Aneurysmi

It's been over a month that my friend Jan suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm and was hospitalized. The first few days, after I heard the news, were shocking and fearful because no one knew what to expect and because the odds of survival seemed grim.

Well, she did survive and continues to recover. She remains hospitalized, but for the last two weeks has been making new progress in her recovery every day. Every day there have been updates in a blog kept for her by her husband and by her brother, and every day there have been postings that tell of each step of her progress, and every day her blog receives comments from her friends near and afar, offering their encouragement and prayers. Her survival and recovery appear miraculous, and I have been feeling so grateful for the prayers that have been answered.

This week I received an email from my church mailing list. It was a prayer request for another family that just recently and suddenly lost a member to an aneurysm. This news has left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand I feel so grateful that Jan has survived and recovers, and that our many prayers have been heard. How lucky she is! On the other hand, I am shocked to hear of the loss to the other family caused by the same condition that almost took Jan.

It seems so arbitrary. Does God answer prayers on a democratic basis? Were there more of us praying for Jan, harder and louder, than for the other woman such that Jan survived and the other did not? Or is there some principle of conservation involved, such that when one person was saved, another had to be taken instead?

These are rhetorical questions; yet I invite thoughtful comments from anyone reading this.

Inspiration in a flame

There was one time, back in the late eighties or early nineties, that I went to a dinner event with my parents. I think the occasion was around the Ukrainian Christmas season. I sat at a table with my parents and with various people, and there was a candle on the table - I just became so mesmerized by it. I stared into the little flame and watched it flicker around and just totally tuned out everything that was going on around me. I didn't realize in the moment that I was totally tuned out, but I suddenly became aware when my mom tried to get my attention because someone had asked me a question and I had completely ignored them.

My memory of this experience of being mesmerized by a candle was part of my inspiration for the Mission: Dawn scene I wrote called Heart in the Fire. In this scene, Dreamer is mesmerized by the flames of a bonfire. Writing this scene has given me a chance to get into Dreamer's head and explore the inner workings of his mind.

Creating a whole world

I'm back to chapter 2. My latest scene, Heart in the fire, is an introspective scene that focuses on the character named Dreamer. I've been layering chapter 2 so that the scenes alternate between the ship-side story and the village-side story.

I must admit, I've been finding the village-side story much harder to write, much harder to imagine. Likely that is because I am creating everything from scratch. I am creating a whole new race of people, a whole new culture and customs and characters, and I am trying to make them seem foreign and interesting and credible.

In comparison, telling the ship-side story is much easier, because it's all about humans, and I've watched tons of Star Trek episodes so I have much more familiarity with creating stories about starship crews.

Refactoring chapters

Chapter 2 is getting bigger than I expected it would be and I'm thinking I may split or refactor the chapters. However, I've decided against doing it now, in the first draft. I think it makes more sense to do that in the revision - when I do the second draft.

It will be a lot easier for me to do it then and make a lot more sense, because by then I'll know everything that happens in the story - right now I'm still making stuff up.

Mission: Dawn - working on chapters 2 and 3

I "officially" started work on chapter 3 in January. Writing for chapter 3 gives me a psychological boost; I feel like I've made more progress. I still have some work to do on chapter 2 mind you, so I'm dividing my writing time between both chapters.

I've revised the ending for the scene called Celebrations - Part 2. The previous ending forced me to get into certain plot points that seemed to soon for me; I didn't know the characters well enough yet to make them do the things I was going to have them do. The revised ending gives me more space to explore the characters before I start testing them.

I had initially intended to have Dawn arrive at Planet 542 at the end of chapter 2 but have decided to postpone that until the end of chapter 3. The reason for this is that I want to include the story of Dawn's encounter with a gaseous phenomenon while en route; this encounter is a setup for something important that will happen much later in the story. However, it would be too much to tell the story that is unfolding in the village on Planet 542 and Dawn's story and pack it all into one chapter.

Comment about photo-mosaic

I received this comment on my previous post about using Photoshop to create a photo-mosaic:

There are many utilities available to do this tiling with pictures. I did a quick search using "mosaic pictures software" and got hundreds of hits. Try soft411.com/software/mosaic-pictures.html Utility costs $12 US.

So after checking out the link above, as well as doing my own quick search, I have learned a little more about this art. In a real photo-mosaic, the colour tone of the micro-images is adjusted so that it closely matches the colour of the primary image.

I used a much simpler technique when I did my Photoshop experiment. First of all, I used a small number of "micro-images" because I wanted to experiment with the technique rather than get bogged down with the sheer volume of manipulating some 100 images. I used eight images as my micro-images, arranged in two rows of four. Then I duplicated the two rows to create the four by four matrix. I performed a mirror transformation on the duplicate rows so it would not be too obvious that there was a duplication.

