In honor of editing my Morricone research paper, I am posting this awesomely hilarious video that is scarily true to the original theme.
26 November 2007
25 November 2007
24 November 2007
After the storm
I survived the conference, did well in the workshop, met people from prospective PhD programs, and hung out with my old mentor from Butler. All in all it was a good weekend.
The reason for this post, however, is to say that in a feat or brilliance this morning I decided to make my imitative duo project based on a hymn melody. Loosely, but based on one none-the-less. I think that should make putting it together a bit easier to handle. Only time will tell on that one I suppose.
The reason for this post, however, is to say that in a feat or brilliance this morning I decided to make my imitative duo project based on a hymn melody. Loosely, but based on one none-the-less. I think that should make putting it together a bit easier to handle. Only time will tell on that one I suppose.
11 November 2007
The Point
A sonata is a linear journey of tonal realization, onto which might be mapped any number of concrete metaphors of human experience. Since a central component of the sonata genre is its built-in teleological drive--pushing forward to accomplish a generically predetermined goal--the sonata invites an interpretation as a musically narrative genre. A sonata dramatizes a purely musical plot that has a beginning (P, the place from where it sets out with a specific tonal-rhetorical aim in mind), a middle (including a set of diverse musical adventures), and a generic conclusion of resolution and confirmation (the ESC and the subsequent music). It is in the nature of the sonata to set up a quest narrative. In addition to being required to display (or at least refer to) the interior, multitextured norms of sonata practice, a sonata must realize those norms coherently, in such a way as to move toward and secure the ESC and generic closure. This is a narrative that may be understood in exclusively music terms. In interpreting it, the present-day analyst need not appeal to nonmusical motivations. Still, the music of the period was widely perceived as having a human basis, whether in the emotions, in the intellect, in other schemes of representation or implication, or in various combinations of these.
A sonata is a metaphorical representation of a perfect human action. It is a narrative "action" because it drives through a cevtored sequence of energized events toward a clearly determined, graspable goal, the ESC. It is "perfect" because (unless artificially blocked from achieving the goal) it typically accomplishes the task elegantly, proportionally, and completely. It is "human" primarily within eighteenth-century European conceptions of humanness.
Darcy, Warren and James Hepokoski. 2006. Elements of Sonata Theory. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. pp 251-252.
I think I can make a pretty strong argument for a sonata progression of events in the movies, particularly in the shaping provided by Morricone's score. Now all I need to do is attempt to formulate my argument ...
10 November 2007
Splatterhouse for Arcade (Namco 1988)/Turbografx-16 (NEC 1990)
This little blurb never made it to the StaticMultimedia.com Halloween feature, so I thought I'd stick it here.
This really is the perfect Halloween game. A bloody sidescroller, Splatterhouse puts you in the shoes of Rick, a masked Jason-like psycho searching through a mansion for his girlfriend. As the game progresses you’ll find yourself facing some of the most twisted and grotesque creatures ever seen in a video game (at least back in 1990). Corpses fall from the ceiling, chained bodies spew green vomit, giant slugs burst out of chests, and “living” monsters attack you from behind.
Bosses include The Body Eater, The Biggyman, Evil Cross (from the arcade version, better known as Evil Sleep & the Nightmares in the Turbografx-16 Port), and Hell Chaos. You’ll be okay, though, because you are well-armed with shotguns, harpoons, cleavers, wrenches, knives, and two-by-fours. Each room offers a new task, and there are many shocks and scares. The graphics are surprisingly good, and the background music is perfect. Worth noting are the game’s two sequels, Splatterhouse 2 & 3, on the Sega Genesis. This was also the first game to ever have a parental advisory disclaimer when released in arcades in 1988, four years before Mortal Kombat.
This really is the perfect Halloween game. A bloody sidescroller, Splatterhouse puts you in the shoes of Rick, a masked Jason-like psycho searching through a mansion for his girlfriend. As the game progresses you’ll find yourself facing some of the most twisted and grotesque creatures ever seen in a video game (at least back in 1990). Corpses fall from the ceiling, chained bodies spew green vomit, giant slugs burst out of chests, and “living” monsters attack you from behind.
Bosses include The Body Eater, The Biggyman, Evil Cross (from the arcade version, better known as Evil Sleep & the Nightmares in the Turbografx-16 Port), and Hell Chaos. You’ll be okay, though, because you are well-armed with shotguns, harpoons, cleavers, wrenches, knives, and two-by-fours. Each room offers a new task, and there are many shocks and scares. The graphics are surprisingly good, and the background music is perfect. Worth noting are the game’s two sequels, Splatterhouse 2 & 3, on the Sega Genesis. This was also the first game to ever have a parental advisory disclaimer when released in arcades in 1988, four years before Mortal Kombat.
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