"AFOS A-Go-Go" 09/02/08-09/08/08 playlist

1. Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra, "Space Patrol," Futuremuzik, Scamp
2. Stanley Clarke, "Passenger 57 Main Title," At the Movies, Epic Soundtrax
3. Bear McCreary, "Precipice" (from the Battlestar Galactica episode "Precipice"), Battlestar Galactica: Season 3, La-La Land
4. Hans Zimmer, "Why So Serious?," The Dark Knight, Warner Sunset/Warner Bros.
5. The John Gregory Orchestra, "The Sweeney," Six Million Dollar TV Themes, Spectrum
6. Tyler Bates, "Block 41," Doomsday, Lakeshore
7. Mark Mancina, "Jojo, What You Know?," Original Score from the Motion Picture Bad Boys, La-La Land
8. Mark Mancina, "Dead Guy," Original Score from the Motion Picture Bad Boys, La-La Land
9. Johnny Pate, "El Jardia," Shaft in Africa, Hip-O Select/Geffen
10. Roy Budd, "Fear Is the Key (Main Theme)," Rebirth of the Budd, Sequel
11. Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra, "The Hump" (from Edgar Wallace: The Hunchback of Soho), Futuremuzik, Scamp
12. Royal Scottish National Orchestra, "Judge Dredd Trailer," Hollywood '95, Varèse Sarabande
13. Franz Waxman, "The Ride to Dubno," Taras Bulba, Rykodisc
14. Isaac Hayes, "Main Title (Truck Turner)," MGM Soul Cinema Vol. 2, Beyond/MGM Music
15. Huey Lewis & the News, "Pineapple Express," Pineapple Express, Lakeshore

"AFOS A-Go-Go" begins in September

I haven't updated the station information on jim.aquino.com in weeks, and judging from the FTP problems I've suddenly been having with jim.aquino.com's provider, the famously quick-to-help Netidentity, it looks like I won't be able to update jim.aquino.com any time soon. So check back with this blog instead of jim.aquino.com for the latest news and info about A Fistful of Soundtracks or updated playlists.

Speaking of which, here now is some late-breaking news: I'm removing the hour-long A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series from the station schedule this month. No AFOS: The Series eps for the next few weeks. I know I've been streaming the same five or six eps since springtime, but they're the only eps I'm satisfied with at the moment. I'll bring the series back to the sched when I find the time or willingness to produce another hour-long ep.

In AFOS: The Series' place will be something I'm calling "AFOS A-Go-Go."

Dictionary.com defines "a-go-go" as "In a fast and lively manner." Merriam-Webster defines it as "being up-to-date." Instead of hearing eps I recorded months or years ago, you'll be hearing segments from me that are timelier and more up-to-date--and took far less time to record and edit--during the "AFOS A-Go-Go" block. (For instance, while I was recording segments for this first week of "AFOS A-Go-Go," I found out about the death of Don LaFontaine--R.I.P.--and was able to sneak in towards the end both a brief word about this legend in the voiceover community and a montage that I hastily edited together of clips from LaFontaine's trailers and promos.)

I'll be eschewing the heavily scripted, each-epi-has-a-single-theme format I've been doing since 1999 on terrestrial radio (and since 2002 on Internet radio). I felt like trying something new. The each-ep-has-a-theme format has been too constricting. It takes a lot of time and work to pick out a theme, hunt for 14 or 15 tracks that share that theme and then come up with interesting things to say about each track.

Under this new and temporary format (which I'm thinking of switching to whenever I'm between eps like now), I'll be able to play tracks that I wasn't able to include on any of the themed eps because they didn't fit the themes. These "A-Go-Go" playlists won't have a theme, other than "favorite tracks of the week." Listeners will get to hear music that I've never streamed before on my station, plus more stuff from newer releases. I'm trying to reduce repetition, which I've noticed has been a flaw of the Internet radio stations I regularly listen to, as well as my own station.

"AFOS A-Go-Go" airs Tuesdays and Thursdays at midnight, 4am, 10am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm.

"Shutup, I Love This Title Screen," Part 14

Keen Eddie
Title design most likely by Najma Bhatti

Bonus Keen Eddie capture*


* from the awesome pilot (skip the butchered DVD version at all costs)

"Shutup, I Love This Title Screen," Part 13

Cowboy Bebop

Director Shinichiro Watanabe's Bebop main title sequence--clearly inspired by animator Herbert Klynn's splashy split-screen titles from I Spy and It Takes a Thief--was justly praised by the A.V. Club for being one of "22 TV Opening-Credit Sequences That Fit Their Shows Perfectly." The Bebop titles were accompanied by the coolest original theme ever written for TV, "Tank!" by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts.

So the Jewfro'd Spike Spiegel might be played in live-action form by that great Jewish actor Keanu Reeves? Oh Lord. I'm taking that casting possibility as seriously as the "Cher to play Catwoman in next Batman film" item from a British paper. (Those U.K. rags are as trustworthy a source as Fux News. What's next? "Streisand to play Harley Quinn"?)

A live-action Bebop flick is an inane idea. If it gets greenlit, whoever Fox or producer Erwin Stoff will get to direct the flick will probably look for all sorts of ways to botch it, like not hiring Kanno--whose music was such an integral part of the original show--or cramming in dialogue where there shouldn't be dialogue. Part of the beauty of the show was its minimal dialogue. (I can't stand anime, but I dug Bebop, and the music and dialogue--or lack of it during some episodes--were why I enjoyed it when it first aired on Adult Swim. Speaking of which, maybe I ought to check out some Bebop eps from my DVD collection that I haven't watched yet. I never finished watching the entire series.)

The only director whom I think could pull off a live-action Bebop is Peter Yates, who has a knack for exciting action sequences with no dialogue (Bullitt, Breaking Away), but he's not exactly an A-lister anymore, I doubt any of the present-day Hollywood suits have ever seen his work and I'm not sure if Yates would be interested in anime-based material.

By the way, Selma Blair would be perfect as Faye Valentine. She's got the stems to play Faye.

"Shutup, I Love This Title Screen," Part 12

Out of Sight