Wake Forest football begins tonight against the Baylor Bears. For the first time in school history, Wake is ranked in the preseason top 25 (#23 in both the AP and Coaches poll). They return a healthy dose of starters, one of the best kicker/punters in the nation, a strong expierienced defense, and an offense finding its groove. The media is in love with them and most are picking them to either outright win the ACC or finish second or third.
This is the first time I've been excited about WFU football since December 2007 (aka last season).
My picks for major conferences:
ACC - Wake over VT
Big Ten - Ohio St.
Big 12 - Oklahoma over Missouri
Pac-10 - USC
SEC - Georgia over Auburn
Big East - WVU
Conf USA - ECU over Tulsa
MAC - Cent. Michigan over Miami (OH)
Sun Belt - FAU
WAC - Boise St.
Nat'l Championship - Ohio St. (finally) over Georgia.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Movie Scores
I'm not a huge music guy. My wife can hear three notes of a song, tell you what it is, who sang it, and what old song they sampled when they rewrote it. I could be listening to Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen (my favorite song by my favorite musician) and not even know it.
When I took guitar lessons, I realized I had tapped out my skill when my teacher was instructing me on how to listen a song and learn to play it. He would strum on the guitar and say "see? this one is in the key of B." My blank expression was less than encouraging. I can read music, but when it comes to tonal recognition, I feel like Simple Jack.
Surprisingly, I can instantly recognize and am very cognizant of music in movies. And I don't mean when Linkin Park blares over some action montage with Vin Diesel. I am talking about how the music soars and is a strong element in what is visually happens on screen.
I should digress here to distinguish in my mind between soundtracks and scores. The instrumental orchestra that intertwines itself with the picture in the frame. This is a movie's score. The bands that play old or original songs that can be listened independently constitute soundtrack. While some soundtracks are good, I enjoy scores much more. I do appreciate innovative sue of soundtrack (Almost Famous), but they are few and far between. So, I've decided to compile a list of my favorite movie scores. I've organized it into several different categories. I wish I wasn savvy to include links to iTunes, but I'm not. I'm in the process of making an iMix of them, but I need to acquire a lot of the songs first.
My All Time Top 20 - These scores stand alone. I listen to them in the car, when I work, when I read. They could be modern classical themes, if they didn't first appear in a movie.
1. Sunshine.
2. Blood Diamond.
3. Gladiator.
4. Stardust.
5. Lord of the Rings.
6. The Last Samurai.
7. Apollo 13.
8. Rudy.
9. Legend of Bagger Vance.
10. Shawshank Redemption.
11. The Fountain.
12. Days of Thunder.
13. 13th Warrior.
14. Superman
15. Last of the Mohicans
16. Transformers
17. Pirates of the Caribbean
18. Crimson Tide
19. Lion King
20 Batman Begins.
Honorable Mention - 20th Century Fox Fanfare. For more than half of my life, I thought that this was part of the Star Wars score. For a long time, I only thought this fanfare preceeded yellow words in space. It gets a spot, because while it seems it is used sparingly, you know when you hear it, you're about to see a kick ass movie.
Top 10 that complete the movie. This is a list of scores so strong, they outshine parts of the movie. a good example is number 4 - Jaws. The Jaws theme is so scary, someone could play just that and you're terrified. Couple it with an underwater shot of a swimmer's legs, and you've got a summer blockbuster.
1. Superman. The first time I saw Superman, I was absolutely positive, when the fanfare hit during the title credits, the music said "SUPERMAN!" You know what I mean
2. The Passion of the Christ.
3. Sunshine.
4. Jaws.
5. Rocky.
6. Rudy.
7. Godfather.
8. Transformers.
9. Halloween.
10. Apollo 13.
Top 5 Horror Movies
1. Jaws
2. Halloween
3. The Omen.
4. The Ring.
5. Requiem for a Dream. I don't care what anyone says. That movie is a horror movie.
Classics (Pre 1975 film).
1. Ben-Hur
2. Laurence of Arabia.
3. Patton.
4. Magnificent Seven.
5. The Great Escape.
Hanz Zimmer
1. Gladiator
2. Days of Thunder.
3. Pirates of the Carribbean.
4. Lion King (I think he did part of this)
5. Crimson Tide
6. Batman Begins
7. I should probably just list every movie he's ever done.
Just parts of the score, not the entire collection
1. Mr. Holland's Opus
2. Empire of the Sun.
3. Somewhere in Time.
4. Iron Man.
5. Ocean's 11, 12, 13
6. All Three Bourne movies.
7. Kingdom of Heaven.
8. The Village.
9. 300
10. Top Gun
11. Kill Bill
Sci-Fi
1. Matrix Trilogy
2. Terminator
3. Transformers.
4. Armageddon.
5. Iron Giant.
John Williams. I didn't list a lot of his scores. He really is in a league of his own. His music is so iconic, it's hard group with others, as it has no equal. So I'll list my favroite John Williams themes.
