Sound Science Corner Pub

[Davesrose]

Revenge Of The Sith and The Empire Strikes Back are the best Star Wars movies imho. The Rise Of Skywalker is probably the worst. Disney's sequel trilogy does almost nothing for me (John Williams' scores is nice, but that's it). Disney had zero interest in following the ideas/guidelines of George Lucas for the trilogy (and Lucas was naive to think they would follow his vision). The ending of Rogue One is very good, but the first half of it is just jumping from planet to planet for the sake of "SW content."

Funny thing to me is Star Wars (later episode IV). So George Lucas was tied to American Zoetrope: where Francis Ford Coppola had been considered the money maker (where Lucas had made some money with American Graffiti, but also lost money with THX 1138). Enter how the original Star Wars became a phenomenon. It certainly wasn't due to Lucas, even though he was savvy enough to get all royalties with the merchandize. If you listen to the special features, the actors at first didn't know he was the director (because he was so disinterested about the actor's performance). He's stated he didn't like Star Wars as far as how much shenanigans there was. I think the one liners from Harrison Ford make it especially timeless how it toes the line from campy to sci-fi. But apparently it drove Lucas nuts: even though I think it's some of the best bits (apart from also my appreciation of the trench scenes when it comes to VFX). Luckily there was a true director of actors when it came to Empire (and while I can enjoy the latest trilogy, I do still view Empire as the best Star Wars movie). When it comes to worst Star Wars movie, my pick would be Episode II: the direction is so bad...and acting: it just seemed so creepy about how Anakin was some little brat who magically becomes involved with an older Padmé. And it's worst still now when some of their courtship is riding some really bad CGI animals.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Funny thing to me is Star Wars (later episode IV). So George Lucas was tied to American Zoetrope: where Francis Ford Coppola had been considered the money maker (where Lucas had made some money with American Graffiti, but also lost money with THX 1138). Enter how the original Star Wars became a phenomenon. It certainly wasn't due to Lucas, even though he was savvy enough to get all royalties with the merchandize. If you listen to the special features, the actors at first didn't know he was the director (because he was so disinterested about the actor's performance). He's stated he didn't like Star Wars as far as how much shenanigans there was. I think the one liners from Harrison Ford make it especially timeless how it toes the line from campy to sci-fi. But apparently it drove Lucas nuts: even though I think it's some of the best bits (apart from also my appreciation of the trench scenes when it comes to VFX). Luckily there was a true director of actors when it came to Empire (and while I can enjoy the latest trilogy, I do still view Empire as the best Star Wars movie). When it comes to worst Star Wars movie, my pick would be Episode II: the direction is so bad...and acting: it just seemed so creepy about how Anakin was some little brat who magically becomes involved with an older Padmé. And it's worst still now when some of their courtship is riding some really bad CGI animals.

Episode II's legacy may have been saved by "The Rise of Skywalker".

 

[Steve999]

Three movies I really like are Casablanca, Diva (the French pic) and Life of Brian (the original).

I like Space Odyssey 2000.

I liked the movie Amadeus.

I liked the 1985 movie Brazil, with the general plot of Orwell’s 1984.

The recent movie about Bob Dylan’s early career was pretty good I think, but not in the same class as a truly great movie.

I like the first six Star Wars movies, however you want to order them. I don’t have much of an opinion as to what’s better than what.

A Clockwork Orange was a bit too freaked out for me, while I liked Dr. Strangelove.

I get quite a kick out of Planet 9 from Outer Space.

I liked Despicable Me and King Fu Panda (watched these with my kids when they were growing up).

Along those lines I also liked the Pixar movie Soul (2020) and Buzz Lightyear.

I don’t watch movies much. Modern movies tend to be too drenched in violence for me. I don’t like it.

