Trumpeteer

Now that work has slowed down, I now have time to give my quick thoughts on the concert. I disagree that Saturday's audience was tepid. Lots of rowdy cheering, though mostly from the cheap seats. I agree that the sound effects on "Barrel Chase" were too loud. I could barely hear the cellos at times, and some of the best parts of the cue were muffled out. I barely watched the screens, since I know the scene very well, and it was great to see all the different parts of the orchestra doing their thing. What was really odd was hearing this cue in the car on the drive from Phoenix. My iPod was on shuffle, and once I heard it, I had to play it twice, so maybe I had the original version in my head too much. The orchestra stuck pretty close to it. I wanted some Harry Potter music, but I suppose we'll get that next year. Or maybe he won't play it because he knows when he talks about it, people (like me) might boo him for not working on the last installment. Once again, I waited after the concert for an autograph. There was another guy standing at the artists' entrance, and after about an hour, one of the security guards told us that John Williams never leaves through the artists' entrance. I was thinking about stalking through the parking garage on the lower level, but I decided against it. I didn't care about not getting the autograph. I just want to shake the man's hand. Can't wait until next year! Maybe we'll get a preview of "War Horse" or "Tintin."

I voted for the End Credits without thinking. Since the version in the film's end credits is a trimmed version of "A Prayer for Peace," I picked that. I thought the concert version option was something entirely different. I'm switching my vote to the concert version. When I heard it for the first time at the end of "Munich," I got chills and almost broke down crying. It's one of the most beautiful compositions he's ever done.

I'm driving from Phoenix to LA tomorrow morning for the concert! I can't wait!

Hunchback got my vote. I remember sitting in the theater watching the opening and my jaw was on the floor at the end of "Bells of Notre Dame." How daring visually and musically, for a kids' film, to kill someone onscreen (Mufasa died offscreen) and to use Latin chants, which the target audience definitely would not understand. I thought "Circle of Life" and "Belle" were the best Disney movie openings ever, but that really topped it, and set up the whole movie. The fact that the Latin chants continued throughout the film sold me on the "Hunchback" score. And "Hellfire" should have been nominated for an Oscar. What a bold song. I wrote to Alan Menken shortly after he lost the Original Musical or Comedy Score Oscar for "Hunchback." He said working on the movie "was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of my life, and words like yours validate that for me." I would say "Aladdin" is second. Robin Williams makes his songs wonderful ("Friend Like Me" is my all-time favorite song) and "Cave of Wonders" is an awesome score moment. "Beauty and the Beast" is a very, very close third. The instrumental score isn't as great as the song score, but it is one of his crowning achievements. It took me a while to like "Pocahontas," but it is indeed a great accomplishment, to not get too cutesy with the music for the animals, who thankfully don't talk. As for "The Little Mermaid," it holds a great place in my heart, because it was his first movie, but it doesn't hold up as well. The music sounds like it came from an animated movie. His later scores could have been put in a live-action version and would have fit just as well.

You have officially ruined my day.

I just bought my tickets to see John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl. I am going to be there for the Aug. 28 show. Can't wait! I went two years ago and had a blast, though I was unable to wait around for an opportunity to get an autograph and photo. But this year, I will not leave until they turn out the lights!

I am hopeful that his enthusiasm with signing autographs carries over to Aug. 28 at the Hollywood Bowl.

I noticed it, and was very upset by it. I was glad when Kate Winslet said "And the Oscar goes to..."

Every year people trash the Oscars because the awards turn out to be predictable. And someone here (not going back to find out who) said they hope the Oscars return to a Return of the King-like year. You mean a year where one film takes just about everything? How exciting is that? Don't blame the Oscars for being predictable. Blame the 5,000 awards handed out throughout the year. If there weren't so many critics awards and peer awards, the Oscars would indeed have the same weight as it did in Titanic's year. Now, when Mo'Nique wins every award and makes the same type of speech every time, people groan and roll their eyes. But I was still thrilled to see her win. They could have Dane Cook or one of the Jersey Shore people host the show and I would still watch. I watch because I want to celebrate a great year in movies and be shocked when Geoffrey Fletcher's great screenplay flies under the radar for months, only to pull off a major shocker and make me smile and tear up a little. I watch because you still never know what's going to happen until the envelope is opened. (To this day, I mourn the Best Picture losses of "Saving Private Ryan" and "Brokeback Mountain.) Yes, there were dull moments, and once again they resurrected the interpretive dance segment (doing the robot for Up?), but I am interested in all 24 categories. I make it a point to watch every nominated Best Picture before the nominations. It takes me an hour to fill out my Oscar ballot. I try to think like an Academy member. I know I am in the major minority. Everyone else just wants the biggest moneymaker to win, or at least get a nomination. (Sorry folks, but I got a bigger emotional reaction from "The Reader" than "The Dark Knight.") And to see the hot people of Hollywood on their televisions. Yeah, that makes the show more fun. I groan at the people who say that this was another boring show. Another boring show? So, you continue to watch even though it's been consistently boring to you? Something tells me these people like watching others get their hands slammed into car doors. Congratulations to all the Oscar recipients. Even Sandra Bullock. And I was glad to see Hans Zimmer genuinely happy that Michael Giacchino won. They put all the score nominees in the same section, and Hans was the only one to be happy. Michael's speech was the best of the year. It reminded me of Steven Soderbergh's win for directing and his great speech that did not include a laundry list of people. So, I will let you continue your griping about the show. I will be back on my sofa next year, ballot and pen in hand, hoping for a "predictable" show, but always hoping for those surprises that happen every year. I'm sure all of you who call the show boring will watch next year, too. Don't deny it.

