week (year) in review and the look ahead.

so yeah.

i had a killer Christmas of monumental proportions. my wife and i got to go back to North Dakota for the holidays and instead of being -45 with the windchill it has been hovering around the 32-35 degree level. great weather for this area this time of year!

my old nuclear family was at the airport to pick us up, but also there to greet us was a bunch of friends with a sign "Welcome home Rood and Reeth." Very nice. good pictures and drawings.

for Christmas my parents, brother, wife and i all hung out at home. we went to my parent's Catholic church for service and then went back home. one thing that i like about the lutheran church better is that the services have a lot more songs. i was expecting more carol's, but oh well. God is good.

after that we had a nice dinner and opened presents. i am grateful for receiving some nice new apparel, a couple movies including, the Island, Hook, Blade, the Dark Crystal, Without a Paddle, season 1 of Scrubs, and season 4 of 24. i also received the book Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, and the soundtrack to Narnia.

after the party and when the family went to bed i ordered the LOTR Fellowship (complete recordings), and the score to the Firefly series. i haven't had the opportunity yet to listen to more than snippets, but i plan on delving into them when i go to Fargo for my "day on the set, behind the scenes" of 1 In 9. my initial reaction to the snippets is complete satisfaction!

also, during this little trip back to the northern plains is seeing all of the friends, of which there are a few. also, i will have seen two hockey games played by my alma mater.

this weekend we are going to the lake to celebrate the new year. so i am excited with the prospect of some cross country skiing and spending long, unnecessary time in the hot tub. also i should be able to get a good listen to the Fellowship recordings.

then next week i will be working in the office until thursday when i go down to fargo to get some photos and video from behind the scenes. then i will be able to give you guys some insight into the forgotten world of Mike S.

on the 9th i will be returning home to the land of port to resume semi*-normal existence.

so to everyone have a happy new year, and use caution if you are driving on amateurs night.


*my wife and i are beginning** a better diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, and also going for walks at least twice a week and trying to hike on the weekends.

**this is not a new years resolution. if it were, it would be jinxed from the get-go.

clooney and penguins

my wife and i went to Syriana yesterday and i walked out of the theatre with confused appreciation. for me the storyline was difficult to follow, maybe because the seperate lives didn't come together until near the end. however, the difficulty for me to follow the storylines helped me solidify my interpretation of the story itself, which, i think, is that there are so many different undercurrents in how people and countries function surrounding one significant aspect of their economy. great movie. i absolutely loved how it was put together even though my thick skull had to really concentrate.

my mother and father in law gave me March of the Penguins for Christmas and i really loved it! i never would have guessed how many facets there are in the penguins life and birth. so now one of my main forms of transportation is belly sliding.

also for Christmas from my sister-in-law, i recieved the Scores for Spiderman and Corpse Bride. i haven't listened to Spiderman yet because i am obsessed with Corpse Bride. his scoring is so good for that movie, carrying the theme throughout and reallly brigning it to life for me within the orchestra. i really like Danny Elfman and his concepts for films. i want to hear his work Serenada Schizophrana.

i have been watching a lot of commentaries including LOTR. they have four commentaries per film including director/writers, design crew, production/post-production, and cast. i have completed all but the design crew. Howard Shore is one of the commentators on prod./post-prod, and he speaks a little about the inspirations and instruments he used. overall the cast is probably the most fun because of Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Andy Serkis.

in 5 days i am flying back to North Dakota and am very excited to see my family and visit the set of 1 In 9 with my case of 20 oz. sodas...fun shall be had by all!

so if i don't post again for awhile, Merry Christmas and Happy new year to all of my friends (including fellow bloggers) and family. hopefully if everything works out i can post on what its like to be a fly on the wall during one of many days of an independent film!

Peace to you all!!!

WTF? (warning...contains vulgar language that pretty much is unavoidable!)

so after knocking over the garbage can with all those coffee grounds i go outside and notice another advent package from my mom in law (lots of goodies!) underneath that is a nice little note from the condo association that we are a part of.

the note reads basically that there are people in the association who's outside decks are suffering from dryrot. so in order to get a "good deal" from a contractor, they have to do all the decks at the same time. oh yeah, and each member in the association has to pony up 1000 dollars...1000 DOLLARS (above and beyond the already significant monthly payment) by February 1st.

what the shit is that?

don't they have any sort of little nest egg for events that aren't in the normal course of things? and what else comes with my new deck...a built in bbq, or some hot asian lady who gives tissue deep massages? i mean really...my deck doesn't have dryrot. and if it did, i wouldn't go out there...i think i've gone it once (when i was looking at it before i bought the place.)

