I’m currently in a soundtrack craze – the (usually) instrumental, original composition accompaniment to TV shows, games, movies etc. I started off with the Wrath of the Lich King soundtrack – of course, playing the game, I fully enjoyed listening to the tracks outside the game setting, and be able to give it my full attention as opposed to it being a minor background whining while I try to kill monsters – it is as good, maybe as good as the Burning Crusade soundtracks.

Then I hit up the Lost Season 3 soundtrack – I have always loved the amazing composition in Lost, which has on occassion made me cry on certain tracks, and fear for my life on the next. The tracks are highly effective at setting the mood on the show. However, sitting down and giving the entire soundtrack a thorough listen, I found it a little one-tune and repetitive – Michael Giacchino tends to reuse the same couple of themes and give it different twists. Which, in the setting of the show, is not too bad, because it gives a very consistent mood and musical branding. But it is not that great to listen to at one shot.

Then, on the recommendation of Jason, I tried the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack. Now, I have not watched Battlestar Galactica before, though I plan to, during the holidays. But I listened to all three seasons plus the mini-series, and I found the composition nothing short of amazing. Even without watching the show and getting the emotional resonance of it (like I do with Lost and WLK), I highly enjoyed the experience. There are decidedly Indian, Middle-eastern and African influences on the composition as well, with excellent use of drums. The music is also a lot more diverse and fun to listen to – while maintaining the musical branding overall. 5 stars for the BSG soundtrack!

This soundtrack craze is likely to continue, because I find soundtracks great background to do work to – much less distracting than normal music, because there are no lyrics and it is lot less jingly. So, if I discover more good ones, expect more reviews on them.

Posted in Music Tagged: battlestar galactica, lost, music, soundtrack, wrath of the lich king ]]> http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/music-discovery-battlestar-galactica/feed/ 0 pleinelune http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/the-return-of-lost/ http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/the-return-of-lost/#comments Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:19:15 +0000 pleinelune http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/?p=247 ]]>

O.M.G.

I haven’t been saying much about season 4 of Lost after the season premiere, but it is not because it is bad, because I don’t have the time to review each episode if I am going to be saying something about it. Yes, I am OCD that way.

So far, it has been absolutely awesome and mindblowing. The new twists and turns, the conflicts, the curve-balls have been extremely gripping, to say the least. The season took a break for four weeks, and returned on Thursday with Episode 409 – “Shape of Things to Come”. And boy, was it absolutely worth the wait… the episode literally kept me on the edge of my seat, gasping at all the right moments. And trust me, I am usually a dispassionate viewer when it comes to action (I don’t even like action flicks), having grown up with Indian movies – the only thing that usually has any effect on me is sentimental stuff.

409 reminded me precisely why I am obsessed with this show, and if this is the shape of things to come… lemme at it!

The only other series which I was obsessed enough to go on fan websites and read theories was Harry Potter. As I was telling Pirate, Lost is to TV what Harry Potter was to books.

1. Both are incredibly complex worlds set within our world.

2. They have very well-written complicated storylines/plots which have been planned from the beginning and captures the the attention of anyone who loves a good mystery

3. Both have huge followings, a loyal fanbase which takes times to document the plot, characters and clues in detail like this.

4. Both have several layers of meaning to it that the casual audience/reader would not usually pick up, references to mythology and culture – a name is never just a name on Lost, nor on Harry Potter. To give just one example, the connection of Lost to Wizard of Oz, and the heavy allegory in Harry Potter to the King Arthur legend.

5. Both are ground-breaking in their concept and presentation – the world has not really seen anything like that before in their respective genres.

For people who are not hooked on Lost yet, I say, what are you waiting for? Don’t be turned off just because it is “popular” – popular does not always mean bad. And don’t let season 2 deter you – it might have dropped a little, but it sets the stage for season 3 and all the things that happens afterwards. And the awesomeness of season 4. It is actually rare for a show to get better as the seasons progress – most of them suffer from sequelitis after a while, but trust me, it does get waaay better, way more amazing.

I shall stop fan-girling now, and come back with a season review in a few weeks. Till then…. get Lost!

]]> http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/the-return-of-lost/feed/ 1 pleinelune http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/broken-hearts-and-time-travelling-case-theories/ http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/broken-hearts-and-time-travelling-case-theories/#comments Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:16:55 +0000 pleinelune http://pleinelune.wordpress.com/?p=205 ]]>

Yes, I know, this blog is starting to look like No Man’s Land. You know the excuse even before I say it. Zixian has been bugging me to blog as well, because you know, I am apparently so much freer than her and I need to entertain her.

My heart is currently broken. The L Word Season 5 just ended, and Lost is taking a four-week break, while they catch up the on time lost during the Writer’s Guild strike. It is not so much watching the shows, by themselves, but also listening the podcasts and the reviews/recaps of each episode, that I’ve kinda built into my working schedule. *sobs* No more Kelka, no more We’re Getting Nowhere, no more Jay and Jack, no more Transmission, for a while. Yes, I’m obsessed with Lost. So sue me.

