Music 4 Games interview Steve Jablonsky about his score for GEARS OF WAR 2

Music composer extraordinaire Steve Jablonsky (who among many credits also does the music for Desperate Housewives and did the score for last year's hit movie Transformers, which longtime readers will remember this very blog going more than a little crazy about) gets interviewed by Music 4 Games about his work on Gears of War 2, due out next week.

Here's some of what Jablonsky has to say about working with Epic, Cliff Bleszinski and music director Mike Larson (who also gets interviewed) on the second chapter of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad's war against the Locust Horde...

For Gears 2, the guys at Epic wanted every aspect of the game to be bigger, darker, and crunchier than the original game. And I guess they had heard some of these qualities in my film scores. I love writing for orchestra and choir, but I also love experimenting with electronics and different types of percussion. I basically use anything I can get my hands on when composing a large scale score like Gears. Epic gave me a blank canvas, which was really great. I experimented with a lot of hybrid organic/electronic elements, and combined them with the power of a large orchestra and choir. The one thing that we discussed keeping from Gears 1 was the Locust riff. It's a short aggressive rhythmic phrase that works really well in the original game, and they asked for my take on it. The rest of the material and themes are all new. Mike and Cliff made it clear that Gears 2 is bigger, meaner and even more insane than the original game. So I knew I had a big task ahead of me, and the music had to match the intensity of the game.

Click on the above linke for plenty more. And Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack is due for release on November 25th.

Thanks to Greg from Music 4 Games for the heads-up!

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You mean there's another WATCHMEN trailer too?!

EDIT: I have found out that this is NOT the second trailer for Watchmen. That one is still due out with Quantum of Solace. This is just some preview footage shown during the Scream Awards last night. Still looks awesome though :-)

Rorschach's illegal entry. Dan's sexual fantasy and mushroom cloud. Dr. Manhattan's demonstration on the tank. Adrian's Antarctic retreat. Laurie's realization. The blood-stained smiley-face button...

This will be the Citizen Kane of comic book movies when it comes out in March.

So here's the second trailer for Watchmen:

And speaking of the Watchmen movie, there are reports that the ending has been altered significantly from the book. Namely, (SPOILER highlight to read) that the "alien" cooked up by Ozymandias to destroy New York City in his mad bid for world peace has been replaced with a scheme involving free energy and Dr. Manhattan. But a number of sources have also assured that the original ending is in the movie, or at least has had effects work done related to it.

Regardless, I'll be there opening day to see this. I've waited almost 20 years to see Rorschach's cool mask on the big screen... and in a few short months it's going to finally happen!

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The teaser for BIOSHOCK 2: SEA OF DREAMS

I have a confession to make...

Ever since first playing it this past March, I have become absolutely addicted to the video game BioShock.

Actually, "addicted" isn't the right word at all. "Enchanted", "enthralled", "captivated", or something to that effect would be much more apropos. The game finally arrived on PlayStation 3 this past week and owners of that system are finally getting to discover what Xbox 360 folks (like me) have known for some time now: that BioShock might be the most beautiful and thought-provoking video game yet produced. Let's face it: a game that examines with cold brutality what human nature is capable of doing in the absence of God and higher morality is certainly going to be cut from a different cloth than the rest.

So I've played BioShock all the way through three times now, always getting to the "good" ending 'cuz I just can't bring myself to harvest any of the Little Sisters, and all the while coming up with new ways to try to take out the Big Daddies protecting them. Some nights I even dream of Rapture: the underwater city that is the setting of BioShock.

And speaking of dreams of BioShock...

If you get all the way through the PlayStation 3 edition of BioShock, you unlock the following teaser for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams, due out next year. Would you kindly hit the "play" button and commence to arousing your curiosity:

Two things stick out from this spot to me: first, that's apparently a Little Sister, now quite a few years older. And then the BioShock 2 logo is encrusted with barnacles and sea rot... so perhaps that means a return to Rapture several years after the original game. 2K (the company that produced BioShock) has hinted that BioShock 2 will be both a sequel and a prequel, so maybe we'll also get to at last witness the terrible events of the night of New Years Eve 1958, when the society of Rapture self-destructed.

Can't wait to play this! :-)

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No TRICK 'R TREAT this Halloween (thanks for nothing Warners!)

Last December I attended Butt-Numb-A-Thon 9. For those who don't know, Butt-Numb-A-Thon is an annual film festival/geek pow-wow that Harry Knowles of the Ain't It Cool News website hosts at one of the Alamo Drafthouse theaters in Austin, Texas. For twenty-four straight hours, the invited are treated (and sometimes assaulted) with some of the best examples of the motion picture medium, hand-picked by Knowles. Almost a year later and I still can't help but giggle madly whenever I think of Feels So Good (the urethroplasty documentary that we watched during breakfast) and no doubt a lot of people who were there have tried to explain "BECAUSE YOU ARE WHITE!!!" to their friends. But anyhoo...

