I mentioned last time that I was nearly finished with Papercuts Episode 7, with the last remaining components being of the audio variety. Well, today Tim finished and delivered his ninth composition for the series, I plugged it into the edit along with a handful of other freshly-minted audio elements, and Debt of Gravy-tude was finished. And released - you should see it embedded a paragraph or two down from here.
I hope you've been taking note of the music in Papercuts. Like the visuals, every last bit of it has been specially created for the show - no stock footage, stock score, or stock anything around here: I took the decision relatively early on in Production Block A, last spring, that since I was going to so much effort over the project anyway, I may as well go that bit further and record all my own sound effects too. But the point is, Tim's actually been building up quite a broad-based collection of cues over the seven episodes, ranging from a slow, minimal guitar solo in Episode 3, up to rather more complex and breakneck-paced chase theme in Episode 6, via music for a windmill and a flower, for China, and even for outer space. You can convey a lot with hand-drawn visuals (if I say so myself), but sometimes there's just no substitute for having a composer on hand to help with the scene-setting or (as is more common in this series) with the 'punctuation' of a scene. The main point of this post, apart from showcasing Episode 7, is to offer Tim a public thank you for the Papercuts score. So: thank you, Tim.
In case you were wondering, yes, the vlog is still coming. Just taking a while to edit. Keep watching this space!
- The Colclough
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 December 2013
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Those Tunes I Don't Know
Time to tackle Question 8: If, overnight, you could be bestowed with grade 8-level ability on any musical instrument you liked, what would it be?
As background factoids for those who don't already know, I studied the piano up to grade 4 (along with music theory up to grade 5), but gave it up when I started sixth form. I never really looked back - much. I decided that I'd prefer to invest my efforts into forms of expression which stay when you've finished them, e.g. drawing, painting, animating, writing. The trouble I had with music was that I'd play the piece right once, but then when I tried to repeat it five minutes later it'd all go hideously wrong. That got extremely annoying. The hard-earned performance goodness never stuck around for long.
But what if, as Question 8 suggests, I could cheat the system and instantaneously gain grade 8 skillage on any instrument of my choice? Which one would I pick?
Well, obviously it would make sense at face value to say the piano, since I already went there once. That would lay to rest those occasional minor moments of regret which I just claimed not to have. I do have one once in a very long time, but only once in a very long time. And there remains the fact that I still regard the piano (and certain relatives) as the most logical of all musical instruments, in the sense that each key makes one note, and each note has one key. That, and you don't have to breathe any specific way, which is the main reason I'd be unlikely to pick a woodwind or a brass instrument.
However, the piano does have certain drawbacks, the most obvious being its size. The piano is hardly the most portable thing ever invented, and I suspect that if I could play an instrument at grade 8 level, then I might want to carry it around with me sometimes. To Root Hill, maybe (yes, sheepbaa, I'm looking at that flute). I know ThePianoGuys have managed to get their instruments into all sorts of obscure and inaccessible landscapes, but most people can't afford that sort of logistical undertaking for their Broadwood Grand, can they? There is also the small issue of having something like 200 strings to worry about at tuning time.
So if it wasn't going to be a piano... hmm. *strokes beard*
I've thought occasionally that I might like to play the harp or the marimba. But those thoughts never got thought out much, just idly toyed with. And they still have size and weight issues. If I was going to pick a wind instrument, it'd be a woodwind - I like the sound of woodwinds better than brass, generally speaking, and at an uneducated guess, I'd say probably not as heavy. This is probably where Tim tells me they're actually heavier...
But all that aside, I suspect I mind wind up in the string section. The violin has the attraction that you can use its case, in conjunction with a big coat and the right kind of hat, to pretend you're in the mafia and you're going to kill people in seedy bars (yes, I admit it, my mind is mildly warped... not that I'd really kill people in seedy bars, you understand). Or I might just pick the cello, purely and simply for the fact that Tim's spent several years slaving over that instrument and I wouldn't have to. Mwahaha.
Although there are certain rules to which Tim and I subscribe, and which have a certain intricate connection to the fundamental fabric of the universe, which means that me cheating my way to grade 8 on the cello might be a slightly ill-advised thing to do...
So for now, I think I'll stick with the piano.
Stats:
- The Colclough
As background factoids for those who don't already know, I studied the piano up to grade 4 (along with music theory up to grade 5), but gave it up when I started sixth form. I never really looked back - much. I decided that I'd prefer to invest my efforts into forms of expression which stay when you've finished them, e.g. drawing, painting, animating, writing. The trouble I had with music was that I'd play the piece right once, but then when I tried to repeat it five minutes later it'd all go hideously wrong. That got extremely annoying. The hard-earned performance goodness never stuck around for long.
But what if, as Question 8 suggests, I could cheat the system and instantaneously gain grade 8 skillage on any instrument of my choice? Which one would I pick?
Well, obviously it would make sense at face value to say the piano, since I already went there once. That would lay to rest those occasional minor moments of regret which I just claimed not to have. I do have one once in a very long time, but only once in a very long time. And there remains the fact that I still regard the piano (and certain relatives) as the most logical of all musical instruments, in the sense that each key makes one note, and each note has one key. That, and you don't have to breathe any specific way, which is the main reason I'd be unlikely to pick a woodwind or a brass instrument.
However, the piano does have certain drawbacks, the most obvious being its size. The piano is hardly the most portable thing ever invented, and I suspect that if I could play an instrument at grade 8 level, then I might want to carry it around with me sometimes. To Root Hill, maybe (yes, sheepbaa, I'm looking at that flute). I know ThePianoGuys have managed to get their instruments into all sorts of obscure and inaccessible landscapes, but most people can't afford that sort of logistical undertaking for their Broadwood Grand, can they? There is also the small issue of having something like 200 strings to worry about at tuning time.
So if it wasn't going to be a piano... hmm. *strokes beard*
I've thought occasionally that I might like to play the harp or the marimba. But those thoughts never got thought out much, just idly toyed with. And they still have size and weight issues. If I was going to pick a wind instrument, it'd be a woodwind - I like the sound of woodwinds better than brass, generally speaking, and at an uneducated guess, I'd say probably not as heavy. This is probably where Tim tells me they're actually heavier...
But all that aside, I suspect I mind wind up in the string section. The violin has the attraction that you can use its case, in conjunction with a big coat and the right kind of hat, to pretend you're in the mafia and you're going to kill people in seedy bars (yes, I admit it, my mind is mildly warped... not that I'd really kill people in seedy bars, you understand). Or I might just pick the cello, purely and simply for the fact that Tim's spent several years slaving over that instrument and I wouldn't have to. Mwahaha.
Although there are certain rules to which Tim and I subscribe, and which have a certain intricate connection to the fundamental fabric of the universe, which means that me cheating my way to grade 8 on the cello might be a slightly ill-advised thing to do...
So for now, I think I'll stick with the piano.
Stats:
- Last 10 for 17 status: 4 down, 6 to go. Nearly half-way.
- Latest book read: still The Kink and I
- Latest film/TV watched: still Logan's Run
- Latest music listened to: Somewhere Over the Rainbow cover by ThePianoGuys
- Latest edible item eaten: Biscuit
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; YouTube)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable Episode 1474
- The Colclough
Monday, 7 May 2012
Gah! Trailing Already...
Tim has challenged me to a little blog race. I won't bother repeating the intro, I'll just link you to his post. We've only just started, and as of right now I'm already one post behind.
As per the Twenty Questions challenge I had against Hannah last summer, it's a "here-are-questions-now-answer-them"-type race. The 10 questions which I need to answer over the next week are:
As per last time, some of these are going to be easier than others. And just because it's the easiest one to answer, I'm going to start with Question 7, What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
That's very easy. Thanks to Radio 2, I now have a shortlist of most hated pop songs. Most of them are ones the Radio 2 types have been playing ad nauseam over the last few weeks, and I hate them partly because of the horrific repetition, and partly because they're excruciatingly depressing. Nearly every pop song I've heard seems to be about a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and more specifically most of them seem to be about a relationship gone sour. What a complete, pathetic lack of imagination. Can't you think of anything else to sing about? Why can't you sing about, say, science and cake?
