4 posts tagged “music”

I love this video!

Click the link. And be sure your volume is turned up. And yeah, it's SFW... unless all of your co-workers are Republicans. Then it's probably not safe at all.

I'm done trying to start new projects only to have them die before I get them off the ground. I'm tired of telling myself I'm not going to write, because there isn't enough time to get started, because the idea dies long before I develop it or any of the other bullshit that I keep telling myself over the past few years. I keep deluding myself into thinking that I just need to focus on the next story, that next cool idea that will spark my brain and then I'll be off. But all I have to show for it is a folder full of half-baked ideas, notes and notebooks and a very real lack of anything to show for my time and effort.

So, I'm just going to finish what I began. I'm going to go back to the beginning, to my very first story and finish the second novel. Yeah, that's right, I -did- write a novel. Maybe it's good. I have no idea. I was much younger, much more callow and full of myself when I started. But at least I fucking did something back then, you know? My 16 year old self didn't sit around and debate and think and try to come up with reasons why the writing wasn't happening. He was just as addicted to video games. He worked just as many hours. And he still wrote. God, if that younger person could see himself now, he'd be irritated.

No more screwing around. I'm going to write and I'm going to finish this work I began years ago, and then I'll move onto the next work. Because I'm sick of not having anything to say when people ask "oh, what are you writing? How's the writing going?"

And then maybe I'll work on that second promise, the one that I feel in my bones; that I cannot allow this work to accumulate. I can't let it sit and languish in the folder on my computer, unseen, undigested. I don't care if anybody thinks it's good. I'm not craving validation or approval. It just needs to be read. Consumed. Released into the world.

Time to get to work. Although it occurs to me that I'll have to change the title since a book called "Twilight's Shadow" probably will not do nearly as well now as it would have five years ago. Hmm. Or maybe it would. Who knows. I'll figure that out later.

Also, incidentally,  if you've never heard of Pandora I would recommend it. I particularly enjoy how it tries to match up music based on my tastes, which has led to a few nice gems that I can then seek out via my Zune Marketplace and add them to my collection. It always pleases me when my digital content achieves a sort of synergy with itself.

I've always had these awesome ideas for different little music videos to some of my favorite songs. I'm sure a lot of people have these ideas, but for me, it's always gone deeper than just "wouldn't that be cool if I could..." I mean, I've got this stuff planned out, scene for scene, frame for frame in my mind. The only problem is that I don't know any actors. I don't own a camera or any editing equipment. I'm a Creative Writing major, not a cinema arts or whatever the damn field is called. So I'm really not qualified to do anything with those silly little dreams, other than to keep dreaming them.

But you know, if there's one thing the Internet has shown us, numerous times, it's something that makes you sit back and say, "you know, I could make something like that." Hell, this blog is a perfect example of that sort of thinking. The fact that nobody really reads this blog, well... hey, don't spoil the dream for me. I like to play pretend that I have an audience of readers and that you all care. Where was I? Oh, yes, talking about making videos.

Well, I was browsing through my archives tonight, watching some of the videos I've linked here (that's the real reason I link all that stuff, you know. It's not to share with you things I really enjoy, but to serve as a sort of Internet time capsule for myself to enjoy later on. Okay, that's not true, but it sounds plausible.) In particular, I was looking at that fan-made music video for the Lord of the Rings that I linked, the one with the Requiem for a Tower soundtrack. No, I'm not going to link it. You can dig it up if you really care about watching it now, I think it's on the second page or something. So, I'm watching this video and thinking, you know... what would I do with this? And then I had a neat little idea, a few really awesome scenes that I'd rip out and edit together to put to some music. And it seemed like a fun idea, but one that I'd never really work on, since I don't want to just, you know, go out and buy software for no reason. I'm sort of broke right now.

Then I remembered that I've got something called Windows Movie Maker on my computer. I know I didn't buy any Movie Makers, so it must be something that came with Windows, right? Which means it probably isn't very good. Why bother using it? Well, I'm alone, I'm not drinking, and I don't have class tomorrow, so I decided to take a look anyway and see what little thingies I could do with it.

I won't lie to you and say that I magically created art from the thing. I didn't make anything, actually, mostly just played around with bits of audio and video. I don't know anything about digital editing software, as we established, but after playing with that little program, I think it has enough to make the kind of silly little fan video I have in mind, which makes me happy. And it means I can make my silly little fan video without spending 100 bucks or however much decent video editing software costs.

So, yes, that's my new project that I'm amusing myself with, even though I should be working on my presentation or my mid-term, both of which are due on Friday. Not sure when I'll be done with the thing, but I figure I'll be super original and post it to YouTube so I can show my mom, or something.

I've already got a title picked out. Requiem for a Wraith. Yes, it's going to be ripped from Lord of the Rings and yes, it will use the Requiem for a Tower soundtrack. I thought about doing something with Star Wars, and I still might, if I like this project enough to see it through to conclusion. But I decided to go with LotR, because it has something close to dragons. And I fucking love dragons.

-Draxle

You may have seen this. You may not. I'm linking this because I love Clint Mansell's soundtrack more than any other music in the world. Seriously.

In other words, this is not being linked for you, because you probably have already seen it. This link is for me to enjoy, because I love Lord of the Rings, and I love Requiem for a Dream, and the fact that a trailer was made THAT COMBINES THESE TWO LOVES is more awesome than anything in recent memory. Its awesome, in fact, is only exceeded by my irritation that it took me this long to find out about this.

If you haven't seen or heard this, I urge you to press play. You won't be disappointed.

-Draxle