 

[castleofargh]

Seriously, I wouldn't know how to pick or rank movies. I cannot help but break them down into various aspects, themes, emotional responses, if the director of photography is blind and stupid, or actually good... The more I seriously try to find the best whatever, the more I find myself unable to deal with what seems like an endless conundrum of apple vs oranges.
What movie has the best everything? None, Then what takes priority? How unique it is? How cool the costumes were(The Cell has really cool scenes and costumes despite being a rather crappy movie by any other standard, so should it rank high or be near the bottom)? The light? If I cried(Then Bambi matches Schindler's List, which might be a problem)? What genre I care about more(fiction all the way, take me away from normalcy and reality)? How long it took me to come back to reality after it ended(that one's easy, actually, it would be Requiem For a Dream or Lost Highway at the top)? How many of my friends liked it(now both Requiem for a Dream and Lost Highway move all the way toward the bottom ^_^)?
I'm not good with those completely arbitrary, subjective choices, and when I try to actually sort things out with some method, it gets impossibly complex. I can easily pick what I like, but what I like the most... (same with music, food, and most things actually).

 

[2leftears]

Seriously, I wouldn't know how to pick or rank movies. I cannot help but break them down into various aspects, themes, emotional responses, if the director of photography is blind and stupid, or actually good... The more I seriously try to find the best whatever, the more I find myself unable to deal with what seems like an endless conundrum of apple vs oranges.
What movie has the best everything? None, Then what takes priority? How unique it is? How cool the costumes were(The Cell has really cool scenes and costumes despite being a rather crappy movie by any other standard, so should it rank high or be near the bottom)? The light? If I cried(Then Bambi matches Schindler's List, which might be a problem)? What genre I care about more(fiction all the way, take me away from normalcy and reality)? How long it took me to come back to reality after it ended(that one's easy, actually, it would be Requiem For a Dream or Lost Highway at the top)? How many of my friends liked it(now both Requiem for a Dream and Lost Highway move all the way toward the bottom ^_^)?
I'm not good with those completely arbitrary, subjective choices, and when I try to actually sort things out with some method, it gets impossibly complex. I can easily pick what I like, but what I like the most... (same with music, food, and most things actually).

I hear you.

Like picking my favourite band. Impossible; there are at least 20 top favourites or so I cannot choose between, because they are all great, and all completely different.

I do tend to have a favourite band on any particular day, entirely dependent on my mood, but it changes every day.

If I had to pick one it would be a matter of statistics, the band I would pick on most days.

So probably Blurred City Lights. Or Glim Spanky. Or maybe Throwing Muses. I don't know

 

[Ryokan]

I like inspirational films that are thought provoking and have a deeper meaning ;

Spoiler: List

Jaws
Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Leon
Rambo First Blood
Old Boy
Mad Max 1 & 2
Dawn of the Dead
Rocky I, II III
Terminator I & II

 

[JamoBroGuy]

I’m not really a movie person. I haven’t seen most if any of the movies most people consider classics. Sometimes I feel like an outcast since so many other people are really into movies, but I just don’t really care for them.

If there’s one thing I’m really into, it’s video games.

 

[2leftears]

My favourite ones are those with understated acting, and some black & subtle humour.

"Paris, Texas", "Local Hero", "The Straight Story", "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" spring to mind.

Likewise, whilst e.g. Jennifer Lawrence is well-known for many movies and series, much of it isn't for me but I do really like her performance in "Winter's Bone".

I’m not really a movie person. I haven’t seen most if any of the movies most people consider classics. Sometimes I feel like an outcast since so many other people are really into movies, but I just don’t really care for them.

If there’s one thing I’m really into, it’s video games.

I do like some movies, but for me it is really 99% music, 1% movies, 0% gaming.

 

[JamoBroGuy]

Speaking of actors, I know little to no celebrities. Whenever I get a question like “who’s your favourite actor?” or “who’s your favourite celebrity?” I’m just like “… I don’t ****ing know”.

It’s the same thing with movies. There are only, like, 2 movies I didn’t immediately forget after watching. I can accurately explain the lore of one of my favourite video games front to back if you ask me to, do the same for a movie I’ve seen and I’m just stumped.

