Stockholm was a destination on Ennio Morricone's farewell tour. Or 60 years of music tour. Hard to say what the proper title really is. Either way, if you have a chance to see a living legend, you take it. Nothing like a live performance of "The Ecstasy of Gold" conducted by the composer.
And probably the only time in my life where the audience whooped, cheered, and whistled for an orchestral performance, which is almost too bad. People should always be that excited for concerts, no matter what the genre.
Monday, January 28, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Friday 5: Teal This Album
I didn't realize that "Africa" had become a thing again in the year of our Lord 2019. Along with Weezer and Weird Al? Time is meaningless anymore.
Where in Africa would you like to visit?
There are lots of places, really. Soudha is in Singapore for university right now, if memory serves, but her travel logs series on Of Stacks and Cups really made me want to visit Mauritius. One of my teacher friends and former coworkers studied in Ghana for a semester when she was in university and made it sound like a lovely place to visit. Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt are also on my "someday" travel list.
If you ruled the world, what would you forbid people to talk about in the company of strangers?
Nothing, actually. Even the most banal smalltalk has its purpose.
In what way do you tolerate (or enjoy) being used?
I'll file this one under "that's a little personal, don't you think?" and move along to the next question.
When did you recently have an a-ha moment?
About something or other at work, I'm sure. I feel like I have at least one every day.
What’s something you know about turtles?
Nothing that the average person doesn't already know. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about these little guys.
Where in Africa would you like to visit?
There are lots of places, really. Soudha is in Singapore for university right now, if memory serves, but her travel logs series on Of Stacks and Cups really made me want to visit Mauritius. One of my teacher friends and former coworkers studied in Ghana for a semester when she was in university and made it sound like a lovely place to visit. Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt are also on my "someday" travel list.
If you ruled the world, what would you forbid people to talk about in the company of strangers?
Nothing, actually. Even the most banal smalltalk has its purpose.
In what way do you tolerate (or enjoy) being used?
I'll file this one under "that's a little personal, don't you think?" and move along to the next question.
When did you recently have an a-ha moment?
About something or other at work, I'm sure. I feel like I have at least one every day.
What’s something you know about turtles?
Nothing that the average person doesn't already know. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about these little guys.
Thursday, January 24, 2019
What I Read: LÉtranger
I read L'Étranger because I want to keep my French from slipping. I figured it would be a good choice because I've already read it twice and the language is quite sparse and accessible for non-native speakers.
It's L'Étranger. You've either read it or you haven't and there's not much need for me to weigh in on my opinion on the book, except that I'll be balancing my (re)reading of this with a novel by an Algerian author. If you spend too long thinking about how the non-white characters in the book exist as plot devices to put Meursault on trial and then in prison (sorry for spoilers for a book that was published in 1942 I guess?????), it leaves an uncomfortable taste in your mouth, and the best remedy for that is to broaden your own horizons.
Otherwise I'm already falling behind on my Goodreads Challenge for the year. The falling behind doesn't bother me as much as the not reading bothers me. Whenever I'm in a bad way, my reading drops off—or maybe a drop off in reading leads to grumpiness and depression. Impossible to tell; I've never paid close enough attention to notice which starts first. The two definitely feed into each other, regardless. But now I'm off the blocks and hopefully my momentum (and mood) will pick up a little bit going into February.
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| Image courtesy Gallimard |
It's L'Étranger. You've either read it or you haven't and there's not much need for me to weigh in on my opinion on the book, except that I'll be balancing my (re)reading of this with a novel by an Algerian author. If you spend too long thinking about how the non-white characters in the book exist as plot devices to put Meursault on trial and then in prison (sorry for spoilers for a book that was published in 1942 I guess?????), it leaves an uncomfortable taste in your mouth, and the best remedy for that is to broaden your own horizons.
