The Prodigal Sorcerer

Sex, Guts & [Heavy Metal] - 2

2009-05-11T12:46:00.003+01:00

And here it is, ladies and gentlemen: someone put it together.

Original credit to commentator "Psychopomp", of RPS.

Sex, Guts & [Heavy Metal]

2009-05-10T05:45:00.001+01:00

Hopefully this is indeed a marketing-selective indication of how dirty it gets, rather than a sampler of how Dragon Age actually plays.

That's all I'll say for now, but I'll get back to this, post-release.

(The first BiowarEA game, after all.)

Edit: What a great idea by a fellow RPS reader to play the Hawaii Five-0 theme over the trailer. Try it yourselves, starting playback as soon as the Bioware logo appears!

A Brief Word of Tribute

2009-05-07T05:26:00.006+01:00

Let me just throw in a brief word of tribute for legendary gaming developer 3D Realms (also known as the original Apogee Software), which has shut down yesterday, after effectively running out of money.

I think most of us knew Duke Nukem Forever was not to be; but it is sad to see the developing team of such gems as Bio Menace and the original Duke Nukem games go down with it...

So long, 3D Realms - and thanks for all the aliens!

Quote of the Month

2009-05-05T14:00:00.004+01:00

"On a desk in my school, long ago, some past sixth-former had written four words: 'God is dead - Nietzsche', followed by four more: 'Nietzsche is dead - God.' "

David Aaronovitch, writing for The Times.

Quote of the Month

2009-04-24T02:58:00.004+01:00

"One massively compulsive game playable within another massively compulsive game? Why, that’s like mixing Pringles with heroin."

Alec Meer, via RPS.

Climbing the Mountain of Conflict

2009-04-21T00:30:00.013+01:00

Busy times!

[Yes, that’s as far as I’m going to explain my most recent hiatus.]

Not entirely as busy, however, for yours truly not to have gone to the cinema on a whim - and while it still exists - to see a few recent reputed-to-be-good movies, over the past two weeks:

1) The fairly superlative Låt den rätte komma in [or Let the Right One In, for us heathen English-speakers] which I was privileged to watch with a Swedish-speaker (and part-resident), to boot.

2) A second viewing of The Reader (2008), as excellent as the first, in a crushing double bill with Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage (Sophie Scholl – The Final Days; 2005). Both movies were of the highest calibre, but that double-bill is not recommended!

Finally, tonight, the reason for this post:

Armando Ianucci’s In the Loop.

An adaptation of BBC political satire In the Thick of It, In the Loop is, quite frankly, the film a lot of people in this country (the UK) - amidst crises, leaks and smear campaigns - have been waiting for, a while now. But not just this country, maybe, hence my noting it.

I don’t know if it’s getting a release outside Britain, and it’s also certainly a bit of a comedy for those, well, in the loop about the issues it tackles: politics, corruption, war, and being one of the boys. Still, even judged on its comedic merits alone, the writing is incredible.

‘Will you turn that fucking thing down already!? It’s just fucking vowels!’, announces (always) frustrated Scottish political bulldog Malcolm Tucker to the posh, well-intentioned, ‘old values’ minister accused of a leak. He’s referring to choral classical. “Do you know why you’re listening to that shit? You’re listening to it because it would be bad form if you wore a hat that said ‘I went to private school’, instead!”

So, in a nutshell, why should one see In the Loop?

Brilliant, sizzling, sparkling comedy writing and characterisation rarely seen or heard in contemporary political satire: bring to mind Yes, Minister (or Google it if not), only throw in the US and war, and entirely stop pulling any punches whatsoever. Yes, I mean that.

There should be a notice: “No punches were pulled in this feature.”

That ~~bad~~ good.

(Note that it’s not the plentiful expletives I’ve in mind when I say this.)

Why should one avoid it?

Well, it is like Yes, Minister. It’s a movie the plot of which kicks off with a minister of Her Majesty’s Government who can’t keep his mouth shut about a war he doesn’t want, but accidentally ends up supporting via a consistent stream of strategically mis-phrased views.

It also requires a substantial degree of intimacy with Britain, the British, and British politics to work, even for the US-centred themes.

And I watched it in a movie theatre full of over-60s and pseudo-Oxonian mid-30-ish Hugh Grant clones with their girlfriends, hanging from the lips of a foul-mouthed Scot finding, among other things, new and imaginative political uses for the word ‘cunt’. And we all laughed.

Autumn Poetry

2009-01-15T02:47:00.020Z

Winter always had a special appeal to me, and still does; especially the latter part, after the new year sets in, with strange new beginnings to be had in the cold stillness of the season. No wonder, then, that winter is my favourite time of year - which reminds me that there's a new one here, and that you should all enjoy it. Happy new year!

Going back to cold stillness, it is also no wonder I have a very personal (and also very special) affinity for the northern countries, Finland, the land of lakes, perhaps most of them all.

And so this first post of the year, although it could have easily been dedicated to Sibelius, will be about a band.

Introductions aside, you might have noticed a small change in format. I might maintain it, if I feel it works. Also, this is indicative of one type of post you'll see here: a recommendation. Not a review, nor an analysis, presentation, or general commentary. Merely a "have a look at this".

What is "this"? It's a Finnish band called Poets of the Fall, whose albums have only been released in at most 7 countries (for the last one). A musical amalgam of moody, ballad-y rock with twitchy, jazzy rhythms, as well as more straightforward recitative, channeled through an intensely texture-conscious rhythmic and instrumental aural palette.