 

[2leftears]

My favourite actress is one thing I have decided: Frances McDormand

 

[bigshot]

I know quite a few movies that are the best at what they do. And I don’t find it hard to break down the various aspects of film making and analyze what works and what doesn’t. But making films is my job.

I once worked with a great artist and sat in with him as he was being interviewed by a magazine writer. The artist picked up a drawing made by another artist in the 1940s off his desk and held it up for the writer to see.

“When I show this to you, you see the subject matter- a man, a tree, a road… and you get a feeling of the moon of the moment. Perhaps you might see some symbolism the artist embedded in the image.” The writer nodded.

“But when I look at it,” the artist continued, “I see a lot more. I see the purpose in every line. I know why the forms and shapes are placed in the composition where they are. I know why the characters are posed the way they are, how the lines on the face work together to form an expression, how shading is used to define light, the rules of perspective that are being followed and the ones being bent, the reasons some things are drawn sparingly and others are detailed, how a group of lines define a three dimensional form…”

“You look at this drawing as a writer and can describe it in a few sentences. But as an artist, I look at it I see the millions of decisions being made and can speak about it for over an hour.”

 

[71 dB]

Like picking my favourite band. Impossible; there are at least 20 top favourites or so I cannot choose between, because they are all great, and all completely different.

Same here. I started active music listening in late 80's when I was in high-school. My taste in music differs significantly from the masses and most music I heard passively did nothing for me or sounded bad to my ears. I simply didn't know there's TONS of more marginal/obscure/weird/cool music out there to explore. That changed in 1988 when I heard acid house music played on radio.

My first favourite "band" ("act" rather) was S-Express. I also liked The Beatmasters a lot. In 1991 I heard The Prodigy's Charly on radio and became a fan. In 1992 (or was it 1993?) I discovered Jonny L. In 1993 I bought Autechre's Incunabula because the cover art looked so cool and it was released by Warp label. I was blown away. Up to mid 90s my music taste was limited mainly around electronic dance music and IDM. However the fact that electronic dance music had peaked in 1992 and became less interesting (rich/innovative anything goes pioneer attitude was replaced by puristic subgenres and also electronic dance music became more commercial) as the decade progressed, I started to slowly become interested of other kind of music too.

In 1996 I got into classical music. In December 1996 I found my favourite composer, Sir Edward Elgar. In summer 1997 I got into J.S. Bach. There are dozens and dozens of other composers I like too, but these two are above the rest for me.

In 2001 I moved to a building with cable (instead of antenna) and for the first time in my life I was able to watch (Nordic) MTV. To my surprised I actually liked some of the pop/rock music they played. I was becoming more tolerant and less prejudiced of different music styles. Of the many acts/artists of this period of discovery, Mull Historical Society aka Colin MacIntyre is perhaps my favorite, but there are other good ones too.

In 2002 I got a "digibox" that allowed me to watch digital TV broadcasts. It as possible to subscribe to a service that contained 30 digital radio channels each playing a fixed music genre. One of those was new age, a music genre I had never heard of before. I really liked that calming moody music (especially as background music while doing something like browsing online/writing messages online). I'd say my favourite new age artists include Raphael, Suspended Memories and Robert Rich.

In 2008 I made two MASSIVE discoveries, Tangerine Dream and King Crimson. I had known and even heard Tangerine Dream since early 90s, but I wasn't ready for the music and I didn't understand how massive they actually are (In Finland Tangerine Dream was been almost unknown). In 2008-2010 I bought no less than 90 CDs of music by Tangerine Dream and I just pre-ordered their new release Coventry Cathedral 22. As for King Crimson, I had never heard of them and when I heard their music on radio I was blown away how great rock music can be. I have never been much into rock music. Almost all of it just sounds stupid to my ears, but King Crimson is stunning rock music!

