Sunday, April 29, 2012
More Songy-things
Here's a link to the two Cygnuses, I probably should have put these in the last post, so...
The Longer, the Better
First off, don't take that the way I think that you're reading that.
Actually, I don't even care.
But anyways, the longer in the title refers to song length, in this case. Cross out whatever crude image you have of conga lines, and focus here.
The average song length of a song on the radio clocks in at around 3-5 minutes, with a few outliers here and there. While I can understand that 10 minutes could be a long time (it isn't), I can't help but get fed up anyone sees an eight-minute song and freaks out, saying "THAT'S A LONG SONG". Perhaps this tells of the increasingly-getting-shorter attention span the average teenagers has. With a three-minute song, hardly anything can be said or done; there's only enough time for a chorus and maybe two verses. This also shows the lack of actual content songs really have now.
I know of many long songs, and all it takes is an attentive ear to grind through it. Yes, it's possible to sit still for more than two minutes, but I'm not going to control you.
Stairway to Heaven stands as the most well-known long song to the public, defying radio standards at around nine minutes long. However, when one looks at the live version of the same song (1973 TSRTS), it's grown to around 11 or 12 minutes. the extra few minutes is filled with a salivating guitar solo, something quite absent from today's mainstream music. (Skill too :P)
Many of Rush's songs are also long, in order to properly tell a story. The songs are truly deserving of "epic" (literally here). In the song "Cygnus X-1", Geddy Lee describes the tale of an adventurer going into space in the Rocinante towards the black hole, Cygnus X-1. The story progresses from a happy, upbeat tone towards a harsher, screaming tone, as the black hole tears the adventurer apart. Rush does a wonderful job establishing a setting and the characters, which is usually what takes up a large portion of the song. Even though Cygnus X-1 is around 11 minutes long, the story is still continued in a follow-up, Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres. The second song in the series is even longer than the first, at around 15 minutes long. While the incredible length of the songs makes it hard to find the time to listen to them together, when they are listened to, it's the equivalent of watching a show on TV. The entertainment's there, you just have to take the effort to indulge in it (like a book).
Another song by Rush, 2112, is around 21 minutes long, comprising of (I think) seven separate parts; the song has some of the best lyrics I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, gaining enough fame to even be the entire main story of a Guitar Hero game. Here's an excerpt from part III, discovery:
What can this strange device be?
When I touch it, it gives forth a sound It's got wires that vibrate and give music What can this thing be that I found?
See how it sings like a sad heart And joyously screams out it's pain Sounds that build high like a mountain Or notes that fall gently like rain
I can't wait to share this new wonder The people will all see it's light Let them all make their own music The Priests praise my name on this night
(Rush, 1976)
This part of the song is where the protagonist discovers a guitar, hidden behind a waterfall; 100 years in the future, such a device has been completely outlawed in the communistic society in the future. The story goes on to describe his encounter with the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx (the leader-figures), and later his dream about the past society. You really have to listen to the song in order to fully grasp it, so I strongly advise listening to it, it's definitely a masterpiece.
Actually, I don't even care.
But anyways, the longer in the title refers to song length, in this case. Cross out whatever crude image you have of conga lines, and focus here.
The average song length of a song on the radio clocks in at around 3-5 minutes, with a few outliers here and there. While I can understand that 10 minutes could be a long time (it isn't), I can't help but get fed up anyone sees an eight-minute song and freaks out, saying "THAT'S A LONG SONG". Perhaps this tells of the increasingly-getting-shorter attention span the average teenagers has. With a three-minute song, hardly anything can be said or done; there's only enough time for a chorus and maybe two verses. This also shows the lack of actual content songs really have now.
I know of many long songs, and all it takes is an attentive ear to grind through it. Yes, it's possible to sit still for more than two minutes, but I'm not going to control you.