Confused you yet?

Drawing from the talents of a rock vocalist and extraordinary songwriter, a jazz guitarist and an "industrial machine trance man" (quoting Wikipedia's article) on the keyboard, Poets' music is like rhythmically volatile classic rock, making distinctive use of their impact on the listener, their "mood" as a structural tool like harmony. Their songs are carpets of texture, unrolled agonizingly slowly, or crumpled and set on fire; yet always with the utmost care.

It is this care, and the sensitivity it reflects, coupled with phenomenal lyrics, that make Poets of the Fall perhaps my single favourite "band" among all viable members of that category.

So in a nutshell, if you enjoy sensitive, quirky, dead-serious yet playful rock, from the strongly inward-looking Signs of Life, to the more expansive, hardened and physically hard-hitting (later) Carnival of Rust and Revolution Roulette, the Poets of the Fall deserve your ear.

[Cover of the band's latest album, taken from their official site.]

Two further, non-essential but interesting notes:

I learned of Poets of the Fall by playing Finnish Remedy Entertainment's magnum opus and gaming landmark, Max Payne 2: the developers had contacted the then-new band to write a song for them to use as a theme for (and throughout) the game, and the result was the (in my opinion amazing) ballad "Late Goodbye", still my favourite song of any type.

Poets of the Fall apparently record (or recorded the first album) in a studio they'd set up themselves in one of the members' houses. I'm noting this because the sound is particularly impressive, balanced and crystal-clear throughout; more than would be expected even from a big studio with a dedicated sound team, especially for this genre!

Dawn and Tuna

2008-12-29T10:09:00.011Z

Another day begins, and the guilt begins to creep in.

No, I have not yet started on the Comparative Review feature (which I promise will be worth the hype), and neither have I posted my impressions on The Wrath of the Lich King. The latter, however, is mostly due to my not having played enough of the expansion as of yet to talk about it to any extent beyond "yes, it's pretty good".

Regarding the Comparative Review, this is one of the "main" things I'd like to do in The Prodigal Sorcerer, along with my stream of nons- Personal posts, and the various commentary "articles", whether in the style of "this Karajan release is good, go buy it" or "the world is coming to an end, stock up on the canned tuna.*"

*Canned tuna being the only thing worth stocking up on, in case of global catastrophe.

Edit:

I'll also continue mercilessly editing my posts after I make them, until I get the hang of how Blogger converts the preview to the actual post.

Hopefully, you (the readership) will enjoy at least some part of what I'll have to say, and justify the presence of this blog in your readers/feeds/whateveryoucallthem.

But even if not, I'll still keep posting in it, don't worry!

More Like It

2008-12-26T02:15:00.010Z

Hot on the heels of my scathing dismissal of Gramophone's current quality standards came new to me that the magazine is making their entire archive (1923-2008) available online!

In fact, it's already available as I'm typing this, right here.

For every single word I've said about the Gramophone in its current state/mess, I have a hundred words of praise for its content in the old era, even from the fragment of which I've been exposed to indirectly, and through the reviews their other site previously had available.

From landmark interviews, to columns and reviews by pretty much the entire British musical elite (and not just them - see for example: Rachmaninov on Rachmaninov) throughout the 20th century, I can't stress it enough: if you're remotely interested in classical recordings and their history, this demands your urgent attention!

Good will

2008-12-25T18:30:00.012Z

It's snowing heavily in North America; the hardline Catholic Pope laments global instability; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is delivering a message of goodwill here in the UK; and Harold Pinter has died.

We live in interesting times, which I suggest is a good thing.

Merry Christmas!

(And don't forget to enjoy the rest of the year, too.)

Christmas Puddings

2008-12-24T07:29:00.023Z

They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

And for this day-before-Christmas post, I'm going to be taking a look at some recent proverbial puddings gone sour.

(Yes, this is where Renfield breaks his promise about global affairs; and starts referring to himself in the third person.

But bear with me, or disregard the first part of the post.)

To begin with, there's the problem of money.

Everyone thought we had a lot of that, particularly in my recently-adopted home here in the UK; that we'd made "a grand old pudding" with our collective economic growth (bar a few African people, but we don't talk to them), and that we would, in some imaginary time, all be able to live long lives of prosperity.

Now it seems that is no longer the case, and everyone despairs.

Hang on a second. What's the big deal? The poor are still poor, some of the rich are now poor, and the banks are bust. The anarchist's dream - Mikhail [Bakunin] would be so proud! Or at best, a lot of money will change hands, the economy will be shaken up, and on we go.

Now, I won't attempt to hide how facetious I consider this last view, when the international community practically runs on money (that has run out). But the reason I'm bringing this up, and the topic to begin with, is that I consider the common reason for despair misguided.

The economy, as I mentioned, is arguably the neural system of the modern world; perhaps any era. And to that extent, an arrest of this system is like a stroke. So it certainly stands to reason that anyone should be worried over the crisis, even if their pension is not at stake.

This was a sudden and heavy stroke suffered by the system, and people despair over its suddenness and seriousness. But - and here is my point - what about the brain damage?

Through thousands of years of social and technological and ideological development, we've come to a point where almost the entire pool of our ideas as humankind are on the same table. Centuries ago, a lost civilisation had the pieces picked up by an adjacent one that replaced it: there was someone to compare and contrast.

