Good question. I don't want to run a Linux-based program solely for the sake of running a Linux-based program. I want to concentrate on the MUSIC.
I don't want to be sitting there thinking "I wish this program would do such-and-such, but that's OK because I'm running on a better OS."
Right now, believe it or not, Windows98 handles all my music needs flawlessly. The software I use (Cakewalk Pro Audio) isn't the highest-end software there is, but it's matured over 9 versions and I've used it since version 2.0 for DOS.
Can new software be designed from the ground up with the same functionality for Linux? Sure, if it's designed by people who know what musicians/composers actually need to do. But the hardware support has to be there first. So there are some obstacles to overcome here, and eventually, I'll bet that there will be linux ports of the most popular professional packages. I'm in no hurry though... there was a time when Windows sucked at anything multimedia.
If you're just recording a live performance, there's no reason to be using a computer at all.
Try a DAT.
If the response is "I can't afford a DAT," then you also probably wouldn't be able to afford good enough computer hardware capable of making a quality recording of a live performance, either.
All the microphones, mixing equipment, etc. will make the DAT (or computer) look like one of the cheaper components anyway.
Actually SiO2 is just one type of glass. And probably the most common.
I read about the shattering-teardrop effect. But "they" said that holding it in your hand is harmless, because it doesn't break into shards, it turns into very fine sand. It doesn't really explode... just "poof" it's sand! Obviously it's better to try it in somebody else's hand, and not your own.
...such as plate tectonics or unexpected mountain ranges.
I wonder how long it would take for the glass to flow towards the outside of the disc.
Probably a few hundred thousand years. Old windows are "warped" due to the manufacturing method... let me see if I can remember this correctly, but back in those days, the molten glass sheet was wrapped around a wooden cylinder, then cut on one side and rolled out flat. The sheet was usually thicker in the middle (I think) and then cut down the middle again, so that you'd have panes with one end of greater thickness. The panes were installed with the thicker, heavier end down for stability reasons. Glass is an amorphous solid with a strange viscosity/temperature curve. In fact, the shape of the curve depends on the rate of cooling. At room temperature (or hard drive temperature), glass still technically will flow since it's not crystalline, but it flows on a geological time scale. Before the platters on a hard drive warp, you'd probably have to worry about protecting your data center against pesky occasional ice ages.
As a slight off-topic aside, glass is some really Amazing Stuff. You can drop a teardrop-shaped blob of glass into some water to cool. If it hardens without cracking, you'll have this solid blob of glass with a very long, thin tail. It has enormous amounts of internal stress due to the fast cooling. You can hit the big blob end hard with a hammer and it won't break. But if you take your fingers and snap the very tip of the tail off, the entire structure will instantly POP and disentigrate into a pile of sand! And that, my son, is why you would never want to live in a world without glass.
I would love to forward this thread to every headhunter who turned me down because I didn't have at least X years of experience with Y. Or maybe I should add RTFM to my skill set on my resume!
Yes I know the whole castle-foundation vs. skyscraper dilemma. I've only been on my rampage for a little under 2 years though. I had to learn VB when I changed positions in my current company (no problems there), barcoding/EDI... I've started feeling unchallenged so now, on my own I've gotten very comfortable with linux, MS-SQL, and most recently Java. Unfortunately I don't have any skyscrapers to show on my resume. I'm trying to find ways to convince potential new employers that I really am a good learner, and that a broad background combined with intelligence really is a good thing. A lot of employers are interested in what experience I have (or haven't had) in some specific technology ("how much experience do you have with Crystal Reports 6?") that they're using and I wind up looking bad:( Sometimes I just want to say "look you bastards, I got a degree in physics, I'm not an idiot and I know how to RTFM!"
I love the smell of stinky exhaust that comes from my exhaust when I fire up my big gas guzzling 5.7L V8 (if you consider 27 highway mpg "gas guzzling"). I also like red meat. Fur.... I don't like fur, because fur only comes from cute animals. I have no problem with alligator skin or leather. I doubt I'll ever go electric (I'll go Tofu first, dammit) but as soon as Mr. Fusion comes out, I'll jump on it!
