Unretouched

[ehowton]

• Take a picture of yourself right now.


• Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.


• Resize picture as necessary


• Post that picture with NO editing

^{First seen @ swashbuckler332}

Comments

[lehah.livejournal.com]

I see Varese CDs behind you!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Excellent eye!

[lehah.livejournal.com]

The "newer" Varese spines - with the white bars and the brown logo - which CDs are those?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Aeon Flux
Aliens (The Deluxe Edition)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Firefly
The Fly/The Fly II
The Great Escape
Hancock
Hellboy
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)/The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
The Omen
Serenity
Shrek
Speed Racer
Tin Man

---

^{http://ehowton.livejournal.com/194862.html#VARESE}

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Evan Almighty

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Okay... I have to ask... top shelf, second row in...?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Yup. Eyeball-height, easy access, and I can pull out an entire stack at once to shuffle through them like a deck of cards ;)

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

I remember when you first got them that you told me they were going on the second shelf... a few weeks later, you posted a picture of your collection but they weren't quite as distinct. Or something. It's just that the spines together like that look like they did in the box before I mailed them to you.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

They were underneath the Varese CD's, but I found without spines, they were much easier to navigate stacked horizontally. I consider them a collection, ergo they're always together - not interspersed by genre.

They occupy two 'cubbies' (With room for expansion!) and the bottom stack always has Excelsior! (http://swashbuckler332.livejournal.com/607848.html) on top so I can grab it without looking.

Speaking of, before I removed it from iTunes, I noticed I'd listened to it 68 times - and that doesn't include when I pull out the disc to listen to it on the stereo, or the copy I made for my car.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

I find it a odd but heartening that there is somebody out there who listens to my mixes as much as I do. Excelsior! was indeed something special, and indeed useful. Taking a note from your example, I got some housework done today to it (when it was over, I listened to my SpaceCamp LP).

I hope you like the new batch... Just Talkin' About Shaft is a little different from my usual stuff, being as that it is per force an R&B album, but it's a lot of fun to listen to (and probably makes great driving music).

I also have a few ideas that I think will make interesting additions. Dirty Harry quintet and Harry Palmer trilogy mixes, a possible Bill Lee/Spike Lee disc, a touch-up on Urban Danger, a new version of my Ennio Morricone/Sergio Leone Western compilation, with a companion piece with Maestro Morricone's music for Sergio Corbucci's Westerns...

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I don't think its odd at all. You have the ability to take an album that may get a little long in places, and breathe new life into it by not just culling it down, but intertwining compatible selections with it. Its more than a "Greatest Hits" album, its an entire mood - or a standalone adventure that you create. Concerning your trilogy or composer mixes, what would be an exhausting listen for three or for full albums back-to-back, you provide one fantastic compilation of. And not just the popular cues; Since listening to your compilations I've heard things as I never have before - albums I own that I simply "miss" tracks because they're caught in the middle of the clutter. You've also introduced me to scores I've never heard by putting just the right piece where it belongs.

Yes I still listen to the full albums, but oft-times I prefer your mixes. They're more fun to listen to.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. You have no idea what sort of validation it is to hear you talk about my mixes the way that you do. What it boils down to is that you get them. You know what I'm doing and you're listening to them accordingly.

You describe what I've always hoped to achieve with my compilations. I want to organize diverse musical statements into some form of cohesive whole, emphasizing whatever it is that I find makes the music special. That's why I favor a flowing succession of tracks rather than having the music start and stop, and that is why I often edit tracks or create suites in order to bring out what I feel I want to emphasize. Sometimes they're subtle touches, such as what seems like a relatively minor addition of "Reconstituted Boyfriend" at the beginning of "Evy Remembers" on Sandcastles and Breadcrumbs, or they could be a summary of thematic material, such as "One Voice" on Myth, Faith, Belief, or it could be a drastic retooling of the original tracks to make them more solid in context, such as "Largo's Secrets" from Classic Bond.

I remember at one point when I gave a few mixes to a friend of mine who had asked me for music. She looked at the Star Wars original trilogy compilation that I had made for her and said, "I already have this." I told her that of course she didn't, I made this disc myself and that all official compilations of this material are either limp re-recordings (such as Williams' own "Skywalker Symphony") or embellished "themes" albums, which was the opposite of that I was doing with it. I was illustrating narrative threads (in the case of that compilation in particular, the battle between good - the Force theme - against evil - the Imperial march). She didn't get it, and unfortunately her reaction is pretty standard. While plenty of people can appreciate my discs, they don't quite get them on the level that you seem to.

