 Thread: Alarma Chronicles Bookset on Ebay |
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With my wife having been out of work now for 7 months, I've decided to part with some of my collectibles to help with the finances. As of now the only DA thing I'm selling is my autographed Alarma Chronicles Bookset. If you're interested in adding this rarity to your collection, here's the link...
ALARMA on EBAY
Thanks!
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| Thread: Dfbb/alarma |
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I've said it here before, but DFBB sat in my collection for at least 8 years before I ever played it. When I listened to it on a whim about 6 or 7 years ago, I was blown away. DA's masterpiece, IMHO.
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| Thread: Stupid newbie question |
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Mountain Fan
i think radrockers still has some things that are no longer available in the webstore |
Yeah, if you wanna pay out the you-know-what!
Speaking of which, anybody wanna buy my autographed Alarma Bookset for $250 bucks?
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| Thread: Fearful Symmetry X-Files Episode |
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Well, you know, being the resident weirdo dork around here, I gotta say it...
Sync the album with the episode and see what happens. Might be interesting...
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| Thread: Yee-Haw! |
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"I betchya' aren't expecting no resurrection too soon..."
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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2ND PLAY THRU
Return Of The Beat Menace -
Starts with Truman looking at photo albums with his mom and wife, them trying to calm him down with reassurances of this past. It’s kind of slow at first, but a couple neat little things happen as we near the end. First, “imagination’s on the rise again” line comes as he spots Meryl’s crossed fingers in a wedding photo, and his reaction is to “hide his heart away.” Then one of the more brief yet undeniable syncs occur when the line “your satellites can reach that Eskimo” is sung; we see as very brief close-up shot of Truman playing with a model of the Earth that has a satellite orbiting it.
Strange Animals -
Starts as Meryl is leaving for the hospital where she works. Being suspicious, Truman follows her to see if she really is a nurse, and is met with all sorts of people trying to keep him from roaming the hospital halls while the chorus plays nicely in the background. Just as we see him spot her in the fake operating room, we hear the lines “thought you were this, thought this was you.” Song ends when we get to the travel agency.
Darn Floor Big Bite -
Starts a bit sluggish in the agency and then the bus , although the driver’s expression of frustration at the motor trouble goes nicely with the first chorus. It picks up with the second verse and especially the chorus as we see Truman figuring out the looped pattern in his rear view mirror (bike, walker, car)…”can I ever hope to get it right, can’t get it right.” And when we hear “terrible terrible sight,” Truman’s face lights up in mock horror. Good 2nd half after a slow start.
The Earth Household -
Nice thematic pace to them driving around, trying to leave town (once again, the earth household), but it really gets cool when we get back to the bridge where he can’t bring himself to drive across. To see them streak across being soundtracked by “struggle to go somewhere beyond the earth household” is a sight to behold. And even before the next song came on, I remembered what they encounter next, and I knew it would be interesting…
Safety Net -
After their dramatic bridge dash, the show crew decides to stage a disaster to keep Truman from driving out of town (a mock safety net, if you will). He’s not having any of it and runs away, and men in protective suits go chasing after him as Terry sings “beneath the watch towers and wires are armies that march across frozen ground.” “You’re gonna call me a liar when I try to tell you what’s coming down,” this time has two meanings; not only Truman trying to point out his lost perspective, but the fact that he’s being lied to by the powers that be trying to tell him what coming down. And just like that satellite globe thing earlier, during the 2nd chorus as we hear the term “safety net,” we see a flash of a net someone is trying to apprehend him with. If it’d had been there the whole time, that’s one thing, but to flash right at the moment that line was uttered was pretty trippy. As the song devolves into its more frenetic vibe near the end, the music especially goes great with Truman and Meryl fighting and her rushing to Marlon’s “safety net” right at the end. Really good from start to finish.
Pictures of the Gone World -
This is probably the lowest “valley” segment of the whole thing, and even then it’s not all that bad. The song plays during the long scene where Truman and Marlon and talking about the weirdness that’s going on. It’s a chance to simply watch the actors’ faces and see what impressions the combo makes. However, as the scene continues into the next song, we do indeed encounter a…
Divine Instant -
Christof, the master of divinity in this world of his, creates a masterfully designed divine instant when he reunites Truman with his dad. The emotion expressed by everyone - Truman, dad, Christof, crew, viewers - coupled with this song, is simply “divine.” It truly has to be seen to be believed. It may be the highest “peak” in this Himalayan-like range of beauty.
Half Light, Epoch, & Phase -
“These are the images I arrange to fill in my report of you,” goes perfectly with the Truman show documentary and Christof interview hosted by Harry Shearer. The first “half light, coming through a dark glass darkly” line coincides nicely with two quick shots of Christof inside his “moon” room. The 3rd one shows us a baby inside a womb.
