I’ve been in a bit of a writing rut, lately. Not in terms of blog upkeep. I’d like to think that I’ve been fairly consistent with that. I mean creatively. I hadn’t finished a poem in a quite some time. Last night, I was inspired by, of all things, lack of inspiration. Beautifully ironic, no?

I also owe it to music for dragging me out of my writing rut. Namely, Pandora and E.S. Posthumus Radio, which is a station I created. It features a large amount of orchestral rock and string, and is based primarily on the work of E.S. Posthumus, Clint Mansell, and Rob Dougan.

And now, money. Those little green slips of paper that are passed around with great frequency. I think everyone gets caught up in shopping and money around the holidays, but here’s a little reminder: you can be rich in other ways too.

That’s a little deeper than usual for me, so I’ll take this moment to shuffle off for a bit. Later, internet.

Ο Rob Dougan έγινε ευρύτερα γνωστός από το το soundtrack της ταινίας The Matrix, στο οποίο συμπεριλαμβανόταν το κλασικό, πλέον, κομμάτι “Clubbed To Death”. Το 2001, ο Rob Dougan, κυκλοφόρησε την ολοκληρωμένη δουλειά του, με τίτλο “Furious Angels”. Trip Hop ολκής, με ηλεκτρονικά στοιχεία αλλά και cinematic ατμόσφαιρα, το “Furious Angels” αποτελεί ένα μοναδικό soundtrack, ονειροπόλο και ταξιδιάρικο, με μελωδίες που θα σε συγκλονίσουν… 4/5!

robdougan.org

myspace.com/douganrob

Cat de tare poa’ sa fie melodia asta !!!

Rob Dougan – Clubbed to Death (Matrix OST)

To finish the weekend. Rob Dougan, also known as Rob D (born 1969 Sydney, Australia) is a genre-blending music composer. Mixing elements of orchestral music, trip hop, and bluesy vocals, his work is tangentially relatable to electronic music. He was known primarily for his breakthrough 1995 single “Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino variation)”, popularised by 1999’s The Matrix soundtrack. “Clubbed to Death” was released on his debut album Furious Angels in 2001, seven years after its initial release.

download Rob Dougan – Furious Angels

“… and if you go, furious angels
will bring you back to me.
They will bring you back to me.”

As I’ve been listening to a lot more music than before I started this blog, I thought I would tune in to some of this years Proms. I used to listen to a lot of classical music when I was younger, and on reflection I should listen to it more often. Tonights Prom was Beethoven’s 3rd symphony, and I was particularly drawn to the string section.

Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries remains my favourite piece of classical music, and the versatility of the strings is at times astounding, perhaps to the same extent as Beethoven’s 5th, for example. This versatility has been exploited by popular musicians, although in general the use of strings tends to fall into two categories: providing the melody, and increasing tension or drama.

Two of last year’s most popular singles were driven by strings:

Viva La Vida – Coldplay

One Day Like This – Elbow

Next, a song that, had it received more air-time, would have infuriated me with its looping string sample, however it is not a bad song to hear from time to time.

Hard Times – Patrick Wolf

Finally from the first category, a song which quite rightfully is back in public circulation via a current advertisment. In years to come this might well be viewed as a classic. I haven’t made my mind up yet.

The Universal – Blur

Kasabian and Hard-Fi, amongst others, have used strings to dramatic effect, but not quite as much as these four:

No Cars Go – Arcade Fire

Turn Tail – The Young Knives

Open Your Eyes – Snow Patrol

Death Of A Supernaturalist – The Divine Comedy

Finally, this last track was (instrumentally) used in The Matrix, and Dougan composed other pieces for the film. Epic stuff, without a doubt the best example of its kind.

Furious Angels – Rob Dougan

Perfect music to drive in the rain with.

So, Twitter is definitely good for some things.  The other night, I tweeted about how I had to take an exam at home, and the only thing that was making it bearable was listening to Rob Dougan.  He’s most well known for his musical work from the Matrix.  (See here.)  Kind of new age-y classical/techno.  I’m not sure how to describe it, other than that his music is really lovely.  Whenever he puts out a piece of music, I know I will love it without ever listening to it.  Every single note.

