Soundtrack to the World's End
Alright, just came off a sizable writing frenzy last night, and am about to embark on the next one, but some forum action is a convenient diversion beforehand. ^_^ This is another music selection game, but it relies upon careful choice rather than randomization. Very little writing is involved; all that is required is a list of 10-15 tracks, and a concise caption for each to suggest the imagery involved.
In general, human existence (and/or its host planet) is ending, and its dissolution cannot be reversed. Is it a violent calamity with various degrees of brutal destruction? Is it a calm, sentimental thing? Is it the subject of your awe or outrage? Are you the figure at the head of the ruins – the species’ final historical figure – are you a thoughtful watcher, or is the destruction out of any human’s hands? Cast the situation in whatever light you prefer (one does not need to be a “humanity-hater” in order to come up with imagery for the event), but assemble the core soundtrack you would use to end the world. What should be the last melodies we hear?
As may be obvious, I will be writing from the perspective of one who is directly responsible for the ensuing chaos. Important aesthetic imagery for me includes a long, dark coat, and an overall deep blue “aura” to my presence. In no particular, Vice Nebulosa’s soundtrack to the world’s end:
1. “One Winged Angel” – Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Nobuo Uematsu)
Caption: No horses; just one man.
2. “Main Title” – Hitman: Blood Money (Jesper Kyd)
Caption: What has never been done; the unprecedented act.
3. “Old Snake” – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Harry Gregson-Williams)
Caption: Burning my possessions – destroying the rudder. There will be no reversing this course.
4. "The Howling” – Within Temptation
Caption: Mayhem; illusions crashing down with the skyscrapers.
5. “The Poet and the Pendulum” – Nightwish
Caption: What required destruction; what needed sacrificing.
6. “Decisive Battle with Magus” – bLiNd (bLiNd remixer, Yasunori Mitsuda)
Caption: You cannot change my mind, nor can you wrap yourself in an old morality. You can only try to stop me. Proceed.
7. “Zeal Palace” – Chrono Trigger (Yasunori Mitsuda)
Caption: The death of all delusion; every housewife with hope, every conqueror with ambition.
8. “Prelude to the Denouement” – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Harry Gregson-Williams)
Caption: I am not exempt from this fate.
9. “Godsibb” – Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Yuki Kajiura)
Caption: Tearing a planet asunder; the duet of one man and nature (my own efforts + the planet’s responding natural disasters).
10. “Dragon God” – Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda)
Caption: The choice: destroy all the potential that ever was, and would have been, or be studied and pitied in the history books of another race. Leave no traces.
11. “Davy Jones” – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Hans Zimmer)
Caption: Hear how the storm howls.
12. “No Regrets (Chapter V)” – Saga
Caption: The storm ebbs, and the clouds break. This is the sanest thing ever done; everyone left must accept their dissolution.
13. “[Cello] Suite No. 5 in C Minor (BWV 1011) – Prelude” – Bach
Caption: See how the smoke blots the sun.
14. “Life ~ Faraway Promise” – Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda)
Caption: The final blast. This is for all I thought, created, and endured. For all I never released. To the few worthy of being called my kin; to the old comrades long gone. Maybe the universe will be left with an imprint – not of what I was, but what I could have been, past the limits of what was possible here.