I have been working on the first of two Ennio Morricone Western compilations; this one is a revamping of Gun and Sun taking advantage of the various remasters and expansions to the represented score that have occurred since I made that disc. It's getting a new title... am undecided at present between "The Ecstasy of Gold" or "The Vice of Killing," though I am leaning at present towards the latter as nobody thinks of Metallica when you say it (cover art is here). The other will be totally new, and consist of Morricone's work for Sergio Corbucci's less ambitious Westerns.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

...illustrating narrative threads.

That's it exactly. One of the reasons I started reading your blog was your ability to precisely convey what it was you heard in filmscore, and how it related to everything else around it - that and the sheer amount of history you seemed to have surrounding compositions and their composers; linking everything together, much like an episode of the BBC's Connections.

To be honest, I likely miss the majority of specific nuances you inject into your mixes, but you operate on a level different than me. I'm unable to "deconstruct" themes the way you do, but I enjoy a recurring motif as it comes into play throughout a score, subtlety weaving itself into and out of discrete tracks, or in one of your compilations, how effortless the disparate selections seem to compliment each other.

I may not be able to articulate why something works, but like an novice's academic appreciation of fine art, I know what I like - what moves me, and your mixes are unlike anything on the market today.

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Regardless of whether or not you're able to catch everything I put into making a mix (that would be impossible for anybody but the creator anyway) you still "get it" as far as what I'm trying to do. And that's more than most people even try for.

I have just completed two more mixes with a few in the oven. You'll be getting another package very soon.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Thank you. As always, I look forward to them with great anticipation. Perhaps moreso this time, as I am not as familiar with the music surrounding your new mixes. I can't wait to follow your suggestion (http://ehowton.livejournal.com/219630.html?thread=6309870&style=mine#t6309870) and take Just Talkin' About Shaft (http://swashbuckler332.livejournal.com/642471.html) for a test drive!

On an unrelated note, I ordered The Boys from Brazil early this morning (yes, BSX again...) something I've been obsessing over (http://ehowton.livejournal.com/67362.html) since July 2006. (http://ehowton.livejournal.com/64312.html)

[swashbuckler332.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was me lamenting over the fact that I can not do so myself what with my car all deceased and whatnot.

I pounced on The Boys from Brazil immediately as well. I enjoy that LP, and I'm glad to be having that format preserved as well. The complete score disc will be rather revelatory.

The Boys from Brazil was released by Intrada, I can recommend ordering direct from them. Their customer service is exemplary (even going to far as to replace discs with almost unnoticeable pressing problems free of charge and without the customer even having to request it; they've done that twice now, with Lee Holdridge's East of Eden and Bruce Broughton's Tombstone). Truly one of the best vendors out there, along with Screen Archives and MovieMusic.com.

BSX is twitchy on its best days. I've never had a problem with them, but now that Sheriff Joe doesn't want us complaining on the FSM board about them, and that was the only sure way to get their attention, I'm not taking that chance. Their own releases are carried by other, more reliable vendors, and I buy from them.

[hiro-antagonist.livejournal.com]

Nice shot! The blue glare from the monitor on the glasses gives it a rather nice technological look :D

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Thanks, but your low f-stop coupled with your colorful wallpaper wins that category. If there were a 'mad-scientist' ribbon, I might submit myself for that one.

[hiro-antagonist.livejournal.com]

Heh, the f/2.8 was only because the shutter speed was fastest there, it would have been nice to have the new shiny 24" monitor in focus heh.

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

Very nice picture. Love the composition!

Why you look scared? :)

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Its my Zoolander 'look' and nothing more.

[galinda822.livejournal.com]

Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I call it, "Blue Steel."

[irulan-amy.livejournal.com]

I really need to watch that movie.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

It is sooooooooooooooooooo dumb, its funny. Did you enjoy Dodgeball?

[irulan-amy.livejournal.com]

I did! And I'm on/off with the dumb movies. I liked Dodgeball, Wedding Crashers, and Old School but can't stand Austin Powers.

[joey-glover.livejournal.com]

You look like a small child peering over the fence into his neighbors yards.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I was: http://peeroveryourneighborsfence.com

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

I don't see porn reflected in your glasses.

I feel almost disappointed.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

The monitor is covering my nakedness.

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

And I thank you for your consideration.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I am the very embodiment of discretion.

[ex-crowy.livejournal.com]

I like your Storm Trooper. Or is that Stormtrooper?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

He's a Clone Trooper. Or is that a Clonetrooper?

[photogoot.livejournal.com]

This is a classic image! One of my all time favorites.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks.