Music

Have I listened to anything that has changed my life? Where do I start? As in, so many things, I would never get through them all if I stayed writing this until midnight – a week from now!!

In no particular order, but ...

In 1973, I heard/bought an album called Cyborg by Klaus Schulze – absolutely mind-blowing. German electronic music. The original and the best. An early Schulze work - an amazing concept. Then followed his best albums – Mirage and Body Love (and then Body Love II). I still listen to these albums, transported into another universe (that old cliche - tried and true).

And everything, but everything, that David Bowie has ever done. Once again, I listen to his music all the time - on constant rotation on my MP3 player.

And Brian Eno – all his early stuff. "Before And After Science" is an absolute classic. And his work with Bowie was phenomenal.

Then there is Patti Smith – the rock-punk singer (not the now unknown disco artist). Patti is the greatest poet that is alive today – all set to the greatest music. The passion that she embeds and engenders in her music is uplifting (to say the least).

And J. S. Bach – everything he has done, but, particularly, for instance, the Christmas Oratorio (the most joyous life affirming music you could ever hear in your life) and his Violin Concertos (BWV 1041, 1042 and 1043). I recently heard Bach’s Easter Oratorio again, and the Aria for Mary Jacobi (Soprano) and Violin is the most sublime piece of music you could hear. The performance by the solo violin is gorgeous.

Damn, there are so many more. Loreena McKennit for instance. Her albums “The Mask & Mirror” and “The Book of Secrets” are so listenable, so deep and complex. One must listen to them again and again.

For your performance background music – listen to the Bach Violin Concertos. There are movements in there that have fabulous rhythm and great melodies.

And I recently downloaded a “album” called “100 Chansons Francaises de Legende Volume 5” – which, as the name implies is full of French Songs – original classics. I subscribe to www.emusic.com which gives me 90 songs to download each month for a small fee. There is some fabulous stuff on there. For instance, I recently got albums by a band called Calexico, out of Arizona – a combination of Latino and Indie music – very very good. I just love these little surprises I discover on there. In fact, I look forward to the anticipation of the new - of finding some wonderful band, a great new piece of music.

And then there is the music by Jacques Brel.

He is another that has been life-changing for me. I listen to “Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris” all the time – it is also part of the main rotation on my MP3 player. He wrote some absolute classic pieces. Inventive and fantastical lyrics. Great tunes. The guy was a genius.

For the classical, some pieces by Debussy, such as “Preludes - Livre I - Les sons et les parfums tournrnt dans l'air du soir” is achingly beautiful.

Then there is Beethoven – that guy is a monster. Get anything by Beethoven.

Or Mendelssohn – his Scottish Symphony, or his Italian Symphony, are both fabulous. And "From The Hebrides" is wonderful - so memorable.

Don’t get me started on Wagner – a bit of an acquired taste, but once you are bitten – god help you. The final aria from Tristan und Isolde where Isolde sings of her love and dies is soul destroying and life affirming all at the same time.

In fact, all of this is barely encompassing the extent of the eclectic taste in music that I have cultivated over the years - a cultivation of joy, growing in appreciation and wonder at how glorious humanity is, what it is capable of in its most sublime expression.

"Try to reason about Love... and you will lose your reason" (French Proverb)

"Try to reason about Love... and you will lose your reason" (French Proverb)

The Scientists

Last night I went to see The Scientists with my nephew, at the Perth International Arts Festival. They are an original punk-indie band from the 1980’s in Perth that influenced the likes of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana etc.

I went with my nephew because nobody else would go with me – poor poor ol’ me – but he enjoyed going to a way-out indie event. The Scientists were average to start and the mixing was a bit awful but they got better as the night went along.

Sorry

An historic moment for Australian history. The Prime Minister apologising to the indigenous peoples of Australia, saying sorry for the injustices of the past. Apoligising for what happened, seeking reconciliation and moving to create a new future, a better future, all working together for the good of all in Australia. Extremely moving, very emotional. Much more so than ever expected. An important moment for the nation, and for the individual - for this individual, as it is for all other individuals.

Achievement and Satisfaction

Work has been funny. Not too difficult nor stressed nor pressurised.

But, at the same time, rather unsatisfying. Regardless of the actual progress made (I have actually setup a bunch of stuff and have put together some rather good ideas), it all seems like little bits and bobs. All disconnected pieces of work, which I flit from one to another. No extended attention span. Which may or may not be my problem, as opposed to the work (except for the fact that it is indeed related to the work - that is the element of how activity affects psychology quite inextricably).

