I had a couple of cool excursions across the Wibbly Wobbly Web recently, and, as usual when I’m too tired to produce actual content, I’ll send you in the direction of someone who isn’t.
My brother had a party several days ago (from which we still haven’t really cleaned up. It’s strange how empty cookie bags and pizza stained paper plates strewn across the landscape bother you less when your mother isn’t around, (I’ve taken to calling this “Lost Boys Syndrome”) (I am actually cleaning it up by degrees mom, the house will be tidy for your return)
Any road, one of little brother’s friends was rather proudly showing off an image he’d discovered on Stumble Upon, much in the same way a prize hunter shows off the dismembered parts of a rather large deer. The image was a piece of sheet music, obviously farcical and definitely unplayable. We (Friend, Brother and I) just about disemboweled ourselves laughing as we read through the piece, but we didn’t know anything about its origins, as whoever posted that particular copy also removed the title and copyright notice. (Astard-Bay probably has a Tumblr)
Thankfully, a quick Google search for a few of the distinctive directions in the sheet music, “Release the Penguins”, “Saxaphone moves downstage” and “Like a Dirigible” revealed that the song is called “Faerie’s Aire and Death Waltz”. It was created by a professional Music Engraver With a Taste for Nonsense named John Stump. (You can find more information about the late Stump, as well as high-quality scans of his work at a website run by his nephew: Lost in the Cloud
The next step was finding out if anyone had actually attempted to play this supposedly impossible piece of music. At first we found a video on YouTube claiming to be the same song, and while we were impressed by the skill of the pianist, what was being played was far too melodic to match the sheet music. Eventually we happened upon two different attempts at playing the song, both equally terrible in the self-aware mode of people with too much spare time.
Anyway, I was listening to more of Marasy8‘s work, as he has now topped Ronald Jenkees as my favorite person who plays a keyboard on Youtube, when I got off on a tangent watching people play Taiko no Tatsujin (link–link–link) and then a video (Which I can’t find now) of somebody getting a score of 600 in this game (My best is 73, which should give you a slightly more reasonable mark to beat.)
Later on I was reading Kill Screen Daily which told me that not only was there a new Rayman game out, but it was an ACTUAL Rayman game, (Not a rabbid in sight) forged from the brilliant (deranged?) mind of Rayman’s original creator, Michel Ancel. Sadly, no PC release as of yet. Rayman Creator was one of my absolute favorite dos games, and seeing all those characters coming back for a new game is like dousing my head with a bucket of liquid nostalgia, thank you Ubisoft.
I’m gonna wrap it up now, I could go on, it’s been one of those weeks, but as I’ve been typing this, my brother exposed me to this bit of action from an Indian movie called Magadheera. I don’t think I ever need to watch this movie.
OH! Speaking of movies! Finally got to watch TinTin with my brother at the little theater. I don’t think any film has so perfectly matched the tone and spirit of the source material. Ever. (Possibly Scott Pilgrim) It was so thoroughly TinTin. Go watch it 😀
