5 posts tagged “music”
recently i'd come across a game 'portal', it's a nice FPS puzzler (not too many of those around) that comes in 'the orange box' (a set of games including half life 2, HL2:episode 1, HL2: episode 2 and many other related games, including portal, built on the same engine) portal was amazing...it makes you think, is humorous, not too easy, but not too hard, a very, very enjoyable experience :) with wonderful and witty writing and perfect execution...(the only thign that speaks in this game is a computer over a PA system, and she has character :-P)
now, after playing 'portal', i was hungry for games like this...games that entertain you, intrigue you, and make you think, im sick of the 'twitch reflex' games where all you have to do is kill people. this was a very refreshing change..and i wanted to continue playing games like this...
so i started phrases like "games like portal" "if you liked portal" etc...
and in various reviews, i found that people had been looking for the same, some of them, with the them that "i'd like to see more games like 'portal' and 'braid'" and i thought "hmmm...this seems interesting"
so i 'obtained' braid...started playing it....the 'instructions' in the help section of braid were just these:-
(Note: i play with an XBOX 360 controller attached, so it gives me those controls instead of the keyboard controls)
now these seem pretty disappointing don't they, i was thinking? wth? is this a glorified version of mario? what crap!!
this (above) was the first 'world' (for some reason they start from world 2, i don't know why yet) looked pretty nice, and the text in these story boooks was very well written and intriguing (will be posting some of it at the end of the article)
so i got into the first door, and started playing, seemed like a typical side scroller, i collected the first of the 'puzzle peices'..feeling a bit grumbly...and fell into the spikes, and was starting to get really annoyed thinking "that's it! i've lost one of my lives already! now it'll start all over again, i'll have to collect these pieces again! ARRRGH i hate these irritating button mashing side scrollers!!"
but then, i saw the 'X', and i thought? "huh? what the hell?"
and nothing else would happen, just me in the 'dead' state and that blinking 'x', so i press the 'x' and voila!!! time starts turning back!!! also tiny icons of 'lb' and 'rb' (the left button and right button on the x360 controller's shoulders) appear on my characters head, i try them and realise i can control the flow AND direction of time with them!! so it became interesting, this is a screen shot of time turning back at 8X speed:-
so the game became a little more interesting, i started wondering if it requires some kind of fuel that I'll have to collect, where's the 'bar' for this thing? etc...well, there is none, time can be modified to your heart's content...and you die due to various things (which can be reversed) spikes, monsters, fireballs...nothing else...
now the puzzle pieces you collect, are to be used to create a picture...but that's not eh end of it :) e.g:- in one of the later 'doors' of the same world, i came across this:-
(NOTE: the first time i actually reached here, the picture wasn't complete as i hadn't managed to collect all the pieces of the puzzle for this world, but the 'ledge' on it was ;) you'll see how that was important)
so pressing 'b' got me to the following screen:-
in the above mode you can join whatever pieces you've collected and also change the position of the painting, now being able to change the 'position' might seem weird, but it has an application :-P more on that in next picture:-
now that I'd already collected the pieces that allowed me to form at least the 'ledge' on the other levels of the world, i formed the ledge and positioned the painting so that the monster lands on it (yes! that's why the painting's holder is in this level!!)
so as you can see above, the goomba did land on that ledge (and then i suddenly went into the paintings 'arrange' mode and totally slid it 'out of the picture') and as i'd slid the ledge out of teh way, it landed down, and gave me an opportunity to jump on it and reach the piece high above the exit door...
so that's what the gameplay is like :) totally non linear, with very intelligent and intriguing levels and oh, the music.....it's instrumental music by one 'jami sieber' (http://www.jamisieber.com/) she's a composer and cellist etc...it's otherworldly, i listen to it's soundtrack a lot nowadays...