Unattainable Earth -
The interview with Christof continues, then Sylvia calls into the show and confronts him. It does drag a little, but not bad. Subtlety comes into play again…
The Shape of Air -
And continues throughout much of this song, although it does go nicely with Truman playing in the mirror again. Ends rather oddly, as I guess the shape of air probably is.
My notes on the 3rd play thru are a bit sketchy, as is the play thru itself. It’s still good, but doesn’t quite live up to the majority of what we’ve seen so far…
3RD PLAY THRU
Return of the Beat Menace & Strange Animals -
My notes say pretty much what the above sentence does. It does get better with…
Darn Floor Big Bite -
The fake sun quickly rises as we hear “illuminate my muddled heart.” Gets better near the end as Truman starts to battle with the sailing.
The Earth Household -
Definitely the highlight of the 3rd play thru, we once again revisit the sea as Truman struggles to go somewhere beyond, and is nearly killed by Christof. Very nice throughout.
Half Light, Epoch, & Phase -
Good thematic syncs again, but gets really specific when “last word on the very last page” occurs as Truman runs the boat into the sea wall.
Unattainable Earth -
Occurs while Truman and Christof talk back and forth. Cuts to black right as song ends.
The Shape of Air -
Credits coda.
Like I said at the outset, the past few months is the first time I've experimented with this sync stuff for several years. These latest experiments have yielded really good results in combining Forrest Gump with The Soft Bulletin, and Dumbo with Crime of the Century. But this Darn Floor, Truman combo takes the cake! I hope you like it.
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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| quote: |
Originally posted by jiminy
as the listener ..its easy
as the "discoverer" - I tip my hat.
we KNOW how the dark side of Oz came about..in some "den " of an apartment where some college kids were wasting (wasted) the day watching TV with no volume (hmm how'd I know kids did that???)
one of em said" pass me that......doods- check that out"...
I assume you were a bit more methodical
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I was indeed sober when I paired the two together, but there was no real methodology other than the standard "start at the beginning." From there, once it became obvious it was working, I did tweak the replays a bit, but even then that was very minor and completely off the cuff. The first try stuck.
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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I gotchya, jiminy. Yeah, I do tend to do well at those kind of tests, as well as Word Jumbles, crosswords, etc. Still, though, you might be surprised at how easy your mind can acclamate itself to a sync, especially something like this, since you love both Truman and Darn Floor.
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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| quote: |
Originally posted by jiminy
uhm....I wont ask how it is you have this TREMENDOUS amount of time on your hands........................
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That's always been a misnomer about this sync stuff, that you somehow have too much time on your hands. Not the case at all... I've been working and dealing with life, and only this afternoon did I finally find a window of opportunity to write down those cliff notes (I'd been wanting to do it since the weekend). As far as the actual synching thing, it's just like sitting down to watch a movie, and other than cueing everything up, it only takes as long as the film does. No biggie, really.
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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Okay, now even though I don’t have time to go into an exhaustive commentary on this pairing, I do want to try and give you, the potential viewer, at least some idea of why I think this thing is pretty cool.
First of all, the common thread these two share is the search for answers, both tangible and intangible. This is key to remember because it’s what holds things together, especially when there are slower parts (the valleys I mentioned above). Thankfully, there is a steady stream of obvious “occurrences” (sync matches, repeating patterns, and other odd interplays), that’ll keep you busy and guessing what’s coming next (hopefully!). If you’ve never tried synching before, you may have a period of adjustment, not unlike having to get used to reading subtitles on a foreign film.
Context is everything, when it comes to synching. In my particular context with this Darn Floor, Truman thing, being very intimate with the Da album and fairly familiar with the movie, it allowed me to go pretty deep into the rabbit hole and see quite a bit. That’s why I think if anyone else is gonna “get” this and appreciate its magic, it’ll be someone here. If I didn’t think it was worth everyone’s time and effort, I wouldn’t bother.
So here’s the deal; I’m gonna talk a little bit about each of the songs/scenes chronologically, mainly touching on highlights, but I might also go a bit more in depth when necessary (or I feel like being wordy!).
