Once again, the Holy Days messed up
our schedule, but that’s ok. We were
supposed to visit the City of David and walk Hezekiah’s Tunnel, but they were
closed due to the Jewish holy day. So
after breakfast we headed over to the Temple Mount. You have to pass through security, and due to
Ramadan you were not allowed to bring any food or drink in. That meant we had to dump our water, which
made for a very thirst group by lunch time.
While waiting, we are able to look at the extension of the Temple Mount made by
Herod (the lower, bigger stones; the upper, smaller stones were built up by the
Muslims after they had been pushed down by the Romans).
On the Temple Mount, basically all
we could do was look at the outside and take some pictures. Only Muslims are allowed inside.
Afterwards, we walked through part
of the Muslim Quarter and made our way back to the Jewish Quarter, where we
were going to have lunch. But again,
Holy Day meant everything was closed. We
had to back track to another place where we had a pretty good lunch
buffet. After lunch, we were free for
the afternoon, so I walked around with two others on the trip.
I did make a fairly big purchase
(for me anyways). There is a Greek
Orthodox icon store near where we ate last night. I thought: this might be the only time I will
be able to buy an authentic Greek Orthodox icon. So I splurged for a nice icon of the Holy
Trinity (one of the most…iconic…icons).
We made our way back to the
convent, and I walked around the church here a bit, including the crypt. They have excavated a prison, and there is a
possibility that, since this is so close to the house of Cleophas, Jesus may
have been scourged and held prisoner here.
It’s something to really think about.
There
are crosses etched in the walls
After a bit of a break, we had Mass
and then dinner at an Armenian restaurant.
I was adventurous and tried an Armenian dish that was almost like a stew
with peppers, tomatoes, onions, and a large beef patty on the bottom all
covered in a yogurt and sesame sauce. It
was quite good, unlike anything I’ve tried before.
Following dinner, we made our way
to the Western Wall. I was blessed to be
able to make my way down to the wall, as far right as you can go, and pray for
a few minutes. I could not help but
think about my possibly Jewish ancestors, as well as other prayer
requests. It was a moving experience
that is hard to explain. Jesus may have
touched those very stones, along with millions of others.
So now I must finish and get some
sleep. We have an early day tomorrow:
Mass at 6:30 in the Holy Sepulchre. After that, it will be a full day at the
Dead Sea. Hopefully I can get more sleep
tonight, after a slightly shortened sleep last night when I was awoken by the
call to prayer around 3:30.
It has been a long couple of days
of travel. I had to wake up at 3:30 on
Memorial Day in order to make my 5:45 flight out of Madison. Made it there and through security just in
time for the quick 23 minute flight down to Chicago. I followed that up with a long 6 hour layover
at O’Hare, where I finally met up with the rest of my group around 10:30. I had lunch with one of my fellow travelers around 11:00 (a good and
overpriced chicken and avocado sandwich, plus a slightly dry sea salt chocolate
chip cookie). Then it was on our flight
to Toronto, which was delayed due to a faulty door indicator. After about a 20 minute wait, we finally got
in the air.
During this flight, I finally
opened the novel I brought along for the trip: the newly published Michael
Crichton work Dragon Teeth.
Unfortunately, I think I’m going to finish it quite early on the trip,
since it is a quick read. Thankfully I
have plenty of other reading material on my Amazon Fire. Since we were a little later getting out of
Chicago, our connection in Toronto was only slightly rushed. I ran ahead to check on my seat (I wanted to
move up, but was told I could not since it was an Air Canada flight and my
ticket was purchased through United.
That makes sense.) Herein lies my
problem with travelling in groups, something I’m not used to. I didn’t tell them I was going ahead, so
apparently they waited for me after getting through customs. This made them some of the last to get
through the additional security for the flight to Tel Aviv.
My plan had been to sleep most of
the flight. Instead, I did not sleep a
wink. I simply could not get
comfortable. So I ended up watching four
movies in amongst various attempts to sleep.
The new ones I watched were The Founder, which was good though it made
me really dislike Ray Kroc, and Assassin’s Creed, which I had avoided given the
bad reviews, and even at free it wasn’t worth it.
One really interesting thing was
the number of Orthodox, Hasidic, Jewish men.
It was especially interesting to watch them pray. I had seen some before, mostly in airports,
but never so many (which was not surprising, of course).