i won't murder anyone though because if the law changes i wouldn't want to end up like any character in 1 In 9!

and all of this comes on top of my nerves about auditioning to be a freshman in a music program. comfort food is my only friend.

just when i thought i was making a dent in my school tuition with savings.

sorry about the rant, but it feels good. now i will go and watch the reuniting of all the members of Americas next top model.

much love my homies!!!!

fun for the whole family

alright friends. you probably know about this already and, like me, have s wasted a couple hours just looking at things. well if you haven't already downloaded google earth you are missing out.
it is the funnest free thing i've used in a while.

better than mapquest and a lot more aesthetically pleasing google earth is my new favorite map engine.

Grand Forks, ND...new home for physically attractive people

so, America's Next Top Model finalist is from my old hometown, Grand Forks, ND.

how do i feel about this? i really don't care.

blog wars episode IV: a new teaser

woo hoo. it is cool to see stuff on the internets. especially things i have a vested interest in.

if you will notice in the right hand column of my page there are two links to see a quicktime video of Michael's teaser for his upcoming film 1 In 9. or you can watch it by clicking here.

if you don't usually read Michael's blog but would like to read his director's notes on the trailer, click here.

so a few notes of my own from the prospective of the scorer.

-i scored the trailer using Logic Pro 7 as my sequencer. i used east west quantum leap's Symphonic Orchestra Gold edition for the stringed instrument samples.

before i saw the video Michael gave me a written sample of how he thought he was going to make the teaser. so from that i wrote a concept teaser using almost everything that is in the teaser now up to the gunshot.

when Michael got me the (almost) finished video of the trailer i sat down and wrote an entirely different theme in the violin section. however with Michael having already heard the first theme, he asked that i scrap the new for the old.

one of the most difficult things i did for the trailer was the snare. the reason being is that i have never had training in percussion...although i was 4th bass drum in UND's Drum Corps and Marching Band (we even played for the president.) but i made roughly 6 versions of different rhythms and Michael chose my 5th version. also, the snares are recorded in stereo with the first snare coming in on the right.

after the buildup to the gunshot, the low cello comes back in and takes us out to the end. early on, Mike asked me for something quick toward the end to help people forget that they've been watching the teaser for over a minute now so that is where i cam up with the glockenspiel doing the slow run who's melody was inspired by the now scrapped concept. i was concerned that because the timbre is so close to that of John Williams' (hedwig's theme) celest that it would be seen as "oh, that's harry potter." but Mike liked it so it stayed (i like it too.)

the ominous sounding pad throughout is something i created in one of Logic's plug-ins called sculpture. i think that it provides enough debasing menace to set the tone for the idea behind Mike's movie and coincidentally the teaser.

so please, after listening and watching the trailer any and all comments, concerns, thoughts, malignments are welcome.

a victim of my own designs

i posed the question to herr vogler,

"if you could only have three major works by anyone...what would they be. i know this is hard, so you can take your top ten."

so in all fairness i suppose i should list my top picks for works by any composer. most, if not all of these pieces have a very personal aesthetic quality. also, most of these would probably be good listens for anyone without the level of appreciation with which my little blog clique (Herr Vogler, Mikey, Michael, Timmay) has.
so in no particular order:


1. Verdi's Requiem. i heard this piece performed by the FMSO (...they are no Oregon Symphony Orchestra) almost at the same time in my life that i would abandon music. plus you can't beat the Tuba Mirum, or the Dies Irae.

2. Verdi's Nabucco Overture.

3. Chopin's Prelude No. 15 in D flat Major "Raindrops."

4. John Williams' Star Wars (i would consider Episodes I-VI one complete work.)

5. Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings this could ultimately be credited as the work that made me regret leaving music enough to in fact return to music.

6. Lizst's La Campanella

7. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

8. Beethoven's Piano Sonata #14 in c sharp minor "Moonlight" the third movement is quite amazing.

9. Rene Clausen's arrangement of the 1999 Concordia Christmas concert. this my not be among great works by any means, but it was personally moving and quite satisfying to be involved with!

10. Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirate's of Penzance. you didn't see that one coming did you.


i am sure in the coming years this list will fluctuate and change as i am exposed and grow fond of more and different literature!

and as i am sure all of my blog friends will attest. ten is far too few to list the vast amounts of music that we will personally love. i know that there was no room to list any of the pieces for choir that are so dear to me.