Two weeks have passed from the best concert of the year (and who don't think just like that, burn out in the hell, you heretic!!! you don't deserve having ears!! :P), I've found a little bit of time for talking about it... whoooooaaaaaaa what a concert!!!!!
I must admit that, since I'm a metal fan, I have always been in the middle of the crowd, jumping, screaming, singing and, of course, headbanging!!!! XD But with the progressive metal it's very different... I consider that it's a music that must be heard with all your attention, sat in a good chair and enjoying the incredible solos and instrumental variations of any eternal song.
So, I found a chair in the right side of the stadium (looking at the scenario), and my ears (and eyes :P) received an authentic musical show!!
* Part I: Symphony X, or how a bad sound technician can destroy a concert...
One hour and a half late, finally Symphony X made their appearance in the scenario, while the awesome intro of Paradise Lost, Oculus ex Inferni, the highly awaited 5-year-after new album, sounded by the speakers in a orchestral version (that means, without guitars nor drums... quite interesting, although the album version is great!! :P). And after that, the obvious beginning of the concert... the great song Set the World on Fire (The Lie of Lies): I love this song!!!!
Next, the band followed an album-logic song sequence: the five first songs of the concert were the five first songs of their last album!! :S:S So, after the two previously mentioned pieces, Symphony X performed Domination, Serpent's Kiss and the album-name-song ballad of the album: Paradise Lost. In my opinion, this is a bad election, because I don't want to hit what song will be performed in a concert... I prefer a surprise setlist :S
I have to talk about the sound quality... with this five songs, the sound was very bad: the bass and the drums were too high in volume, and Russel Allen, the voice of Symphony X, was not well-heard. Really pitiful, because I like Symphony X very much and I couldn't enjoy in the measure I wished... but the sound was improved for the sixth song of the setlist, one of their best songs, and it can be found on his previous album (The Odissey): I'm talking of Inferno (Unleash the Fire)... Oh my God!!! When the starting riff began, all the audience screamed a lot and the major headbangings started :P woooooooooooooooow...
The setlist finished with two more songs: Sea of Lies and Of Sins and Shadows (the second and first song, respectively, of their album The Divine Wings of Tragedy). And no more by this band... what a pity!! I hoped to hear Walls of Babylon from Paradise Lost, and obviously, a performance of their major songs, The Divine Wings of Tragedy (20:41 minutes!!) and The Odissey (24:24 minutes!!!) would had been really orgasmatic (at least for me :P).
Symphony X setlist (about 0:45:00):
* Part II: There are no words for describe this... simply Dream Theater
The semaphore was still in the red light... yes, there was a real semaphore in the top of the scenario XD Dream Theater were behind the scene, and people got nervous... and finally, the light turned on to yellow!!!!! In this moment, a symphonic intro without the band members sounded in the stadium... a piece of Psycho OST (the original OST, by Bernhard Herrmann). The people prepared themselves for a great experience, and then, the moment came: the light turned green!!! The show went on!!!!
The band began with another intro, a metal arrangement for the well-known piece Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, performed incredibly by Mike Portnoy and his awesome drums, Jordan Rudess in the keyboards and John Petrucci in the most versatile guitars in the planet :) And then, Constant Motion began, with the entrance of James LaBrie (I must say that I'm not a big fan of LaBrie ---in fact, I love Dream Theater because of Petrucci, Portnoy and Rudess, not necessarily in this order :P---, but he sang well during all the show).
I won't talk about every song they performed (if I do that, this post can be composed by hundreds of text lines :P); all the performances were absolutely perfect, the instrumental sections of the songs are in the line of the studio recordings (even greater than them sometimes!!!), and it's an interesting experience to notice a change in certain lyrics of the songs; for instance:
From one of their best albums, Metropolis Pt.2 (Scenes from a Memory), we were able to heard two songs: Strange Déjà Vú and the highly acclaimed ballad The Spirit Carries On (ok, guys, let's go with the candles!! XD), and from their other master album, Images and Words, a revision of the classic song Surrounded, rearranged and extended with the instrumental parts (for the sake of the god!!!! what arrangement!!!!! Petrucci is God!!!) and Take the Time.
