Tiesto – Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek (Tiesto’s In Search Of Sunrise Remix)

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The beat of this song makes me feel like I am touching the face of God…
– FlashAddict

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Halifax band an overnight Internet sensation with ‘United Breaks Guitars’ song

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I’m not the biggest fan of country music, but this guy PWND United Airlines big time!!!
- FlashAddict

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TORONTO – When Halifax’s Dave Carroll got off his United Airlines flight last spring and discovered his $3,500 custom-made guitar was severely damaged – allegedly by overzealous luggage handlers – at first he was mad.

When the airline’s customer service team gave him the runaround and refused to address his complaints to his satisfaction, he was incensed.

But in typically Canadian fashion, the songwriter decided to be the nice guy, shrug off his anger, and instead wrote a song about his experience.

As of Wednesday evening, that song, “United Breaks Guitars,” was the most popular music video on YouTube with about 169,000 views, and to his shock, his phone rang and rang and rang all day, with calls from across the continent.

One minute it was CBS asking him to play the network’s morning show, the next it was CNN, asking for details about his story so he could be featured on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

What started off as a lark has turned into far more exposure than Carroll has ever had with his band Sons of Maxwell, the kind of publicity he could never afford to buy, he said in an interview.

“I’ve been at this for well over 15 years, slugging away at it and … this has been an incredible lift to our career and my career as a solo artist,” he said.

After months of badgering with United for some sort of compensation he gave up, and told the last company representative that he spoke with that he planned to write a trilogy of songs about his disappointing experience.

“The whole thing has been a challenge artistically and that’s what makes this so fun,” he said, and added that he’s no longer bitter or seeking any kind of compensation from United.

“I think not only does it resonate with people because it’s an airline song, which all people can relate to, but I think the fact it’s a light-hearted song and fun is something that everyone can appreciate, because not everyone – including myself – likes to hear angry, hateful songs all the time.”

“It’s nice to have a light-hearted chuckle at things.”

He posted the video late Monday night and went to bed with the view count at about half a dozen. The next day he emailed a few hundred fans, friends and family and within 24 hours, the hits started to grow exponentially, by about 20,000 per hour.

Carroll said United has attempted to call him a couple times since the song went viral online, but he never got to the phone. But someone who spoke with United on his behalf said the company was gracious in accepting the criticism.

“They seem encouraged, by all the bad publicity I guess, to change the way they do things and change the culture of customer complaints,” he said.

“I think they’re actually having a great attitude about the whole thing, they’re not coming across as angry or threatening or anything like that. And maybe this will be a love story at the end of the day,” he said, noting that while song two of his trilogy is already written, song three could be about a happy ending.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090708/entertainment/halifax_band_vs_united

Jury rules against Minn. mom in download case

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A mother is now facing financial ruin over 24 songs on Kazaa…
- FlashAddict

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Retrial with same verdict; she owes recording companies $1.92 million

MINNEAPOLIS – A replay of the nation’s only file-sharing case to go to trial has ended with the same result, finding a Minnesota woman to have violated music copyrights and ordering her to pay hefty damages to the recording industry.

A federal jury ruled Thursday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song.

Thomas-Rasset’s second trial actually turned out worse for her. When a different federal jury heard her case in 2007, it hit Thomas-Rasset with a $222,000 judgment.

The new trial was ordered after the judge in the case decided he had erred in giving jury instructions.

Thomas-Rasset sat glumly with her chin in hand as she heard the jury’s finding of willful infringement, which increased the potential penalty. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when the jury’s penalty of $80,000 per song was read.

Outside the courtroom, she was resigned.

“There’s no way they’re ever going to get that,” said Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old mother of four from the central Minnesota city of Brainerd. “I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.”

Her attorney, Kiwi Camara, said he was surprised by the size of the judgment. He said it suggested that jurors didn’t believe Thomas-Rasset’s denials of illegal file-sharing, and that they were angry with her.

Camara said he and his client hadn’t decided whether to appeal or pursue the Recording Industry Association of America’s settlement overtures.

Cara Duckworth, a spokeswoman for the RIAA, said the industry remains willing to settle but she refused to name a figure.

In closing arguments earlier Thursday, attorneys for both sides disputed what the evidence showed.

An attorney for the recording industry, Tim Reynolds, said the “greater weight of the evidence” showed that Thomas-Rasset was responsible for the illegal file-sharing that took place on her computer. He urged jurors to hold her accountable to deter others from a practice he said has significantly harmed the people who bring music to everyone.

Defense attorney Joe Sibley said the music companies failed to prove allegations that Thomas-Rasset gave away songs by Gloria Estefan, Sheryl Crow, Green Day, Journey and others.

