a new appreciation

I had a really odd moment the other day. I came to a new appreciation for both pop music and classical over the course of a 24 hour period.

I’ve always had somewhat of an eclectic taste in music. For my part, I grew up listening to rock and pop, metal and eventually primarily landing on New Wave and what was once called ‘alternative.’ [This is before that label was applied to the likes of grunge bands like Nirvana. I mean alternative in the 80’s sense: The Cure, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Smiths, etc.]

Meanwhile, I was exposed to – and developed an appreciation for – music that my parents had playing. This included everything from classical music to Captain and Tennille to Johnny Mathis to big band swing to “Hooked on Classics” to Dean Martin, and so forth…

(hold that thought… What!?... seriously – trampoline is now an Olympic sport??? Can’t wait for Olympic Tai Chi)

Anyway, I grew up with very diverse musical influences, and I think came to appreciate differing forms of music, and I think this is a good thing. Some will turn their noses up at pop music, or roll their eyes when landing on a classical station.
Yet, for all my modern alt-rock-emo-new wave loving soul, my favorite song of all time remains Schubert’s “Zum Sanctus” from his German Mass.

But here’s what happened the other day:

I had popped in Depeche Mode’s new CD “Playing the Angel” in our van and was struck again with Martin Gore’s ability to really capture in both lyric and melody the anguish of struggle. David Gahan’s melancholic vocal compliment’s the music and lyric perfectly. The pulsing, relentless electronic music undergirding the lyric of “If I could just hide / The sinner inside /And keep him denied /How sweet life would be / If I could be free / From the sinner in me” is ideal. DM’s music has always carried this questioning, struggling, wrestling through big questions. Unfortunately (to the best of my knowledge) the DM boys have not yet found the hope that is offered in Christ in a real way. It is obvious they’ve had interactions with religious folk – the symbolisms and phraseology are just too apparent. I hope they one day do. But the music grabbed me at the core. My soul connected to the music in much the same way it does when reading Romans 7. This is good music. It is raw and unrefined, yet it is good.

Later that same day, my wife and I took our kids to the Fine Arts Center at UWSP where the Suzuki camp kids were playing a recital. The first two pieces were good. Talented kids, playing good music.

The third student to play, played another of my favorite pieces: The prelude of J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite in G Major, and I was moved deeply again. While the piece was played well, it was not played with the expertise of Yo Yo Ma, but the piece itself grabbed me again. But this music was more like ‘hearing’ the math theorems written on the window pane in the movie “A Beautiful Life.” This is music that is like a majestic, mathematically-based, Newtonian cathedral built on formula and rule and precision AND emotion.

I can’t put my finger on a specific emotion, but it reminds me of going for brisk walks in Autumn, when the trees explode with color and the smell of wood fires is in the air. Autumn, when I met my wife, when we had our first child, my first visit to a real coffeeshop. Spice and apples and this feeling of home and longing and majesty and art and warmth.

The recital made me want to buy orchestra tickets for myself and my wife so I can be sun-drenched in the glow of 'classical music performed live.'

I thank God for this exquisite gift He’s given us in it’s many forms. In my life, He has hit my heart using the following: Rock, New Wave, Industrial, Folk, Pop, Electronic, Metal, Classical, Reggae, Emo, World, Romantic, Alternative, Baroque, Ambient, Chant, Chill, Hip Hop, Jazz, R & B, Goth, Blues, as well as other genres.

I thank God for the rich diversity He has given to us in music. All music.

Well, except maybe Country.

[EDIT: and polka]


for a real slice of music that is akin to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster; a drink whose effect is similar to having one's brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.... visit www.punkrockorchestra.com

CLONE WARS: THE REVIEW

Before anything else – major kudos and massive thanks to our friend Amy H for making my son and I these fantastic Jedi robes!!!

These are first thoughts. Any updates or additions after the initial post will be added in bold font.

RATING
Hard core SW fan:......
semi-fanatic fan (me):
casual SW fan:...........
kid SW fan (my son):..
(also after reading some reviews at theforce.net, this last rating of 9.5 stars includes Lucas devotees)
“If you love Jar-Jar you will love this film”

When I first heard that Lucasfilm was retracting an earlier statement and releasing another Star Wars film theatrically I was curious. It was to be their new “3-D” “painterly” style of animation to launch the new ongoing Cartoon Network series: The Cone Wars.

“This is either going to be a fun ride” I thought, “or it’s really gonna fail” (to put it nicely)

My first glimpse of the animation did not leave me impressed because at the same time a fan made teaser called “Tales of the New Republic” splashed its way across the internet – and honestly the quality looked better and the prospect of stories from the New Republic Era were more tantalizing – we would perhaps see Mara Jade, Admiral Thrawn, find out that Mace didn’t really die, Boba had escaped the Sarlacc and Luke and Leia were well on their way to training a new era of Jedi.

“But maybe the Lucasfilm release’s story will be strong,” I thought.

Then details began to leak out. The plot was going to revolve around the Jedi helping Jabba the Hutt recover his kidnapped son, Rotta, and Anakin was going to have a padawan.

Uh oh.

I also had the opportunity to read the “junior novelization” well before seeing the movie.
Reading the book made me want to sell my Star Wars toys and when asked, pretend I had never heard of George Lucas or Star Wars.

“Star Wars? Sorry I am unfamiliar with the film to which you refer.”