"The Moon Rising" is one of the best musical cues written by John Williams in the 21st century. "The Reunion" is also up there. Remember that Spielberg edited the final sequence to the music, just as he did with "ET."

Roger Ebert made me want to be a film critic. Though that dream is dead, I still read Roger's writings to try to aspire to his style in the stuff I do daily.

Maybe this question has been asked ad nauseum before, but... Does John Williams get paid royalties every time NBC plays any parts of his Olympic themes? Or did NBC pay for them outright? I don't think the latter is true, because he composed his first Olympic theme for the 1984 Games, and ABC broadcast that. Does the IOC own the rights to the music, and they sell them to the broadcaster? In any case, I wonder if JW sees any money every two years when this music is played. I know "Bugler's Dream" was not composed by him, but everything else was.

Stupid search didn't find that for me. Sorry about that. Go about your business.

I found this while wasting time on YouTube. I had never seen this before! http://www.youtube.com/user/oscars?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/20/zaJTETd_grg All that is left is to see his acceptance speeches for Jaws and Fiddler.

Come on... waht about 'the ellie bagde' and 'Up with end credits'? I wasn't counting the credits. I was talking about the big chase sequence around the blimp. The end credits was nice.

Happy birthday, John Williams.

I just got back from watching "Sherlock Holmes." It was very entertaining. Downey and Law are a very good screen couple. Yes, RDJ mumbled a lot, but I found the plot interesting and not very difficult to follow. RDJ portrayed Holmes better than I would have pictured him: Cheeky but very smart. If I had seen this movie before the Oscar nominations, I would have definitely put the score on my list of nominees. It reminded me of the fun I had listening to "Signs" for the first time. I haven't liked a Zimmer score since, well, "The Prince of Egypt." Wow. That's 12 years. Having heard all five nominees, "Up" is definitely the best of the year. It should win an Oscar for "Married Life" alone.

Many members of the music branch don't bother listening to the CDs they get. I think they just look at the list of eligible films, see a film they will vote for as Best Picture and nominate it for Original Score. I agree there wasn't much music, but some scores have won Oscars for much less (*cough* Brokeback *cough*).

This is the first year since John Williams (apparently) stopped composing 100 percent original film scores that I have fully embraced more than one score. Up was a marvelous score ... until the last 15 minutes. Fantastic Mr. Fox was a surprise from start to finish. I loved the orchestration more than the musical notes, but orchestration is mostly what makes a good score great.

I am guessing the "Brokeback" inclusion is a joke. And this is not the first time the Academy has had 10 Best Picture nominees. They did that for about eight years in the 1930s and 1940s. As for the music awards, I am surprised Marvin Hamlisch's music for "The Informant!" wasn't included. I just watched that film last week and thought the music was the best thing about it. Very much like "Midnight Express," the music didn't seem to fit, but it still worked. I am also glad "I See You" wasn't a nominee, as well as the songs U2 and Paul McCartney wrote. The new process of selecting nominees is pretty much working. Voters are going for songs within the film mostly instead of just in the credits. And for the record, I'm very happy to see "District 9" as a Best Picture nominee. One of the most inventive sci-fi movies I've seen in years. And sad "(500) Days of Summer" didn't at least get a screenplay nomination. It was one of the most inventive romantic comedies I've seen in years. Creating that dance scene alone was worthy.

It's obvious my vote wouldn't have swayed anything, so I'll just let people know what I think now about three of the categories: Score of the Year: Fantastic Mr. Fox Composer of the Year: Alexandre Desplat Cue of the Year: I do not know the name of it, but the one where Kristofferson is rescued at the end of "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Fantastic Mr. Fox amazed me from the first note. Not what I would have expected from Alexandre Desplat. Maybe from Thomas Newman. The one score that fit the movie perfectly.

Datameister, The 3D in Avatar was not created to have things jump out of the screen, but to create more depth in the background than traditional filmmaking typically does. I felt that the first second I saw Pandora. as for the problems with both your eyes, it's likely you have astigmatism, or issues with one eye being more powerful than the other. One of the many people who wouldn't stop talking when I saw the movie said he was having a similar problem.

I watch Jeopardy every day, and of course on New Year's Eve I would miss the one show that had John Williams on Final Jeopardy.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Road to Perdition were the only scores from 2000 to 2009 that I liked from start to finish when I experienced them the first time (while watching the film). So, those two claim my vote for the best scores of this decade. Third place would go to Signs. It was the best collaboration between James Newton Howard and M. Night Shymalan. WHAT???!!!!???? That's just crazy talk. I wish I had the Rivendell motif easily accessible so I could conduct this experiment correctly. But I just played Hedwig's theme for a co-worker and he knew it instantly. By the way, he told me after listening to it that he's a much bigger fan of the Rings trilogy and he doesn't know much about the music, except that "there was music associated with the ring, right?" I asked him how he knew Hedwig's theme and he said "It's always in every Harry Potter movie and they play it in the movies a lot. You can't escape it." He does not own any music from the Harry Potter films or Lord of the Rings films. In fact, he doesn't have much movie music on his iPod. I am working to remedy that.

I don't know if I can give it another chance. With James Horner, his scores either grab me the first time (Aliens, Braveheart, Titanic) or don't (everything else). I fear this score will win an Academy Award. Uni, it's good to see you as well. I peek my head in here every once in a while, but will be more regular when John Williams decides to write another original film score. Until then, this board sometimes feels like going to work between Christmas and New Year's: It's not that bad being there, but there are better places to be.