“Only Jammie Thomas’s computer was linked to illegal file-sharing on Kazaa,” Sibley said. “They couldn’t put a face behind the computer.”

Sibley urged jurors not to ruin Thomas-Rasset’s life with a debt she could never pay. Under federal law, the jury could have awarded up to $150,000 per song.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis, who heard the first lawsuit in 2007, ordered up a new trial after deciding he had erred in instructions to jurors.

For the retrial, Davis instructed the jurors that in order to find Thomas-Rasset infringed any copyrights, they had to determine that someone actually downloaded the songs. He said distribution needed to occur, though he didn’t explicitly define distribution. Before, Davis said simply making the songs available on the Kazaa file-sharing network was enough.

This case was the only one of more than 30,000 similar lawsuits to make it all the way to trial. The vast majority of people targeted by the music industry had settled for about $3,500 each. The recording industry has said it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead now working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders.

In testimony this week, Thomas-Rasset denied she shared any songs. On Wednesday, the self-described “huge music fan” raised the possibility for the first time in the long-running case that her children or ex-husband might have done it. The defense did not provide any evidence, though, that any of them had shared the files.

The recording companies accused Thomas-Rasset of offering 1,700 songs on Kazaa as of February 2005, before the company became a legal music subscription service following a settlement with entertainment companies. For simplicity’s sake the music industry tried to prove only 24 infringements.

Reynolds argued Thursday that the evidence clearly pointed to Thomas-Rasset as the person who made the songs available on Kazaa under the screen name “tereastarr.” It’s the same nickname she acknowledged having used for years for her e-mail and several other computer accounts, including her MySpace page.

Reynolds said the copyright security company MediaSentry traced the files offered by “tereastarr” on Kazaa to Thomas-Rasset’s Internet Protocol address — the online equivalent of a street address — and to her modem.

He said MediaSentry downloaded a sample of them from the shared directory on her computer. That’s an important point, given Davis’ new instructions to jurors.

Although the plaintiffs weren’t able to prove that anyone but MediaSentry downloaded songs off her computer because Kazaa kept no such records, Reynolds told the jury it’s only logical that many users had downloaded songs offered through her computer because that’s what Kazaa was there for.

Sibley argued it would have made no sense for Thomas-Rasset to use the name “tereastarr” to do anything illegal, given that she had used it widely for several years.

He also portrayed the defendant as one of the few people brave enough to stand up to the recording industry, and he warned jurors that they could also find themselves accused on the basis of weak evidence if their computers are ever linked to illegal file-sharing.

“They are going to come at you like they came at ’tereastarr,”’ he said.

Steve Marks, executive vice president and general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America, estimated earlier this week that only a few hundred of the lawsuits remain unresolved and that fewer than 10 defendants were actively fighting them.

The companies that sued Thomas-Rasset are subsidiaries of all four major recording companies, Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC and Sony Corp.’s Sony Music Entertainment.

The recording industry has blamed online piracy for declines in music sales, although other factors include the rise of legal music sales online, which emphasize buying individual tracks rather than full albums.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31432024/ns/business-local_business/

House of Cards – by Radiohead

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Looked at this wonderful video by Radiohead yesterday in class – no cameras or lights were used to capture the footage – they used a new data capture device called LIDAR. We also discussed creative ways of visualizating data and the convergence of science/technology and art – and looked at PROCESSING – a new software program available for free download that enables artists to further visualize their work as well…
- FlashAddict

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http://radiohead.com/deadairspace/

Radiohead just released a new video for its song “House of Cards” from the album “In Rainbows”.

No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes.

Watch the making-of video to learn about how the video was made and the various technologies that were used to capture and render 3D data.

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HOUS_E OF/CARDS

In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.

Directed by James Frost
From the album IN RAINBOWS

Go to: http://code.google.com/radiohead to find additional pieces of data to create your own visualizations. Upload the results here:
http://www.youtube.com/group/houseofcards

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PROCESSING

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

Processing is free to download and available for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Please help to release the next version!

Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab. The project is currently improved and maintained by a small team of volunteers.

http://processing.org/

Examples of what Processing can do:

http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/projects/project4.html

http://www.processing.org/learning/3d/cubicgrid.html

Mad World – which version do you like best?

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One of my all-time favorite sons, Mad World, originally by Tears for Fears has been redone countless times and in each new interpretation, artists have brought their own passion and truth to what is in my opinion a very haunting and provocative song. I was amazed to find that the song has been used to the extent that is has been – see below and enjoy!
- FlashAddict

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- fan made Machinima trailer that covers the entire song – was inspired after watching the original trailer above

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All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It’s a very, very
Mad World
Mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It’s a very, very
Mad World
Mad World
Enlarging your world
Mad World.

