Studying? What's that?

Greetings, dear Readers. As the title supposes, I haven't done much of the above these past hours. Having finished with my other three finals, Drama, Music Theory, and Humanities, I have only Latin left. Given that it is in a few days and I have more than enough time to study, I'm not overly concerned that the so mentioned did not happen today, even though I had vaguely acceded to devoting some of today to it. However, I'm resolved to go to the review session being held tomorrow at Cafe Roma with some buddies, which will hopefully be enough to kick my arse into gear for some better study habits in the days to come.

Herein is a chronicle of the days events.

Missed breakfast again. In addition to the delicious extra hours of sleep attained by sleeping in, I'm also preserving my rapidly dwindling meals in order to last me to the 23rd (got 8 left!). After kicking around for a few hours, I find both Brian and Joe ogling some of the new Super Soaker lines ('ol Laramie no longer has the right to those water-arms of our days gone by, but Hasbro has done a good job of keeping up with the innovation that made our childish minds giddy with water soaked glee in the past), and they presently resolved to get their hands on some. Feeling adventurous, I decide to join them, and we soon find a Yolobus line (that we can ride for free, being students) that drops us right in front of the Wal-Mart in Vacaville.

We have a grand old time playing Ghost and 20 questions on our way over (Ms. Becky Smith also joined us), but most unfortunately we realized that the bus we were on happened to also be the last one leaving from Vacaville to Davis, so we stay on and slingshot right back to the UC, rather disappointed.

After eating a quick dinner at the DC (and watching Brian, on an insomnia kick, make it past being up for 24 hours), Becky calls her older Bro and secures some wheels. We, as with the trip to Vacaville, decide on a whim to head over to Arden Mall in Sacto, which is an interesting idea in itself, given that we only have a vague idea of how to get there. To be brief, we end up making it. The group first looks around the nearest Toys'R'Us for Super Soakers, and wind up empty handed. We cruise through the mall until it closes at 9 (far too early, as the consensus is, it being Friday night), go hang out at Barns and Noble (I pick up a copy of Sam Harris' "The End of Faith" and what at first appears to be an unabridged version of "The Count of Monte Cristo," I'd forgotten that some abridged versions are also 2.75 inches thick) and then go grab some food at a nearby Jack in the Box.

Total hours of studying, 0. Total hours of fond memories I'll not soon forget, 8. In a philosophical sense, this is good. Since I've got a few days to study, I'm not worried about the opposite, academic end either.

In other news, I got two of the three soundtracks I'd ordered through Amazon. I wanted to wait to review these until I'd gotten the third, but it looks like I'm gonna need the update for my readers, so here goes the reviews...

Predator 2:

Ahhh, Silvestri. Well perhaps not as easily identifiable as Williams or Elfman, he does have his own little signatures. So far I have only heard his scores for The Abyss and Van Helsing, each nicely done in their own respects: Abyss with sweeping and haunting Choral cues and Van Helsing alternating with throbbing action and lyrical tracks. Predator 2, somewhat like The Abyss, seems centered around 2 or 3 main themes and their alterations.

The First Predator Score sounded at first sounded of the Military-Music variety; the main theme with a pulsing drumbeat and frowning horn solo. As the mood of the movie changed, it then segued into the "“::gasp:: It’s an Alien!"” variety of tracks, somewhat forgettable, but still easily recognizable.

It seemed that afterward, a friend said “"Hey, Alan! Loved that score for Predator! But don’t ya think, given the nature of the Predator, you might use Tribal Drums next time?"” BOOM, off he went and seemingly based the entire soundtrack of Predator 2 off of that idea: pretty much every alternating cue going back to Variation A, B, or C of the main Horn theme includes frantic drums mamba-ing in the background.

Not that I mind this, I think it’s damn cool, especially track 6 “Rest in Pieces.” It’s a nice break from “"Run away from the scary Alien!"” type, initially a nod to Aaron Copeland with a variation on “Fanfare for the Common Man.” But then when your least expecting it, WHAM!!! The Orchestra stings the surprise as the main character suddenly realizes he’s not alone.

Overall, it’s good stuff. Despite the rather overused drumming going on 24/7, it’s a neat piece of work and fun to listen to.

The Time Machine:

Having enjoyed all of his output thus far, I couldn’t resist going back and checking out what I’ve heard to be the landmark album for good ol’ Klaus Badelt. Having been one of the many composers under (or learning from) the hand of Hans Zimmer, the score for the new rendition of H.G. Wells’ classic “The Time Machine” marked Badelt as a true up-and-coming composer: able to fully score a film by himself with grace and clarity. And what a score it is!

It’s chock full with yummy orchestral goodness (non of that techno crap!), alternating from sweet lyrical cues (Try Track 1 “Professor Alexander Hartdegen”), sweeping choral pieces (Track 8 “Eloi”) and some neat action pieces (My favorite track so far, aside from 1, Track 11 “Morlocks Attack”). While they may not blow you away, this is damn good stuff for being Badelt’s first “Major” Motion picture score.

Get a copy now! There’s something for everyone on here!

Saturday is coming! I get to be with the fencers AND My Lady! SCORE!!!!

Enough. More Later.
- James