Who will step in now, for this meta-evaluation?

Damage control has rightly been the order of the day. But who can as rightly guarantee that things that now take the bullet for the rest to survive - institutions (the Bank of Scotland comes to mind, or pretty much the entire Icelandic banking network), economic ideologies (free-market capitalism) or social roles (bankers) - all deserve it, at the speed that this drive-by-shooting* is taking place?

This is my concern: have we (as mankind) realised how effectively we can wipe out social realities and practices from ever coming into being or practice for decades, if ever? Despite the consensus that the reasons for the crisis were these insitutions and practices, will we be later able to retrieve from the wreckage those of them that weren't?

Or will progress towards whatever direction it follows have denied us this chance, by then? This is a dangerous permanence, that I am not sure the 21st-century citizen of the "developed world" has fully understood. There's no system recovery for this one.

Made your day yet?

Pudding number 2 for the day-before-Christmas: Tabula Rasa.

Tabula Rasa, for those of you not in the know, was an MMORPG (a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game - don't make me type this again), created by famous game designer Richard Garriot as a new take on the genre. It did not succeed.

But many MMO's do not "succeed", as such; in fact, almost all of them but World of Warcraft. And Tabula Rasa had ideas to it, versus, say, an amusing attempt at an MMO with space racing.

Yet the Tabula Rasa servers are now due to be shut down on the 28th of February, RPS reports. This is a sour pudding for quite a few reasons, the most prominent of which are two:

Firstly, the game actually had some thought behind it. It was not a mindless copy of another game, and it was not an attempt to cash in on a combination of two (or more) different and otherwise incompatible concepts or play-styles. Even on its own, this leaves a sour taste in the mouth - much less if one considers, secondly, that there are games like I just mentioned still running!

Everquest 2? City of Heroes? Indeed a very sour pudding to swallow, when the post-WoW age of MMOs is still desperately looking for a standard-bearer to signal its dawn; inauspicious.

Pudding three, on the last main topic left: the Gramophone.

I have been reading "The Gramophone", as it was once called prior to being re-branded for "approachability", for almost half a decade. There are people who have been reading it for more than half a century.

And both they (judging by the letters' section of rival publications) and I seem to agree: the Gramophone magazine has gone sour.

Authority is all but replaced by swagger.
With two exceptions I can think of, the best reviewers of the Gramophone have in common that they're all dead.
The articles are becoming assemblies of aphorisms.
The "greatest recording of the past 30 years" is apparently one of the Saint-Säens piano concertos
And last month, we had the "world's best orchestra", complete with top-10 countdown run-up, on parade.

When are they issuing the collectible cards?

And that's it for now! If you've lasted this long, congratulations; I didn't.

Look forward to something more cheery tomorrow morning (or evening, as the case may be), and thanks for reading my blog!

Expectations

2008-11-30T21:49:00.011Z

Expectations are dangerous things.

"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment", to quote a famous piece of Warhammer 40K Space Marine propaganda. A reader of The Prodigal Sorcerer, for instance (if any), would likely have expected an update; or otherwise expect, by now, that I have given up.

The expectation for an update has been met. But if one had stopped expecting an update, and begun expecting my giving up, I wonder if I should now apologise for disappointing them...

Another case of expectation for this first re-introductory post, now that the issue of my home internet connection has been sorted: the 100th Karajan anniversary year, 2008. Marking the maestro's 100th birthday, 2008 was to be a year of Herbert von Karajan releases like no other: box sets, remasterings, new releases galore.

And the question that has haunted me, maybe because I worry too much about these things, is: could the expectations of the Karajanophiles possible be met, by "Karajan year 2008"?

I think mine have now been fully met. After set upon set of highly interesting Karajan re-releases (including his complete EMI catalogue), and a surely-fascinating set of his first 'own' Salzburg Festival (which could have been issued any time), finally, a true anniversary release:

This is Karajan's final London concert, with his beloved Berlin Philharmonic just prior to their subsequent divorce and his death, as issued by Testament for the first time, on any format.

As soon as I saw the announcement for its release on the record label's website, I was shocked: here was one of Karajan's most famous concerts, that I had once seen described as one of the best concerts of an older concertgoer's entire lifetime, finally made available!

And here, to come back to the theme for this post, expectation kicked in: Brahms is one of my most cherished composers, the 1st Symphony a Karajan "calling card"; and the earlier studio recording of Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht one of his trademark "great records".

So given the general, critical and public, consensus on the profundity of Karajan's late live Brahms, and the specific reputation of that concert, I was expecting a miracle concert indeed!

Well, I got my wish.

I admit even my expectations left me unprepared for the Mahler-9th-primed string sound of the BPO on either piece, ferociously sensitive and bitingly sincere; the ravishing reading of the Schönberg; the titanic reading of the Brahms, easily bettering all six of his studio versions.

And for anyone who might pin my view on fanboyism, even within the Karajan discography, there is hardly anything like either of these performances. Only in his best work can one see this intensity, this drama, or this lyricism; and almost never* combined as they are here.

Even in general, I don't think I've ever heard a more sincerely-argued and stunning Brahms 1st - not even from Brahmsian-par-excellence Fürtwangler, usually my first choice for Brahms.

So on this evidence, one only hopes the late-80s Berlin concerts of the full cycle will one day see the light of day, perhaps as unexpectedly as this and an earlier London concert; preferably before 2108. And until such news arrive, I can at least update the Sorcerer more often.