And so we landed in Tel Aviv, 10:00
local, 2:00 am at home. It took awhile
for all of us to get through customs, be we finally got on the road to our
first stop: Tel Beer Sheba. Tel is the
word for a fortified mound, similar to the Greek acropolis. By the way, on the way we stopped for lunch
at a roadside stop with McDonalds and a coffee shop with sandwiches. Of course, I did not go to McDonalds. I had a pretty good chicken sandwich with
fresh whole grain wheat bread, aioli, red onions, tomatoes, arugula, and a huge
chunk of red pepper (I took one bite with it and then threw the rest of the
pepper away). This was our first stop
since it was where Abraham settled. It’s
a pretty cool site, you can even walk down into the cistern which had been
built deep below the town.
Main front gate (with well below)
Path to second gate
Modern Beer Sheba in background
Looking toward Negev Desert
Looking into the cistern
It was also here that I realized
that, while I thought I was prepared to be here, there are still something
things that surprise me even though they shouldn’t. The first was the camels we saw around Tel
Beer Sheva. Of course I knew there were
camels here, but they still surprised me.
The other was the minarets and the call to prayer. Again, duh, but still surprising.
So then we made our way to
Jerusalem. It’s interesting to drive
past the many different regions in Israel, many with walls or fences around
them. We are staying these first few
nights at a convent at St. Peter in Gallicantu.
After settling in, we had our first Mass together. What an amazing view from this spot, looking
at Old Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives!
I was especially struck when the first word my side said during Evening
Prayer was: “Jerusalem!” I’m here!
After that, we walked to
dinner. The place we were supposed to go
to was closed, because, as we didn’t know until we got here, it is just the beginning
of Ramadan. This is why we have had to
since alter some of our plans for visits.
So we were recommended a certain restaurant, where they made us some
delicious salads of various kinds, hummus and pita bread, and the main course
of a very good curry chicken, potatoes, and cooked vegetables. Then they topped it off with chocolate cupcakes
with a chocolate insert. All very good.
On the way back, it was after
sunset, which means the Muslims celebrate.
In the picture below, all of the colored lights were actually blinking,
and they are sporadically setting off fireworks as I type this.
Well, I’m tired, so I’m going to
end this here. Tomorrow should be a busy
and interesting day as we tour some of Jerusalem.
For those of you who do not know,
tomorrow I will be embarking on a three week pilgrimage to the Holy Land, plus
a side trip to Vienna on the way back.
The pilgrimage is part of the Bethsaida Expedition at Sacred Heart
Seminary and School of Theology (Facebook page here). There is a slight detour this year with the
program, we will be digging at Magdala instead.
My plan is to post every day on
this blog with updates on our travels as well as pictures. You can also follow the program with the
above Facebook page (someone from the group will be posting every day.
I am really looking forward to this
trip since I have never been to the Holy Land.
It will be a great insight into the Gospels, and a fantastic chance to
walk where Jesus and the disciples did.
Part of the program for me is that I am taking a class on the Synoptic
Gospels, so we will be reading and talking about the Gospel of Matthew as we
tour the sights. Again, it’s a unique
opportunity.
Please keep all of us in your
prayers as we head off to Tel Aviv on Memorial Day. I will be flying from Madison to Chicago
early in the morning, and meeting the rest of the group there. We will then fly to Tel Aviv via Toronto,
arriving Tuesday morning. I probably
will not be able to post anything tomorrow, so Tuesday will be a double
post.
If you have any intentions for me
while we are in the Holy Land, do not hesitate to let me know. I will not have international minutes or data
for my phone, so Facebook or email (or the comments here) will be the best way
to contact me. God Bless!
Again, it's been awhile since I posted anything. It's been pretty busy. I've also been working on this (quite lengthy) post. That being said, starting in about a week, I plan on posting everyday as I travel abroad.
Now, the point of this post. There are a lot of good film composers out there. I wanted to make a small contribution to highlight some of the most important/best throughout the years. Rather than trying to rank them, I simply am listing them alphabetically (by first name, because it happened that way). I also am listing my favorite work by them, as well as some others that should be mentioned. I also am including a link to a video of some significant work of theirs on Youtube, for easy reference. Hope you enjoy and learn something!
1.Alan Menken - Beauty and the Beast (Aladdin, The
Little Mermaid)
The sound of Disney cartoons from
the late 80s to today. While outside of
the movies the scores can be too "cartoony," they work well within the
films.
