The Fredösphere

I'm probably the only right-winger in the country who watched this video and was primarily frightened by the bad counterpoint:

Labels: Counterpoint, Culture

I must not be irredeemably evil because, even though I loathe Mies, my first reaction to this news was, "that's terrible."

Labels: Architecture

Via SF Signal I found some anecdotal evidence that students have not yet quite given up the reading habit.  Look at this reading list!  Like some who left comments, I've got to wonder if this sample skews smart, but even so, wow.

Labels: Culture

Neal Stephenson came last night to Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor to sign copies of his new novel Anathem.  He rocked, but I was especially interested in the crowd, which self-selectively skewed nerdy (of course) but also less unhip than you would expect.  All of the questions from the audience were coherent and succinct; a few of the more intense fans seemed to be bursting with the urge to make long, arcane speeches, but resisted admirably.  The signing line moved more than twice as fast as I estimated, and in general I found the crowd conforming to my personal preferences (for efficiency and public reticence) to a higher degree than any I can remember.  We Neal fans are ... special.

I'm kicking myself for being too reticent. One of the first questioners asked Neal a faith-n-reason question which was a somewhat more concise version of the question I wanted to ask.  The guy was wearing a tee-shirt with the slogan, "Opiates are the religion of the people."  Clearly, this is a kindred spirit, yet when I almost literally bumped into him in the store afterwards, I failed to start a conversation.  This lost opportunity drove me to self-loathing far more than my other loss of the evening, when I wasted all my one-on-one time with Neal explaining to him how to spell "Fredösphere" when he signed my copy of his book.

Labels: local, sci-fi

So, what's modernism good for, anyway?  Gas stations, definitely.  (Hat tip to Design Observer.)

I have the unusual pleasure of owning one of the few (the only?) anti-MacArthur-Grant rants referenced by a future grant recipient.  Congratulations to Alex...although, I'm a little confused; you are neither a hack, weirdo, or fraud, so by process of elimination you must be a subversive, but that doesn't seem quite right either.  Maybe I need to reevaluate this whole Genius Grant racket.

Michigan composer Michael Daugherty gets a mention by Charles T. Downey, but that picture I barely recognize.  A bit of my father's family seems to be sneaking into Daugherty's looks, which may hint at a long-forgotten, distant relationship.  Cousin Michael ... I should be so lucky.

Labels: Composer, Culture, Design

How much cooler would Goliath be if he fought David in a powered armor suit? Way cooler!

Everyone is talking about the study that concludes Evangelical Christians are less susceptible to "irrational" beliefs.  The WSJ quotes Chesterton, inevitably (and dangerously; the crazy master's thinking tended toward the dazzlingly inventive, but not logical, certainly not in any systematic way).  I would have mentioned this Chesterton quote instead:  "The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything."  I guess the ol' boy got one right.  Further commentary can be found at Futurismic.

Finally, one more religious link, with some music thrown in:  A Cappella News found this trailer for a Sacred Harp documentary.  It's nice to see the movement can attract people younger than 30 (not to mention 70).

Labels: GraphicNovel, OldTyme, Religion

Michael Blowhard, drink your heart out:  I found another raw milk production shut-down story, and it's got a local angle.  I agree with the tone set by the author, who sounds open-minded but unconvinced about the possible benefits of raw milk and the organic movement generally (in my case, call me a full-blown skeptic of organic).  Yes, the crack-down is way out of proportion to the crime.

I received this link from my co-worker Victor, who just within the last month has become, uh, involved with the co-op mentioned.  He's not the only one drinking the milk kool aid among my friends...and I've been very tempted to join myself.  This issue isn't going away anytime soon.

Labels: Food, local

As with so many musical jokes, the concept is way funnier than the execution.

Labels: Composer, fun, SoundClip

I think I've spent most of my life trapped inside this loop.

Labels: Creativity, fun

I'm listening to some Sibelius right now on a disc from the local library.  It's made by Ondine, a label out of Helsinki.  Having an eye for detail as I do--that is, an eye for detail so long as it is irrelevant--I noticed this warning in fine print on the cover:  "Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited."  Unauthorized lending?  Is my local library engaging in unauthorized activity here?  Should the library expect a raid from the Helsinki stormtroopers anytime soon?  I'm just relieved that unauthorized borrowing was left off the list.  Yikes.

