reede, 23. september 2016

A shortlist of composers for SGU

Joel Goldsmith was the score composer for Stargate Universe -- a short-lived, but high-quality science fiction tv series. His music for SGU made a lasting impression on me. The son of Jerry Goldsmith, Joel passed away in 2012, and he left very large shoes to fill.

So, here's a shortlist of musicians I would consider to compose music for any future iteration of Stargate Universe (hopefully a continuation).

People who have contributed a lot to science fiction and fantasy, and who are now major composers:
* Brian Tyler -- Best-known for his piece from Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, which featured in the first trailer for Star Trek 2009. Tyler also contributed to Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration". Track here. Tyler is now known for his work on major action movies.
* Steve Jablonsky -- Desperate Housewives (the theme is best-known), The Island, Ender's Game. Major composer, lots of movies.
* Ramin Djawadi -- Thunderbirds (film), Prison Break, Game of Thrones, The Island (additional music).

Other film and television composers:
* Ty Unwin -- BBC's documentary series: Earth, Space, Journey to the Edge of the Universe, The Incredible Human Journey, and several others.
* Leonard J. Paul -- The Corporation (documentary)
* Peter Golub -- Countdown to Zero (documentary)

Musicians who have written scores for films:
* Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails -- The Social Network, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (U.S. version)
* Pärt Uusberg -- In the Crosswind (Risttuules)

Musicians who should and would, given the opportunity:
* Front Line Assembly -- pioneering work in Techno-Industrial, soundtrack for the AirMech game
* Mike Foyle & Signalrunners -- Love Theme Dusk, Shipwrecked.

Composers, who generally don't write for film, but whose works have extensively been used in film and television:
* Arvo Pärt

kolmapäev, 7. september 2016

Religion in Estonia and in Nordic countries

A reply in an IMDb forum to a post about religion (wrt "Ida").

There are differences between eliminating religion, not following organised religion, and being spiritual instead.

Most research and surveys fail to be precise enough to record the latter two notions, and thus their methodologies are all similar and very nearly always skewed to present black/white results that inadvertently (or by intent) support a black/white worldview.

For people in Nordic countries, religion is something very personal. I'd say it's the same in Northern Europe.

For example, Estonia is about the least-religious country in the world, because surveys don't take into account spirituality. It's that among Estonians, organised religion is not followed much, if at all. I have a feeling, that Nordic countries are similar in that regard.

There is, of course, a possibility, that people in Estonia might see religion as something so personal, that they might as well not indicate their affiliation.

reede, 2. september 2016

The Die Is Cast: Why Sisko chose to disobey orders, and why Odo chose to stay on DS9

There be spoilers for those, who haven't watched these episodes.

I read a review of "The Die is Cast", an episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and the comments that accompanied the said review.

Two very widespread issues for many people who watched the episode, are Sisko disobeying orders to not go into the Gamma Quadrant to retrieve Odo, and Odo choosing to return to the station and not join the Great Link and return to his people -- something that he'd wanted to do for a long time.

Text in this post is licensed under Creative Commons-Attribution / CC-BY.

re Sisko not returning --

Commenter DLPB wrote, that one of the most serious crimes that a captain can commit, is neglect of comrades.
Furthermore, Odo is a Changeling, the nature of which makes him a very valuable asset; his presence on the station is essentially Bajor's life insurance policy, and Sisko knows that very well. So does Odo, [spoiler—] especially when he chooses to stay on DS9 after the Dominion and Cardassians much later overran the station's defenses, and Sisko was forced to leave.

Lovok's reveal is the reason Odo finally chose instead to return to DS9, because he understood the danger that the Dominion posed to Bajor and the entire Alpha Quadrant. We should not forget, that Odo is an officer of Bajor.

Were he to join the Great Link right then and there, his adoptive home would have been left completely defenseless, and the other shapeshifters would have then been free to work their magic on DS9.

Because Odo's presence on Deep Space Nine meant, that the Dominion really could not use the station and Bajor as a springboard into the Alpha Quadrant (they could not attack either for fear of hitting Odo by accident), and therefore had to go past these places to use Dukat and the Cardassians to expand their galactic domination. This essentially bought some time for everyone. And the Alpha Quadrant.

Of course, Fake Lovok didn't like it, and that's why he chose to use the narrower definition of 'no Changeling has harmed another', in that he decided not to notify the Jem'Hadar to not shoot at (or even provide cover to) the runabout carrying Odo and Garak, who were attempting to escape the mêlée of a very intense space battle.