I won't give you links to any of the songs. The whole point of this post is that I hate them all and never want to hear them again, so it would be gratuitously cruel to give you a link and make it easier for you to suffer.
Anyway, the current shortlist is as follows, in reverse order:
So there you have it. The list is open for revision, subject to the discovery of other, even more depressing songs, and/or to Radio 2's next choice of irrational obsession.
Compulsory Stats:
- The Colclough
As per the Twenty Questions challenge I had against Hannah last summer, it's a "here-are-questions-now-answer-them"-type race. The 10 questions which I need to answer over the next week are:
- What is the most ghastly mainstream TV show of modern times?
- Cheese or democracy: which would you go without for five years?
- What's your favourite online game?
- If a=9, b=30 and c=25, what does x equal?
- What is the naffest film genre?
- If you could add one piece of tech to your body, what would it be?
- What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
- If, overnight, you could be bestowed with grade 8-level ability on any musical instrument you liked, what would it be?
- If you had to join the armed forces, what department would you choose to serve in?
- Who would win if the Galactic Empire fought the Borg, the Daleks fought the New Arpathian Principality, and then the winners went on to fight each other?
As per last time, some of these are going to be easier than others. And just because it's the easiest one to answer, I'm going to start with Question 7, What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
That's very easy. Thanks to Radio 2, I now have a shortlist of most hated pop songs. Most of them are ones the Radio 2 types have been playing ad nauseam over the last few weeks, and I hate them partly because of the horrific repetition, and partly because they're excruciatingly depressing. Nearly every pop song I've heard seems to be about a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and more specifically most of them seem to be about a relationship gone sour. What a complete, pathetic lack of imagination. Can't you think of anything else to sing about? Why can't you sing about, say, science and cake?
I won't give you links to any of the songs. The whole point of this post is that I hate them all and never want to hear them again, so it would be gratuitously cruel to give you a link and make it easier for you to suffer.
Anyway, the current shortlist is as follows, in reverse order:
- Somewhere around #6 or #7: We Take Care of Our Own by Bruce Springsteen. Not too relationship-y, just hated for being really miserable.
- Tied with the above entry: American Pie by Don McLean. Hated for being overly long, overly cryptic, pretty darn miserable and perhaps (if I heard the lyrics right) vaguely blasphemous. Weird Al's Star Wars-themed parody is millions better, mostly because the lyrics make more sense and it's a lot more cheerful.
- Circa #4 or #5: Love Will Set You Free, as performed by Engelbert Humperdinck (what a name - he really must have had sadistic parents) and apparently intended as Britain's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. For a song whose title revolves around love and freedom, it sounds really dismal, almost as though the composer and vocalist are both resigned to a life without love or freedom. Unless the whole of the rest of Europe is even worse, or depression is in vogue with the Eurovision judges this year, then I can only assume the UK entry's committee are deliberately planning to lose. Not that I follow Eurovision or care who wins, mind you.
- Circa #3 or #4: one that I don't know the title or composer of, but the chorus involves the phrase "I love you, I love you, I love you", moaned as if it was the saddest damn thing ever to happen. I hate it for much the same reasons as Love Will Set You Free, except slightly more so.
- #2: Masterpiece by Madonna. Apparently the song is written from the perspective of a lover to their beloved, but it's so badly done that the first few times I heard it I assumed that the singer bitterly hated the addressee and wanted to kill them. Then I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered that it's meant to be about Edward VIII from Wallis Simpson's point of view, and it started annoying me even more. I mean, it's all very well for some silly American popster to write soppy wuv song about the cutesie romance of the king who gave up his throne to be with his darling, but my view of the whole affair is much more negative, more or less in line with The King's Speech, and I consequently find the song somewhat repulsive.
- #1: Somebody That I Used to Know by the implausibly-named 'Gotye'. Probably the most miserable song I've ever heard, and infuriatingly prone to getting stuck inside the grey matter, and therefore the most hated. If you've never heard it, don't go looking for it. Just be grateful for your blissful ignorance.
So there you have it. The list is open for revision, subject to the discovery of other, even more depressing songs, and/or to Radio 2's next choice of irrational obsession.
Compulsory Stats:
- Last 10 for 17 status: neck and neck, each with 1 down and 9 to go.
- Latest book read: The Kink and I by one James D Mallory Jr, M.D.
- Latest film/TV watched: All Creatures Great and Small series 1 episode 10
- Latest music listened to: Machinarium OST by Tomas 'Floex' Dvorak
- Latest edible item eaten: apricot and ginger pudding
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable Episode 1473
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Happy days...
The last 48 hours or so have been pretty good ones. Barring the ones I spent failing to get to sleep, that is 8p
The artwork is going well. I finished Stained Glass V on Saturday, started SG VI on Monday, and am very pleased with both. River III and untitled variations no. IV are also coming along more or less as planned. Piccies follow:
River III (WIP)
untitled variations no. IV (WIP)
Tim's been writing some music for one of my in-development animation projects, and it's very cool. Not ready to be shown off yet, but it's one more reason I'm chirpy at the moment.
My new Lego arrived last night. Made my evening, needless to say. And before you all start saying "but I thought you were almost 24..." - there's no such thing as "too much Lego" or "too old for Lego"; those are myths invented by boring people. I haven't had any new Lego in years, and I've tended to put Christmas and birthday money in savings, but this time round I decided I'd actually use some of the cash to buy something I wanted, so I ordered a custom-designed Lego set, with new equipment for Doctor Murkum's private militia.
Some of Murkum's men with their new uniforms, blasters and aircraft - the one in the blue fighter craft is Atkun, the chief engineer, and the one with the white top is Gonce, the cook.
The guinea pigs are gone. I always said they were a bad idea, and eventually everyone else (except Sophie, of course) has come round to my view on the topic. This morning, Ben and I were handed the offending rodents in a box and asked to take them for one last trip, in the general direction of an animal shelter on the far side of Wokingham.
I did get there in the end, no thanks to our satnav which spent the whole journey claiming it couldn't find a GPS signal, while I navigated using memory, road signs, and the odd atlas check by Ben. I decided I don't like driving in Wokingham. Too many confusing one-way streets and stuff. But that's not the point - the point is, it might have looked for about four months like I'd lost the debate, but as of today I have absolutely definitely won. No more pets bigger than a hamster in this house, I don't think.
Speaking of rodents: Dusty is quickly turning out to be a much better critter than the guinea pigs ever were. He's followed Scribbles' footsteps, quite literally, taking his first evening stroll around my desk on Monday. He tried nibbling all sorts of things (including the curtain), but fortunately seemed to decide he didn't like the taste of any of them. I did get a bit worried when he started showing an interest in some coins I'd left lying around, and it looked for a moment as if he was about to stuff a 20p in his cheek and never give it back, but then he changed his mind and waddled off to taste the speaker cable instead. He's incredibly similar to his predecessor, including having big tufts of hair growing out of his hips and making him look like some sort of overgrown fluffy earwig, and including a tendency to jump off the side of the desk and perform dusting services on the way down.
Statistics:
- The Colclough
The artwork is going well. I finished Stained Glass V on Saturday, started SG VI on Monday, and am very pleased with both. River III and untitled variations no. IV are also coming along more or less as planned. Piccies follow:
Stained Glass V (complete) & VI (WIP)
Tim's been writing some music for one of my in-development animation projects, and it's very cool. Not ready to be shown off yet, but it's one more reason I'm chirpy at the moment.