Labels: Culture

It's opera and it's science fiction, so you'd think I would be compelled to comment, but I've been avoiding linking to news of The Fly since I figured out the show included nudity.  I'm not exactly one with a finger on the pulse of the opera world, but isn't new opera pulling a Britney/Janet/Jennifer and turning to skank to shore up the sagging popularity?  Anyway, now that we have a review, and it has turned snarky ("The Fly is a dog" is not what he said, but what he meant), I almost feel sorry for poor David Cronenberg et al.  Okay, I don't feel sorry at all.  And the review contains a bit of truly wonderful advice that could have helped more than one recent would-be opera composer:

"The Fly" isn't even an interesting failure. It's just amateurish. It isn't even good enough to be offensive. Shore, noted for composing music for such films as "Ed Wood," "The Lord of the Rings," and, yes, "The Fly," has no business writing an opera. But how could he know until he tried, you ask?

Well, he couldn't, but you don't try it out on an audience at the Chatelet in Paris, where it debuted in July, and then take it to Los Angeles Opera. You write a scene, get a graduate seminar class at some music school to give it a run-through, and then go back to the drawing board, humbled by what you've heard. Opera is hard. A man's got to know his limitations.

(When Matel comes out with its very first composer doll, and you pull the string, that's what you'll hear it say:  opera is hard.)

Well, my very first opera was a huge critical and popular success, in the sense that no critic panned it because there were none present, and the audience, which consisted of the good folk of Bronson, Michigan, pop. 3000, sitting in the gymnasium of the local jr. high school, seemed to like it well enough, or at least acted mightily impressed that a teenager could write 12 minutes of reasonably conherent music and still have enough friends to stage the thing.  But now that I think of it, my experience tends to confirm the wisdom of the above advice.

(I do like idea of the chorus singing the part of the computer, however.)

Labels: Composer, Opera, sci-fi

You might expect me to link to news of Ananthem, the new novel by SF author Neal Stephenson, because I'm a fan of SF and a huge fan of NS, and, yes:   perhaps I will get around to it eventually.   Today, instead, I'd like to link to an interview with NS about the book because of this comment:

I asked Stephenson whether he felt that cell phones in our own world might represent a wrong turn, technologically speaking. He said:

I couldn't live without mine. But the etiquette and the interface are lagging behind the technology. Introduction of new technology often leads to disruptions in manners that can take a generation or more to play out. We're in one of those awkward times now.

I now own a cell phone, but only because the Wifeösphere bought it for me.   However, it is almost never on, and frequently I forget to take it with me.   I resent the appalling manners of many cell phone users--exactly why does a cell phone justify you cutting me off in mid-sentence just because it happens to be ringing?--and, to reinforce the point NS is making elsewhere in the interview, constant conversation is a distraction from serious thinking. Gee, you'd almost think people were looking for a distraction.

Labels: Culture, sci-fi

The one headline I did not expect to read today:  Black Bear Busts Secret Utah Pot Farm.

The work of gearing up for the fall season has left me with little energy for blogging.  Today I taught my first choir class for my kids' homeschool co-op.  I'm directly in charge of about a dozen of the older elementary children, plus sharing responsibility with a co-teacher for about a half-dozen younger elementary kids.  I've always been out of touch with the co-op, the Wifeosphere being much more involved, and I was stunned by how many of the children I didn't even know.  Nevertheless, the hour went well, and I'm very glad now to have gained experience working with young voices through giving lessons to my own kids.  By the end of the hour I had them singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight like angels, and I thought I had walked onto the set of a sequel to Les Choiristes--okay, okay, not quite that impossibly good, but still....

My other new effort involves organizing a study group for creative artists within a Christian context.  I have absolutely no idea if this group has a chance of taking off, but I badly want to give it a try.  This effort (for me, at least) is more about making an opportunity for a group like this to exist than succeeding in making it exist.  Ann Arbor cannot be a half-bad place to try, of course, and I'll be advertising the group on two major campuses (University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University) so we'll see.  I spoke last night to the three other people whom I expect to form the core of the group, and that filled me with optimism.  Also present was the estimable Pastor Scott Geiger of the University Lutheran Chapel, who is cheering us on with cries of "great idea," which is nice.

One core member of the study group is Norma, a graphic artist who also happens to be the Wifeosphere's best friend.  She showed me her ideas for the logo of the group, which we're calling Ex Nihilo.  (I wanted X Nihilo--ooh, that's so trendy, so edgy) but Norma let me know that change completely screwed up her logo idea, so nevermind.  She's chosen a swirl to represent the creative process, which I think it a great idea.  (We both also thought about a potter working clay on a wheel but I was afraid that idea was a bit stale.)  I've talked before about another artist who thinks swirly whenever he thinks creation.

Labels: Choral, Creativity, Design