Rosewood was the first John Williams soundtrack that I had the privilege to do the artwork for, and while I have no idea on if he ever saw it, I like to think that he gave it his personal seal of approval. Regardless of that, the trickiest part of doing the artwork for Rosewood was actually working with the key art provided to us by Warner Bros. There was no ‘wiggle room’ on the height and sides of the image, and …
Probably one of the more interesting aspects of the Star Wars universe is the whole Clone Wars thingy. What started as a throw-away line in the original 1977 was finally shown beginning at the very end of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Since Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith started basically at the end of the Clone Wars, there was a gap needing to be filled. Enter the Cartoon Network, with a two-season …
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”. That phrase, so oft repeated in the original Star Wars trilogy by Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) re-appears – uttered by Ford as the swashbuckling archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones – in the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones saga: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And unfortunately for us, the bad feeling is quite deserved. Hollywood as of late has had a rather odd penchant for taking childhood memories and …
Yeah right, I wonder how much this would really go for on eBay!!!
Lunch was at the Las Casas del Consul hotel, where most of the composers were staying. It was a low key and relaxed meal – it was a huge paella dish that required two people to bring it out, and it had everything in it: fish, pork, chicken, and even octopus and mussels. I only had a little bit, and tried to focus on the salad. After a bit of socializing, we moseyed down to the Theater where John Powell …
Tonight I went to the world premiere of the new opera by composer Elliot Goldenthal and director Julie Taymor, Grendel. The opera is based on the Beowolf legend, told from the perspective of the monster, Grendel. In this version, Grendel isn’t just some monster attacking men. Rather, he’s a misunderstood creature who just wants to live in peace. Oh well, sucks for him to be a monster then! The staging of the opera was quite elaborate, and very well done. …
Well, what can one say about Munich that hasn’t already been said? Spielberg’s dramatic telling “inspired” by the events after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, in which Palestinian terrorists (Black September) took the Israeli Olympic Team hostage, and ended up killing them all in a disastrous shootout at the airport. Afterwards, it was rumored that the Mossad was hunting down those responsible for the attack, and taking them out. This film is supposedly loosely based on those events, and whether …
Tonight I went to a Producers Guild screening of the film version of the hit novel Memoirs of a Geisha. Directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) – who introduced the film – and starring a pan-Asian cast including Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh, the film follows the story of Sayuri, an impoverished Japanese girl who is sold by her parents and taken to the Hanamachi. Once there, she is sent on a path to become a geisha – but …
Ah, yes, it’s that time of year again – another Harry Potter film! My screening was at Warner Brothers, which was convienient because I had a scoring session this afternoon, and just stayed there. This film, the fourth, is based on one of the better books: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The 2.5-hour long film has a lot going on, but seems more like a bunch of well crafted sequences held together by a very thin and simple …
Tonight Chris and I went as guests of Peter Rotter to a fundraiser for the RMA (Recording Musicians Association). There was a silent auction (no, I didn’t bid on anything), dinner, and lots of mingling. Plenty of musicians, composers, and more were all there. It was a lot of fun, although it was kinda sad to see that no one bid on John Ottman’s signed Fantastic Four score sheet, or even four-time Oscar winner Alan Menken’s signed The Shaggy Dog …