my moral standing is lying down

I'm right smack-dab in the middle of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, and it is pretty darn awesome. I'm not usually one for non-fiction, and even though this is obviously fiction, it's written in a non-fiction/doctumentary style. HOWEVER, I have been in the mood to read non-fiction lately, so it worked out to perfect timing. (It's been sitting in my office desk drawer for the last year, lent to me by my boss.)

I really like how it starts at the beginning, chronologically, and goes through the war. Every "interview" is with a different person, in a different state or country, and reveals more and more about the status of the world's survival strategy (or lack thereof).

In most books and novels I read, I feel like the author tells a story -- the story is built up as events happen in the present time; even the history of the characters or the world they're in is "added" in for exposition or affect. In this case, however, I feel that Brooks slowly reveals what has happened in such a subtle and talented way. I'm not sure if that's only because of the documentary style he adopts, but he pulls it off perfectly. It's absolutely captivating. I can't wait to finish it.

I know the rights to the movie have been bought, but it's not even in pre-production yet. Seems like they're still working on the script? This would make such an awesome documentary-style movie; I wonder if they'd keep it that way, or if they'd just make it into a typical movie instead.

Speaking of movies, I've re-watched a million recently while working on cosplay at home. I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (#3), which I thought was much better than the second one (which was insanely boring and stupid). The third still had way too much Keira Knightly in it, but the scenes of Jack in Davey Jones' Locker are surreal and amazing. Those scenes make the whole movie worth seeing; they're absolutely gorgeous.

So yes, at home I'm working slaving over our Drakengard cosplay. As usual, we leave things for the last minute, and now we're cramming to get everything done in time for Otakon. I'm actually apprehensive that we won't be able to finish things up (unlike previous years where I was confident we'd finish by deadline). So we'll see how that works out. I'm excited for it, but I know that not many will recognize where we're from, which is too bad as I think that game ROCKS!

Even better? I'm actually going to have fake rose petals with me so I spin around and be crazy. (See icon above.)

I've been watching Maryann play Drakengard over the past few months. I cannot express just how much I love this game. I am so lucky to have friends who will play video games where I can watch and follow the whole story ~ because there are games that I'd absolutely HATE to have missed, but that I could never have gotten through.

So back to Drakengard (also known as Drag-on Dragoon in Japan) -- I would probably make a hash of trying to describe the story, so I will direct you here. This is a pretty solid review of the game (all aspects, including plot, characters, gameplay, etc.), although I completely disagree with the reviewer's assessment on the music... if you couldn't guess.

I do admit that at first the music grated -- it's very repetitive and could really stress you out if you let it get to you. But it really fits the mood of the story so damn well that at the very least you must come to appreciate it for fitting so well. I'm pretty sure that most (if not all) of the compositions are classical pieces that have been altered.

There's an intense, urgent, unnerving quality about them, which is no doubt helped along by the repetitiveness of the music. They can really be driving, especially in the ground battle stages where you have hundreds of targets and you're just one man going to hack and slash at them all. Maryann wanted me to point out that the feeling of the music is very representative of Caim's insatiable battle lust. It can be that focused. I suppose I should also point out that one of the things I love best about the game is how insane the characters are. There is a real pervasive darkness to the game, but none of it is cliche.

It's just exciting and lovely.

Here is a small sampling of the soundtrack. If you're interested enough to download and listen, please listen to at least 60-90 seconds of the song before you make up your mind, as they can change a bit a while into the track.

first chapter, above ground
first chapter, castle interior
fifth chapter, sky part 1
eight chapter, sky
eight chapter, above ground

The last two are my favorites. <3



ETA (3/19/2012): Just came across this great, wonderfully on-target review of the reissued dual-disc release of the Drag-on Dragoon Soundtracks.

The important bits:

The entire score is comprised of sliced-and-diced samples of orchestral classics from Dvorak, Bartok, Debussy, Holst, and many others (you can find a full list on VGMdb). You’d think this would result in a very familiar sound, but the samples are so short and rearranged in such a way that the compositions sound completely original, although they do possess a certain radio-like quality in terms of sound quality. Through the sampling process, most sounds used are very brief, sounding staccato and obviously ‘cut’ at the end to make way for the next note. This gives the score a uniquely chaotic and disturbing ‘pieced together’ quality that’s going to stick with me for a while.

There are big sounds. Orchestral hits, lots of brass, and of course string stabs. This music is meant to be intense, accompanying epic on-screen battles in the sky and on the ground. I used the word maddening before, and what really drives this home is the repetition featured throughout the tracks. Oftentimes repetitive 2-3 second samples are used as a foundation for a given track, sporting thunderous percussion and ominous brass progressions. This repetition grates on the nerves, working wonders in-game, and providing a unique and experimental listening experience outside. I certainly applaud Sano and Aihara for their ambitious efforts here.

That said, there aren’t melodies here you’re going to recall. This is all dark, atmospheric music. There isn’t even a main theme featured on the album, which came as a surprise to me. There are several staff roll themes (there are 5 different endings of the game, one of which surprisingly is linked to NieR, also developed by Cavia), and they take the opportunity to give the listener a break from the intense action cues found throughout the game’s missions. “Route Staff D Roll” sports chromatic bell progressions that are almost soothing, while “Route B Staff Roll ‘Exhaused’” features vocals by Eriko Hatsune. The track sounds like others on the album with its powerful string stabs, but Hatsune’s voice ducks under the noise, singing softly in almost a whisper with an echo, creating a creepy, otherworldly sound. The album closes with two unreleased tracks that were not included in the game.