Star Trek: Into Darkness

I finally got around to seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness this week. My overall impression is that I really enjoyed it! It was pretty action-y, which usually isn't my cup of tea, but I found that there was always enough going on that I didn't get bored.

I understand that the hardcore Star Trek folks have some gripes about it, but I think that being a little less knowledgeable in that department may have worked in my favour. I didn't have any rage out moments related to inconsistencies or anything like that, but I am well versed enough to understand the role reversals near the end, and a bunch of the throw backs to the original series. It is a different timeline; things don't have to be the same. I can accept that as an explanation for any differences from the original series. At the same time I appreciate the parallels that they draw while keeping it fresh.

One minor gripe that I did have is that, as much as I love Benedict Cumberbatch, is he REALLY the right person to play Khan Noonien Singh? (Admittedly, the original actor that played him was Mexican, so who am I to judge?) Although, I do suppose it is possible that in the distant future names that we currently associate with a particular area of the world would probably not have that same association.

One MAJOR gripe that I had was that I had to watch it in 3D. The theatre that we went to had stopped showing the regular one. I should clarify that I hate 3D movies. A lot. Particularly ones that are done the way Star Trek is. The viewer is pretty much constantly bombarded with lens flares and light effects in the extreme foreground (that I probably wouldn't have thought out of the ordinary in 2D), as well as extreme foreground objects at the edge of the screen that cause your eyes (or mine at least) to start trying to focus past the edge of the screen. Another pet peeve of mine was rampant in this movie: switching focus between the foreground and the background. I know that this is a common technique in film, but it really messes with me in 3D, and I find it really distracting. If you are going to force 3D on me, at least let ME choose which layer I want to look at. I feel like 3D is rarely done well enough to not detract from a movie, let alone improve it. I would personally have preferred to watch the 2D version.

To change the subject and music-nerd out for a moment, I REALLY enjoyed the score of this movie. It stayed in the background when it needed to, and was super moving when it was called for. I particularly enjoyed the ending where they worked it into a revamped, epic version of the theme from the original series. I didn't think that I had ever heard anything by Michael Giacchino before, but upon looking into it, he also did the soundtrack of Up, which was wonderfully done as well.

As a whole, I really enjoyed the movie, when I was not being distracted by awkward lens flares in the front of my vision. The score was excellent, the pacing was good, it was not entirely guns and explosions as I suspected it might have been, and it was generally a very fun movie. Although, I will be the first to admit that cerebral it was not, and I feel like that is probably a flaw in a Star Trek movie, but you've got to please the masses with these things, I suppose.

Learning to Play... Again

I picked up my violin again today for the first time in a very long time. Months. More than months, maybe. To be clear, I don't know how to play the violin. That is a big part of the reason why I haven't played it in so long. It is frustrating and hard and does not make me happy. It hurts my fingers, and I never feel like I am making any progress because I have no idea what I am doing and I don't seem to ever get any better.

I have distinct advantages in the learning process: I know how to read music. I have a good pitch sense. I know, theoretically, how most instruments are supposed to work. I can pick up most any brass or woodwind instrument and be able to play twinkle twinkle little star in a matter of seconds. (But we're not going to talk about double reed instruments.)

But for some reason, stringed instruments completely elude my musical sense. The way they operate, the movements and positioning required, the idea that both of my hands are supposed to be doing something totally different... All of these things make stringed instruments totally foreign and confusing to me. And it is INCREDIBLY frustrating.

I put down the violin today after spending a solid half hour trying to figure out how to make a bow stroke that doesn't sound like a dying cat, with little to no progress. I am not used to this! I know that back when I first picked up an instrument I sounded like crap and my progress was slow and my tuning was awful and my sound was a disaster, but I had the patience for it back then. I was new; I was SUPPOSED to sound like crap. Since I have got good at what I do, I've been spoiled with being able to pick up an instrument and go with at least rudimentary skill. I've forgotten how to learn from scratch.

I think I may have just regained an insight into how people feel when they try and learn an instrument from nothing. I've just forgotten how to learn from the beginning. I think I will find a beginning method book and muddle through, ignoring the boredom and the frustration with the slow progress... Because most times you actually have to DO the hours of rudimentary crap in order to have any idea what you're doing.

At A Loss

I want to write. It's not even that; I want to create something. I find myself constantly in a state of creative frustration where all I want is to put pen to paper and write something. It's not as specific as that, however; I would be as happy to write a song, or a poem or to paint or draw or sculpt, I just don't know where to begin. My muse (a concept that I am not entirely supportive of, but that is an aside for another day) has been disconcertingly silent for a long time now. Not only that, but I find myself often frustrated when I do set something to paper (or the applicable media) with the fact that I am not good enough at whatever it is I am doing to create the vision that I started with.

This creative frustration has been a sticking point for me for several months now. Is this something that other people come across? Do other people get accosted by the desire to create, but lack any idea as to what they should actually set out to do?

I have tried to start a bunch of projects, but none have yet turned out the way I envisioned them, and I am left feeling distinctly unsatisfied. I am supposed to be creating the artwork for a hypothetical children's book; maybe that will satiate my creative drive.

For now I have settled myself into a rut of reading often. I know that reading a lot does not make you a good writer, but I can at least direct my energy into absorbing a story and maybe learning something. If nothing else it keeps me from wasting my entire days on the mindless void of arguments and cat pictures that is the internet.

Vuvuzela Excerpts

Skip to about 1 minute, unless you would like a lesson in the finer arts of vuvuzela playing. As much as vuvuzelas seem to be the funniest thing in the world right now according to popular opinion, the only thing that made me want to post this is the fact that they are playing trombone excerpts. It makes sense. The mouthpieces (if you can claim that they have one) are roughly the same size, and the range seems similar. It still kind of hurts me.

It took some digging through German websites, but I have determined that the people playing are probably Uwe Saegebarth, a trumpet player, Helge von Niswandt, trombone, and either Stephan Stadtfeld (trumpet) or Stefan Gorasdza (french horn), all of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. The spelling in the subtitles leads me to think that the Stephan in question is the trumpet player. I am at least satisfied that the person playing the Boléro solo was, in fact the trombone player.