That's not surprising-- pour enough juice into a big motor and you have a very efficient, monster torque producer. All we need are super-efficient batteries now. The problem with electric cars is making them accelerate without killing the battery life. In a drag racer, you don't care how long the batteries last, you just want to draw as much current as you can without melting them. I doubt we'll see an electric vehicle running in Le Mans anytime soon.
Pawn shops. Also, look in the used equipment section of a Mars Music if you have one near you. Check classified ads also, and look around on the web (such as Harmony Central for used equipment. Unlike computer equipment, electronic music equipment that's even 10 years old can still be very useful, and even highly sought after. For example - if you can find somebody who's getting rid of a Yamaha DX7 for cheap, that's a hell of a find. Not a good synthesizer (FM sound), but a fantastic MIDI controller for other synths and soundcards and the thing just never breaks.
Look at prices on minidisc player/recorder decks, they are pretty cheap now. They're good for mastering on a budget, better than tape but not as good as DAT. Just be aware that Minidisc audio is compressed.
It all depends on what you want to do. It's harder to make a good *recording* studio on a budget than it is to make a decent MIDI-only setup on a budget. All you really need is maybe an SBLive value, and a keyboard with MIDI ports (preferably with velocity sensitivity.) There are lots of good soundfonts available for free on The SBLive Site. Trouble is, you'll need windows to use them... and some sequencing software.
If you do audio and MIDI on a budget, it's hard to beat the SBLive Value for 59 bucks! Unfortunately, if you really want to get into it, this ain't a very cheap hobby:( Fortunately, getting paid for a couple of my projects went a long way towards paying for the more expensive gear. So for me it's more of an investment, even though I haven't actually turned a profit on it yet:|
I'll be realistic here. I'd love to do all my MIDI under Linux but it has a long way to go in order to fully support the necessary hardware. Maybe things will be different in a couple years. Remember when everybody used Macintosh for music because the support wasn't there on Windows? My how things never change. BeOS shows promise-- we'll just have to wait and see on that one also. As for now, if I were to use MIDI software under Linux, it would need to do the following (based on what my current CW Pro Audio setup does):
1) Multitrack audio with non-destructive effects assignable to each track 2) MIDI effects (arpeggiator, chord analyzer) 3) Patch lists, with soundfont support, and patch names for most synthesizers 4) SYSX bank capability-maybe Brahms does this. I have custom banks to load into my external synths (wavestation SR, Proteus MPS) 5) Joystick MIDI support for both of my soundcards. Maybe Linux support is already there for dedicated MIDI interfaces, like MOTU? 6) Soundfont support. I have a few hundred MB of soundfonts that I like to use. Getting general MIDI support with the Emu10K1 under Linux would be a start, although I don't use GM. 7) Audio scrubbing + editing + interfacing with a 3rd-party audio tool, like SoundForge 8) Emu10K1 effects support. Beyond just reverb, the effects engine is actually pretty powerful. 9) Software synthesizers like Reality which can also be used in the recording software.
I could probably list a few more, but you get the idea. For me at least, I'm at quite a bit less than "99%" ready to make the switch. Based on my requirements above, most of which only Windows currently fulfills, I'm perhaps 30% ready. I wouldn't mind keeping windows a little bit longer, and still use it for games + music software. Then I can just start up an Exceed session whever I need me Linux fix:)
Under linux, right now the SBLive just plays sound, and the drivers are still pretty buggy. On my windows box, I use two soundcards, a TB Pinnacle and a Live with digital I/O. I load approx. 50MB worth of soundfonts for some of my pieces (32MB of which can be used at any one time by the Live), as well as using the onboard effects, which I can route my external synths into via my mixer. A MIDI sequencer under Linux just won't cut it for me.
Re:Maybe Iridium should be put on eBay?
on
R.I.P. Iridium
·
· Score: 2
I wonder what they'll do with the satellites if there's no buyer. Burn 'em up in the atmosphere? No more flares then.
