CYPHER

:? WHAT? That's simply INSANE. Poor kid, no wonder he hasn't been around lately - it must be too traumatic to talk about John Williams when he know his collection is lurking in a watery grave. CYPHER

I've finally got around to watching Futurama just recently, and I have to say I think it's fantastic! I've never really watched The Simpsons much (though I have seen a lot more of that lately too) so I can't compare them both. I just love the animation techniques used in Futurama. The action sequences and detailed, external shots are breathtakingly complex with fantastic colouring, shading and texture, whilst still retaining that simplistic charm. And so many of the jokes are just pricless e.g. the background sign in the library: "Stephen King Collection A-Aardvark" totally cracked me up! LOL CYPHER

I got the most-recent release of Jaws for Christmas a few years back. I think it's a great, seminal score and works fantastically in the movie, but I don't consider it an enjoyable listen on the whole. The main theme has very little impact on me anymore after so much exposure over the years. I do love 'Montage', 'Father and Son' and 'Man Against Beast', but I don't tend to listen to many of the other tracks. Some qualifying statements: 1) I don't particularly like CDs with numerous short tracks - the listening experience is just too choppy and eratic for my liking. Jaws is by no means the worse in this department though (see many a Thomas Newman soundtrack. I mean 45 second tracks just $#*! me!). 2) My sound-system doesn't take particulalry well to to this CD. There is just too much bass in some sequences and I don't want to jeopardise the integrity of my speakers. And I HATE having to switch the bass on and off all the time. CYPHER - who is glad to be listening to anything at the moment after my CD player had to undergo 'repairs' over the weekend and I couldn't listen to anything for nearly two days!

Jesus Christ! If John Williams can think ALL of that in just 10 minutes, then he's a super-freak genius! Okay, so maybe it is possible... CYPHER

Am I the only one who thinks Clark and Lex would make a much better couple than Clark and Lana/Chloe? I mean, sometimes the way they look at each other, you've just gotta suspect something... LOL CYPHER

I know! How funny is this? Three consecutive threads saying exactly the same thing! Didn't anyone check to see if someone (i.e. Ray) had already posted this? LOL CYPHER

Well for good or ill, I actually watch this show regularly. Here in Australia they have yet to start screening the second season, and while I am not overly familiar with Williams' Superman score, as far as I could tell they never played any excerpts in all of the first season. Instead the soundtrack would basically consist of pilfered modern pop and rock e.g. U2 and Nickleback and Mark Snow's ever-the-same score. CYPHER

This is easy. Minority Report is one of my favourite Spielberg films and A.I. Artificial Intelligence is certainly my least. CYPHER

Ah the Grammies... They make absolutely no sense to me. Isn't it true that they have upward of 100 award categories now? I'm sorry, but that really strains credibility and greatly diminishes the worth of a win. I know the American music industry is huge, but aren't they just giving these things away now? And to further add to their irrelevance, the Grammies are awarded to some works that are more than a year old! Of the best Score nominations this year, only one was eligible for this year's Academy Awards (the other four were all nominated last year in recognition of work produced the year before that!). As for seeing Williams at the televisied award ceremony, isn't it a sad fact that they don't actually include 'minor awards' like instrumental composition during the main awards ceremony? Well it's sad because we won't get to see Williams accept an award if he wins, but probably not so sad to miss the umpteenth award presentation for the likes of Best Traditional Instrumental Folk Rock (Alternative) Album. They'll probably just hand out these awards from a big hessian sack in the alley out the back. The first nominee to get there, gets the award. I can just imagine Thomas and Randy Newman ganging up on James Newton Howard amidst the mud and garbage cans, each trying to get some 'critical' recognition at last. CYPHER - who'll nonetheless be watching the award show this Monday night if for nothing else than the horrendous fashion and inevitable auto-cue mix-ups (heck, if actors can't even memorise what they're supposed to say before hand, how are musicians supposed to do any better?).

I've got about a month before this movie comes out here but I will see it, even if I don't hold very high hopes for it. I'm a passing fan of the comic and while I understand that things have to be changed in the adaptation process, I really don't see why they altered Elektra and Bullseye's costumes (which are fantastic in the comics) or made the Kingpin black and just big instead of HUUUUGGEE! I used to be an Affleck fan but he's just been too wussy of late (see Bounce, Pearl Harbor and Changing Lanes). I swear if he firmly sets his jaw, quivers his lower lip and then starts to mist up one more time... CYPHER - much more excited about X2.