And in terms of their last album, they did an splendid electrion for the tracks: apart from the already cited Constant Motion (although I prefer The Ministry of Souls, not performed... snif...), they offered us Forsaken, the flamant The Dark Eternal Night (great videoclip showed while the band was performing, with the band appearing in a paranoid animation film as the NADS ---North America Dream Squad--- simply amusing XD), and finally, the masterpiece of the album, subdivided in 2 parts in the original version, and here performed entirely and consequently!!!!
After that the band left the scenario, for returning in a few minutes with a 22-minute-encore-medley consisting in parts of some of their compositions, in a great arrangement and level of performance (and memorable the moment of reappearence of the band: Portnoy is wearing a Barça t-shirt!!!! XD incredible :P). After all, an authentic grand finale of splendid cues taken from famous pieces like Trail of Tears or Octavarium.
Really, an awesome orgasmatic experience of more than 2 hours!! Quite short, in terms of other Dream Theater shows (in the past, they were usually performing for 3 hours). But it doesn't matter, there was the first time I saw Dream Theater (and Symphony X) live, and I will repeat for years and years!!!!!!
Dream Theater setlist (about 2:15:00):
Trust me... memorable concert, and unforgettable performances!!!!! Dream Theater are the best progressive metal band in the world!!!!! I can't wait for their next tour!!!! arrrrrrgh...
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Friday, November 23, 2007
Concert: Dream Theater's Chaos in Motion World Tour 2007 (or the Night of Progression)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
My new laptop is MACnificient!!!
Hello poor mortals!!! The moment finally has come!!
After 4 years plenty of capabilities of Alexandros, my first laptop, where I've been able to implement a lot of programs (from the GPS system for PROP ---Project of Programation--- subject, until the first versions of one of the pieces of the software of my Thesis Degree Project, through the entire test of the single-year coursing Industrial Engineering and the terrible Compilators practice using Linux Mandrake Community 10.1).
But, the time passes inexorably, and the hard disk space, the computational potence and the graphics card technology of Alexandros are archaic nowadays: well, it's true that a Intel Pentium M at 1.6Ghz with 1Gb of RAM isn't a bad laptop after 4 years, but I requires more capabilities, overcoats coursing a Master in Visualization and participating in a Project in Voice Generation. And finally I've decided to renovate my laptop, in midle of sadness (indeed, I won't abandon Alexandros, it will stay with me for the moment :P). So, I've bought a new laptop (are the logo that appears with these lines familiar to you? XD)
* Chapter 1. The election; tech specs of the laptop
After Microsoft released Windows Vista, I noticed that the PC world was going to bad places... God bless UNIX!!!! But the tyrant is too much strong and dominates all the world, like Roman Empire before the Middle Earth... all? Not all!! A little village in The Gaul, plenty of unsubdued gaulishs... oh my God, I was thinking in Asterix and Obelix!! XD I'm so sorry, but the two ideas are sooooo closing... :P because, oh!!! what a MACnificient laptop I've bought!!!! Yes, I wrote MACnificient for one reason :D:D:D
Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! This is my new laptop: a flamant MacBook Pro by Apple!!!! What a nice creature, isn't it? :) Manufactured in aluminium for a better conducting of heat dissipance, it's a 15.4-inch display but so small as a 14.1-inch laptop!!! Apple has created an splendid machine... and with these great technical specifications! :)
* Chapter 2. The photo report :P
Here you can view all the mounting process. First, you can see in the following figure two photograhps of the two sides (front and back) of the MacBook Pro box;
So, next, the second step: the box opened!!! :P what a nervous situation!!!!
