this one's for Ian

jealous

if you want your face rocked off...go here.

rebirth

so the warrior-bard posted, and herr vogler had a follow up on two specific composers' role in music. and i would just like to throw my hat in the ring beside theirs.

i agree with the fact that one who's career it is to compose should be studied in all and as many different styles/philosophies/whatever of theory so as to have an authoritative grasp on their own subject matter. but my idea of musicality is much like the warrior-bard's.

the third experience i had with hands on training in composition helped me with my decision to quit music. it was pretty much 30% him, 30% me suffering with foreign language, 30% my lack of devotion to study, and 10% me being a pussy for not putting up with it. anyway...this professor had an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a doctor of arts. he basically forced myself and the other students to write in tone rows and concentrate on the "mathematical theory" of music while we wrote. i remember when he began to instruct us in method he would get a very sadistic glint in his eyes and become excited at the prospect of teaching these things that he loved so much. the other students and i tried to discuss the musicality of what he was teaching and challenge what was the ultimate lesson...but he turned a deaf ear.

so i became jaded and quit music. now however, i have no doubt that i will have to meet this particular school of thought head on and swallow it whole, thus inducing a musical peristalsis of all the crap that it is.

i had a good discussion about this very topic with my high school music mentor/teacher. he said that a few professors believe in what they profess. but the rest teach it with the evil glints in their eyes because it is what was forced on them. i just hope that if i am ever a professor i can teach it and then move on to the more aesthetically pleasing subject matter.

still waiting to hear from PSU about the results of my audtion.
and very excited because the organist at my church is going to perform a short piano piece that i am writing during holy week of easter. as soon as i get it recorded maybe you all can hear and judge my inexperience and my parallel octaves.

much love my friends.

the force is iffy

i had my
audition
for PSU
on saturday.
it went well
(i hope) and
the professors
seemed to be
all smiles.
here's me in
my new suit.






the one thing i have noticed is that a few of the people in the dept. don't really seem to know what's goin on. my point being is that about three weeks ago when i had an advisor's meeting i asked if the dept. provides an accompanist for the auditions and the answer was, "no, if you are auditioning on the scholaship weekend (which i did) then you must provide your own." so i scrambled to find an accompanist and get some sort of practice in.

so day of the auditions i noticed that no one else had brought an accompanist. i felt stupid. but...i felt comfortable because my accompanist and i had a (very short) history together so she knew how i would be performing and also where i liked to breathe. hopefully it made me look a little bit more professional. but that is always up in the air.

other than that...watching the olympics. and writing on my nocturne.

so peace my friends.

and a congrats to fockin bakken boobs n' bones for her engagement!!! and kevin too.

time

first time to Mt. Hood. me and my friend ian.

excellent even though i am in the worst shape i've ever been in my life.
so my goal for next time...be less fat.

hello planet Earth...it's me...Reed

i know i fell off the face of you, but i'm back...now.

enough of that.

i have to aplogize to my faithful reader about having not blogged...so, i'm sorry.

i haven't been busy or anything, just lazy.

i have met with a professor at PSU and been advised (though not thoroughly).

Ruthie (wife) and i have joined church choir, and right away we get to sing John Stainer's Crucifixion. i haven't heard it before, but i was told it is similar to Gilbert & Sullivan. if this is true, i am in heaven...for i am the pirate king.

my audition into the PSU music dept. is on the 11th, so i had to scramble to find an accompanist...i was only told two days ago that the dept doesn't provide one.

i am assembling my tax info to hopefully get some money back.

i have been following the news (hamas' democratic coup) and the scandal's from Washington DC. one question...Hamas was elected democratically but we aren't going to recognize them because they support terrorism and the death of Israel. someone enlighten me as to how i should feel about this...this means you Amelia.

i watched the presidents state of the union and the democrat's response. i feel disenfranchised. no we should not make the tax cuts permenant unless Bush wants our country to file bankruptcy. Bush lumped abortions in with crime when he was talking about what was on the decline...which i don't agree with his characterization. and he is saying how he wants America to commit itself to provide very strong education of math and science, but then he talks about how we should not grow embryos just for research (which to me feels kind of anti-scientific.)

i watched a special on PBS called Frontline: Al Qaeda's new front...one word...scary.

i saw Brokeback Mountain and found it to be one of the sadder love stories i've seen.

got the soundtrack to Munich and love it absolutely. very haunting. i haven't seen the movie yet. nor have i seen Memoirs (or heard the soundtrack). i have been searching for an inexpensive Battlestar Galactica soundtrack because the warrior-bard said i should.
but no one on ebay will trade me one for my granola bar.

other than that, i have been working over the internet for my company (not really mine, just the one i work for). making a webister for my company (the one that will hopefully someday feed me from it's income alone.) which you can check out at here. i have also been editing some home video, and planning a one-day snowboard trip to Mt. Hood (which has over 18 feet of snow...yay.) and writing some music. currently i am working on a "nocturne" that hopefully will work in the opening sequence of Mike S's "1 In 9."

so yeah...other than that...i am lazy.

have great days all around.

my computer (so fresh and so clean)

earlier this week a few of the applications on my computer stopped working completely. it wouldn't have been so bad if one of them weren't the most important one on that computer...Logic Pro, the program i use for scoring.
the cause of the shutdown...an OS update.
so i took it upon myself to go balls out and format my harddrive and reinstall everything...scary.
anyway, in bringing the computer back to life i was missing some programs that i didn't even think of. so a minor purchase had to be made...Apple's iLife '06.
this software includes a new program called iWeb which features a few things that are cool.
i invite you all to check out this new website.

it will be undergoing quite a bit of construction in the next few weeks and i will be making the difficult decision of whether or not to use it as my blogspot or keeping this blog. my wife says i should have a vote, but the outcome may be tampered with based on the fact that i spent money to have that program.
so let me know.