In 2011 I discovered Carly Simon. I knew her, of course, but I never thought I'd like her music much. I explored her music in 2011, because I have always liked her voice a lot, but I thought her music is uninteresting ("You're so Vain" is imho far from her best songs, even boring to her standards!). After listening to her music on Spotify about 3 hours, my years had adjusted to her music style and I was blown about the quality of it. No weak/dull songs at all! Different music styles are combined so skillfully to great astonishingly flowing and captivating music with great lyrics (lyrics don't matter much for me, but good lyrics are a plus anyway). I think Carly Simon is one of the most talented and gifted musicians/singer/songwriters of her generation. I hate Christmas albums of pop artists, but I have Carly Simon's "Christmas Is Almost Here", because that one is actually good!

Around 2012 I "returned" to MTV pop and to my surprise I found myself loving a lot of what I heard. Retrospectively I have understood that the pop music of 2010-2013 is a lot to my liking. That's when american pop producers used tons of influencies of European dance music creating a "YOLO" dancepop style that I find insanely cool and fun. There seems to be some kind of consensus online that the year 2011 was especially strong in pop music. Katy Perry blew me away and in 2013 I discovered Ke$ha/Kesha. While Katy Perry has become progressively worse (and with "143" almost unlistenable) since Teenage Dream, Kesha has stayed interesting, creative and impactful. I have preordered her "." album. I think Kesha is a genius of pop music.

In 2016 I discovered Jean-Michel Jarre properly. I did have a complilation CD "Images" of his music since early 90s, but somehow that CD gives a very lame picture of Jarre's music. Only when I listened to his albums on Spotify did I feel the greatness of his music. I was actually a semi-fan briefly in the late 80's, but the "Images" CD killed my interest. How do you compile that bad compilation CD of his music is beyond me... Around this time I was also a lot into 70s funk. I got into Rose Royce and Herbie Hancock. I have never been much into jazz despite my dad being a jazz nut, but I discovered the funk jazz album "On the Corner" by Miles Davis. Great stuff!

In 2021 I discoved Air Supply. Never would I have thought I'd enjoy ultra-syrupy yacht rock, but I do like this music. Russell Hitchcock has a great singing voice and Graham Russell knows how to composer for his voice. The music is proudly syrupy and if I am in the mood of syrupy music, Air Supply delivers! In fact only the albums of the early 80s are ultra-syrupy and later albums are more epic stadion rock type of music. Ironically this band has been popular in places as far from Finland as possible: Japan, Australia, South-Africa and America.

In 2023 I got into early 70s sunshine pop, artists such as Mama Cass Elliot and The Carpenters, but Maureen McGovern's first two albums blew my mind the most, especially her first album "The Morning After." Sadly there are no proper CD-releases of those albums available. The best we have is crappy vinyl rips released on a weird Swiss label (MMMA #4194), but the music is heavenly! I also got into Vaporwave music. Italian artist B o d y l i n e is my favourite

I have also tried to find great 80s synth-pop, but it is not easy. Most of that music is actually pretty bad. Jennifer Rush is fine. At least she has got a great singing voice... ...that said, a lot of my music discoveries have been surprising to myself, music that I never believed I would like. God only knows what kind of music I am going to discover and be blown away in the future...

 

[Ryokan]

I have also tried to find great 80s synth-pop, but it is not easy. Most of that music is actually pretty bad. Jennifer Rush is fine. At least she has got a great singing voice... ...that said, a lot of my music discoveries have been surprising to myself, music that I never believed I would like.

Some suggestions;
Rush
Wishbone Ash
Electric Light Orchestra
Golden Earring
Max Richter
Simple Minds
Zbigniew Preisner
10CC

 

[71 dB]

Some suggestions;
Rush
Wishbone Ash
Electric Light Orchestra
Golden Earring
Max Richter
Simple Minds
Zbigniew Preisner
10CC

Thanks! I check these out. I actually checked 10CC out a while ago, but their music doesn't appeal to me much.