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Background

“Mad World” began life as the intended b-side for Tears for Fears’ second single “Pale Shelter (You Don’t Give Me Love)”. The band decided, however, that it may be something people would like to hear on the radio and held back its release, instead waiting to issue the song as a single in its own right after re-recording it with Chris Hughes.

That came when I lived above a pizza restaurant in Bath and I could look out onto the centre of the city. Not that Bath is very mad – I should have called it “Bourgeois World”!

—Roland Orzabal

“Mad World” was the first single off the finished album. The intention was to gain attention from it and we’d hopefully build up a little following. We had no idea that it would become a hit. Nor did the record company.

—Curt Smith

Meanings

Lyrically the song is pretty loose. It throws together a lot of different images to paint a picture without saying anything specific about the world.

—Roland Orzabal

It’s very much a voyeur’s song. It’s looking out at a mad world from the eyes of a teenager.

—Curt Smith

“Mad World” is a song by the British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band’s third single release and first chart hit, reaching #3 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982. Both “Mad World” and its b-side, “Ideas As Opiates”, would turn up on the band’s debut LP The Hurting the following year. The song would eventually become Tears for Fears’ first international success, reaching the Top 40 in several countries between 1982 and 1983.

Two decades later, the song made a popular resurgence when it was covered by composers Michael Andrews and Gary Jules for the soundtrack to the movie Donnie Darko. This version reached no.1 in the UK in December 2003.

Michael Andrews and Gary Jules version

“Mad World” would achieve a second round of success beginning almost twenty years later, after it was covered by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules for the film Donnie Darko (2001). While the Tears for Fears version featured various synthesizers and percussion, the Andrews/Jules version was stripped down. Instead of a full musical backing, it used only a set of piano chords, a cello, and modest use of a vocoder on the chorus. Their version was originally released on CD in 2002 on the film’s soundtrack, but an increasing cult following spawned by the movie’s DVD release finally prompted Jules and Andrews to issue the song as a proper single. The release was a runaway success in late 2003, becoming the Number One single over the Christmas holiday in the UK, a feat Tears for Fears themselves never accomplished. The music video has been very popular on Youtube, garnerning over 11 million views as of 2009.

Popular culture

In late 2006, a condensed version of the Andrews/Jules cover of “Mad World” was featured in the award-winning commercial for the video game Gears of War. The advertisement has been credited with helping propel the song to #1 on the iTunes sales chart. In addition to its usage in numerous advertisements and fan-made YouTube videos, the Andrews/Jules cover has also become a popular choice for background music in television dramas, having appeared in the following series:

Cold Case CSI Emmerdale ER Jericho Judging Amy

Las Vegas Line of Fire Medical Investigation Nip/Tuck Silent Witness Smallville

Station X Tatort The Cleaner The L Word Third Watch Without a Trace

In 2006, the song appeared on Broadway as the closing number in Butley starring Nathan Lane.

Other versions

In addition to the Andrews/Jules version, “Mad World” has been recorded over the years by the following artists:

• French artist Nicola Sirkis, frontman of the new wave band Indochine, on his solo album Dans La Lune… (1992).
• American industrial rock band Kill Switch…Klick, on the Cleopatra Records compilation New Wave Goes To Hell (1998).
• American alternative rock band Finch, on their EP Rolling Stone Acoustic Session (2002).
• British singer-songwriter Alex Parks, on her debut album, Introduction (2003).
• American industrial act Brainclaw, downloadable on their website (2004).
• American metalcore band Evergreen Terrace, on their album Writer’s Block (2004).
• German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen, on their live DVD Rock am Ring 2004 (2004).
• Australian art rock band The Red Paintings, on their EP Walls (2005). This cover features an acoustic cello and guitar arrangement. While they modified the lyrics from the original version, in live performances they are known to enunciate words in different fashion giving it an altogether unique sound.
• German DJ Jan Wayne, on his single Mad World (2005).
• American singer-songwriter Sara Hickman, on her double album Motherlode (2006).
• Canadian rock bassist Ken Tizzard, on his album Quiet Storey House… An Introduction (2006).
• German a cappella group Wise Guys, on their album Radio (2006).
• American dark cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, on their live DVD Live at the Roundhouse (2007). The performance features Trash McSweeney of Australian art rock band The Red Paintings.
• Canadian folk-singer Tara MacLean, on her EP Signs of Life (2007).
• German vocal band Gregorian, on their album Masters of Chant Chapter VI (2007).
• Vietnamese-Canadian singer Kristine Sa recorded a cover of the song.
• Israeli actress and model Melanie Peres recorded a cover of the song, as the theme song of Reshef Levy‘s film, “Lost Islands“.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_world

Tom Waits is The Man…

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Tom doing what Tom does – absolutely priceless…
- FlashAddict

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http://www.tomwaits.com

Blocked by Facebook – Personal Journeys – Help John with his Art Project

Hello everyone,

Well, I guess the automated powers that be at Facebook have blocked me from sending out anymore Friend Requests to fellow Emily Carr University students/faculty/associates linked in to the school groups that can be found when you do a search. I can understand why they have such automated features, but it’s frustrating to be lopped into the same category as spammers, phishers or other types of crooks.