2.Alan Silvestri - Predator (Contact, The Abyss,
Back to the Future Part 3, Forrest Gump, What Lies Beneath)
I am much more partial to his early
work than his recent work, since most of his recent action scores sound exactly
the same (his good Captain America theme not withstanding). This is a difficult choice, because I think
Contact is probably the best "real science fiction" score, but
Predator has always been my favorite jungle action score.
3.Alexandre Desplat - Godzilla (Girl with a Pearl
Earring, The King's Speech, The Queen)
Known mostly for his
drama scores, at least by me, his Godzilla is one of the best monster scores of
all time. I look forward to hearing more
from him in the future.
4.Alfred Newman - Captain from Castile (The Black
Swan, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Mark of Zorro)
A Golden Age composer, he is the
patriarch of the greatest film composing family in history (sons David and
Thomas, nephew Randy). He also notably
wrote the 20th Century Fox theme.
5.Basil Poledouris - Conan the Barbarian (For Love
of the Game, The Hunt for Red October, Robocop, Starship Troopers)
Conan and Red October and
neck-and-neck for me. One of the great
things about him is that, while if you listen closely you can hear his style,
each of his scores are unique.
6.Bernard Herrmann - North by Northwest (The Day
the Earth Stood Still, Psycho)
The sound of Hitchcock, one of the
great director/composer teamups. Psycho
and Vertigo are perhaps more recognizable themes, but Northwest is his best
overall score.
7.Bruce Broughton - Tombstone (The Blue and the
Gray, The Rescuers Down Under, Silverado)
If I were directing a Western, and
could chose any composer in history, he would be my easy choice. I only wish he was more prominent, but what
he has done is great.
8.Christopher Young - Rounders (The Fly II, Ghost Rider, Hellraiser, Spider Man 3)
There are basically two Christopher
Young sounds: horror and jazz. Somewhere
in the middle is his superhero sound.
All of them are great. Similar to
Broughton, Young would be my easy choice for a horror composer.
9.Clint Mansell - The Fountain (Moon, Noah,
Requiem for a Dream)
Black Swan is not listed because
while it is a brilliant deconstruction of Swan Lake, it's not especially
original since it borrows so much from the ballet. The Fountain is by far one of my favorite
scores, and certainly one of the most powerful.
Requiem for a Dream I only have listed because of its famous theme, but
most of it is not good.
10.Craig Armstrong - Love Actually (The Bone
Collector, The Incredible Hulk)
Love Actually is a bit too
repetitive, meaning The Incredible Hulk is probably a better overall score, but
man I love those themes.
11.Danny Elfman - Batman (Big Fish, Dick Tracy,
Edward Scissorhands, Mission: Impossible, Spiderman)
15 years ago, I would have listed Elfman
as my favorite composer after John Williams.
He probably would have been there still 10 years ago. 5 years ago, I would say Top 5. But since he has not written anything
memorably since 2010 (The Wolfman, Alice in Wonderland), I'd struggle to have
him that high. Late-80s/early-90s Elfman
was a masterclass in perfect composing.
12.Dario Marianelli - Atonement (Anna Karenina, V
for Vendetta)
Aside from Atonement I'm not a huge
fan, but it's not like the rest of his music is bad. It's just a little too quiet/unmemorable for
me.
13.David Arnold - Stargate (Casino Royale,
Independence Day, Shaft)
I will always appreciate him for two
things. First, the early Emmerich/Devlin
scores. Second, the best non-Barry Bond
scores. I'd really like to see him get
more movie work.
14.David Newman - Galaxy Quest (The Phantom, The
Sandlot, Serenity)
Not the first name that comes to mind
when I think "great composer," but he's got some really good
work. It is not an insult to call him
the third best Newman.
15.Dimitri Tiomkin - The Alamo (It's a Wonderful
Life, Red River)
Another great from the Golden Age,
he is nearly synonymous with John Wayne for me.
16.Ed Shearmur - The Count of Monte Cristo (Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Reign of Fire)
Another of those whom I wish had
more work, because those I have heard are all quite good. It is hard to believe that Monte Cristo did
not put him on the map more.
17.Elliot Goldenthal - Michael Collins (Alien 3,
Batman Forever, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, SWAT)
Very quirky, sometimes repetitive,
it can be difficult to get into his work.
Michael Collins is probably his most "normal" score, and
therefore the furthest away from his usual sound, but it's still my favorite. Also, for people who love the score for 300 (I'm one), you should know it's nearly a note-for-note copy of Goldenthal's Titus (as heard above).
