My 5 Favorite Movie Love Themes

Like I said last week, I’m gonna be listing down my 5 favorite movie love themes. Except for my second favorite, what I’m sharing below are the instrumental versions of the themes. Personally, I find listening to instrumental themes relaxing and soothing both to the body and to the mind. Moreover, playing them in an acoustically-enhanced place at night time adds intimacy to the mood.

5> My Heart Will Go On from Titanic (1997)

Composed by James Horner and sang by Celine Dion, this song almost did not make it to the movie soundtrack as James Cameron, the film’s director, did not want any songs with singing to be included in the movie. Had it not been included, the movie would not have tied the record for most Oscar nominations or Oscars won as the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1997.

Favorite lines from the song:

Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold to
In my life we'll always go on

The clip below is entitled Rose and is also from the movie’s soundtrack. This is a variation of My Heart Will Go On (you will hear the similarity).




[More Trivia] According to popular myths, the Titanic was the first to use the internationally recognized Morse Code distress signal "SOS". This is not true as the SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. Also, SOS does not mean Save Our Souls, Save Our Ships, etc – it doesn’t mean a thing. It was used because it’s easy to remember (In international Morse code, three dits (…) form the letter S, and three dahs (- - -) make the letter O - "SOS" became an easy way to remember the correct order of the dits and dashes). By the way, the old distress signal was CQD.


4>Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Memorably sang on the film by Audrey Hepburn (her character on the film, Holly Golightly, is also one of her, if not her most, memorable role of all time), this composition of Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Henry Mancini (music) won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1961.

I have no favorite line in the song, yet I like listening to it very much. It’s one of those songs which you will love because of its music.




[More Trivia] The famous black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the opening scenes of this movie was designed by Givenchy and was sold for $807,000 on December 4, 2006 at Christie's Auction House in London, making it the second most expensive piece of movie memorabilia ever sold. The first is the Best Picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind.


3> We Have All the Time in the World from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Composed by John Barry, the song title is taken from James Bond's final words in both the novel and the film.

Favorite lines from the song:

We have all, the time in the world
Time enough for life
To unfold
All the prescious things
Love has in store




[More Trivia] On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) was George Lazenby’s only film role as James Bond. Sean Connery returned as Bond on the next film, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Dame Diana Rigg, who played Contessa Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo in the movie, also portrayed the original Mrs. Emma Peel in The Avengers (in the 1998 movie remake, the part was played by Uma Thurman).


2> I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing from Armageddon (1998)

Written primarily by Diane Warren, this Aerosmith hit song was originally intended for Celine Dion. This was also the band’s first #1 song in the Billboard Hot 100.

Favorite lines from the song:

Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I’d still miss you baby
And I don’t want to miss a thing

Powerful lyrics, right? I agree with Simon Cowell when he said that this is "one of the great songs of all time".

No matter how hard I look, I can’t seem to find an instrumental/orchestral version of this song. If you have one, please send me a copy. :)




[More Trivia] Dubbed as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band", Aerosmith is the bestselling American hard rock band of all time, holding the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group. They were ranked #57 in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2005.


1> As Time Goes By from Casablanca (1942)

Written by Herman Hupfeld, this song helped Casablanca achieve its iconic status. This song almost did not make it to the film as Max Steiner, a Warner Bros. composer since 1936, did not want it to be used, and lobbied to replace it with an original composition he would create for the film. As this would mean some scenes that directly referred to the song would have to be reshot - and Ingrid Bergman had already cut her hair for her role as Maria in For Whom the Bell Tolls, the song stayed in the final cut.

Just like Moon River, it’s one of those songs which you will love because of its music. It’s this song’s music that makes it a classic.




[More Trivia] Considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, Casablanca was based on the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's written by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.

The line "Play it again, Sam." was never spoken in the film. The closests are:

Rick (Bogart) says: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. Play it!".

Ilsa (Bergman) says: "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By"'.



Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.imdb.com

http://hollywoodlostandfound.net/


For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com

BATang Batman - My (Partial) Batman Collection

Having a new sixth-scale Batman fig. and with the new Batman movie coming up this July, I got excited in sharing my Batman Figs collection.

