phil – Page 8 – quieter

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

Went to my first sf symphony concert of the season on Friday night. It is always fun to go, and I’m glad I can look forward to a whole season of concerts.

The first piece, Ruggle’s _Angels_ was an all trumpet piece that was so short I didn’t have time to get into it. The final note was ruined by a deafening sneeze on the left side of the orchestra.

The second piece didn’t work for me either, and I drifted off a bit, as jet lag took hold. This was also music for just a few strings, keyboard, and harp.

The main piece was fantastic, played enthusiastically by the whole orchestra. So the sound was bigger, and more exciting. Still, the 5th Symphony was a departure for Mahler, and the emotions are not as raw and direct as hi earlier work. I really enjoyed the Scherzo and the 4th movement.

After I went to bambuddah lounge for a brief drink. And then off to f’s house for his birthday party.

2046

This is a movie I need to see again. This is a fine, fine movie.

This is a sequel (in the best sense of that word) to the fantastic ‘In the mood for Love’. Tony Leung returns, but his character has been irrevocably changed by the events of the previous film, and while he is surrounded by women and love, he is unable to… reorder his interior feelings to connect successfully to the people around him.

I talk to people about this movie and they don’t like the coolness and coldness of Leung’s character. But to me, that is what makes this story true. Also, there are no clear explanations. Why does he stay distant from the gorgeous Zang Ziyi, who clearly cares for him? Is it because of his past, or simply because she is a prostitute?

Who knows? All we know is that he can’t, even when asked directly, allow himself to care for her, and when she faces this, she has to tear herself away.

His friendship with the hotel manager’s daughter, Miss Fang, played by Faye Wong, is easier to understand. He

Once again Wong Kar Wai drenches the screen with atmosphere.

Shinobi

Saw this at Shibuya’s Cinepalace on thursday. Thursday is men’s day, only 1000 yen.

A love story told as an martial arts fantasy. There’s a little bit of wirework but it is mostly special effects and CG. Very pretty, and fun to watch. CG is not quite up to ILM standards but it wasn’t so bad as to be distracting.

Odagiri Joe and Nakayama Yukie are in rival shinobi clans, the Koga and Iga. Since Nobunaga has united Japan, the age of war has ended and also the need for the Shinobi. Nobunaga orders Hattori Hanzo to have the shinobi clans fight each other, hoping that they will eliminate each other.

So, basically: “I love you, but I have to kill you.”

Ya, young love is tough.

Though it’s worth noting that I saw this without English subtitles, and so maybe that’s not the story at all. Though I’m pretty sure it is.

Anyway, it’s fun. Definitely in the hollywood mold of genre movie, with a Japanese story.

3 stars.

What I am reading

Magazines! Yes, I’m reading magazines. Unapologetically.

The best magazine find so far has been Paste. The tagline is ‘Signs of life in music, film, and culture’. It comes with a cd full of music and sometimes, a dvd. The reviews do a good job of introducing new music– providing history, background and context. At least they do for me, someone who loves msuic but has huge holes in his knowledge of the last 50 years of music.

Anyway, Paste magazine. Highly recommended. It’s like having a literate, non-condescending knowledgeable music afficionado friend with bad taste in fonts give you music recommendations every couple months.

I still get res magazine, but the editorial quality in that thing continues to plummet. res feels like the newsletter for the terminally hip video/designer kids. I still enjoy it though, not for the articles, but for the dvd that comes to subscribers. My stack of res dvds is pretty thick, and it’s great to go back through the music videos and shorts for a look at a technique or fascinating story.

The next two mags don’t have much content, but they do have decently written articles.They are related to each other in that they are concerned with technique aspects of creating something that is both creative and commercial. Best of all, they are both free.

Game developer mag has post mortems on video game projects that are (to me) more interesting than the games themselves. Discussions of programming techniques, the business of games, and interviews make it fun read.

But DV mag I read cover to cover. Not hard, it’s a thin mag, but the articles are always brimming with practical experience. No rehashed press releases, just reviews from people with experience.

The common theme is media, especially learning how to manipulate media. This is definitely where my interests are these days.

