Rogue Ponderance

So, I listen to a lot of podcasts.  I've been listening to Kevin Smith's (and Scott Mosier's) "Smodcast" since the beginning.  I also listen to "Fatman on Batman", "The Nerdist", "The Thrilling Adventure Hour", and "Still Untitiled: The Adam Savage Project".  Plus I've got several queued up for when I get caught up on "The Nerdist".

I'm only about 4 years behind on that one, but caught up on all of the rest.

Being mostly based on the nerd/geek community, most of these have been talking about Rogue One, and what come across universally is how good K-2SO voiced and motion-captured by Alan Tudyk is.  Something I'd seen that just makes me cackle is the following video with Tudyk relating how Anthony Daniels reacted to his portrayal:



But back in one of the podcasts, someone brought up a comparison C-3PO as a nervous wreck who spouts things in fits of cowardice while K-2SO says things because he has no filters.

And then I had a geek-piphany.

• K-2SO says things because he has no filters.
• K-2SO's loss of filters is because he was reprogrammed from being an Imperial droid to being given free will (of a sort).
• Some of the things the K-2SO spouts freely are the odds of an event's failure.
• C-3PO regularly spouts off the odds of an event's failure, in the original trilogy.
• C-3PO was reprogrammed after the end of Revenge of the Sith to blank his memory.

Now, sure, this is all easy to explain afterwards, but did the writers of Rogue One see that pattern, and write that in?

Some may scoff that anyone would be that detailed.  First off, to those people, have met Star Wars geeks?  Second, check out this bit from the Rogue One soundtrack by Michael Giacchino that fits so well against John Williams' "Imperial March".

And then think back to how cool it was to learn about Hans Zimmer using the Edith Piaf bit in all of the levels in Inception.

Yeah, you can never go deep enough.

Musica Eclectica and Fun with Parentheses

So, as I have mentioned before, I have an iPod.

And I have a strange span of attention linked to an even stranger taste in music. This is the primary reason I tend to not say what I'm listening to while I post. (Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus which has just switched to Rock of Ages - Def Leppard) I listen to quite a smattering of music, and yet, still don't listen to everything. I like the Beatles and Beach Boys, but would rather dislocate a digit than be subjected to the Rolling Stones. I like the Alan Parsons Project and the Genesis family including the solo experiments of the former members (Peter Gabriel is the best of those, of course). I like some 70s and 80s metal (mostly Def Leppard and Queensryche), but I continue to branch into other stuff like OK Go and 30 Seconds to Mars which are my newest favorites.

(Betrayed - Avenged Sevenfold)

But usually I can't read to "rock music" which I classify as anything with words and electricity. So I have a small collection of classical music which is not really experimental, but more the equivalent of the Billboard top 100 from the 1700s and 1800s. And then there is my first passion: Movie Soundtracks.

Now first of all, soundtracks are rarely rock music although those do pop up occasionally. My first real album was the two LP set soundtrack for Star Wars way back in 1977. I listened to it whenever I could, and for a while dreamed of joining one of the orchestras that did soundtracks. One of my time travel goals would be to go back in time and play under Karl Stalling and be the background music on the classic Warner Brothers cartoons.

So now I have a large collection of soundtracks (and scores too, as they are now stupidly called). And they are great for background music because I can envision the movie in my head as I hear the music from that scene. (The Rhythm of the Heat - Peter Gabriel) Of course there are some, specifically Jennifer, who can't handle the music playing in the background because the tension that the music is used to help build in the movie, becomes too much for them in the real world.

Now, it's not that the music I'm listening too doesn't affect me. I have several pieces that I cannot listen to in the car. I cannot listen to Gregorian Chant in the car because I used to use that as relaxation music, and I don't want to be that relaxed while driving. (House Full of Bullets - Joe Satriani) The dog fight music fleeing the Death Star from Star Wars makes me aggressive in a dodging around manner.

And I'll give you this free advice: Never listen to the theme song from Speed Racer while on the freeway. Ever.

My favorites remain John Williams and the full collection of Star Wars, but Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy is amazing. I need to get John's Harry Potters, but have almost everything else he's done. Did yo know that John Williams has done the soundtracks for nearly all of Steven Spielberg's movies? It's really an amazing range. Another recommendation I have is the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Hans Zimmer does some great stuff. And of course, Danny Elfman and a new favorite in Steve Jablonsky and his score for the live action Transformers movie.

I leave you now (My Global Mind - Queensryche) to return to work, and my music.