it's games like 'portal' and 'braid' that make me want to get into the field of game design (as I'd mentioned i think in an earlier post, im doing a course in 'video game design and production management' which starts august) these games are innovative, intelligent, and they show the world that gaming isn't all about button mashing and 'godly reflexes', a well made game sometimes manages to weave beautiful stories, witty writing and intelligent gameplay to provide entertainment more wholesome than any other form of media possibly can...
now for some excerpts from the insightful story of 'braid':-
this is what's written in the books of the 2nd and 3rd world:-
note: 2a, 2b etc means 'world 2, book a' etc....ithese books show their text when tim stands in front of them (look at the second image in the post) courtesy:- http://forums.xbox.com/22049680/ShowPost.aspx
Chapter 2: Time and Forgiveness (the first world you play in the game)
2a. “Tim is off on a search to rescue the Princess. She has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster. This happened because Tim made a mistake.”
2b. “Not just one. He made many mistakes during the time they spent together, all those years ago. Memories of their relationship have become muddled, replaced wholesale, but one remains clear: the Princess turning sharply away, her braid lashing at him with contempt.”
2c. “He knows she tried to be forgiving, but who can just shrug away a guilty lie, a stab in the back? Such a mistake will change a relationship irreversibly, even if we have learned from the mistake and would never repeat it. The Princess’s eyes grew narrower. She became more distant.”
2d. “Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness. By forgiving too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we’ve learned from a mistake and become better for it, shouldn’t we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?”
2e. “What if our world worked differently? Suppose we could tell her: “I didn’t mean what I just said,” and she would say: “It’s okay, I understand,” and she would not turn away, and life would really proceed as though we had never said that thing? We could remove the damage but still be wiser from the experience.”
2f. “Tim and the Princess lounge in the castle garden, laughing together, giving names to the colorful birds. Their mistakes are hidden from each other, tucked away between the folds of time, safe.”
Chapter 3: Time and Mystery
3a. “All those years ago, Tim had left the Princess behind. He had kissed her on the neck, picked up his travel bag, and walked out the door. He regrets this, to a degree. Now he’s journeying to find her again, to show he knows how sad it was, but also to tell her how it was good.”3b. “For a long time, he though they had been cultivating the perfect relationship. He had been fiercely protective, reversing all his mistakes so they would not touch her. Likewise, keeping a tight rein on her own mistakes, she always pleased him.”
3c. “But to be fully couched within the comfort of a friend is a mode of existence with severe implications. To please you perfectly, she must understand you perfectly. Thus you cannot defy her expectations or escape her reach. Her benevolence has circumscribed you, and your life’s achievements will not reach beyond the map she has drawn.”
3d. “Tim needed to be non-manipulable. He needed a hope of transcendence. He needed, sometimes, to be immune to the Princess’s caring touch.”
3e. “Off in the distance, Tim saw a castle where the flags flutter even when the wind has expired, and the bread in the kitchen is always warm. A little bit of magic.”
it's a beautiful, strange story....
(UPDATE: ok the music isn't only by Jami Siebler, i was mistaken, it's by various artists
The individual tracks in Braid are listed below:
"Maenam" by Jami Sieber, from the album Hidden Sky.
"Undercurrent" and "The Darkening Ground" by Jami Sieber, from the album Lush Mechanique.
"Tell It By Heart" and "Long Past Gone" by Jami Sieber, from the album Second Sight.
"Downstream" by Shira Kammen, from the album Music of Waters.
"Lullaby Set" by Shira Kammen and Swan, from the album Wild Wood.