(The earlier concert was a 1985 performance of Strauss' Ein Heldenleben and Beethoven's 4th Symphony. But since this is the Prodigal Sorcerer, not The Gramophone, I will refrain from turning this comment-oriented blog into the Karajan Review Weekly.)

*The string-heavy live 1982 Mahler 9th might be the only other sample of this sort of "late" sound from the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan; albeit at an earlier stage than the 1988 concert discussed here. My comment on the "Mahler-9th-primed string sound" thus refers to the latter phase of Mahler 9th concerts Karajan conducted, ca. 1987. Presumably, that is where the BPO crystallised the expressive means so evident in 1988, to complement their trademark instrumental prowess.

More Posts To Come When I Have Time (TM):

- The Wrath of the Lich King!

- The Wrath of the Credit Crunch; or How Renfield Broke His Promise.

- Introducing: The Prodigal Sorcerer's Comparative Review.

Ominous Rumblings

2008-09-18T21:39:00.003+01:00

The Sorcerer's presence might yet be felt again soon.

Patience, devoted fanbase...

Knight-Time Wandering

2008-08-01T00:53:00.011+01:00

I just returned from The Dark Knight, which I went and watched, appropriately, in the dead of night.

As would be expected, I am not about to review the film to any extent at this moment, and even those things about it that I will (inevitably) write here will be comments.

However, I feel obliged to leave you for now with this comment concerning The Dark Knight, courtesy of Ben Croshaw, alias Yahtzee.

Quoth Mr Yahtzee: "I think I should give it a few months and maybe watch it again on DVD before giving a definitive opinion, because being a massive cynic I'm immediately suspicious of any film that appears on the surface to be absolutely fucking legendary."

Potatamoto

2008-07-31T00:49:00.004+01:00

I have the webcomic links below the posts for a reason, but nonetheless I will point out this very telling recent strip from Scott Ramsoomair's (brilliant) VGCats: "Waiting".

Concerning Nintendo's general stance towards their fans, I am not qualified to comment (not being a Nintendo fan). However, their recent change of stance did not fail to attract even my interest.

Maybe it will work out, and their new target audience will support them for another two decades, like the last one did...

Lessons of GMG [Reproduction]

2008-07-30T20:15:00.021+01:00

Part of the blog's mission statement is commentary.

And so far, I'll admit that most of the commentary I've had to make about things has ended up in either a forum among those where I'm currently active, or in my head for reprocessing.

Therefore, not much was left to post here. However, I recently had an epiphany and decided to make a satirical post about the aforementioned GMG Forum's everyday realities, as seen through the eyes of someone coming to the forum with the purpose of learning about life.

"Why are you explaining this, now?

Isn't a joke supposed to go unexplained?"

Well, yes, but it appears that almost everyone who responded in that by-now reasonably popular thread missed most of my less obvious irony, and I thought I'd make it plain that there is less-obvious irony to be found. I hope that helps, because I might even say that, judging from the responses, the very specific target I was aiming at has been hit.

So without further ado, here follows a reproduction of my commentary on both GMG, and the actual world of classical music lovers in general, in spite of(?) the various stereotypes in abundance.

[Further hint: neither order nor spacing are random, at any point.]

[Edit: Forum member Greg perceptively adds:

12. "In classical music, we always skip 12."

No, that was not deliberate.]

...............................................................................................

Valuable lessons on life from the GMG Classical Music Forum:

1. Classical music is for everyone.

2. Except bigots.

3. Or maybe especially them.

4. If composer or performance practice: old is good, new is better; older is best.

5. If conductor or soloist: new is bad, old is better; older is still best.

6. Each person is entitled to their opinion.

7. Unless they are wrong.

8. No matter their age, everyone has something to prove.

9. Classical music listeners are not elitist.

10. Non-specialist musical discussions are largely useless.

11. Classical music listeners also excel in philosophy, theology, sociology and psychology by default.

13. Non-specialist discussions on the above are far preferable to the lies specialist discussions give birth to.

14. Richard Wagner's music is boring and shallow, due to its dependence on long-winded text.

15. Richard Wagner's music is exciting and profound, especially due to its dependence on long-winded text.

16. Consistency is optional.

17. As are manners.

18. But mannerisms are not.

19. Nor is etiquette.

20. Classical music is for those who can understand it.

And Now For Something Completely Different: Behold, A Useful Post

2008-07-30T12:22:00.012+01:00

Since this blog's establishment, I have done my best to turn my "acquaintance period" with the medium into something more than a stream of nonsense: a stream of entertaining nonsense.

Because in all honesty, occasionally entertaining (though labyrinthine, "syntactic boa constrictors", to adapt a Brahms quote) as The Prodigal Sorcerer's posts up to this point might have been, they are still nowhere near the stated goal of providing something.

So let me start steering this blog into the waters it was actually due to sail (if you'll excuse the overtly literary metaphor), through providing you with two links, and a small introduction.

I am a member of the GMG Classical Music Forum, as might be evident by my linking it. (See: "Relevant To My Interests, just to the right.)

And in this wonderful forum, which I will no doubt discuss again in future posts, there is a thread about what each member is listening to, where many an odd thing sees the light of the world at large: privately-sourced recordings, old LPs, new releases, downloads and radio or internet broadcasts all eventually appear.