If the sats are shut down, and if their attitudes are no longer being monitored/controlled from the ground, the flares will no longer be predictable. Right now, they have to be predicted, because a flare can do some serious damage to sensitive telescope equipment... or at least cause some pain to an observer!
Maybe Iridium should be put on eBay?
on
R.I.P. Iridium
·
· Score: 4
Here we have 80+ satellites in orbit that nobody wants, and I still have to access the net at 56k.
The world is full of irony.
By the way, Heavens Above is a great place to look if you want to know when and where iridium flashes will take place. I'm sure those will be missed...
Hold 3 pages up to a light, you now have letters in different orientations... but not depth, unless you're using really thick paper. The three sheets will just appear superimposed but it would be very difficult to tell which one was in back, in the middle, or in front. I didn't say that this WASN'T a possible explanation, just not likely, since I don't think Poe was reknowned for his ability to think spatially (assuming he was the author?). Maybe he could, but he just wasn't known for that specifically. It seems to me that there would be a more "algorithmic" solution...
That's always a possibility, but in order to encode a puzzle in such a manner, the author would have to have a pretty good understanding of 3D perception and transformation, right? The question is: would an accomplished LITERARY genius necessarily have good spacial comprehension? If so, then it would be a trait nobody had known about until now. If not, maybe the puzzle is an attempt at 3D encoding, but not a very good one, so it would be easy to crack. Or utterly impossible if he didn't do it right!
I've always liked John Williams' work, although he hasn't done anything really innovative lately. From TPM soundtrack, the music is definitely more complex than the original Star Wars, but I don't think any of it needs to be Oscar nominated. That's not to say I don't like John Williams-- he just hasn't done anything recently that made me go "oh, wow, that's really cool." He developed his trademark "fanfarish" sound in the 80's, but since then it hasn't changed much. His style is a meld of lots of other composers with not much added, except the ability to create melodies that stick in your head, which isn't easy to do. Duel of the Fates sounded a hell of a lot like Carl Orff.
I know that innovative music isn't exactly a high criteria for the oscars, and there are some tracks on the TPM soundtrack that I really like. Duel of the Fates is nice in that it builds on one simple theme. Anakin's Theme is nice with the way he worked in the touch of the dark side towards the end. Track 5 (Sith Spacecraft) is great for showing off my Klipsch Promedia speakers. So... what movie scores do I like for being unique, different, and/or highly effective? The Fifth Element The Truman Show Braveheart Aliens (James Horner's creepy side)
Yes, I agree that it lacked realism. It's one thing to take poetic liberties with reality in order to have a good plot... but this x-files episode was just goofy, as if nobody really did much research into video gaming (namely FPS games).
Now there were specific instances that I'm sure made all the/. readers chuckle (like jiggling a PC drive's power connector in order to reroute something to work a kill switch into the system? Huh??) but the whole concept just totally missed it with me.
For one, the actual videogame that the show featured was just lame and the technology behind it didn't even make sense, it was just thrown out there for viewers to accept. Was it all holographic, or were they plugged into a Matrix-style world where all the images were projected into their minds while they physically walked around? If the game was about to ship everywhere, do customers have to buy a big concrete room with holographic projectors in order to run it? And by the way, did Mulder really say "Can you texture-wrap it" in reference to the wireframe model?
Now about the game itself (and this is just a rant) but it seems like the last video game the writers ever played was one of those police-shooter type games in the arcade, because that's what the FPS game looked like. Boring. They definitely missed the boat as far as figuring out what the hardcore game players are actually doing. The fact that what's-her-name created the "Goddess" character for herself may have had some influence from the RPG/MUD sector... or just a cheesy coincidence.
However, I think Mulder did get it right as far as saying that violent games are an outlet for the primal anger that is being more and more constrained in a civilized society. In other words, games such as the X-files FPS(or real-life games) don't cause real-life violence, but serve to relieve the pressure that would otherwise cause it, which is the view already expressed countless times by members of the gaming community.
Man, this episode could've been for US, it's a shame it had to turn out like it did. At least Scully gave in at the end and kicked some ass.