1. Superman
2. Star Wars
3. Jaws
4. E.T.
5. Jurassic Park
6. Munich
7. Harry Potter
Honorable Mentions
Man on Fire
Spy Game
Batman
Children of Men
National Treasure
Dragonheart
Titanic
The Mummy
Unforgiven
A Beautiful Mind
Amistad
Schindler's List
Rambo
Platoon
Mr. Holland's Opus
Mortal Kombat
Starship Troopers
Hunt for Red October
The Natural
The Mission
Courage Under Fire
Da Vinci Code
Robin Hood Prince of Theives
The Rock
Braveheart
Black Hawk Down
The Terminal
When I took guitar lessons, I realized I had tapped out my skill when my teacher was instructing me on how to listen a song and learn to play it. He would strum on the guitar and say "see? this one is in the key of B." My blank expression was less than encouraging. I can read music, but when it comes to tonal recognition, I feel like Simple Jack.
Surprisingly, I can instantly recognize and am very cognizant of music in movies. And I don't mean when Linkin Park blares over some action montage with Vin Diesel. I am talking about how the music soars and is a strong element in what is visually happens on screen.
I should digress here to distinguish in my mind between soundtracks and scores. The instrumental orchestra that intertwines itself with the picture in the frame. This is a movie's score. The bands that play old or original songs that can be listened independently constitute soundtrack. While some soundtracks are good, I enjoy scores much more. I do appreciate innovative sue of soundtrack (Almost Famous), but they are few and far between. So, I've decided to compile a list of my favorite movie scores. I've organized it into several different categories. I wish I wasn savvy to include links to iTunes, but I'm not. I'm in the process of making an iMix of them, but I need to acquire a lot of the songs first.
My All Time Top 20 - These scores stand alone. I listen to them in the car, when I work, when I read. They could be modern classical themes, if they didn't first appear in a movie.
1. Sunshine.
2. Blood Diamond.
3. Gladiator.
4. Stardust.
5. Lord of the Rings.
6. The Last Samurai.
7. Apollo 13.
8. Rudy.
9. Legend of Bagger Vance.
10. Shawshank Redemption.
11. The Fountain.
12. Days of Thunder.
13. 13th Warrior.
14. Superman
15. Last of the Mohicans
16. Transformers
17. Pirates of the Caribbean
18. Crimson Tide
19. Lion King
20 Batman Begins.
Honorable Mention - 20th Century Fox Fanfare. For more than half of my life, I thought that this was part of the Star Wars score. For a long time, I only thought this fanfare preceeded yellow words in space. It gets a spot, because while it seems it is used sparingly, you know when you hear it, you're about to see a kick ass movie.
Top 10 that complete the movie. This is a list of scores so strong, they outshine parts of the movie. a good example is number 4 - Jaws. The Jaws theme is so scary, someone could play just that and you're terrified. Couple it with an underwater shot of a swimmer's legs, and you've got a summer blockbuster.
1. Superman. The first time I saw Superman, I was absolutely positive, when the fanfare hit during the title credits, the music said "SUPERMAN!" You know what I mean
2. The Passion of the Christ.
3. Sunshine.
4. Jaws.
5. Rocky.
6. Rudy.
7. Godfather.
8. Transformers.
9. Halloween.
10. Apollo 13.
Top 5 Horror Movies
1. Jaws
2. Halloween
3. The Omen.
4. The Ring.
5. Requiem for a Dream. I don't care what anyone says. That movie is a horror movie.
Classics (Pre 1975 film).
1. Ben-Hur
2. Laurence of Arabia.
3. Patton.
4. Magnificent Seven.
5. The Great Escape.
Hanz Zimmer
1. Gladiator
2. Days of Thunder.
3. Pirates of the Carribbean.
4. Lion King (I think he did part of this)
5. Crimson Tide
6. Batman Begins
7. I should probably just list every movie he's ever done.
Just parts of the score, not the entire collection
1. Mr. Holland's Opus
2. Empire of the Sun.
3. Somewhere in Time.
4. Iron Man.
5. Ocean's 11, 12, 13
6. All Three Bourne movies.
7. Kingdom of Heaven.
8. The Village.
9. 300
10. Top Gun
11. Kill Bill
Sci-Fi
1. Matrix Trilogy
2. Terminator
3. Transformers.
4. Armageddon.
5. Iron Giant.
John Williams. I didn't list a lot of his scores. He really is in a league of his own. His music is so iconic, it's hard group with others, as it has no equal. So I'll list my favroite John Williams themes.