This is actually a reprint of an article/writeup which I submitted to the weekly online newsletter of my former company. Back then, the company encouraged its employees with collections of any kind to submit a photo of their collection accompanied by a short writeup.

The picture below is an old photo. Since the time it has been taken, I've acquired a number of new Batman figs. Enjoy and thanks for looking!

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Since I was a kid, (The) Batman - The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, The World’s Greatest Detective - has always been my favorite cartoon superhero. For me he’s the best superhero around as he has no uberhuman power/ability and always relies on his wits, body and will in saving the day. As one cartoon character puts it, he has both a magnificent brain and a great heart.

I’ve started collecting these figures around 5 years ago, when I got my first job. Now, I have over 40 of them and there are still many more on my wish list. In selecting what to buy, I have two personal criteria: (1) the sculpt / form – how the figure looks like and how it was molded and (2) the paint job – the colors must be perfectly applied and must not look messy. Even after buying them, I keep them sealed – Mint In Sealed Box (MISB)/Mint On Card (MOC), in order for their value to appreciate.

Of the figures shown, I have three favorites:

(1) the one on the top row, 2nd from right - The Silver Age Batman – for it’s very classic look
(2) the one on the second row, 2nd boxed fig from the right – The Alex Ross-designed Batman – one of the contemporary looks of Batman, simple yet very classy
(3) the one on the fourth row, 4th from the right – The UnMasked Batman – it has Batman’s body with Bruce Wayne’s head on it, reminding everyone that he is still human inside that famed costume

Now you may ask why I collect toy figs. Well, two things. First, my Batman figs remind me, however childish it may sound, that there’s a superhero in each of us. This ‘superhero in us’ will help us defeat all the problems and all the obstacles that we presently have, and even those we will encounter in the future.

Second, it reminds me about an important philosophical aspect of life. One’s life is a collection of one’s achievements and desires. A collector perseveres to achieve that one thing that will complete his collection - a collector’s Holy Grail. In a similar manner, we search tirelessly to find that one thing that will complete our lives.

For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com

My New Toy!

Last week, I got this new 1:6 The Dark Knight Christian Bale Batman from one of my suki toy shops. This was supposed to be released early- to mid-July but DC Direct decided to ship it much earlier. It's a good thing that I visit my suki shops regularly.

This is my first 1:6 Batman fig as figures of this scale tend be more expensive than the usual 6-inch releases. I felt that I've got to have this Deluxe Edition. The sculpt of the figure is great, in my opinion, and it's face is bears a very striking resemblance to that of Bale's (as it should be). In other words, it's a very good representation of the Batman appearing in the current movie. And second, speaking of the soon-to-be-released movie The Dark Knight, this figure appears the "The Dark Knight" costume consisting of detailed armor, a poseable fabric cape, a utility belt, and the figcomes with movie-specific accessories. These things are enough reasons for any serious Batman collector to pick up this recent release.

Below are some pics of the fig.

Front Cover

Inside

Fig

Back Description

My 5 Favorite Action/Adventure Orchestral Film Soundtrack

As a frequent moviegoer, I believe that between two movies which both have a great story/plot, memorable acting from their casts, excellent film editing and visual effects, it is their individual film soundtrack that will determine which one is very good and which one is great. The soundtrack set the mood of the movie right from the beginning and highlight the important scenes by providing a touch of realism. It sometimes helps in making a movie achieve an iconic stature by providing an “element of recall” thru subliminal means to the moviegoers who have seen that movie (after watching movie with a good theme music, you will often hear some people, mostly kids and kids-at-heart, whistling/humming the film’s theme music).

A movie’s film score is the music composed or used in a film (usually orchestral in nature), whether it was originally composed for the film or used in another context previously. It’s a common misconception to synonymously associate a movie’s theme song with its film score. The film score, the theme song and the other theme music used in the film are generally contained in the film’s soundtrack album.

When I watch a movie, I give an effort to notice and to appreciate that movie’s soundtrack. As an avid movie collector and home theater buff, one of my criteria in selecting a movie DVD from the store shelf is that movie’s particular sound effects and/or soundtrack. When I watch a movie in the comfort of The Sanctuary (the name that I gave to my small home theater room in the house), I want to maximize the capability of my home theater system and enjoy a total movie experience.

