The Leopold’s

We just got home from  a “Spring into Health” dinner at our church which featured a catered dinner, wandering minstrels and a talent program at the end of dinner in the church sanctuary. Normally I wouldn’t bother to write anything about such a dinner, however Oisin performed two piano pieces at this year’s annual event. He featured in the middle of the program and did a great job. Several people congratulated him on his performance and were surprised to learn he hasn’t been playing a year yet. Brother Brom fell asleep after the third or fourth act and sweated profusely on my leg. Sigh. Perhaps there’s a bit somewhere which utilizes copious perspiration, we’ll have to work something up for next year. . .

Since I am home ill today I thought I should do one productive thing to count my day as constructive. And by constructive, I suppose I mean “make me feel less like a bag of useless flesh and bones.”

Some have noticed that our photo gallery here on the blog is slightly less impressive than it once was, lacking the oodles of personal pictures it once contained. There is no glitch or error, we simply recoded many of our Flickr photos to “friends and family view only” for general privacy.

Feel free to create your own Flickr basic account and request our friendship (it’s free!) and then you will be able to see all your old favorites once again, like this one here:

My wife did well this year for Christmas. She surprised me with a gift that was pretty unexpected – a book filled with photographs of libraries all over the world.

The book is simply titled Libraries by Candida Höfer, and has been on my wish list for some time.  I don’t recall where I first heard of this book – perhaps on NPR – but I have kept an eye out for it for the better part of the year.

In its design the book is surprisingly minimalistic – most pages feature on image on one leaf with the opposing leaf left blank. The captions for the images are quite simple too; they feature the name of the library pictured in the language of origin, the number of the photograph from the shoot collection, and the year the photograph was captured.

Perhaps one of the first reasons I was intrigued by this book was because I had read or heard that one of my favorite authors had written its forward (Umberto Eco). The forward is great, but not enough of a push to make me run out to buy the book.

The individual images are the selling point. Each color photo features a view of a specific library that first gives you a sense of the architecture and space of the library. The quality of the paper is obvious as your turn the pages – thick glossy leaves turn over easily and reveal the next photograph. The details of the photographs shed light on the temper or mood of the various spaces.

The photos are not necessarily staged or overly processed. The feeling represented is that you are the first person to walk into the building and you have the space all to yourself. It’s an almost euphoric sensation for a bibliophile. The other wonder of this book is the variety of libraries featured; from modern collections, public, private, governmental – each space receives similar treatment with Ms. Höfer’s lens.

The cost and heft of the book will prevent many from indulging in this tome of biblioporn, the book weighs in at almost 5lbs! However, this book will turn heads and spark conversations. My wife tells me that the staff at the local bookstore where she ordered it expressed their disappointment at learning the book was shipped sealed in plastic as they have been hoping to touch a copy for some time.

Book snobbery, here we come!

We wish you a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Ods and Gadz wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, too!

The Leopolds

I just had a disciplinary meeting during which I was reminded of a cold New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day spent at the Barrington Lakes theatre in Barrington Illinois in the late 1990’s. I laughed so hard thinking about this event that I thought I should put it down in writing before I permanently forget it (which is doubtful, but who knows?).

Some of you may recall my days as a movie theatre jerk. You see I can’t even spell the word theatre with an “er” ending if I try. I think that’s because Classic Cinemas ground the proper British spelling into our heads as a part of our new employee training, though I have no evidence to support these claims.

I started work as a concession clerkat the Lindo Theatre in Freeport, Illinois very shortly after wrapping up my first summer as a camp counselor at Canyon Camp in the August of 1993. I remember returning home after the summer at camp looking for a better paying school-year-job and saw a “help wanted” sign in the window of the theatre box office.

I applied immediately, succumbed to the rigorous math test and was given my first maroon apron, black bow tie and swanky name tag. I can still smell the “true blue” glass cleaner and “deep purple” de-greasing agent under the counter. Ah, what a great gig for a high-school student – free movies and all the freeloaders friends you could ever regret wish for.

Fast-forward through countless bizarre anecdotes, advance-screenings and hands full of Classic Cinemas’ mints. The year was 1999 and I was an itinerant assistant manager for the theatre chain during my winter, spring and summer breaks from college. I had received the management training at a theatre in Fox Lake, Illinois and as such was qualified to cover other manager’s absences at the various locations throughout the Chicagoland area.