Because of this, I am asking for your help. If you feel that this project has merit and is worth the effort to bring in others to tell their stories as well, I would like to ask you to invite your friends to join the event. The future of this project is now in your hands as I cannot do it without you. Please help me in seeing this project become a reality because it means so much to me and I know that it means a great deal to you as well.

Sincerely,

John DeVeaux

- Here is the link to the Facebook event page -Personal Journeys – Help John with his Art Project

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=46093168338

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As a gift to everyone, please go to:

http://flashaddict.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/shot-by-shot-analysis-of-the-music-video-glosoli-by-sigur-ros/

The lyrics are sung in Icelandic, yet one need not know what the words mean in order to interpret the value and depth that they and the imagery convey. I actually don’t want to know what the lyrics translate to in English because it would take away the beauty and serenity that I found interpreting it myself.

Enjoy!

Instructions:
1. Watch the full video without pause to understand the essence of the piece.

2. Read through my shot-by-shot written breakdown.

3. Watch the video again and take in a new personal understanding of the imagery.

4. Rewind and go back to individual shots and if you feel inspired, write down what they mean to you and compare them to mine.

5. Smile and feel a sense of peace = All will be OK.

John

Please be kind to my film terminology – there were so many terms that we learned last semester, that it was a bit of information overload and I may have mixed some up

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PS After spending 15 minutes trying to find out how to actually send an email to Facebook customer service, I sent them the following letter asking for their help as well:

To whom it may concern,

I was just recently blocked from sending friend requests on Facebook. As a result of that, I felt it would be prudent that I send you an email to let you know that I am not some dirty old man trying to prey on young children, nor am I a nefarious crook trying to swindle little old ladies out of their life savings.

I understand that you guys have to have set TOS standards and I know why I was tacked onto the list of possible spammers/crooks by sending friend requests. I have been in your shoes as I have worked many customer service gigs, most importantly when I worked for eBay in their investigations department and had to respond to complaints sent in my members about other members, with spam being one of the biggest issues reported.

That being said however, I am just an aspiring art student struck by inspiration and in the process of trying to invite people to join my Art Project as I feel that it is a great event to participate in. I am not trying to sell anything, I am just asking people to share their stories with me and am sending Friend Requests to my fellow art students and art enthusiasts (people who would want to participate in such an event). I’m not asking for much here, but please check out my event page and see for yourself “Personal Journeys – Help John with his Art Project.” I’m not a bad guy, I’m just trying to create a beautiful piece of art and to allow people to tell others their story.

Please let me know where I can go from here – I need your help.

Sincerely,

John DeVeaux

Shot-by-Shot analysis of the music video – Glósóli by Sigur Ros

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Our Video Art instructor, Christine Stewart played this video as her contribution to the Personal Inspiration Project that all of the students showed in class today. As chance would have it, I had just recently published this video on both my blog and facebook pages and had just watched it the night before as it is one of my all-time favorites. Seeing as though my main art piece is focusing on Personal Journeys, I wanted to take things a bit further, so I decided to do my own personal shot-by-shot analysis of the video after class. This process allowed me to gain a much deeper understanding of the piece and its internal Journey.  I hope that you will enjoy it – I know I did!
– FlashAddict