"Romanesca" by Cheryl Ann Fulton, from the album The Once and Future Harp.
courtesy:- http://www.gamespot.com/news/6197644.html
you see it often in movies, there's some kind of a 'house party' going on, and the lead actress decides to just go to the roof/terrace to 'get away from it all', usually seen feeling cold hugging herself looking out towards the night...wind teasing her (generally blond) hair a bit, and here she meets the lead actor, who too, seems to have come here, much before her, to 'get away from it all'..they end up talking about things, and how their life sucks, and then one of them says something on the lines of :- "sometimes you just got to <insert cliche phrase here> " while looking at the other or out to the night..if they're looking out to the night, right about now the speaker of the dialogue would look at the other and smile....
here's the start to a beautiful romance....
now, that doesn't happen too often at real parties!! first of all,the reason you'd go to a party nowadays is to be with the people you came with, and there's no way the scum are gonna let you get away and 'lone' about on a creepy terrace (especially if you're a girl, come on, you definitely have more concerned friends than that!) and if one was so keen to 'get away from it all', one wouldn't come to a party, unless you plan to lone about and find someone...i don't go to parties without my ipod tucked away somewhere so if i need to 'lone about' i can sure as hell do so without getting absolutely bored...because trust me, nobody cares to 'get away from it all' when 'it' is what they came for in the first place...
this, doesn't really happen:- 'loner finds loner and they both live happily for some time' (im not too fond of the words 'ever after')
how the hell does a loner find a loner? if you're going to parties to find 'loners' you're hardly one yourself!!
that's why we love movies so much, they're definitely one of the strongest sources of 'hope' for generations of people looking for guidance...
i was inspired to write this after/while watching 'august rush', what a beautiful movie...i haven't felt 'smiling really wide', 'almost crying' and 'clawing with despair' in the same movie for a long time, and the music...ah...i personally couldn't keep my hands from moving with it like an impassioned possessed composer :) im not a 'prodigy' like the boy but i loved and felt whatever he did...I'd recommend it to everyone.
every part in the movie where there was beautiful music involved is etched into my brain and makes me smile wide thinking about it...im gonna be making some someday for sure, and this movie can be stated as one of my inspirations :)
<break>
so i wrote the above text, most of it...while the electricity was out (i have a laptop, but my modem needs power) and while i took a nap after writing it, i thought of a million other things...
why, does it so happen, that people say "i wish i had someone to talk to", this line is usually said by people who have had myriad relationships in the past and thus always had someone to talk to...frankly speaking, from the point of view of someone who's barely been in any relationships...i don't feel the absolute 'need' to talk to someone...it's not a need, it arises as a 'hey man this is in me i wonder what he /she thinks about my thoughts' thing....
most relationships, tend to weaken people, and they let this happen...always having someone around, always getting pampered...and then when you break up it's the hardest thing in the world because you got so bloody attached...and your 'pain' keeps getting thrown around at other people's heads when you're in their company, sheesh...you get conditioned to getting something and as the 'flow' stops you start acting like 'that's it, my world has ended', well man, you weren't always together, get back to how it was before him/her.
The phrase 'im gonna miss you/love you forever' is something even the speakers of which realize within a few months, that doesn't make sense...it's mostly uttered in a 'third person' format (im gonna love him/her forever) for other people to hear and go 'awwww', well most of the things you'd say to make others go 'awww' are bullshit...it's the human tendency to make other humans think that they're the best, the best 'girlfriend/boyfriend' in this case...someone who'd 'love their significant other forever'.
most of the time when you give utmost importance to the pains in your life, think about what you would feel if someone else was telling you about it, you're the only one who cares about and understands your 'pain', nobody else wants to listen, nobody else cares, and if you look into it, you might just realize that you too are just wasting time over it. most of the time. oh bollocks you'll never realize it....
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Now playing: Aqualung - Brighter Than Sunshine
posted with FoxyTunes
i've just returned from what, i can clearly say, was the best gig I've been to :) i just loved goldspot!!! i forgive VH1 for playing annoying hip-hop all day and thank them thoroughly for having brought goldspot to pune :-P all their tracks were so nice, instant haunts :)
the lead vocalist is an amazing singer, just perfect...one very interesting part of the gig was when steve suddenly started singin 'ae mere pyaare watan'
wow...i've never heard that song in that way!! lovely...
for the songs where backing vocals were required, the rest of the band did a brilliant job...
