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Favorite Film Scores of 2008

Posted in Music on December 28th, 2008

After the release of Howard Shore’s complete epic score for Lord of the Rings (Return of the King on Nov 2007), I finally have time to explore other composer’s work. In this year, I started to collect film scores (although I already have a handful of soundtrack before). I think my interest to film scores (other than LOTR) this year were fueled by one of my Friendster friends (Sixto) who invited me to join the Pinoy Film Music Fans group at Friendster. Since then, I listened to soundtracks almost every day, even at work.

I usually download them thru torrents because film scores are very rare in music stores here. I actually bought King Kong for 100Php on one of the mall’s midnight sales. :D

Below is the list of my favorite albums this year (not in particular order):
Atonement - Dario Marianelli [I have downloaded this early May 2008 but only listened to it after I saw the movie on October, and was eventually hooked and even addicted to it. It really helps to listen to the score once you saw the movie itself.]
Beowulf - Alan Silvestri 
Transformers - Steve Jablonsky [Best of Zimmer-style music…heroic and inspiring Autobot themes]
Cloverfield - Michael Giacchino
Bridge to Terabithia - Aaron Zigman [Beautiful and inspiring…best heard when you’re down]
Iron Man - Ramin Djawadi [fusion of electric guitar and orchestra…certainly deserved the Grammy nomination]
Ratatouille - Michael Giacchino [playful and witty. Everytime I listen to this, I’m hearing more quirky little instruments in the background]
The Dark Knight - James Newton-Howard and Hans Zimmer [Very dark music, I though at first that this is not suitable for everyday listening…I was wrong…]
Wall-E - Thomas Newman [”Eve” as the best track!]
X-Men: The Last Stand - John Powell [The anvil and the female choir of the Phoenix theme is the highlight! Action scoring at its best!]
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Harry Gregson-Williams [More action packed than the first one]
Wanted - Danny Elfman [Enjoyable to the least…a score in which you may or may not associate with the movie itself and it possess *that* familiar Elfman sound]
Lord of the Rings: The Complete Recordings - Howard Shore [Need I say more? I never get tired of listening to it…even after 4 years since the last movie ended. Nearly 11 hours of epic music!]

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BEST AND WORST OF 2005

Posted in Music, About Me, Television, Technology, Movies on December 31st, 2005
Before the year ends, I’m going to list these things first. Next entry na yung New Year’s Resolution. I’m sure may nakalimutan ako. So eto na yung partial list.

THE BEST (Halo-halo na’to!)
*not in particular order

Mapua Short Film Festival: A time to showcase my talent in filmmaking. Kung meron man. Hopefully nag 2nd Best Short Film ang film namin.LOTR Extended Edition DVDs: Actually December 29, 2004 ko ‘to nabili pero syempre napagsawaan ko siya in the first quarter of 2005. Hanggang ngayun di ko pa nasisimut lahat ng commentaries of all 3 movies!

Blogging: This year, ginanahan talaga ako magblog kesa sa previous year. Almost everyday nung bandang summer. Si Ava kasi e. Naka almost 120 entries ako this year.

Da Vinci Code: I’m not really a novel reader pero masaya ako dahil nabasa ko na din sya sa wakas at nalaman ko kung bakit ba’to controversial. I started reading Angels and Demons pero kinuha agad ng may-ari yung book kaya di ko pa natatapos.

Summer Vacation: After 10 years, nakauwi uli ako sa Bicol. Ang saya saya. Read more »

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HALE *Fans* Club

Posted in Music, Entertainment, Complaints on August 22nd, 2005
Medyo masaya ako sa takbo ng local music scene dahil parang kabuteng nagsusulputan ang mga banda ngayon. Hindi na yata uso yun mga popstars in the likes of Sarah Geronimo atbp kasi wala silang ibang ginagawa kundi mag-revive nito at mag-revive ng kantang yan. Nalalaos na rin yata ang acoustic music e. Uso naman (ulit) yung mga alternative and rock music from Bamboo atbp. At syempre yung mga kantang sa unang rinig ay akala mo foreign band and then you’ll be surprised na local artist pala yun tulad ng Cueshe at…Hale…

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A NEW NOVELTY SONG ON THE LOOSE

Posted in Music, Complaints on June 14th, 2005
Lagi kong naririnig sa bus at jeep ang bagong kantang ito ng The Bodies(?). Ngayon naman, batuta naman ng pulis ang subject. Sobra na talaga ang mga novelty songs. Tapos pag kinwestyon yung song nila, ang isasagot nila “Wala po kaming ibig sabihin masama sa kanta namin. Nasa nag-iisip po yun kung may malisya ang kanta o wala” Duh? 