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Sigur Ros – Glosoli

- 0:01 - solitary chord lingers as the screen fades in revealing a young boy sitting on the edge of a body of water with a drum by his side – searching the horizon from side to side - Little Drummer Boy = leader and protector
- 0:10 - cue music – first cut – reveals a dirty over the shoulder closeup of the Little Drummer Boy and his hair blowing in the wind
- 0:13 - second cut – closeup of the Little Drummer Boy‘s drumstick resting in his fingers on his lap – he releases the first tap in his fingers to the beat of the bass
- 0:21 - after a few other closeups of the drumstick – the main beat of the song comes up and the Little Drummer Boy starts tapping his foot to the beat
- 0:25 - the Little Drummer Boy feels a call to action, stands and picks up his drum – the journey is about to begin…
- 0:35 - incredible shot when the Little Drummer Boy walks into the frame to walk up the hill and the camera pans from right to left to follow him up – wonderful imagery – again to the change in the song’s beat
- 0:45 - we see the Little Drummer Boy traversing a quite difficult patch of volcanic rock fields and hills that goes far off in the distance to the horizon = the journey is long but worthwhile
- 0:47 - again to the change in the beat, the Little Drummer Boy pauses when he realizes that he is not alone – he needs friends to join and help him on his journey = compatriots
- 0:54 - to the beat of the drumming, the Little Drummer Boy bangs his drum once as a rallying call to whoever is living in the rock house on the hill
- 0:56 - beautiful scene of the young girl raising her head from under the rock wall while wearing the cute bear head costume and then we see the Little Drummer Boy - she is wary to join him but he gives her a simple yet lovingly warm smile in return = All will be OK – then his head swivels to the left to lead her and her sister (who pops up afterwards) to follow on the journey
- 1:15 - tender scene between the two sisters and the older one holds the hand of her younger sister and helps her traverse the difficult volcanic landscape
- 1:19 - scene opens up to reveal another young boy waiting on a rock in the middle of the volcanic rockfield as if he has been waiting for them all along
- 1:22 - the boy is apprehensive and a bit scared to follow however he doesn’t want to get left behind as the others continue on with their journey
- 1:27 - hey guys wait for me – he seems to emote as he finds his courage and runs after the group to join them
- 1:35 - another tender moment as the group encounters a small stream blocking their path – Little Drummer Boy lends his hand to the girls and the new boy to help them across
- 1:42 - the camera pans through the swaying long grass to reveal the serene face of a young and cute icelandic girl with the face of an angel – which then opens up to more shots of the faces the other children sitting in the grass and sharing tender moments together (as if they are inside the womb) – culminating in the Little Drummer Boy smiling a reassuring smile again = All is Good
- 2:13 - the group of children decide to keep marching and leave the protective womb of the high grass fields
- 2:19 - shot reveals girls playing skip rope and young boys hanging out and simply being boyz getting into trouble and mischief – yet they also feel the tapping of the drumbea with their feet and feel the desire to join the journey as well
- 2:28 - the cadence of the musical beat changes to that of a clapping staccato rhythm – scene opens up to reveal two boys trying to light an abandoned car on fire with a gerrycan of gasoline and an open flame (never a good idea) – makes me giggle a bit when the boy with the gerrycan spills some of the gasoline and could have nearly lit himself on fire!
- 2:34 - and still the beat goes on – as we see the feet of the children walking and drumming along to the beat
- 2:37 - they cross a threshold of manmade technology (the road/highway) cutting through the pristine and untouched wilderness and yet the Little Drummer Boy leads them further into the wild = take the road less travelled
- 2:44 - shot of the three young girls building the rock monument/house out with a gigantic volcanic rock field = simple gestures can create powerful bonds
- 2:55 - the Visual Representation of Youth makes his appearance – the youngest child of the group – represented by a young boy sleeping in the rock field = beautiful, innocent, peaceful, serenity, youth
- 3:02 – the Little Drummer Boy realizes that the Visual Representation of Youth is sleeping so asks everyone to be quiet – and so they all scout out a place of their own to join the Visual Representation of Youth
- 3:16 - closeup shot of the Visual Representation of Youth – stirring slightly as the other children lay down – shhhhhhh – we have to be very gentle and quiet…
- 3:33 - young and cute icelandic girl with the face of an angel turns over because she can’t sleep – so she reaches out to grab the hand of the Little Drummer Boy so she can sleep soundly
- 3:41 - zoomed out group shot of all of the children sleeping in peaceful slumber – cue fade through black
- 3:49 - sunrise – rebirth – the march continues as the music beat picks up in intensity – the Little Drummer Boy enters from left frame leading the group across the landscape bathed in a golden yellow hue from the morning sunshine
- 3:55 - the camera pans down to show the children marching in single file, with their feet stepping to the beat of the music in unison
- 4:07 - the Little Drummer Boy brings the group to a halt and now has a concentrated and stoic look on his face as the shot is a shoulder closeup of his face with the children standing behind him in support