So, in the realm of the latter, now that I am done with forming that rather idyllic picture of our "listening" thread, through a link he provided, esteemed member Bruce Hodges (one of our moderators, as well) alerted me to the existence of two immensely interesting sites:

The first is SymphonyCast, and it provides free broadcasts, available on demand, for one orchestral concert of symphonic music per week from the world's most prominent concert halls and orchestras.

"A great nation deserves great art" appears to be the rubric (sponsored by UBS), and although this site is mainly intended for an American audience as a result, it is still a fantastic source of high-quality (for broadcasts; 128kbps) material from such ensembles as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, or the Berlin Philharmonic in fascinating programmes, often by conductors among the finest (ca. 2008).

For example, I dipped into a concert by the RCO, Iván Fischer conducting, culminating in Schoenberg's transcription of Brahms' Piano Quarter No. 1 for orchestra; and then on to the Berlin Philharmonic playing Schubert's 9th (C minor) Symphony under Bernard Haitink!

I won't add anything beyond that anyone orchestrally-inclined should investigate posthaste. And thus the second site, which those of you following classical broadcasts on the net are almost certainly aware of, but which I am still mentioning, is medici.tv.

"A compilation of on-demand video broadcasts from the great Verbier Festival, as well as more concerts from Aspen and Aix-en-Provence, coupled with live streams of them from all three (after which they enter the free, on-demand phase), and a huge historical catalogue of classical concerts and documentaries to boot (albeit for a fee, these).

The broadcasts are available in low and high quality to account for one's connection speed, and are magnificently presented throughout."

What's more to add on medici.tv? Beyond the fact that they're also sponsored by UBS, conspicuously, I can't think of anything.

But if the notion of having a front-row seat at every concert in the Verbier Festival (let alone the other two), listening to some of the best chamber and orchestral musicians perform incredible music live or whenever you want to does not appeal to you, then I do imagine you're in the part of the readership that's not here for the music!

Let me even throw in the fact that both the MET(ropolitan Opera), and now the Bayreuth Festival (yes, I did write what you just read; albeit for a hefty fee) are streaming a number of their productions online, to couple the orchestral and chamber music from above.

So it seems that times do change. And in the face of this revolution in the dissemination of good music across the globe, I would enjoy having someone tell me we are, in fact, in cultural decline.

A Chopin(g) Liszt Triumph!

2008-07-27T23:38:00.023+01:00

Oh yes, going from one bad pun to the next (see title).

However, the subject matter, a Chopin and Liszt piano music compilation from the hands of Sviatoslav Richter, is altogether beyond my repeated poor attempts at humour.

When I was compiling said shopping list yesterday, you see (in my head), the 2-disc set in question was a big "maybe":

According to Decca, the recordings dated from 1988, and that was not generally Richter's best period (old as he was, by then). But he did have moments of brilliance in that era, and I couldn't rule out the possibility. And what of the Liszt B minor sonata, always tricky?

Yet in any affair, I finally caved in and put it in the shopping list, spent a whole lot more money than I planned between it and Horowitz's last public recital (superb), and was amply rewarded!

For that is no mere recital, in that Richter disc (was that trite enough?): it is genius caught on record, the legendary pianist at his elusive best throughout. In fact, his best period too, if information I was given placing the recordings in 1966 is correct (very likely).

Masterful and deeply profound, this is a disc that I would recommend to all Chopin or Liszt lovers, or anyone wanting to find out what either composer can sound like in such great hands.

Edit: Added a snide self-critical remark, which you can ignore; I couldn't.

Edits, RSS and You

2008-07-27T22:10:00.002+01:00

(As excised from the previous post.)

Edit: Do those of you subscribing, all three of you, get repeated notices for posts, one for every time I edit them? If so, I'd best type each of them a couple of days ahead, for good measure.

Edit 2: No, seriously, I feel very guilty now, if I'm making your readers go berserk. Or worse yet, if they don't update, and you end up reading the unedited versions of the posts. Hm. Distressing.

Edit 3: Firstly, I shrunk the edits. Secondly, I think I've gotten the hang of the spacing in this interface, at last. Significantly fewer edits predicted, regardless of what's going on in your readers.

Edit 4: The edits won't shrink, so I'm moving them to a different post.

"...Bearing Gifts"

2008-07-27T21:40:00.019+01:00

Heads-up on the movies, tonight, again.

Unfortunately still no Dark Knight, but "Bad Company" on the television menu: Chris Rock trying to act, (failing miserably), twin to a murdered secret agent, Anthony Hopkins the CIA mentor that trains "Kevin" (Rock) for the act. Pleasant flick, nothing more.

But: The terrorists who, according to the motley script, were ultimately planning on unleashing nuclear terror on New York via Grand Central Station, part of a large international network, they weren't Middle Eastern, as is the tradition for these films.

No. After one of them, a tall, sinister looking bald man called his accomplice to verify codes for a portable nuclear device, the grand revelation (to the viewer in the know) was made:

They were Greek, the nasty buggers.

For once, the script is on my side.

A Personal Tip

2008-07-19T12:51:00.004+01:00

Even though there's very little content in it right now, anyway, I'd like to point your attention to the fact that the most insufferably obnoxious posts in the Sorcerer are usually tagged "Personal".

Therefore, if you want to sample only the (incidental, if not accidental) post of occasional serious commentary, the kind of which has obviously yet to appear in the blog, by all means filter out anything with the "Personal" tag on it. Including the present post.

Thank you.

