Saber - They Say

The last of the three songs I recently finished:

  They Say by Saber (Major Awesome)

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Saber - Pilgrim Struts

Alright, here's the next one:

  Pilgrim Struts by Saber (Major Awesome)

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Three (3) NEW Songs! - First up: 'The Palette'

I FINALLY got around to finishing three of my latest tracks. It took way too long, but now I am able to present to you a bunch of songs that I began recording last year and mastered this year. It was a long journey, but I feel it was worth it.

I'm going to start with The Palette. Enjoy! Lyrics & more info on the song after the jump.

  The Palette by Saber (Major Awesome)

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Rated FA for FUCKIN AWESOME

First Sonic the Hedgehog, because he has been awesome since I was 4 years old.



Next up Neil Patrick Harris, because he has defined Awesomeness in a whole new way. This might be the most epic video I have seen in a long time: We got NPH, sexy stewardesses, a Spider-Man reference and a suit within a suit within a suit - all packed into a broadway-style presentation. I really don't get along well with musicals, but this is FABULOUS i mean awesome.



(...and even if Brooke Shields makes for a pretty cringeworthy drawback, NPH saves the day.)

Come out and play

Today has been the warmest and sunniest day this year, so I went for a walk along the riverside and took pictures.

Seems like I'm not getting anything done for the blog that involves actual work these days. Well, that's because I'm always busy doing something else, and when I stop pretending and admit that this is a shitty excuse I get really lethargic about the whole thing.
I'm actually working on new songs (and still have several on hold) so who knows, maybe I'll put something on here if anyone is interested.


Anyway, here come the pictures!
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PreSpring Excitement 2011

Yup, it's another rehash. This time, since it's this time of year again, we'll revisit the old bridge crossing the river that served me as a beautiful photo model last year; check back here to have another look at the pictures if you like.

This year things are a little different though: I didn't use the digital reflex cam I usually take my pictures with, I just wanted to try out the cam of my new mobile phone, a Samsung Wave II. Of course, such an inbuilt cam holds no candle to an expensive 'professional' camera, and I didn't want to recreate last year's images. But I was actually surprised to find out that the pictures I had taken were pretty decent, even in their highest resolution (2560x1536). The contrast and sharpness isn't as crisp as with a reflex but you could still print them in high resolution if you wanted to and be absolutely happy with the results.

I experimented with some so called 'Scene' modes. With them you can automatically adjust the colours and the focus of the picture depending on the photo scene; on the images below I mostly used 'Sunset' and 'Against-the-Light-Shot' (or something), sometimes even 'Night'. Whenever I tried switching the Scene mode off, you were actually able to control the focus a little better (by tapping the screen you can set the focus) but also the contrast and colours would become dull, and everything seemed like Winter again. The pictures have not been modified afterwards, but I think that's pretty clear when you look at them. Especially when it became darker it was harder to get any decent (aesthetical) lighting done, but if you then turned off the Scene mode you at least got a brighter image.

So yeah, in conclusion the cam is surprisingly good for a mobile phone, and it should be sufficient for snapshots and maybe the occasional scenery or landscape shot, but if the lighting isn't in your favour you'll run into problems.
Anyway, enough rambling - enjoy the pictures!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE, you rascal!

Musicians to fall in love with - Part 2

Alright, next up - Sting.

Seriously, I'd probably turn gay for that man, that's why I chose to include him in this category. Not only is he one of my greatest musical influences (as mentioned before) and a genious when it comes to songwriting and melodies, he's also extremely good-looking for his age. Other guys can only dream about having his vitality and looks in high age - I will never understand how anyone can still find an Sean Connery of 80 years attractive.

Seriously?

Anyway, I recently found out that Sting went on a so-called Symphonicities-Tour, where his songs from The Police and his solo works where performed with the famous Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. This enabled Sting to bring many of his songs on stage he wouldn't be able to play with a rock band.

I found these new interpretations of his songs refreshing, but it was hard to get used to them initially since they do differ a lot from the originals. After a while though I had several songs on permanent repeat, and many of them still give me goosebumps; the atmosphere on stage is just phenomenal. Take for example two of my alltime Sting-favourites Mad About You or King of Pain:

Also, Sting collaborated with Alison Krauss to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the movie Cold Mountain (a brilliant movie you should go check out right now), called My Ain True Love which was also performed during the Symphonicities - Tour. Below are both songs as well as another general alltime-favourite of mine in an orchestrated rendition - I Burn For You.