- 4:10 - shot changes to reveal the other children finding their courage as well as they stand with the Little Drummer Boy as one unit looking on the task that they all face together
- 4:12 - resolve – there is no turning back – as the Little Drummer Boy looks down to gather his courage
- 4:15 - in unison with the rising beat of the music – the Little Drummer Boy begins beating his own drum for the very first time
- 4:17 - continued closeups of the other children as they all find their courage and resolve from the Little Drummer Boy‘s  drumming
- 4:22 - 1/2 shot showing the Little Drummer Boy and the other children in a collective resolve and getting ready to unleash their energy as a whole
- 4:35 - the camera switches sides and is now behind the Little Drummer Boy – so we as the audience have now become the other children and we need to find our resolve and courage now
- 4:39 - the calm before the storm – even though the beat of the music is very heavy at this point – the Little Drummer Boy holds us back like potential energy or a waterfall holding back a massive reservoir of water
- 4:41 - CHARGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee………. (best part of the song here by the way)
- 4:42 - the children run past the camera – meaning that they are running past us as the audience from the viewpoint
- 4:46 - humorous moment as the Little Drummer Boy drops his drum because he no longer needs the crutch anymore – he is well on his way to becomming a man – but he nearly takes out the girl on his right in the process as she nearly bails as she trips on the drum
- 4:48 – focus of the girl with the bear hat costume as she takes the cue from the Little Drummer Boy and discards her crutch as well – she is becomming a woman
- 4:50 – the Little Drummer Boy and the rest of the children are running at full speed to reach the top of the hill – they are giving it all their might
- 4:54 – we see the Little Drummer Boy‘s drum rolling backwards down the hill to find a new child to attach itself to as the Visual Representation of Youth enters the frame and watches the drum roll down – he is slower than the rest, but no less determined
- 4:57 – as the lead guitar its most powerful riff of the song – we have a head shot closeup of the bear hat girl and another girl running with the wind in their hair
- 5:01 – long shot showing the children running full bore up the incline of the hill – there is nothing that can stop them now
- 5:03 – two seagulls flying blissfully in the air enter from frame left and forshadow the children’s future
- 5:07 – the lead singer breaks out into his wail/scream as the children approach the edge of the cliff – further foreshadowing of the seagulls effortlessly rising up and down with the currents of air = point of no return
- 5:14 - camera moves in closer but still a long shot as the children get even more tantilizingly close to the cliff’s edge – we see the final image of the seagull far off in the background becomming them to follow – it exits from the frame just as = the Little Drummer Boy and the bear hat girl arrive to the edge first = first to mature
- 5:19 - closeup of the Little Drummer Boy‘s right foot as he takes his leap of faith and jumps off the cliff – the scene is full of tension, both implied and literal – what will happen to him when he steps off?
- 5:20 – one last breath before the plunge as the Little Drummer Boy takes a mighty leap into the unknown
- 5:21 - bear hat girl and the rest of the children are not far behind and follow him into adulthood
- 5:23 - the Little Drummer Boy finds his own path and begins plotting his own destiny
- 5:24 - camera shifts perspective again and we as the audience become the children as we watch the others run past us and jump off to find their respective destinies
- 5:27 - long shot view showing most of the children able to make it on their own as they reach for the stars
- 5:29 - check out the view from up here the Little Drummer Boy seems to emote as he is savouring his new found freedom
- 5:33 - but what about the Visual Representation of Youth – is he too small to make the jump – will he be able to survive on his own – as he approaches the final steps of his childhood
- 5:36 - the Visual Representation of Youth pauses on the edge of the cliff and briefly debates whether to make the jump or not – he is still a little scared of the unknown
- 5:38 - we follow the rest of the children as they are well on their way and savouring their ability to spread their wings
- 5:39 - the Little Drummer Boy looks even further into the future with eyes of assurance and as before = All is Good
- 5:41 - like a big brother, the Little Drummer Boy takes one last look back at the other children, but he knows that they will be able to find their path and succeed on their own – he doesn’t need to worry about them anymore
- 5:42 - having reached a decision, the Visual Representation of Youth decides to go for it and like a giant coiled spring, he leaps off the cliff with all of his might but seems to fall as he briefly stumbles before finding his own path to follow
- 5:48 - closeup of the Visual Representation of Youth’s sparkling teeth and a giant smile = pure joy as the he finally finds his strength – as the music equally reaches its crescendo and begins to fade out
- 5:51 - closeup of the rest of the children smiling and feeling euphoric = Bliss
- 6:04 - end music – the endless waves of the water below with the camera panning up to show the horizon in the distance = their future is their own now – only they can decide where to go from here