Otherwise I'm already falling behind on my Goodreads Challenge for the year. The falling behind doesn't bother me as much as the not reading bothers me. Whenever I'm in a bad way, my reading drops off—or maybe a drop off in reading leads to grumpiness and depression. Impossible to tell; I've never paid close enough attention to notice which starts first. The two definitely feed into each other, regardless. But now I'm off the blocks and hopefully my momentum (and mood) will pick up a little bit going into February.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
TMJ: Treacherous Little Bastard
I had the worst TMJ flare-up of my life on Thursday and it has yet to abate entirely. Everything on the left side of my head and neck either hurts, has only stopped hurting for the moment, or is getting ready to hurt some more. I hate everything. Human bodies are feckless assholes.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Friday 5 on Saturday: Move
What’s a song that recently moved you?
I still cry at "Rhapsody in Blue." Every damn time.
What’s a song that recently moved you — right out the door?
Not a song as such, but a request.
When I lived in Korea, I used to go on long, late-night walks with another teacher friend of mine. By this time the pedestrian mall and downtown ("downtown") Uijeongbu had been fully refurbished, with bits of greenery and benches and sculptures. It soon attracted any number of buskers, and in the warmer months our walks included stopping to take in a few songs.
One time we passed such a performance in front of an audience including a few drunk white men who were already on their way to behaving badly. We lingered, unsure if we could enjoy the music over the poor behavior.
"If one of them requests 'Freebird,' I'm going to lose my shit," I mentioned to my walking companion, quietly and out of earshot of said potential troublemakers.
"What? Why?"
And as if on cue, one of them slurred "FREEBIRD!" and I had to feign a coughing fit to cover a scream of frustration. I nodded to my friend, who was still confused, and we kept walking while I explained the pointless tradition of requesting "Freebird" at concerts, regardless of artist or genre.
What kinds of dance performances interest you?
Not many, I'll admit. I don't have much interest in watching anything except tap or swing. I've watched to many Hollywood movie musicals, I guess.
What’s a good song with the word move (or some form of it) in the title?
I will never not post a Janis Joplin song if I have the opportunity to do so.
How do you feel about prunes?
I've never had them. But since I like raisins, I'd probably like prunes.
I still cry at "Rhapsody in Blue." Every damn time.
What’s a song that recently moved you — right out the door?
Not a song as such, but a request.
When I lived in Korea, I used to go on long, late-night walks with another teacher friend of mine. By this time the pedestrian mall and downtown ("downtown") Uijeongbu had been fully refurbished, with bits of greenery and benches and sculptures. It soon attracted any number of buskers, and in the warmer months our walks included stopping to take in a few songs.
One time we passed such a performance in front of an audience including a few drunk white men who were already on their way to behaving badly. We lingered, unsure if we could enjoy the music over the poor behavior.
"If one of them requests 'Freebird,' I'm going to lose my shit," I mentioned to my walking companion, quietly and out of earshot of said potential troublemakers.
"What? Why?"
And as if on cue, one of them slurred "FREEBIRD!" and I had to feign a coughing fit to cover a scream of frustration. I nodded to my friend, who was still confused, and we kept walking while I explained the pointless tradition of requesting "Freebird" at concerts, regardless of artist or genre.
What kinds of dance performances interest you?
Not many, I'll admit. I don't have much interest in watching anything except tap or swing. I've watched to many Hollywood movie musicals, I guess.
What’s a good song with the word move (or some form of it) in the title?
I will never not post a Janis Joplin song if I have the opportunity to do so.
How do you feel about prunes?
I've never had them. But since I like raisins, I'd probably like prunes.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
What I Read Backlog: Ancillary Justice
My reading this year is shaping up to be NOT AWESOME but while I rectify that, here's a blast from the past: a bunch of book reviews I never posted here!
The entire book-o-sphere that I bother following (mostly book blogs, sometimes Twitter, sometimes YouTube) had just the right amount of awesome things to say about Ancillary Justice that when Austin Feminist Sci Fi Book Club chose it I was cautiously optimistic. Then I read it and it BLEW MY MIND and I could barely contain myself and I ended up buying a copy for a friend for his birthday.
