps and 3D shooting.

Tora! Tora! Tora! by Jerry Goldsmith Unlikely to be become a fan favorite on the scale of Star Trek or Alien, but probably one of his very best works. It's creative and intelligent, sparse and tense. Somewhat of a distant cousin to Planet of the Apes, but one that has aged much better. If there's one thing I regret is that this film wasn't made a decade later - the Bruce Botnick recording would have been brilliant. All I also need to point out La-La Land re-issue has one of the most gorgeously designed booklets in their whole catalogue. Twilight Zone - The Movie (FSM) - another one from his top list Karol

We had a great time indeed! I was glad to meet again some of our beloved members I had first come across last year, and had the utter privilege to meet the famous Stefan Cosman this time. Concerts were delightful as expected. Yesterday night was kind of an adventure, with all that rain pouring down by the end of the afternoon. We (that is rpvee and his mum, josefsuma and Régis, my French counterpart) were brave enough to wait under such rain and had got to the stage door very early... so that we were lucky to meet the Maestro (who presented himself at the door very early, at around 7!). That was truly a brief, intense encounter, during which we got our things signed! It was all worth the wait and the effort, as you can imagine.

His duty as a reviewer is also to try and understand the timbre and style that the composer has gone for, rather than to dismiss it because it might sound texturally similar to some of his previous scores. John Williams scores are always orchestral, in the same way that MoS, TDK, TDK:R, Inception etc have all been heavily synth based and influenced. I don't feel that the reviewers ever empathise with that, nor even attempt to appreciate the emotion and mood conveyed by that particular style.

Gah I wish I'd been there!

So I finally have time to tell the tale of the weekend! Friday night after work Marcy and I raced up to the city. It was POURING RAIN in Boston Friday night, harder than I've seen it in a long while. We found parking near Boylston St and ran to The Pour House under our umbrella. There Stefan, Francis (Foxfan) and Ren (and her fiance Dan) were already eating. I ordered a cider in honor of Stefan and made sure Marcy got a picture of us: She also posed for a pic with us as well: I also got a good pic of Stefan and Francis The 6 of us had a good time chatting about a variety of topics. Stefan had arrived in the city the day, and Francis had arrived from the UK that day, but neither seemed jetlagged to me one little bit! Soon it came time for Ren, Dan, and Stefan to go to Symphony Hall (Marcy, myself, and Francis did not have tickets to that night's show and just came for dinner). On their way out I got a good picture of Stefan and Ren Unfortunately I forgot to turn my flash on for that one! Francis was nice enough to walk them there (in the POURING RAIN - with no umbrella!) and Marcy and I waited at The Pour House, finishing our dinner and enjoying more drinks. Soon Francis returned and regaled us with tales of his European vacation and other concerts he's attended. Soon her left to go to his hostel and Marcy and I returned home to get a good night's sleep for a full day of fun the next day! Saturday Marcy and I returned to the city in the early afternoon and had drinks with her cousin (that's right, I started drinking early - already had 2 in me before meeting up with any JWFanners!) and then parked at The Prudential Center parking garage so we'd be close-ish to Symphony Hall after the concert (since there were two Red Sox games that day, parking at our usual spot closer to Symphony Hall was charging $30). I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS GARAGE AT ALL! Parking was tight and as you drive around looking for spots you continually end up in dead ends and have to back up and turn around. We FINALLY found a spot and got gussied up and headed towards Symphony Hall! The restaurant of choice was Uno Chicago Grill, because it is next door to Symphony Hall. The entire place had been remodeled since last year's concerts, and the side room we had reserved for our party is now re-labeled as the "Symphony Room!" Marcy and I got drinks at the bar and soon Stefan joined us for a cider wearing an excellent tshirt made by allicebrallice featuring J-Dub on the front and his username on the back! (Ren had one too on Friday that she showed me - they are awesome!) Soon we re-located to the Symphony room and one by one others joined us - Francis, Sylvain (obiwan71), Joe (josefsuma), Joe Brausam and 2 of his friends for a nice party of 9. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone remembered to take pics at all inside Uno's! We all enjoyed drinks and dinner and conversation, including some pretty geeky ones that hopefully Marcy didn't mind! Around 7 we headed over to Symphony Hall to wait for John Williams to show up and hopefully get his autograph. Near the entrance we met Meghan (JWFangirl1992) and Damien (dfenton85). We were all among the first to arrive at the side-entrance, but soon others joined and the security split us into two sections so J-Dub could come down the middle. I got pics of the JWFanners! Here's Stefan, Meghan, Damien, Josef, and Joe on one side And Sylvain, me, Francis, and Marcy on the other: Here's Stefan waiting with his Phantom Menace LP Soon Williams' car showed up! He immediately started signing things, the first being the sheet music the women next to me had. She had told me before he arrived that she's been playing JW's music since school After singing maybe 4-5 things on my side of the line, he went over to the other side, and signed Stefan's LP! Damien got his CD signed too!! I love that last pic, of me holding my unfortunately un-signed Star Wars Anthology booklet So then I realized it was time to finally get a group pic of us all together - but Meghan and Damien had already wandered off! Then we all headed inside Symphony Hall. To be continued!!

JWfan regulations state there need to be at least 3 active members present to qualify as s official JWfan meeting. Atleast one picture of the gathering must be posted, or submitted to a moderator for aproval.

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I really think that the limiting factor in Desplat's HP scores was Yates' musical wishes, not an inability on Desplat's part to write something grand.