18.Elmer Bernstein - The Magnificent Seven (The
Great Escape, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Ten Commandments, True Grit)
Went from composing epics in the 50s
to comedies in the 80s. Not exactly the
best career arc, but those early scores are great.
19.Ennio Morricone - The Mission (The Battle of
Algiers, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The Untouchables)
A little too weird for me at times,
but The Mission is one of the truly great scores for an amazing film. The Spaghetti Westerns tend to have great
themes but nothing else. For a single
composition, it would be difficult to choose between Gabriel's Oboe and The
Ecstasy of Gold.
20.Erich Wolfgang Korngold - The Adventures of
Robin Hood (Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk)
By far my favorite early film
composer, many of his scores could fit in well with the best of Tchaikovsky.
21.George Fenton - Planet Earth (The Blue Planet,
Frozen Planet, Memphis Belle, Shadowlands)
He is only on this list because of
his work with BBC nature documentaries.
He found a niche, and he is definitely the best at it.
22.Graeme Revell - The Saint (The Crow, The
Negotiator, Pitch Black)
His music is usually interesting,
definitely not American. The Saint is
one of my favorite spy scores.
23.Hans Zimmer - Backdraft (As Good As It Gets,
Black Hawk Down, Drop Zone, Gladiator, The Holiday, The Rock)
I begrudgingly admit that he is the
most influential composer of the last 25 years (thanks to Media Ventures/Remote
Control Productions). I love his 90s
action scores, and most of his comedy/drama scores are good as well. I hate what he has done to superhero scores
and post-Inception action scores. Also,
he gets way too much credit for compositions, since the majority of his are not
written only by him (see: Media Ventures/Remote Control Productions and his
myriad of copycat composers).
24.Harry Gregson-Williams - Kingdom of Heaven
(Chicken Run, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Spy Game)
Again, one that I would like to see
be more prolific, there was a time when I had to check out anything he wrote.
25.Henry Jackman - X-Men: First Class (Captain
America: The Winter Soldier, Kong: Skull Island, Wreck-It Ralph)
One of the most exciting composers
of the last 5 or so years. He seems to
have two essential modes: superhero and animated. You can tell which I prefer, though neither
is bad.
26.Henry Mancini - Hatari! (Charade, Condorman, The
Pink Panther)
When you talk about composers with an
iconic sound, he is the sound of the 60s.
His style was perfect for the time, a bit in your face, certainly never
subtle, but it can be off-putting today.
27.Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings: The Return
of the King (The Departed, The Fly, Hugo, Seven)
Went from SNL and very quite
thriller scores to some of the most epic scores of the 2000s with Lord of the
Rings. His Hobbit scores, like the
movies, are clearly lesser works.
28.James Horner - Apollo 13 (Aliens, Legends of the
Fall, Braveheart, Field of Dreams, Patriot Games, The Rocketeer, Star Trek II,
Willow)
To pick one is almost impossible, he
was so prolific. Derivative, yes, but
incredibly good. Easily one of the top
three composers of his time.
29.James Newton Howard - The Fugitive (Dinosaur,
King Kong, Unbreakable, The Village, Waterworld)
When thinking of my favorite
composers (after Williams), there is always a handful of names I have to sift
through. If I absolutely had to pick
one, he just might be my pick. To pick
The Fugitive over Waterworld (my favorite scifi/action score) and all of his
work with Shyamalan says how much I love that score. It is one of the few that I would say is
perfect.
30.Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
(Alien, First Blood, First Knight, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Mummy,
Patton, The Shadow)
So much good here I don't even list
his only Oscar winner (hard to believe it's The Omen). As much as I love his score for Alien, Star
Trek remains his bread and butter for me.
It doesn't hurt that the main theme was used in the best installment of
the TV series.
31.John Barry - Dances with Wolves (From Russia
with Love, Goldfinger, Robin and Marian)
Barry does not always suit my
tastes, but he is the quintessential Bond composer (though he did not write the
theme). Dances with Wolves remains one
of my favorite scores while driving open highways.
32.John Debney - Cutthroat Island (Iron Man 2, The
Passion of the Christ, Predators)
Debney is one of those composers
where I am not necessarily looking forward to hearing his music, but I'm rarely
disappointed. He has a good variety in
his bag, too. Cutthroat Island, while
I've never seen the movie, is the best modern pirate score.
33.John Murphy - Sunshine (Snatch, 28 Days Later)
My biggest quibble with Murphy is
that he basically wrote two great tracks (In the House, In a Heartbeat for 28
Days Later and Kaneda's Death for Sunshine) which have been overplayed. They were best used in Kick Ass.