No idea what is going on in Lost, but hey, all the back-and-forth-ness, and the time-travelling, and the complex timeline cannot be worse than my time-travelling case-theory for LAWR, part of which is the status of Chinese customary marriages in 1972. I still cannot figure out whether a case decided in 1982 about a “marriage” performed in 1957 can be used (Yeah, I know, worse than Lost) and all I want to say is, “screw you Carol, couldn’t you just freaking register your liberal hippie marriage” instead of talking about the sanctity of marriage in front of a panel of judges who I am sure include the distinguished family lawyer Prof Leong who has consistently held opposite views to my (assigned) stand in her publications. *facepalm*

Screw Er Gek Cheng and the test for intention.

At least the nightmare will be over on Monday.

The highly anticipated premiere of Lost aired on 31st January 2008, as per schedule. For three seasons, this show has kept me on the edge and totally addicted, enough for me to buy the original DVDs out of my meager pocket money. Because it is just that awesome. I love the mysteries, the crazy inter-connections between the characters, the very human background it is all shot against. Lost possibly has the best writers in the industry, because you can’t keep a plot like this going and keep the audience on tenterhooks otherwise. The only thing I am afraid of, is that it is going to suffer due to the Writers’ Guild of America strike – only 8 out of 16 episodes have been completed (yes, you heard me, only 16 episodes this season… less Lost goodness for us fans).

This episode was just a little slow, but it set up some very important plotlines, and introduced us to the main conflict of season 4, literally drawing lines in the sand between the survivors. Locke[Terry O'Quinn] is just as incomprehensible as ever, Jack[Mathew Foxx] just as stubborn, Kate[Evangeline Lily] just as kick-ass but indecisive [seriously, make up your mind already, woman]. Sawyer[Josh Holloway], out of the blue, decides to stop being the jerk for half a minute, and we catch a glimpse of his human side – that would be the only thing that’s different. Charlie[Dominic Monagan] looked really hot this episode, quite surprisingly… seriously, give him a close crop, take off his ridiculous half-moustache, and put him in a V-neck tight t-shirt, and the dude actually looks sexy. And good old Hurley[Jorge Garcia], our adorable heavy-set Latina multi-millionaire, is just as likeable as ever.

The only problem I had, was with a certain scene where the men doing all the noble, heroic things, and the women were sitting around folding clothes and comparing the glory and bravery of their male partners. Seriously, are we in the 18th century? And Kate, you are hot, and I adore you, you are my laptop wallpaper and all… but we really need more hot women on the show. They started killing off all the good-looking women in season 2 and 3 [Claire, honey, you are absolutely adorable, but you don't count] – in fact in one episode, they killed off 2 women at the same time. I am starting to think that it is down in Evangeline Lily’s contract that she is the only hot, single woman on the show.

Overall – season 4 is looking towards a good start, and I highly recommend it. But if you are a fan, you are going to be watching it anyway – you don’t need me to tell you to do it.

Rating:

Do not read further if you have not watched the first three seasons, and the premiere of season 4.

Episode 1 did not disappoint me at all – last season ended with a mind-blowing cliff-hanger. Instead of showing the past, like they’ve done for three seasons, the writers showed us the future. The tricky thing is that you don’t realise it, until the last scene, where Jack is meeting Kate. And then you realise it was there all along – because typically, an episode begins in the present, and then goes back. And so they did, except they are already off the island, and the scenes on the island are actually flashbacks. Jack, now an alcoholic mess, ends season 3 shouting “We have to go back! We should never have left the island!”, and for the first time, we are introduced to the concept that maybe, getting off the island isn’t a good thing after all.

S4E1 picks up on this reversal, and continues the off-the-island storyline with Hurley. Now we learn that only 6 people survived the island, and managed to get back – and apparently, all of them are keeping a certain secret. Hurley is caught for speeding, and in a typical Lostian way, is interrogated by Ana Lucia’s[or as I like to call her, Ana Luscious] ex-partner [as a cop, not THAT partner]. He is committed to a mental hospital for seeing things – and who does he see but dead Charlie?

On the island itself, Desmond comes back and communicates Charlie’s last warning to the rest, and they set out to warn Jack and co of the people on the boat. Except of course, Jack doesn’t believe them, and the castaways are split into two groups: the people who believe the rescuers are a threat, go with Locke, and the rest stay with Jack. And of course, we are once again questioning what Locke is really doing, when he professes to have acted in the best interest of the group.

We are inclined to think Locke is right… except of course, they twist it at the end, when Hurley (off the island) apologises to Jack for not staying with him. And all our theories, all our assumptions are thrown into the air.

Welcome to Lost.

Yes, no need to tell me, I am rather last in following trends. I didn’t catch on the Grey’s Anatomy trend until season 2 was showing on local TV. I was hooked on Desperate Housewives for a short while, but those two became too campy and stupid after a while. And now Lost is already in season 3, and I’ve just finished watching Season 1 DVDs.

Comments so far? To the producers of Lost: you’ve got me hooked. So there better be a reason for all the mysterious happening, the cursed numbers and whatever… if you dare tell me it was all a coincidence at the end of the show, I swear I’ll send you elephant poo in a FedEx package. Very stinky elephant poo.

P.S. Josh Holloway, Ian Somerhalder and Evangeline Lily are super-hot. But you knew that already. [/gush]