From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V4 #153 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Wednesday, May 26 1999 Volume 04 : Number 153 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: i'm back [Monya De ] RE: Alloy: Phantom Menace + TMDR single for sale ["Ulfstedt, Louise" ] Alloy: Beatnik news [RThurF@aol.com] Re: Alloy: Phantom Menace [RThurF@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 03:13:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Monya De Subject: Alloy: i'm back Hi Alloy, Just wanted to let you know I'm finally back. My life was getting pretty wild for a while, but I"m studying abroad in England now (!) and things aren't quite as frenetic. I've been traveling lots and seeing tons of plays (got to meet Cate Blanchett after seeing her in the West End production of "Plenty") After toying with the computer for a while I got Real Player to work and listened to the birthday CD...good job!! I LOVED the outtake covers as well as the one that made it in...especially the Dissidents video where he's holding the piece of cake...priceless..my friends found me in here cracking up... One anecdote from me--Last night I was settling down to write a paper on my mac and started macamp to play the "Submarines" live mp3. Nothing happened and I realized that my computer was on mute. So I hit the button and what comes out but big bang backwards and Submarines at the same time...The Gate was in the CD player and had been playing the whole time but on mute. It was kind of cool..like a techno Submarines... Monya ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 09:12:42 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: Phantom Menace + TMDR single for sale Lucky buggers! We don't get the Phantom Menace until AUGUST! ARGHHH! So much for living on Europe's periphery,....(sob!) a mightly miffed Lissu :-( > -----Original Message----- > From: Keith Stansell [SMTP:Keith@Stansell.com] > Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 1999 4:19 AM > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Re: Alloy: Phantom Menace + TMDR single for sale > > > Bugger. > > I guess in a few short years theaters will have digital projectors and we > will all be watching new releases at the same time. > > Sorry to torture you with our advanced movie reviews. I guess at least > you > have less chance of seeing a dog of a film on opening night though. > > -Keith > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Lem Bingley > > > > > First I'd just like to point out that Episode 1 doesn't come out in the > UK > until June and I just hate all Americans for hogging the reels until then. > By the time we get the film it'll be worn out. > > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 14:43:56 +0300 From: "Ulfstedt, Louise" Subject: RE: Alloy: i'm back Hey Monja! Nice to hear from you again! Where are you based in the UK? Do tell all! Cheers! Lissu :-) > -----Original Message----- > From: Monya De [SMTP:piratwin@leland.Stanford.EDU] > Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 1999 12:13 PM > To: alloy@smoe.org > Subject: Alloy: i'm back > > > > > Hi Alloy, > > Just wanted to let you know I'm finally back. My life was getting pretty > wild for a while, but I"m studying abroad in England now (!) and things > aren't quite as frenetic. I've been traveling lots and seeing tons of > plays (got to meet Cate Blanchett after seeing her in the West End > production of "Plenty") After toying with the computer for a while I got > Real Player to work and listened to the birthday CD...good job!! I LOVED > the outtake covers as well as the one that made it in...especially the > Dissidents video where he's holding the piece of cake...priceless..my > friends found me in here cracking up... > One anecdote from me--Last night I was settling down to write a paper on > my mac and started macamp to play the "Submarines" live mp3. Nothing > happened and I realized that my computer was on mute. So I hit the button > and what comes out but big bang backwards and Submarines at the same > time...The Gate was in the CD player and had been playing the whole time > but on mute. It was kind of cool..like a techno Submarines... > > Monya > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 11:31:09 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Alloy: Beatnik news Beatnik Launches the BEATNIK Xtra for Macromedia Director Artists; New Product Provides the Macromedia Community the Power to Bring Interactive Music and Audio to the Web SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 1999--Beatnik, Inc., the leader in interactive audio technology for the web, video games, and TV set-top devices, announced today the Beatnik Xtra. The Beatnik Xtra is based on the Beatnik Audio Engine and can now be integrated into Macromedia Director to enable web designers and game developers the ability to easily add high-quality, interactive music and sound to their projects without the bandwidth limitations currently associated with Director audio. The announcement was made during the Macromedia Users Conference taking place in San Francisco from May 25 - 27, 1999 (Booth No. 215). Running within Macromedia Director, the Beatnik Xtra equips web and game developers with the tools to design and manipulate audio within their Shockwave content. Macromedia Director users will have the capability to interactively "sonify" their web-sites with Beatnik's easy-to-use software and audio library that enriches a user's Internet experience. For example, with Beatnik, audio can be played while opening a web page, downloading graphics, and as a response to events such as mouse clicks or "mouse overs" or when certain actions are taken in a game. Beatnik Xtra also provides copyrighted music and the ability to create new sounds so that Macromedia Director developers now can control aspects of sounds and music such as tempo, instrumentation, key and other features of MIDI-based music. "This is a breakthrough for