Show Review: Jurassic Park in Concert

Over this last weekend, Conklederp and I went and saw the 1993 theatrical version of Jurassic Park.  That in and of itself would not be noteworthy except that tickets to see Jurassic Park were $30 and up.  The reason of such a high price was that the Oregon Symphony Orchestra performed the music to the movie live.  Sure, if you figure that 1/3rd of the ticket prices for the cost of the movie, which meant that we were able to listen to an orchestra perform the entirety of the Jurassic Park soundtrack for only $20.  I would have paid $30 to listen to just the soundtrack performed,

Before going into the movie, both Conklederp and I were wondering how it would actually work, beyond just having the symphony there playing the music while the movie aired.  Knowing only what I've gathered from watching special features on DVD's, there seems to be a fair amount of audio mixing going on, making sure that the music doesn't overpower the dialogue, swells here, or just plays quietly in the background almost as if you don't notice it at all.  So how much live/on-the-spot-mixing could occur with a live orchestra?

What I experienced (as I won't speak on Conklederp's behalf) was me leaving The Schnitz wondering why I don't just see every movie with a live orchestra?  That way-back in the day, seeing a silent movie (because there was no other option), meant that maybe you had a live pianist playing along with the movie, which must have been something like our experience, but on a less grand scale.  There were only a few times during the movie that I noticed that the music played was ever so slightly different than what was on the soundtrack.  Specifically with "Dennis Steals the Embryos" scene, the marimba (I think it's the marimba) didn't sound as clean as it is performed on both the soundtrack and in the movie itself.  Conklederp later said that she noticed the lack of choir, which I didn't even think about, especially during the scene when the group first comes upon the Brachiosaurs.  The rest of the time, I was so engrossed in the whole experience that I either did not realize that there was a live orchestra playing, or that I was so into the music that I was not paying attention to the music.

The only other odd occurrence was that there was an intermission, which I probably should have anticipated as those musicians probably needed a rest, both mentally and physically.  And the conductor too I guess.  The fact that there was an intermission was not so much the oddness, but where they placed it.  Right after Dennis Nedry crashes his jeep, the screen went black, which I know is something that does not happen at that moment, the "Intermission" screen came up and the house lights came on.  An added bonus though of having the intermission was that after the 20 minutes were up and the house lights flashed, the orchestra played the entr'acte, which just meant that there was more music from the film to listen to.

As the movie ended and the credits rolled, Conklederp and I noticed people getting up and leaving.  Why would you do this!?  I mean sure, we spent 40 minutes getting out of the parking garage at night because we stayed until after the credits had finished.  Oh, and after the LIVE ORCHESTRA HAD FINISHED PERFORMING MUSIC FROM THE FILM JURASSIC PARK.  I would have paid money (which we did) to hear music from this film performed by an orchestra, and here we were, and I'll be snookered if I would leave as the credits were rolling because that is perfectly acceptable to do in a movie theatre.

Anyway, it was an amazing experience that I would highly recommend to anyone who is able to attend a performance; although I do recognize that ticket prices vary by venue.  In my opinion though, completely worth the cost of seeing Jurassic Park for the 47,000,000 time.  Now to plan our next experience when Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is performed in September; tickets go on sale May 4th.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Well Son You Got A Statement You'd Like To Make


P.S.  Something that I have noticed in the past, is that anytime the end credits theme from Jurassic Park is played, at least since about 1997, is that the music from The Lost World: Jurassic Park is used instead of what was written for the original film.  You can tell because the at about 2:12 in the original, there isn't the music that was used for The Lost World.  

You could say that I was a mix of emotions 

MIDI Week Singles: "The Mall" - Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble (NES)

"The Mall" from Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)

Composer: Rob Hubbard

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Electronic Arts

I played Skate or Die 2 quite a bit in the early '90s with my friend Flex and like a lot of skateboarding games that I have played since, I was not particularly good at it.  And what I actually recall about the game was the that the second stage took place in a mall, where you took on jobs as a delivery person.  It was a combination of having good in-game dexterity as well as remembering where individual shops were once you delivered a package and were immediately given a new timed assignment.  I do not recall if we (we meaning I) ever got passed the Mall stage so my nostalgic knowledge of this soundtrack as a whole is fairly limited.

I like this track because while it does not immediately conjure up the image of a mall, when I hear it, I do feel a twinge in the back on my brain that is telling me that I'm not moving fast enough, that the security guard is probably waiting just a few pixels away, and can't people just walk bloody damn faster already!?  I find "The Mall" to be a good song for its location.  It's not too frantic or off putting considering how apparently deadly the mall can be, and the melody is memorable enough so that having heard it for the first time in nearly 25 years, my brain is still able to bring back feelings of inadequacy in my ability to out maneuver a pixelated shopper.

Thanks Rob.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian 
Instrumental

Monthly Update: April 2018

Well, if I had to describe March 2018 in a single word, it would be "ineffable," but only because I took the easy way out.

March 2018 seemed to be characterized by my playing of the Switch and not playing nearly anything on Steam, which is odd for me considering the last six years it has been my go-to gaming platform.  I think I have used Steam once this whole month when I went to give Dark Souls III a try, mainly to see if my computer could handle the game.  In short, on medium to low settings, the game ran at around 25-30 fps.  I saw the first boss, or what I perceived to be the first boss, then noped out of there, saved, and left to go do something else.

Most of my time has been spent playing one of five games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Bayonetta, Mutant Mudds Collection, Kamiko, and Perception.  And I think that those five games are a fair representation of the types of games that I like to play, with the only genre really missing being a good ol' RPG, and Octopath Traveler is coming out in July so I don't have too long to wait.  Plus there are some other RPGs out there like I am Setsuna, Lost Sphear, and Mercenaries Saga Chronicles, and those are only but a few.

And last weekend while talking to Ckju (sp?), I realized that I haven't really played my 3DS since I last put it down in January.  I am still mentally debating if I want to try and fix the system myself, or just hunker down and buy another 3DS system, although that is $200 that is not 100% available at the moment, so there is that.

In the board gaming front, Conklederp and I revisited Tides of Madness, an H.P. Lovecraft themed drafting card game by Kristian Čurla.  We also picked up another Lovecraftian skinned game called Lovecraft Letters which is based off of an existing game called Love Letter.  Unlike Tides of Madness, Lovecraft Letter is designed for between 2-4 people and even with just Conklederp and myself being able to play, we found that some events lead to a very quick game over with a bit of confusion.  We are going to give it another go when we visit with Ghéörghia later tonight and see how it plays with three people.  The best way I can describe it is if you first play Uno with only two people and have a handful of either Skip or Reverse cards.

And continuing with the games theme but moving into the real world, we attempted our now fourth escape room, this time using Escapism Portland again.  This time around, we did the Wizard's Lair and although we did not finish, it was still a lot of fun, but still kind of frustrating.  I may write a review later in the month, if I ever get around to writing about. . .

Jurassic Park in Concert, which is where Conklederp and I went for my birthday a few weeks back.  I have an article that was going to go up today until I remembered that this was the first posting day in April, so a Monthly Update it was instead.  My concert review article (since I cannot think of what else to call it) will be going up on Friday.

So that was kind of what March turned out to be like.  As for April, I am looking forward to the release of the port of Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition for the Switch near the end of the month and we cannot forgot about 4/20 when Nintendo releases Nintendo Labo, which I do not have pre-ordered, but am interested to see what the product is like and how the cardboard itself holds up to multi/prolonged usage.

Let's see how this month goes then.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "The Gates of Hell" - Bayonetta (NS)

"The Gates of Hell" from Bayonetta on the Nintendo Switch, Wii U, Playstation3, Xbox 360, & PC (2009)

Composer: Hiroshi Yamaguchi

Album: Bayonetta Original Soundtrack

Label: WAVE MASTER ENTERTAINMENT

Developer: PlatinumGames

I have been playing a bit of Bayonetta here and there, when I have been able to pull myself away from The Legend of Zelda: The Breath of the Wild, and apparently Bayonetta is known(ish) for its music, considering that the soundtrack is packed with 150 tracks spanning five discs.  So out of all of the possible songs I could have chosen for use as a MIDI Week Single, why did I land on the one that is possibly one of the more soft and mellow songs from the entire soundtrack?  Because I remember it.

As Bayonetta is a third person action shooter, there is a large amount of the game that is spent running around and shooting angels combined with semi-frantic button mashing.  While fighting whatever it is that Heaven happens to be currently throwing at me, I do enjoy having the music in the background (although now I kind of want to see what it would be like with the music turned off), but my attention is not on what is playing, it is what button combination I am currently failing at.  And because performing combos and racking up that sweet-sweet lootz is somewhat integral to leveling up, I seem unable to process fully the music that is playing.