Stairway to Heaven stands as the most well-known long song to the public, defying radio standards at around nine minutes long. However, when one looks at the live version of the same song (1973 TSRTS), it's grown to around 11 or 12 minutes. the extra few minutes is filled with a salivating guitar solo, something quite absent from today's mainstream music. (Skill too :P)
Many of Rush's songs are also long, in order to properly tell a story. The songs are truly deserving of "epic" (literally here). In the song "Cygnus X-1", Geddy Lee describes the tale of an adventurer going into space in the Rocinante towards the black hole, Cygnus X-1. The story progresses from a happy, upbeat tone towards a harsher, screaming tone, as the black hole tears the adventurer apart. Rush does a wonderful job establishing a setting and the characters, which is usually what takes up a large portion of the song. Even though Cygnus X-1 is around 11 minutes long, the story is still continued in a follow-up, Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres. The second song in the series is even longer than the first, at around 15 minutes long. While the incredible length of the songs makes it hard to find the time to listen to them together, when they are listened to, it's the equivalent of watching a show on TV. The entertainment's there, you just have to take the effort to indulge in it (like a book).
Another song by Rush, 2112, is around 21 minutes long, comprising of (I think) seven separate parts; the song has some of the best lyrics I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, gaining enough fame to even be the entire main story of a Guitar Hero game. Here's an excerpt from part III, discovery:
What can this strange device be?
When I touch it, it gives forth a sound It's got wires that vibrate and give music What can this thing be that I found?
See how it sings like a sad heart And joyously screams out it's pain Sounds that build high like a mountain Or notes that fall gently like rain
I can't wait to share this new wonder The people will all see it's light Let them all make their own music The Priests praise my name on this night
(Rush, 1976)
This part of the song is where the protagonist discovers a guitar, hidden behind a waterfall; 100 years in the future, such a device has been completely outlawed in the communistic society in the future. The story goes on to describe his encounter with the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx (the leader-figures), and later his dream about the past society. You really have to listen to the song in order to fully grasp it, so I strongly advise listening to it, it's definitely a masterpiece.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Crysis 3 Official Gameplay Trailer, Released
It's been about one year since the last Crysis game, Crysis 2. CryTek seems to have taken an approad similar to Activision, as the four-year gap between the other Crysis games is absent here. This presents a few worries to me, personally. From the gameplay trailer, it can be observed that the HUD looks exactly the same as the previous game; while this can be explained by the lack of different suits (i.e., Nanosuit 1.0 vs the 2.0 in Crysis 2), it still is somewhat troubling. HUDs between games generally change as a sign of progress, such as between Halo 2 and 3, even though the spartans of both games were wearing the exact same suits.
As Crysis is already at the pinnacle of graphic technology, there really isn't much room for improvement there. The game basically looks the same, although not in the same way that MW3 looks almost exactly the same as MW2. Hopefully the CryEngine has been improved to perform better on consoles, but I won't complain if there isn't much of a difference here.
The main "differing point" between Crysis 2 and 3 is the new bow; there hasn't been a lot of information given on the bow, like why it's even in the game in the first place (we've had guns for quite some time now...). The main function of the bow will probably be similar to any other stealth weapon, and probably won't put as large of a drain on the cloaking of the suit.
CryTek has hopefully put somewhat of a larger effort on creating the sandbox-feel of the first game; the environment is a mix of the first two games, literally being urban jungle. The third game will also hopefully fill in a few of the gap that left me confused at the end of the second game, even though Crysis 3 takes place a few years after the first two.
As Crysis is already at the pinnacle of graphic technology, there really isn't much room for improvement there. The game basically looks the same, although not in the same way that MW3 looks almost exactly the same as MW2. Hopefully the CryEngine has been improved to perform better on consoles, but I won't complain if there isn't much of a difference here.
The main "differing point" between Crysis 2 and 3 is the new bow; there hasn't been a lot of information given on the bow, like why it's even in the game in the first place (we've had guns for quite some time now...). The main function of the bow will probably be similar to any other stealth weapon, and probably won't put as large of a drain on the cloaking of the suit.
CryTek has hopefully put somewhat of a larger effort on creating the sandbox-feel of the first game; the environment is a mix of the first two games, literally being urban jungle. The third game will also hopefully fill in a few of the gap that left me confused at the end of the second game, even though Crysis 3 takes place a few years after the first two.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Beginners' Guide to Guitar Companies
Ever lost in the sea of guitar brands, unable to choose one out of them all to be your permanent playing companion? Look no further (or just read right over this), this post's aim is to give a few details on the most popular guitar manufacturers in America.