Well I'm pretty sure you enter it somewhere along the way. Many normal users will just enter their email in the online registration without thinking twice about it (assuming there's an online reg., I didn't really want to find out). However, it wouldn't be beyond them to root around your system to find it though!
Who is Hyden? Do you mean Haydn? He doesn't strike me as one of the great composers. Sure he was prolific, but also very formulaic, and I don't consider him "great" but that's just me.
But Beethoven is one of the true great composers. He basically defined a new era, and used form as powerfully as melody, whereas classical and baroque pretty much followed standard pre-defined forms. The problem with baroque music as it applies to something like Fantasia is that it's not good for musically illustrating a story. It all falls under the "3rd category" in fantasia, music for its own sake, but still it's difficult to make up a story to go along with baroque/classical. The music they picked was mostly from the 20th century (except for Beethoven) and those were illustrated by short stories. Beethoven was illustrated by more abstract visuals-- but that would've gotten old without more variety. The other reason that later music was used, Beethoven being the earliest piece, was that they wanted music that would use an entire orchestra. If they had done any baroque, would the IMAX experience have been the same if a harpsichord and a string quartet were used? Even Mozart's orchestras weren't that big. No lower brass, and no percussion aside from timpani. Wagner would've worked out well, but then you'd have to devote half the movie to Wagner (did he write anything short?) As it stands, the whole soundtrack is amazing. It's the Chicago Symphony, with probably the best brass section of any symphony in the world, so naturally it's very cool that most of the music shows 'em off! I only have two complaints: in the Beethoven, they skipped some repeats (5th symphony, 1st movement) in the interest of time, and the Soundtrack CD has the CSO playing Sorcerer's Apprentice whereas the IMAX movie used a remastered recording from the original Fantasia. Both are very good, but naturally the quality of the CSO recording sounds better, I just wish they'd been consistent between the film and the soundtrack.
I especially like the part under "E-Mail." Your acceptance of the "Free Video Update" browser enhancement constitutes your agreement to receive periodic communications from GoHip! and THIRD PARTIES, via e-mail.
So, you have no choice but to let them sell your email address to spammers. In fact, you agree to this when you click "Accept" on the license agreement that nobody reads. This has nothing to do with ActiveX security of course, but it's just more evidence that GoHip is run by criminals.
I have a 52X Kenwood, and lately it's been getting more picky about what CD's it wants to read. I'm also getting more and more buffer underruns while copying from that drive, so I have to copy through the HD. Never had that problem with my previous CD Reader. Seems like I've been reading reports on low reliability around the newsgroups also. When it's working, it's a very fast drive! Too bad it doesn't rip audio as fast as my Sony CDRW though.
Now perhaps there's a firmware update, I just haven't gotten around to checking yet...
Errr.. and how much do you have to pay for kernel 2.4.0?
None. Are you saying that's an excuse for it to have bugs? 2.4.0 will need patches just like Win2000 and every other OS ever released. Know anybody that's still using kernel 2.2.0?
What I'm saying is that game compatibility shouldn't have been (and wasn't) a priority with windows 2000. So it was added later with a patch. Big deal.
...$300 for Office 97 and $150 for for Win98, all of which has been sub-standard...
Well, no argument there. I will admit that Win2000 is a vast improvement though. At work, I upgraded over my Win98 installation which had to be rebooted 2-3 times a day. Haven't seen Win2000 crash yet since I installed it last Thursday. A couple of applications have crashed, but I just got an error notification and that's it. I'm keeping my Win98 setup at home until full SBLive support gets into Win2000.
As for the 1990's BMW, I don't think I'd want one...
My company uses the SurfNazi.. er, SurfWatch on the proxy server. The Onion is blocked out! Nooooo!
Instead of the dialup, you can go through an anonymizer or URL rewriter. Many of those are also blocked by SurfWatch, but not fr0.idzap.com. It's free, but you have to have look at an extra banner ad. It also doesn't require you to change your proxy setting. Any site that's in their blocked site list will go through (like TheOnion) but URL's that have keywords in them still get blocked.
It would have been funny to see MS convince their biggest customers' IT managers that Win2000 really did need to be delayed yet again to ensure game compatibility in their next corporate "professional" desktop and server OS.