But before I go on with my top five, I want to make clear that I only considered action/adventure films because I’ve noticed that movies from this type of film genre provide a wide range of orchestral theme music – slow, fast, from slow to fast, from fast to slow, and romantic instrumentals at times. (Next time’ I’ll be listing down my five favorite romantic themes/theme songs.)

5> Superman March

The Superman March, also known as The Superman Main Theme, was composed by John Williams for the movie Superman (1978). Since then, his composition was adapted and subsequently used in the other Superman films that followed, including in the latest movie from the franchise, Superman Returns. The score for this release was composed by John Ottman using some of Williams' compositions.

The sound clip below is the concert version of the original release. Right around the middle of the theme, you will hear a little portion of the love theme from the movie, Can You Read My Mind.

[More Trivia] Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, got the hero’s alter ego Clark Kent from the first names name of two actors, Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Metropolis, Supes' home city was from Fritz Lang’s movie of the same title.

In 1966, a Broadway play based on Superman was produced. The title of the play was It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!, with Bob Holiday playing as Superman/Clark Kent.

4>The Pink Panther Theme

The Pink Panther Theme was composed by Henry Mancini for the movie The Pink Panther (1963). What I like about this theme is its jazzy arrangement. If you like saxophone jazz, you should definitely listen to the many different variations of this theme using a very good pair of headphones. You might find them rather relaxing.

[More Trivia] A lot of you probably know this by now, but for those who do not, well, The Pink Panther being referred to by the title of the movie is actually the gem stone in the movie plot and not the Pink Panther cartoon character.

The femme fatale in this movie was played by Capucine. Her name is pronounced "Kap-oo-seen"-- is French for the Nasturtium flower.

3>Raider’s March

The musical score for the movie Indiana Jones and the Raider’s of the Lost Ark (1981) was composed by John Williams. I think that this is one of the greatest musical themes ever produced. All I can say is that the moment you hear William’s composition, you can only think of two words – BIG ADVENTURE. It makes excited that you would want to go with Indy on his adventures.

[More Trivia] The film Indiana Jones and the Raider’s of the Lost Ark (1981) was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1999.

2>Batman Theme

Yeah, I know that The Raider’s March should be higher than this theme in the listing, but hey, I’m a Batman fan so I’m putting this as my number 2.

The theme for the movie Batman (1989) was composed by Danny Elfman. His work added a dim tone to the already dark and gothic visual style of Tim Burton. As a Batman fan, when I hear the theme, I can visualize Batman riding inside the Keaton Batmobile (the newest one is called The Tumbler) and then springing out in action, climbing the walls of an old Gotham city building, and eventually striking his famous pose on top of that building’s gargoyle statue, watching over his beloved city during the night, with the moon shining and the Bat-Signal illuminating behind him.

[More Trivia] The movie Batman Returns (1992), whose theme was again composed by Elfman (a variation of his first one), was the first film to use Dolby Digital technology when it premiered in theaters in 1992.

1>Star Wars Themes

I may be a big Batman fan but I know how to appreciate a great musical theme when I hear one. For me, John Williams’ Star Wars soundtrack is the best one out there. I agree with the people who say that what George Lucas created is a movie saga, a mythos, the Star Wars Universe. And Star Wars achieved its iconic status with much help from Williams’ compositions in the two trilogies. His compositions, starting from the Phantom Menace up to the Return of the Jedi, tell the whole story of the mythos.

If you notice, I used the word "themes" above. This is because in reality, there are lots the Star Wars Themes; each is very good in its own right. When you group them together, you have one great big movie soundtrack. The usual one is the Star Wars Main Theme, sometimes known as Luke’s Theme, and is considered to be the anthem of the saga, often associated with bravery and adventure. Other notable themes/scores from the trilogies include The Imperial March aka Darth’s Vader Theme, the Force Theme, Duel of the Fates, the Throne Room, and Battle of the Heroes. The saga even has a romantic theme for Anakin and Padme, Love Across the Stars.