First up: Gibson
Gibson has established a long history in America, being renowned as one of the most popular and high-quality guitar manufacturers in the country, as well as being one of the most iconic. When people think of guitars, it's either the Gibson Les Paul that pops into their head, or the Fender Stratocaster (more later!).
Gibson's guitars are usually known by guitar players as having a thick, dirty sound; many of the classic rock artists such as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones utilized Gibson guitars to create a hard, rebellious tone. The signature sounds of the guitar come from the dual-coil pickups in the guitar, called humbuckers. By winding two pickups close together, the hum generated by normal single-coil pickups are cancelled, as they are winded opposite of each other. Gibson isn't the only brand to do this, but almost all of their guitars are equipped with humbucking pickups.
Fender Stands as the other other guitar manufacturing standard; Fender produces perhaps the most iconic guitar of all time: the stratocaster. As a polar opposite to Gibson guitars, almost all Fender guitars have single-coil pickups; the sounds that emintate from this style are usually cleaner and crisper, giving strats their signature "quack". Stratocasters and Telecasters are most often used with cleaner, calmer songs, but they're defnitely not exempt from hard rocking sound. In addition to having two single coils on most models, some stratocasters have a humbucker mounted in the treble (back) position, allowing for cruchy rhythms such as Stevie Ray Vaughn's blues-driven riffing and Jimi Hendrix's also-blues-inspired melodies. The twang of the stratocaster may be more familiar in country-esque songs, like in the southern rock song Sweet Home Alabama, a tune almost everybody is familar with; in order to get such a sound, stratocasters produced after 1977 have a five-way pickup switch, allowing a combination of the back and middle/front and middle pickups to be active. Before this incorporation, players would put the switch in between the original first and second, temporarily wedging the selector in place.
Aside from the main two companies in my mind, many others exist: Ibanez. ESP, PRS, and also the sub-brands within the major manufacturers such as Epiphone and Squire (stratocasters). This next section won't be as thorough as the previous, but I'll try and put a few points in for each.
Ibanez and ESP are both used primarily for metal genres, and as such, I'm not as well-informed about them. From what I do know, the guitars are usually emphasized by two humbuckers pickups with one single-coil between both. EMG is a popular brand of pickups used by these guitars. Most ESP and Ibanez guitars are also fitted with some sort of tremolo bar system, usually some sort of Floyd Rose bridge.
PRS stands as kind of a mix of the other brands. Prices are usually high on the guitars, so I haven't ever came into contact with many, if any at all. Most of the PRS guitars feature a two-cut design, meaning they look similar to stratocasters. Being high-end guitars, PRS guitars have wonderful sound, usually being nice and warm while using two humbuckers.
Some PRS guitars are also fitted with a piezo pickup, which picks up sound in a different way than normal electro-magnetic pickups. Instead of translating disturbances in the magnetic field around the strings, piezoelectric pickups work by interpreting vibrations into electric signals. Piezoelectric pickups are commonly used on acoustic guitars, as some acoustic strings don't have the metal cores to disrupt magnetic fields.
But back to guitars; both Gibson and Fender give the option of lower-priced guitars, in exchange for lower quality materials and overall quality. Despite how this sounds, the guitars from Epiphone and Squire are still very good instruments to play, being nowhere near as bad as a random off-brand model (although you might find a good one every now and then; I'll cover one later). Instead of being produced in America, the guitars are produced in areas where labor is cheaper, such as Mexico and Korea. This is turn lowers the price of the guitar, in case you don't want to pay $3,000 on your first guitar (not guilty >_>)
Just as an additional side(ish) note, there are some off-brand companies that produce fairly high-quality guitars. My own personal guitar is produced by a small, family-owned company, and yet still is of good quality. Link here > http://ravenwestguitar.com/ Most of this comany's guitars are basically copies of other major-brand guitars, but they still perform well; the only complaint I've had so far is about the paint on the hardware. The paint on the harware finish seems to wear off easily, but it's not a major altering feature.
