What are you listening to?

"Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt

It's so sad. It makes me cry a little. =\

Family Affair by Wale

Second Skin - Moonspell

"Why Georgia" by John Mayer

Exogenesis: Symphony, Part 3 (Redemption) - Muse

Irish Rain - Leaves' Eyes

Beautiful song from their new album Njord. Amusingly this cd technically belongs to my mother. Hah... it is awesome having a mother that loves a decent portion of the music I listen to.

19-2000 - The Gorillaz

Still a great song, four years later.

"Pale" by Within Temptation

I've noticed that a lot of their songs start off really dramatically and proceed to calm- not this one, just the first three songs at the very least. This song is a lot calmer, and it has a slight Celtic-folk feel to it that I like a lot.

This CD is addicting... I listened to it two days in a row, but I put it aside for a little while because I didn't want to make myself sick of it. I had to pick it back up, though. XD

Deadpan wrote:19-2000 - The Gorillaz

Still a great song, four years later.

Aw I love Gorillaz...

It is a very good cd, Kathryn. I personally think it is probably the best release they’ve ever had, though my overall favorite song is Mother Earth. It was actually the first song I heard by them, by watching the video for it on youtube a few years back. Haha. I understand how hard it is to listen to music online with dial-up, but if you find the time I think you should look into a few other bands that you might like (considering you like Within Temptation). If possible just find videos with an album cover instead of a stream of pictures on youtube. Anyway, those bands are:

Leaves’ Eyes (Occasionally there are growl vocals by Alexander on a few songs)
Edenbridge
Xandria
Eyes of Eden

Those four bands are all different, with there own sound but, worth a shot, no? There are many others I could suggest but then I'd have to take a while to look through my 'archives' since my mind can't recall all of them on the spot... lol

Anyway, currently listening to:

Rage of the Winter - Rhapsody

The band is now called Rhapsody of Fire; apparently they had some legal issues over the name or something. They play symphonic/melodic metal led by the (I feel) amazing vocals of Fabio Lione. Lyrics are all the same concept; an epic fantasy story in a world Luca Turilli (Guitarist) created himself. The albums while under the name of Rhapsody cover the Emerald Sword Saga while the last release as Rhapsody of Fire (Titled Triumph or Agony) takes place, I believe, some time after the Emerald Sword Saga storyline was completed. I could be wrong on that, however. Great band, worth looking into.

I'm starting to wonder how many people actually look at my rants on here... hah

I look at your rants on here. I find them interesting. I figure if at least one person reads your rants, they weren't a waste of time. That's how I feel about my own rants, anyway. =3

I am not listening to anything other than the clacking of my keys as I type. My keyboard is a loud one.

I read them too, but most of the time I have not heard of the bands. Rhapsody I have heard of, only because of Magic of The Wizard's Dream featuring Christopher Lee...who I am a huge fan of, since he plays Saruman in Lord of the Rings. Beyond this, he is a huge Lord of the Ring's fan and I am always in admiration of another 'Ringer' ^_^
This is also how I came about hearing Blind Guardian

Listening to the suck, suck, suck of a bottle in the crib behind me

Ah, that makes me feel better. ~chuckles~ Christopher Lee does narration in two albums, as far as I know of. The last one under ‘Rhapsody’ (Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret) and the only release as ‘Rhapsody of Fire’ (Triumph or Agony). Hopefully he will be on the next as well. Curious, Ryona, did you know that Christopher Lee had actually been wanting to play Gandalf for a long time and (possibly, I think) would have done so in the movie if he’d been younger?

Blind Guardian, yes… after all they have an album entitled Nightfall In Middle Earth … Amusingly there are several bands with names taken from Lord of the Rings, a few who even have gone so far as to write songs in Elvish. The most popular of those with LoTR names are Gorgoroth (Who I am not a fan of) and Amon Amarth (who I quite like and would love to see live, though they are only for those who can handle growled vocals). Nightwish referred to the work of Tolkien in a few early songs, mentioning Bilbo by name in Elvenpath.

Listening to:

The Tyrant – Kivimetsän Druidi

Finnish Folk Metal, pairing clean (operatic) vocals of Leeni-Maria with growls of guitarist Joni; most lyrics are in Finnish, aside from four songs. Only one album so far... :/

I did know that C. Lee wanted to be Gandalf, though I haven't heard the other bands apart from Nightwish.

I've also heard that C. Lee is going to be voicing Smaug in The Hobbit

Listening to my professor discuss Bauhaus.

