New Horizons

Back on January 19, 2006 — what seems like ages ago — the New Horizons probe was launched. Fellow listener SpaceC at StreamingSoundtracks.com happened to be a launch worker at the time, and she posted a beautiful photograph of New Horizons just as it was leaving Earth:

This has been the wallpaper background image on every home and work PC, laptop, and cellphone that I’ve had since that date. Way to go, NASA!

Advertisement

StreamingSoundtracks Contest Photos Flashback

In the past, when I was more active at StreamingSoundtracks, I participated in what was tongue-in-cheek referred to at SST as the “Sexiest Photo Contest”. The contest has been held annually since ~2001 or so. The regular listeners would send in an “anonymous” photo taken within the previous twelve months, and then two webpages would be set up to display all the photos, one for the guys and one for the gals, where the listeners could vote on the “sexiest” photo.

A limited amount of photoshopping of the photos was allowed, so I decided to use soundtrack covers as the basis for my entries. Ennio Morricone was a big topic of conversation in 2006, so I took the beautiful album of Yo-Yo Ma playing his music. The following year, I took a cover from my favorite soundtrack composer (and an SST favorite), Joe Hisaishi.

2006 Entry:
     
^{contest entry, and original cover of Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Ennio Morricone}

2007 Entry:
     
^{contest entry, and original cover of Joe Hisaishi Meets Kitano Films}

Even though I haven’t been a regular visitor that last several years, I guess I should keep my eyes open for the 2010 contest announcement this fall. There are plenty more great soundtrack covers out there…

---

Track of the Day: My favorite movie track, “The Sixth Station” from Spirited Away, by Joe Hisaishi