A Productive Record in Life

"He's targeting us!"

It's a new month! You know what that means? It means it's time to step in gear and get something moving! Time to read! Time... to... RIGHT-CLICK CHARGE!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Blood on the Scales"
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4 Original Soundtrack

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned how much of a fan I am with Battlestar Galactica's music. (In the somehow-rare event that you did not know of this: where the frak have you been?) Bear really knows how to compose his stuff, and the music he created for the sci-fi show really brought it to life. While I could probably showcase the entire BSG library (I'm pretty sure I've already done just that...), we're going to focus on this particular Season 4 piece.

"Blood on the Scales" aurally conveys the tension, rapid (lack of) control, and the flurrying chaos commonly seen in any kind of uprising. Good thing - nearly every portion of this piece was used as the background music during Lieutenant Felix Gaeta's mutiny. The melodies are just brimming with character throughout the two episodes they play in. (During S4E13 "The Oath" and S4E14 "Blood on the Scales" many themes were played with in the score, but Gaeta's and Zarek's were the prime ones featured on the buyable soundtrack.) Bear decided to use only a select amount of Asian instruments to compose the score of "Blood on the Scales" such as the bansuri, biwa, shamisen, and tsuzumi (and let's not forget those taiko we love oh-so-much) - and with it he was able to give this part of Galactica's story a sound reminiscent of tradition Asian opera (kabuki, anyone?).

The choral line from "Gaeta's Lament." "Blood on the Scales" features this motif a few times.

What really intrigued me about this track was that a few cues from "Gaeta's Lament" (particularly the "choral" section) were laced within the music. This seemed like an obvious thing to do (as said cues played whenever Felix was making an important decision for the coup), but by using the choral section of "Gaeta's Lament" ("To have her please just one day wake") it sets aside the normal brutality any violent mutiny would normally have and gives the idea of Gaeta being a tragic character a crutch to lean on.* When I finished watching Battlestar Galactica for the first time and began reviewing my opinions for each character and plot point, I found myself indecisive on the events that transpired during this part of the show. Sure, it was a horrible thing to do, but in Gaeta's mind he was doing right. As Galactica co-executive producer and writer Mark Verheiden said, "The tragedy of Gaeta was that he was always the loyal soldier, but time and again he found himself on the short end of the stick despite his best intentions."

That makes the ending parts of "Blood on the Scales" (both the episode and the audio track) more painfully tragic. But hey - it's a powerful audio performance that bolsters an already-powerful visual performance, and that's why I've had it playing for quite some time now.

* = When I came back to run an HTML check, I saw this line and was immediately reminded of Gaeta's condition during this time of the show. I'm going to Hell for making such a crippling joke, aren't I?


Nobuko Toda, Shuichi Kobori, and Kazuma Jinnouchi - "Drebin 893"
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Original Soundtrack

Calm, cool, collected, and... casual. That's what this track is. "Drebin 893" musically introduces the players of Guns of the Patriots to a gun launderer of the same name. It's a subtle and relaxing theme that reflects the suave, semi-mellow nature that Drebin has.

(Pro tip: Metal Gear fans should try reading the above few sentences and pretend Khary Payton - Drebin's voice actor - is saying this to them. Drebin just got 20% cooler now, didn't he?)

After all that talk you (probably) read for "Blood on the Scales" I figured we could use a nice change of pace. Enter "Drebin 893" and its seductively relaxing tone. It should be obvious why this piece appealed to me today (what, with today being a day off and everything), but at the same time, it gives off this aura of... "coolness," for lack of a better word. With a subtle Western sound (just try and tell me that it doesn't even sound vaguely Western), I can see myself relaxed and focused on having a good two days off in a row (which is something I haven't had in a while).

Also, since I haven't really done this in a while, I should also give out some advice for you movie makers wanting some nice audio to spice up your films. The easygoing feel of "Drebin 893" (supplanted with that subtle guitar and what I think is a vibraphone) just adds to the mellow (or "mellow") sound of scenes such as:

• a meeting between allies and/or (friendly) rivals
• narration of past events
• (illegal) business (or "business") meeting
• fanservice (I'll let your imagination wander, but if you need a startup: hot lady (potentially the femme fatale) takes off bathrobe before entering a jacuzzi)
• backdrop for any non-action scene in a Western

Stay relaxed, and remember: "Eye... have... you."





GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING [whatever time of day it is you're reading this], VIETNAM EVERYPONY!!

I am your entertaining host, Josh Blanco the White Knight. Welcome to the second day of April 2012, where I once again write things and you are here to read once again. Or skim if you're a meanie-mean pants like that. Today's entry is more of a notice than an actual entry, but it still counts as something in my book. (Hey, allllll that talk with the music up above has to count for something. Am I right?)

Well, let's not keep you waiting - let's rock tonight's little entry out!





Zeroing In on April
(What project(s) my April showers will bring...)

April marks the beginning of the second quarter of the year, and that usually means people who have yet to start on some tasks (such as myself) will end up kicking themselves into action. I told myself earlier that I wanted to do something interesting for the blog. As of this moment, I have no idea what this task will be nor do I know the date and duration of it. Something about it seems... interesting, though. It's as if I know it's going to be a great second quarter (or at least a great month) and I'm getting myself psyched for the time!

...psyched for the time! Okay, that wasn't supposed to be anything, was it?

*clears throat* Anyway, digressing.

Lately I've had the weirdest urge to write a paper. Now, as some of you are aware, I'm not currently in a class that requires me to write anything. The newbies to my blog will probably be asking themselves, "What kind of sicko is Josh? He enjoys writing papers?" The answer to that question is both a "yes" and a "no." I'm a writer, and as such, my inspiration will take the form of whatever kind of writing it can mold itself to.

I don't know what it's going to be about, but hey - it might be something that interests me. It'd better - otherwise I'm going to have about as much fun as a person waiting in a busy line at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Also, I feel like this blog needs a bit of a redesign. No, no - nothing's wrong with its current layout and look. It's just that certain pages are just heavily outdated and probably need a good patch-up. Maybe the page is lacking new information or it just needs some kind of retooling. So as such, don't be surprised if things begin to look less than normal around here. Just thought I'd let you know before you get weirded out or anything like that.





A Change to Believe In
(And before you start voicing your opinions out: this ain't about politics.)

Change can either be a beautiful mistress or a horrible significant other that abuses you. It's all in the matter of how one perceives the change and how it actually affects the person in question.

What I was used to from last year was intuitive enough.

Blogger announced that they would change their look and layout sometime this month. For those of you who already use Google's blog-publishing site, you probably knew about this before this little notice I made here.

This one? Also easy to learn. I just need to adjust to how well (or how crappy) some things were altered.

I don't have a problem with it at all, but it did take some time to get adjusted to the changes. I'm sure going to miss reading quick previews of past entries so I can easily search for things I'm looking for, but I'll manage.





"So what can we expect this month?"
(What're you going to show us, Josh?)

You will soon find out.





In other news, there will be something interesting coming up tomorrow. Wahoo.





Well, that about wraps it up for today, ladies and gents. I hope you had a good time reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Take care, everyone - until the 'morrow.