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Good question.
I don't want to run a Linux-based program solely for the sake of running a Linux-based program.
I want to concentrate on the MUSIC.
I don't want to be sitting there thinking "I wish this program would do such-and-such, but that's OK because I'm running on a better OS."
Right now, believe it or not, Windows98 handles all my music needs flawlessly. The software I use (Cakewalk Pro Audio) isn't the highest-end software there is, but it's matured over 9 versions and I've used it since version 2.0 for DOS.
Can new software be designed from the ground up with the same functionality for Linux? Sure, if it's designed by people who know what musicians/composers actually need to do.
But the hardware support has to be there first. So there are some obstacles to overcome here, and eventually, I'll bet that there will be linux ports of the most popular professional packages. I'm in no hurry though... there was a time when Windows sucked at anything multimedia.
If you're just recording a live performance, there's no reason to be using a computer at all.
Try a DAT.
If the response is "I can't afford a DAT," then you also probably wouldn't be able to afford good enough computer hardware capable of making a quality recording of a live performance, either.
All the microphones, mixing equipment, etc. will make the DAT (or computer) look like one of the cheaper components anyway.
Actually SiO2 is just one type of glass. And probably the most common.
I read about the shattering-teardrop effect. But "they" said that holding it in your hand is harmless, because it doesn't break into shards, it turns into very fine sand. It doesn't really explode... just "poof" it's sand! Obviously it's better to try it in somebody else's hand, and not your own.
...such as plate tectonics or unexpected mountain ranges.
I wonder how long it would take for the glass to flow towards the outside of the disc.
Probably a few hundred thousand years. Old windows are "warped" due to the manufacturing method... let me see if I can remember this correctly, but back in those days, the molten glass sheet was wrapped around a wooden cylinder, then cut on one side and rolled out flat. The sheet was usually thicker in the middle (I think) and then cut down the middle again, so that you'd have panes with one end of greater thickness. The panes were installed with the thicker, heavier end down for stability reasons.
Glass is an amorphous solid with a strange viscosity/temperature curve. In fact, the shape of the curve depends on the rate of cooling.
At room temperature (or hard drive temperature), glass still technically will flow since it's not crystalline, but it flows on a geological time scale. Before the platters on a hard drive warp, you'd probably have to worry about protecting your data center against pesky occasional ice ages.
As a slight off-topic aside, glass is some really Amazing Stuff. You can drop a teardrop-shaped blob of glass into some water to cool. If it hardens without cracking, you'll have this solid blob of glass with a very long, thin tail. It has enormous amounts of internal stress due to the fast cooling.
You can hit the big blob end hard with a hammer and it won't break. But if you take your fingers and snap the very tip of the tail off, the entire structure will instantly POP and disentigrate into a pile of sand! And that, my son, is why you would never want to live in a world without glass.
I would love to forward this thread to every headhunter who turned me down because I didn't have at least X years of experience with Y.
Or maybe I should add RTFM to my skill set on my resume!
Yes I know the whole castle-foundation vs. skyscraper dilemma. I've only been on my rampage for a little under 2 years though. I had to learn VB when I changed positions in my current company (no problems there), barcoding/EDI... I've started feeling unchallenged so now, on my own I've gotten very comfortable with linux, MS-SQL, and most recently Java. Unfortunately I don't have any skyscrapers to show on my resume. I'm trying to find ways to convince potential new employers that I really am a good learner, and that a broad background combined with intelligence really is a good thing. :(
A lot of employers are interested in what experience I have (or haven't had) in some specific technology ("how much experience do you have with Crystal Reports 6?") that they're using and I wind up looking bad
Sometimes I just want to say "look you bastards, I got a degree in physics, I'm not an idiot and I know how to RTFM!"
I love the smell of stinky exhaust that comes from my exhaust when I fire up my big gas guzzling 5.7L V8 (if you consider 27 highway mpg "gas guzzling"). I also like red meat.
Fur.... I don't like fur, because fur only comes from cute animals. I have no problem with alligator skin or leather.
I doubt I'll ever go electric (I'll go Tofu first, dammit) but as soon as Mr. Fusion comes out, I'll jump on it!
That's not surprising-- pour enough juice into a big motor and you have a very efficient, monster torque producer. All we need are super-efficient batteries now.
The problem with electric cars is making them accelerate without killing the battery life.
In a drag racer, you don't care how long the batteries last, you just want to draw as much current as you can without melting them. I doubt we'll see an electric vehicle running in Le Mans anytime soon.
Pawn shops.
Also, look in the used equipment section of a Mars Music if you have one near you. Check classified ads also, and look around on the web (such as Harmony Central for used equipment. Unlike computer equipment, electronic music equipment that's even 10 years old can still be very useful, and even highly sought after. For example - if you can find somebody who's getting rid of a Yamaha DX7 for cheap, that's a hell of a find. Not a good synthesizer (FM sound), but a fantastic MIDI controller for other synths and soundcards and the thing just never breaks.
Look at prices on minidisc player/recorder decks, they are pretty cheap now. They're good for mastering on a budget, better than tape but not as good as DAT. Just be aware that Minidisc audio is compressed.
It all depends on what you want to do. It's harder to make a good *recording* studio on a budget than it is to make a decent MIDI-only setup on a budget. All you really need is maybe an SBLive value, and a keyboard with MIDI ports (preferably with velocity sensitivity.)
There are lots of good soundfonts available for free on The SBLive Site.
Trouble is, you'll need windows to use them... and some sequencing software.
If you do audio and MIDI on a budget, it's hard to beat the SBLive Value for 59 bucks! :( :|
Unfortunately, if you really want to get into it, this ain't a very cheap hobby
Fortunately, getting paid for a couple of my projects went a long way towards paying for the more expensive gear. So for me it's more of an investment, even though I haven't actually turned a profit on it yet
I'll be realistic here. I'd love to do all my MIDI under Linux but it has a long way to go in order to fully support the necessary hardware. Maybe things will be different in a couple years. Remember when everybody used Macintosh for music because the support wasn't there on Windows? My how things never change.
:)
BeOS shows promise-- we'll just have to wait and see on that one also.
As for now, if I were to use MIDI software under Linux, it would need to do the following (based on what my current CW Pro Audio setup does):
1) Multitrack audio with non-destructive effects assignable to each track
2) MIDI effects (arpeggiator, chord analyzer)
3) Patch lists, with soundfont support, and patch names for most synthesizers
4) SYSX bank capability-maybe Brahms does this. I have custom banks to load into my external synths (wavestation SR, Proteus MPS)
5) Joystick MIDI support for both of my soundcards. Maybe Linux support is already there for dedicated MIDI interfaces, like MOTU?
6) Soundfont support. I have a few hundred MB of soundfonts that I like to use. Getting general MIDI support with the Emu10K1 under Linux would be a start, although I don't use GM.
7) Audio scrubbing + editing + interfacing with a 3rd-party audio tool, like SoundForge
8) Emu10K1 effects support. Beyond just reverb, the effects engine is actually pretty powerful.
9) Software synthesizers like Reality which can also be used in the recording software.
I could probably list a few more, but you get the idea. For me at least, I'm at quite a bit less than "99%" ready to make the switch. Based on my requirements above, most of which only Windows currently fulfills, I'm perhaps 30% ready.
I wouldn't mind keeping windows a little bit longer, and still use it for games + music software. Then I can just start up an Exceed session whever I need me Linux fix
Under linux, right now the SBLive just plays sound, and the drivers are still pretty buggy.
On my windows box, I use two soundcards, a TB Pinnacle and a Live with digital I/O. I load approx. 50MB worth of soundfonts for some of my pieces (32MB of which can be used at any one time by the Live), as well as using the onboard effects, which I can route my external synths into via my mixer.
A MIDI sequencer under Linux just won't cut it for me.
I wonder what they'll do with the satellites if there's no buyer. Burn 'em up in the atmosphere? No more flares then.
If the sats are shut down, and if their attitudes are no longer being monitored/controlled from the ground, the flares will no longer be predictable.