While home for winter break ‘99-00 I was planning on spending a calm break working several hours at the Lindo and making some cash to pay for books and sundries at school. Very shortly after returning to Freeport I learned that there was a management shortage over the holidays and the central staff was looking for a couple assistant managers to float around at some of the suburban theatres. I volunteered (the pay was good and they were going to put me up at a hotel).

The assignment I received was two-fold: I was to report to the Casino Theatre in Elgin (at the Grand Victoria) New Year’s eve and then work at the Barrington Lakes theatre for New Year’s Day. Both theatres were sub-run houses (they only show movies that have been out for months already), so the pressure of heavy crowds was decreased from word go.

The stint at Elgin went reasonably well. I always wondered why the Casino had such high per capita concession sales. Well, when you show movies even down-on-your luck gambling addicts won’t watch and simultaneously sell hot, fresh popcorn right outside a casino you are bound to excel at concession sales and suck at ticket sales. Duh. Perfect storm.

I might have had an employee working with me that day, I can’t honestly remember – it was that slow. I probably let that person go home early if they showed up at all, business was so slow.

That night the hotel motel I stayed in was better than the Bates motel. Not much, but better. It was a very uneventful New Year’s Eve, perhaps my most uneventful ever. But hey, I was earning money and not spending it. That’s a winner in my book.

The next morning I woke up with plenty of time to check out of my lodgings and get over to Barrington Lakes theater, another sub-run theatre with multiple screens. The weather was crisp and cool. I arrived at the theatre and keyed myself inside. My first task was to turn the heat up from the over-night economy settings. I set the thermostats and went to the office to begin counting out cash drawers for the concession workers who would be arriving shortly. I remember my cold digits unwillingly counting out the singles, fives and tens, and the bitter sting of the metal coins. I was waiting for the heat to kick in.

About 45 minutes passed with no noticeable change in temperature when I went back to the thermostat to check on the heating progress. The settings were correct (it was the style thermostat from the Lindo, so I know my settings were accurate). I checked a few vents and discovered there was no heat coming out of them. Indeed, the temperature in the building was DROPPING, not warming.

Rarely, if ever, did a need arise where I felt I should call Rosario, the Hispanic handyman of the theatre chain. I remember him as a very taciturn but effective staff member. Whenever he came to the Lindo to do work he just sort of disappeared for a while and when he popped back up the work was done and all was well in the world of theatre maintenance. He had a very pleasant personality, and he was the sort of person that made you feel guilty for presenting him with a difficult problem.

When I realized no amount of tinkering with the thermostat or swearing would make the heat come on, I was forced to admit defeat and dial the phone number for the on-call maintenance staff pager.

When Rosario called back almost 20 minutes later, the situation was getting desperate – the temperature in the theatre continued to drop, employees and patrons started showing up and demanding answers. I explained the situation to Rosario and he sort of chuckled at me. I remember thinking, “Oh, great. I’ve overlooked some obvious fix and Rosario is preparing to give me the greenhorn lecture.”

I couldn’t have been more wrong: Rosario was chuckling because he already knew what I would have to do to fix the problem.

To set the scene – Rosario sounded as if he had gotten into the egg nog already and he started explaining a process that sounded more like a treasure hunt than a HVAC repair technique. The long and the short of it was that I needed to find the keys to the roof-access, climb a ladder, exit the (snow-covered) roof hatch and make my way (carefully, the roof membrane was sensitive) to the HVAC unit and flick a reset switch located in some unreasonably complicated spot in order to get the heat to come on.

Great.

By now I had a good number of employees on hand and they were able to get the front counter staffed and ready to accept the thronging hordes of holiday movie-goers taken care of (why were they coming to see sub-run films, and why were they so persistent to see such terrible films?!). I had prepared all the films to begin playing at their appointed time while I waited for Rosario’s call, so things were in good shape.

Well, finding the keys was tedious, nothing was labeled well as I recall, and then finding the access hatch was a challenge, not to mention opening it once located. The snow and ice had formed a sort of air-tight seal around the opening and I had to force my way onto the winter waste-land that was the roof of the Barrington Lakes theatre.