Period Rabbit & Omelet

2008-07-19T12:24:00.016+01:00

So I call my parents, today, and catch them eating lunch. "I'm listening to the Trout", I mention - the Schubert quintet: "we're eating rabbit, here, and some omelet", responds my father.

I'll keep that in mind if I compose a quintet one day. I'm sure the "Rabbit & Omelet" will be just as popular as the Trout; if not more!

On other news, I've had a wonderful morning listening to parts of the recent Anima Eterna Beethoven sympony cycle, Jos van Immerseel conducting, truly a (period) delight.

And I say this as someone who is not particularly fond of "historically informed" (period performance) Beethoven interpretation.

Yet this cycle "delivers the goods", as they say...

Finally, I at last acquired a very persistently elusive 1964 recording of the "Heroic" Polonaise (in A flat) by, of course, Frédéric Chopin, courtesy of the late and great Artur Rubinstein.

Which I admit was available via an easy-to-get RCA release all along. But I wish record labels would be wiser in promoting their wares, repeating the same wish every time I see another bland recording of "crowd pleaser A" get the spotlight instead of the real treasures in the respective label's catalogue. End of rant.

[Lots of editing, as is the custom.

Make what you will of the content, before it changes again!]

[Ouch. What a typo! Thankfully it's gone now. Then you ask why I keep editing those posts; or you don't ask, but I answer regardless...]

Old Republic, New Frontiers (TM)

2008-07-18T01:30:00.008+01:00

It seems I missed the official confirmation of the Bioware/Lucasarts/EA (Knights of the) Old Republic MMO. Just as well, as it won't exactly be going gold next week, anyhow.

Still, it's Bioware's name "on the tin". If Mass Effect is to be of any indication of their work's current level, I'd say the prospects are good.

Colour me interested, EALucaBiowarts!

Now if only they could avoid trivialising Jedi and the Force, under the excuse of their great numbers...

But I'll withhold my scepticism until more details surface, I promise.

The Movies!

2008-07-17T22:31:00.022+01:00

So I've been watching a few movies again, recently.

Rather, they've been all there was to watch in the dead of night on TV, and I thought I'd take up my old sport again... There was a time when I'd watch so many movies in a given week that I'd half-forget what part was where, which actor whom!

In any case, that last couple of days' "harvest" has been moderate - all from local television, non-cable, without much choice.

Firstly "The Rock" - Sean Connery the old SAS agent-cum-Alkatraz-escapee managed to produce a grin or two, though for the second or third time now. Entertaining still. (Edit.)

Then the next day, a couple of TV series' episodes of the new style I've mostly not followed (apart from the first season of 24, and a few seasons of CSI), including another repeat of the "mad cultists sacrifice innocents to appease village deities" motif immortalised for me in the abominable remake of "The Wicker Man", Nicholas Cage and all.

Did I mention my stomach churns every time that theme comes up?

It could be my reservations about the concept of "one for the good of the many, no choice involved": but there is still something deeply disturbing about how, contrary to movies with one "villain", the malign village-people in these sort of movies or series almost always seem to (mostly) get away with it.

Surely a betrayal of the hollywood spirit itself; bad faith?

And along this line of thought, the other series involved a desperate man who'd taken a hostage to escape returning to prison getting shot in the head unarmed by a sniper, and the "noble cop" character who was negotiating being told that "he did his job"; and not at all tongue-in-cheek. Insert further stomach-churning.

But the TV-watching night was saved by a ghastly (as in "horrible") movie about a certain fellow called the "Daemonicus" coming to signal the end of the world, which was a disgrace to whoever made it, but which also included Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 (his op. 9, no. 2 to be exact), likely my favourite of the set.

And at any rate, it was not ghastlier, nor more of a disgrace, than the movie I suffered through last night, one "Dungeons & Dragons [2]: Wrath of the Dragon God". I dare say it was even worst than the first D&D movie; while in case they intended it to appeal to the fan crowd, speaking as a long-time player and Dungeon Master, avid fan of the game, I'd call it an even greater failure.

It was barely the right kind of "bad" to be funny, but borderline so.

However, my patience was rewarded with today's catch, Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" out of all things.

I did not expect much from this movie, I admit (despite my being known to enjoy even such un-male things as The Notebook). Yet it managed to win me over, maybe even make me smile...

Of course, don't think too deep. But it was a sweet and somehow unusual (for the feel-good genre) effort, complete with a nigh-perfectly cast Kirsten Dunst, for once, and a surprisingly appealing Orlando Bloom, far less wooden than usual. I kid you not.

Thus, the tally is "a bunch of horrible flicks/series episodes, a re-run of an enjoyable older blockbuster, and a new feel-good movie for the (proverbial) collection". Not bad, I'd say.

Though I'm now looking forward for "The Dark Night" on the big screen, and seeing if Heath Ledger's Joker really is as good as I'd hope. Who knows, maybe I'll even throw in some Kubrick from the private stock (i.e. my DVD collection), to liven the weekend up...

So to speak.

(M)editations

2008-07-15T01:51:00.012+01:00

Due to some dissatisfaction with both content and presentation, I edited the already-existing posts slightly. Hopefully for the better.

And more hopeful yet am I that this will eventually stop being a necessity, when I fully get to grips with this e-medium.

I am used to forums, you see! But regardless, my apologies if all this editing business causes any undue frustration.

- And already the sixth time I edit this post. Feh! -

Zenith

2008-07-15T00:36:00.015+01:00

According to Kotaku, Apogee is back. That is the short version.

The longer version (still shorter than yesterday's rambling concert impressions, for the length of which I blame the lack of sleep), is that in the computer-gaming equivalent of the Bronze Age, Apogee Software was a gaming company who produced a number of classic gaming titles for the audience of the time.

Being part of that audience (just starting serious computer gaming; consoles would follow only after buying a Playstation as late as 1999), I poured over Apogee's catalogue, from the cult ("Crystal Caves", "Secret Agent", "Major Stryker"), to the addictive ("Bio Menace", "Stargunner"), to the iconic ("Duke Nukum", "Duke Nukem 2").

This was a company that made polished games, distributing their first "act" as shareware and offering the rest of the game for a nominal fee (if one considers the price of games, these days).

One of their catalogue's great hits was also id Software's "Commander Keen" series, incidentally, which Apogee published*; but I never liked Commander Keen too much - him or his pogo stick!

This was, additionally, a company that offered their catalogue online for download with payment via credit card circa 1997, much to my amazement as a European, at the time.

And all in all, Apogee Software is one of the two gaming companies that have never disappointed me (the other being Blizzard Entertainment), and a part of gaming history itself.

Of course, it still existed regardless, under the well-known name of 3D Realms ("Duke Nukem 3D", "Max Payne", "Max Payne 2", "Prey").

But to hear that the original Apogee is returning, with not only their old catalogue "rearmed", but new games as well - Duke Nukem games, no less, which they created quite a while before it or they became "3D" - is a very great piece of gaming news indeed.

Long may they make games, no matter the platform.

*Other games they published but did not develop include the utterly cult "Alien Carnage", stylish "Raptor", and odd-but-oddly-enjoyable "Death Rally". Did I also mention "Wolfenstein 3D"?

Ravel Unleashed

2008-07-14T00:45:00.034+01:00

I once read about the Vienna Symphony Orchestra that, though inferior to the Vienna Philharmonic, on a good night, you'd be hard pressed to tell the two apart.

And it does seem part of the live orchestral concert experience, the thrill of the unexpected: the good night and the bad night; the promise of that magical improvised éncore...

It was with some trepidation that I went to an all-Ravel concert in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Athens, Greece), as part of the yearly Athens Festival, precisely for that reason.

The last concert I had attended in that (otherwise incredible) open-air venue was of Olivier Messiaen's Des Canyons aux Étoiles, a superb Ensemble InterContemporain playing literally against the wind. Would the weather be a problem? Would the orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach's baton, be in good form?

As it turned out, the weather was not a problem: a fine day, not too warm, as is often the case for Greece, and just enough wind to make the evening pleasant. And the first piece on the programme, the fairy-tale suite Ma Mère l'Oie went off without a hitch; beautifully.

Indeed, there was quite unusually beautiful orchestral playing in evidence, fully in line with my expectations of a French orchestra playing Ravel: Eschenbach in full rapport with his orchestra, including an enchanting first violin, the piece was almost made inspiring.

All in all a very good (or even great) warm-up, followed by warm applause, then time for a break to cool off.

Back from the break, the orchestra took their seats, Eschenbach returned (more applause), and the real concert, one could say, began. La Valse was first, and what a valse!

What was previously the rapport of conductor and orchestra seemed to become an organic link between them. The orchestral sound, delivered impeccably through the "Herodion's" acoustics became as refined as the colours of a Renoir, or a Matisse. And the piece itself, the rhythm, the flow and the ebb, intensifying, dazzling, spellbinding.

Had the concert ended there, it would have still been an example of what an orchestra sounds like at the peak of their form on a truly "good night", that astonishing valse.

Still, there was more ahead: Daphnis et Chloé, the second suite, musical impressionism almost at its most lauded. And finally Bolero.

But here was the point where circumstances conspired to create something truly extraordinary: mid-way into Daphnis et Chloé, the mounting percussive climaxes awakened something more than the usual excitement of the audience.

It was a cicada, sitting on the ancient edifice above the orchestra. And an opinionated insect, to boot.

Cicadas, you see, produce a trademark buzzing sound to attract a mate. That sound is rhythmic, repetitive, and loud.

So this particular cicada saw it fit to initiate its mating ritual, given all the ruckus, yet never opting to consult Maestro Eschenbach about the tempo. In fact, it chose a tempo that was quite contrary to that of the orchestra at that moment - albeit very steady.

Enter a highly amused audience, and even more amused orchestra - smiles all around, grins, chuckles - yet not for a moment a note missed, a cue botched, a rhythm faltering...

If not for the rapidly-mounting mirth of the musicians and the fact that the music was getting louder and louder, even beyond the score's requirement, one might not have noticed a difference (assuming they could somehow erase the cicada's buzzing from the sound-picture).

This was an impressive feat of orchestral discipline and gusto. And Daphnis et Chloé was a particularly passionate affair to begin with, well-suited to the rising excitement all around, be it in the audience or the orchestra. But what of Bolero?

Bolero: grinding repetition, weaving of texture seemingly ad infinitum, then collapse.

In the hands of conductors like Herbert von Karajan, Bolero is hypnotic - a meditative trance gone awry. Maybe in the hands of Eschenbach it would have been that too.

He conducted it without hand-movements, cueing the orchestra purely with his eyes, leaving it in their hands.

(And here is where I wondered if "antics" like this are what has driven him out of Philadelphia, but that is an altogether different subject.)