THE NEW WEBSITE

short tale cont...

the beginning of a short tale

back where i belong

so i made it home safely from the great white plains.

pretty much spent all of today catching up with paperwork/bills/budget/and you know...all the regular stuff i usually do.

i had a fantastic time visiting the Reimer clan and partying like it was 2006.

now to catch up with this bloggy thing.

to Tim S. (the warrior-bard) you asked me what the Firefly score is like. well, instead of me feebly trying to explain it or compare it with other scores you can check it out for yourself at my iDisk page. the songs are in mpeg-4 format (iTunes) and you have to download them i think. so check 'em out...and that goes for you, my other blogger friends, and whoever the hell wants to check it out!

also i have put the photos of a day on the set of Michael Stromenger's "1 In 9". from that page you can link to all others. there are 8 pages in total of photos, and i really am too lazy to post them all here. i don't know why, but stupid dotmac won't allow fore than 48 photos on their stupid web page maker (for the old version...i don't know about the iWeb that comes with iLife '06) but i will have a link on the right hand side of my blog.

also coming soon...an interview with Reed acclaimed director Michael Stromenger.

plus more.

also, i posted a new (or rather old) home video that i finished editing from me and my buddy a couple years ago at Whister/Blackcomb
so yeah...shoot me a line and i will hit you back.

the shoot

yay.

my christmas "vacation" has been most excellent!

i've seen two movies at the theatre...Narnia and Walk the Line.

Narnia was a good movie. my only problem with it was a personal one. i try not to, but i keep comparing it to LOTR. because of this i find Narnia lacking an epic quality. yes, the setting is huge and the depth of characters is hinted at, but it lacks overwhelming numbers.
the score was pretty cool. i was actually surprised and a little disappointed when the electronic features of the score began playing. i've always wondered in my mind if an electronic score could work with a medievel movie...so far i don't like how its been done. there are some very cool themes in the score. but overall, it lacked an epicness (look it up in the m-w-reimer dictionary) that would have made me love the score even more.

Walk the line is one of the greatest movies i have seen. i have always been a hot and cold listener of Cash's, but i was very, very impressed at the acting performance that Reese Witherspoon, and Joaqiun Pheonix gave for the movie. i would have never thought that Joaquin was capable of singing in a timbre near Johnny Cash's. i was waiting for Johnny's infamous visit to the grand ole oprey (sp?) but it never came...maybe they're saving it for the sequel...kidding. go see this movie if you like superb acting, or Johnny Cash, or whatever...i guess you can decide for yourself.

i know i've written about it before, but if you like really fun B movies or shows, check out Firefly, and the movie Serenity. i got the score for the tv show firefly and i am very happy with my purchase! it comes with 25 tracks of what i would call good score (not that i'm an expert.)

i don't need to write about the LOTR: Complete Fellowship because there is no reason for you to read a long rant about how much i love it.

so here's a cool little side note. a couple days ago, my dad recieved a call from a gentleman inquiring about my dad's company building a mile long stretch of railroad in Thailand. the reason: set building for a movie. the gentleman's name: John McTiernan. so that's kindof weird, and very cool!

recently i drove to moorhead, MN to hang out on set and take photos and some videos of Michael Stromenger's "1 in 9". i have posted a few photos, but when i get back to the PNW i will be posting a whole site of the photos i took so be patient my young padawans. until then stay safe and free of evangelism.

i like shiny things

the good, the bad, and the fugly

This is Michael lining up the shot, his producer Kak behind him assissting, and a dude holding a boom mic (i'm glad i don't have to do credits.)

more pictures to come soon, but i'm too lazy right now!

why don't you like us, eh?

riddle me this.

why do the canadians hate the americans so much?

i have been watching the bronze medal game of the IIHF junior world hockey championships, and i have noticed that they boo the american players and cheer when the opposing team (finland) scores. i would think that they would want any team (that they aren't playing) from North America to beat any team from across the pond...but i guess not.

although last year when the canadians were playing the russians in the gold medal round of the 2005 juniors, my family and i cheered as hard as we could for the canadians. i felt a little comforted that the U.S. weren't playing the canadians because they were a much better team than us.

so please friends, enlighten me to as why the canadians don't like us.

stuck

i keep finding myself humming Gandalf's tune from "Bag End" on the complete fellowship.

what an amazing thing. i am soo happy that they released this album which includes all music recorded for LOTR: Fellowship.

i know someone who gets to listen to some of it before shooting film on thursday!

check this out

here is a site that my friend Lucas showed me.

postsecret

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.