creators Neil

HEROES (Marvel Comics) The World's Greatest Superhero Creators Honor The World's Greatest Heroes 9/ 11/ 2001
$23.96
Magazine Format / 64 pages / Full Color / Full page illustrations by various artists, text w/ some illustrations. Created as a benefit for the Twin Towers Fund - providing financial aid to firefighter, polic officers and other uniformed personnel who died during the attack on the World Trade Center / NYC on 9/11/2007.

The American Mall
$24.99
I found myself liking this sort of Partridge Family manufactured
for TV rock story about what else a romance between a singing boy and a singing girl.
Nina Dobrev is sort of the perfect modern x generation girl:
manufactured for Sterio HDTV: beautiful voice and a fashion manikin body.
The rich mall owner's daughter (Autumn Reeser) is the villain who wants to take the boy friend away.
My DVD gives no credit for the music.
"I must be dreaming wide awake
I must be dreaming
I must be dreaming wide awake"
Who ever wrote the music probably needs a good intellectual property lawyer?
I can't find a name anywhere...
Here you have a movie with one of the main themes being the
singer-song writer's rights to her song,
and then, you can't find who actually wrote that song
( they haven't given out that information?).
What kind of picture of the world does that give the young idealistic
people who will love this movie for generations?

Dufay: Mass for St. Anthony of Padua / Pomerium
$16.98
Guillaume Dufay (ca. 1397 - 1474): Mass for St. Anthony of Padua [composed c. 1450]. Pomerium, dir. Alexander Blachly. Recording: March 1995 in the Grotto Church of Notre Dame, New York. First published in 1996 as Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 447 772-2. Total playing time: 68'37".

Although it would certainly be possible to discuss the historicity of performing this music with a mixed male-female choir (Pomerium use not only sopranos on this CD but also one female alto together with two male altos), any reservations are swept away as soon as one puts a Pomerium CD in the player and exposes oneself to this uncommonly pure, harmonious sound. That is true of Pomerium's earlier CDs, which appeared on the American Dorian label, and at least equally of this firstfruit of the co-operation between Pomerium and Deutsche Grammophon. I own the French language edition, on the front cover of which there is a picture of a watery surface that has shortly before been disturbed by someone throwing in a stone. The peacefulness and the feeling of harmony and "givenness" which this picture irradiates reflects perfectly to my mind that which anyone may expect who takes the trouble to spend time with this Mass and this authoritative recording. The individual voices (mostly without the basses) blend together with a perfection that only very few choirs achieve at this level of tonal purity and, at the same time, relaxation. Of course, the effect is also a result of Dufay's music which does without the emotional ups and downs of later polyphonic writing. Nevertheless, I should like to emphasize the absolutely sovereign achievement of the choir directed by Alexander Blachly which creates an atmosphere of artistic respect for the composition combined with a kind of religious commitment right up to the last moment of the CD. This not only equals the performances of British choirs such as the Tallis Scholars or The Sixteen but threatens to outdo them on their very own territory.

In the mean time there are other recordings of this mass, some of them with a rather different conception (e. g. the La Reverdie recording for the French Arcana label). And to be sure, it is possible to perform Dufay's music differently from the way Pomerium do. But I find it hard to imagine that it would be possible to better Pomerium's achievement.

The Turk
$1.99
I have to say that I found the show to be a pleasant diversion from the doldrums of reality TV. I watched with great interest being that I am a Terminator fan, and I have to say that it's a departure that I'm in favor of. I like the fact that they didn't go for the copy of Arnold or try like hell to be as good as the movie. I think this one takes a departure that is worth waiting for. You want to know how Summer Glau's character is different from other Terminator Models.

Some of the plot they borrowed from one of the Terminator Books that I read, but that's ok. I liked that book. I guess that I would say that I hope they allow the show to unfold enough to find its audience. I'm glad TV has not forgotten us Sci-Fi nuts and put something out there that I find watchable.

I look forward to seeing what's going to happen.