My new Lego arrived last night. Made my evening, needless to say. And before you all start saying "but I thought you were almost 24..." - there's no such thing as "too much Lego" or "too old for Lego"; those are myths invented by boring people. I haven't had any new Lego in years, and I've tended to put Christmas and birthday money in savings, but this time round I decided I'd actually use some of the cash to buy something I wanted, so I ordered a custom-designed Lego set, with new equipment for Doctor Murkum's private militia.
The guinea pigs are gone. I always said they were a bad idea, and eventually everyone else (except Sophie, of course) has come round to my view on the topic. This morning, Ben and I were handed the offending rodents in a box and asked to take them for one last trip, in the general direction of an animal shelter on the far side of Wokingham.
I did get there in the end, no thanks to our satnav which spent the whole journey claiming it couldn't find a GPS signal, while I navigated using memory, road signs, and the odd atlas check by Ben. I decided I don't like driving in Wokingham. Too many confusing one-way streets and stuff. But that's not the point - the point is, it might have looked for about four months like I'd lost the debate, but as of today I have absolutely definitely won. No more pets bigger than a hamster in this house, I don't think.
Speaking of rodents: Dusty is quickly turning out to be a much better critter than the guinea pigs ever were. He's followed Scribbles' footsteps, quite literally, taking his first evening stroll around my desk on Monday. He tried nibbling all sorts of things (including the curtain), but fortunately seemed to decide he didn't like the taste of any of them. I did get a bit worried when he started showing an interest in some coins I'd left lying around, and it looked for a moment as if he was about to stuff a 20p in his cheek and never give it back, but then he changed his mind and waddled off to taste the speaker cable instead. He's incredibly similar to his predecessor, including having big tufts of hair growing out of his hips and making him look like some sort of overgrown fluffy earwig, and including a tendency to jump off the side of the desk and perform dusting services on the way down.
Statistics:
- First 12 for '12 status: 10 down, 2 to go
- Latest book read: part of 1 Kings from the KJV
- Latest film/TV watched: Michael Palin's Sahara, part 2
- Latest music listened to: Golden Cube OST (WIP) by Timothy Johnston
- Latest edible item eaten: beefburger
- Predominant colour of clothes: blue and grey on the outside; red t-shirt underneath
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook and Excel 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post; MatNav 6.1), Windows Media Player 11, Skype
- Webcomics posted today: n/a
- The Colclough
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Excuses: A Luxury Assortment Pack
Pick an excuse; any excuse. I've got loads for why I've lost "First 12 for '12" so badly, and you can take your pick as to which (if any) you feel like accepting. What follows is a list of other stuff I've been doing instead of winning my own blog race...
Drawing big geometric doodles with Sharpie pens - as mentioned earlier. Iteration 4 is now in progress. No Sharpie yet, but I've plotted out the basic forms in pencil, and so far it looks more like a grapefruit than anything else. Might show you a WIP photo eventually, but not yet.
Trying to design aliens - part of an ongoing (if intermittent) effort to work out what the major races of Universe XGT look like, in collaboration with Tim. The designs range from ones sprung entirely from my own imagination, via some intermediate co-designed ones, to a few species where Tim has said what they look like and I've taken it upon myself to interpret that in pencil. I've got one or two species presenting headaches at the moment, but once they're sorted out I might do a post featuring a selection of the drawings. Maybe. Watch this space.
Occasional cooking lessons - I haven't set fire to the kitchen yet, but I've had a go once or twice. This afternoon's masterclass was in the preparation of pasta bolognaise, which turned out more or less edible. However, I can't say I did it all myself, and I've got my doubts over whether it'd have been anywhere near as non-poisonous if I had.
Developing a bit of a musical superiority complex - I was given two CDs for Christmas, little sister got one too, and I have to say I think I got the better end of the deal, not just quantitatively but also qualitatively. She had something by some chap called Michael W. Smith - whose parents, I can't help thinking, were rather clumsy to have missed out the 'H.' that everyone knows should come between the 'W.' and the 'Smith', but that's another story. I had Jurassic Park OST by John Williams, and Karl Jenkins' Requiem. From what I've heard of MW(H)S, he sounds like just-another-pop-singer sort of thing, and I can't say I'm especially impressed.
Jurassic Park, on the other hand, is John Williams at his finest. If you let me count a whole film series (e.g. all six Star Wars episodes) as a single musical opus, then I'd probably say JP is outclassed by SW, and maybe also Indiana Jones, but in terms of musical achievement within a single film, I think I'd vote JP as Williams' masterpiece.
Requiem, meanwhile, is a bit of an odd album, but quite a fascinating one. It actually comprises two unrelated suites of music, setting three separate text cycles in a total of four languages (Latin, Japanese, Welsh and English, in order of appearance). The first, and by far the longer, of the two suites is the eponymous Requiem, and I've found it fascinating listening: considering that a Requiem, by definition, is a funerary work, a mass for the souls of the dead, it's a lot less sombre than you might expect. Elegaic in places, yes, but in the end it's actually rather uplifting.
Keeping up with Sherlock and stuff - I've seen episodes 1.1 and 1.2 twice each, and 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2 once each, plus read the script for 1.2, so my do-list for the rest of this week includes catching up on 2.3 before it goes off iPlayer on Sunday evening. Between Moffat and Gattiss writing at their best, and the brilliant casting and acting of Cumberbatch and Freeman, I've found all five episodes so far to be very good. Much looking forward to the next one. Before you ask, I can't make any comparison to the recent feature films, as I haven't seen those. But I can compare Sherlock to Doctor Who, and I'd say the latest series of S (so far) has been much more rewarding viewing than the latest series of DW.
Completing the Root Hill DVD 2011! - yes, at long last. The discs are in the post (well, most of them; I ran out of disc labels so the last few copies will be sent in a few days)... after four-and-a-half months in the planning and execution 8p
Writing the pilot script for a new animated series which might be the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe - when I laid AS Series 1 to rest back in December, I don't think I'd even come up with this idea. It grew out of the production of Smells Interesting a couple of weeks later if I remember right. The general concept is that it will feature three characters (new ones created specifically for the show), paper-cutout animation, and dialogue, with less emphasis on technical virtuosity relative to AS, and more emphasis on strange, random humour. Maybe as much as 2 or 3 minutes per episode. No idea how many episodes (if any) will end up getting made. We shall have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- The Colclough
Drawing big geometric doodles with Sharpie pens - as mentioned earlier. Iteration 4 is now in progress. No Sharpie yet, but I've plotted out the basic forms in pencil, and so far it looks more like a grapefruit than anything else. Might show you a WIP photo eventually, but not yet.
Trying to design aliens - part of an ongoing (if intermittent) effort to work out what the major races of Universe XGT look like, in collaboration with Tim. The designs range from ones sprung entirely from my own imagination, via some intermediate co-designed ones, to a few species where Tim has said what they look like and I've taken it upon myself to interpret that in pencil. I've got one or two species presenting headaches at the moment, but once they're sorted out I might do a post featuring a selection of the drawings. Maybe. Watch this space.
Occasional cooking lessons - I haven't set fire to the kitchen yet, but I've had a go once or twice. This afternoon's masterclass was in the preparation of pasta bolognaise, which turned out more or less edible. However, I can't say I did it all myself, and I've got my doubts over whether it'd have been anywhere near as non-poisonous if I had.
Developing a bit of a musical superiority complex - I was given two CDs for Christmas, little sister got one too, and I have to say I think I got the better end of the deal, not just quantitatively but also qualitatively. She had something by some chap called Michael W. Smith - whose parents, I can't help thinking, were rather clumsy to have missed out the 'H.' that everyone knows should come between the 'W.' and the 'Smith', but that's another story. I had Jurassic Park OST by John Williams, and Karl Jenkins' Requiem. From what I've heard of MW(H)S, he sounds like just-another-pop-singer sort of thing, and I can't say I'm especially impressed.
