Shuffleboard 8

1. "Happy Is A Yuppie Word" by Switchfoot from Nothing Is Sound

I'm a big fan of Jon Foreman and his lyrics. This track is no exception. "Happy Is A Yuppie Word" is a rather odd title, but the song is still a cheerful, upbeat song. With lines like "nothing in the world can fail me now" coming right after the title line, the song shows that happiness is not necessarily the thing to strive for.

One line sums up the whole idea of the song: "Blessed is the man who's lost it all." In a way, it's a reprobation of the suburban feel-goodery that has all but taken over the modern church in America (I'm looking at you, Joel Osteen). Another great offering from Switchfoot.

2. "The Water Buffalo Song" by Superchick from Veggie Rocks

How did THIS get in there? Ahem...right. Well, the show must go on.

I've been watching Veggie Tales for quite a while. I actually own the Lord Of the Rings (Lord Of The Beans) DVD. My mom got me the Veggie Rocks CD many years ago, which features several Christian artists covering Veggie Tales songs.

"The Water Buffalo Song" was the first Silly Song with Larry, a series that continues to this day. This cover is done by Christian mainstay Superchick, and it's a fun and random track. It also features one of my favorite background lines of all time.

"Look, there's one!"

"Nope, that's a dog."

Hehe.

3. "Trinity Dream" by Don Davis from The Matrix Reloaded

I first saw all the Matrixes (Matrices?) back to back to back, so I like them all. I'm not one of the rabid fanboys that refuses to admit there were sequels. I liked them.

Anyways, Davis wrote some incredible music for the Matrix trilogy. It's jarring, odd, and the score's ever-present bell-tone trumpets and high brass make for exciting action cues. His softer romantic stuff wasn't the best.

This track opens the second film, when Trinity is beating up security guards with a motorcyle helmet and falling from a skyscraper while gun battling an Agent. It's one of the coolest and most imaginative sequences I've ever seen. The score highlights both aerial bits, as well as a eerie drop off once Trinity's hit. Davis excelled at the fever-pitch strings and high brass when Agents were attacking, and this track is no exception.

4. "Junior" by RJD2 from Magnificent City Instrumentals

I debuted RJD2 on my last shuffleboard. This track is similar, hip-hop/electronica background music. Fun to listen to as background noise, no doubt. When actively listening, it gets slightly repetitive, but it's meant to be a backing track. The drum beat features Christmas bells every once in a while, the fuzz bass line is catchy, and the action is broken up every once in a while by a flute and even some soft female vocals. A great background track.

5. "Treasure" by Trevor Rabin from National Treasure

National Treasure was a great fun movie, full of conspiracy theory stuff that I love. The score, unfortunately, was mostly forgettable. It had a few okay moments, like instilling a little awe when they were holding the Declaration of Independence in Independence Hall, but overall it was rudimentary at best.

This track is the closer, played when the heroes discover the vault of treasure beneath New York. It's a little sappy, but features the "thinking" theme (tinkling pianos) as well as the triumphant strings/synth-sounding brass theme for America or something like that.

It fits the scene okay, I guess, but I'm definitely not a fan of synthed instruments. Good Lord, this was a Disney-fueled film, you'd think they could have sprung for a full orchestra or something. Oh well.