So the orchestra were free to conjure up the sound, the rhythm, the repetition, the build-up. And all amidst the cicada accompaniment, which even stopped and changed tempo intermittently. Such a difficult situation for any orchestra, I was thinking.

But they took that excitement, that unexpected surprise, the mirth it generated, and they put it into the music.

I am still amazed by the results.

What is ordinarily (to me) a meditation became the musical equivalent of a caged animal struggling against its bonds.

More and more the sheer tension accumulated like static electricity, Eschenbach using his hands again, raising the tension ever higher, until at the end the music exploded; burst into pieces, shattered rather than collapsed. Even that cicada finally gave up.

The ovation(s) that followed almost shook the ancient auditorium. Eschenbach gave the flowers he was presented with to the drummer who held the rhythm for Bolero, an especially difficult task that night, and I left the Herodion grinning and breathless, smiles all around.

Thus was brought to a close a concert that begun as a "good night" for the Orchestre de Paris, and ended a musical revelation for yours truly. Never had I seen in Ravel's music the potential for such an elemental outburst. I still wonder if it was the music, or the moment.

Regardless, I will be back in Athens next summer - if only to remember that one night with the cicada, and Ravel unleashed.

Pending.

2008-07-14T00:26:00.009+01:00

Almost two months ago, I wrote here about "starting to fulfill the rest of [The Prodigal Sorcerer's] mission statement". Thankfully, I also wrote about this blog being "whimsically updated"; though I suspect I've taken this latter statement a little too far...

Almost two months later, and there is still nothing posted here. I could blame my being busy (which I was), my turbulent private life (which it is), or the rapidly rising price of oil (a fact).

Instead, I will isolate the real reason in that, throughout this period, despite a number of issues that caught my interest, there was not that one thing I truly wanted to begin on: a high note.

Now, that high note has finally been supplied, courtesy of the Orchestre de Paris, and its music director, Christoph Eschenbach.

(Of course, the high note might equally well have been Metal Gear Solid 4, to quickly jump to another of the blog's main subjects. That is, had I played it yet: for better or for worse, I haven't.)

Therefore, The Prodigal Sorcerer is now active in earnest.

Let's see for how long it will last!

A salute to the readership.

2008-05-21T02:40:00.018+01:00

Now that I've gotten the blog started and welcomed you to it, I think an important next post before starting to fulfill the rest of its mission statement should concern who "you" might be, and why that matters.

You see, there are a lot of blogs out there dealing with each of those subjects that I state below the title as relevant to The Prodigal Sorcerer: commentary, music, gaming, and especially personal blogs abound, in our Web 2.0. Many of these are outstanding.

- Advertisement -

Examples of outstanding blogs on:

a) music

b) gaming.

- End of advertisement. -

Therefore, even notwithstanding the fact that a lot of the best blogs are the work of professionals in their respective fields (which I am not), a blog split between no less than four general topics is in no way intended, as far as I am concerned, to compete with their like.

This blog is not intended to be a primary source of information on music, gaming and current events, nor of erudite analyses on topics like the completion of Mahler's 10th, the death of the adventure game genre, global warming, the U.S. general elections, or world peace.

This is a blog addressed to people interested in one or more of its topics, relatively informed in them, and maybe interested in passing some of their time reading about their favourite subjects outside the formal context of a more "professional" digest.

Hence, those hoping to use this blog as a substitute to your favourite blog about s (s being any of the Prodigal Sorcerer's topics)...

Well, you may leave now. Thank you for your interest.

Those still here, and of heteroclite enough persuasions to consider the entire blog - minus these personal posts, of course - relevant to their interests, I certainly salute for their daring.

And those who might simply be reading this blog because they either like part of its mismatched collection of topics or are just killing time, I still salute, for being my audience.

Let me thus conclude in that as a result of my target group, I will not be exhaustive on those issues I bring up here, or assume that you have not read about them elsewhere. But I will do my best to offer at the very least a "whimsically updated" entertaining medley of news and commentary on the full array of my topics, and maybe even hope to get a few of you, my at-the-moment-still-imaginary audience, interested in more of them than you were when you first came here.

That, in a (somewhat large) nutshell, is The Prodigal Sorcerer's aim.

End of rant.

(You might be seeing this last phrase a lot, here, I warn you.)

Edit: I often edit my posts (in forums or elsewhere) right after I make them, to improve their formatting once I've seen how they display on the blog/forum itself. So if you see a post change slightly, that would be the reason. Unless otherwise noted, the content stays the same.

The Prodigal Sorcerer

2008-05-20T02:52:00.014+01:00

Alright, I'll keep this layout for now, and see how it goes.

So, welcome to The Prodigal Sorcerer! Here, I hope to discuss a few things, rant about a few more, possibly recommend some music, and even talk about gaming every once in a while...

All in all, this will be a whimsically-updated compendium of either semi-disguised, or downright-in-your-face rants, something which I ask your tolerance for (the irregularity of my posts, that is).

And on a more serious note, please enjoy yourselves. Feel free to leave comments, I'll only delete very obvious spam: speak your mind!

(For instance, you may surely accuse me of lifting the blog's name from this: which I did. But given my favourite old monicker, "TheSilverSage", I thought it was appropriate. Is it? Discuss. Or not.)

Testing...

2008-05-19T21:41:00.001+01:00

This a test post, to better configure the layout. Test, test!