Verisoph
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Posts posted by Verisoph
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Thanks. I liked yours so much, I was inspired to try my hand at this again. As I was saying, I'm not very good at haiku, and unfortunately, it matters not that I'd like to be.
Hope you have the opportunity to visit the forum regularly.
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Guitarist's Lament
~ by Issiah Verisoph
rosy pole akimbo
it just ain't takin' no lip
bad little finger
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I like their videos a lot, but I can't say that I'm a big fan of their music - it's a little too chunky for my tastes.
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Yep - two white kids lost in the Outback, rescued and saved by the wiser and more capable Native Australian, but more than that. Or something like that. What did you think?
Oh, it's kinda like Wolf Creek?
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Bettie had a smile that could stop stampeding horses.
I don't know that there's anyone who can do it justice.
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He must be someone on TV. I haven't watched TV in years, except for small amounts here and there at friend's houses.
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You haven't pissed me off - not in the least. Sorry to have made you think that you had.
There are no reviewers with no preconceived notions or personal prejudices. However, anyone worth his salt can see and say, on occacion, "well, I was wrong about that."Yes, everyone has their own opinions about everything. I'll even go so far as to say that there's no such thing as an opinion that's wrong, as that would be a matter of opinion. But, some people are more firm than others in their attachment to their opinions. Whether this is good or not is a matter of circumstance as much as it's a matter of opinion - it might be good for presidents, but it probably isn't so good for critics.
To be honest, I thought I detected a note of jealousy in what you were saying about your friend making more money than you writing about movies, so I put forth my first guess as to why that might be. You are pretty firm in, and vocal about, your opinions. No offense intended. I actually was trying to defend your writing skills.
Regards,
Verisoph
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You think the best reviewers are the ones with all sorts of preconceived notions and personal prejudices?
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~ I was wondering about 'Groundhog Day' too. Like that one.
How's about...
{Just to be obnoxious & such, in no order}
Wind {silent}
Finding Nemo
Kill Bill {the set}
Cleopatra {with Claudet Coubert}
Sin City
Ice Age
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Labyrinth
The Nest {it's Norwegian}
Alien Mine
One's that you should never watch!
{trust me, they cause brain damage...}
Soccer Dog
Son of the mask
... I've lost my thought just remembering those, sorry.
There are more, I'm just, uhhh, yuk.
Sin City was excellent!
.gif)
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What? You don't like people from SNL in general, or it just so happens that the movies these folks are in, you tend to not like?
Who's Roger Ebert?
1. Correct and double.
2. He's just a guy my age that I know from Chicago...an old fan of my folk group...he gets paid a lot more than I do to write about movies.
Hmmm... Perhaps your friend Roger gets paid more because his opinions aren't clouded by extreme bias like "don't like American comedies" and "don't like former SNL cast members." It seems to me that a critic should try to approach each new project with as blank a slate as possible if they are to be able to write useful reviews.
Or, perhaps not. Maybe he was just in the right place at the right time.
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What? You don't like people from SNL in general, or it just so happens that the movies these folks are in, you tend to not like?
Who's Roger Ebert?
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Groundhog day sucks?
Either you weren't on drugs when you watched it and you should have been, or you were on drugs and you shouldn't have been.
It's just my opinion.
But of course. 'Tis my opinion that it belongs in the first list.
Oh, and The Sting, too.
Oh, and Blue Velvet, too.
Oh, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, too.
Oh, and A Clockwork Orange, too.
Oh, and Schindler's List, too
Oh, and Who's That Girl, too.
Well, ok, not Who's That Girl.
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Groundhog day sucks?
Either you weren't on drugs when you watched it and you should have been, or you were on drugs and you shouldn't have been.
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A white sheet can hung anywhere and used as a screen. The first time I saw a video projector in use was two days after hurricane Katrina. A guy who lives down the street from me had a generator that he hooked his up to, along with a DVD player. Several of us non-evacuatees sat out in his driveway and watched a movie which was projected onto a sheet that was hung on his garage door. The picture was about eight feet high, and crystal clear. That's when I decided that I had to have one.
Bulbs are expensive. The bulbs that mine use are $300 and are good for 3000 to 4000 hours. I've been watching one or two movies a day, and at that rate the bulb it came with it will last about five years. Of course, if I were playing video games 10 hours a day then I'd need to replace it after a year.
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How much $$ did that projector set you back? I'd rather just have a big TV though. I may get that next year.
With shipping, the projector along with a 72" screen (which I don't use - I just project it right onto the wall), was $750. It's an Infocus Screenplay 4805, which ordinarily retails for around $1100, but the manufacturer, Infocus, sells their refurbished units on eBay at a considerable discount. Plus, since I bought it direct from the manufacturer, I got a 6 month warranty on the screen, the projector, and the lamp.
Big TVs are nice, but the picture doesn't compare to projectors. A projector is brighter, has more vibrant colors, greater contrast, and can be watched from any angle. All the reviews I read about this particular model said that the picture was as good as a plasma TV up to ten foot diagonal. Once the picture size gets above 10' it starts losing quality. Of course, plasma TVs aren't available in a size anywhere near 10', and are thousands of dollars for a fraction of that size. Plus, this projector only weighs a few pounds, so I can take it anywhere - I've watched several movies with my neighbor at his house.
On the downside, to get the best picture, the room where the projector is in use needs to be somewhat dark. This is true of any TV, but even more so with a projector. For me, this isn't problem - being an insomniac, I've had heavy blankets over the windows in my bedroom for years. But, that isn't practical for everyone.
