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Issues with GMAIL - UPDATED

Nick Parker

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Posts posted by Nick Parker

    Prelude for Piano and Orchestra (new Williams composition - premiered June 2021; Albany Symphony performance & recording coming 2022)

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    The prelude is absolutely beautiful and I love how metal Williams' piano writing can be, but I've felt for a long time that Williams can fall back on a lot of familiar territory in his concert music and seems to lean heavily on writing for particular instruments to escape the molds he's created for himself. When he doesn't have the idiosyncrasies of those instruments to force him to explore, you get something like this scherzo, which sounds almost temp-tracked and warmed over from...well, his scherzo in the Cello Concerto. Combine that with a pretty limp and wet-noodled motif that others have pointed out fits right in as a mid-tier supporting melody in a post-00s score, and I don't think the end result is very successful, some badass moments and effects notwithstanding.

    Yo-Yo Ma Plays Music of John Williams

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    On 14/09/2022 at 9:14 AM, Jay said:

    Who else wants to share their thoughts on the album an

     

    It's such a bitchin' album, I think pound for pound it's Williams best album of concert music. Though I've really grown to love the Memoirs-ified opening of the revised Cello Concerto, the heraldic bon-voyage fanfare that opens this version is great. With parts like the Scherzo, you can definitely tell this came around the time of Jurassic Park!

     

    I don't listen to Heartwood very often--once every five years or so--but its fat stacks of brass chords, deep-roots pedal tones  and branch-like reaching, yearning string melodies touches my soul everytime I hear it. --Yep, listening to it now, holy crap.

     

    The Three Pieces for Solo Cello are pretty cool, and I love seeing the side of Williams that resonates with and explores black American history: I've said it many times, but behind trees, it's probably his most consistent inspiration.

     

     

    On 14/09/2022 at 9:14 AM, Jay said:

    and/or vote on this old poll?

     

    :lol: :lol::lol:

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    John Williams executes Order 66 on sheet music

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Loert said:

    I suppose we can say that JW (or whoever) were perfectly in their right to do this. Similar to how there are pieces of music which you must obtain permission to perform - it's perfectly "legal".

     

    But I do wonder why now. It's not like musicnotes is a new site (was founded in 1998). Who gains from this exactly? That's the interesting question for me.

     

    I was actually really surprised to learn in the somewhat recent past that unofficial arrangements were allowed to be sold on sites such as Musicnotes. It doesn't surprise me that axe was heaved on that, but your question is mine as well: you can't tell me the legal teams and whoever else didn't consider any of these factors before it was even allowed. So if that's the case, why was it even allowed to begin with? Why now of all times to shut the valve off?

     

    I immediately wonder if there's something coming down the pipeline as far as some kind of score/sheet music release. Over the last decade, Williams has increasingly entered legacy mode, such as doing a retrospective project like Across the Stars, but more immediately relevant to this conversation, acquiescing to a person he trusts--Mike Mattesino--to handle archival releases of his recorded music...we also know that this happened in part 'cause Mattesino used Williams' disdain for bootlegs/unofficial representations of his work to drive the wedge in for an official, professional curation of his work.

     

    Could the same thing have happened with his written music?  ......

     

    I mean of course as John Williams fans we're always blessed with what we want from Williams immediately so the answer is yes.

    5 hours ago, Falstaft said:

    In fact, some of the piano folios are remarkably good: TROS, for example, is phenomenal

     

    fourteen year old me wouldve freaked the fuck out if i saw the st pianobooks

     

     

    The NINTENDO Thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 8/25/2021 at 11:41 AM, Disco Stu said:

    Random Skyward Sword controversial(?) opinion: The Silent Realms were actually among my favorite experiences in the game.  They took the not-well-executed idea from Twilight Princess and figured out how to make it fun.  I enjoyed playing every one of them and I could play more.  Give me a whole game of Zelda stealth sequences, maybe revisiting iconic locations from games past.