On the other hand I could just skip Clone Wars and pretend, as I try, that like Episode 1 it just didn’t really happen. (except for Qui-Gon, Darth Maul and Watto – in that order)

My hope for this movie is that a skillful fan film editor from the originaltrilogy.com community will edit this to feel more like Star Wars. ADigitalman I hope you’re reading.

I had also read Harry Knowles' review at aintitcoolnews.com before Lucas' minions put the heavy screws on him and had him yank it from the site. Apart from Harry's very colorful language I agreed with most of what he said

I went into the theatre prepared to hate, and I mean hate this movie. I went so my son could experience a Star Wars film in the theatre. My hope is they will release the OT (original trilogy) back to theatres at some point. I came away thinking it was better than Phantom Menace for the most part… or at least equal to that atrocity.
So 4 stars out of 10. Let me break it down as fairly as I can:

THE ROTTEN:
- the opening – barf – since when does Star Wars need Space Ghost’s disembodied voiceover recapping what has been going on during the Clone Wars in an old newsreel nod? Does anyone remember Lucas dropping us into a story with NO backstory that opened with “Episode IV”?

- the animation style. Think 60’s Thunderbirds meets stiffly animated films like Hoodwinked (Hoodwinked was saved btw by its clever storyline and smart humor). Think stiff lips. Think 3-D renderings of paintings. Wrinkles look like painted on lines. Seriously it looks like a painting… sort of. In fact it also looks like a 90 minute ad for the new video game. Dudes, ever hear of motion capture? The dancing at Jabbas and Ziros ... were they dancing, or did they need to use the toilet? They looked like marionettes without strings. My daughter's Barbie ballet DVD had better realism of motion.

- the first 15 minutes or so – apart from meeting Ahsoka – totally unnecessary

- Anakin has a padawan? Huh? Oh I see to advance this certain plot point. No – my Anakin doesn’t have a padawan.

- the cutesy names they call each other “Sky Guy”, “Snips”

- Obiwan’s “negotiations” with some alien. Lame. Is Obiwan choking him now or giving him a buddy-buddy hug???

- Jabba has a son – Rotta. Jabba calls him his “punky muffin” Dump out the popcorn so I can throw up in something. And please stop calling it “stinky”. “aww he’s so cute” – hand me the barf bag again please.

- Jabba’s uncle – Ziro. AAAAAAAUGGHHH! close your eyes and imagine the cartoon dog Droopy’s voice. Now imagine him speaking very effeminately. Now open your eyes to see a neon striped Hutt with eye shadow and feather’s adoring his head. A male Hutt in drag complete with semi-lisp. This scene is NOT helped by the AWFUL film noir jazz sax music. I fully expected to hear Garrison Keillior's voice saying, "A dark night in the city that knows how to keep its secrets".... pass the barf bag once more please

- The ___________ battle droids. The “humor” is not humor. It is annoying – unless you are under 10 years old. And since when do battle droids use the expression, “oh my god”? Come on! And why are the droids dumber than Salacious Crumb?

- Continuity anyone? Um… Jabba has obviously heard the name Skywalker now. In fact, Anakin SKYWALKER has saved his son from certain death. Why does he show distain for Luke SKYWALKER when we hit Return of the Jedi? Ooops.

- they cut out the scene from the book where Anakin and Ventress duel atop the back of a Rancor. that would have been coo

- what is the deal with R2's- eye plate and front blue lines - why do they have notches in them?l.

THE OK BITS
ANAKIN
Apart from the dialogue, which to be fair wasn’t as bad as the prequels, this Anakin showed emotion and the voice actor emoted as well. Strange that Hayden C did not.
This Anakin’s voice sounds nothing like Hayden’s – or even the guy from the Cartoon Network’s Clone Wars. At first I found this distracting, but came to eventually think: “this is how he should have sounded in all other incarnations”

SOUNDTRACK
I was expecting John Williams symphonic anthems and swells. What I got was an eclectic mix of:
- world music that could have originated on the streets of Marrakesh. This was cool and added an otherworldy feel.
- some vocal pieces that could have fit nicely into The Passion of the Christ or Episode III
- Driving rock music akin to the soundtrack from the XBOX game Spy Hunter
- some symphonic music
- out of place jazz (music leading up to Ziro's) (like they were trying to hearken back to the Cantina – but missed that Williams took Jazz and fused it Caribbean instruments and Moog organ making it seem alien)
- an occasional nod to the Original Soundtrack
I will most likely buy the soundtrack, forget it is Star Wars related and just enjoy it

REAL VOICE TALENTS
Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
Christopher Lee as Dooku
Whoever did Yoda and Obiwan and Padme
Jabba’s voice. Finally! Finally he sounds as good as in Return of the Jedi. This is partially the reason that I refuse to watch unedited versions of EP I & IV that contain him – he just doesn’t sound the same (and they never got his look right)

SOME “STAR WARS” MOMENTS
The Asajj Ventress subplot was great – should have been expanded. Best character in this film
The flight from Teth to Tatooine. Some good dog fights and the only line that made me laugh out loud.
The Anakin/Dooku saber fight was cool.
Some air/space battles

THE JAWAS - hilarious in an appropriate way. and can you ever hate jawas?

Will this movie make it onto my DVD shelf?
It will – but because my son wants it.

The ONLY other way would be through a skillful edit done by a fan. Watching the cartoon I consciously thought it could work with a few major overhauls including some soundtrack replacements and changing Ziro’s voice. Let him speak Huttese and add subs for crying out loud. Make him a Hutt – not a stereotype.

So until someone with more technical expertise than me can make this a true Star Wars chapter I will pass on it.