The Long Line

Composition is similar to mathematics. It's not just a matter of counting or fractions. In musical composition we create a set of initial conditions and follow a trail of logic based on these conditions to their inevitable and logical conclusion.

The heart of the composer and the scientist are one and the same.

Dedicated to discipline, sincerity and logic, the composer seeks a truth through experiment. The composer's creation is the shadow of forces that have no name yet are understood in the recesses of human experience. Beyond psychology and mathematics, musical expression, the most abstract and ancient of all the arts, approaches the mystical in both its mysterious aesthetic and powerful affect.

Russia, China and the Future

Let me get a few things off my chest. Now, I might be wrong about all of this but here is what I think:

Why are we in Iraq? It's not about oil. We have oil in California. We have oil in Texas. If we have a hankerin' for foreign oil, hell, there's always oil in Mexico.

We're in Iraq to keep the Russians from sweeping down into the Mid East. That's why no one will come out and say "Let's recall all our troops, NOW!"

At present, the essence of our policies, foreign and domestic, regards the protection of America and American interests from Russia and China.

Conservatively, the Soviet Union lost over 23 Million in World War II. There are over a billion people who live in China. Are we prepared to go to war with people who can lose millions of people? Indeed, the Chinese can arm their soldiers with slingshots and still win, simply because they have millions upon millions of people they can throw at us.

And Russia and China have made very provocative sounds as of late. Some of these sounds are rants, some are munitions. We should worry.

And our first line of defense is our economy. A healthy, liquid economy that is not pooled into a few dozen Super Companies (too many eggs in one basket).

Regarding the economy, this first and most important defense...lets not talk of a housing crisis. Housing was artificially high. It has now corrected. This is a natural occurrence. And it was natural that some who invested in real estate lost money.

The bail out. Lets not give a crap load of money to companies who have made draconian loan contracts, been greedy and lost tons of cash because of their greed. How many people would default on loans if the interest wasn't so massive, if there weren't so many penalties, if blah blah blah... I mean, really, does anyone NOT know what I'm talking about?

Do we give the money to the people who need the actual cash? No, we give it to the people who, though greed and avarice, caused the financial catastrophe to begin with.

Our first line of defense is not strong and because of this we approach the military option. The military option. We cannot win a conventional war with Russia or China.

I imagine we have four years.





Of course, I could be wrong about all of this. Oh, and the picture? What do those beautiful legs have to do with all of this military, economic stuff? Nothing. I just like the picture.

I'm Annoyed All Over Again

Recently I listened to a CD I haven't listened to for quite a while. And you know what? It inspires in me the same feelings it had when I first heard it years ago in 2001.

And they weren't good feelings...

Planet of the Apes. Most of us have (happily) forgotten that there was a sort of remake of the 1968 classic a few years back. When you say "Planet of the Apes" (assuming you ever say "Planet of the Apes") you don't have to clarify which film you're talking about. No one (more or less) remembers the newer one.

So here I am, kicking a dead horse. But I've got to tell you, this soundtrack REALLY bugs me, even after all these years.

There is no getting around it; one simply has to compare the new movie with the old movie and the new soundtrack with the old one... and the new does not fair well!

I think most of us are disappointed in Tim Burton for not getting Jerry Goldsmith (who composed the classic score for the original film) and working instead with his default composer, a fine composer, Danny Elfman,

Elfman, who did a good score for Tim Burton's Batman and some lesser scores for Burton's lesser movies, had some mighty big shoes to fill when he took on the composing duties of the new Apes flick. Unfortunately for Elfman and Burton, Goldsmith was size 19 and Elman is a size 5.

The 2001 soundtrack isn't bad. Let me say that again. It isn't bad. It's obviously done by a professional, but it is a terribly middle-of-the-road-don't-take-any-chances kind of score. There's a lot of repetition in it and no discernible development. The orchestration is uninspired and bourgeois, relying on percussion and synth' splashes for excitement instead of thoughtful, composerly musical solutions. You know, things like development and contrast.

I expect more from SONY Classical. The CD package itself does not live up to the best standards. There are no liner notes, for one (but then again, what could there possibly be to say about this music?), and for another (and I'll admit this is a frivolous, cheap shot), the pictures in the booklet aren't very good. Instead of liner notes (which might be of some interest to an adult audience), we're given an excerpt from a comic book about the movie!

Jeez!

There is nothing comic about this moody score. Nothing. Then again there is nothing exciting about it, either. There's little feeling to most of the CD. Little feeling, that is, except for the last track, a "Rule the Planet Remix" by Paul Oakenfold (as far as I can tell, a sort of has-been club "composer"). This does finally illicit an emotion...annoyance.

