Meet Alan Menken: Maestro of Disney Movie Soundtracks

It took me a journey back to the 80th Annual Academy Awards to get to notice the guy and his brilliant works in the past 2 decades (and still goin, I hope..). In the 2008 Oscar, Alan got not just one, nope.. not two, but three nominations together with Stephen Schwartz on Best Original Song for Enchanted. 3 out of total 5 nominations was sure seemed a real biiig chance to win. Unlucky for them, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova wrote this beautiful song called "Falling Slowly" from the so-acknowledged-to-be "The Best Irish film ever": Once, and eventually brought home the golden man. They were better, indeed..

Yet the curiosity arises, who's Alan Menken? And here comes the answer to my queries, Grammy, Globes and Oscar winner (along with lyricists Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz) for Best Original Song for these movies:

- The Little Mermaid

- Beauty and The Beast

- Aladdin

- Pocahontas

Ring a bell?

Aladdin's "A Whole New World" is like, my all time faaaaave Disney soundtrack.. you'd immediately recognize the song just as the piano tune plays in.. romantic.. light.. aah you'd feel like ridin' on the magic carpet ride.. :)

In Oscar history, Alan is currently on the top list of most awards won (4 times), along with (all, the late) Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen (All The Way - The Joker is Wild) and Johnny Mercer (Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany's).

A living legend... Salute, Mr. Menken...

Back To Where I Started

Thinking, rambling, observing, wondering...

Confused, puzzled, or as Max Horowitz would put 'em together as "confuzzled"

The lines I drew these days were dotted, too many blanks left to fill in..

"Lost", sure is a harsh word to say.. Holdin' up, for they almost got me there..

Digging out some old piece of mind, this one set me back on my track:

walkin' slowly down the path, where,

faith lies,

beyond my greatest joy,

my darkest fear,

my deepest sorrow..

rediscover the -nearly- shattered hopes,

wishin' good times would come by.. or,

return?

we're back at square one,

can't you see?

for no answer is a bad answer,

they sometimes just don't fit fine to the question

no lie is a bad lie,

sometimes truth seeks its own way to be discovered

this time around, i get to see,

even the strongest bond might fall

this time, i (once again) get to believe that,

silence,

says it all

-200109-

(And It Has Just Been) Another Big Night at Old Trafford

The 1st European game played at OT since it's 100th anniversary was supposed to be quite a saga: Man Utd vs AC Milan - and a memorable night: return of (Becks) the 'lost' kid.

We were ahead on the aggregate, with a 3-2 victory on 1st leg match at San Siro (3 away goals sure meant a lot when you're facing a team like Milan), yet, despite winning streaks in the last 3 matches, United's level of consistency this season was somewhat, as I may call it, unsatisfactory.

But tonight, the lads showed a beautiful display, not to mention killing ;), with a ruthless 4-0 score to end the match, which as well ended Milan's dream towards their 8th European title glory. Neat game, neat game.. Rooney's back from injury and brought home a header plus a speedy tiny touch past the unfortunate Milan's keeper, Abbiati; Park with a screamer comin from right wing; and Darren Fletcher gave the final cheering following a superb long cross from Rafael. A miserable night for a teeeerrible Milan defense.. the midfield and forward didn't do much better either..

Lesson learned, Leonardo, nobody past Sir Alex easily.. better luck next time, mate ;)

Final aggregate? 7-2 - Glory.. Glory..!

The Lovely Bones: My side of the review

Why do I have this feeling that Peter Jackson has sort of lost his *magic* since TLOTR trilogy?

King Kong, was merely a remake of a legendary picture with refinements on the visual effect, and this year's "The Lovely Bones", to me, happens to be a confusing picture of Jackson's desire to mix drama and fantasy altogether.

(Btw, did you notice he cameod in the film as the guy in the Kodak print house?) hihi..

Haven't read the book it was adapted from, so I have no idea how Alice Sebold presented the storyline.

But the way it was mapped into a film, hmm I dunno really, some might say it's a *breakthrough* of an unusual-brand new-form of drama-genre films.. Well to me, it breaks the usualness (of drama films), not to mention a big portion of the essence of the story.

The visual effect was fabulous, indeed.. Yet, I found the scenes to be annoying, due to the fact that it became a distraction whenever I was trying to get in-deep with the story (how the family feels of losing the kid, yadayadayada..) - why oh why.....

Film rating by far: 6 stars out of 10.

Okay, lets see how we could fix this.

The finest part started to emerge having gone through 1,5 hours of the film duration. How the film was concluded, I guess - and I hope - would provide a comforting idea, especially to those who may have experienced similar tragedies. To mothers and fathers of the missing daughters to know that their little girls were "freed" to a beautiful place, called Heaven.. free of fear, of anger, of desolation, because they were not alone..

And in the end, it brought another message of 'letting go'.. That, no matter what happened to your life, and how long will you live (which, you probly never gonna figure out ;)), you always have a choice to forgive, to let go, and to wish others happiness, as Susie Salmon voiceovered on the final scene: "I was here for a moment, and then I was gone. I wish you all, a long, and happy life."

Final rating: 6.8 out of 10.

Sorry Mr. Jackson, I'd rather you stick still with pure fantasies, simply your best specialty there.. ;)