Ma-e-explain kaya nila kung bakit lahat ng kanta sa album nila ay may mga words na “malaki, matigas at mahaba atbp”? Wag nilang sabihing nagkataon lang…

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MANIFESTATIONS OF LORD OF THE RINGS OBSESSION (at least sa akin…)

Posted in Music, About Me, Daily Lives, Movies on April 26th, 2005
* not in particular order 

1. I can type the phrase Lord of the Rings without looking at the keyboard…or rather it is the phrase that I can type the fastest.
2. I can spot the phrase Lord of the Rings/names of LOTR cast and crew in a newspaper/magazine/webpage as quickly as possible.
3. I know almost every dialogue in the movie. (except maybe for the Elvish part)
4. I know my favorite scenes/trailers well. Yung music, sound effect, yung camera shot na pinapakita at syempre dialogue.
5. Upon hearing a familiar word, an LOTR dialogue will just pop out of my mind…(example: When I hear the word “assault”, naalala ko yung dialogue ni Saruman na may word na assault…Siyempre hindi naman every word na naririnig ko, may naalala akong dialogue from the movie. Pag nangyari yun, ipa-mental nyo na ako)
6. I now appreciate the beauty of trees…(its appearance etc…it resembles the Ents…)
7. I reminisce some scenes upon passing in a place that reminds me of LOTR. Example: Almost 2 years ago, I saw a vulcanizing shop watching The Two Towers on their TV. Everytime I pass there, I always run that particular scene that I saw on that TV in my mind. Abnormal no?
8. The movie’s soundtrack automatically integrates in my daily life. For example, if I’ve been in a beautiful place for the first time, a particular LOTR music accompanies my feelings.
9. It is the main subject/design inspiration of any school presentation and projects. Example: this blog and my official website.
10. I feel depressed or Frodo-ish after watching the extended DVDs. Why? Because LOTR is finally over. (Frodo at the end of ROTK: How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart, you begin to understand, there is no going back?)
11. There are almost 1000 images of Lord of the Rings in my My Pictures folder. And I’m having a difficulty in organzing it.
12. I learn to create LOTR logos/banners from scratch.
13. I created a super medley of the first 2 movies’ soundtrack. The first one is 15 minutes long and the second one is 30 minutes. I can’t organize the third one in my head.
14. I have a collection of LOTR trailers in my hard drive.
15. If that’s not enough, I created my own trailers. A fan-made trailer…
16. I’m trying to learn Elvish languages…and write in Quenya/Sindarin style…
17. It is still against my constitution to delete my copies of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (VCD quality) in my hard drive even though it consumes almost 4 gigabytes of memory. It will be the last file that I’ll delete….
18. You have to convince me very hard to let you borrow my LOTR DVD collection…kahit DVD copy lang.
19. I tried to buy LOTR DVDs kahit hindi orig…at least pag afford ko na…itotodo ka na ‘to…
20. If ever I win P1 million, LOTR original goodies are the first few things in my list.
21. I’m interested to watch shows/movies that starred LOTR casts or anyone that involves the LOTR crew (Peter Jackson and co, Howard Shore etc)
22. I’m interested to watch shows/movies that has been filmed in New Zealand. If ever I go abroad, I’ll go to New Zealand first.
23. I have created my own version of music videos (May It Be, Gollum’s Song, Into the West) featuring the clips from the movies…
more to come…

 

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THE POWER OF HOWARD SHORE’S MUSIC

Posted in Music, Movies on October 13th, 2004
I was studying my report in Computer Achitecture at 1:30 midnight while listening to the Return of the King soundtrack with my earphone earphone connected to our main radio. When my favorite track (The White Tree or ‘The Lighting of the Beacons Theme) started to play, I closed my eyes for a moment, tried to relax and play the Lighting of the Beacons scene in my mind while the music is playing.
After the 3 1/2 minutes of awe-inspiring music, I opened my eyes and all of a sudden, I found myself staring blankly at the paper I was holding for about a second!
In that one second I thought I’m in Middle Earth few seconds back. It was a wonderful feeling. I realized the great effect of Shore’s music to me as well as the LOTR movies.
I just wish na hindi na lang ako nagising….I’m back to reality….

 

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