Not like working on a project, on an assignment, where there is something serious to be done, and where I have to really focus and apply to get it done. On something that is both important and interesting at the same time (not something that may be important to somebody else – or so they think, or the rules say so – but is utterly deadly boring – of which there is so much involved in the work environment).

Not that I necessarily want to get overloaded and pressurised with doing some stuff, but I do think that I really need a full-on project to work on for a period of time, that I can really dedicate myself to. It then feels like something is achieved, that I am doing something worthwhile.

It can be virtually anything, and it certainly can be something that I have created for myself. But it needs to be fairly dedicated, almost full-time work. I think one of the problems here is that I don’t have the luxury of dedicating myself solely to something that I really want to do (because there is this other work that is necessary – earnings wise) and so I end up flitting from one thing to another (simply because there is absolutely so much that needs to be done, personally and professionally) and not really being satisfied with any of the things done.

Not all the time, mind you, since some of the activities actually produce or result in something good and worthwhile, and progress towards the ultimate goal (if there is such a thing – wouldn’t it be nice to know it), and some days (many days) I feel good about the situation – but, other days, honestly, it is rather disheartening and stultifying. One just, then, feels like doing nothing. And maybe that is probably a reasonable solution, in some instances for some circumstances – stop the headlong rush and breathe quietly for a minute – then resume.

Books Books Books

Sometimes it is wonderful to unexpectedly stumble upon (internet pun intended) someone writing about something that you feel, something that you occasionally talk about, but never verbalised in such a precise manner, something which completely sums up an attitude and an obsession (if one can go that far in calling such behaviour this). In this vein, I reference the following ... http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003024.php

« TRANSLATIONS ON THE MARKET. | Main

February 07, 2008

A QUOTE ON BIBLIOMANIA.

In cleaning off my desk just now I found a quote I'd copied down back in 2002, which went as follows:

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity… we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance.

It seemed to be attributed to the bibliophile A. E. Newton (1863-1940), but I thought I'd better google it to be sure. What I found was confusion.

In the first place, many sources had, after the word "acquired," the phrase "(by passionate devotion to them)"—with or without parentheses—which certainly reads better. But to find what the correct form was, an accurate citation was needed, and there was none to be had. Eventually I turned up page 78 of Newton's A Magnificent Farce: And Other Diversions of a Book-collector (1921), which has: "...it is my pleasure to buy more books than I can read. Who was it who said, 'I hold the buying of more books than one can peradventure read, as nothing less than the soul's reaching towards infinity; which is the only thing that raises us above the beasts that perish'? Whoever it was, I agree with him..." So there we have a portion of the original quote (in slightly different form), but attributed to the mysterious "Who was it." This could, of course, be a coy way of quoting oneself. But what about the rest?

Next the quest brought me to The Anatomy of Bibliomania by Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948), which seems to be a collection of quotes on the pleasures of books and book-collecting, italicized and footnoted (good man!), stitched together with Jackson's own commentary in roman type. On page 183 (continuing onto page 184) we find:

Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired by passionate devotion to them produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can peradventure read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity, and that this passion is the only thing that raises us above the beasts that perish,¹ an argument which some have used in defence of the giddy raptures invoked by wine.

The footnote refers us to "A.E. Newton, A Magnificent Farce, 78," which we have already visited. So far, so good; the italicized bits are from Newton, the rest is from Jackson, and the whole thing at some point got attributed to the former.

But what about the last part, "we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance"? The internet holds hundreds of instances of it, always attached to the previous quote by ellipses, but Google Books can't find it at all. Is it from some work of Newton's not yet digitized? Was it tacked on by some anonymous compiler of Meaningful Quotations who thought it would suit the context? Alas, it is not in The Yale Book of Quotations, nor The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, nor Bartlett's, so I can only speculate, and ponder for the thousandth time the difficulty of pinning down "famous quotations."

Posted by languagehat at February 7, 2008 01:05 PM

On Climbing the Highest Peak of Stone Gate

On Climbing the Highest Peak of Stone Gate

At dawn with staff in hand I climbed the crags,
At dusk I made my camp among the mountains.
Only a few peaks rise as high as this house,
Facing the crags, it overlooks winding streams.
In front of its gates a vast forest stretches.
While boulders are heaped round its very steps.
Hemmed in by mountains, there seems no way out,
The track gets lost among the thick bamboos.
Deep in meditation, how can I part from Truth?
I cherish the Way and never will swerve from it

-- Xie Lingyun (385–433)

Wiki and Clouds

Got a new wiki going (Dokuwiki), which will be experimented with for requirements gathering and management.

Also got the whole Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Solution (S3) exercise going – the ability to run your own computers without having any hardware at all – Amazon provides it all. A way of having your server solutions without the hassles of managing all that hardware etc.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flaw,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long-since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.

-- Wm. Shakespeare

When dreams do show thee me

All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

-- William Shakespeare, Sonnets

Australia Day

Today is Australia Day (Jan 26th) - where all celebrate our convict heritage and pretend to be all patriotic. Having a BBQ in the apartment (well, on our balcony) with heaps of people coming over. Tomorrow should be pretty quiet and Monday is a public holiday (for the Australia Day holiday). What to do - muck around with computer stuff - maybe do some writing. Or maybe sleep and waste my whole life away.

Love Surviving Anything

"I had thought when I adored him as tho he were a god that love could survive anything but I begin to think that there are certain insults to human dignity that one should not survive"

-- Margerie Lowry, personal journal, in University of British Columbia archives, as quoted in "Day of the Dead", by D. T. Max, page 80, The New Yorker, December 17, 2007

A Clear Breeze

Happy in the morning
I open my cottage door;
A clear breeze blowing
Comes straight in.
The first sun
Lights the leafy trees;
The shadows it casts
Are crystal clear.
Serene,
In accord with my heart,
Everything merges
In one harmony.
Gain and loss
Are not my concern;
This way is enough
To the end of my days.

-- Wen-siang (1210-1280)

Novels Written on Cellphones

See this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?_r=1&ex=1358485200&en=0b46d32f7c7d037c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

The new ways to continue to create never cease to amaze me ...

Thumbs Race as Japan's Best Sellers Go Cellular

TOKYO — Until recently, cellphone novels — composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan as a subgenre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, "The Tale of Genji," a millennium ago. Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

Links to Japanese Sites:

Book Uploading Site of Starts Publishing

Orion, a Cell Phone Novel Site for Goma Books

The Novel, "If You"

Mika's blog

Enlarge This Image

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

Rin, 21, tapped out a novel on her cellphone that sold 400,000 copies in hardcover.

Of last year's 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels, mostly love stories written in the short sentences characteristic of text messaging but containing little of the plotting or character development found in traditional novels. What is more, the top three spots were occupied by first-time cellphone novelists, touching off debates in the news media and blogosphere.

the BIG question

This one is rather interesting: http://www.edge.org/q2008/q08_index.html

The Edge Annual Question — 2008

When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that's faith.
When facts change your mind, that's science.

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?

Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?"

165 contributors; 112,600 words

Some rather interesting speculations skating across a superbly diverse range of disciplines and interests - very renaissance and worth some discussion.

Some versions containing everything in one document are located at http://www.bilyendi.com/misc (be careful - they are large files).

song lyrics

Now this is a good entry: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2008/01/write-a-hit-son.html

I especially like the lines Scott wrote:

"She had runaway eyes and marshmallow kittens.

My heart heard a dream like ten thousand gay mittens."

The concept of lyrically rhyming gibberish is great - David Bowie's cut-up concept - based on work by William S Burroughs and later copied by Kurt Cobain - but, I suppose, many others

And you would think it would be so easy - except you read the comments by the blog readers where they try to write their own two lines worth of lyrics and you realise that 95% of them totally suck (and I mean, really really suck big big time) and the ones where they don't totally suck you realise that they have just quoted a song or lyric already written (the "your latest trick" entry for example) or something very similar.

So, even though it is supposedly irrelevant, random and gibberish, producing a work of art is still surprisingly difficult.

Meditation or Distractive Disturbance

In any circumstance good or bad, abandon
All hope from Buddhas and give up
All fears of suffering in Samsara.
Recognize that hope and fear are the
Magical display of your own mind
Of Primordial Purity.
Remain in the state where there is neither
Perceiver nor object of perception.
Let go into the immaculate space
Of Great Perfection beyond
Meditation or distractive disturbance.

-- Tibetan Scroll

Manna

A weird little story but rather interesting take on how some things could transpire:
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

Bass

For some awful god-forsaken reason, I find this one of the funniest XKCDs that I have seen (http://xkcd.com/368/)

Next year?

The clouds of sunset
Gather in the western sky,
And over the silent silvery Han
Rises a white jade moon.
Not often does life
Bring such beauty.
Where shall I see the moon
Next year?

-- Su T’ung-Po (1037-1101)