     

    Are those the sequences where you have to grab stuff, but the moment you leave certain spots you activate these armored guards? Those were bitchin', it was so damn tense everytime you woke them up.

    11 hours ago, Jay said:

    Also we were all younger then with more time on our hands and less real-world responsibilities, giving us a completely different perspective on it than we do for any game now

     

     

    Are there any games any of us have revisited that feel longer "now" than when we were younger? I recently went through Republic Commando--best SW game ever yeah I said it--, and I hated how short it felt when I was a kid, and it was something the game got consistently criticized for, too. But this time, the game felt like the perfect length, and much more sprawling than I remembered.

    The NINTENDO Thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Permanent Waves said:

    What were your problems besides story?

     

    I don't remember there being any problems with the story, but I guess I don't remember the story much either, outside of the broad strokes. Is it criticized a lot?

     

    The main thing I remember is there just being so much fat in the game, like the amount of backtracking and all that. They'd throw the coolest stuff ever in the series at you, then have you wash it down with tedious filler as a chaser. After the dust settled, I remember thinking that the series had grown too big in scope, and hoped against hope that they would make a Majora's Mask sized game next...and then they announced BOTW. :lol: I remember the music not being that hot either, but that's how I feel about a number of "modern" Nintendo games.

     

    Who knows, maybe I'd appreciate it more, now, especially seeing where BOTW ran with its walks. 

     

    36 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

     

    It was a good party game on the GC, too. I don't really see the point of it as a single player game.

     

    The GC one was tons of fun with the right crew--especially since it used the GBA game as a great base--but a huge part of the series appeal was always being thrown into the unpredictable antics of each character's themes, with the title's gimmick, and just seeing what wacky stuff the next character would bring.

    The NINTENDO Thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm gonna hold off on the demo and just play the full game when it releases. Consider me a faithful fan of WarioWare since the GBA game in '03! My parents never really played games, but my mother really got into that one, which delighted me to no end. The best one so far is the gyro one on the GBA, but my brothers and I always wanted to be able to play these games multiplayer, so count that as one more childhood dream marked off by Nintendo. Not to say another Wario Land wouldn't be another childhood dream marked off....

     

    Motion controls were the least of my problems with Skyward Sword; outside of some boss fights with that effeminate long-tongue dude, I never had an issue with them. It's been one of my least favorite Zeldas since I played it back in the day, but I'm open to picking this remaster up some day and giving it another chance.

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    What is a guillotine drum which is used in the Star Wars. music score?

    in JOHN WILLIAMS

    Posted

    This discussion really hones in on how important it can be for composers to engage with actual players, and how unfortunate it is that so many composers now have to rely on virtual instruments. There's something truly remarkable to be said for how a player-- a specialist in their instrument--can take the broad strokes given to them by a composer, much like an actor and a director/screenwriter, and imbue the part with dimensions that a composer just can't conceive of.

    The Official Jazz Music thread

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 5/19/2021 at 11:07 AM, Disco Stu said:

    I was listening to this guy play the incredible, classic 1913 rag "American Beauty" by Joseph Lamb and couldn't figure out why it sounded a little strange to my ears.  After a minute it dawned on me that he was swinging the sixteenth notes.  The horror!  What is this, that newfangled jass music?  *fans self*

     

     

     

    Here's the same piece played straight sixteenths, which is traditionally how rags are usually interpreted.

     

     

     

    Haha, I didn't realize this wasn't considered common. But you've already heard swung rags!

     

     

    What is the last video game you played?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

    You could say the same thing about Pixar and Marvel films or anything that appeals to all ages.

     

    I think that's conflating the point,  though, because I don't feel like the humor, the biggest series staple outside of the weapons, _does_ appeal to all ages. It's tricky territory for me to talk about 'cause I don't have anything against adults liking them, but I watched one of my roommates revisit the games seven years ago, and the resounding thought I had throughout was "Man, these games are _not_ for me anymore."

     

    I think their best place was as an adolescent, and letting my enjoyment of them be fond memories.

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