THE HYPE. THE HYPE WAS REAL. Ancillary Justice is how space opera science fiction should be and it was a welcome palate cleanser from whatever else I was reading at the time and probably a subpar book club selection before that. (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? Gena/Finn? I can't be bothered to look it up.) Space opera at its absolute best, where the opera is an excuse to posit a culture familiar to our own and then to examine its accomplishments and pitfalls and reflect on how we're doing.
Ancillary Justice in particular is also a great technical achievement in perspective and characterization. The great technological marvel of the science fiction empire in question is ancillaries: human bodies used as a extensions of a starship's AI, something like a miniature Borg collective. Leckie very skillfully navigates this single-but-multiple perspective and, more than being a cool gimmick, this splintering of awareness is also an important story element. Leckie's writing is also polished and economical, with enough details to keep the reader anchored but not so many you become overwhelmed; in a way, it's exactly how you can imagine a very sophisticated AI would describe and process the world: picking out one or two concrete and salient details out of an input of thousands or even millions, but at the same time failing to make distinctions that humans can sort in an instant. In this case, the AI has difficulty with all of the different gender markers in the assorted cultures they encounter.
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| Image courtesy Orbit |
The entire book-o-sphere that I bother following (mostly book blogs, sometimes Twitter, sometimes YouTube) had just the right amount of awesome things to say about Ancillary Justice that when Austin Feminist Sci Fi Book Club chose it I was cautiously optimistic. Then I read it and it BLEW MY MIND and I could barely contain myself and I ended up buying a copy for a friend for his birthday.
THE HYPE. THE HYPE WAS REAL. Ancillary Justice is how space opera science fiction should be and it was a welcome palate cleanser from whatever else I was reading at the time and probably a subpar book club selection before that. (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? Gena/Finn? I can't be bothered to look it up.) Space opera at its absolute best, where the opera is an excuse to posit a culture familiar to our own and then to examine its accomplishments and pitfalls and reflect on how we're doing.
Ancillary Justice in particular is also a great technical achievement in perspective and characterization. The great technological marvel of the science fiction empire in question is ancillaries: human bodies used as a extensions of a starship's AI, something like a miniature Borg collective. Leckie very skillfully navigates this single-but-multiple perspective and, more than being a cool gimmick, this splintering of awareness is also an important story element. Leckie's writing is also polished and economical, with enough details to keep the reader anchored but not so many you become overwhelmed; in a way, it's exactly how you can imagine a very sophisticated AI would describe and process the world: picking out one or two concrete and salient details out of an input of thousands or even millions, but at the same time failing to make distinctions that humans can sort in an instant. In this case, the AI has difficulty with all of the different gender markers in the assorted cultures they encounter.
Monday, January 14, 2019
GoodReads Challenges
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| So it begins. |
I recognize that I should probably hate GoodReads. I'll be the first to admit that its overbusy, hyperactive layout and tools are Not For Me. I don't care what my friends are reading (sorry, y'all!) and I don't need to see a constantly updated list of their ratings and reviews. I also don't care about what the GoodReads/Amazon algorithms think I should read next, or what crappy and undeserving book has been voted the GoodReads Readers' Choice. I care about keeping track of books I want to read (so easy to just send someone a link to my "to read" shelf!), keeping track of the books I have read, and motivating myself to actually get reading done—trying to keep pace with my GoodReads goal and the little thermometer on the homepage is the best way I've found to light a fire under my ass to actually finish books. I've been successful in all of them since I started officially keeping track, and I recall even using GoodReads to keep track of my annual book count as far back as 2009.
Which is why I'm posting about how it's January 14 and I'm officially one book behind because I haven't finished a single book out of the four I'm reading all at once. To be fair, one of them is Ulysses, another is L'étranger in the original French, and the third is a Swedish textbook. The fourth is Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows, a book that's been in my library since it was initially published but I seem really resistant to actually reading. Maybe I should grind that one out first, just to get something done.
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