Well, apparently Mr. Rob Dougan read my tweet because last night I got the surprise of my life:

I read that and I proceded to freak out.  Just a little bit.  Well, okay.  Honestly I freaked out a lot.  Some people have the Jonas Brothers.  Other have… who do the kids like nowadays?  Oh yea, Justin Timberlake.  How cool is that?  Thank you, Twitter!  Because of you, my future husband acknowledged my existence and said he liked my wedding dress!  Swoon.  Sigh.  C’est l’amour.

In other wedding news, we finalized our catering menu for the wedding!  I feel weird saying that.  I always hoped we could have one of those low key weddings, but it never turns out that way, does it?  Then again, this is so worth it.  Also, it’s nice to have something crossed off the list. The menu has been finalized.  The contract will be sent to my father and myself on November 1st.  My father has graciously consented to paying for the catering because the quotes I was receiving almost made me think that we weren’t going to have a wedding again.  Do you know how expensive weddings are?

I digress…

Our Wedding Menu

**Open beer & wine bar, plus soda and water (of course).
**Champagne toast.

**Wasabi creme salmon tartlets as a passing appetizer right at the beginning of the reception.

Cookies: chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, chocolate pecan, toffee
Dessert Bars: congo, peanut, lemon squares, raspberry, chocolate chip, pecan, cheesecake
Brownies: traditional, raspberry chocolate, peanut butter, marbled cheesecake”

The worst part of all this?  I didn’t get to eat lunch today.  In fact, I finalized the menu over the phone during my lunch break.  I about died.  I was so hungry afterward.  It was like she was a phone sex operator, and I was asking her to repeat very slowly what she was wearing and what types of cheeses would be served.

Oh!  So my last unrelated note:

I found this little gem outside on the sidewalk, in front of our building.  It’s surprising.  Our neighborhood is not the place you normally find furniture lying around.  Then I saw it.  I was about to walk into our building.  I love deconstructed items.  Other than the shelves which need to be cleaned, it’s gorgeous.  The picture doesn’t do it justice.  It’s a beautiful weathered shelved bureau.  It is now our new bar in our living room.  We’re going to stock the bar this upcoming week.

Now that we have our apartment in order, we need to have some guests over.  Any takers?

As if I haven’t flooded your RSS feed enough this morning, I just discovered that Rob Dougan’s Clubbed to Death is most definitely pulled from the Original classic by Sir Edward Elgar, Theme (Andante).  At the very least, the beginning string part is exactly the same. You can listen to them at the links I provided. If not, go to Grooveshark and listen there. It’s an interesting discovery!

Como muchos sabréis, esta semana se han cumplido diez años desde que se estrenó The Matrix.

En homenaje a esta pequeña obra de arte, aquí os pongo el videoclip de una de las canciones de su banda sonora.

No, una no.

La canción.

Sin duda, una de mis canciones preferidas de todos los tiempos.

Hoje a Zwame, por ser dia 1 de Abril, tem como logotipo o logo do filme “The Matrix” e alguns utilizadores andam com avatares e assinaturas  alusivas ao tema (bem como a escrever em verde LoL). Na onda fui-me por a ouvir os albuns da banda sonora da trilogia Matrix e redescobri este tema que vos trago hoje. A versão que está no album “The Matrix Reloaded: The Album” é somente instrumental. No entanto, não desgosto da versão original que passo a postar (com legendas):

Vídeo Fixed mas só sem legendas!!

Casi hasta me lo creo yo.

Que podría volar por encima del Ka. El Ka es como el viento.

Stephen King: Mago y cristal (Adaptación)

Pues no. El Ka es duro. El Ka no perdona, hace que todos caigan a su paso como hojas ante el inescrutable avance del viento. Del tiempo, si me apuráis, pues éste tampoco cede ante amenazas, lloros, súplicas o chantajes. Nada le importa, nada puede afectarle y a todos influye.

