You might have noticed that I added a Request Music panel on the side of my blog. This is for those of you would like to have/download a copy of a song that I’ve placed on my blog.
In the future I’ll try to make most of my posts download-able but if there is a song I’ve posted before just go to the Request Music page and let me know what song you would like. I’ll either email it to you or put up a download-able link. Thanks for reading and listening!
“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts - such is the duty of the artist.”
This is a photo of Rio Atuel. I used a bit of a technicolor effect on it, making it black & white and then coloring it manually ever so slightly.
I’ve been playing the ukulele a good bit lately, such a fun instrument. I think I have the makings of a song on it, I’ll probably work more on it once I finish my arrangement for school.
My arrangement (it’s called “Don’t Say a Thing”) is almost finished. I should be posting it within the next week or so. I think I figured out how to make my songs download-able on here, so stay glued to your computer screens!
Our music is now on Pandora! Go here, or just search for “Stella Stagecoach” and create a radio station. (Our music is also on Groove Shark)
This is a bit off-topic but I’ve been re-reading 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea recently. Partly because it was free on Amazon and partly because it is an intriguing story. The French writer, Jules Verne, was such a visionary person. It’s hard to believe that the story was published around the time of the Civil War, the ideas seem so modern. I love the idea of exploring the unknown, especially the ocean. And I love how he makes his wild inventions seem scientifically plausible.
Another thing I like about the story is that he always credits “The Great Designer” with the majesty of creation. He seems to have done a lot of research before writing the book because he goes off on these long passages describing the classifications of fish, and the stories of ancient mariners. For many this might be a down-side, but I don’t mind learning a thing or two (even in a science fiction book).
Towards the end of his life he wrote a book called The Lighthouse at the End of the World. It takes place on the southern tip of Argentina, in Ushuaia (pictured above). We were actually planning a trip down to Ushuaia with our French friend Romain (pretty ironic), but making it to the next stage with The Doorpost (no complaints) kind of postponed that trip. I guess I can just read the book (especially if it’s free on Amazon).
We took a tour of a local bodega. The machine you see here is for wetting the labels to put onto the wine bottles. It’s kind of refreshing to see things done the old-fashioned way.
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”
This is another angle of Valle Grande, I was going for the dark mysterious lagoon look. Meanwhile, I’m almost finished with my final arrangement for this semester.
We’re also in the beginning stages of writing our script for the next stage of The Doorpost contest. It will be a challenge but, Lord willing, it will really be a powerful film.
P.S. I should be returning to the US sometime in early April (the Santiago airport isn’t at full speed quite yet).
I found out not that long ago that Ansel Adams was also a concert pianist. It’s pretty neat for me to hear about someone with a similar hobby/career combination. For some reason photography and music seem to go hand-in-hand. Both require a lot of patience and attention to detail to come out with a great piece of art.
This is a photo of Valle Grande. As I said before, I’m pretty into adding texture to photos these days. Digital photos just seem to have a lack of character. I like making photos that seem a bit more timeless, not with a gaudy date printed on the bottom right corner.
We made the top 20 in The Doorpost Film Project! Next, we have to write a script for another film to make it into the top 5, then we get $40,000 to make it. We already have the story for the next movie, I’m pretty excited.
Our good buddy Tommy made it as well, happy day.
Click here for the full list.
This guy was just looking too cool with his goggles. I think he thought they were sunglasses, something tells me they didn’t protect his eyes from the sun too much.
Here’s a just-for-fun ad I made for Bianchi. I’ve been pretty into adding textures to photos lately, I got a little carried away with the bokeh.
By the way, I felt my first tremor/aftershock today. It was a bit eerie. It started off just sounding like a car was passing, then this really deep bass rumble, then the earth started to tremor and furniture and glass shook. Strange feeling…
My nephews were pretty scared, and I might have been a bit scared myself (I’m not allowed to admit it).
John Paul
This is a video from a group called Mumford & Sons from the UK. I like how they mix American and Irish Folk influences.
Meanwhile, work has begun on my next arrangement project that’s due by the end of this semester. This time it’s going to be an original song. I’m thinking it’s going to be pretty big, strings, percussion, and who knows what else. I might post a demo of it, or I might just wait for a real recording.
This week my family is coming down to Argentina, looking forward to it. I’m especially looking forward to seeing my nephews, the four of them. Since I’ve been down here in Argentina I’ve gained another nephew who goes by the name John Paul (I have a feeling he might be getting a nickname here pretty soon, but to be fair to him I should probably meet him first). Looking forward to meeting Mr. John P.
Here’s a more recent short I wrote the music to, also by Tommy Bertin. Since my internet isn’t the greatest down here in the Argent this is the first time I’ve been able to see this.
Go here to watch the HD version
Some of you might have already seen this but this is another short I wrote the music for. Animated and written by Tommy Bertin from the land of Canada.
I’ve realized that both of these shorts are a bit sad. I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I’m depressed all the time, sitting in a smoky room wiping my eyes with sheet music. I’m definitely looking forward to writing a cheerful score one of these days (complete with bells, chimes, and bubble sound effects) ;)
Here’s the short we shot in Argentina. As always, we would have loved to flesh this story out a lot more but film festivals are pretty strict about their time limits.
Sorry it didn’t embed perfectly on my blog, click here if you want to watch it on their site.