The final movie of last year's Butt-Numb-A-Thon - the one holding the coveted slot of "best unreleased film you had no idea was coming" - was Trick 'R Treat, a horror anthology by writer/director Michael Dougherty. Starring Anna Paquin, Dylan Baker and Brian Cox among numerous other familiar actors, I thought that Dougherty had crafted quite a wonderful "love letter" of sorts to Eighties-style horror movies with Trick 'R Treat. I wrote at the time that I was very much looking forward to watching it again when it was released the following Halloween. Y'all have no idea either how much I've been telling other people to be looking for this movie, 'cuz it was most certainly a terrific "treat"!

Except it ain't happening.

For whatever insane reason that they've got for doing this, Warner Brothers is withholding Trick 'R Treat from release. Barring some crazy miracle of distribution, it won't be seen this Halloween at all. Maybe next year though. Maybe.

Folks, there's a reason why Trick 'R Treat is being called by those fortunate enough to have seen it as "the absolute best horror movie" in years. It's darned perfect. The four tales told in Trick 'R Treat are so exquisitely orchestrated, the pacing is just right and the casting is spot-on excellent (to say nothing of Dougherty's wonderful script and directing) that this is a movie that demands not only a proper release, but for the suits at Warners to throw an unconscionable amount of money at Michael Dougherty's feet so that he can make that entire series of Trick 'R Treat films that he hinted about at Butt-Numb-A-Thon. Considering that the current slate of films is still recovering from the writers strike, Trick 'R Treat should be downright obligated to have prime territory at the cinemas.

This is, really, a very sad thing. I now feel like one of the lucky to have been able to enjoy this film. And everyone else should have the opportunity to be as delighted about Trick 'R Treat as we were at Butt-Numb-A-Thon last year.

C'mon Warners, give this film the wide release it deserves!

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"Weird Al" Yankovic offers "Whatever You Like"!

"Weird Al" Yankovic is hard at work on his new album and he couldn't wait to share the first single from it! "Whatever You Like", a parody of T.I.'s hit song of the same name, is a spirited anthem (or is that a dirge?) for the current economy...

Speaking of Weird Al, this month's Wired magazine has an excellent article about his career and how he's still finding gobs of new fans!

And if you enjoyed "Whatever You Like", you can own it for yourself (and give Al some hard-earned cash) by buying it through iTunes or Amazon.com or Rhapsody or Napster!

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The Return

If you haven't already, take a look at "Last Day", the absolutely haunting and beautiful new commercial for Gears of War 2:

In its own way, that spot (which was made by the same crew that pulled off the award-winning "Mad World" ad for the original Gears of War two years ago) conveys more of what I've gone through in the past two months than I care to find words on my own to articulate about.

Okay well, my personal life has changed quite a lot. And not in ways that I would have ever expected or wanted to have happened. My faith in many things got rattled to the core. Including my faith in God. That came back. Other things... didn't. Since the last real post I wrote over a month ago (which was made in very unusual circumstances) things in the outside world have taken a turn for the worse. Heck, the United States is now a de facto socialist country, whether enough of us are willing to admit it. And in case anyone was wondering: yeah, my info was about Wachovia. And that ain't to brag about it either...

It may or may not be the wisest thing to at the moment, but I'm going to take a stab at returning to blogging. It won't be as intensive or regular as it has been, and I've no intention of "going after the bad guys" again for awhile. Right now it's just something to help me through some things, and still share what I think is cool and interesting stuff with what turns out to have been quite many more regular readers than I knew were out there (appreciate the e-mails y'all :-) It makes me happy to do that. Sometimes getting to laugh at myself, and having others laugh too at it... I like that also.

I don't plan on discussing politics anytime soon either, by the way. But in case anyone's wondering: right now there are two people that I'm currently set to vote for. There may be a very few others that I might consider casting a ballot for, but those are the ones that I know haven't made any negative campaign ads. I'm sticking to the policy that I talked about months ago here: if any candidate runs a single negative ad, they don't get my vote. Might mean that I'm gonna turn in a pretty vacuous ballot, but I don't mind. It's a small enough price to pay for sticking to one's principles.

(Actually, I've told many of my friends that for President I'm going to vent my frustration by doing a write-in vote for "A glass of whiskey a gun and two bullets". I might post the pic of that on here come Election Day :-)

Okay well... let's find something neat to talk about, eh?

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Fini

This blog is closing down. Possibly for good.

I can no longer afford, at the present time, to maintain it as actively as I would like.

Long story short; my personal life has become a shamble.

I have hurt a lot of people. Including those closest to me.

I was so busy fighting the big battles, that I neglected to fight the ones that matter most.

I became so engaged in trying to serve God, that I forgot how to seek God.

It has cost me more than I have every lost in my life.

I am now in a very dark place. The darkest that I have ever been in.

I can't run from that.

I can't go into another room and pretend that it is not there. I must own up to it.

I have destroyed a lot of peoples belief and trust in me. And I would do anything to get it back. I don't know if that is possible.

