Dave's Journal, Oct2019
The scene above reminded me of the 19th century paintings of people milling about a park or a beach. And, since my photo came out not-so-good, I decided to create "art" out of it (he said with a smile).
I posted a bunch of pictures from the Lars Anderson Museum exhibit this past weekend:
European Motorcylces.
You didn't ask, but this is interesting.
Since the Godzilla roar is considered one of the most famous sound effects in film history, sound designers Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn were tasked with paying homage to it while revamping it and creating something new.
According to Edwards, they spent six months over the three-year production experimenting with different techniques such as a pine tar-coated leather glove on a double bass trying to match the initial metallic shriek, the following wail, and the finishing bellow of Godzilla's iconic roar. Using microphones that could record sound inaudible to human ears, the team recorded hundreds of sounds at a 192 kHz sample rate before slowing them down to an audible range until they stumbled upon the combination that gave them goosebumps.
The final version that was created was the 50th the team produced. The pair tested the roar on a back lot at Warner Bros., using a 100,000 watt tour speaker array for The Rolling Stones. The roar was powerful enough to rattle pipes and rooftops, and was estimated that it could be heard up to three miles away. For this experiment, the crew actually sent out fliers to surrounding communities warning the neighbors about the potential sound disruption; despite these preemptive measures, however, Burbank P.D. started getting calls and people were tweeting 'Godzilla's at my apartment door!' Additionally, Godzilla can make sounds other than roaring, best demonstrated after killing the male MUTO, and when he collapses to Ford's level, he growls in a soft way that sounds similar to a cat purring.
In an interview with Mike Dougherty, he revealed that even though he thinks the crew did a great job revamping Godzilla's roar, he pushed them further to bring it even closer to the original 1954 Godzilla's roar. The latest version of the roar measures 174 decibels. The final version of Godzilla's roar is overlaid with the roars from both the 1954 film and the roars used from 1962 to 1975.
Deb was off to lunch, so I made a quick trip tp the art museum just to get out of here. Discovered a side room with paintings from lesser known American artists. Nice stuff actually.
(I watched the whole movie: The Trailer !)
Borrowed Mike's power washer to do the front and side steps for a re-paint. Discovered how dirty the walkway had gotten, so I started on that as well. Power washing is easy but gets boring after a while, and once you start going around the house, you kind of can't stop !!
But I did stop after a while. Remembered it's October, and slid The Ghost of Frankenstein into the DVD player. My kind of "horror" movie. (Was Evelyn Ankers in every 1940's horror flick ???)
I'll have a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut - hold the hot dog.
Trying to clean up my diet but still come close to what I like to eat. And actually the sauerkraut and mustard are a big part of the taste! So this is not as bad as you probably think.
Had my 6-week post-op hearing tests today. My word recognition test scores have increased dramatically, and we are all giddy about that.
Back home now, listening to Jazz CD's via Bluetooth out of the basement setup. I am really happy about all this.
Decided I need to sell off some of the gear I have sitting idle. Good stuff, but I have too much of it. Happy that I had the experiences, but time to let some things go.
I put this 28mm Takumar on Ebay around noontime today. It sold (cash into my Paypal account) at 3:30 !! That's not the fastest ever (I once sold a camera kit in 20 minutes !!!), but it's pretty damn fast.
Been buying used DVD's lately of movies I like that no one else does. One of my favorites is this small holiday movie. They call it a "Christmas movie" but it's not actually - it just happens in the winter. Very laid back and well acted. Cost me about $3 !
Ears, Electronic Ears .... my brain is getting used to all the new and different sounds the world is feeding it. Sometimes it's a blessing, sometimes it's a curse. Takes time, I guess. It's a new world.
But sometimes it's nice to be deaf for a short while. Very peaceful. I watch train videos (from the driver's seat) across Europe, Asia and South America with the sound off. Wonderful and peaceful.
One of the cats has been sneezing a lot. Deb was up all night worrying. I know there is a Vet bill in my near future.
In the movie Gigi (Leslie Caron), there's a scene where her aunt instructs Gigi how to eat "ortolans" ....? .... so I looked it up. This makes interesting, if mildly disgusting, reading.
The ortolan is served in French cuisine, typically cooked and eaten whole. Traditionally diners cover their [own] heads with their napkin, or a towel while eating the delicacy. The bird is so widely used that its French populations dropped dangerously low, leading to laws restricting its use in 1999. [from Wikipedia]
For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets was the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds - captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac - were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God. [from The Wine Spectator]
(Assembling a chair.)