the Macromedia Director community because Beatnik offers a quick and easy solution for integrating the highest quality music and sound into web sites and games," said Jeff Martin, senior vice president of Marketing at Beatnik, Inc. "Beatnik is giving the Director community a creative advantage as they can now design web sites without the concerns of sound file size that usually accompany the typical Director project." "Site builders and game developers are always testing the Internet boundaries and Macromedia Director used with the Beatnik Xtra encourages them to realize the technology's full potential," said Thomas Dolby, founder of Beatnik. "The Beatnik Xtra helps deliver on the promise of the web and interactivity by bringing the surfer the entertainment they expect with sound and music. Now our Director users will have access to the same Beatnik audio tools used by the makers of popular games such as Hexen, Descent, Spectre Supreme/Spectre VR, Sim City and LucasArts' Star Wars Screen Entertainment." As well as a shipping demo version bundled with Macromedia Director, the BeatnikXtra is available at a low $299 per user price and can be download from Beatnik's Web site (www.beatnik.com), where a special area has been set up to provide tips and information for Macromedia Developer users. Beatnik, Inc. also makes available the Beatnik ActionSet Pro for Macromedia Dreamweaver, an advanced set of behaviors for $49.95. A demo version of the Beatnik ActionSet also ships with Dreamweaver. What is the Beatnik Xtra? The Beatnik Xtra leverages the success of Macromedia Director as a tool for creating high-quality, interactive music and sound and delivering it via the Web at low bandwidths. The Beatnik Xtra makes interactive music on the web a reality in Shockwave, with 64 channel stereo audio, as compared to 2 channels currently in Shockwave for Windows, and gives Shockwave interactive features like dynamic panning, powerful mixing, and a synthesizer for playing back great-sounding interactive RMF and MIDI music. For a demo, see http://www.altoids.com. About Beatnik From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Beatnik, Inc. delivers interactive audio software technology and musical content via the Web. The Beatnik Audio Engine has been licensed to an expanding family of strategic partners, including Microsoft/WebTV, Sun Microsystems, Netscape, Oracle/NCI, Intel, NetObjects, Macromedia, and Be, Inc. Its Rich Music Format (RMF) is a platform-independent standard for music and audio on the Internet. By coupling expert engineering skills with an expanded catalogue of musical content, Beatnik, Inc. is dedicated to realizing new possibilities for interactive music and audio within multimedia and on the Internet. Beatnik, Inc. (formerly Headspace, Inc.) was formed in 1993 with a team of software innovators and world-renowned visionary, musician and composer Thomas Dolby Robertson. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 12:25:21 EDT From: RThurF@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: Phantom Menace This won't give anything away to those of you who have to wait til late summer! Some of my thoughts on seeing Phantom Menace last night: First of all the sound of this film was incredible! I don't mean just depth and texture (though there was plenty of each) but sheer originality & 'fittingness' of the sounds they chose to apply to the visuals. In particular, the pod race... those engines are like nothing I've ever seen but the sound of them during the race was absolutely perfect. Ewan MacGregor and Liam Neeson were fantastic. Liam created a beautiful character that had such strength, wisdom and passion about him - perfectly done. Ewan was just amazing as the young Obi-Wan, using what had already been developed in the character and really living it on the screen with youthful energy.. Obi-Wan's dedication to patience and order showed through even in his swordfighting - or lightsaberfighting - his forms by-the-book and his balance never overreached (I really enjoy swordplay if you hadn't noticed.. it was my own favorite part of martial arts when I studied!) Incredible performance. I wanted to know more about Darth Maul, whose history and essence were left unexplained. The actor was a brilliant and powerful swordfighter, really frightening! Though Dave and I have noticed that George Lucas has a tendency to leave his evil characters mysterious, like a stone wall. I think it might be due to the origins of the whole series itself, when Lucas was recovering from serious illness - the thing that has to be defeated cannot be reasoned with or in some cases even understood. It's just pure bad news that has to be brought down. Just a thought, anyway. And the music!! A revision of the expected themes of course, plus some new, particularly beautiful ones. John Williams is a master 'borrower' of known music to set his moods, and do so in a truly unique and respectful way really. The most breathtaking of these is the one based on 'Fortune plango vulnera' from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (this song is the second part of Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi - right after 'O Fortuna' for those who might have the cd) Very appropriate, obviously... There was one aspect of the film on which the whole mood seemed hinged... the clownish character of JarJar Binks. Suffice it to say that though he is over-the-top, without him this film would have been just black and dripping with utter dread, a really dark movie. Appropriately so of course, as it foreshadows the emergence of Vader... but I understand that the film might have not come across to much-younger audiences as well without having big silly JarJar around. I am curious to see how they will handle the other two films in this trilogy, which in the end can be nothing but genuinely tragic and dark by nature of their story. Robin T ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V4 #153 ***************************