Otto Matta

Love it. All the recent stuff is beautiful as always. I especially like this one: I'd pay for a print of it.

You might want to get in touch with Mike "Indidginus," whom you may recognize from the forums.

I haven't seen it yet but the consensus, from reviewer to reviewer to reviewer, is "strong visuals, weak story." I wonder what it's like for a producer to spend all that money and have to decide whether the story should be intelligent or for the masses. Must be a tough decision, but it's clear which way Cameron went.

I recommend you check out the South African artists. The Timecode label in general. The Cryptology compilation might be a good start. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dezaml7mXDY http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya8EJEFWS8o&feature=related

Vibrasphere! You're good at these illustrations, Rotwang.

Indeed.

Nein. I apologize for interrupting. Never mind me.

Here's an extra one. Should be pretty easy.

I personally don't understand how someone largely responsible for stuff like Pigs in Space (is that even true?) could make the crappy cheesefest Ofer's made on his own in the last decade or so. Doesn't make sense.

Definitely. I recently watched the first season of First Blood and thought it was okay, but I kind of wish I hadn't. I watched it all because my friend lent me the DVDs. If I were watching online, I probably would've stopped after the second or third episode. Then there are some series that I can't wait for new episodes. Here's a more or less recent show that doesn't get mentioned much that I thought was very clever and funny, along the lines of the English Office: Summer Heights High, which is Australian. Another one would be The Mighty Boosh. Very funny.

I hear you. I felt the same way about Lost and Heroes - didn't make it through the first episodes. But I highly recommend you try again at some point. I've been riveted the entire way (although I was a little skeptical at first, too), and think Bryan Cranston is one of the best actors out there, besides being a total badass in the show.

Breaking Bad is the best show I've seen in a good while.

Ugh. That stuff makes me feel ill. Like my blood type is rainbow candy.

Interesting. Definitely more along the lines of Extrawelt, in my opinion, as in a bit more on the tech-house end than tech-trance. I like my stuff with a bit more oomph, but it's decent music, the few tracks I heard.

Amazing. Dude, have you tried Etsy? Seems like it would be perfect for your bottles. PM sent.

The aggression mainly, achieved with the escapist element of synthesis, and with, depending on what I'm listening to, a sufficient level of musicality and narrative to temporarily elevate my body and brain.

I've only heard half of those, but I liked Tales from the Dark Forest the best.

+1 Ambient from deep in the earth.

Ha. I once heard a psytrance track without a movie sample. Forgot what it was, though, because the name was not related to the sample.

I found it nice but generic. It didn't do anything new and interesting, so my attention wandered.

Nice. They went away soon after I started enjoying them. Hope they continue the releases.

I generally agree. It's totally stupid. The people who make trailers know how to manipulate the masses to get them to see their movies, and I've been tricked so many times in the past. Even if a movie is good, a trailer can raise people's expectations to an unreasonable level and cause them to like the movie less than they would otherwise. However, I find that if the movie is great, which is the kind of movie I like, the trailer will have no bearing on my experience. Going into trailers with this knowledge makes them less manipulative. I can take away the flavor of the film while moderating my excitement. Sometimes, though, I'm all in, like with the Tron sequel coming soon. The trailer (in HQ here), which has been out for about a year and a half, still gets me excited, even though it's got a dubiously glossy Apple-ness to it that I'm skeptical about (although it's also called a "concept test," which may mean it's not an accurate portrayal of the real film - I hope). It better be fucking good or I'm going to start cutting myself.

akira - I was in your shoes about 4 years ago. I got interested after I wrote a couple of tracks in FL Studio. I bought a new computer, Reason 3.0 and a soundcard with MIDI (MAudio Delta 1010LT, which is still warmly regarded, even if it's not the best). With moderate effort I outgrew my setup within less than two years, then upgraded to Cubase 4, which is magnificent. My recommendation to you would be to skip many expensive and time-consuming steps and get yourself a half-decent soundcard and Cubase, both of which you can find used if money is an issue. Also make sure you have the fastest computer you can afford, one that you can upgrade as the need arises. Speed makes all the difference. You can have great gear but a slow computer will more than likely kill your inspiration. No matter what you decide on, making electronic music is always going to have a fairly steep learning curve (your effort will be the most important driving factor), so you're better off having the right equipment to start with and learn with. If I'd known better, that's what I would have done. In other words, don't be intimidated by this stuff - you, just like many, many people, can master it if you put in a modicum of effort. FL Studio can be very powerful in the right hands, and offers more flexibility than Reason, which is also very powerful and extremely sturdy, but ultimately limited. If you're interested, but not interested enough at the moment to splurge on a bunch of equipment, I'd say, one, forget Reason. Two, get yourself a half-decent soundcard with MIDI inputs so that you can hook up your Yamaha and use it as a controller with FL Studio. Three, if you like the process thus far, get Cubase as soon as possible, before you get all warm and fuzzy with FL Studio and don't want to part with it. The main advantage to programs like FL Studio and Cubase - not Reason - is that when you're ready you can acquire, for free and/or for money, software synthesizers and effects (VSTis) that will greatly expand upon the palette with which you can paint your music.