Wow. Here it is 2010, and it appears that I only wrote two posts in 2009. So what happened in that space of 12 months? I’ve been composing plenty, but apparently don’t see the importance of updating my blog. Kind of like me and facebook - which I visit at least twice a month.

With this new year, I’ll consider posting slightly more often here - maybe three posts this year.

Oh, how the years go by! Here we are in September, and I last posted in June? Oy. For the two of you that have been wondering what I’ve been up to, I’ve done some bumpers for internet radio hosts on WAR, and submitted some hard rock cues to a television show that I’m hoping will work into a long term gig.

For the longest time, I’ve been working on a tune titled Voyager, which is a bit hard to classify. Sort of a smooth electronica jazz kind of thing. I’ll post it to my Broadjam page when its all done.

I’m slowly getting my Axiom 61 programmed. It is very configurable. I think that I need to take a whole day and set up programs that combine the essential operations in SONAR, and important parameters of my favorite soft synths.

Just to let you know that I did go to the inaugural concert of the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra on my birthday (night).

Hats off to a talented collection of musicians and entertaining conductor, John Scott (composer for Antony and Cleopatra, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarazn, etc.).

Thumbs down to a parking attendants who directed my wife and I to an ATM, and then disappeared less than 5 minutes after showtime. With no one to take our money for parking, I had to lift the parking gate, while my wife drove the car underneath. Well, at least parking was free that night.

Royce Hall at UCLA is a nice-enough venue for symphonic performances, though I recommend opting for the less-expensive balcony seats. Toward the end of the concert - after noticing how few people there were in the balcony seats – we moved from our more expensive seats on the seats on the floor to the balcony where we had plenty of breathing room and a better view of the orchestra.

No, I’m not giving a concert, but there does appear to be an interesting one happening at UCLA on my birthday: an evening of film music performed by The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra. How cool is that? Check out the details at Music for the Movies and at the orchestra’s website.

Just in case you might be wondering if I’ve dropped off of the edge of the world, I’m taking a few moments to let you know what I should be blogging about…

I had LASIK done on Monday, Jan 2. Due to my typical restless sleeping, I disloged my protective goggles during the night and managed to displace the corneal flap of my right eye. Consequently, on Tuesday, my right corneal flap was “refloated” and a protective contact lens placed over the repositioned flap. I’ve never worn contact lenses, so to go from never wearing contact lenses to wearing one 24 hours a day (until Friday afternoon when it will be removed!) is quite an adjustment. It feels like there is something in my eye. Wait! There is something in my eye: A big lens that might as well be made out of sandpaper. Okay - I exagerate a bit. All this to say after working all day in front of a computer - my eyes are pretty well spent at the end of the workday. Blogging isn’t high on my list of priorities right now. Well, that explains the lack of activity this week.

I still owe all y’all a score review of “Narnia”. I must confess that I found myself enjoying the story to the exclusion of analyzing the score. I may have to go see it again to form a proper review.

I’ll blog again later with more post-LASIK news, the Narnia score, and some career updates. Until then, my eyes (especially the right) say “Good Night”.

Jonah A. Lim, filmmaker and film professor at the Silliman University School of Communication, recently received the “Best Foreign Film” award for his film Kaibigan (that’s Tagalog for My Friend) at the 2005 WYSIWYG Film Festival. He shared the news with my wife and me via a phone call from the Philippines on Christmas Day.

Jonah gave me my introduction into the world of film scoring with two of his earlier works (Social Cancer and Rescue in F Minor). It is great to see him win this award (actually, I saw him with the award – since he sent photos via email). Congratulations to my good friend, Jonah!

Read more about the win and Professor Lim’s industry outlook here.

A few weeks back, I got a call from a delightful young woman named Tiffany who wondered what it is that I do. Now, I suppose, phonetically, ‘wrapmusic’ sounds almost indistinguishably similar to “rap music” - however, “wrapmusic” is music that comes after “wrap” - both in print and in process. And “wrap”, according to the industry and to Merriam Webster Online, is defined as to finish filming or videotaping . Adding music to a film or video project (visual media), is a post-production process.

So, what do I do? I compose music for visual media. Think “Howard Shore”, “John Debney”, or “Thomas Newman”, only with far-less name recognition and a much smaller résumé.

For the two of you wondering whatever became of my CD, I am working on one more track that I plan on adding to the final product. The song is yet untitled, but I’m sure that I’ll come up with one before I finish it. If you can imagine new age orchestral smooth jazz, then you may have a vague idea of this latest composition.

One advantage that music has over writing is that with music I can communicate precisely my thoughts to you. That is, the music that I hear in my head I can transform into a medium that you can hear just what I was hearing internally. Although I believe I am an above-average writer, I may not be able to accurately convey my imagination to you. Have you ever seen a movie after reading the book, and were disappointed that the characters and/or scenes were not at all like you had imagined them?

All that to say that I really can’t describe the song to you, you’ll just have to hear it when its done.