Summer 2008 Office Hours

Summer 2008 Office Hours:
Mondays & Thursdays 6:00 - 7:00 PM  

Lucas Post G111
5/29/08 - 6/30/08
Subject to change

Please note that due to the demands of the department I am often not in my physical office during office hours. Ask at the sound window if they know where I am.

It is always best to make an appointment
via e-mail first.

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Summer 540 Project Proposals

Sound Assignment 1
DUE MONDAY
MEMORIAL DAY at 10 PM

All students should have received an e-mail from me.
If you have not, please contact me here.

Please post a proposal for your final project here, including a brief description of your proposed sound design.

Remember that the scene should be 3-5 minutes long and include DIA, MX, FX, BG, and Foley. If you choose an already existing scene, you should not attempt to reproduce the sound design of the scene exactly as in the film. The point of the assignment is to be creative and create an entirely new sound design. Consider it a blank slate.

If you are in doubt about your choice, you should list more than one possibility and I will try to guide you towards a good choice. If you choose one of your own films, you must e-mail me a small QT movie of the scene (or upload it to my iDisk) so that I can look at it before I approve it.

To enter your proposal:
Click on “Post a Comment” immediately below to post your assignment. If you do not see it, try clicking here.

If you have a Google or Blogger account, you may log in under that name. If not, please click on OTHER and enter a name in the appropriate field.

This will be posted publicly, so if you wish to, you may choose a handle instead of your real name. If you do so, you MUST e-mail me your real name too so that I know who you are.

Enter the Word Verification.

Enter your proposal in the LEAVE YOUR COMMENT box. Click PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT. ("Enter" or "return" will not work.)

If you have any problems, e-mail the proposal to me and I will post it.

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Cards Beat Dodgers Again

Brad Penny had one bad inning and gave up 4 runs to the Cardinals, but it was enough to lose the game 4-0. Not much great to talk about for the Dodgers; we can only hope that Klay Kershaw is in fact the second coming as he has been described by Dodger farm fans, and that his first major league game tomorrow (at age 20!) will be a win for the Dodgers.

Jones Blows it for Dodgers... AGAIN!

The Dodgers played a tight but frustrating game tonight; after 9.1 innings, the game was postponed because of rain. Lowe had pitched well but gave up one 2-run homer. The score was 2-1 at the break.

Finally restarted after more than an hour, Kemp made it to third, and Young to first with 2 out, and who pinch hits?

Andruw Jones. Strikeout to end the game.

Not sure what Torre is thinking, unless he want to prove to Dodger brass the Jones should be dumped once and for all.

Plus, fireworks were cancelled due to rain.

N.B. Looks like they had the fireworks anyway... at almost midnight!

Dodgers Sweep Reds

The Dodgers had an all-Japanese pitchfest tonight, with Kuroda going 8 strong innings, and Saito coming in for the save.

This was one of the strangest games I've ever seen. High winds blew fly balls all over the outfield. Papers were flying everywhere. The Dodgers scored four runs in odd ways: a wild pitch, a passed ball, a wild pickoff throw, and a squeeze play that should have been an out but the pitcher lobbed the ball to short to the catcher and pulled him off the plate.

The small crowd of 33,000 enjoyed the game.

AMERICAN IDOL FINALE

I was at the Dodger game, so I was lucky; I watched the last 3 minutes of A.I.

The people ruled, and chose correctly. David Cook won in a landslide. The judges backpedaled, apparently suspecting that they were wrong last night. The only thing I missed by watching only the last 3 minutes was an explanation for why Randy was wearing Captain Kangaroo's jacket.

AMERICAN IDOL FINALS

The judges really, really want Baby Boy Archuleta to win. So much so that their accolades will almost certainly backfire and Cookie will win.

Archuleta was terrible all night long. His one strength was that he picked better songs. Elton John, John Lennon, and the hit-the-nail-on-the-head inspirational song were all better choices than Cook's. Archie did butcher Lennon's masterpiece, plus he had already sung it earlier in the season!

Cook had some weak moments in each song, but is much more talented. I think the judges are wrong to want Archie; obviously they thin he is more marketable. They might want to look at the sales figures on Jordin Sparks' album (last year's winner) versus Daughtry's. Cook will have a full career. Archie is a flash in the pan, and when he stops being "cute," all appeal is lost for him.

DialIdol predicts Cook by a significant margin. That doesn't include text messaging, which is a significant portion of the younger David's audience, so it will be hard to tell until tomorrow night.

Dodgers Beat Reds in Bottom of 9th

Blake DeWitt got the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 9th, after a touch-and-go game in which Brad Penny gave up 4 runs in the first 3 innings. Two errors by the Reds also helped the Dodgers by allowing them to tie it up in the 5th at 5 each.