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A couple of weeks ago I bought a video projector on eBay and I now have the best of both worlds. It's got a number of inputs that will allow it to accept signals from most anything imaginable; DVD player, cable box, game console, HDTV device, VCR, computer, etc.
The quality of the picture is easily as good as any movie theater and the size is determined by how far the projector is from the surface it's projecting onto. Currently, I've got it by the foot of my bed, where it projects onto the wall above my headboard. The picture's about seven feet wide by five feet high.
Coupled with a five speaker plus subwoofer (5.1 channel) surround sound audio system, it's amazing. Definitely a WOW experience! I can sit in a chair or lie in bed, pause whenever I want, eat whatever I want, smoke whatever I want, make as much noise as I want, yada, yada, yada.
I may never go to a theater again.
Oh, and, King Kong was the first thing I watched on it (I found a copy of the DVD on the internet the day that it arrived). What a great movie that was. I'll be honest, re-makes usually leave me cold, so I didn't expect a lot from it other than good special effects. I was pleasantly surprised.
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Dimebag Darrell was one of a kind. I never saw him perform, but I've learned a number of his riffs over the years. I confess, I've never been able to get them quite up to speed, though.
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I think the auto-censor has gotten a bit carried away with itself!
Can I say, s**y?
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Um...to throw in a lesbian one...Lianna.
My knowledge is deficient in this area. Any more?
There's "Monster" and "Boys Don't Cry." Both films earned their leading ladies, Charlize Theron and Hilary S**, best actress Oscars.
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Anything starring Steven Seagal deserves a place on the list.
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I haven't seen it yet, but I will eventually.
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I have the recording from Graz with orchestra up on my website now. Please pop in and give it a listen.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~jenn94 Dich Theure Halle from Tannhauser.
Klarynn! Those are fantastic - you have a remarkable voice!
The Korngold and Puccini pieces are lovely, but I've really got a thing for Wagner and especially for Tannhäuser. Your performance is breathtaking. It sent shivers down my spine.
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I'm more of an electric guy -
79' Gibson Les Paul Custom
mid 80's Fender Tele (it's a weird one, 3 pickups [h/s/s] whammy bar, pearl white finish w/ black neck. Made in Japan... I've never seen another one like it.)
Mid 80's (I think) Hamer standard - It's got a black on white 'graph paper' finish remeniscent of Cheap Trick
Early 70's Hangstrum, not sure of the model. I refinished it and changed all the electronics when I first got it in the mid 70's. If I had left it the way it was it probably would be worth something now. )
Yum! Nice collection of guitars!
Telecaster with three pickups, including a humbucker, that IS a rarity. Do you think it's a custom job?
I do a lot with electricity myself. My B.C. Rich is a solid body electric with a Floyd Rose whammy.
The only acoustic I own is a Washburn CE something or other. I'm kinda embarassed that I don't know the model
Straight acoustic, no electronics, but I have a Seymour Duncan pickup for it, that I've never used. I've been meaning to put it to more use. It's not the best player, but it sounded better to me than most of the other guitars I was playing that day and was $100 + cheaper, probably because it was made off-shore. Full sounding, I guess I'd call it 'brash'. Not terribly sweet or sophisticated, but neither is my playing 
I've played some really nice sounding Washburns, I even owned a Washburn resonator (dobro style guitar) at one time. It ended up in a pawn shop.
I play mostly 'old school progressive' type stuff. Oddly, I don't seem to have any audio samples 'out there'. Still, there's these two siteshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=music
and
www.snarkattack.com
I'd love to hear some samples, but my browser doesn't handle streaming audio very well.
BTW, I liked Second Snowfall. It really smoothed out my mood today at work (IT Help Desk type job). Funny how style designations change. You called this 'New Age'. Fifty years ago it would have been 'Lite Classical' perhaps.How did you record it?
Thank you. I was pretty careful to call it "New Agey." I guess because when I listened to it, it sounded reminiscent of some of William Ackerman's stuff. He's the owner of Windham Hill, one of the original New Age labels. "Lite Classical" works too, the intro and outro parts are sort of a very loose variation on a theme by Bach.
I ran the output of my guitar through a preamp and straight into my PC. I used Steinberg's Wavelab to record it, and I added some EQ and chorus, built into Wavelab, after it was recorded. I would have gotten much better results with a mic, but the only mic I had thinks that the sound of my air conditioner is the most important sound in the room - and it was too hot to turn off the AC.
I've since purchased a Shure SM-58 microphone (also from eBay). I'm getting GREAT results with it. It picks up all the harmonics, overtones, and nuances of an acoustic guitar, and it doesn't pick up anything that isn't close to it... like my AC.
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That's a beautiful instrument. Congrats again.
Thanks.
I'd be really weird about buying an guitar w/out playing it, but I've also being hanging out a www.warmoth.com fantasising about building my own 'ultimate' guitar. And cruising e-bay ...Yeah, I wouldn't have bought a guitar without trying it first were it not for the fact that hurricane Katrina wiped out or shut down all the music shops and most of the pawn shops in the area... and I was wanting a steel sting guitar very badly.
warmoth.com - that's cool!
So, what else (guitar-wise) you got?Alvarez classical/electric
Gibson Epiphone semi-hollow body electric
B. C. Rich electric
And you?
Stigmata
in Cultural Arts Archive
Posted
I'll give it an A for cinematography. Visually, it was a very appealing film. I also liked the effective use of sound, like the dripping water as a metaphor for tranquility.
The story itself I found somewhat disappointing, though. I guess I expect a bit more suspense in those sorts of movies.