Jurassic Park, on the other hand, is John Williams at his finest. If you let me count a whole film series (e.g. all six Star Wars episodes) as a single musical opus, then I'd probably say JP is outclassed by SW, and maybe also Indiana Jones, but in terms of musical achievement within a single film, I think I'd vote JP as Williams' masterpiece.
Requiem, meanwhile, is a bit of an odd album, but quite a fascinating one. It actually comprises two unrelated suites of music, setting three separate text cycles in a total of four languages (Latin, Japanese, Welsh and English, in order of appearance). The first, and by far the longer, of the two suites is the eponymous Requiem, and I've found it fascinating listening: considering that a Requiem, by definition, is a funerary work, a mass for the souls of the dead, it's a lot less sombre than you might expect. Elegaic in places, yes, but in the end it's actually rather uplifting.
Keeping up with Sherlock and stuff - I've seen episodes 1.1 and 1.2 twice each, and 1.3, 2.1 and 2.2 once each, plus read the script for 1.2, so my do-list for the rest of this week includes catching up on 2.3 before it goes off iPlayer on Sunday evening. Between Moffat and Gattiss writing at their best, and the brilliant casting and acting of Cumberbatch and Freeman, I've found all five episodes so far to be very good. Much looking forward to the next one. Before you ask, I can't make any comparison to the recent feature films, as I haven't seen those. But I can compare Sherlock to Doctor Who, and I'd say the latest series of S (so far) has been much more rewarding viewing than the latest series of DW.
Completing the Root Hill DVD 2011! - yes, at long last. The discs are in the post (well, most of them; I ran out of disc labels so the last few copies will be sent in a few days)... after four-and-a-half months in the planning and execution 8p
Writing the pilot script for a new animated series which might be the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe - when I laid AS Series 1 to rest back in December, I don't think I'd even come up with this idea. It grew out of the production of Smells Interesting a couple of weeks later if I remember right. The general concept is that it will feature three characters (new ones created specifically for the show), paper-cutout animation, and dialogue, with less emphasis on technical virtuosity relative to AS, and more emphasis on strange, random humour. Maybe as much as 2 or 3 minutes per episode. No idea how many episodes (if any) will end up getting made. We shall have to wait and see.
Statistics:
- First 12 for '12 status: 9 down, 3 to go - I've lost. Oh well.
- Latest book read: the end of 2 Samuel from the KJV
- Latest film/TV watched: Middlemarch (1994 BBC version), part 6 of 6
- Latest music listened to: Requiem by Karl Jenkins
- Latest edible item eaten: that spag bol
- Predominant colour of clothes: shabby blue-greys again
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook and Word 2007, Firefox (tabs: MatNav 6.1; Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: Fort Paradox Backstage
- The Colclough
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
The Waveform of Awesome
Time grows short, with Root Hill just four days away and 7 questions still unanswered. And at this moment in time, I shall pick up on a question about time-based media, Question 3: "How would you describe your taste in music?"
The simplest way to summarise would be to say I like classical and neo-classical music, but that's a bit reductionist. It ignores the fact that some classical music can be a bit boring even for those who generally enjoy classical, and there are some things I'd listen to quite happily even though they really stretch the bounds of neoclassical if not outright overstep them. And then there are the things I'd call neoclassical but others wouldn't - e.g. Yanni apparently prefers to call his music 'contemporary instrumental', while others would classify it as 'new age', and although it has some classical traits, it's equally non-classical at the same time.
I enjoy music which has a meaningful melody and/or texture, emotional connotation, etc. I have no time for the hyper-abstract arty-farty noises some people pass off as music, e.g. serialism (yes, techically very clever perhaps, but utterly meaningless to listen to), and at the other extreme I equally dislike the inexplicably popular genre of rubbish that seems to consist of a drumbeat, maybe two bars of melody on an endless loop, and some hollow, repetitive lyrics about a soured relationship (in other words, all pop music, and several other things too).
My approach to lyrical work may seem, at first glance, to be a bit self-contradictory, but there's some method in my madness. Ideally, if there are going to be lyrics, then they should make sense. This explains why the huge majority of lyrical work which I like is of Christian origin - so much easier to enjoy a song if you agree with what it's saying. If you have to be familiar with something else to appreciate the song, that's fine - so long as I'm familiar with the other thing, of course - for example, Still Alive and Want You Gone would probably have lost me, except I already knew enough about Portal to get what they were on about. Ditto the entire Trock subgenre, re: Doctor Who. But then, there are other things I like where the lyrics most definitely don't make the blindest bit of sense at all, e.g. Adiemus. The difference is that in Adiemus, the 'words' aren't real words at all, and they're only there for textural effect, so their non-grammatic nature doesn't bother me. What bothers me is all that stuff in between, where there are real words strung together in some semblance of real grammar, and they seem to be 'about' something, but they're inaudible under the drums, badly-written, or both. E.g. all pop music... again.
A lot of my music collection has some connection to the screen, partly because screen music is very often the type that I like anyway, and partly because listening to the score often brings on the same mood as watching the film / TV show, hence why I've got the soundtracks of the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, and several CDs of Doctor Who. (By the way, Hannah, I hope you're appreciating all these favourable mentions of your favourite show!) I have a special soft spot for the scores Tim's written for my films.
And then there are the other ones. The pieces which don't follow any of my usual criteria, but which I like anyway for various strange and obscure reasons. Case in point: Safety Dance. Basically, it's a pop song. It doesn't make much sense at all. Its obsession with dancing is completely at odds with my preference for not dancing. But I like it anyway, because of the fact that I heard it for the first several times during Root Hill 2010, which means that I always associate it with, well, Root Hill. And it's a happy song, even if it is somewhat deranged.
Sam's questions, #3: "If you could buy any car (money No Object) what would it be?"
Something British and sophisticated with a big engine and a leather interior. Probably a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar or Aston Martin. Maybe one of each.
Time for stats:
- The Colclough
The simplest way to summarise would be to say I like classical and neo-classical music, but that's a bit reductionist. It ignores the fact that some classical music can be a bit boring even for those who generally enjoy classical, and there are some things I'd listen to quite happily even though they really stretch the bounds of neoclassical if not outright overstep them. And then there are the things I'd call neoclassical but others wouldn't - e.g. Yanni apparently prefers to call his music 'contemporary instrumental', while others would classify it as 'new age', and although it has some classical traits, it's equally non-classical at the same time.
I enjoy music which has a meaningful melody and/or texture, emotional connotation, etc. I have no time for the hyper-abstract arty-farty noises some people pass off as music, e.g. serialism (yes, techically very clever perhaps, but utterly meaningless to listen to), and at the other extreme I equally dislike the inexplicably popular genre of rubbish that seems to consist of a drumbeat, maybe two bars of melody on an endless loop, and some hollow, repetitive lyrics about a soured relationship (in other words, all pop music, and several other things too).
My approach to lyrical work may seem, at first glance, to be a bit self-contradictory, but there's some method in my madness. Ideally, if there are going to be lyrics, then they should make sense. This explains why the huge majority of lyrical work which I like is of Christian origin - so much easier to enjoy a song if you agree with what it's saying. If you have to be familiar with something else to appreciate the song, that's fine - so long as I'm familiar with the other thing, of course - for example, Still Alive and Want You Gone would probably have lost me, except I already knew enough about Portal to get what they were on about. Ditto the entire Trock subgenre, re: Doctor Who. But then, there are other things I like where the lyrics most definitely don't make the blindest bit of sense at all, e.g. Adiemus. The difference is that in Adiemus, the 'words' aren't real words at all, and they're only there for textural effect, so their non-grammatic nature doesn't bother me. What bothers me is all that stuff in between, where there are real words strung together in some semblance of real grammar, and they seem to be 'about' something, but they're inaudible under the drums, badly-written, or both. E.g. all pop music... again.