The change in lighting from the roof access chute to the blinding frozen rooftop almost knocked me off the ladder. I regained visual clarity and then proceeded to the HVAC unit. It took some wading through the snow drifts (in my snappy dress shoes, mind you) to get to the unit, then it took at least three trips around the unit’s perimeter to find the hidden switch. I flicked it, the unit started humming and I wanted to crawl into a warm bed and forget this whole day. Hadn’t I done enough already?

The rest of the day was relatively boring compared with how it started. The patron’s questions and concerns all seemed trivial to my arctic adventure earlier that morning.

Now whenever I hear of the town of Barrington my mind floats to the roof of that theatre, and now you know why.

OK, I hereby acknowledge the poor grammar in the title of this post, but I need help:  have been browsing the interwebs for a great good acceptable top-10 list of video game music. You know what? There’s bubkis out there. I have found fanboy sites and lots of good starts to this process, but mostly it is just junk, or one person who wants the world to know what game they liked playing during their budding adolescence.

So here’s the skinny: I would like you, my faithful readers, to reach back into your countless days in front of your television and pull out your own recommendations for a “Top 10″ list of musical backdrops for the video game experience. Here are some guidelines:

1. Music must be from a console video game (even if you’ve never played it on a console, i.e. via an emulator is OK as long as it was originally designed for a console)

2. Music must be specific to a game/level/stage (i.e. no good saying “Metroid Series,” you need to be specific; Super Metroid vs. Metroid Prime, Brinstar vs Kraid’s Hideout, you get the idea)

3. Offer me no more and no less than 10 suggestions in rank order – start with 10 and work your way up to 1. Feel free to provide some justification for your decisions (see the rubrik below if you want some talking points). I don’t want to split hairs, I am not a rule freak, I just don’t want to prioritize your selections for ya.

4. If you can provide links to midi/mp3/video of the track, that is preferred (some of us might not know your favorites).

5. Recognizable does not necessarily = good, similarly – obscurity isn’t a boost for quality, reach down and let your inner gamer out to decide what’s good and what should be on your list.

6. Before this issue even gets started: NO TOP 10 GUITAR HERO/ROCK BAND SONGS. There, that should do it.

Consider the following rubrik when ranking your selections:

- Memorability (can’t get the song out of your head, it’s so good? Find yourself humming the song while you’re not playing?)

- Game Feel (some games are great no matter what, but when you play them without music they just don’t have the same gestalt. Is your recommendation one of those songs that adds atmosphere to the game? Does it fit the game so well you can’t imagine playing without the music? That’s Game Feel, my friend.)

- Theme and Variation (alright you music geeks, how well does a song lend itself to reuse in subsequent levels or game adaptations?)

- Sense Memory (this is sort of a comprehensive measure – how well does listening to the song outside of playing the game take you right back into the last time you played? Can you feel the controller in your hand? Can you smell your childhood living room while listening? Great music brings us back to that period of time when we first played the game).

Post your suggestions in the comments and perhaps we will start a firestorm of suggestions that could ultimately be compiled to form a definitive list of great video game music.

To get you all started I offer you my own list.  However, if you have one ready to go, fire away and get it added:

10.  Castlevania (the original) – Level 1 music “Vampire Slayer” – this game just barely exposed many youths to the occult, except that Van Helsing got a swanky re-badge in Simon Belmont (a whip-bearing Adonis). The music was fitting and got your adrenaline rushing as bats came zipping down at you. High level of Game Feel.

9. The Legend of Zelda – Labyrinth music. The sense memory on this music is quite powerful. I could almost draw you the first three underworld maps free hand while listening to the music.

8. Milon’s Secret Castle – the in-room music. This game represents my great white whale – I have never progressed passed the third level (if you can really measure this game by levels) and I have admittedly logged over 100 hours playing this game in my life (probably more like 400). This music, while monotonous over the span of the hundreds of hours I’ve listened to it, is actually pretty good for background music. It’s catchy and long enough to not feel mind-numbing. Also, the sense memory I get of listening to this music sends me to the my parent’s living room with the old NES Max controller in my hand eating Fruit Roll-Ups in no small quantity.

7. Tetris – “Music C.” The music from Tetris was just as perfect as the game concept and design (which has it’s own storied past). “Music C” was my favorite at first because no one else ever liked it (it isn’t as “Russian” sounding as the other two, but still has that Tetris mistique). Now when I listen to the tune, it makes me think of stacking blocks and rising blood pressure.