Which brings us to "The Gates of Hell."  This music plays when you take a step out of the action oriented machine and into, what is essentially a series of semi/partially animated menu screens while shopping for upgrades, items, and additional combo techniques.  At this point in the level, I am actually able to sit back and actually take in the music while I decide if I want to purchase the Tetsuzanko technique or save up for another Full Witch Heart?  What amuses me is that I'm not one to typically listen to jazz, but there's something about the trumpet part that reminds me, oddly enough of "Concerning Hobbits" in Lord of the Rings, and the "Dungeon - Main Theme" from Castlevania 64.  Maybe this song has just grown on me while being able to take a breather from such a fun and frantic game.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

Dream Game

I don't normally talk about my dreams here, partly because they're not all video game or just gaming related, but also because they are frequently not coherent enough to translate into a successful narrative.

The other night though, I felt that the dream I had, which was video game related, contained enough information that I could (at least attempt) tell how the game worked as well as the general storyline that my brain decided to come up with.

So the initial setting seemed like something out of a mid 1800s, in that the character (the one I was playing I assume) looked like Roland of Gilead (The Dark Tower), or John Marston (Red Dead Redemption), but there was nothing initially around that would have put the game setting in the old west; it was just one of those things that I immediately knew.  So this Roland Marston we'll call him from now on, was in an alpine forested region with a wooden house (think Evil Dead, but less run down) and a well defined path leading away from the house, up a hill and into the forest.

Then the dream really kicked in and something happened that resulted in Roland Marsten having to shoot someone who was similarly dressed.  I don't know if it was someone who was trespassing,  or a robber, but either way, there was a shootout and the other person ended up dead.  Then I (playing as R.M.) had to run up the road away from the house because (maybe?) there was someone on a horse who saw the incident and was going to report it to the local sheriff;  I am only assuming here since all I recall was that R.M. began running up the road chasing someone/thing.  That was when R.M. came across a small girl (maybe eight or nine?) in a plain but frilly dress (something Melissa Gilbert would have worn on Little House on the Prairie) who was running/skipping/walking down the road towards the house.  For some reason, it was at this point that I knew that R.M. was inherently a bad guy.  That to avoid being taken to prison, this section of the game meant that I would have to quickly track down each person I came across and kill them.  The inclusion of the small child was to test the player to see how they would react and progress the story; a story that I was unaware of at this point in the dream.

So I tracked down the guy on the horse and killed him.  Then I ran back towards the house and killed the girl followed by a small boy (maybe four years old, with bleach blond hair in a bowl cut) whom I also killed at the front door of the house.  Then the screen faded out.

I would at this moment like to point out that the killing of the two aforementioned children just sort of happened "off screen."  It was like I came across the girl, then ran towards the house knowing that the girl had been killed, but I did not actually witness the killing.  The same with the boy at the house, and I'm pretty sure, the guy earlier riding away from the house.  Just so y'all know that I usually do not have dreams where someone is off killing children, in a video game or otherwise.

The story then jumped a number of years and that was when I realized that the point of the game was to play different people in R.M.'s bloodline until you reached the present day; or maybe beyond the present day, I'm not really sure on that point.  So the game jumped to someone else in R.M.'s bloodline sometime in the future and I played as a number of other people, although the dream did not include these sections, but again, I knew that they had happened.  

The next section of the dream that I did remember was odd.  I was playing another male, but this one was either in late teens or early twenties, and was naked except for an adult sized diaper.  He was either on a bed or a couch with decor that reminded me of either something you would see in the late 1970s or early '80s.  The guy stood up and started walking out of the room he was in and that was when I realized that this person had some kind of developmental disability and no bladder or bowel control (hence the adult diaper).  I think the guy went to find someone because it turned out they had defecated and needed to be cleaned up.  Oddly enough, I know where the visual for this part of the dream came from: it was a post on Facebook about with the "Have a baby they said.  It'll be fun they said" and there was a baby in a diaper who had a very liquidy bowel movement that had gone up out of the diaper and up the baby's back.  

It was shortly after this section that the game faded to black and I thought I understood the premise of the game.  That you started out as R.M. and through your initial series of choices, you lived the lives of one of your ancestors making choices during their own sections until your bloodline ran out.  Since this was my subconscious mind, I make no assumptions on what the reasoning or meaning behind ending up as a the young man with developmental disabilities.  You might say that this could be a "bad ending" because bad endings happen all the time in games, but I am not one to believe that anyone with any kind of disability would be a bad ending, or seen as a punishment for doing something "wrong" in a game.  I am guessing that my brain took that image of the baby with the poopy back and tried to find a way to integrate it into my existing dream.