They're making The Hobbit? ^*_*^ Like... live action or animation? Either way, I want to see it. When is it coming?


So as not to be off topic... I'm listening to... uh... Chopped coming from the living room television. ^^_^^;;

The Hobbit should be coming out 2011. It's directed by Guillermo del Toro XD There isn't much more info on it beyond rumors

Edit: Yes, live action
and
I'm still listening to my teacher ^_^
and
Thanks for post 100!!

Didn't Guillermo del Toro do Pan's Labyrinth? I'm sort of excited about this now. ^^_^^


Still listening to Chopped...

I only found out from research brought on by boredom... haha. That doesn't surprise me, actually it was a bit of a shock that you knew who Rhapsody was. ~chuckles~ I'm used to most of the stuff I listen to being unknown by many anymore, I wouldn't know of them either if I hadn't ever taken the time to look for it... which with dial-up has taken quite the amount of time!

The fact he is voicing Smaug is awesome, though in all honesty I'm very skeptical about that film. But, then again, I've pieced apart pretty much everything that was 'wrong' with the current Lord of the Rings films... to the point that it drives other people insane and makes many people say I'm being to strict or some such.

Listening to: My Destiny - Leaves' Eyes

Yea, it is the director of Pan's Labrynth.

Melancoly, I'm rather well rounded but lack intensive knowledge of one subject. I am like this eveywhere, not just music. I know a few bands from many genres, rather than TONS of bands from one genre.

LOTR (the films) are just PJ's interpretation of Tolkien's work. I take them at face value, and enjoy them for what they are, rather than criticize them for what they are not.

Yeah, I understand that. I actually know of numerous bands from numerous genres, despite the common thought I’m just the ‘cliché metal head’ like most people seem to think. I grew up listening to a lot of stuff with my parents, ranging from Country (which I now despise), Jazz, Blues, Classic Rock, Oldies, R&B (I’m talking old here, not this new ‘R&B’ stuff), Classical, Traditional Folk… so much stuff. Eventually got into the stuff I listen to now on my own, and it is what I listen to almost exclusively but I still do love listening to Traditional (European) Folk, Classical, Film Score, Neo-Folk, and occasionally a bit of classic rock or the like.

Of course, metal isn’t just a single genre like it used to be back in the days of old either. :p Thankfully.

I just, basically as a rule, don’t listen to rap, hip-hop, modern rock (anything after the explosion of the grunge scene, basically) or… essentially anything from the U.S newer than around ’91 with the exception of Skid Row’s second album and a handful of more obscure bands such as Agalloch, Kamelot, and Dream Theater… though I really only like Dream Theater’s older material.

Hmm, well I read something by Peter Jackson where he was claiming that it wasn’t an interpretation rather but what he felt Tolkien would have wanted… or something along those lines at least. Plus, with films based on something as solid as a book I’ve always found the “interpretation” term to be more of an annoying excuse for blatantly going against the events of the literature. That is just me though.

It isn’t that I don’t enjoy the films; I just don’t think they were nearly as great as so many people have made them out to be. Also felt that certain actors were not nearly up to par with the others and did rather poor jobs portraying the characters, and they were generally the actors most noted for their roles in the films.

I'm sure every director thinks that their interpretation is "the" interpretation. But that's all it will ever be, an interpretation. Why do you think there are over 9000 sects of Christianity, each and every one sure enough to bet their soul on the fact that theirs is the correct one?

I thought the movies were well done, especially with Howard Shore as composer for the soundtrack!

listening to a baby toy sing ABC's

I think a comparison between the interpretation of religious doctrine and film is a bit exaggerated. :p I mean, they are two completely different things. A film is a film, religion is something much deeper than that.

What I was getting at though is that ‘interpreting’ something like Faramir taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath, or elves being at the battle of Helms Deep… that isn’t interpretation it is merely adding things into the movie that didn’t happen in the book, which I, personally, am against. There was also somewhere where Jackson was quoted saying something along the lines “Sure it isn’t really Lord of the Rings, but I still think it could make a damn cool movie.” And yes, the movies were cool… but as far as representing them they were nothing more than a well produced tribute in my eyes with the way thinks were added and characters diminished from what they truly were in the books.

Yes, Howard Stone as the soundtrack composer was great.

Listening to:

Shamandalie – Sonata Arctica

“Feelings I had were but sham and a lie?

I have never forgotten your smile, your eyes, oh, Shamandalie”

Clever Tony, clever… ~chuckles~ Shamandalie is an awesome name though….