To float far away
Into eternal space
And God’s silence…

Rob Dougan – Nothing at all

No tengo palabras actualmente, lo siento. Sé que debería escribir algo más, que no debería estar decaído… pero a veces la derrota es tan dulce y amarga al mismo tiempo…

You tell me I can’t slow down
you tell where I’ve gotta be
I speed into the darkness
but I swear that I can’t see a thing in front of me
You know its true
I’m not driving anymore,
I can’t keep up with you.

Rob Dougan – I’m not driving anymore.

Law & Order: UK

Para quem é fã das histórias de detetive mais clássicas – especificamente Agatha Cristie e Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – assistir a Law & Order: UK é quase obrigatório. A série inglesa é derivada da franquia norte-americana e segue o mesmo esquema: na primeira metade a polícia investiga, na segunda os advogados da Coroa acusam. As historias são as mesmas do Law & Order original adaptadas para a realidade inglesa; no epguides tem a relação entre os episódios britânicos e os norte-americanos.

Muita coisa mudou no sistema policial e judiciário inglês desda época em que os criadores de Hercule Poirot e Sherlock Holmes eram vivos, mas outras continuam as mesmas. Do que mudou, por exemplo, tem o CCTV ou Closed-Circuit Television, o sistema de circuito fechado de TV que monitora as ruas de Londres e que foi alvo de debates entre os defensores da segurança pública versus os defensores do direito à da privacidade. Nos três episódios que vi até agora, os detetives usaram as imagens do CCTV para identificar suspeitos ou corroborar/derrubar álibis.

Do que não mudou tem o uso de toga e peruca na corte. Eu estava acostumada a ver isso em filmes antigos como Testemunha da Acusação, então nem foi um choque tão grande… embora ainda seja um pouco engraçado, mesmo assim. Antes do século 17, juízes e advogados apenas eram obrigados a usar a barba e o cabelo curtos, por disciplina profissional. O Rei Charles 2º foi quem introduziu a moda das perucas na sociedade, durante seu reinado entre 1660 e 1685. A partir dos anos 1680, as perucas eram parte tão importante do código de vestimenta social que passaram a ser permitidas na corte de justiça.

O uso de perucas saiu da moda durante o reinado do Rei George 3º, entre 1760 e 1820, mas aí já estava arraigado como parte do uniforme inclusive entre os membros da Igreja. Os bispos receberam a permissão do rei para abandonar as perucas em 1830, mas esta permissão não se estendeu a outros oficiais, que são liberados para retirá-las apenas em caso de ondas de calor extremo. Algumas vezes as perucas são substituídas por turbantes, quando o caso julgado envolve questões religiosas.

A série

Por enquanto tou gostando. Não vi as temporadas anteriores da original, então tudo é novo pra mim. Só de vez em quando que me embanano com as siglas [eles usam um bocado de siglas]. Quando me lembro, procuro depois na Internet. Eu gosto bastante do fato de que são histórias de detetive mais do que de policial, ou seja, usam mais as células cinzentas do que uma pistola – aliás, são poucos policiais que têm autorização para usar uma arma na Inglaterra, e mesmo assim eles a carregam numa caixa fechada que fica trancada no carro.

Quando um policial é obrigado a disparar um tiro tem que preencher um formulário pra justificar a necessidade de usar a arma – isso explica por que em Eleventh Hour a Agente Young [Ashley Jensen] do Special Branch ficou tão irritada depois de atirar num carro, no ep Ressurrection.

A série inglesa tem aquele *tump* sonoro que marca a mudança entre as cenas, mas o tema musical da abertura não é o mesmo do Mike Post usado nas versões norte-americanas. Na versão UK é “I’m not driving anymore”, de Rob Dougan. Não cheguei a desgostar, mas gosto muito mais da do Mike Post.

Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft92z0YOH-8

Algumas siglas usadas em Law & Order: UK
DI: Detective Inspector
DS: Detective Sargent
CID: Criminal Investigation Department
CCTV: Closed-Circuit Television
CPS: Crown Prosecution Service

Sites interessantes
100 Questions Answered To Learn English – seção Law and Order
Criminal Investigation Department [CID] – entrada no Wikipedia
Features – A guide to the UK Legal System
Which route: barristers or solicitors? – The Times
Metropolitan Police – cuida da Grande Londres
City of London Police – cuida da City, o centro histórico comercial de Londres.
Who’s Who in Law & Order: UK

Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS9oNBJEtNU

Dedicatie speciala pentru A.