But that dream did not end there.  I apparently started the game again because once again I was R.M. and this time, after killing the initial guy, I ran up the road past the girl, past the guy on horseback and found myself at another house, where a woman in another plain cotton dress answered, which turned out to lead me to being arrested and taken to prison.  I know that there was a brief section about being in prison, but I do not recall any details, only that R.M. eventually was released and his bloodline continued.

So that was it.  I think it is an interesting concept for a game, that you only play certain parts of a persons life.  There doesn't have to be an overarching story either, which is where I am sure production companies would come it and say that it has to be about something!  Presumably events in a person's life where their life could take a couple directions, then you jump ahead in time to play someone else.  Theoretically, this game could go on forever if your bloodline continues, but there are too many mechanics for me to even think about right now to even conceive of how this could actually work.

Maybe it could be worked out, or at least something like it (if there isn't already), but I don't know if I'm the one to do it.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The World Is Going Up In Flames

Let me tell you about some podcasts

80s All Over
Scott Weinberg and Drew McWeeny

My current podcast obsession.  Scott Weinberg and Drew McWeeny are two film critics going month-by-month covering every movie released in the decade of the 80s.  They were each about 7 - 10 years old when the decade began, so they remember these films as they were released.  If the premise is appealing at all, then I highly recommend this podcast.  It is well paced and edited.  There are plenty of digressions, but they are kept under control.  Drew and Scott are very enthusiastic film lovers, and it is evident in every episode.  Listening to this podcast reminds me why I fell in love with film, and by reviewing movies from my first decade of life, it brings me in touch with the earliest films I can remember.  It's not simply nostalgia, but an appreciate for the craft.  I now have a list of 10+ movies from 1980-1983 I'd like to see again or from the first time.  Aw, what the hell, I'll show you:

• King of Hearts
• Stalker
• Used Cars
• Airplane (somehow never saw it)
• Blue Brothers (same)
• My Bodyguard
• American Pop
• 9 to 5 (watched this one last weekend)
• Modern Romance
• Dead and Buried
• Miller's Crossing
• True Romance 
• Pennies from Heaven
• Road Warrior
• Chan is Missing

Switchblade Sisters
April Wolfe

Switchblade Sisters is another movie podcast, in the form of an interview show.  April Wolfe is a film critic who sits down each week with a different Woman in Film.  Actresses, Directors, Writers, etc.  They talk about the guests career, film in general, and then one specific film of the guests choice.  Previous episodes include Pan's Labyrinth, The Others, Body Double, The Witch Who Came from the Sea and more.  There is a lot of discussion of the craft of movies, which I find very interesting.  Many of the guests are involved with independent film, and I've found many titles I'm interested in seeing (though I haven't made a list for these ones)

Movie Crush
Chuck Bryant

Movie Crush is another interview show, featuring Chuck Bryant, from another of my favorite podcasts: Stuff You Should Know.  Chuck mostly interviews actors and comedians and personal friends about their favorite movies.  It's a rambling sort of interview show, but it works.  Having a central topic is helpful, I think.  And it's fun to nerd out about movies like Tron, Jaws, Robocop, Groundhog Day, etc. 


-D

MIDI Week Singles: "Stage 2 - Town" - Sword Master (NES)

"Stage 2 - Town" from Sword Master on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)

Composer: Shotaro Sasaki

Album: No Official Album Release

Developer: Athena

Sword Master is a game that Dr. Potts and I pined over after the spread that Vol. 23 of Nintendo Power gave it back in April of 1991.  It was a game that looked like a combination of Castlevania and The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link.  The game was eventually released in North America in January 1992, but neither of us could locate it either at any of our local rental stores, or video game retailers.  It wasn't until sometime around 2005 when Dr. Potts had purchased a Dreamcast for the sole purpose of playing emulated NES games that I was finally able to play this one game that I so longed to even see in person.  

I made it to the second stage, but only barely.  And after that I didn't make it much further; and after watching a bit of game play, I can see why.  Also, why equip your player with a shield if that shield is useless?  At least Link's shield in The Adventure of Link had some use in the early stages of the game.

That second stage, was the setting for this music.  Now, when I think of a Town theme, something along the lines of "Kakariko Village" from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, or even "The Silence of the Daylight," which is the village theme from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.  What immediately strikes me about the town theme from Sword Master is that everything in this town is not alright.  It is almost as if you can hear how the theme might have gone if the town had not been corrupted by the evil wizard and his summoned demon (because early '90s video game plots are awesome).  I like the idea of a theme being perverted by the corrupting evil, and to me, this song is the result of that corruption.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Shut Up!  You're Such a Wordy