A lot of my music collection has some connection to the screen, partly because screen music is very often the type that I like anyway, and partly because listening to the score often brings on the same mood as watching the film / TV show, hence why I've got the soundtracks of the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, and several CDs of Doctor Who. (By the way, Hannah, I hope you're appreciating all these favourable mentions of your favourite show!) I have a special soft spot for the scores Tim's written for my films.
And then there are the other ones. The pieces which don't follow any of my usual criteria, but which I like anyway for various strange and obscure reasons. Case in point: Safety Dance. Basically, it's a pop song. It doesn't make much sense at all. Its obsession with dancing is completely at odds with my preference for not dancing. But I like it anyway, because of the fact that I heard it for the first several times during Root Hill 2010, which means that I always associate it with, well, Root Hill. And it's a happy song, even if it is somewhat deranged.
Sam's questions, #3: "If you could buy any car (money No Object) what would it be?"
Something British and sophisticated with a big engine and a leather interior. Probably a Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar or Aston Martin. Maybe one of each.
Time for stats:
- Twenty Questions status: 14 down, 6 to go
- Days until Root Hill: 4
- Latest book read: Operation Mincemeat (nearly finished!)
- Latest film/TV watched: Red Dwarf 1.3 and 1.4
- Latest music listened to: Martian Medicine OST by Tim Johnston
- Latest edible item eaten: Cadbury's Dairy Milk
- Predominant colour of clothes: Grey
- Programs and web pages currently running: Windows Media Player, Microsoft Office Word and Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: MatNav 6.1; Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1337; Fort Paradox bonus material
- The Colclough
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Ovine or Bovine?
Apparently, in Latin, the difference between a sheep and a cow is the letter 'B'. And there was I, all that time, thinking the gap was a bit more substantial. This could pose difficulties in answering Question 15: "Sheep or cows?"
It all depends on the context.
Also: Sam's questions, #1: "If you could be in a Rock Band what Instrument would you Play?"
I never did get the hang of the fingering on string instruments, so that rules out Guitars and all variants. My singing (read: 'droning') is atrocious, so that rules out Vocals. So, um... do rock bands have keyboards? If they do, then I'd probably say keyboards, as I studied piano up to Grade 4, and I like the one-key-one-note setup. If they don't, then I guess that would leave me on drums. Why do I suddenly feel compelled to say something about "dusting for vomit"?
Because we do like us a few statistics:
- The Colclough
It all depends on the context.
- Cows are bigger. So if I had to carry one of them for any length of time, I'd go for the sheep, but if I wanted to use farm animals as ballast (I don't know why, it's just hypothetical!) then I'd say cow.
- Sheep taste more interesting... or do they? I've mostly had adult beef but non-adult lamb. To make a fair comparison, I should really be comparing beef to mutton, and lamb to veal. Looks like I've got more eating to do, doesn't it.
- Cowjuice. Therefore cows get another vote. Enough said on that one.
- If I was a biker I'd probably vote cow, because I don't think riding around on a motorbike in a big fluffy sheep skin would make you look very clever. But I'm not a biker. Mind you, I wouldn't want my shoes made of sheep either, so I guess that is still a vote in favour of cows.
- Sheep are less likely to kill you if they get upset when you walk through their field. Also, if you happen to stand in their deposits, sheep deposit is smaller and won't cover as much of your shoe.
- Speaking of footwear: sheep are much better at growing sock ingredients on their backs.
- Bullying and cowardice are both frowned upon, but sheepishness isn't so much.
- Sheep are probably funnier. Mostly because of the ball-of-wool-with-a-face-at-one-end effect.
- And of course, we all know Hannah Likes Sheep (Baa!), so I daren't vote Cows anyway!
Also: Sam's questions, #1: "If you could be in a Rock Band what Instrument would you Play?"
I never did get the hang of the fingering on string instruments, so that rules out Guitars and all variants. My singing (read: 'droning') is atrocious, so that rules out Vocals. So, um... do rock bands have keyboards? If they do, then I'd probably say keyboards, as I studied piano up to Grade 4, and I like the one-key-one-note setup. If they don't, then I guess that would leave me on drums. Why do I suddenly feel compelled to say something about "dusting for vomit"?
Because we do like us a few statistics:
- Twenty Questions status: 6 down, 14 to go
- Days until Root Hill: 17
- Latest book read: go and take a wild guess. Really.
- Latest film/TV watched: still The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Latest music listened to: How to Train Your Dragon OST by John Powell (specifically Track 9, New Tail)
- Latest edible item eaten: sponge cake
- Predominant colour of clothes: I haven't changed since this morning
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; National Rail Enquiries; MatNav 6.1); Microsoft Office Word 2007; Windows Media Player 11
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1326
- The Colclough
Saturday, 26 February 2011
What's Possible
Possible Stuff:
As of Wednesday afternoon, I've actually got a paid commission - making a 90-second computer-graphics-based advert for Day One Publications. Still doesn't seem possible, but apparently it is. Crumbs.
Following on from that: it is possible to handle financial and legal matters without your brain turning to an off-green goo and exiting your skull via the earholes. Or so I'm told.
After seven months in the making, Fort Paradox gained its fiftieth episode last weekend. Half-way to a hundred. Wow. And as if that wasn't enough, the project has its first episode or two by a guest illustrator. I don't know about the rest of you, but from my POV that's all terribly exciting. And it does seem possible (like I said, it's been a while since we started), but again, I haven't quite got my head around it.
It is entirely possible (and I hope probable) that I'll get round to doing Arbitrary Stopframe 4 in the next few weeks. I've been a little distracted for the last fortnight by long-stay visitors, paid employment, and the fact that I'm running out of finished Alien President episodes, but I've got story plans for a couple more Arbitrary Stopframe clips. Watch this space.
It is possible, but difficult, to design a bathroom by committee. The way it's going in our family at the moment is that we came up with a perfectly serviceable plan several months ago (before discovering that Mum and Dad's bedroom was going mouldy around the corners, and deciding to de-fungus and decorate in there before doing the bathroom), and ever since then Mum's been revising the plan in every conceivable way, working out why the revisions won't work, and coming back to the original plan.
It is possible for the same composer to create some music that's crazy and thrilling, some that's beautiful and uplifting, and one little track that's deliberately, pervertedly, infuriatingly, brilliantly cringible, all on the same album. Case in point: Thomas Newman's soundtrack from WALL-E, which I've currently got on my hi-fi. Oddly enough, exactly the same guy pulled exactly the same stunt on Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is also in my CD collection.
Speaking of music: it's probably possible to sit through the entire 2-disc Doctor Who Series 5 soundtrack by Murray Gold (had it as a birthday present), and not feel the slightest bit like you're having any fun for the whole two hours plus. But I suspect you might have to be a corpse in order to achieve this.
Impossible Stuff:
I'm sorry, but a dying man simply can't do what he did, with that implement, without missing at least a little bit. IMHO, that scene went beyond the bounds of Suspension of Disbelief and into the territory of Plain Impossible. If you've seen Tangled, you should know what I mean, although whether or not you agree is another matter. I've phrased it that way to try and avoid being spoiler-ish.
It is impossible to sit in the same room for too long without starting to feel like you're going to go bonkers. It's taken me a long time to realise this, but it's finally dawning on me.
And finally: IMPOSSIBLE GEOMETRY!!!
It was really tempting to paint a big letter 'S' inside the middle hexagon thing, but I resisted.
- The Colclough
As of Wednesday afternoon, I've actually got a paid commission - making a 90-second computer-graphics-based advert for Day One Publications. Still doesn't seem possible, but apparently it is. Crumbs.
Following on from that: it is possible to handle financial and legal matters without your brain turning to an off-green goo and exiting your skull via the earholes. Or so I'm told.
After seven months in the making, Fort Paradox gained its fiftieth episode last weekend. Half-way to a hundred. Wow. And as if that wasn't enough, the project has its first episode or two by a guest illustrator. I don't know about the rest of you, but from my POV that's all terribly exciting. And it does seem possible (like I said, it's been a while since we started), but again, I haven't quite got my head around it.