6. Super Mario Brothers – Overworld Music. Who wouldn’t recognize this one? This music is top-ten material for notoriety alone. The fact that it is good music just adds to its  significance. There are many adaptations of this song out on the interwebs from show choir performances to accordions, to 12 string bass guitars. Indeed, this song might be the epitome of “theme and variation.”

5. Blaster Master – Level 5 music. Another game on which I have spend an inordinate amount of time and received no gratification. There are several levels that have annoyingly BAD music, but level 5 always brings a refreshing reprieve if you can make it that far. Oh, and if you do, good luck defeating the crab-boss and getting to level 6. This music is for the under-water level and you really get that “underwater feel” from the 8-bit soundtrack.

4. Kid Icarus – Title Music. Some games have music that you will never forget. Some games have music that you remember so well, that you are motivated to find a way to program it, note by stinking note, into someone’s old cell phone as a ring tone. This might be one of those songs. This song scores high on Sense Memory (I still smell the drywalled unfinished basement of my friend John’s house when I hear it), as well as on memorability. It is catchy and gets you psyched up and ready to play.

3. Wizards and Warriors II: Ironsword – title music. This game had my attention for almost all of the 7th and 8th grades. The game used passwords which led you to believe you could steadily make progress and save your work, but then you get into the game play and immediately your hopes are dashed, quite literally on cg rocks as you die death after painful death from falling in this side scrolling/climbing action game. The title music is unique, memorable and almost symphonic in its use of varied melody, chord structure and percussion. It fits easily into my top 3 list of video game music. I would sit and listen to the title music before and after playing this game because I enjoyed it so much.

2. The Legend of Zelda, Windwaker- Main title. It took until the #2 spot, but I have finally chosen a song that isn’t on the NES console, instead it is from a game designed for the Gamecube. The Windwaker theme is catchy, musically well written (which I really can only claim for the top three songs on my list) and worthy of re-orchestrating. This modern-era Zelda tune has indeed been remastered as part of the “Zelda Re-Orchestrated” (or ZREO) project. This music invokes the nautical themes of the game and offers a spirited pirate-like reel for folks setting up their game file before they play their first round of the game. An excellent song.

and finally:

1. Super Metroid, Kraid’s Hideout. If you told me I was going to be stranded on an island and had to choose one video game soundtrack to listen to the rest of my days, it would be this game. If I had to choose (no easy task, mind you) one song from the game as my favorite it would be this one. This song has the whole rubrik: sense memory, game feel (creepy!), theme and variation (check out the online Metal rehashes of the song), and memorability. This game creeped the begeebers out of me as a kid and 9/10ths of the reason was THE MUSIC.  Hirokazu Tinaka composed one of the most memorable and effective video game soundtracks with Metroid. To this day, many gamers hold all game soundtracks up to this one as the gold standard for excellence. It is worth noting Hirokazu wrote one other song on my list, but I leave that to the rest of you to discover which one.

OK, I showed you mine, now you show me yours!

We’re in-between two of our vacations this summer. We just returned from North Carolina where we attended the Bowers’ family reunion at my Aunt and Uncle’s beautiful home on the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway near Havelock, NC. We enjoyed a week of jet skiing, boating, swimming, beach combing, great food, movies and good company. The pictures are up in the gallery or on our Flickr page in the NC 2009 group.

Sunset Off the Gamble's Dock

Next week begins the Rice Family Vacation 2009 in Dubuque, IA. Tina and the boys are headed up on Sunday, and since I start my new job on Monday, I won’t join them until Wednesday evening. Everyone is excited. This year’s festivities include lots of recreation; from golfing, to board games to a dinner on the mighty Mississippi aboard the Spirit of Dubuque – I can’t wait! Pictures yet to come.

OK, so we’ve never been in ‘beta’ test phase, but we have made some changes.

Scott (our webmaster and general technical guru) has provided us with a new theme for the weblog as we approach our fifth anniversary of The Leopold’s website. Some new features include:

1. a randomized header image (look up top, refresh your browser a couple times)
2. a ‘recently added’ image section in the sidewall (look to your right)
3. a far more modern and ‘literary’ look and feel to the page

Enjoy!