Normally, after so long an absence from the blog-o-sphere, bloggers (I’ve observed) tend to write a paragraph or more of apologies and excuses. I’m not going to do that, other than to say my wife and I welcomed baby Alec into our home in late August. Since I tend to labor over my blog posts for so long anyway, this made posting untenable according to the following proof:
This is a simulated mathematical equation. The names and functions have been changed to protect the innocent.
in which P represents the magnitude of parenthood, multiplied by the challenges n of being brand new to the parenting. B is the sum of all baby activities (including crying time elapsed, pacifier coordinates, and urination vectors) and Ro represents all other responsibilities (including spikes in number of errands run; time elapsed in teaching, grading, and lesson preparation; GPD (gross professional development); and number of deaf ears upon which my church music reminder emails fell upon. Added to that is the time spent eating π. These operations result in blogging quotient b, which is less than time t available.
As you can see in the maths, my reasons are justified. As they say, the numbers don’t lie (which is why I used letters).
So today I’m phoning it in and posting a recording I made of my recent presentation at the second North American Conference on Video Game Music, which took place 17–18 January at Texas Christian University in Forth Worth. It’s on Bioshock Infinite again, but this time focusing on some of the original music composed for the game by Garry Schyman, and how reminiscent it is of works composed by Charles Ives. (A look through some of my older posts might suggest that I’m a die-heard Ives fanatic, which isn’t really true; it’s just that I’ve happened to write about him a few times in this venue.)
I recommend watching it at the highest resolution; otherwise the musical notation and some text will be almost impossible to read. Without further ado:
Old World for the New 
Love your ideas about Lighter than Air; much of the score and the overall feel of the game reminds me of Ives and 3 Places in New England. The sense of wandering dream-like through Columbia, and a battleground from another time, right? Patriotic fanfares. Schyman and Levine were masterful in painting the scene so well you knew that something was wrong. That beautiful Foster-esque fiddle was just too gorgeous to be true.
Today also the background of the celeste in Lighter than Air also reminded me of the Presentation of the Rose “Mir ist die Ehre Widerfahren” from Strauss’ der Rosenkavalier orchestration. Take a listen.