 

[2leftears]

Same here. I started active music listening in late 80's when I was in high-school. My taste in music differs significantly from the masses and most music I heard passively did nothing for me or sounded bad to my ears. I simply didn't know there's TONS of more marginal/obscure/weird/cool music out there to explore. That changed in 1988 when I heard acid house music played on radio.

My first favourite "band" ("act" rather) was S-Express. I also liked The Beatmasters a lot. In 1991 I heard The Prodigy's Charly on radio and became a fan. In 1992 (or was it 1993?) I discovered Jonny L. In 1993 I bought Autechre's Incunabula because the cover art looked so cool and it was released by Warp label. I was blown away. Up to mid 90s my music taste was limited mainly around electronic dance music and IDM. However the fact that electronic dance music had peaked in 1992 and became less interesting (rich/innovative anything goes pioneer attitude was replaced by puristic subgenres and also electronic dance music became more commercial) as the decade progressed, I started to slowly become interested of other kind of music too.

In 1996 I got into classical music. In December 1996 I found my favourite composer, Sir Edward Elgar. In summer 1997 I got into J.S. Bach. There are dozens and dozens of other composers I like too, but these two are above the rest for me.

In 2001 I moved to a building with cable (instead of antenna) and for the first time in my life I was able to watch (Nordic) MTV. To my surprised I actually liked some of the pop/rock music they played. I was becoming more tolerant and less prejudiced of different music styles. Of the many acts/artists of this period of discovery, Mull Historical Society aka Colin MacIntyre is perhaps my favorite, but there are other good ones too.

In 2002 I got a "digibox" that allowed me to watch digital TV broadcasts. It as possible to subscribe to a service that contained 30 digital radio channels each playing a fixed music genre. One of those was new age, a music genre I had never heard of before. I really liked that calming moody music (especially as background music while doing something like browsing online/writing messages online). I'd say my favourite new age artists include Raphael, Suspended Memories and Robert Rich.

In 2008 I made two MASSIVE discoveries, Tangerine Dream and King Crimson. I had known and even heard Tangerine Dream since early 90s, but I wasn't ready for the music and I didn't understand how massive they actually are (In Finland Tangerine Dream was been almost unknown). In 2008-2010 I bought no less than 90 CDs of music by Tangerine Dream and I just pre-ordered their new release Coventry Cathedral 22. As for King Crimson, I had never heard of them and when I heard their music on radio I was blown away how great rock music can be. I have never been much into rock music. Almost all of it just sounds stupid to my ears, but King Crimson is stunning rock music!

In 2011 I discovered Carly Simon. I knew her, of course, but I never thought I'd like her music much. I explored her music in 2011, because I have always liked her voice a lot, but I thought her music is uninteresting ("You're so Vain" is imho far from her best songs, even boring to her standards!). After listening to her music on Spotify about 3 hours, my years had adjusted to her music style and I was blown about the quality of it. No weak/dull songs at all! Different music styles are combined so skillfully to great astonishingly flowing and captivating music with great lyrics (lyrics don't matter much for me, but good lyrics are a plus anyway). I think Carly Simon is one of the most talented and gifted musicians/singer/songwriters of her generation. I hate Christmas albums of pop artists, but I have Carly Simon's "Christmas Is Almost Here", because that one is actually good!

Around 2012 I "returned" to MTV pop and to my surprise I found myself loving a lot of what I heard. Retrospectively I have understood that the pop music of 2010-2013 is a lot to my liking. That's when american pop producers used tons of influencies of European dance music creating a "YOLO" dancepop style that I find insanely cool and fun. There seems to be some kind of consensus online that the year 2011 was especially strong in pop music. Katy Perry blew me away and in 2013 I discovered Ke$ha/Kesha. While Katy Perry has become progressively worse (and with "143" almost unlistenable) since Teenage Dream, Kesha has stayed interesting, creative and impactful. I have preordered her "." album. I think Kesha is a genius of pop music.