दिग्गिंग Digging

I could write the word "digging" fifty times and not get any action out of it. It wouldn't say just what I mean. It wouldn't say what I'm trying to do, even though what I'm trying to do is digging.

Digging...deeper and deeper into that lowest portion of my brain where everything is as sincere as possible. And sincerity is what I love the most. In writing, anyway, that is what I love the most.

It's tough to figure out what to say when all you can think of is LOVE and ACTION and TIME. Whenever I hear the word HOPE I cringe. I think a lot of people who use it pace themselves like big cats in a small cage in a Victorian zoo or, with flowers, expertly rendered by a professional illustrator, whisper loudly and unsympathetically a mass-produced and cheap greeting card. I know what hope is, but the word is sullied for me by cardboard sentimentality.

And what good would it do, anyway? Hope is so desperate. And kind'a sad, too, when you think about it.

Besides, when I dig I don't see hope there, anyhow. I see MOVEMENT and I see PRAYERS and I see MUSIC. I see a moment bisecting the Gyre. And here I am in it, like a lost tourist.

Like a lost tourist, in this moment, thumbing through a travel brochure that just doesn't make any sense. I guess, when I am digging, that's what I'm trying to read.

Battlestar in the Corner Pocket

The writers have written themselves into a corner.

Now, the following is for fans of Battlestar Galactica. I thought of explaining things as I went along, realized I was too tired to bother and thus, an article that was originally about writing and logic has turned into my VERY FIRST FAN BLOG!

I blame it on my meds...

The first season of Battlestar Galactica was as good as one could ever hope from TV. Tight, thoughtfully written, beautifully acted and all that other stuff one desires from drama (or, really, anything on the big or little screen).

In the second and third seasons we began to hit bumps, as it became increasingly apparent that no one on the writing staff, including the creators, knew where this whole thing was going to end up. Problems that seemed solved were revisited (Adama and his son clashing, apparently because no one could think of what to do with these guys that week). Everyone hating Baltar, even though he seemed quirky and fun (unless they knew the true story, which was only possible if the characters were watching their show every week!).

We've been told from the start that the Cylons have a plan. And, indeed, they must. The gods know, they could have wiped out the human race every week if they wanted to. Why hit the humans with one or two Base Stars when they could send a dozen (and why, in the Star Trek universe, don't the Borg send twenty or so cubes to attack the Federation? They almost blew the Federation out of the stars with just ONE in the movie, First Contact!).

The Cylons have had agents (sleepers as well as moles) all over the place since day one. They've always known where the human fleet was. The could have sabotaged the Galactica and what all 24 hours a day. Why this cat and mouse?

Oh, and speaking of Baltar...why did they need him in the initial attack on Caprica? The human folk didn't know that Cylons looked like humans. They had agents everywhere. Shit, they could have written the defense codes themselves! They didn't need to wheedle them out of Baltar.

Oh, and what about Baltar's amazing Cylon detector? Everyone thinks it doesn't work (but we, the regular viewers, know it does). Didn't anyone test it? And if Baltar was wondering if HE was a Cylon, why didn't he test himself?

And what was WITH that trial? Oh, big bad Baltar capitulated to the Cylons on New Caprica. BFD! What was he supposed to do? And why does Gaeta hate him? He was around Baltar a lot. Didn't he see how Baltar was suffering? And will Gaeta turn into the human, singing version of a Hybrid?

And on and on...

The writers have done much for the sake of dramatic license, but now comes the fourth and last season and it's time to pay the piper.

Will everyone find Earth? (My guess is that that's the Cylon home world. By the way, how come no one has ever asked where the Cylon home world is? I mean, no one has ever even brought it up!). Will Starbuck and Lee get together for keeps? Will Adama and President Roslin get together for keeps? Will we ever find out what the hell that thing was with Baltar seeing Six in his mind while Six was always seeing Baltar in hers? Is anyone doing ANYTHING with that damn gift shop?

But these are just the obvious questions. There have been questions since the pilot (movie) and the first episode ("33"). And I think there just might be too many for a satisfactory conclusion.

This final season has not been moving. Things aren't progressing much in the story and much is stilted and self-conscious. The series had had rough moments from time to time (did anyone really give a crap about Kat? Did anyone really believe in the Cylon Red Barron, Scar?) but with the unexplained return of Starbuck from the dead it looks like the show jumped the shark.

Still, the first season of Battlestar Galactica and the first few episodes of season three were magnificent and I am grateful for them.

The Science of Battlestar Galactica: The Colors of Space, Part 2

The Science of Battlestar Galactica: The Colors of Space, Part 2