First up: Gibson
Gibson has established a long history in America, being renowned as one of the most popular and high-quality guitar manufacturers in the country, as well as being one of the most iconic. When people think of guitars, it's either the Gibson Les Paul that pops into their head, or the Fender Stratocaster (more later!).
Gibson's guitars are usually known by guitar players as having a thick, dirty sound; many of the classic rock artists such as Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones utilized Gibson guitars to create a hard, rebellious tone. The signature sounds of the guitar come from the dual-coil pickups in the guitar, called humbuckers. By winding two pickups close together, the hum generated by normal single-coil pickups are cancelled, as they are winded opposite of each other. Gibson isn't the only brand to do this, but almost all of their guitars are equipped with humbucking pickups.
Fender Stands as the other other guitar manufacturing standard; Fender produces perhaps the most iconic guitar of all time: the stratocaster. As a polar opposite to Gibson guitars, almost all Fender guitars have single-coil pickups; the sounds that emintate from this style are usually cleaner and crisper, giving strats their signature "quack". Stratocasters and Telecasters are most often used with cleaner, calmer songs, but they're defnitely not exempt from hard rocking sound. In addition to having two single coils on most models, some stratocasters have a humbucker mounted in the treble (back) position, allowing for cruchy rhythms such as Stevie Ray Vaughn's blues-driven riffing and Jimi Hendrix's also-blues-inspired melodies. The twang of the stratocaster may be more familiar in country-esque songs, like in the southern rock song Sweet Home Alabama, a tune almost everybody is familar with; in order to get such a sound, stratocasters produced after 1977 have a five-way pickup switch, allowing a combination of the back and middle/front and middle pickups to be active. Before this incorporation, players would put the switch in between the original first and second, temporarily wedging the selector in place.
Aside from the main two companies in my mind, many others exist: Ibanez. ESP, PRS, and also the sub-brands within the major manufacturers such as Epiphone and Squire (stratocasters). This next section won't be as thorough as the previous, but I'll try and put a few points in for each.
Ibanez and ESP are both used primarily for metal genres, and as such, I'm not as well-informed about them. From what I do know, the guitars are usually emphasized by two humbuckers pickups with one single-coil between both. EMG is a popular brand of pickups used by these guitars. Most ESP and Ibanez guitars are also fitted with some sort of tremolo bar system, usually some sort of Floyd Rose bridge.
PRS stands as kind of a mix of the other brands. Prices are usually high on the guitars, so I haven't ever came into contact with many, if any at all. Most of the PRS guitars feature a two-cut design, meaning they look similar to stratocasters. Being high-end guitars, PRS guitars have wonderful sound, usually being nice and warm while using two humbuckers.
Some PRS guitars are also fitted with a piezo pickup, which picks up sound in a different way than normal electro-magnetic pickups. Instead of translating disturbances in the magnetic field around the strings, piezoelectric pickups work by interpreting vibrations into electric signals. Piezoelectric pickups are commonly used on acoustic guitars, as some acoustic strings don't have the metal cores to disrupt magnetic fields.
But back to guitars; both Gibson and Fender give the option of lower-priced guitars, in exchange for lower quality materials and overall quality. Despite how this sounds, the guitars from Epiphone and Squire are still very good instruments to play, being nowhere near as bad as a random off-brand model (although you might find a good one every now and then; I'll cover one later). Instead of being produced in America, the guitars are produced in areas where labor is cheaper, such as Mexico and Korea. This is turn lowers the price of the guitar, in case you don't want to pay $3,000 on your first guitar (not guilty >_>)
Just as an additional side(ish) note, there are some off-brand companies that produce fairly high-quality guitars. My own personal guitar is produced by a small, family-owned company, and yet still is of good quality. Link here > http://ravenwestguitar.com/ Most of this comany's guitars are basically copies of other major-brand guitars, but they still perform well; the only complaint I've had so far is about the paint on the hardware. The paint on the harware finish seems to wear off easily, but it's not a major altering feature.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Angry Birds Floats Off Into Space
A popular app on both the Apple Appstore and the Android Marketplace (now Google Play), Angry Birds has become a cultural icon for phone games, spawning massive fanbases wearing anti-pig T-shirts and the small fluffy red things.