I actually completely agree that degrading Faramir's character really upset me, too. I loved in the book how he was stronger than Boromir when faced with the Ring... I didn't understand why they even did that, as it was completely unnecessary and a waste of time. =\


Listening to... my noisy computer fan.

The way they degraded Faramir was one of the things that annoyed me the most, as Faramir had been one of my favorite characters in the trilogy. Actually, he was probably my favorite of the trilogy altogether, topped only by a couple characters in The Silmarillion. I was also terribly disappointed with the way they ended things, as well. I’ve seen numerous fans say they thought the ending was better, but Tolkien himself thought the final chapter where they returned to The Shire scourged at the hands of Saruman to be very important, and I strongly agree. Those were two of the biggest disappoints I had with the movies. Sure, they excelled at some points but those were the points where they stuck true to the story instead of diverging from it.

I could go on and on about the faults it had, but I won’t. ~chuckles~ To be honest part of the reason I became disgusted with them on several occasions (despite the fact they were great at some points) is because that was my introduction into literature when I was around three-five years old. I am not over exaggerating that either. My first book was actually The Hobbit, and not a ‘kid’ version or anything like they did for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and such but a full version of the book that my father gave to me… which I read quite quickly and then move don to The Lord of the Rings and then unto other others books such as the Dragonlance Chronicles, The Silver Call & The Iron Tower, Shannara books and so forth. Even started writing fantasy stuff at that around four-five because of it... pretty much have my father to thank for all of that, and later ended up being introduced to D&D through him. The first time being watching him and friends play a game, actually… I had a pretty awesome childhood.

Listening to:

The Mystic Prophecy of the Demonknight – Rhapsody of Fire

Song is 16:26 long…

"Clocks":: Coldplay.

One of my favorite musical groups.

"Smooth Criminal" - the version of the Michael Jackson hit by David Garrett, Violin

Weila Waila-- The Young Dubliners

Ride on Tears - Charon

The Melancholy Spirit wrote:I think a comparison between the interpretation of religious doctrine and film is a bit exaggerated. :p I mean, they are two completely different things. A film is a film, religion is something much deeper than that.

What I was getting at though is that ‘interpreting’ something like Faramir taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath, or elves being at the battle of Helms Deep… that isn’t interpretation it is merely adding things into the movie that didn’t happen in the book, which I, personally, am against. There was also somewhere where Jackson was quoted saying something along the lines “Sure it isn’t really Lord of the Rings, but I still think it could make a damn cool movie.” And yes, the movies were cool… but as far as representing them they were nothing more than a well produced tribute in my eyes with the way thinks were added and characters diminished from what they truly were in the books.

Yes, Howard Stone as the soundtrack composer was great.

Listening to:

Shamandalie – Sonata Arctica

“Feelings I had were but sham and a lie?

I have never forgotten your smile, your eyes, oh, Shamandalie”

Clever Tony, clever… ~chuckles~ Shamandalie is an awesome name though….

Well, I wasn't comparing the two interpretations, rather I was listing examples of how seriously people support their own interpretations.

I understood why they chose to make Faramir struggle. He was representing the possible downfall of man. His character, in the book, seems almost unreal. I accept and support both versions of Faramir, for each had his purpose in the world of Tolkien & their fans.

I also read the hobbit at a very young age, with the help of my father. It was something we did together, and I had images of hobbits, wizards, Smaug and more implanted within my imagination about the same age as you.

There were many things I was disappointed with, but the fact remains that I adore these movies and like I said before, I'll take them for what they are rather than criticizing them for what they aren't. *Shrugs* I'm just that way in general. The only thing I'm overcritical with is myself.

The Melancholy Spirit wrote:I think a comparison between the interpretation of religious doctrine and film is a bit exaggerated. :p I mean, they are two completely different things. A film is a film, religion is something much deeper than that.

Actually, there really is no difference. The act of interpreting doesn't change simply because the material you are interpreting is different. And The Lord of The Rings, as well as all other books and movies (and those that qualify as both) are more than simple "films" or "books." They are stories with depth and meaning to the person who wrote them and any readers who resonate with their ideas. And here is a very good example of my point: Scientology.
Scientology is religion created by a science fiction author who made a bet with another person that he could create his own religion. Guess what....it worked. So, seriously, religion is deeper than a science fiction or fantasy story? Sorry, but I don't think so.

And don't bother mentioning how crappy of a religion Scientology is. I could say the same for plenty of other religions.