It is entirely possible (and I hope probable) that I'll get round to doing Arbitrary Stopframe 4 in the next few weeks. I've been a little distracted for the last fortnight by long-stay visitors, paid employment, and the fact that I'm running out of finished Alien President episodes, but I've got story plans for a couple more Arbitrary Stopframe clips. Watch this space.
It is possible, but difficult, to design a bathroom by committee. The way it's going in our family at the moment is that we came up with a perfectly serviceable plan several months ago (before discovering that Mum and Dad's bedroom was going mouldy around the corners, and deciding to de-fungus and decorate in there before doing the bathroom), and ever since then Mum's been revising the plan in every conceivable way, working out why the revisions won't work, and coming back to the original plan.
It is possible for the same composer to create some music that's crazy and thrilling, some that's beautiful and uplifting, and one little track that's deliberately, pervertedly, infuriatingly, brilliantly cringible, all on the same album. Case in point: Thomas Newman's soundtrack from WALL-E, which I've currently got on my hi-fi. Oddly enough, exactly the same guy pulled exactly the same stunt on Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is also in my CD collection.
Speaking of music: it's probably possible to sit through the entire 2-disc Doctor Who Series 5 soundtrack by Murray Gold (had it as a birthday present), and not feel the slightest bit like you're having any fun for the whole two hours plus. But I suspect you might have to be a corpse in order to achieve this.
Impossible Stuff:
I'm sorry, but a dying man simply can't do what he did, with that implement, without missing at least a little bit. IMHO, that scene went beyond the bounds of Suspension of Disbelief and into the territory of Plain Impossible. If you've seen Tangled, you should know what I mean, although whether or not you agree is another matter. I've phrased it that way to try and avoid being spoiler-ish.
It is impossible to sit in the same room for too long without starting to feel like you're going to go bonkers. It's taken me a long time to realise this, but it's finally dawning on me.
And finally: IMPOSSIBLE GEOMETRY!!!
#007: Impossible Triangle
It was really tempting to paint a big letter 'S' inside the middle hexagon thing, but I resisted.
- The Colclough
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Basking in the Sound of Gold
I'm in the middle of drawing some new Alien President strips at the moment, but I'm taking a break for a few minutes, because it's not the easiest work in the world. The combination of historic US architecture and semi-relistic humans is very taxing on my pencil-weilding skills, especially when the two things have to share panel space, as they do in Episode 13, which I just finished drawing. It came out alright - the White House is more or less recognisable as such, I think (although once I've scanned and coloured the drawing, it won't be so white any more), and the humans are pulling the faces I wanted them to pull, so I think I can chalk that one up as a success. Mind you, it turns out that the name of Darlan's presidential aide Cindy Payne was very well chosen: she's been a real pain in the art department. She's a lot nicer to look at than her brick-shaped colleague Watson when I get the illustrations right, but it takes several times as long to draw her as it does him.
So I decided to put down the pencil and do something else for a bit before trying to tackle the limousine that I need to sketch for Episode 14. And while I'm not drawing, I'll write some stuff. I.e. this stuff that you're reading right here and now.
While doodling for the last... not sure exactly how long, but getting on for an hour... I've been listening to Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtrack. I had the Series 3 and Series 4 CDs ages ago, but somehow ended up missing out his original album from Series 1 & 2. However, I was given a copy of the missing disc as a Christmas present, and I've got it on speakers right now. As I type I'm on track 21, The Lone Dalek.
The interesting thing about going backwards like this is that some things (e.g. The Doctor's Theme, The Face of Boe and UNIT) are familiar, being variations on some of the same themes that appear in later albums, while there are other things that I'd completely forgotten about. Cassandra's Waltz, for example, came as an out-of-the-blue surprise when I first listened to the disc a week or two ago. I'd seen the episode involved, but completely forgotten the music. I only remembered the Madame du Pompadour melody by virtue of having rewatched The Girl in the Fireplace not that long ago.
Cue next track on the hi-fi...
The nice thing about having the music on its own, in isolation from the episodes it comes from, is that sometimes you like the score better than the script. For example, I never really liked The Impossible Planet as an episode (or two, as the case may be), but the corresponding track on the CD is a really nice one.
Now, here's the important bit: *insert metaphysical glitch here* I'm sure I was going to say something all profound and meaningful about this album. However, in keeping with a long-standing personal tradition of mine, I've totally forgotten what I was going to say. Isn't that clever?
So instead I'll have a little ramble about my musical tastes in general.
Anyone familiar with my CD collection will know that nearly all of it consists of film music, and what wasn't written for the screen is in a neo-classical vein. I'm not a fan of pop 'music' (note deliberate use of quote marks around the word there). And one of the things that irks me most about film score CDs, apart from the way some engineers manage to get all the ID3 metadata wrong, is this infuriating habit so many album producers seem to have of releasing a disc which is 90% perfectly good film score, and then throw a nice rancid dead fly into the ointment in the form of a pop song that has little or no bearing on the film's narrative, and clashes horribly with the style of the rest of the CD. How to Train Your Dragon is a case in point: tracks 1-23 and 25 are all orchestral score by John Powell (who is a bit inconsistent sometimes, but Dragon finds him at his best) - and then track 24 is a really naff song where I can't even make out what they're on about. Bolt is another one: again, Powell does some nice things with the score, but the album is let down by multiple horrible vocal pieces. Why do they keep doing that? For goodness' sake, if you've hired a composer, then let them score the end credits. Don't rope in some ghastly pop band to ruin the soundtrack. Look at Spielberg and Williams: no pop songs. Just score. Imagine how much worse Jurassic Park might have been, for example, if Spielberg had brought in a pop singer for the end credits. Scary thought.
Thank goodness Doctor Who has a proper instrumental theme tune and not an end-credits pop song, eh?
Stats time:
- The Colclough
So I decided to put down the pencil and do something else for a bit before trying to tackle the limousine that I need to sketch for Episode 14. And while I'm not drawing, I'll write some stuff. I.e. this stuff that you're reading right here and now.
While doodling for the last... not sure exactly how long, but getting on for an hour... I've been listening to Murray Gold's Doctor Who soundtrack. I had the Series 3 and Series 4 CDs ages ago, but somehow ended up missing out his original album from Series 1 & 2. However, I was given a copy of the missing disc as a Christmas present, and I've got it on speakers right now. As I type I'm on track 21, The Lone Dalek.
The interesting thing about going backwards like this is that some things (e.g. The Doctor's Theme, The Face of Boe and UNIT) are familiar, being variations on some of the same themes that appear in later albums, while there are other things that I'd completely forgotten about. Cassandra's Waltz, for example, came as an out-of-the-blue surprise when I first listened to the disc a week or two ago. I'd seen the episode involved, but completely forgotten the music. I only remembered the Madame du Pompadour melody by virtue of having rewatched The Girl in the Fireplace not that long ago.
Cue next track on the hi-fi...
The nice thing about having the music on its own, in isolation from the episodes it comes from, is that sometimes you like the score better than the script. For example, I never really liked The Impossible Planet as an episode (or two, as the case may be), but the corresponding track on the CD is a really nice one.
Now, here's the important bit: *insert metaphysical glitch here* I'm sure I was going to say something all profound and meaningful about this album. However, in keeping with a long-standing personal tradition of mine, I've totally forgotten what I was going to say. Isn't that clever?
So instead I'll have a little ramble about my musical tastes in general.
Anyone familiar with my CD collection will know that nearly all of it consists of film music, and what wasn't written for the screen is in a neo-classical vein. I'm not a fan of pop 'music' (note deliberate use of quote marks around the word there). And one of the things that irks me most about film score CDs, apart from the way some engineers manage to get all the ID3 metadata wrong, is this infuriating habit so many album producers seem to have of releasing a disc which is 90% perfectly good film score, and then throw a nice rancid dead fly into the ointment in the form of a pop song that has little or no bearing on the film's narrative, and clashes horribly with the style of the rest of the CD. How to Train Your Dragon is a case in point: tracks 1-23 and 25 are all orchestral score by John Powell (who is a bit inconsistent sometimes, but Dragon finds him at his best) - and then track 24 is a really naff song where I can't even make out what they're on about. Bolt is another one: again, Powell does some nice things with the score, but the album is let down by multiple horrible vocal pieces. Why do they keep doing that? For goodness' sake, if you've hired a composer, then let them score the end credits. Don't rope in some ghastly pop band to ruin the soundtrack. Look at Spielberg and Williams: no pop songs. Just score. Imagine how much worse Jurassic Park might have been, for example, if Spielberg had brought in a pop singer for the end credits. Scary thought.
Thank goodness Doctor Who has a proper instrumental theme tune and not an end-credits pop song, eh?
Stats time:
- 11 For 11 status: 5 down, 6 to go - I'm ahead again and I'm nearly half-way there!
- Latest book read: Stuart Olyott's commentary on Ephesians
- Latest film/TV watched: Murder on the Orient Express
- Latest music listened to: re-read this blog post and take an educated guess!
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: one of the home-made chocolates Sophie gave me for christmas
- Programs and web pages currently running: Outlook 2007, Word 2007, Windows Explorer, Firefox (tabs: Google Image Search "the white house"; Blogspot Create Post; hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1123
- The Colclough
Friday, 3 December 2010
The Answers!
Last week, I did a little research project in which I tried to work out what proportion of my creative output I've actually got round to sharing with people. The average answer, from four responses, was 51.25% - which has the interesting implication that I've only shared about half of the things I've ever created.
Anywho, for the benefit of anyone who found themself staring at that list and wondering what on earth I was yakking about, I shall now divulge The Answers, i.e. a new version of the list featuring the same 50 names, but now with added notes and things to explain who/what those 50 entities are.
The Primary Culprits
Before going onto the list itself, here's a brief(ish) overview of the major groups:
Universe XGT – a collective handle for a huge continuity co-created with my best friends Tim and Sarah. Some of the more important bits of it have emerged into the public view in the form of stopmotion short films, including Alpha One’s Megalomaniac Quadrilogy, X-Battles GT, and The Probe Has Succeeded, but there’s also a big sprawling mass of largely unpublished back-story, most of which would be bad for your head. Accounts for 10 of the 50 names on the list.
Cylinder and Miserable – my main webcomic; updated five or six times per week from late 2006. Features lots of random weirdness. Accounts for 7 of the 50 names on the list.
Grace and Caffeine – the weekly Christian comic strip which I produced for my church from late 2006 to summer 2010. The principal cast had all appeared in other places first, but Grace and Caffeine was their biggest starring role. Along with some smaller related projects, accounts for 5 of the 50 names on the list.
The Martian Ballet Trilogy – a series of computer-animated films, co-created with David Allwright, and revolving around the career misadventures of an inept Martian called Mike Half-Left. We planned to make a fourth film, but it all seems to have ground to a halt, so I’ve taken to referring to the existing films as a trilogy. Accounts for 4 of the 50 names on the list.
Megastropulodon – a short live-action film made for the final year of my BSc in Media Production, and a TV mini-series which I’m currently writing based on the same concept. The name is borrowed from the big ugly mutant creature at the centre of the story. Accounts for 3 of the 50 names on the list.
Intergalactic Hamsters - my BSc Media Production dissertation film. Well, technically, Intergalactic Hamsters is the film within the film, and my dissertation (full title The Making of "Intergalactic Hamsters") is a spoof behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the collapse of the Intergalactic Hamsters project. Accounts for 2 of the 50 names on the list.
The List Explained
...and here are the notes!
So, there you have it. I hope you feel all enlightened and stuff. And for those who've got catch-up to do, happy reading!
=]
- The Colclough
Anywho, for the benefit of anyone who found themself staring at that list and wondering what on earth I was yakking about, I shall now divulge The Answers, i.e. a new version of the list featuring the same 50 names, but now with added notes and things to explain who/what those 50 entities are.
The Primary Culprits
Before going onto the list itself, here's a brief(ish) overview of the major groups:
Universe XGT – a collective handle for a huge continuity co-created with my best friends Tim and Sarah. Some of the more important bits of it have emerged into the public view in the form of stopmotion short films, including Alpha One’s Megalomaniac Quadrilogy, X-Battles GT, and The Probe Has Succeeded, but there’s also a big sprawling mass of largely unpublished back-story, most of which would be bad for your head. Accounts for 10 of the 50 names on the list.
- Alpha One's Laser Cafe (2008)
- Alpha One's Quantum Shampoo (2009)
- The Probe Has Succeeded (2009)
- X-Battles GT4 (2010)
Cylinder and Miserable – my main webcomic; updated five or six times per week from late 2006. Features lots of random weirdness. Accounts for 7 of the 50 names on the list.
- Cylinder and Miserable (2006 to date)
Grace and Caffeine – the weekly Christian comic strip which I produced for my church from late 2006 to summer 2010. The principal cast had all appeared in other places first, but Grace and Caffeine was their biggest starring role. Along with some smaller related projects, accounts for 5 of the 50 names on the list.
- Grace and Caffeine (2006 to 2010)
The Martian Ballet Trilogy – a series of computer-animated films, co-created with David Allwright, and revolving around the career misadventures of an inept Martian called Mike Half-Left. We planned to make a fourth film, but it all seems to have ground to a halt, so I’ve taken to referring to the existing films as a trilogy. Accounts for 4 of the 50 names on the list.
- Martian Ballet: Fifth Anniversary Special Edition (2003, 2004, 2008)
- Martian Olympics (2006)
- Martian Medicine (2008) is not currently available for online viewing, due to music copyright issues. A HD remastered version with a new score is pending. (Edit, 20th of May 2011: just rediscovered this post and decided to update it with a link to the film, which is now back online as promised)
Megastropulodon – a short live-action film made for the final year of my BSc in Media Production, and a TV mini-series which I’m currently writing based on the same concept. The name is borrowed from the big ugly mutant creature at the centre of the story. Accounts for 3 of the 50 names on the list.
- Megastropulodon Attacks! (2010)
Intergalactic Hamsters - my BSc Media Production dissertation film. Well, technically, Intergalactic Hamsters is the film within the film, and my dissertation (full title The Making of "Intergalactic Hamsters") is a spoof behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the collapse of the Intergalactic Hamsters project. Accounts for 2 of the 50 names on the list.
The List Explained
...and here are the notes!
- Acid Gulps: a dodgy but popular soft drink from the Martian Ballet Trilogy (first appears in Martian Olympics, 2006).
- Albert S. Broccoli: an artificially-sentient broccoli from Cylinder and Miserable (first appears in Series 2, 2008), who acts as manager/butler/chauffeur/whatever to Cylinder the Cylinder.
- Alex Lanning: a biologist from Intergalactic Hamsters (2010); in the original story plan, Alex was supposed to be brilliant, but lacking in dress sense and other social graces, although this didn’t come out very much in the finished film.
- Arthur the Pensioner: a nice little old man, whose only appearance to date was in Arthur & the Punk (2006).
- The Blue Danube, with Walnuts: a random video I made back in 2007, which features me smashing up a tableful of small semi-edible walnuts with a claw hammer, in time to the closing couple of minutes of Strauss’ The Blue Danube waltz. It wasn’t as wasteful as it might seem – we salvaged and ate most of the walnuts afterwards.
- The Binary Triumvirate: an alternative/experimental electronic music trio from Cylinder and Miserable Series 2 (2009).
