It has come to my attention that the public is not educated about the intertube’s latest sensation, FilmRiot, the Revision3 show that shows you how to pull off the techniques you see in the movies without having to sell your soul for an FX budget.

So I present this Public Service Announcement for the betterment of my readers.

Today mom and dad picked up a movie from the video store:  The Tale of Despereaux.  I had previously written this one off as a “kids” movie but watched it anyways.  To summerize it quickly, it was spectacular.

Now, I’m going to start out with my usual disclaimer that I like my flawed heroes more flawed than heroic.  While the “hero” of the work has no discernable flaws (even his foolhardiness is interpreted as going against the grain – watch the movie) the characters who surround him certainly do.  While it did not end with at least some tragic element (I’m a catharsis junkie) it did satisfy that more morbid urge of mine to see characters pass through the shadow of the valley of death.

The story of this animated movie, to quickly sum it up, is about a kingdom called Dor.  In the preamble to the movie we see that a tragedy befell the kingdom robbing it of its most cherished tradition (watch the movie if you’re really that curious) and that this was caused by a certain member of our cast.  Later we meet the hero Despereaux – a small mouse with big ears.  He explores the traditional fairy tale themes of chivalry, honour, bravery, yada yada yada.  On the sidelines are Roscuro (a rat), Princess Pea, and Miggery Sow the servant girl.  Though the story is focused on the hero (as stories usually are) these characters all have their own very clear character arcs.  These are my kind of heroes, if you know what I mean (watch the movie!  Here Not Be Spoilers). Continue reading

Today I am going to completely ignore the release of Ubuntu 9.04.  Yep, ignoring it.  Ignorrrriiiinnnngggg…  Ok, get it at www.ubuntu.com and use the torrents instead of direct download!

That aside, let’s talk about music.

Earlier this week, I spent a $50 gift card that I got for Christmas at the iTunes store (I’ve been waiting for the DRM to come off and now that’s happened it’s completely worth the wait).  My purchases include stuff from Great Big Sea, the Good Lovelies, the Doctor Who Soundtrack, Feist, and one of my favourites: 50 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music (for $11.99).

But I’d like to look at taste in music and what exactly music is…

First off, what is not music.

Rap.

As I’ve said before, rap is spoken-word that focuses on beat rather than melody and – as I strongly suspect – stands for Retards Attempting Poetry.  Rock, punk, country: I can accept this as music (having an issue with the last one, but to each his own) but rap is like the weird uncle in the family of music that no one ever does – or ever should – invite to the gatherings of the music family.

Despite my strong music on this so-called-music, I’m not going to hold any sacred cows.  Not all Classical music is up to scratch either.

Now, the Classical style is firmly within the confines of any definition of “music”.  However, I hold particular dislike for some of the rambling, lighthearted works of the Romantic era (prefering instead Beethoven’s darker pieces and Chopin’s minor compositions).  I would consider myself a Beethoven fan, but there are some of his things that I just can’t stomach (particularly the fluttery bits in the middle of the 5th and 7th Symphonies, which are great, dark, dramatic pieces of music and then have a wish-washy glaze of bleh in the middle)

I would also say that I like big-band (especially Sing Sing Sing) but still some of that I can’t stand unless it’s in the background.

Does anyone else have musical bones to pick?  I haven’t even started mine but if you have them poast them!