Peter Davis

And its America, F*** YEAH!

I can play this on the cello:

and some more nice music:

That Was The Week That Was; a summary of what pleased and irked for the past seven days.

Dead Space
How messed up was the ending? The Hive Mind reminded me of fighting a giant throat infection, with the giant yellow modules implanted firmly around its mouth and throughout the inside of its neck. I’m playing it through again, if only to get the achievements I missed this time around, but also I think I’ll enjoy playing it while not entirely gripped by terror, my courage bolstered by knowing pretty much when to expect the jumps and scares.

The Inbetweeners
Thank God for TV On Demand. I saw this advertised a while ago but didn’t end up watching it when it was first on. Very funny adolescent comedy from E4, it’s been picked up for a second series in 2009. Enough toilet humour to shake a stick at, but for me it was the bickering dialogue between the lads that got the most laughs. Perhaps not as diverse as peer programme Skins, but much, much better in the areas it does focus on. And speaking of Skins…

Skins
I just don’t get Skins – there are a couple of funny moments, but not enough to warrant labelling it as a comedy, yet hordes of seasoned comedians turn up on this show. I watched the last episode of series two, wherein Anwar realises his character has only been created to fulfil the producers’ diversity requirements and therefore has no drive or ambition of his own, the inevitable consequence of receiving zero character development throughout. His solution? Tag along with gay best friend Maxxie to London, whose own development only began during the second run, presumably because girls fancy him. It seems like the only two characters besides Cassie who might genuinely encounter some kind of resistance in their lives are barely given a look in. And where does Tony source the money to buy Sid a plane ticket to New York on a whim? Throughout the entire two year run, he hasn’t been seen working a job for a day of his life. Maybe he gets an EMA. I think Skins is an accurate portrayal of modern-day teenagers’ lives if money, self-confidence and discrimination are no object to living and doing - but as I remember it, they featured pretty prominently during my teens.

Police Interceptors
Amazingly bad law-enforcement-based reality TV. Whether it’s the entertainingly crap staff profile pages, thick thieves, the facepalm-inducing Dad humour or the gloriously guttural bordering-on-Mockney narrator, I can’t get enough. It’s on Fiver at various times throughout the week.

Sid Meier’s Pirates!
An oldie but a goodie. I spent several hours sailing the seas on stolen craft, terrorising the fine, upstanding citizens of the Caribbean. I’ve found my long lost sister and uncle but remain clueless as to the exact location of the Marquis’ secret stash. It’s a bit crap that you have to keep beating the same two guys over and over to forward plot elements, but it’s not going to stop me playing.

Surround Sound
New 5.1 speakers and a 6 channel sound card. Nuff said really. And linked in with this…

Rob Dougan
The man is a musical genius, and currently my favourite artist, ever. His “Instrumental” sat in the centre of aforementioned Surround Sound was like a Reiki holistic head massage, in that it nearly sent me to sleep. In a good way.

Here’s to the next seven days being full of meaningless distractions.

It seems that you’ve been living two lives.
One life, you’re Liam Gallagher, lead singer for a seminal Brit-Pop band.
You have a social security number, pay your taxes, and you… hit paparazzi.
The other life is lived in computers,
where you go by the hacker alias “OurKid“
and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for.
One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not…

Do you hear that, Mr. Gallagher? That is the sound of inevitability.

Featuring:

Oasis – Live Forever,
Rob Dougan – Clubbed to Death
& a dash of Blade Runner

Ladies & Sentients, I give you The MANCtrix.
(Best listened to with a gob full of attitude…)

[mp3}

En esta ocacion les traigo un articulo especial sobre un artista que me gusta mucho, no es muy conocido, pero su musica es muy buena.

Rob Dougan, también conocido como Rob D, nació en Sidney, Australia en 1965.
En su música mezcla elementos orquestrales, trip hop y electrónica.