1ST PLAY THRU
Return of the Beat Menace –
This song serves as sort of an overture, as any opening credits’ song will do, but it also deftly paints Christof and his supporting cast as “the beat menace,” the system that is bringing Truman “low.” A couple of quirky little things take place near the end. "He buys a suit and tie" is sung right as Truman walks out the front door in a suit and tie. Also, I found it odd that his address was #36, which in minutes is how long DFBB is. At the end, things quickly take a sharp upward swing when a klieg light falls from the heavens right as the song ends and…
Strange Animals –
The song starts as the light crashes into the ground, and as we hear the “straaaaaaange animals,” Truman is cautiously, curiously examining this “strange animal” indeed. The scene then shifts to the shots of the Sea Haven cityscape, people bustling about, where we are treated to a lovely intersection of the line “moving around in a great make-believe,” just as a panoramic view of the city square is gracing the screen. Moments later, this is followed by the equally impressive coincidence of hearing “if I were to give you an animal’s name” line occurring just as Truman is backed up against an advertisement for Kaiser Chicken (okay, so the chicken’s name is Kaiser!), by two older gentlemen who are pushing themselves on him. Of course, this is soundtracked by “yes, I want to hold you, but it is not clear…” just as Truman turns to them and says “just what your intention if I get too near.” When you see this all playing out in rapid succession, it is quite spell-binding. The song ends shortly after we’ve arrived in his office.
Darn Floor Big Bite -
Kind of starts off subtly with Truman messing around with the magazine he’s getting images from to piece together his long-lost love, Sylvia (more on her later). A brief quirk takes place on a guitar part during the first chorus (that “dank-dank” thing Flesch has going on), and then it gets really good on the second chorus when Truman is wanting to take a ferry across the water, but because of his childhood trauma (more on that later, too), he struggles on the pier as music, lyrics, and the film sync together very nicely. The song ends with Truman and his friend, Marlon, hitting golf balls off a bridge.
The Earth Household -
In our story, Sea Haven is the “earth household” that serves as Truman’s “castle of woven half mist” that he “struggles to go somewhere beyond.” This is the first of three instances where this song will play, each one of them touching on this theme. On this first play thru, we get to see an unbelievable sequence in a flashback of a young Truman and his dad going out for a sail, when a storm comes and sweeps his father away. The synching of the lyrics with scene this is simply heart-breaking…
Struggle to go somewhere beyond
The earth household, the earth household
Go to the other unknowable side
Of the earth household, the earth household
We chase with the hounds for the meaning of the world
The unattainable meaning of the world
Now I'm gonna run to the other side
Beyond the border land of death I ride
Slip through a tear in the fabric of the world
The earth household, the earth household
Speak the foreign language of a place beyond
The earth household, the earth household
He also talks about wanting to go to Fiji, yet another “place beyond…”
Safety Net -
This first play through is not quite as exciting as the next one, but it does continue with the over-arcing themes. Cool weird instance on the first line, “down to the black bridge of sighs” as Truman sees a bum on the street who is his dad, but not really…yes, because he’s “the father of lies.” As Truman starts freaking out, other cast members intervene, pushing away his “dad” towards a bus, where he slides in just as we hear “caught in the safety net” for the first time. “She falls, she mends,” coincides with Truman fall down in his rush after the bus. He stands there dumbfounded as if to say, just as Terry says, “You’re gonna call me a liar when I try to tell you what’s coming down.” We then segue to Truman talking to his mom (another safety net?), who is trying to reassure him, as he looks helplessly at her. Then another segue to him going through his treasure chest (another safety net?), as he looks at old pictures of his dad…and yes, we’re back to the “black bridge of sighs / father of lies” lines as this scene plays out.
Pictures of the Gone World -
Kinda spooky at first with his wife Meryl, and then it transitions to a flashback of high school where we learn of the aforementioned Sylvia aka Lauren (memories handed down, yes). A really cool thing occurs when she’s looking longingly at him from a distance with the “I’m making love to you, I’m holding onto you” line sung. Immediately, Meryl and other cast members interfere, keeping them from making contact in unison with “Lose this world too, we could lose this world too.” The song then goes onto end at the prom dance, another picture of the gone world.
Divine Instant -
As this song starts, everybody’s still on the dance floor, but now Truman and Sylvia are eyeing each other while dancing with different partners. They then spot each other in the library and finally talk, where they decide to leave. The way these lyrics and music flow with the shots, the close-ups, the cutaways, it’s just downright spooky.
Half Light, Epoch, & Phase –
Since we are still viewing a flashback scene, I suppose “these are the images I arrange to fill in my report on you.” ::wink:: Anyway, things are a bit more subtle on this song as we see our couple escape to the beach, only to have Sylvia whisked away by her dad, who tells Truman they’re “moving to Fiji.” During the last chorus it’s kinda cool to see the “How’s it going to end?” button with the answer “coming through a dark glass darkly.”
Unattainable Earth -
We hear the “will too wild too tame now” line as the car radio in Truman’s car is acting funky due to the producer’s feed bleeding into his reception. When we hear the first “amazed in these half-light days,” line, Truman has an amazed look on his face. The overall theme comes into play again as he breaks away from his normal routine, thus creating uncertainty for the crew. The subtle vibe continues a bit more with this song, too, as opposed to the stronger, more obvious occurrences earlier.