it was sooooo beautiful!!! i can't beleive a beautiful indie rock band came here man!!
i loved the song 'friday' :) also some other song in which he was crooning 'avery, will you marry me?' beautiful beautiful songs!!!
only thing that was bad about the concert for me was that there was nobody to share that awesome experience with...i wish i could have bought entry for some friends of mine!! i expected the concert to be good, but not this good!! this is just the kind of music i like!! and i know some people i know like anleey, yasmeen, rupin (maybe ishaan) etc would totally love...agh, this part sucked :( i didn't even feel like sitting on my bike and listening to the engine, i just wanted to walk home with a smile on my face :) happy about the music in and around my head....
i desperately wanted them to play their cover of the modest mouse track 'float on', i did shout 'float on'!!!! a couple of times, to no avail...later i heard two three other people shouting 'float on' in a chant like form behind me, i looked behind to see a couple of nerdy guys in pink floyd tees and specs and thought "awwww, my kind of people!!" i wanted to find them later and hang out with them or something...didn't end up doing that either...
it's not even about loneliness...i wasn't 'lonely' per se. i just, wish i could freeze the whole experience and expose some other people i know to it...what music man...awesome.
now to obtain their music from somewhere somehow...
the premise:-
people arguing about CRI Pune leg's headlining band 'the black lips' in the community 'rock in pune'...
one guy says:-
"oh and FYI...
This is how Horizontal Action Magazine reviewed Black Lips...
"They
have tapped into a very secret well that everyone thinks they want to
drink from. Too bad its got weird bent rainbows and shit floating in
it.""
another:-
"Horizontal Action Magazine:..
is that a porno mag??
dont temme u didnt see that comin..
another guy:-
Actually horizontal action might just be the woman on top position... seems more geometrically correct...
and that is actually more from the paper than a magazine... Pune Mirror had the sense to blast black lips... and also inform us, that they chickened out of the rest of the india tour out of fear of plastic bottles...
there HAS to be a name for that phobia...
yet another guy:-
indoplasticobottlophobia
ah....i love pune....and orkut (only because of these gems)
and oh yeah, look at this!! :-http://www.nme.com/news/the-black-lips/42289
man this band has managed to entertain me in so many ways :-D heeheeheehee....
you flip through channels everyday, looking at a million reality shows, people crooning at the top of their voices, minds, lungs, strung out brains...trying to look 'sad' and 'righteous' when asking you for votes...
a lot of people all over India are DYING to get into these shows at every moment...and what happens when you win? you become famous, that's right, you become famous and popular..start your career "im popular!! now i can charge you loads of money to endorse products and come to dance and sing at your marriages!!"
did you realize, that all this time all you losers were just looking at some humans on a stage, singing 'popular' songs from 'popular' movies to an audience the contents of which just wanna sit around waving their hands from left to right in the studio listenign to these tunes while the show is being filmed...
anyone can sing, bloody anyone!! with sufficient amount of vocal training and practice, what happens here, is that these people sing some of the country's most popular songs, awesomely, on stage...then they're applauded and put on a pedestal for reproducing the song which had been very well recorded in a studio once, professionally, which we can listen to on cd's in our home's at anytime...on stage.
then they'll show these video clips of people saying 'musicis my passion', 'sangeet hi mera imaan hai' etc etc.
no sir, fame is your passion, your 'imaan' is people going crazy about you...your contribution is zero...this song was written by somebody, the music was created by another person, and a nice playback singer sang it for a part in a movie...
what is really required is the promotion of bands, and/or people with original compositions...
i can't think of an interesting way to end this....
all this running after fame pisses me off, i wish some of my favourite indian bands were getting as famous as these bloody wedding band singers...
more than them, these idiots are being promoted...i wish someday they'd ask somebody who has actually done something for the indian music industry (yeah, i count even indian metal/funk/alternative etc bands in the 'indian music industry') would be asked to endorse something..hehe (although i hope they don't sell out to toothpaste or something)
