Audio On the Run
Okay. I have made a decision that I am going to finish the edit on my [i]Lord of the Rings[/i] mix soon and be done with it. My enthusiasm for the project took a serious blow last year when the two Semajic files with the Livejournal entries I was preparing for the discs completely disappeared, negating all of my work on the program notes.
As was apparent from the fact that my character count far exceeded the Livejournal limit for a single entry, the notes were the exceptionally painstaking, with the source tracks listed, relevant quotes from the films and book, comprehensive listings of which choral texts were used in which tracks with links to the lyrics, and very elaborate descriptions of the music and how it was used in the film or on the album, and how each part fit into the compilation as a whole. I will never be able to re-create all of that work.
On the other hand, the mix itself is pretty much finished, it just needs a few tweaks here and there. It is time for me to put this one to bed so I can move on to other projects.
It has been a strange week for my portable audio.
My iPod died. It was getting a little twitchy here and there, and I had to restore it at least once, but it played on for the most part like a trooper. This was it, though, when I ran the diagnostics, it showed me that the hard drive had died. I've had that iPod since 2008, so upon reflection, it was actually the longest lasting portable audio player I've ever had.
Then there was the car stereo. It began when I cleared out my trunk to make a Costco run with friends. I knocked something loose, and it caused the fuse that controls my stereo to blow. I replaced the fuse, and the stereo worked for two more days. Then the fuse blew again. And again. And again after that; it was shorting out as soon as I turned the car on. Eventually the offending trouble was found - as I said, there was a loose wire that got grounded. The problem has been resolved, and the car stereo sounds awesome, as new rear speakers were my birthday present last year. I was as ecstatic once I got the car stereo working again as was the Dude when he got his car back and was driving home singing along to “Looking Out My Back Door,” except I needed something louder and meaner, so I blasted “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” in celebration.
It has not escaped my own self-reflection that I was willing to drive my old car for months after the transmission had gotten so bad that I couldn't go in reverse anymore, but a problem with the car stereo gets fixed within a week.
I have finally seen The Hobbit; a friend of mine had the 3D Blu-ray (which is in standard 24p, wonder why they couldn't at least have taken advantage of 30p, but perhaps that was because of the negative reactions that 48 fps projection got from audiences). If you have the 3D Blu-ray, it's on two platters and the second disc is the stronger of the two.
I… I liked the parts that were good. And there were a couple of them. But… why… did… it… take… so… long…
Bloated, overbaked and interminably long. Everything this review isn't.