Archive for the 'people' Category

Hero Files: Ben Burtt

San Francisco Gate: ALL EARS ON ‘WALL-E’

“The best sounds have been accidental encounters,” Burtt says. “I suppose part of the curse of having this job is that you’re always listening, and maybe not paying attention to your family at a dinner table or on a trip. ‘Wait, I hear something! Let’s record it!’ “

Mr. Burtt is one of those people I have never met, but is more responsible for my mindset than most that I have. I’m not ashamed to admit it: listen to Star Wars without looking at the screen and imagine what that can do to a little kid: R2-D2, lightsabers, blasters, the whole shebang. His work in WALL-E is incredible… and about time he received actor’s credit for one of his designs. He had more to do with R2-D2’s personality than any of the engineers who made the props or Kenny Baker being inside it for some of the shots.

Incidentally, reading these articles about him make me all the more anxious for some of the developments coming down the pike, which hopefully will allow me to engage in more creative location recording….

Update: Make sure to also check out this interview from last week’s Studio360….

George Carlin, R.I.P.

Bebe Barron, RIP

Electronic Music Pioneer Bebe Barron Dead At 82 » Synthtopia

Bebe Barron, who, along with her husband Louis Barron, created the pioneering electronic score for Forbidden Planet, died April 20, 2008 at the age of 82 of natural causes.

Arthur C. Clarke has died

Via Bloomberg:

March 19 (Bloomberg) — Arthur C. Clarke, the U.K. science- fiction writer and futurist visionary best known for the novel adapted for the film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” has died. He was 90.

Clarke died in his adopted home country of Sri Lanka early today from respiratory complications, according to a statement from his office there. He had suffered from post-polio syndrome for the last two decades of his life and was confined to a wheelchair. Clarke had lived in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, since 1956 and held citizenship there.

RIP Sir Ed…

Edmund Hillary, First on Everest, Dies at 88 - New York Times
Sir Edmund Hillary, the lanky New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who with Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, won worldwide acclaim in 1953 by becoming the first to scale the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday in Wellington.

He was 88.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, Rest In Peace

He will be missed.

The composer Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5th 2007 at his home in Kuerten-Kettenberg and will be buried in the Waldfriedhof (forest cemetery) in Kuerten.

Jean Michel and his Synthesizers

Cycling 74 Worships the Daevl

OK, not really - but they did do an incredible interview with our friend Vlad Spears, the mad genius behind the Daevl.Plugs. You should go now and check out all the fun (including lots of youtube goodness!), as well as his take on the interview with the kind people of C74 over on 2Second(fuse)!

Brap On…

Geez, almost forgot!

Happy Birthday cEvin Key!

Growing Up…

Happy Birthday Peter Gabriel!

Postcards from the Edge

Last night, my friend Threv had his friend Spc. Duncan Brennan on his radio show to discuss some of his impressions of the ongoing war in Iraq, a war from which he has recently returned. Between his comments and this gallery of photos Spc. Brennan is sharing on Smugmug, I was particularly moved… He captures humanity in this conflict that the politicians and journalists do not present. His pictures of the children of Iraq brought me to tears.

I lost a friend from high school to this war, Steve. We were very close during school, but after I left and he went into the army, we didn’t particularly stay in touch. For him to be so close to ending his deployment and returning to his wife and three children before losing his life is heart-breaking to me.

As is mentioned during the radio show, we should all try to remember to support the men and women serving in uniform regardless of our opinion of the war itself. It is becoming more and more obvious to the world that there is no easy way out of this quagmire, but we can all support some solution that will put an end to the killing, so no more children have to lose their parents and no more parents have to lose their children.

People I’d Love to Work With, Part 1