It's been a while....

So both semesters (and one super compresses summer semester) are finished and I haven't blogged at all.

Later.  Animazement now.  \＞ロ＜/

Old School

The new WCU Courtyard.  This area used to be busy road.  The grass and fountain is a nice upgrade.

Allow me to apologize for the lack of updates.  I've been rather busy for the past month and half, preparing for graduate school.  I do have some non-school related projects that have been put on hold for now:

• Producing a real recording of High, High, High
• Revising the sheet music for High, High, High and Resuscitated Hope.
• Per a few requests on youtube, I also intend to post midi files of these songs. 
• I am considering arranging Cras numquam scire from Dantalian no Shoka.  It has already been arranged for piano however, I don't think I could add very much.  I may do a literal transcription as a learning exercise, and because I like it. 

As I said, these projects have been put on hold due to Graduate School, which is what the rest of this blog article is about.  Hit the jump to read more!

Post Otakon 2011

Well Otakon 2011 is over.  The count for the convention is still growing, but last I read there were over 31,300 people attending.  That's a lot of people.  Thoughts after the jump.

RobUsa B is going to Otakon!

I'm going to Otakon!  An anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland.   I signed up for this a year ago and it isn't until recently that I've built up excitement for it, mostly cause I know what will be going on there.  A few of the things I'm looking forward too:

New Arrangement: High High High (Usagi Drop Ending 1 - TV Size)

 RobUsa B is proud to present: Karasinchu's High, High, High.  This is the first ending theme for Usagi Drop.

Download Sheet Music (PDF)

Watch the original ending theme (YouTube)

High, High, High is a different style than what I usually listen to or work with, so it was an excellent learning opportunity.  I took drafts to a piano much more frequently than I did for Resuscitated Hope (which was almost never), so the final product has less awkward voice leading and is closer to my personal playing ability (after much practice).  I smudged the rhythm of the melody around in places for easier performance.  A specific example is in measure 5:  The original recording here is syncopated on the 16th notes, which feels very natural when singing.  On the piano however, I thought it made things unnecessarily busy, and caused the difficulty to exceed my intentions. 

I was hoping to have an actual piano recording of this finished before I go to Otakon.  I leave for Otakon tomorrow -- so much for that.  Now my goal shall be to have a recording done by time I leave for graduate school. 

MAC or PC? Or, how I hate my computer.

I did it.  I bought a MacBook Pro.  Actually, this happened much earlier in the Spring, but I was so slow with creating The B-On that I only now get to talk about it.  But first for something completely different.

Deathly Hallows, Part 2 UPDATED 7/17/2011

Caught a matinee showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 today.  The theater was using film, and the showing was slightly out of focus (enough that I suspected it through the whole showing and confirmed it when I saw the credits).  I didn't intend to geek about about this movie on The B-On, but it cannot be helped.  The thoughts: there are so many.

UPDATE 7/17:  Had a second viewing today.  This time there was constant drone from the air conditioning in the theater.  And I truly mean a "drone," the sound was a Perfect 5th interval and definitely in the bass registers.  I couldn't hear it until everyone hushed for the movie, so I thought it might've been a part of the film score.  Nope, 15 minutes later: droooooooooooooooooooone.  My updated thoughts are scattered through out the article, so read on.

Reader beware, here there be uninhibited spoilers.  Hit the jump to read more.