Right now, they have to be predicted, because a flare can do some serious damage to sensitive telescope equipment... or at least cause some pain to an observer!
Here we have 80+ satellites in orbit that nobody wants, and I still have to access the net at 56k.
The world is full of irony.
By the way, Heavens Above is a great place to look if you want to know when and where iridium flashes will take place. I'm sure those will be missed...
Hold 3 pages up to a light, you now have letters in different orientations... but not depth, unless you're using really thick paper. The three sheets will just appear superimposed but it would be very difficult to tell which one was in back, in the middle, or in front.
I didn't say that this WASN'T a possible explanation, just not likely, since I don't think Poe was reknowned for his ability to think spatially (assuming he was the author?). Maybe he could, but he just wasn't known for that specifically.
It seems to me that there would be a more "algorithmic" solution...
That's always a possibility, but in order to encode a puzzle in such a manner, the author would have to have a pretty good understanding of 3D perception and transformation, right?
The question is: would an accomplished LITERARY genius necessarily have good spacial comprehension? If so, then it would be a trait nobody had known about until now.
If not, maybe the puzzle is an attempt at 3D encoding, but not a very good one, so it would be easy to crack. Or utterly impossible if he didn't do it right!
I've always liked John Williams' work, although he hasn't done anything really innovative lately.
From TPM soundtrack, the music is definitely more complex than the original Star Wars, but I don't think any of it needs to be Oscar nominated.
That's not to say I don't like John Williams-- he just hasn't done anything recently that made me go "oh, wow, that's really cool." He developed his trademark "fanfarish" sound in the 80's, but since then it hasn't changed much. His style is a meld of lots of other composers with not much added, except the ability to create melodies that stick in your head, which isn't easy to do. Duel of the Fates sounded a hell of a lot like Carl Orff.
I know that innovative music isn't exactly a high criteria for the oscars, and there are some tracks on the TPM soundtrack that I really like.
Duel of the Fates is nice in that it builds on one simple theme.
Anakin's Theme is nice with the way he worked in the touch of the dark side towards the end.
Track 5 (Sith Spacecraft) is great for showing off my Klipsch Promedia speakers.
So... what movie scores do I like for being unique, different, and/or highly effective?
The Fifth Element
The Truman Show
Braveheart
Aliens (James Horner's creepy side)
Yes, I agree that it lacked realism.
/. readers chuckle (like jiggling a PC drive's power connector in order to reroute something to work a kill switch into the system? Huh??) but the whole concept just totally missed it with me.
It's one thing to take poetic liberties with reality in order to have a good plot... but this x-files episode was just goofy, as if nobody really did much research into video gaming (namely FPS games).
Now there were specific instances that I'm sure made all the
For one, the actual videogame that the show featured was just lame and the technology behind it didn't even make sense, it was just thrown out there for viewers to accept. Was it all holographic, or were they plugged into a Matrix-style world where all the images were projected into their minds while they physically walked around? If the game was about to ship everywhere, do customers have to buy a big concrete room with holographic projectors in order to run it? And by the way, did Mulder really say "Can you texture-wrap it" in reference to the wireframe model?
Now about the game itself (and this is just a rant) but it seems like the last video game the writers ever played was one of those police-shooter type games in the arcade, because that's what the FPS game looked like. Boring. They definitely missed the boat as far as figuring out what the hardcore game players are actually doing. The fact that what's-her-name created the "Goddess" character for herself may have had some influence from the RPG/MUD sector... or just a cheesy coincidence.
However, I think Mulder did get it right as far as saying that violent games are an outlet for the primal anger that is being more and more constrained in a civilized society. In other words, games such as the X-files FPS(or real-life games) don't cause real-life violence, but serve to relieve the pressure that would otherwise cause it, which is the view already expressed countless times by members of the gaming community.
Man, this episode could've been for US, it's a shame it had to turn out like it did. At least Scully gave in at the end and kicked some ass.
Well I'm pretty sure you enter it somewhere along the way. Many normal users will just enter their email in the online registration without thinking twice about it (assuming there's an online reg., I didn't really want to find out).