1. Superman
2. Star Wars
3. Jaws
4. E.T.
5. Jurassic Park
6. Munich
7. Harry Potter
Honorable Mentions
Man on Fire
Spy Game
Batman
Children of Men
National Treasure
Dragonheart
Titanic
The Mummy
Unforgiven
A Beautiful Mind
Amistad
Schindler's List
Rambo
Platoon
Mr. Holland's Opus
Mortal Kombat
Starship Troopers
Hunt for Red October
The Natural
The Mission
Courage Under Fire
Da Vinci Code
Robin Hood Prince of Theives
The Rock
Braveheart
Black Hawk Down
The Terminal
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Olympic Politics Humdrum
I've enjoyed watching the Olympics this year for the first time since Atlanta in 96. Of course, that basically means I didn't like Sydney and Athens. One of my pet peeves about sports reporting is when sports writers try and use a long period of time to imply a period of success or domination. They use hyperbole to mask the fact that sometimes, things just don't happen every day.
For example: U.S. Athlete Clay first decathlete to win Olympic gold since 96! You think, wow, it's been 12 years, what happened to the US? Smarter people think, no kidding, there wasn't one in 2000 or 2004, there's been two chances!
Cleveland Indians Pitcher Cliff Lee wins 10th game - first time since 2004! Yeah, because he was injured for like 3 years, what do you expect?
Regardless, I am a definite Phelps Phan. It was very exciting to see him set a goal. The races were full of drama. Two unbelievable close finishes. It is always fascinating to me to see the answer to a long standing trivia question change. Michael Phelps hopefully will be the answer to many questions for years to come. What I am afraid of now is that his success will soon become the source of controversy.
My prediction a week ago was this: A US journalist will uncover the truth about the underage Chinese gymnasts. In retaliation, China will produce a positive drug test by Michael Phelps. I am not saying that Phelps is on drugs. But the Olympic testing facility is in Beijing. And we have seen affirmative proof that they faked their opening ceremonies, and most people are at least suspicious of the age of their gymnasts. Thus, if the US is seen as taking away their proud gold medal in gymnastics (which their girls team has been training for since they were 3, so like 7 years), China will attack in predictable fashion against the US golden boy.
And I don't mean China as all Chinese nationals. I mean the Chinese government. The Chinese people have been fascinating to watch in general. They cheer everything. They love US Basketball, fast swimming, rowing, you name it. At every event I see Chinese people cheering wildly for live sports in which they have no athletes. They mob a British reporter thinking he is Michael Phelps. It is odd to see such a gracious people ruled by such a rigid and incomprehensible government.
McCain vs. OBAMA - He picked Biden. Who will McCain pick? Maybe a pro-choice candidate. WHO CARES? Both candidates suck, but this is what I think: Bush and Putin conspired for Russia's recent actions to drive into the hearts of the American people that the next president needs to be strong in foreign policy - to get McCain elected. I have no proof, just a thought in my head.
For example: U.S. Athlete Clay first decathlete to win Olympic gold since 96! You think, wow, it's been 12 years, what happened to the US? Smarter people think, no kidding, there wasn't one in 2000 or 2004, there's been two chances!
Cleveland Indians Pitcher Cliff Lee wins 10th game - first time since 2004! Yeah, because he was injured for like 3 years, what do you expect?
Regardless, I am a definite Phelps Phan. It was very exciting to see him set a goal. The races were full of drama. Two unbelievable close finishes. It is always fascinating to me to see the answer to a long standing trivia question change. Michael Phelps hopefully will be the answer to many questions for years to come. What I am afraid of now is that his success will soon become the source of controversy.
My prediction a week ago was this: A US journalist will uncover the truth about the underage Chinese gymnasts. In retaliation, China will produce a positive drug test by Michael Phelps. I am not saying that Phelps is on drugs. But the Olympic testing facility is in Beijing. And we have seen affirmative proof that they faked their opening ceremonies, and most people are at least suspicious of the age of their gymnasts. Thus, if the US is seen as taking away their proud gold medal in gymnastics (which their girls team has been training for since they were 3, so like 7 years), China will attack in predictable fashion against the US golden boy.
And I don't mean China as all Chinese nationals. I mean the Chinese government. The Chinese people have been fascinating to watch in general. They cheer everything. They love US Basketball, fast swimming, rowing, you name it. At every event I see Chinese people cheering wildly for live sports in which they have no athletes. They mob a British reporter thinking he is Michael Phelps. It is odd to see such a gracious people ruled by such a rigid and incomprehensible government.
McCain vs. OBAMA - He picked Biden. Who will McCain pick? Maybe a pro-choice candidate. WHO CARES? Both candidates suck, but this is what I think: Bush and Putin conspired for Russia's recent actions to drive into the hearts of the American people that the next president needs to be strong in foreign policy - to get McCain elected. I have no proof, just a thought in my head.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