The only thing that I know to do, all that is left to me, is to come before God as a broken and humilated man, ask Him for mercy and grace, and pray that He will guide in rebuilding my life.

Perhaps in time, the restoration that I have literally begged for will come. And if not, then I must pray for strength to move forward. According to His will, what ever that may be.

To those I have hurt; I am sorry. This was my fault. I was not as strong as I should have been. I can't ask for your forgiveness this time. I have to earn it. I like to believe that already God has shown me the away to begin doing that.

No matter what happens, I will still love you all.

To everyone who has visited this blog over the past five years; Thank You. I hope that your time here was entertaining, edifying, and maybe even educational. Maybe someday we can do this again.

God Bless, and Farewell.

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This blog just got a visitor from Galveston, Texas

Whoever you are, I hope we have the pleasure of meeting someday.

But until then, get the flying f--- out of there.

(In case nobody has heard the news, authorities are telling people who for whatever reason choose to stay behind to write their names and Social Security numbers on their arms with Sharpies, so that the bodies/parts can be identified later.)

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The integrated circuit is 50 years old today

Fifty years ago today Jack Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments, demonstrated what is today known as the first microchip. It wasn't much to look at (click on the picture on the left): some circuitry etched in a germanium medium, sandwiched between glass. But Kilby's little gimmick not only worked beautifully, it ended up revolutionizing the world. Everything from the computer on your desk to the television in your living room to the iPod in your pocket has a heart of silicon that is a lineal descendant of this odd blob of materials.

Click here for Custom PC's story commemorating the occasion of the integrated circuit's birth.

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Running gas prices update post

In an update to the earlier story, a friend has told me that gas is now just over $7 not far over the line in South Carolina. Which makes it all the more interesting considering that South Carolina's gas tax is lower than North Carolina's and a lot of people along the border fill their cars up there if they can.

I'll be adding on more prices as they come in.

I don't believe at this point that this has anything to do with Ike, and everything to do with over-zealous speculation.

EDIT 6:13 p.m. EST: Fox 8 WGHP is reporting that most gas stations in Greensboro are now out of fuel. Average price seems to be about $3.90 in the area. The local Wal-Mart Supercenter just down the road from us in Rockingham County is tapped dry of juice.

A source has passed along word that the Colonial pipeline - which runs from Houston east and up the Piedmont region of the eastern seaboard, including through this area and on to New York City - is now operating at less than half of its usual capacity.

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Four bucks and up for regular gas in Raleigh at this hour

A trusted source in the Raleigh/Durham area here in North Carolina called to let me know that the price of regular gasoline there is now $4.89, with premium at more than five bucks and a lot of stations limiting purchases to ten gallons. It's also been reported that at many stations the cars are lined up to the streets.

Also, I'm now hearing that this now how gas is going for this afternoon in Greensboro (about a half-hour south of where we are) and that some stations have already run out of the precious juice.

(If you're one of this blog's many foreign readers, this is more or less related to Hurricane Ike in the Gulf of Mexico, although how much of this is serious distribution shortage and how much of this comes from speculators going nutzoid on the oil markets, is anyone's guess.)

I hope this doesn't turn into another thing like what this blog went through with Katrina three years ago. As I said the other week, I'm still burned-out from that experience...

EDIT 2:04 p.m. EST: WRAL is reporting that the state's price-gouging law is now in effect, and has this photo from a gas station in Zebulon illustrating how jacked-up the prices have become...

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Y'all down in Texas are in our prayers today

Barring some meteorological miracle, Hurricane Ike is set to be one for the ages.

We've got a lot of friends and even some family down that way. Hope all of you in the path of the storm will be safe.

(By the way Jonathan, looks like you're going to get to experience a hurricane before your sister does :-)

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John McCain and Sarah Palin in APOCALIPSTICK NOW

Yeah, I had way too much time on my hands this evening...

With kindest regards to Bob Peak, who did the amazing poster for Apocalypse Now for its 1979 release.

Wish I could have found a pic of McCain with water dripping down his face, to match the effect of the original poster.

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My belief on politics and religion in a nutshell

We do not need any more elected officials who believe that God is telling them to change the world.

What we need and cannot get enough of are elected officials who are letting God change them instead.

(And if more common folk would be willing to let God control them instead of trying to control the world for God, this would be a much happier place anyway...)

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The September 11 Television Archive

NBC, September 11, 2001, from 8:31 am to 9:12 a.m. EST:

That's what I happened to have been watching that morning, after I turned on my TV following one of the most unforgettable phone calls I ever got from Mom.

I switched to the ABC affiliate in Asheville not long after. The moment that has most haunted me from that day begins at around 33 minutes in this clip.

"Oh my God..."

-- Peter Jennings, ABC News,
after the collapse of the second tower of the World Trade Center

The September 11 Television Archive - hosted by the terrific Internet Archive - has documented practically every moment of major network broadcast television from that horrific morning seven years ago today, stretching into the afternoon and evening of 9/11. If you want to study the events as they happened while they were being covered by NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and the BBC, this should prove to be an immensely rich trove of information.

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