DeWitt had 2 hits and 2 RBI, and Kemp had 4 hits and a walk. Beimel had a tough 5th inning; first he thought he had the 3rd out on a foul ball, then he thought he had it on a pick-off which was ruled a balk. But he came through anyway.

The crowd of 34,000 was small for Dodger Stadium but very vocal in the 9th, greeting a great ending on a beautiful night for a game.

PLAYTIME

Jacque Tati's brilliant film PLAYTIME screened at the Egyptian Theater tonight. This is a 70mm print of a film shot in 65mm and mixed in 6 channel sound. It's a restored print including a few new minutes of material not seen in almost 30 years. It's a film that is hard to write about because it is so unique. Tati's films have virtually no dialogue, and no plot. They are extremely visual, with a very creative eye. They are comedies, but they are so subtle that if you are not very carefully paying attention, you'll have no idea something funny is happening. Unfortunately, contemporary audiences do not have the patience for this type of movie.

The film is so good that after seeing it you want to watch it again immediately, and when you leave the theater, you will look at the world differently. If I had to pick a favorite film, this would be it.

The film is playing again on May 25th, at the Aero theater in Santa Monica. I
very highly recommend the film. It rarely screens, this may be your only chance to see it where it was intended, on the big screen.

AMERICAN IDOL 3 RESULTS

As expected, the black girl gets sent home, and the two white bread boys move on. It's too bad. I do hope Archuleta loses, it's like Barry Manilow and Liberace had a bastard step-child.

JOHN ADAMS

I've only watched 2 episodes of the HBO series so far, but it's outstanding. An excellent cast shows what it must have been like to live in the important age of the American Revolution. The series has excellent sound and music. So far the only criticism I have is the overuse of Dutch angles, which is very distracting.

Sex: The Revolution

Sex: The Revolution is a new documentary series on VH1. I expected it to be a little too much like INDIE SEX, which was pretty good. It covers some of the same territory, but instead of being about sex in media, it's about the sexual revolution. The first episode covers the 50s, with an emphasis on Kinsey and Hefner, and is definitely interesting viewing. So far I recommend it.

AMERICAN IDOL 3

Boy, oh boy, do the judges want Syesha out of the competition. The only problem with this is that it leaves David Archuleta in, who has a shelf likfe of about a year left before his white-bred performance goes stale.

It's hard to imagine that David Cook will not win.

Dodgers Lose Third Straight

The Dodgers lost for the second night in a row to the Astros, this time a 5-0 shutout, with only 3 hits in the game.

Billingsly had a terrible first two innings, but after giving up 5 runs, settled down for the next 3 innings, followed by 3 great innings by Chan Ho Park and another by Joe Beimel.

Dodgers bats were dead. The offensive highlight of the night was a double by Loney. The Dodgers need to get it together.

Dodgers Let Astros Win

Derek Lowe of the Dodgers pitched poorly again tonight, letting the Astros walk all over them for a 7-1 win. There was little to be happy about from the Dodgers. Loney & DeWitt each got two hits. That was the highlight. Otherwise the team played poorly against a middling pitcher who got his first win.

Let's hope they turn it around for the rest of the weekend.

AMERICAN IDOL 4 RESULTS

Jason Castro's singing may be half-baked, but he was totally baked on tonight's show, especially during his sing-off. At least the right person is going home.

Next week will be interesting. I think Syesha actually has a chance to knock Archuleta off.

AMERICAN IDOL 4

Not much to say here, except that it will be nice to see Castro finally go home. He should have left about 4 weeks ago. He was quoted in this week's Entertainment Weekly as saying he had pretty much given up and was ready to go. Forgetting the lyrics to a Bob Dylan song he had said was one of his favorites pretty much nailed the lid shut on his coffin.

David Cook continues to impress and may very well be their most successful find in the history of the show. Archuleta continues to un-impress, but the screaming teens may keep him on for the final two. Honestly, I don't think he belongs in the finals based on his vocals, Syesha is a much better entertainer, but as a black woman competing against a cute white bread boy, she may not have a chance.

Film Music Article

I'm quoted several times in this Arizona Republic article about film music. It's pretty introductory for anyone who knows anything about film music.

Dodgers Beat Mets, 5-1

Chad Billingsly pitched a good six innings, giving up only one hit, a solo homer. The Beilel-Broxton-Saito combo provided a perfect 3 innings to end the game.

The bigger story was the Dodgers offense, which had 3 home runs, including Blake DeWitt's first major league homer. The offense was strong all night, starting with Rafael Furcal's lead-off homer, through Matt Kemp's 2 hits & 2 RBI and Russell Martin's 2 hits. Pierre got a hit and a walk and scored 2 runs.

The Mets looked weak, particularly their middle of the order, stranding 7 men on base. Their record is a lot better than they looked tonight.