February 19, 2008

Hammond Cheese

This just defies description.

The high heels on the pedal board. The room full of like-attired women. The tambourines that come out of nowhere.

Click the video to go to the source page at YouTube and enjoy the comments.

Posted by JohnL at 10:12 PM | Comments (2) |

February 14, 2008

Addicting Timewaster

Found via Utterly Boring:

Chain Factor.

Posted by JohnL at 08:40 PM | Comments (1) |

The February Mix

Here's my mix CD for this month:

1. Morgenspaziergang, Kraftwerk
2. Praeludium und Fuga, a moll, Georg Böhm
3. Growing Up, Peter Gabriel
4. Baker Street, Foo Fighters (covering Gerry Rafferty)
5. 2112 Overture, The Vitamin String Quartet (covering Rush)
6. Prelude and Fugue in D Major (BWV 532), J.S. Bach
7. Flesh for Fantasy, Billy Idol
8. Darkness, Peter Gabriel
9. Magic Power, Triumph
10. The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, Traffic

(Ten Songs, 1 hour, 68.5MB)

This is one of the more eclectic mixes to fall out of my music library. It makes a good driving mix. I have to say that Bach's D Major Fugue here is one of the happiest pieces of music in the organ literature. The recording I have is Helmut Walcha's, a nicely articulated and beautifully registered version: maybe not historically "authentic" enough for some prissy scholars, but eminently listenable.

If I weren't such a lazy blogger, I'd provide links to Amazon or iTunes, but you can use a search engine as easily as I.

Update:

Here's a video of a stunningly fast rendition of BWV 532:


Posted by JohnL at 08:26 PM | Comments (2) |

February 01, 2008

John's Reading Report (January 2008)

OK, I am not quite the reading machine that Fred is, but I did do a little reading this last month:

I started and finished The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. I first read this about seven years ago, and it had a bigger impact on me this time around. If you've read this and know me well, you'll know why. I usually don't read "literary" SF, but this one is well worth it.

I also continue to read my regular monthly magazines as they come, and am continuing to work my way through the Ana-backlog.

I am also currently about a third of the way through Bill Bryson's The Life And Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I got this for Christmas, and wanted to read it as soon as possible. While aimed squarely at the Boomer generation (with a birthdate in 1968, I fall in that awkward midpoint: too young to be a Boomer, just a little too old to be as Gen-Xer), this book is providing me ample laugh-out-loud moments, which are really good for the soul.

Still in progress:

Consciousness Explained, Daniel C. Dennett. I'm going to have to re-read portions of this. My attention strayed from cognitive science during the Holidays to lighter fare. Now that we're back in the grim clutches of the post-Holiday work grind, I can get back to pondering existence and consciousness.

On deck:

Orbit, John J. Nance. A Christmas gift, and the next novel I'll be reading.

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemerovsky. One offered up by the Amazon algorithm based on product searches and past purchases. I hope it is as compelling as the author's own story.

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman. I've been meaning to read this for, like, forever.

Flashman, George MacDonald Fraser. Thanks to a plug by the Llamabutchers.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter.

Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World, Carl Zimmer.

Still about five months' worth of Analog magazine.

Posted by JohnL at 10:38 AM | Comments (3) |