I've been wanting to put in my two cents about Hans Zimmer for a while now but was a little intimidated about bringing up the topic in light of the contempt that many here hold him in. On the whole I like Zimmer's work. When I see his names in the credits of a film, I know that there will usually be something interesting to listen to at least. And while he has written some dross, and derivative dross at that (the main theme from Pearl Harbor is almost completely lifted from The Thin Red Line), for the most part I think he is a good film composer in the sense that he generally adds to any given movie's atmosphere, tone and effect. We can talk all we like about varying degrees of education and technical expertise, but when it really comes down to it, this is the essential job of a film composer. This said, not all of Zimmer's music sounds as good removed from the context of the film. This is one of the reasons I love Williams's work so much: it is usually so brilliantly inspired it can stand on its own. And it's more than probable that Williams' greater skill, knowledge, genius and experience is responsible for this fact. Some of the things I like about Zimmer are qualities that others here disapprove of. I like the fact that he is versatile (in his film choices if not style), that he is prolific and also that he collaborates with others on occasion (though perhaps too frequently of late). And The Thin Red Line is one of my favourite scores. CYPHER

You are spot on ymenard. That is exactly what I think it would be like... CYPHER - who is hoping that some day soon Spielberg will wake up and say to himself "what the hell I was I thinking?"

Dude, you are 16 right? I'd better hope it's good, clean and LEGAL LOL Just messing with you Conor. I think you've got integrity. CYPHER

The Razzies obviously nominate movies that either deserve the criticism or can survive with it. There's no point in dumping on small-budget films made by inexperienced film-makers. It's far kinder and much more fun to ridicule films that at least had something going for it e.g. big budget, tons of advertising and hype, world-famous singers turned actresses, actresses turned singers turned actresses or being a prequel in the most famous film series of all time ... and yet still managed to stuff it up. CYPHER

Too damn many! LOL CYPHER

I haven't listened to it in a while, but I love it!!! There is just soooo much good stuff on the CD. CYPHER

Happy Birthday Johnny-boy! Happy National Cultural Holiday Mag! So tell me about the history of the day and its purpose! Other than to celebrate the Maestro's birth that is... CYPHER

Scores worthy of nomination: - Attack of the Clones - Catch Me if You Can - Road to Perdition - Signs - The Two Towers CYPHER - who realises he has contributed nothing new unfortunately

I'm sorry, but this Terminal film sounds like a dud! Admittedly that's what I thought Catch Me If You Can was going to be like, but I ended up enjoying it immensely. Obviously Spielberg is incredibly talented and can probably pull anything off (except A.I. of course...) but do we really need another comedy/romance? Any hack can direct dross like this. I thought Spielberg wanted to challenge himself? Admittedly this is fairly new territory for him, but I much preferred the new ground he covered in Minority Report. I would like to see Spielberg continue to employ his skills in genres and styles of film-making that truly benefits from his genius. CYPHER

I'd like to add my "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" to the list. I've noticed you hadn't been posting much these days Melange but I didn't think you were leaving for good! You always had something memorable to add (even that disgusting piece on that real-life Hannibal Lector in Germany Ah, who am I kididng? I loved it!) This will be missed. But if you're feeling like you've got nothing much to say then by all means take a break... only promise to come back when you are no longer at the mercy of this strange, malign attitude which hath taken over you. CYPHER - who was one of the people who voted for Melange over at the 'Coolest Poster' poll, but has kept it to himself until now... :cry:

LOL Yeah, go right ahead Justin. Don't forget the incense... Just for the record though, I wasn't actually implying that the poll results could be physically altered, but rather that anyone truly interested in a definitive result could mentally swap one vote from ROTJ to SW: ANH. CYPHER

I voted For ROTJ, but I was in a bit of a rush and didn't realise that "Imperial Attack" was an option. I must have thought that "Star Wars post-Main title" excluded Star Wars: A New Hope. So if anyone's interested, deduct one vote from ROTJ and add to ANH. CYPHER - promise to be more attentive next time

Thanks for all your work Joe! It's great to see the results, especially so quickly CYPHER

You're probably on to something King Mark. Quality control must be slipping AND they're testing the CDs on high performance players that only fat cats own. Everyone should be entitled to listen to music free of scratches and other performance problems damnit!!! CYPHER

1. The Empire Strikes Back 2. Return of the Jedi 3. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 4. Star Wars 5. The Phantom Menace 6. The Patriot 7. Attack of the Clones 8. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 9. A.I. Artificial Intelligence 10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone CYPHER