And finally... now it would be great to hear a drumroll... XD my MacBook Pro off the box and put on my bed... woooooooooooow!!!
Beautiful, isn't it? So silver, and so potent... and so small for being a 15.4-inch laptop!! I'm really in love with Apple designs... :$ And the cold sensation when you touch it is incredible :P
Besides, you can notice the quite small measurements of the laptop seeing it in side of the carpet of the UPC, my university :P My laptop really enters in a carpet separator!!!!! (only a single inch of thickness!!!!! Or 2.59 cm, it's the same :P Believe me: Alexandros is one-inch-thick without counting the display!! XD and I'm not lying if I say that it's 0.4kg heavier than the Apple laptop).
And now, a singular capture of the two laptops turned on at the same time: Alexandros running WindowsXP (SP2) and the MacBook Pro running Leopard... two worlds on the same table!! XD
* Chapter 3. The name of the creature
As I said in a previous post, I named my computers in a demigod mithology based name system. But, I've decided to change this system with the Apple computers (yes, I wrote computers, in plural... more surprises are coming, poor mortals!!! mwaaahahahaha I'm not rich, I'm simply crazy XD you will see, I'm sure of this... :P).
Because of that, my MacBook Pro receives the name of Behemoth!!!! Maybe some of you will know this fallen angel with one of its alternative names, Bahamut (the arabic homonym creature), because it's used in Final Fantasy role playing games for one of the most strong summonings in the saga :) Really, Behemoth is a fallen angel mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. Its meaning is beast or large animal, so metaphorically, this name has evolved and has been used for any extremely large or powerful entity.
In some hebrew legends, with the Leviathan creature, the two both fought in the Dawn of Time, and God must defeat them before they'' be able to destroy the World. Another legends are maintaining the opposite: their battle will be placed in the Judgement Day. In the Middle Age, Behemoth was considered a demon. And is because of this last meaning, a demon (or a fallen angel in terms of judeochristian mythology), for my MacBook Pro has its name.
A fallen angel is an angel banished or exiled from Heaven because of its disobeying or rebelling against God. Lucifer, the best-known fallen angel, rebelled and was cast out of Heaven and fell to Earth for his offense. According to some traditions, fallen angels will roam the Earth until Judgment Day, when they will be banished to Hell.
And in the computer world... who is considered the God, and who is considered the rebels??? Well, the words are more than enough in this case, no? XD
Well, I maybe be too much pompous with this post, but I think the theme deserved this epic tone XD Welcome to Behemoth in the lair of Ignis Lacrima!!! This is probably the last post I write using Alexandros, but you won't be forgotten!!
Hail my dear fallen angels!!! Hail Apple!! Hail Mac!!!
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sitges 2007: the aftermath; animation. (volume 3 of 4)
Oh my God, I almost forgot the Sitges Festival of Cinema!!!! I must admit that I've been a little busy this last month, but there are 2 volumes left for this year's festival :)
So, I restart the chronicles with the third volume, dedicated to the animation films. It's true that I love anime films (that is, japanese animation films), but this time, in this year, there has been a surprise: I also viewed a non-japanese animation film :D:D woooooooooooow, incredible!!!! XD
The animated film that has the honour of not being a japanese animation movie is a spanish production one (directed by two men, one of them is catalan :P) called Nocturna; however, the other 4 films are japanese mwaaaahahahaha
* Chapter 1. The occident flaires invade Japan.
Well, with this first chatpter I will aboard two japanese movies , very different one of each other, but (at least in my opinion, although I received disagrees XD), but each one with a certain occidental touch, concretely, an american touch (understanding american as the gentilice of United States, not the continental inhabitants).
The first one, Tekkonkinkreet (let's go: what person can pronounce correctly that film title at the first time? XD), a japanese production but directed by Michael Arias, who, although he is british, he has worked in Dreamworks' productions like The Prince of Egypt and Road to El Dorado. A great movie, an efficient and romantic vision of the ying/yang conflict. That is, the oriental philosophy based in the theory of dualism: the two opposite forces within everything: light and dark, life and death, sound and silence...
