Saturday, July 11, 2009

Comments on Via Purifico





Via Purfico is a gem in the final fantasy piano collection series. The original "Path of Repentance" melodies are beautifully arranged and played on piano now. In game, the song was played when Yuna was taken to Purifico, where she made her important decision (illustrated in the piece "Yuna's Determination"). Here is the decomposition of the whole piece:
1) intro: fast, repeat, one scale up, and repeat again, and some transition;
2) main part, which can be further divided into 3 parts:
a) main melody, repeated twice;
b) higher melody, without which the beauty of the whole piece disappears;
c) ending transitions.
3) repeat 2, except that the ending is changed to facilitate connection to Part 4.
4) no longer regular 1/8 notes, but some nice shifts and transitions.
5) left hand plays nice chords now, with right hand playing several notes simultaneously, which is typical Nobuo Umatsu arragenment style.
6) back to 2b)
7) ending. softer and softer. smorzando is the term.
Overally 9.9/10.
This is not an easy piece! This is a fast-paced piano solo and requires detexrity of fingers.
This is one of my personal favorites. It conveys a sense of loneliness, thinking, struggle, determination, and immense beauty, especially hen played during silent sight.
For remixes of this song, checkout OCRemix's "Via", which put a lot of emotion into this song.
In my personal view, similar songs:
Vincent's Theme "The Nightmware Begins" Final Fantasy VII


Collected comments from others:

I liked the whole Via Purifico thing for some odd reason, so I liked its theme as well, but it is definitely safe to say that the Piano Collections version of "Via Purifico" outstrips the original. "Via Purifico" uniquely conveys the mysteriousness and cryptic air of its original without getting all "Mystic Forest"-y on you. Hamauzu arranged the piece in a faster, more effective style, which smoothes over the crinkles and folds from the original. Don't pass this one up, it's a real inconspicuous little gem which is very enjoyable to listen to. The somber melody is perfect for the track.

This was the music played when your characters were dumped in the Via Purifico. It sounds very good on the piano and gives you that secretive "cave music" sense. It reminds me of "Find your Way" from Final Fantasy VIII.

This is a song has an interesting melody. It's obviously, in tone and pacing, a dungeon song. It does a very good job of conveying the feeling of trouble, a burdened heart.

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Notorious liberal ninth circuit court

According to New York Times, "The California prison system must reduce overcrowding by as many as 55,000 inmates within three years to provide a constitutional level of medical and mental health care, a federal three-judge panel tentatively ruled Monday."

Judge Stephen Reinhardt is amazing. A Carter appointee with a degree from Yale, his credentials are impressive. He is described as "ideological, outlandish, and never dull." In some sense, he resembles Alan Shore in Boston Legal. The ninth circuit has received much criticism from conservatives. A proposal to divide the ninth circuit into several parts was discussed a few years ago. The politically liberal San Francisco headquarters the ninth circuit court, whose decisions are often reversed by the supreme court. In 2002, the court has ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional under the First Amendment due to its inclusion of the phrase "under God."

According to weeklystandard.com, "His flamboyance notwithstanding, Reinhardt is influential with his colleagues. One reason is that he is undeniably smart. Says Judge Trott, 'The competition of ideas is at a very high level when [Reinhardt] is involved.'" "Reinhardt is known for picking the sharpest, most liberal law-school graduates he can find."