There's a high probability, that Odo has by then realised Fake Lovok's hypocrisy about the 'no harm' adage, because the runabout was repeatedly shot at, and lost its shields.
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Many episodes later, we can actually see how palpable Odo's importance is during Dukat's occupation of Terek Nor, as Odo's presence alone causes Weyoun to defer to Odo (because like any other changeling, he's like a god to the Vorta) — much to the chagrin of Dukat and the annoyance of the Female Shapeshifter, who finally arrives in "Sacrifice of Angels" to neutralise Odo, and by proxy, the resistance movement on the station.
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Edit: This post was initially published on 02.09.2016 03:33 UTC +0300 (01.09.2016 19:33 UTC -5). A minute or so later, I posted much of this text in a comment here.

neljapäev, 1. september 2016

Supi keetmine veel enne ERMi uue hoone köögi avamist

Reaktsioon Delfi/Eesti Päevalehe (EPL) artiklis kommentaarile. Nimelt kajastas artikkel seda, et Eesti Rahva Muuseum (ERM) loobus EPL-is reklaami avaldamisest, sest EPL kirjutas ERMi veel avamata uue hoone köögi kohta igast materjali; tüüpi, et pakutava toidu hind on kolekallis ja et üldse polevat see asi aus ja hea. Kuskil kõrval on ERMi reklaam, et tule ja vaata. Kognitiivne dissonants tekib kohe ja loomulikult ei saa ERM enda kohta käivate EPL-i artiklitega kuidagi nõustuda. Parim kommentaar kõlas nii: "Kõige odavam on [reklaamida] Nelli Teatajas. Aga kes seda loeb?" :D

Tabav küsimus. Sellest võib teha sobiva järelduse väljaande mõnede lugejate kohta.

Tegelikult on probleem selles, et kööki kritiseeritakse kritiseerimise pärast. Kritiseerida oleks olnud palju mõnusam alles peale ERMi uue hoone ja sellega kaasas käiva söögiasutuse avamist.
See võimalus pole üldse mitte kadunud, sest koht on veel avamata.
Sest siis oleks saanud püsiva kaebevarjundiga külastajad käia kohal, mugida ERMi köögi kooki ja vinguda nagu muiste, aga nüüd võttis EPL kogu vingumise lõbu enneaegselt ära. (kui kohutav.)

Lisaks — ERMi kohvikus ei hakka ainult käima kõik eesti rahvad, vaid ka turistid, kelle maksuvõime on palju arvestatavam. Kulud tuleb millestki ju tasa teha.

Niigi ei kritiseeri keegi KuMu hoones asuvat kohvikut, sest mitte väga kaugel KuMust on Kadriorus kohvikuid veelgi.

Nagu suurte projektidega ikka, on ERMi köögi ja kohvikuvõistluses väljavalituks saanud võitjal palju konkurente, kes kõik jäid kaotajaks, ning kes võitjale nüüd hammast ihuvad.
(Seos on muidugi tõendamata och puhas spekulatsioon. Ja üldse ei oma see blogipostitus ajakirjanduslikku kvaliteeti, ning on mõeldud kommentaariks.)
Lohutuseks ettevõtjatele, kes ise tahtsivad ERMi kööki ja kohvikusse pesa teha, aga ei saanud:
Teie saate avada ERMi vahetus läheduses mõnusama, hubasema ja odavama kohviku.
Konkurents on magus, eks ole?

P.S.
Kes iganes teine oleks saanud ERMi uue hoone kööki pesa teha, oleks temagi olnud ainuke [võitja], samuti konkurentide ülima kadestuse objekt, ning oleks ka langenud hävitava kriitikatule alla. Nii et vahet pole.

Kogu ERMiga seotud loos sellel nädalal on algava septembrikuu võitjaks ERMi kohvik ise. Kallis küll, aga kohvikust võib pikkamisi välja kujuneda omamoodi institutsioon, mida külastatakse pühadel päevadel ja piduriietuses. Sest isegi halb reklaam on reklaam.
Organiseeritud religiooni eestlased ei usu, seega kirikute ja posijate asemel võib ERM ühes kohvikuga transformeeruda ateistliku aseaine pakkujaks neile, kel vaimsusest vajaka.
Laiemalt võttes on sensatsioonihimu ja klikinälg nakatanud kogu Eesti ajakirjandust, ning EPL ei ole ammu esimene või ainuke. Hiljuti lõikas näppu näiteks Postimees, mille järel võiksid nii mõnedki inimesed kaaluda oma nutiseadmetele kõrvaliste pilkude eest kaitsva turvavarustuse (kiled, ümbrised) paigaldamist.