However, it wouldn't be beyond them to root around your system to find it though!
Who is Hyden? Do you mean Haydn? He doesn't strike me as one of the great composers. Sure he was prolific, but also very formulaic, and I don't consider him "great" but that's just me.
But Beethoven is one of the true great composers. He basically defined a new era, and used form as powerfully as melody, whereas classical and baroque pretty much followed standard pre-defined forms.
The problem with baroque music as it applies to something like Fantasia is that it's not good for musically illustrating a story. It all falls under the "3rd category" in fantasia, music for its own sake, but still it's difficult to make up a story to go along with baroque/classical. The music they picked was mostly from the 20th century (except for Beethoven) and those were illustrated by short stories. Beethoven was illustrated by more abstract visuals-- but that would've gotten old without more variety.
The other reason that later music was used, Beethoven being the earliest piece, was that they wanted music that would use an entire orchestra. If they had done any baroque, would the IMAX experience have been the same if a harpsichord and a string quartet were used? Even Mozart's orchestras weren't that big. No lower brass, and no percussion aside from timpani. Wagner would've worked out well, but then you'd have to devote half the movie to Wagner (did he write anything short?)
As it stands, the whole soundtrack is amazing. It's the Chicago Symphony, with probably the best brass section of any symphony in the world, so naturally it's very cool that most of the music shows 'em off!
I only have two complaints: in the Beethoven, they skipped some repeats (5th symphony, 1st movement) in the interest of time, and the Soundtrack CD has the CSO playing Sorcerer's Apprentice whereas the IMAX movie used a remastered recording from the original Fantasia. Both are very good, but naturally the quality of the CSO recording sounds better, I just wish they'd been consistent between the film and the soundtrack.
Did you see the terms and conditions?
I especially like the part under "E-Mail."
Your acceptance of the "Free Video Update" browser enhancement constitutes your agreement to receive periodic communications from GoHip! and THIRD PARTIES, via e-mail.
So, you have no choice but to let them sell your email address to spammers. In fact, you agree to this when you click "Accept" on the license agreement that nobody reads. This has nothing to do with ActiveX security of course, but it's just more evidence that GoHip is run by criminals.
I have a 52X Kenwood, and lately it's been getting more picky about what CD's it wants to read. I'm also getting more and more buffer underruns while copying from that drive, so I have to copy through the HD. Never had that problem with my previous CD Reader. Seems like I've been reading reports on low reliability around the newsgroups also.
When it's working, it's a very fast drive! Too bad it doesn't rip audio as fast as my Sony CDRW though.
Now perhaps there's a firmware update, I just haven't gotten around to checking yet...
Errr.. and how much do you have to pay for kernel 2.4.0?
...$300 for Office 97 and $150 for for Win98, all of which has been sub-standard...
None. Are you saying that's an excuse for it to have bugs? 2.4.0 will need patches just like Win2000 and every other OS ever released. Know anybody that's still using kernel 2.2.0?
What I'm saying is that game compatibility shouldn't have been (and wasn't) a priority with windows 2000. So it was added later with a patch. Big deal.
Well, no argument there. I will admit that Win2000 is a vast improvement though. At work, I upgraded over my Win98 installation which had to be rebooted 2-3 times a day. Haven't seen Win2000 crash yet since I installed it last Thursday. A couple of applications have crashed, but I just got an error notification and that's it. I'm keeping my Win98 setup at home until full SBLive support gets into Win2000.
As for the 1990's BMW, I don't think I'd want one...
My company uses the SurfNazi.. er, SurfWatch on the proxy server. The Onion is blocked out! Nooooo!
Instead of the dialup, you can go through an anonymizer or URL rewriter. Many of those are also blocked by SurfWatch, but not fr0.idzap.com. It's free, but you have to have look at an extra banner ad. It also doesn't require you to change your proxy setting. Any site that's in their blocked site list will go through (like TheOnion) but URL's that have keywords in them still get blocked.
It would have been funny to see MS convince their biggest customers' IT managers that Win2000 really did need to be delayed yet again to ensure game compatibility in their next corporate "professional" desktop and server OS.