The story features two children, called Black and White (Kuro and Shiro in japanese), a clear reference of ying/yang, and two of both are orphans. As long as Shiro, the most little child, is a pure and innocent spirit, Kuro is more visceral, more conflictive and very violent, but always to defend Shiro. They two live in a city ironically called Treasure where corruption and violence and survival are the usual modus vivendi for the population. But with the appearence of Kiddy Kastle, a terrible yakuza clan, will start the apocalypsis of Treasure City.
In my humble opinion, a masterpice of animation, mixing the most modern 3D techniques for the scenarios with the most traditional animation for the characters, with a philosophical argument that motive the audience and don't disappoint anybody. A must-view, with no doubt.
The other film is Vexille, the last japanese experience with the most complex rendering techniques, achieving a level of quality equal, o even greater, than Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (because Vexille has more dynamic physics simulation instead of imaginative and surrealist kinetics on the SquareEnix production). With this superb visualization (although the inherent coldness of computer animation isn't avoided yet), the story that is presented is a cocktail of a lot of sci-fi previous cyberpunk films, like Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed, and even Matrix and Dune.
In the year 2077, the artificial intelligence has been banned from all the robothic technology by the UN because of its potential threat to humankind. However, Japan, the mundial leader vendor of robotic technology in the past, has been involved in an autarchy, and doesn't permit the entering to anybody. Besides, Japan is suspicious of illegal robothical activity and manufacturing, and a few troops of a special squadron have the mission of discovering what's happening in Japan. The starting point is interesting but loses interest as long as the movie goes... the final part, with similarities of Dune, seems to appear for showing the amazing computer animation instead of signing a good final for the movie; however, I don't think it's a bad film. Quite good one, I enjoy the film so much; I must thank Elia for talking me about the movie in the breakfast encounter hehehe :)
Here you can see the official third trailer of Vexille; here you can admire the perfect simulation, the bautiful computer animation, and the special effects including a handpainting-style for the characters (to simulate a traditional manufacturation):
But, where is the film connection ith the occident? So, it's in the music!!!! The original score is done by Paul Oakenfold, composer of electronic music and one of the most famous DJ's in the world, and has participated in the musical composition of movies like Operation Swordfish (co-authoring with Christopher Young), Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. Great electronic music, really perfect for the scenes... good job!!!!
* Chapter 2. The Legacy of Miyazaki.
Hayao Miyazaki, the genius of anime, is considered a God in Japan; and I understand why: Princess Mononoke, Laputa a Castle in the SKy or Chihiro's Journey are authentic masterpieces of animation film genre, with the magical and typical drawing style of Studio Ghibli, and the incredible soundtracks of Joe Hisaishi over these images... wooooooooooow...
Because of that, it's inevitable taking as inspiration the romantic worlds of Miyazaki Sensei. And in this chapter, I will talk you about three films that have some Miyazaki inspirations, with more or less quality...
The first one is Gedo Senki, or better known as Tales of Earthsea, the Studio Ghibli film based in Ursula LeGuin's famous saga of books. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, the son of Hayao, is a quite rare movie. Only saying that the best factor on the movie is the incredible soundtrack composed by Tamiya Terashima (with Carlos Núñez performing amazingly the pipes and whistles!!!!), I think there's a clear impression of the strange atmosfear involving this animation film.
Goro Miyazaki is a novel director (it is his first movie!), and I understand it... so, I would accept the low rythm of the action, the strange argument line, and even the plane psychics of the main characters (although the two adult main characters are really really great!!)... but I cannot accept the style of the movie!!! It's a bad copy of Hayao art capabilities, there isn't a Goro firm, only a Hayao style with a lot of mistakes and shallow scenes. And I cannot be agree with this decision. If the film idea was that, why Hayao was kicked off of the project? I simply don't understand...