The newest entry into the series, Angry Birds Space, launched a few weeks ago, and surprisingly didn't contain too many levels. The new mechanics, however, are stunning. The game forces the player to utilize unorthodox methods for destroying their forever-nemisis pigs. Gravity, a key component of Angry Birds, is altered and in some areas completely removed from the game. While it may seem totally representative of "space combat", the birds still succumb to friction when flying through space, with their velocities strangely slowing down despite the total lack of atmosphere.
The game shouldn't take the average player too long to beat, having only two main chapters, with an additional five levels marked "hidden" where the player unlocks them by finding golden eggs hidden in the level. In total, there's somewhere around 50 levels, which is surprisingly lacking considering the average few hundred or so in the other three games. The other games have been available for quite some time though, so expect some additions to Angry Birds Space in the near future.
Have a download link, it's on the interwebz. (It'll cost you about a dollar on the Apple store...or whatever it's called, (sorry!))
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirdsspace.ads
iOS: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/angry-birds-space-hd/id501968250?mt=8&affId=1823863&ign-mpt=uo%3D6
The newest entry into the series, Angry Birds Space, launched a few weeks ago, and surprisingly didn't contain too many levels. The new mechanics, however, are stunning. The game forces the player to utilize unorthodox methods for destroying their forever-nemisis pigs. Gravity, a key component of Angry Birds, is altered and in some areas completely removed from the game. While it may seem totally representative of "space combat", the birds still succumb to friction when flying through space, with their velocities strangely slowing down despite the total lack of atmosphere.
The game shouldn't take the average player too long to beat, having only two main chapters, with an additional five levels marked "hidden" where the player unlocks them by finding golden eggs hidden in the level. In total, there's somewhere around 50 levels, which is surprisingly lacking considering the average few hundred or so in the other three games. The other games have been available for quite some time though, so expect some additions to Angry Birds Space in the near future.
Have a download link, it's on the interwebz. (It'll cost you about a dollar on the Apple store...or whatever it's called, (sorry!))
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rovio.angrybirdsspace.ads
iOS: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/angry-birds-space-hd/id501968250?mt=8&affId=1823863&ign-mpt=uo%3D6
And the Default Language Is...
I'm pretty sure that last time I checked, the official langauge of America is ENGLISH...not Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. So many times I've turned my school computer and began typing, just to find that I'm typing some foreign dialect, complete with random lines and squiggles.
Last year this wasn't a problem even relatively heard of, as it didn't exist.
But clearly, it's enough of a problem for me to complain about it, especially since IT'S THE SECOND TO LAST MONTH OF SCHOOL.
When we first encountered the problem on our first computer lab day way back in August, we were told that whoever set up the system had accidentally changed the default language; I shrugged it off, thinking it would be a simple, easy fix. One week passed, language bar still in Asian.
Two weeks later, still sketching out squiggles.
One month later STILL having no idea what I'm typing...
SIX MONTHS later, still nothing has been done to resolve the issue.
Even as I look now, I can see another student having to go through the hassle of reverting the default language to English. The process in order to successfully change the language to English involves right clicking the small language button in the bottom right corner of the task bar, clicking settings, then changing the default language to English, then hitting apply, and finally, closing the window. Of course, this only works some of the times, being almost as reliable as the economy. Of course, this means just about nothing.
If one chooses not to undergo this process and simply skips to just clicking the little language button and changing it to English, they'll probably find it about as effective as trying to play guitar with a drumstick (a chicken one, mind you). After this process, clicking on ANYTHING else will revert the language to whatever default oriental language happens to be default on your computer.
You'd think this would be a simple problem to fix, right? It might as well be, but apparently none of our media technichians know how to fix it, or they simply just don't know about it. Obviously, they'll probably know how to fix it themselves, but WHY haven't they? I really have no idea. From my guess, it probably still won't be fixed by next year, but who cares.
Oh yeah.
EVERYBODY IN THE SCHOOL MAYBE?
Last year this wasn't a problem even relatively heard of, as it didn't exist.
But clearly, it's enough of a problem for me to complain about it, especially since IT'S THE SECOND TO LAST MONTH OF SCHOOL.