34.John Ottman - X2: X-Men United (Fantastic Four,
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Superman Returns)
Some of his scores are incredibly
dull, but at least his superhero scores have a little life to them.
35.John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy (Face/Off,
How to Train Your Dragon, The Italian Job, X-Men: The Last Stand)
I'm a big fan, including both his
action and animation gigs. The Bourne
scores are some of the best for highway driving (I only wish he had scored the
chase in the first movie).
36.John Williams - Raiders of the Lost Ark (E.T.,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Home Alone, Jaws, Jurassic Park,
Schindler's List, Star Wars, Superman)
What more can be said about the
greatest of all time? An extremely
difficult choice, but I feel Raiders is the most perfect.
37.Marco Beltrami - Hellboy (I, Robot, Live Free or
Die Hard, Scream, Terminator 3, 3:10 to Yuma)
One of my favorite composers, I am
always interested to hear what he comes up with. I particularly like his horror scores (he'd
be my second choice, after Christopher Young).
Hellboy is the best representation of what he can do.
He kind of fell off the map (at
least for me) until recently with his Planes scores and a few others. Speed remains my favorite action score of the
90s, and that's saying alot.
39.Maurice Jarre - Lawrence of Arabia (Jesus of
Nazareth)
I'd have him listed just for
Lawrence of Arabia, it's that good. Not
nearly as prolific as other composers from his time.
40.Max Steiner - Adventures of Don Juan (Casablanca,
Gone with the Wind, King Kong, The Searchers)
With Korngold, the best of the 30s
and 40s. He wrote some absolutely iconic
scores.
41.Michael Giacchino - Super 8 (Doctor Strange, The
Incredibles, Lost, Medal of Honor, Mission: Impossible 3, Star Trek, Up)
From fantastic video game scores to
groundbreaking television scores to the biggest blockbusters, it's amazing how
quickly a career can explode thanks to J.J. Abrams. Yes, some of his work sounds the same, but
it's always a must listen for me.
42.Michael Kamen - Die Hard (Band of Brothers, Don
Juan DeMarco, Highlander, Lethal Weapon, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves)
Died much too young. I love everything I've heard from him. There aren't many like him any more.
43.Miklós Rózsa - Ben-Hur (El Cid, Ivanhoe, Knights
of the Round Table)
The master of the 50s epics, Ben-Hur
is still probably the greatest score ever written.
44.Mychael Danna - The Time Traveler's Wife (Life
of Pi, The Nativity Story, Ride with the Devil)
I had a hard time getting into his
music for awhile, but it is growing on me.
I recently revisited Ride with the Devil and was surprised at how good
it was.
45.Patrick Doyle - Sense and Sensibility (Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Rise of the
Planet of the Apes, Thor)
Plucked from the stage by Kenneth
Branagh, he is probably the best "classical" composers going
today. His music is always delightful,
and it's hard to imagine Shakespeare without he and Branagh. It's also no wonder he was the first composer chosen after Williams for Harry Potter (and may have done even better). If you want your spirits lifted, listen to
Non Nobis Domine from Henry V.
46.Randy Edelman - Gettysburg (Dragon: The Bruce
Lee Story, Dragonheart)
Sometimes his scores have
inappropriate synth music (Gettysburg???), but they have a certain beauty to
them.
47.Randy Newman - Toy Story 2 (Maverick, The
Natural)
The early sound of Pixar, he is
sometimes better known for his work outside of film. The Natural is a great baseball score, aside
from that glaring synth track on the CD.
48.Shirley Walker - Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
(Escape from LA, The Flash)
The lead composer for the greatest
television show score in history (Batman: The Animated Series), she also did a
fair amount of good work in movies.
49.Thomas Newman - Shawshank Redemption (American
Beauty, Finding Nemo, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events,
Passengers, Road to Perdition, Spectre)
Easily the best of the Newman
family, the fact that he still does not have an Oscar (14 nominations!!!)
boggles the mind. There's a bit of
quirkiness to his scores, but I absolutely love his sound. One of my top 5 favorite all time composers.
50.Trevor Jones - Cliffhanger (Dinotopia, From
Hell, G.I. Jane, The Last of the Mohicans, Thirteen Days)
Mohicans would have been the choice
had Edelman not worked on it as well.
It's hard to believe he hasn't really done anything in 5 years, and his
last "major" score was over 12 years ago.