The Shape Of Air –
Very trippy at first with the fake elevator scene, but after that subtly reigns to the end, as it should with a song by this title. I did like how during the second chorus we hear “the shape of air” with a shot of one of those fish-eye security mirrors in a store. The first play thru ends as Truman and Marlon sit looking out at the sunset.
Okay, so I got a bit wordy there, I’m sorry. It’s just I’ve been wanting to write this stuff down for a couple days, and since no one’s here right now, I’ve been able to concentrate a bit. I’m only halfway through, though, but I’ve got to tend to other things now. I assure you that when this album is repeated, this sort of stuff continues. You’ve got enough to get you started. Go for it…
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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Truman says "Watch me hang out with my buddies in Da!"
Shhhh! She's reading.
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| Thread: Darn Floor, Truman |
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Greetings, all...
Some of you may recall me mentioning a long time ago some of my playing around with film & music synchronicity (ala Dark Side of Oz). After getting into it quite a bit at the beginning of the decade, I’ve more or less left it alone the past 5 years. Here recently, though (the past few months), I’ve experimented with a few things from time to time, when opportunity and inspiration intersect. Last night and today they collided into something that if anybody else on this earth would have even a remote chance of appreciating it, it would be you, my fellow DAmbers.
Going back a few weeks, I was perusing a sync message board I check in with now and then, when I spot someone’s “sync recipe” between The Truman Show and Radiohead’s new web-release In Rainbows. Having neither, but being mildly interested, I added the DVD to the Netflix queue, but didn’t bother to get the music. So last night I decide I want to try something with this movie, and as I approached the CD tower downstairs, the side facing me was where all the DA/Eddies stuff was, and before I even knew what I was doing, I picked out Darn Floor Big Bite. I immediately saw the similar themes of questioning and longing the two entities had in common, and thought it at least had potential.
I have experienced this alchemy twice now. The first time I simply sat back and watched and listened. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to view it again, this time taking notes. I couldn’t keep up. I was floored. The way the lyrics from DFBB interplay with TTS, not only individual lines, but overall themes as well, is often times just downright freaky. If I didn’t think this was worthy of being seen by others, I would just throw it in the imaginary trash can where other not-so-good sync ideas ended up.
That’s where you come in. Like I said, you’re probably the only people on the planet who would get into this thing, so if you want to hear DA in an entirely different context than you ever have before, get yourself these two artistic entities and follow the recipe below. I need to get to bed right now, so I’m not going to try and get these notes to make any sense until I can devote a good chunk of time to. Hopefully that’ll be in the next day or two. We’ll see how busy work is after all the snow we got this weekend. In the mean time, I'd like to see if it was all my imagination or for real. So check it out and have fun!
DARN FLOOR, TRUMAN
The CD will play approximately 2 ½ times during the entire length of the film (about 96 min or so)
First, cue up your DFBB disc at the beginning by pressing “play” and then “pause” right away so that the music will start immediately when the exact moment comes.
Second, Start the Truman Show DVD and allow the opening Paramount logo screen to play through. The key to getting this timed right is having the music start just as Christof’s face appears after the logo fades and disappears. On my DVD player the timer reads 0:00:19-:20 when this occurs, but your’s might be different. Adjust accordingly.
Allow the entire CD to play through. It will end right around the 0:36:35-:36 mark on the DVD, as Truman and Marlon are staring into the sunset , deep in conversation. Pause the movie at this time, and get the CD cued up at the beginning again in the “pause” mode, as in step one. Then, allow the DVD to play through to the end of that scene (about 20 seconds), to the 0:36:55-:56 mark. This is where the scene changes to Truman, Meryl, and his mother looking at photo albums. As with the Christof cue in the first play-thru, the key is to have the music start at this scene segue, which in this case is a baby picture in the album. Again, adjust accordingly. (FYI, it’s Chapter 9 on the DVD)
Allow the entire CD to play through. This time it’ll end around the 1:13:16-:17 mark, just as the scene is about to segue from Truman cutting the grass to Paul Giamatti’s character in the control room. Pause the movie. Now, since there’s only 22 or so minutes left till the credits roll, and the CD is 36 minutes, you’ll want to program your CD player to play the following songs from the album…
Return Of The Beat Menace
Strange Animals
Darn Floor Big Bite
The Earth Household
Half Light, Epoch, & Phase
The Unattainable Earth
The Shape Of Air
Doing this slight bit of timing manipulation will allow the sync to end in a semi ‘seamless’ fashion.
Once you have the CD all programmed and cued, go back to the DVD and as mentioned above, get the music to begin as that scene changes. On my DVD player it reads 1:13:18-:19, but your’s may vary slightly. “The Unattainable Earth” will end right as the screen goes to black, after the security guard says “Let’s see what else is on.” Then “The Shape Of Air” plays while the credits roll, serving as a coda, of sorts.
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