Su primer single salió en 1995, «Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino variation)» pero no se popularizó hasta 1999 con la banda sonora de The Matrix y posteriormente con los trailers de Blade: Trinity y Ultraviolet.
«Clubbed to Death» salió a la venta en el album Furious Angels en 2002, siete años más tarde de su lanzamiento inicial.

y un video para qque se den una idea de su musica

Googlear es un gran placer. A veces pasa que te topas con algo que estimula tu curiosidad y tu cerebro empieza a funcionar y te preguntas: ¿que habrá detrás de todo esto? ¿me estaré perdiendo algo que desconozco? y entonces empiezas a buscar por ahí, investigar por allá, e inexplicablemente encuentras algo que medio te satisface. Veamos un ejemplo práctico:

Un día escuchando la banda sonora de Matrix, de la primera peli concretamente, caí en la cuenta de que el corte cuarto, Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Mix), hacía que sin darme cuenta, cuando la iba escuchando por la calle con los auriculares mi paso tomaba velocidad constante, paso rápido pero cómodo, velocidad de crucero; incluso cuando llegaba a donde me dirigiera en ese momento y no había terminado la canción me daba pena tener que apagar el reproductor porque aún no había terminado.  Esa sensación me la causan pocas canciones y menos aún las pertenecientes al genero de ésta, por eso decidí investigar un poco.

Busqué en google, me metí en last.fm (gran web) y en un par de sitios más para descubrir que se trataba de un australiano llamado Rob Dougan y que tenía unos cuantos singles y un album, Furius Angels, que conseguí y escuché. El resultado fue que me llevé un sorpresón, me encontré con un disco de música electrónica como era de esperar, pero mezclada con clásica y algún tema totalmente sinfónico. Al principio me chocó oir una voz en este album, no me esperaba que fuera a cantar nadie pero ahí estaba, y la voz suena rota y sentida, apropiada para una tarde en la que llueve desde la mañana y probablemente no pare hasta la mañana siguiente.

De momento no lo borro del reproductor. Y lo que más me gusta es pasarme por el forro toda la maquinaria publicitaria de las grandes multinacionales y el machaqueo constante en radio y televisión de productos productivos que no dejan sitio a otros.

Por si alguien quiere más, tiene fan site. En inglés.

Como decía Cristobal Colón: que bueno es descubrir cosas que no conocías.

You tell me I can’t slow down / You tell me where I’ve gotta be / I speed into the darkness / But I swear that I can’t see a thing in front of me / You know it’s true / I’m not driving anymore / I can’t keep up with you / You’re closing in behind me / I’ve got headlights in my eyes / Don’t you get too close to me / Can’t you see that we’ll collide and end up casualties / There’s just no room / I’m not driving anymore / I can’t keep up with you / So leave me on my own / Run me down and race away from me / I’ve got nowhere to go to / I don’t think I can get back on my feet, back on my feet / You came right out of nowhere / Eyes wide and terrified / And I can’t put my brakes on / I can’t swerve to save your life cause then I’ll lose control / And I can’t choose

I’m not driving anymore / I can’t keep up with you / So leave me on my own / Run me down and race away from me / I’ve got nowhere to go to / I don’t think I can get back on my feet, back on my feet / Get me out of harm’s way / Can’t you see I’m paralyzed / I wanna fade out gracefully / But you keep keeping me alive to face another day / Can’t you see I’m through / I’m not driving anymore, I can’t keep up with you, can’t / keep away / Tell me how long have I got, I wanna to end this earthly toil -’Till this / diet life expires / I wanna go swimming in the soil and not come up for breath – Sit in God’s room / I’m not driving anymore – I can’t keep up with you / I’m unfit for consumption / I don’t know how to play my part / I swear I’m alone in this thing, I’m a blind man driving my car / Into oblivion, let it come soon, I’m not driving anymore / I can’t keep up with you

εδώ youtube

Nu tocmai genul meu de muzica, insa, trebuie sa recunosc, doua videoclipuri cum nu vedem la trupele romanesti!

Si, in plus, versurile merita asculate enjoy!

Clubbed To Death – Rob Dougan

Rob Dougan – Furious Angels