When we first encountered the problem on our first computer lab day way back in August, we were told that whoever set up the system had accidentally changed the default language; I shrugged it off, thinking it would be a simple, easy fix. One week passed, language bar still in Asian.
Two weeks later, still sketching out squiggles.
One month later STILL having no idea what I'm typing...
SIX MONTHS later, still nothing has been done to resolve the issue.
Even as I look now, I can see another student having to go through the hassle of reverting the default language to English. The process in order to successfully change the language to English involves right clicking the small language button in the bottom right corner of the task bar, clicking settings, then changing the default language to English, then hitting apply, and finally, closing the window. Of course, this only works some of the times, being almost as reliable as the economy. Of course, this means just about nothing.
If one chooses not to undergo this process and simply skips to just clicking the little language button and changing it to English, they'll probably find it about as effective as trying to play guitar with a drumstick (a chicken one, mind you). After this process, clicking on ANYTHING else will revert the language to whatever default oriental language happens to be default on your computer.
You'd think this would be a simple problem to fix, right? It might as well be, but apparently none of our media technichians know how to fix it, or they simply just don't know about it. Obviously, they'll probably know how to fix it themselves, but WHY haven't they? I really have no idea. From my guess, it probably still won't be fixed by next year, but who cares.
Oh yeah.
EVERYBODY IN THE SCHOOL MAYBE?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Crysis 3 Reveal
And just in time for my finishing the games (and reviews, check them out- http://communicationblogdown.blogspot.com/2012/03/crysis-2-review-xbox-360-part-one.html), Crysis 3 got a brief leak in EA's store yesterday, with a picture of Alcatraz, the main character, sporting some sort of bow and arrow:
EA is planning an official reveal (although it's not offically anounced it's been Crysis they've been anouncing, it's fairly obvious that it is) on April 16th (four days!)
A Rush of New Music
Recently I've been listening to quite a bit of Rush, quite different form my usual Zeppelin obsession. Both are relatively within the same genre (classic rock...kind of), so it shouldn't be of much particular surprise that I've began a new taste in music.
Unlike most a lot of rock bands, Rush is composed of only three members, giving it the nickname of a "power trio". Instead of having a dedicated singer, the bassist, Geddy Lee, sings high-pitched Robert Plant-esque wails while at the same time pounding out complex bass riffs. Each member of the band is responsible for playing ridiculous amounts of intrumentation; for example, the drummer, Neil Peart, is completely surrounded by the massive amount of parts in his drumset. Geddy Lee, in adition to bass AND singing, also plays most of the syth parts in Rush's music.
Unlike most a lot of rock bands, Rush is composed of only three members, giving it the nickname of a "power trio". Instead of having a dedicated singer, the bassist, Geddy Lee, sings high-pitched Robert Plant-esque wails while at the same time pounding out complex bass riffs. Each member of the band is responsible for playing ridiculous amounts of intrumentation; for example, the drummer, Neil Peart, is completely surrounded by the massive amount of parts in his drumset. Geddy Lee, in adition to bass AND singing, also plays most of the syth parts in Rush's music.
Poor roadies...
Performing their song "Xanadu" in the past, each member of the band has had to utilize multiple instruments in order to get the full song out to the audience. Each guitarist had double neck variations of their instruments, with guitarist Alex Lifeson using a 6/12 combo similar to my own, and Geddy Lee using an unusual 4-string bass 6-string guitar combo in order to play the rhythm of the song.
Each member of the band is a virtuoso of their respective intrument, meaning that they're pretty much at the top of their level; each is a well-respected player.
So far, my complaints with Rush involve the complexities of their songs. Many of the songs present odd time signatures, making playing along very, very, VERY difficult to play to. It even gets to the point of 15/8 sometimes, and by then it's just ridiculous. The average non-musically inclined listener wouldn't even pick up on the odd times, so it just stands as some sort of "trolling" maneuver towards anyone trying to learn their songs.
As with Zeppelin over the summer, it's probably going to take quite some time to be able to name every Rush song by name; with a week of progress, I've only managed to learn a handful of songs. This is the necessary first step to throroughly learning a song, and the challenges/dares from my jamming drummer aren't necessarily helping either...
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