Below, I have a chosen the Track 16 of the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack. This score contains parts of most of the important scores form the whole saga (except maybe the Darth Vader theme).

[More Trivia] THX stand for Tomlinson Holman’s eXperiment. It was developed in Lucasfilm by Tomlinson Holman for use in the soundtrack of Lucas’ Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983).

Best of the Rest

The following themes are still some my favorites; they’re not on the same level as my top five but they’re still very good.

James Bond theme

“Dum di-di dum dum” - this signature theme of every James Bond movie is a famous one. Used in every official James Bond film produced, the theme and its variations found in the movies are played during many different types of scenes, most memorably in the famous gun-barrel sequence. Monty Norman is credited for writing this theme while John Barry is credited for the 'definitive' orchestration of the theme, starting with Dr. No (1962).

Among the many musical themes/scores associated with the James Bond franchise, my favorite score is the instrumental We Have All the Time in the World, from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). It’s very romantic and sentimental, rightfully, as this is the only movie where James Bond fell in love and was married. At the end of this orchestral track, you can hear the famous James Bond Theme.

Jack Sparrow Theme

I just like the Jack Sparrow theme from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). It is officially credited to Klaus Badelt. When you listen to it, you can just imagine Captain Jack and his crew battling Capt. Hector Barbossa and his cursed henchmen in classic swashbuckling-style, aboard the sailing Black Pearl.

Spiderman Theme

Actually, the Spiderman theme that I like is not the official movie theme. Rather, this is the Spiderman cartoons theme which the first sequel adapted to its soundtrack. It’s actually sort of a secondary theme song. I liked it because it was performed by Michael Buble, giving it a classic and jazzy feel.

This is all for now. Next time, I'll be listing my top five movie love themes.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/features/functions.asp


For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com

[Trivia] “Here’s looking at you, kid” - 5 Famous Photos

The other week, as I was looking for a good classic movie to watch and at the same time reading a bit about Marilyn Monroe, I came across the famous classic shot of Marilyn with her dress blowing up around her legs as she stands over a subway grating. And I thought, “Now, here’s a picture I’ve seen a couple of times but what do I know about it? I only know that it’s Marilyn with her dress blowing up. Why is it famous?” Being a trivia buff that I am, I looked for some details about that famous pic and while researching in the net, I found a lot more other famous photos. Each of these photos, some of which I am happy share to you now, have its own little story or trivia to tell.

Before I list down the five ones I’ve chosen, I want to make clear the sole criterion I used in choosing them – I want the readers to have a light, casual and relaxed reading experience. I intentionally did not choose any violence- or war-related photographs as I might offend some people. But for those who are interested in these (including myself), I’ve listed some sources below for them to explore later.

The Blue Marble

Figure 1 The Blue Marble (from http://www.ehartwell.com/Apollo17/)

Yes, the picture of the Earth that we’ve seen a lot times has a name. The Blue Marble is the famous photograph of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 spacecraft and was the first clear image of an illuminated face of Earth. This photo was taken on December 7, 1072 and is officially credited to the whole Apollo 17 crew, namely Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt. This famous photograph’s official name is AS17-148-22727 and was originally taken upside but was rotated before it was distributed.

In 2005, NASA released a new version of the spectacular image collection called Blue Marble: Next Generation. It provides a full year’s worth of monthly observations with twice the level of detail as the original.

[More Trivia] The original caption: "View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast."

Guerrillero Heroico

Figure 2 Guerrillero Heroico - Che's famous shot by Alberto Korda (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara_(photo))

Figure 3 The original 1968 stylized image created by Jim Fitzpatrick. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara_(photo))

Guerrillero Heroico is the title of Ernesto "Che" Guevara’s famous photo. Translated, this means “Heroic Guerilla”. The picture was taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960 at the memorial service for the victims of the explosin of the Belgian arms transport "La Coubre".

However, it was Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick’s stylized 1968 image, adapted from Korda’s original, which paved the way for Che’s iconic status in art and pop culture.

[More Trivia] In 1968, Gerard Malanga painted tiled variation of the Fitzpatrick stylized image sold it to a gallery in Rome. It was initially attributed to Andy Warhol, a central figure in pop art movement.