I brought the primary image into a separate layer that I positioned on top of the micro-image layer. I made the primary image layer partially transparent in order to allow the micro-images to come through. By doing so, I didn't have to adjust the colour tone of my micro-images.

Now, if I was going to apply this technique on a larger scale, say using a underlying grid of 10 by 10, or 25 by 25, it would take a lot more work on my part. However, I know that Photoshop has features for automating repeated tasks, so I could use this as a learning exercise to learn how to use those features.

Photo-shopping

Not too long ago I saw an ad - from a distance it looked like a picture that was very grainy. From a closer look, the grains were actually smaller pictures that were arranged together, like a mosaic. Depending on what you focused on, you either saw one large picture, or hundreds of small pictures.

I was curious to learn how to do this technique, so one sleepless night I experimented with Photoshop for a few hours using several pictures of my new baby niece. It's not exactly like the ad I saw, but in the process of experimentation I learned to use a few more features of Photoshop.

My Photoshop experiments are yet another way in which I can express my creativity.

Word of the month - blurf

I'd like to propose a new word to be added to the lexicon of popular usage - blurf. Blurf is a portmanteau, a fusion of the words blog and surf. I define blurfing to be the act of randomly or sequentially from one blog to another, typically spending only a short time at each one.

Here are some examples of how this word might be used in a sentence:

I usually blurf for about half an hour before going to bed.

I was up all night blurfing and found this really cool blog.

A social study reports that most people who blurf are looking to read about a life that is more interesting than the one they are living.

A search for blurf in wikipedia shows that no page with that title exists.

A google search on the word blurf leads to someone's blog at www.blurf.com. Further examination reveals that the authour's choice of the name blurf originated from an alcohol-related incident at a college party.

Therefore I can conclude that my proposed definition for this word is original and unique.

It will be interesting to do another google search in a year to see how popular the word has become (or not).

Where do ideas come from?

Last night I had a dream that there was a new spin-off TV series called CSI:Elsinore. Their first episode is an investigation into the suspicious sudden death of the king of Denmark. Yes, it's CSI as written by William Shakespeare. How do you say the evidence never lies in iambic pentameter? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are CSI agents.

Oh Freud, what would you make of this one? Something is rotten in the state of my mind.

Friend in hospital

A good friend of mine had a brain aneurysm on Friday evening. She is in the hospital and has had surgery performed, but she is still unconscious. For a while she was not able to breathe for herself and was put on a respirator. At the last report, she was breathing for herself but remains on the respirator until she regains consciousness.

My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family for a successful recovery, and for comfort during this trying and uncertain time.

Goal for 2006

For much of 2005, I had a statement at the top of my blog that said, Goals for 2005: Build and use a peer review network for my songwriting. I would say I've fulfilled the intent of that goal by bringing my music to Date with a Tape, Song Assessment Service, and GarageBand.com.

I have a new goal for 2006: To raise the bar for my music artistically and as a business.

Raising the bar artistically means I will reintroduce vocals to my music in a way that their quality is significantly improved compared to the way it was in the first song I submitted to GarageBand.com, Yesterday Seems So Far Away.

Raising the bar as a business means I will find creative ways to market my songs like The Great Escape. I am particularly interested in finding a film producer who will use it for a soundtrack. I feel encouraged to do so by some of the reviews I've received.

I plan for my next recording project to be Painted Smiles, a song I wrote and recorded several years ago. I revised this song last January, so I'd like to record a new version from the ground up.

The journey continues!

Great Escape reviews - Part 3

Here is another sample of reviews I have received on GarageBand.com for The Great Escape.

From Long Beach, California -

nice production i lke the guitar

i like the the way it builds in the middle it seems to be a little slow at the beginning i would say it should go into the
building prosses sooner .

that being said i do like it

i was bored at the first minute but from then on it was interesting i liked the mix also

From Berlin, New Jersey -

the guitar playing is quite inspiring! i wish i could play half as good as this! the song however, has a mathematical flaw. it begins in 3/4 timing and somehow jumps to 4/4.

From Canada -

Nice guitar work - definately has a mood going. There are some tasty melodic bits in this piece.

All you need is some equally creative lyrics and someone to sing them and you've got yourself a great song.

From Nashville, Tennessee -

seems like the half-time change could work in a better arrangement, but it's not working for me in this one... and the mix really gets cluttered right before the 3 minute mark...

I like the overall feel though... and it seems like a re-mix could be a big plus!

From Sweden -

Quite nice feeling in this song but there are some "blurs" in the choosen el.guitars and mixed rythms wich make it a bit messy,clean it up a bit-take it easier than you do in the end...

From Ireland -

Some really good guitar ideas and nice tones for the mostpart, some of the levels could be better. Nothing apart from the guitar stands out though, drums keys and bass could do with being fleshed out more. Nice piece overall.

From Salem, Oregon -

Awesome work!!! You crafted this song very well and really produced a nice piece of art. Your recorded sounded perfect. I give you an A in all catagories.

From Fort Wayne, Indiana -

I dig all of the guitar work, the acoustic playing is really nice. The subtle percussion adds a nice touch to it. Nice ambient noises as well!

Great Escape reviews - Part 2

I'm pretty happy with how The Great Escape is faring on the GarageBand.com charts. It is currently sitting at #26, and has been as high as #24 out of 82 on the Progressive Rock channel. It has a current score of 4.3 (on a scale of 0 to 5).

This song has earned itself the following Reviewers' Picks awards:

Track of the Day on 1 Feb 2006 in Progressive Rock
Best Guitars in Progressive Rock, week of 30 Jan 2006
Best Production in Progressive Rock, week of 30 Jan 2006
Best Mood in Progressive Rock, week of 30 Jan 2006

Here are some more reviews.

From Iowa City, Iowa -

Nice relaxing mood. Almost like new age. I hear nice stuff going on. I don't hear a theme to grab onto, but that is ok as long as it remains interesting. So far it is. Nice guitar work. I'd like to hear something more to tie it all together. Maybe. Nicely done, though. Pleasing to the ear. You should have heard the song (loose term) before this one.

From Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom -

the guitars are produced very intimately, apart from the electic solo guitar which is anything but subtle and doesnt and seem to sit well in the mix - needs more reverb id say. great harmony all the way through. i really dig this track, reminds me of marillion. also, moving and vibrant percussion drives the track along.

From Boise, Idaho -

This is a very pretty instrumental tune with some very nice guitar playing.

It kind of reminds me slightly of The Flower Kings and for some reason a little bit of Bon Jovi.

It almost has a western cowboy feel to it.

There's alot of lead guitar playing as the song builds.. maybe a tad too much for my tastes... but it's not bad.

From Tooting, London, United Kingdom -

Nice mix and subtle percussion. Wasn't sure about the really processed distorted guitar patch that snaked in over the top. Everything else sounds so nice and organic that it seemed rather out of place...maybe get a nice tube amplifier...(if this is a tube amplifier I apologise). Ebbs and swells are pleasant. By 1.07, the drummer is my favorite musician. It's 1.33 now, and my only gripe really is the guitar tone - sounds like an ugly cheap little pedal, wheras everything else is really lush and natural sounding. Keep everything else, bass, bells, cymbals, acoustic geetar - just find a nicer distorted guitar tone. Good luck!

From Toronto, Ontario -

Nice chord changes. Got me interested from the first bar. Liked the strings. Reminds me of Metallica's Unforgiven. Has a bit of a western vibe to it. Very Enio Morricone. Great percussion. Nice crescendo towards the end. Needs a bit more of a lead. Electric guitar solo sounded off in places towards the end; too much going on at the end, but maybe that's whatyou were going for. Cool. I'll check out more of your stuff.

Great Escape reviews - Part 1

Here are some of the reviews that I've received on GarageBand.com for my song The Great Escape, and my thoughts.

From Chicago, Illinois -

This has an interesting and unique feel to it. The percussion sounds good down the middle with the acoustic tracks panned around it. A couple minor performance flaws but well conceived and performed well overall. Shows some good musicianship and originality. I would have liked to hear more and see where else it could have gone.

Nice comments, and I feel encouraged by them. As far as where the song could have gone - it went were it went, and if it had gone anywhere else it would have not have been The Great Escape but a different song.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -

OK it seems very strange to be rating this song in this genre when there is no lead vocal, and so much depends on that. I like the fact that you treat your guitars as lead instruments though, and I like how they work off each other. The bongos are sort of bothering me- they seem out of place or they are mixed too high. When it kicks in around 1:50 or so that is very cool. I have to say this sounds like a soundtrack more than a stand-alone song- a tune I could compare this to is Alice in Chains "whale & wasp"- which treats the guitars like you guys do- but check that tune out, because alot happens in a couple minutes.

I am glad that this reviewer picked up on how we used guitars as lead instruments - that was completely intentional and it is nice when listeners pick up on what we were trying to do with the song. I really like how the guitars play off each other as well; I am glad that this reviewer picked up on that.

From Dallas, Texas -

the intro is a bit weird. It sound like some of the sounds are meshing. Maybe try some compression on the bass. there are some nice melodies here. very somber.

