Monthly Archives: May 2022

Television

Halo

Halo is an American military science fiction television series developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane.

The series follows a 26th-century war between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, a theocratic-military alliance of several advanced alien races determined to eradicate the human race.

Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana, with the latter reprising her role from the video game series, and are joined by Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Danny Sapani, Bokeem Woodbine, and Natascha McElhone.

The series starts with a great big exciting CGI battle. Humans in battle-suits  taking on bigger aliens and winning.

Over the nine episodes it varies from military science fiction to political drama. Not seeming to know where to go.

Then in the final episode it just stops with more questions that answers. There will be a second series, so hopefully this will reach some king of conclusion.

Some Explanations

 

Movies, Music

Metal Lords

 

Metal Lords is a 2022 American teen comedy-drama film written by D. B. Weiss and directed by Peter Sollett. Its story follows two high school best friends and metal music lovers, Hunter and Kevin, who set out to start a metal band.

The guitarist is the main character. Egotistical, driven and antisocial (a typical teenager). He reigns in his friend to play drums, who is reluctant at first, but learns the genre and gets good, very good.

The girl plays cello and while I was expecting her to switch to bass (what the guys want) she stays with the cello (a cool looking electric one). This gets incorporated into the sound to great success.

The issue I have is that the marketing poster has them with face paint similar to KISS. Well KISS is not a metal band, it’s 1970’s glam rock.

The other issue is that the musical references are to bands from decades ago. It’s as if metal died before the end of the century.

Scott Ian, Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett and Rob Halford appear in cameo roles as themselves representing Kevin’s conscience.

These guys are old, most in their 60’s.

Despite that, it is a great movie. Very funny at times with a pace that doesn’t stop and a great soundtrack.

 

 

Music, Technology

Monster Drums

Monster Drums is a free VST. It has 20 drum sets with  basic variables of reverb and filter. Easy to install and each instrument maps to a key. Each instrument can have it’s volume set relative to each, and attack and release can be varied.

Easy to use and effective.

 

 

 

Events

Oz

On this Day

In 1900 the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States.

 

 

Music, Technology

Numa

The Numa Player is a free VST covered by Kenny Gioia in one of his Reaper Videos.

It does a good job of:

Acoustic Pianos
Model D 1983
Model F 2000
The Upright
CP E-Grand

Electric Pianos
EP-Mark I
EP-Mark II
Wurly 200
Wurly 255
FM-EP1|2|3|4

Keysboards
Clavinet
Harpsi
Vibes
Marimba
Celesta
Cassotto
MasterFisa
Musette

Strings & Pads
StringsEnsemble
StringsSection
Cellos
SynthPad1
SynthPad2
VoicePad
SynChoir

Books

Future Returns

The Return of Captain Future
(Captain Future #20)
by Edmond Hamilton (1950)

In one of the shortest of the stories, Captain Future meets one of the oldest life-forms in the universe and sends him on his way.

Sadly shorter than previous stories and not as good. The remaining three are even shorter, being padded out with character profiles.

So we leave Captain Future in the past.

Movies

Spiderman Amazing Again

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) was directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach.

It is the fifth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and the final film in The Amazing Spider-Man series.

The studio hired James Vanderbilt to write the screenplay and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to rewrite it. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field.

In the film, Peter Parker tries to protect Gwen Stacy as he investigates his parents’ death, while also dealing with the supervillain Electro and the return of his childhood friend Harry Osborn, who is dying from a deadly genetic disease.

Bigger but not better that the previous film. Spiderman has two antagonists to deal with. Much more CGI and action. But sometimes un-focused and excessive.

This is the last Spiderman film available on Netflix. The earlier Tobey Maguire films are not available.

 

Movies

Spiderman’s Amazing


The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 film. It is the fourth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, a reboot of the series following Sam Raimi’s 2002–2007 Spider-Man trilogy.

The film was directed by Marc Webb and written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves from a story by Vanderbilt, and stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man with Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field.

In the film, after Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spider-like powers and ventures out to save the city from the machinations of a mysterious reptilian foe.

This is the best of the lot. It’s an origins story, showing how Peter gets bitten and his journey acquiring skills and taking on the baddies. It also has a well written villain in Lizard who has clear motivations and can be a sympathetic character at times.

 

Movies

Spiderman From Home

Spider-Man: Far from Home is a 2019 film. It is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and the 23rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film was directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker with Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, J. B. Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, Marisa Tomei, and Jake Gyllenhaal (as the villain) .

In the film, Parker is recruited by Nick Fury and Mysterio to face the Elementals while he is on a school trip to Europe.

Yet more adults playing teenagers. Fortunately Holland has the youthful looks and naivety to pull it off. There is a ridiculous amount of CGI to fill in the thin story. Fortunately Gyllenhaal knows how to ham it up and enjoy himself as Mysterio. There is enough humour to distract from the high body count that must have resulted from all the destruction.