Welcome home!

Though it's really outside the scope of this blog, I just had to convey my thanks to the happy couple--we had a really lovely day.

A New Hope and End Credits

The binary sunset scene from A New Hope. What an incredible fusion of story, acting, music and lighting. If George Lucas truly intended this to be the most moving, most powerful scene from the original trilogy then I take my hat off to him. If on the other hand it was supposed to be merely a transitional piece, then I give all credit to John Williams. Perhaps Williams understood the importance of this moment more than Lucas--it wouldn't surprise me in the least. John Williams is an interpretor. He interprets the emotion of the scene into a language we understand even if we don't know how. Music. The last track on the Revenge of The Sith soundtrack entitled, 'A New Hope and End Credits', is possibly his finest work to date. I am deeply moved every time I listen to all 13 minutes and 6 seconds of it. In truth it's a collection of some of his finest Star Wars themes, but it is by no means just a compilation. As you approach the final 4 minutes it becomes clear that Williams (and the Orchestra) realise that this really IS the greatest film score of all time, the result is a kind of triumphant joy that I can honestly say I have never heard before in a piece of music of this type. One thing's for sure, I will be sitting through the entire end credits on the 19th of May! 'Anakin vs. Obi-Wan' and 'Anakin's Dark Deeds' are both incredibly powerful pieces unlike anything heard in any other Star Wars movie, which makes me think that perhaps this won't be like any other Star Wars movie.

SONY PSP

I had a go on a PSP the other day. It's an astonishing machine. The screen is probably the best I have seen--the guy in the shop fired up Spider-Man 2 on UMD, it honestly looked sharper than the DVD! (thanks in part to H.264) It's an amazing little gadget, something that only Sony could have devised perhaps? I have a feeling that this will be an even bigger hit than the PS2, just wait until the big hacks start arriving, I'm thinking VNC clients, proper web browsers, wireless video & audio streaming clients (more on that later), IM clients, USB mouse and keyboard support and of course emulators!

Hidden Dragon!

The 29th of April, that's the date that Apple have set for the release of Mac OSX 10.4 TIGER. I'm really looking forward to this one, I have so many uses in mind for many of the new features. Automater, Voiceover, Spotlight, Dashboard and Quicktime 7 seem to be very useful. I'm also hoping to get full Bluetooth support for my Nokia 6630. Core Image is probably one of the most important innovations to come to the Mac OS in many years, but it may take a year or two to really make an impact in the graphic arts industry. iChat AV 2 looks amazing and the new DVD player seems quite nice. I love big upgrades like this--it's almost like getting a whole new Mac. :)