Tales of the Past III – by Martin Falch

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I will be showing clips from and talking about Tales of the Past III, a Machinima Film based on the video game World of Warcraft to my Video Art class at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design tomorrow for our Previous Inspiration Presentation project.
- FlashAddict

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Tales of the Past III, by Martin Falch is the ultimate achievement in fan-made Machinima Film based on the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, World of Warcraft. Martin spent over a year and a half single handedly piecing together the overall visual majesty of the film, from screen capturing from the game itself, editing hundreds of hours of footage, painstakingly doing all of the special effects, to labourously directing dozens upon dozens of other virtual actors on live game servers for massive group sequences. He also had professional voice actors volunteer their time and efforts to help piece together the emotional tone of the characters and organized an incredible array of songs for the soundtrack that effortlessly leads from sequence to sequence.

While most World of Warcraft Machinima Films are rudimentary and poorly strewn together with freeware software, Martin Falch has set the bar for all aspiring Warcraft Machinima auteurs to shoot for, myself included.

Opening Scene:

The Ashbringer:

These are the Duranin:

Final Battle:

Trailer:

Movie Plot and Download Links:
Since the death of Yimo and the shattering of the Orb of Visions, the Horde and the Alliance have accepted an unstable peace agreement. However, old hatreds stand in the way of cooperation and at the same time, chaos erupts as the Lich King finally takes action. In the meanwhile, Blazer travels to Northrend to hunt down Mograine, the Death Knight, and retrieve the legendary blade that may decide the fate of Azeroth – The Ashbringer…

After 1,5 years of production, Tales of the Past III is finally complete. Having spent an average of 3 hours every single day on the movie, there have been times where this whole project was frustrating rather than enjoyable. However, looking back on the whole project, I’m glad that I started and I’m glad that I managed to get through it! Also, having watched the entire movie, I’m really satisfied with the outcome and I hope you feel the same way! Now, since the movie is huge, I hope you’ll take your time to read through the block of text here!

http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=53953

Milestones:
Martin Falch is number 4 on the all-time Warcraftmovies.com download list currently at 2,361,104 total downloads.

http://warcraftmovies.com/halloffame.php

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1.000.000 downloads
Posted: 28 July 2008 @ 09:39 (CET)

Hey people! Just wanted to inform that TotPIII has now reached 1 mio downloads on Warcraftmovies.com, making it the second movie ever to archive this (number 1 being Leeroy) – I just want to say thanks to all the people commentning on it and sending me mails, it’s been awesome with all the support and nice words. Also a big thanks for the people informing their friends/guilds/forums about it in order to spread the movie around!

I’ve mentioned this before, but hopefully I’ll be able to make new story line machinimas later on, perhaps some relevant opportunity comes up for the case – having just watched the most brilliant film I watched in a long time, The Dark Knight, it’s a bit tempting to get back to machinimating. However, until then I hope you’ll enjoy the little Synergy Contest submission I’ve made, which should be up today – I’ll post the link here when it is. As mentioned it won’t be anything fancy, but it’s a bit different from what I’ve tried making before and the whole thing about following someone elses script has been both a challenge and interesting!

Again, thanks alot for all the support!

- Martin

http://www.talesofthepast.com/

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Soundtrack:

“I was… the Ashbringer.”

* (0:38/–:–) Legendary – King Arthur Soundtrack – 02 – Woad To Ruin

* (–:–/6:00) The Blade – King Arthur Soundtrack – 04 – Hold The Ice

* (–:–/–:–) The Ashbringer In Battle – Pirates of the Caribbean 2 – Hans Zimmer – 08 – a family affair

* (–:–/–:–) Betrayed – 01 – Age of Music

Discord

* (–:–/–:–) Saurfang’s Challenge – Hans Zimmer- The Contender (Main Theme)

* (–:–/–:–) Rexxar’s Journey – Trevor Rabin – Armageddon – Launch

The War Begins

* (–:–/–:–) Council of War – The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Main Title Music

* (–:–/–:–) Two beers per kill – Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s chest – 07 – Two hornpipes (Tortuga)

* (–:–/–:–) eternal_silencetheme_ngm_by_mike_cameron_force

* (15:16/16:44)”No! He must no scape!” – 10 – The Peacemaker – Devoe’s Revenge Take 3 Take 2.wav ; Hans Zimmer – Devoe’s Revenge

* (–:–/–:–) X-Ray Dog – Clash Of Arms(1)

* (–:–/–:–) The Last Samurai (Soundtrack) – 09 – Hans Zimmer – Red Warrior

* (–:–/–:–) Edgen+discovery

* (–:–/–:–) Movies – Hans Zimmer – The Last Samurai – Spectres In The Fog

* (–:–/–:–) “To Hell With This Mission”-The Last Samurai (Soundtrack) – 03 – Hans Zimmer – Taken

* (22:40/24:50) Starsailor – Way to Fall

* (–:–/–:–) 01 – Danny Elfman – Introduction

* (–:–/–:–) Mograine – Immediate Music – Epicon (Hybrid)

* (27:43/29:46) Harry Gregson Williams – Metal Gear Solid 1 End Title: The Best Is Yet to Come

* (–:–/–:–) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – 06 I See Dead People In Boats

* (–:–/–:–) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – 02 Singapore

* (–:–/–:–) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – 03 At Wit’s End

* (–:–/–:–) Serphentos and Rexxar Travel – 10 – In Search of the Grail

* (–:–/–:–) Saurfang and Rexxar – Theme – Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

* (–:–/–:–) Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – 11 I Don’t Think Now Is The Best Time

* (38:10/40:46) Ambush – Saw Soundtrack – Final theme

The Emerald Dream

* (40:58/43:20) Quite A View – Star Wars Episode II – Attack Of The Clones – 02 – Across The Stars (Love Theme)

* (–:–/–:–) “This is why I chose you!”13_-_Hans_Zimmer_-_Barbarian_Horde

* (–:–/–:–) Metal_Gear_Solid_LegendoftheSnake_OC_ReMix

* (–:–/–:–) Memories – Naruto OST – 08 Sadness and Sorrow

* (46:00/46:40) Gronn Slayer – Naruto – Strong And Strike

* (–:–/–:–) Naruto – Main Theme

* (–:–/–:–) Warcraft 3 – Comradeship

* (–:–/–:–) “Let us cast it, into the flames of Blackrock Mountain!” – Lord of The Rings – Main Theme

* (–:–/–:–) The Plan – Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – 05 Up Is Down

* (52:42/55:37) Coco Lee – A Love Before Time (Mandarin)

* (55:45/59:26) The Final Trial – Godspeed You Black Emperor – Moya

Armies Unite

* (–:–/–:–) Metal Gear Solid 3 – Snake Eater (Soundtrack) – 211 – Norihiko Hibino – Last Showdown

* (–:–/–:–) Metal Gear Solid 3 – Snake Eater (Soundtrack) – 210 – Harry Gregson – Williams – Lifes End

* (–:–/–:–) King Arthur Soundtrack – 05-Another Brick in Hadrian’s Wall

* (1:03:50/1:05:03) Monori In Death – Nightwish – End Of All Hope

* (–:–/–:–) Immediate Music – 48 – Orch & Choir Rise – 3

* (–:–/–:–) 31 – Asteroid Chase – The Shuttle Crash

Final Push

* (–:–/–:–) Too late… – Naruto (Orochimaru’s Theme)

* (–:–/–:–) The Lich King’s Power – Naruto 15 – Orochimaru’s Fight

Blazer, returned as the Ashbringer

* (1:07:40/1:09:45) Return of the Ashbringer – Hans Zimmer – King Arthur – Hans Zimmer – Crimson Tide Theme

* (–:–/–:–) Ash and Frost Part 1 – X-ray Dog 50 – Tightwire Orchestral

* (–:–/–:–) Ash and Frost Part 2 – Immediate Music – Blasphemy 2.0 (Choir)

* (1:13:50/1:14:30) Remember Them When in Hope you Doubt – Immediate Music – With Great Power

* (1:14:32/1:14:55) “If you think that’s cool…” – Immediate Music – Desperate Hour

* (1:14:56/1:15:28) Phoenix and Frost Wyrm – Immediate Music – Serenata (Choir)

* (1:15:29/1:15:53) “Nice One!” – Immediate Music – Liberation! (Choir)

* (–:–/–:–) “I smell demons coming…” – X-Ray Dog 44 – Secret Agent

* (–:–/–:–) Monóri vs. Serphentos – Soundtracks – Mission Impossible 2 – Hans Zimmer – Injection

* (–:–/–:–) X-Ray Dog 21 – Big f’n Drums

* (–:–/–:–) “No match for me!” – Immediate Music – With Great Power

Victory of the Ashbringer

* (1:17:05/1:18:10) Retribution – Trust Company – Downfall

* (–:–/–:–) Arthas Reborn – Batman Begins Soundtrack – Corynorhinus

* (–:–/–:–) Blazer’s Final Sacrifice – Metal Gear Solid 3-End theme Harryson Gregson Williams

* (–:–/–:–) “Honor Them!” – Theme Songs – Naruto – Hokage’s Funeral Scene

* (–:–/–:–) “We had a deal…” – King Arthur Soundtrack – 02 – Woad To Ruin

* (–:–/–:–) The Tale Ends – TavernAlliance02

* (–:–/–:–) 04 – Danny Elfman – The Story…

* (–:–/–:–) 10 – Danny Elfman – The Tree of Death

* (1:26:06/1:27:58) Credits – Nightwish – Ghost Love Score

http://www.wowwiki.com/Server:Dunemaul_Europe/Tales_of_the_Past#Soundtrack_TotP_III

Walk the Line – Trailer

I finally got around to watching, “Walk the Line” – the story about Johnny Cash with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon and I have to say, I was pleasantly impressed all-around, from the story, the music and the acting skills of Joaquin and Reese especially. She truly captured the essence of June Cater Cash and I am glad that they let Joaquin sing Johnny’s songs outright, rather than dub them in post production.

Definitely worth the time to check out this flick.