- Black Antarctic Cryogenics: a huge cryogenics plant located underground in the middle of a desert, from Cylinder and Miserable (first appears at the end of Series 1, 2007).
- Bradley Stanton Park: a blindly patriotic American mountaineer, from a little animation project called Frozen Bones that’s been languishing in ‘development hell’ for quite a while.
- Cylinder the Cylinder: the ‘alpha protagonist’ of Cylinder and Miserable (first appearance 2006); also stars in Fort Paradox (2010 onwards).
- Distant Prayer – Fragment III: one of my very few musical compositions (circa 2005 ish).
- Deep Glass: sculptural work, made from stoneware clay with a hotter-than-usual biscuit firing, and the crushed remains of a Shloer bottle (circa 2006).
- Doctor Murkum: cyborg, drug-addled, hopelessly incompetent wannabe antagonist from Universe XGT, easily identified by his grey environment suit and its bulky helmet and breathing apparatus (first appearance circa 1998).
- Dyngaria: the name of two almost-but-not-quite unrelated stories that I’ve started writing. The first incarnation was years and years ago, and unspeakably bad. The new one is still in its infancy, but much more promising. 'Dyngaria' is also the name of one of the main settings of the newer book.
- Edwin (full name Edwin Leonard Hall): the thin, grumpy old chap with the white hair and the gardening skills, from Grace and Caffeine (2006, first appearance in other stories 2003); also stars in Fort Paradox (2010 onwards).
- The Essence of Fandom: a mixed-media drawing/painting thing I did a couple of years back.
- Emily Arkley: the purple one with the Vespa, from Day-Glo! (2007).
- Empire Theatre, Mars City: the theatre where Mike Half-Left’s troubles began, in the Martian Ballet Trilogy (first appears in the original version of Martian Ballet, 2003).
- Establisher II: the unmanned titular space probe from The Probe Has Succeeded (2009).
- The Fifty-Seven Meme: myself and certain friends of mine have noticed that the number 57 appears more often than most others, sometimes in the most unexpected places, leading to the theory that it is in fact woven into the very fabric of the spacetime continuum, and/or is deliberately stalking us around the universe. I’ve made several intentional ‘57’ references in various media, in a tacit acknowledgement of its presumed metaphysical importance.
- First Dabox: the homeworld of the pragmatically-minded Grud race, in Universe XGT. The orange chap with the five eyes in The Probe Has Succeeded (2009) is a Grud.
- Forkley: a fork-lift-truck type individual, from the ‘Ganaraner’ race of sentient machines in Universe XGT (first appearance circa 1998); also appears in Fort Paradox (2010 onwards).
- Fort Paradox: the name of both a recently-started cross-continuity webcomic, and its principal location. I won’t tell you what the Fort actually is, as that would spoil the surprise for when we reveal it in the comic strip B]
- Gastropo Thrush: a molluscoid athlete from the Martian Ballet Trilogy (first appears in Martian Olympics, 2006).
- Gavin the Head: you don’t want to know. Suffice to say it’s from Universe XGT, and if you’re going to try and comprehend Universe XGT, Gavin the Head is a very bad place to start!
- Greenchester: a little game I wrote in Visual Basic 6 in 2008. Windows only.
- Harry Dixon: sort of cheating, this one: Harry was the main character from the short student film One in a Million, which I directed, from a script by course mate Stephen Boulter (2009).
- Hooper (full name James Richard Boris Montgomery Hooper): long-suffering assistant to the failed megalomaniac villain Alpha One, from Universe XGT. Unlike most of UXGT, Hooper and Alpha’s misadventures have been published: in the stopmotion films Alpha One’s Laser Cafe (2008) and Alpha One’s Quantum Shampoo (2009). A threequel is in production.
- The iKon Cinema: many years ago, back in the days when I used to make towns out of Lego and cereal packets, I decided I wanted to build a cinema. It worked too, sort of, thanks to a system of paper strips with different scenes on them, which could be fed through a little ‘gate’ setup to emulate a screen. The films were a bit rubbish, but it was an achievement at the time. I could show you a picture of the remains, but they're really dilapidated, so it'd be a bit embarrassing.
- I See the Light at the End: my last and greatest sculptural work (to date, anyway… never say never): a 5 x 7 foot mosaic (btw, there’s that number 57 again, see?), built from over 400 custom-designed and hand-made tiles, at Farnborough Sixth Form College (2007).
- Jason Meddings: the reluctant ‘Chosen One’ from Megastropulodon Attacks! (2010).
- Lost in Minehead 2006: the official video from one of our church youth holidays. I didn’t do the camerawork, but the project was turned over to me for post-production.
- Mark Coleridge: student filmmaker protagonist of The Making of “Intergalactic Hamsters” (2010).
- Matilda Ferguson: from a not-yet-published storyline in Cylinder and Miserable (due to appear online in 2011).
- Metaphysical Violation Drive: a type of airship propulsion technology from Cylinder and Miserable (first appears in Series 2, 2008, as part of Cylinder the Cylinder’s new vessel the Excylindrical).
- Mike Half-Left: ill-fated protagonist of the Martian Ballet Trilogy. The serial job-failer first appears in the original version of Martian Ballet, 2003).
- Pascal Davis: a computer-nerd character who first appeared in his own strip, Pascal Davis and the Machines (2005), and then made a few guest appearances in Grace and Caffeine (2007 – 2010).
- The Prayers of Thousands: sculptural work, featuring plaster casts of people’s hands (2005).
- Quantum Shampoo: the titular substance from Alpha One’s Quantum Shampoo (2009) – I won’t tell you what it is here. You should go and watch the movie!
- Redwood 257: one of the locations from a fragmentary script which I’ve been picking at on and off for four-and-a-half years.
- Rhugestian Swamp Dog: an omnivorous egg-laying mammalian creature, the size of a large dog or a small pig, with a long prehensile nose. Those who recognise the species will probably know them as the green thing from The Probe Has Succeeded (2009), but in the wider context of Universe XGT, they are said to hail from the planet Rhugestis, not from Harcom-1, the setting of the stopmotion short.
- Ron Haggard: the self-proclaimed ‘Sidekick’ from Megastropulodon Attacks! (2010).
- The Square: a new-but-unwanted cargo ship surreptitiously rescued from the scrapyard and transformed into a notorious guerrilla warship, in Universe XGT.
- The Suitcase: the favourite biological weapon of the so-called ‘Evil Terrorists of Doom’, from Cylinder and Miserable (first appears in Series 1, 2007).
- Tarberford: setting of the very short-lived comic where most of the main cast of Grace and Caffeine began their existences.
- Tasmin (full name Anna-Beth Tasmin Linden): a new character who I’ve added to the in-development TV-series version of Megastropulodon.
- Tharryk: a massive and impenetrable prison galaxy in Universe XGT.
- Tom (full name Tom Thomason): the nice chap with the hooked nose, the bald scalp, and the liking for tea, often found behind the pulpit of Volesford Free Church in Grace and Caffeine (2006, first appearance in other stories 2003). Also stars in the animated short film Goin’ Teapotty (2009).
- Turbo Gran: aged but invincible protagonist of the interactive short film of the same name (2008).
- TW-A42: a subcategory of the Doorwarden-series robots. The A42 itself hasn’t yet made any public appearance, but it will soon enough, and one of its successors, the TW-C75, appeared in Vs. Doorwarden (2003) and its sequel (2005).
- West Spottlington: a largeish fictional town fifteen miles from Volesford, which is mentioned a few times in Grace and Caffeine (2008-ish onwards), and is also the setting of Megastropulodon Attacks! (2010) – although I couldn’t really say whether or not these two stories both take place in the same version of the town, or if they just happen to share the same name. It’s never been stated in any published film or comic strip, but I've also decided that West Spottlington is the home of Pascal Davis.
So, there you have it. I hope you feel all enlightened and stuff. And for those who've got catch-up to do, happy reading!
=]
- The Colclough
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