But let's go with more happy films!!! The Miyazaki effect has permitted the creation of good movies this last two years, and two goo examples are Nocturna, an actual spanish production, and Brave Story, a japanese animation film of 2006.
The first one, Nocturna, is a beauty spanish production about a parallel world that appears when the night falls over the real world, called Nocturna. In this dark environment, only lit by the stars and the streetlights, the fears of children and the humankind are summoned. The sotory begins when Tim, an orphan child living in an orphanage, discover that his star has disappeared. Then, he will gather all the courage he is capable and will begin a crusade through Nocturna to solve a terrible problem: all the stars are disappearing.
Tim, in his major adventure, will have the collaboration of misterious creatures (in example, the help of Murray, an i-don't-want-to-say-what's-it that does the same role as the Kodamas in Princess Mononoke), but he will also meet evil beings between the shadows. Maybe it's too much in children's fashion, but it's undeniable that the movie is good. if you have sons, or nephews, it's a good chance for going to the cinema with them :) Trust in me: it's a very pleasant movie :P
And the last one, but not less important, is Brave Story, a romantic (not in love meaning but in the beautiful one) and imaginative movie about a 10-year-old boy with a mom in a terrrible illness (besides, his dad leaved home), that discovers (with the help of a misterious new boy that arrived to the school in these days) a parallel world called Vision, where he begins the quest for the Goddess of Destiny that can concede his wish: heal his mother.
It's not a masterpiece of the genre, but it is a good movie in all the factors: style, action, music, characters, innocence... if you are a fan of Miyazaki, you will love this movie, but you won't be surprised with it, because it gathers almost of the Miyazaki worlds: fantastic beings, pureness of the spirit, a hidded and major dilemma than the main one. A good movie, you have to see it if you love Hayao Miyazaki movies :)
And well, that's all for now!! :) I've resumed all the animation films I saw in Sitges this year 2007. There only one volume left, the one about the experimental movies, like Takeshi Kitano's one or the new movie by Takashi Miike, the most geek director in Japan (even more than Kitano!!!)
See you poor mortals, and stay tuned on Ignis Lacrima!!!
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Tuesday, November 6, 2007
A CBox has been added to the blog!!
Hi poor mortals!!!
I've noticed that my posts maybe are about affairs of no usual domain for the major people... metal music, strange movies, computing... now, for those people they want to write something (although for offering me their words as a great detail :P) but don't know what to write, or even for the idea of fitting out a virtual guestbook, I've added a CBox to Ignis Lacrima.
You can see it (and use it, of course!! :P) under MCE (Metalli Canticum Essentia, the metal mp3 player of the blog), with a single welcome message by me (on November the 6th of 2007, at 1:31 am). There you can write free 200-letter messages... great eh? :)
And what's a CBox?? Well, as the own people that created the CBox: "it's a tagboard for your website or blog for letting your visitors leave you messages or chat with each other". I think it's a good idea, isn't it? :)
However, I won't pay the per-month contribution, so I've added the basic version of CBox. That means this message box will only store the last 100 messages written. The older messages will be automatically deleted as long as new messages will be entered (for the most geek persons: a FIFO message box XD).
For all those resonances from your most tribal thoughts and feelings, this CBox is the best way for expressing it :) Hail Resonances from Hell!!! And feel free for writing what you want, having always in mind that this message will probably disappear in the future, when other messages overlap the 100-message-storage :S
If you want to know more about CBox, or if you have a blog and you want to add a CBox onto it, visit the official homepage: http://www.cbox.ws; it's not the most useful thing but it can be a nice experiment, I think :)
That's all for now! See you in the lair of the resonances of the burning tears!!! Hail poor mortals!!!
ps: for those who are curious... FIFO is the acronym for "First In First Out" protocol; that is, a standard queue for buying something :P
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Monday, November 5, 2007
Happy Samhain to everybody!!