The intro may sound weird because there is actually no intro. I did not write this song to any particular form; when I originally wrote it I couldn't think of an intro, so I asked myself why not write a song without an intro? Of all the songs I've written, this one in particular said to me that if I was going to experiment by writing a song without an intro, this was the song to try it on. The vocal version of this song also has no intro - the vocals come in immediately.

The Rolling Stones did a song called Ruby Tuesdays which also has no intro.

From New Haven, Connecticut -

I enjoyed this very much, the overall fell of the song is mellow and very earthy with a nice slight change in tempo at about 1;20 that works realy well. I really enjoyed the use of percussion as to drum set on this, it helps keep the fell real and not over stated. The guitar work was nice and consistent throughout and compliments the organ very nicely in the final 30 seconds of the song. Good mix, good production value and a good song, I can't find anything bad to say about this one.

I totally, totally like this review!

The Great Escape - reviews are coming in

The reviews for The Great Escape have started coming in, and so far they have been pretty good. As of today, it's ranking is #31 of 80 in the Progressive Rock genre - I'd say that is a significantly better ranking than I had with Yesterday Seems So Far Away last September (Yesterday has a current all time ranking of #1,624).

I am pretty excited about the results I am seeing so far.

Submitted The Great Escape to GarageBand.com

I finally did it - I submitted The Great Escape to GarageBand.com. I have been planning to do this since around October (see GarageBand.com - next step), and I've been actively working on preparing a track for submission since December (see Holding back vs taking action).

Although I had considered retitling the instrumental version of this song, I ended up deciding to keep the name The Great Escape - I've decided not to second-guess myself, and my reviewers will say whatever they say.

When I submitted Yesterday Seems So Far Away last September, that song ranked in the bottom three of its peer group. I will consider it a success if The Great Escape attains a significantly higher ranking.

So I guess I'll sit back for a while and wait for the reviews to come in and plan how I'm going to approach my next recording project.

My birthday presents

I got my birthday presents last weekend. Why so late, three months after my birthday? Well, my sister had given me a gift certificate to use at Chapters, and J had given me a gift certificate to use at Blockbusters. Both gift certificates have been sitting on my dresser since then, until I decided that they had sat there long enough.

I used the Blockbusters card to get the Star Wars Episode III DVD. I used the Chapters card to get a book called The Artist's Way.

Thanks, J, for the Star Wars DVD. Thanks sis, for the book.

Should I change the name?

I once said that when it comes to titling an abstract photograph, you can call it anything you want, because it's abstract - who's going to argue with your title? I titled one of my photos something like Ice Cream Dripping on a Sidewalk on a Hot Summer Afternoon - just because I could.

I figure the same reasoning could apply to a song that is instrumental - right? I've been debating whether I should rename The Great Escape when I post the instrumental version. In the lyrical version of my song, Great Escape refers to an escape from a dreary life running in the rat race where it's a drag just getting out of bed, to a life of passion and adventure with every day bringing so many possibilities.

However, I wonder if the title is a bit of a cliche. This title is shared by the classic 1963 movie (which I haven't seen yet) about an escape from a German POW camp. The band Marillion also did a song with the same name on their 1994 CD Brave. Is this title already overused?

Alternate titles I've considered for the instrumental version are Evolution and Metamorph. The way the three sections of the song build towards the climactic ending make me think of the metamorphosis from larva to pupa to butterfly.

Probably I'm second guessing myself and should just stick with my original title though.

Great Escape - alternate mix

The idea to do an alternate mix came from all those times I spent in the studio during mixing sessions on past recording projects, listening as SS would solo various combinations of recorded audio tracks in order to set their relative levels. He would mute this track and solo that track, and each combination would give the song a different feel and different character. I pondered that we could use the same source recordings to create a totally different mix of the same song just by emphasizing a different combination.

I thought we could try this on The Great Escape. I didn't have anything specific in mind for an alternate mix; I simply thought let's try this. I discussed this with SS and he suggested that we try an alternate approach to the percussion. The mix we made in December used a standard tom kit (sampled); this time he wanted to try it with an ethnic style percussion.

So we built a new set of percussion tracks and then mixed it with all the guitar work we recorded in December - and the idea worked. I had thought that with an alternate mix, I'd end up with a two different flavours of the same song; instead we ended up with an improved version of the song.

We still need to do a final mixdown and master the track, and then I'll be ready to post it to GarageBand.com.

Learning to extract video

My LifeDrive came with a bonus CD that contains an application called Pocket DVD Studio. This application is for converting DVD movies to be played on a Palm device. The file it creates is an AVI file - which can be used in a ShowBiz project. ShowBiz is the application I use to edit my video projects.

What all of this means is that I will be able to create videos that incorporate scenes from movies. That could open the door for new levels of creativity in future video projects.