In 2016 I discovered Jean-Michel Jarre properly. I did have a complilation CD "Images" of his music since early 90s, but somehow that CD gives a very lame picture of Jarre's music. Only when I listened to his albums on Spotify did I feel the greatness of his music. I was actually a semi-fan briefly in the late 80's, but the "Images" CD killed my interest. How do you compile that bad compilation CD of his music is beyond me... Around this time I was also a lot into 70s funk. I got into Rose Royce and Herbie Hancock. I have never been much into jazz despite my dad being a jazz nut, but I discovered the funk jazz album "On the Corner" by Miles Davis. Great stuff!

In 2021 I discoved Air Supply. Never would I have thought I'd enjoy ultra-syrupy yacht rock, but I do like this music. Russell Hitchcock has a great singing voice and Graham Russell knows how to composer for his voice. The music is proudly syrupy and if I am in the mood of syrupy music, Air Supply delivers! In fact only the albums of the early 80s are ultra-syrupy and later albums are more epic stadion rock type of music. Ironically this band has been popular in places as far from Finland as possible: Japan, Australia, South-Africa and America.

In 2023 I got into early 70s sunshine pop, artists such as Mama Cass Elliot and The Carpenters, but Maureen McGovern's first two albums blew my mind the most, especially her first album "The Morning After." Sadly there are no proper CD-releases of those albums available. The best we have is crappy vinyl rips released on a weird Swiss label (MMMA #4194), but the music is heavenly! I also got into Vaporwave music. Italian artist B o d y l i n e is my favourite

I have also tried to find great 80s synth-pop, but it is not easy. Most of that music is actually pretty bad. Jennifer Rush is fine. At least she has got a great singing voice... ...that said, a lot of my music discoveries have been surprising to myself, music that I never believed I would like. God only knows what kind of music I am going to discover and be blown away in the future...

I grew up (teenage years and early twenties) with the post-rock and indie-rock of the 80's & 90's, plus an interest in Classical, J.S. Bach predominantly, but also Spanish 15th & 16th century.

Lots of interesting bands from the 80's/90's era, especially the less well-known stuff on the indie labels from that period, like 4AD (Dead Can Dance, Throwing Muses, Lush, Pale Saints, Cocteau Twins, Ultra Vivid scene, etc.etc.) But when the bigger labels caught up with the "indie sound" and started to commercialise it, and both 4AD and Creation Records lost their way, it all came off the rails as far as I was concerned. I did gain an interest in North-African blues rock and traditional Japanese music also.

When the western commercial music scene started looking almost exclusively to hip-hop and hip-hop influenced material, I lost interest completely.

A couple of years ago now I was introduced to the Japanese indie rock scene by a wayward YouTube recommendation. I was looking for MVs of Kyuss (American stoner-rock), and YouTube kept recommending a few Japanese ladies dressed in Maid outfits. I ignored it for a long time, assuming it was the usual Japanese manufactured idol-pop stuff. But they were holding instruments in the thumbnail, and it kept being recommended when I was looking for hard-rock, so eventually I just gave it a try. That changed everything; that band (BAND-MAID) was not at all what I thought it was going to be, and since then me deep-diving into J-Rock have thrown up hundreds of gems. A smorgasbord of the best of 60's/70's/80' and 90's western music sounds, but modernised, mixed up in many different fusion sounds, and just far more creative overall. Essentially all the music that the western commercial music scene had turned its back on was kept alive and well over there.

Some will claim Japanese rock is just a rip-off of western rock. Well, who gives a monkeys; they make it sound genuinely different. A few chords into a song, before any vocals have started, and most J-rock fans can already tell you that that is a Japanese rock band, not a western rock band. More elaborate chord progressions and bass-lines are a dead giveaway with many bands.

So now I listen to a mix of classical music, western indie & underground rock, Japanese indie & underground rock, world music (African & traditional Japanese mostly), and a little bit of familiar pop as well as alternative pop.