I know this post appears too late... but I've been so stressed!! This last week has been heavy, a lot of tests and puntuable marks for the Master in Graphics and even a public presentation based in an incredible paper... maybe in a few days I talk about it :)
It's very interesting, I promise that :P
Well, these days have received the famous Halloween festivity, or as the ancient pagan ritual have procclamed ever, the Samhain festivity, the celtic day for celebrating the end of the summer (indeed, Samhain means "end of summer" literally, and was the name received our month of November). Samhain was also considered the "New Year Day" in the celtic mythology: the beginning of the Autumn, the highly feared dark season.
Although this festivity had never been a Devil Adored day, nor an evil festivity, it's true that it was the most dangerous day in the celtic calendar. The beliefs of the people said that in this day, the door between the real world and the world of the dead was opened and the spirits was visiting their descendence, and at the same time, the mortals were able to travel to the another world because of withcraft. Everybody thought that in this day, devils, ghosts, witches, goblins and elfs walked through the fields of the Celtic Land...
However, the Samhain really means reaffirming the believe of the celtic life cicle, the Unity between all the Spirits, and the truth in the death is not the End. An interesting approach, I think... In fact, for maintaining the dead spirits in a happy mood, the mortals often put food out of their homes ---obviously a present for their ancestors---; this tradition evolutioned (evolutioned? maybe this isn't the best word for describe that...) in the actual tradition of the costumed children asking for sweets... Indeed, due to the conversion to the christianism, the christians considered that Samhain was a festivity to adore Satan (ehem...) and they decided that the best way for converting the celts into the believe in Christ was the adoption of Samhain to the christian traditions.
After that, Samhain was declarated the All Hallows' Day, name that evolutioned to the actual Halloween.
Well, I don't pretend to present you all a complete thesis about the degeneration of Samhain until the actual Halloween, thus you can become calmed XD I will only tell you, as a virtual druid (with all my heart, I adore the celtic mythology), that the druids were really the ceremony master of Samhain. They ask the villagers for burning a gigantic bonfire, to give it the sacrifices: animals, harvests, and even human beings.
All these things with an only aim: the purification for a nice beginning of the new year. Just like that, facing the new year (and the dark season!!) with reborn forces, the ashes were spred across the green fields.
Even the nowadays classic pumpkin is originally from the celtic mythology!!! The ancient tradition tells that mounts of candels were put into emptied turnips (subsequently into emptied pumpkins) surrounding homes to scare the bad spirits. This tradition, still life in Galice, has been morphed onto the happy pumpkins of Halloween...
And finally.. I know this last phrase will be totally out of place, but I have to say it... On Samhain, Helloween (the pumpkin spirit of meeeeetaaaaaaaal) have released their last album, Gambling with the Devil. And in a few days, I will review this splendid cd, a more than good sound continuity to their previous double-cd LP: Keeper of the Seven Keys: The Legacy.
And now, to finishing this post, I think the best way is embedding this legendary metal song... of course, I'm talking of Halloween, by Helloween, the pumpkins of hell!!!! It's the 1987 videoclip ---so, don't laugh to much please :P--- of the edit version of the song (5:00 minutes instead the 13:30 complete track...), and with the legandary voice of Michael Kiske!!! Tobias Sammet makes Kiske come back to the Dark Side sporadically but it's pitiful that Kiske is now a renegate of metal... snif... :(
Come on, mortals, sing with me!!
in the streets on halloween there's something going on
no way to escape the power unknown...
in the streets on halloween the spirits will arise
make your choice, it's hell or paradiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! it's halloweeeeeeeen...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!! it's halloweeeeeeeen...
oooooooooh... tonight!!!
Well, that's all for now!!! Stay tuned in Ignis Lacrima, poor mortals!! And beware of the bad spirits!!!! mwaaaahahahaha
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