Can’t wait to see how I’m going to usethis mishmash of interests.

what i’m listening to

Here are some songs from my iTunes playlist ‘new tunes’ that

played within the last month
added in the last 3 months
played more than 5 times

From the list of 25 songs that made that cut, here are a few of the top ranked songs:

Chewing Gum – Annie: Norwegian pop. What’s not to love?
Right now – Love Psychedelico: LP is one of the best rock bands in Japan. Synth is a new sound for them, but it plays support to the acoustic guitar and the fabulous vocals and melody.
Emotions and Photons – Freezepop: Man, so good. This is an old song that I’m just discovering.
Somebody More Like You – Nickel Creek: last issue of Paste magazine turned me on to Nickel Creek, a bluegrass band that writes and sings amazingly. The lyrics grabbed me on this song.
All Your Life – Nina Nastasia: The vocalist from Boom-Bip’s “The Matter (of our discussion)” with one of her own songs. Songs about heartbreak are just so much fun.
We Belong (Cabin Life Remix) – Pat Benetar: this dance remix of a classic is done by a friend of mine. You’ll like it.

Write a comment and let me know what you think! or–got any suggestions?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Pretty Entertaining. Loved the production design. And the Oompas where fantastic. I loved all the musical numbers with the oompas.

The glass elevator was cool.

Still, Gene Wilder will always be Wonka for me.

2.5 stars out of 4.

saw this with A. at AMC 1000 on Monday the 9th of August. Did a little translating for her.

Stomp

saw stomp a few Wednesdays ago.

that was a lot of fun. I liked how the pieces amped up and wound down. there was great design in the variety, speed and types of sound. Mostly I enjoyed how original it was–or how it represented a type of creativity with everyday objects.

one segment, had great lighting design. the dancers on stage, rotating in two circles. a strong low angled light from behind them cause their long, angled shadows on the walls fore of the procenium, to either side of the audience.

there was some audience interaction, which made me think again of the winking acknowledgement in performance arts to the audience’s self awareness. the long ghost of Zengotita is inescapable, these days.

Cutting

I spent time I should have been cleaning doing a bit of video editing on Saturday night.

After a couple hours I was able to shape a couple minutes of bad footage into a decent little clip.

I need to practice this work a bit more. My next thing to geg done is make a list of transitions and effects that I need to practice doing. I’m in a fun space with video– just learning technique and how to shape footage into something a bit tighter. LaterM the art of editing will have to be approached.

I emailed out my clip on Saturday night, and one of my friends emailed back with an excellent remix of Pat Benetar. Nice to know that I was not the only one at home working on a project on a Saturday.

Harry Potter 6: Half-Blood Prince

So, finished HP6 last night.

I read chapter 1 at lunch on Monday at the bookstore.

Did the same with chapter 2 yesterday.

Around 3pm yesterday, Amazon.com deliver my copy.

I read it from the moment I left work (5:15 or so) till around 1030pm, when I realized I hadn’t had dinner. I took a break for a bit and then read till a little after 1am.

Those books are like candy, you just inhale ’em.

-/-

Anyway, I’ll say this: I’m awfully disappointed that Harry didn’t get it on with Cho Chang in this book. C’mon, Harry! You’ve only got one more book to go.

As for the obvious thing going on with Ron and Hermione, let’s just get it over with, shall we?

I did like the way Harry picked up a new girl and then dumped her a few chapters later. He let her down easy though–“Voldemorte might hurt you to get to me. I can’t risk that.” I gotta remember that one, might come in handy.

Setsunai Koi

My friend kv’s boyfriend moved back to home yesterday, stopping at BKK on the way.

kv told me that she cried non stop at the airport. And that when he finally had to head off to the gates she held him so he wouldn’t leave. Apparently she’s still weepy. and despite attempts to get by her coworkers to cheer her up, she’s inconsolable.

I’m trying to recall the last time I felt that way upon saying goodbye to someone.

It’s been a long time.

There’s something very raw this kind of emotion. It is somewhat like a child’s feelings, full of fear of abandonment and loss. It is primal, not logical. And in the circles of people I know, that kind of reaction would be viewed as immature.

Maybe. But why judge that emotion? Why put it into a box like that?

She didn’t want him to go. That’s it.

There’s a phrase in Japanese pop songs–‘setsunai koi’–the painful difficulty of love. That’s what her emotions remind me of.

I wonder if I am capable of letting myself feel that deeply any more, of letting the heart run wild and loose like that. And how did I get to be this way?

-/-

Later, thinking about it more, I realize that much of this is personality. Still, my emotions are pretty heavily filtered–whether that is something I learned to do or it’s just part of my innate personality, I don’t know. (And I’ll save discussion of personality for another time.)

At any rate, I don’t feel raw despair or love or hate like I used to as a kid. I wonder what it’s like to be that emotional.