Maryland Institute College of Art called Guerrillero Heroico "the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century”.

Albert Einstein Sticking Out His Tongue

Figure 4 The famous Einstein photo showing him sticking his tongue out (from http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/albert-einstein-1951.html)

This picture was taken on Einstein’s 72nd birthday in Princeton on March 14, 1951 by a press photographer, Arthur Sasse. According to stories, Einstein and some friends were returning from an event when reporters and photographers followed them to the car, trying to get shots of Einstein. Though already sitting in the car, he was still bullied by the press and eventually got annoyed at their persistence. He stuck out his tongue in response for more requests to pose and smile and Arthur Sasse pressed the button of his camera in just this moment.

The original picture shows Einstein sitting on the backseat of a car between Dr Frank Aydelotte, the former head of the Institute for Advanced Study, and his wife. Einstein liked the picture very much that he cut it into shape so only he can still be seen. He had made several copies of it and sent the edited picture as a greeting card to friends later on.

[More Trivia] Though Einstein is known for his work on the Theory of Relativity, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.


Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

Figure 5 Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (from http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/us-marines-raising-the-flag-on-iwo-jima-1945.html)

The famous picture Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. It shows six US soldiers raising the American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima (lit. sulfur island) during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was of strategic importance to the Allies campaign in the Pacific during WW II. This photograph won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, the only picture to do so.

[More Trivia] The picture of Rosenthal was actually the second flag-raising. The first one was captured by Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery. It was decided to raise a second flag after the first one was determined to be small. Incidentally, the two flags are both 48-starred flags and are currently stored in the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Also, more than a quarter of all the Medals of Honor given to Marines in World War II were for the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The Famous Scene from the The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Figure 6 The Famous Scene from the The Seven Year Itch by Sam Shaw’s (from http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/TGP_Choice/Details/Marilyn_Monroe.fci)

This classic and famous shot from the classic scene of the movie The Seven Year Itch (1955) was taken from late Sept 14 to early morning of Sept 15, 1954. The place was Manhattan's Lexington Avenue at 52nd Street close to the Trans-Lux theatre. This famous shot actually has a lot of variations as a lot of press photographers were present at the publicity stunt organized by director Billy Wilder and team to promote the said movie. The movie starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. The event was the filming of the sidewalk scene of Marilyn’s character enjoying the breeze coming up from the subway grating on a hot New York evening.

Of the many pictures taken at that famous event, one pictures that attained iconic status was that of Sam Shaw. Shaw was hired by the studio to shoot the film's poster. His pictures became one of the most reproduced photos over the last 50 years.

[More Trivia] Marilyn’s character name in the movie is The Girl. In the said scene, the type of full skirt she is seen wearing was first introduced by Christian Dior in 1948, the Carolle Line (from French corolla, roughly “petal”. This style was christened the New Look by American Journalists, the term being coined by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar).

Marilyn was also the very first Playboy playmate, gracing the cover and the centerfold of the mag’s very first issue on December 1953.

Shortly before her death, Marilyn had a photo shoot with photographer Bert Stern. This photo shoot was commissioned by Vogue magazine in late June 1962. It was later published as a book and photo shoot entitled The Last Sitting. (In 2008, Stern shot recreations of the images used by Vogue with actress Lindsay Lohan as the model this time. It came out on the February 25, 2008 issue of New York.)

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.ehartwell.com/Apollo17/

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

http://www.famouspictures.org/

http://www.cameranaked.com/

http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/

http://www.einstein-website.de/z_information/variousthings.html#tongue

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0309/lm_index.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2276305/The-Subway-Grate-Scene-in-The-Seven-Year-Itch-The-Staging-of-an-AppearanceAsDisappearance

http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/TGP_Choice/Details/Marilyn_Monroe.fci

http://jabberclarks.blogspot.com/2007/02/test-pattern.html

http://www.breakingnewsbook.com/

This sight contains recreations of famous ad memorable photograph scenes using Lego - http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/sets/72157602602191858

For comments, suggestions and requests, you can contact me at Eyes.X.Only@gmail.com