I wonder if you can get it baked, too...

via kottke.org
and
evolving web

Philharmonster

Thank you, Los Angeles. Perfect soundtrack to this image? Anything by john williams.

"You know girls, Lauren plays the flute. It's one of the instruments with reeds"

"Actually, flutes are the only woodwind instruments without reeds."

"Oh. Really?"

The Obligatory Postsecret Post

Because Postsecret is amazing...and at least once they come up with one that is completely fascinating and relevant.

The first thing I thought when I saw this picture was..."INTERLOCHEN". While the uniform doesn't 100% fit...I still think it's Interlochen.

I suppose it's none of my business.

So here we are, at the end of the summer

I meant to write a bunch. I did! But why write when you can sit around all day, doing nothing, instead?

But I didn't just do nothing. I learned to drink coffee and to be by myself, and how to not get anything done.

Oslo in the Summertime

Is Having Real Trouble Thinking Straight

My dog has been sleeping in my room for the last few days. To make sure I don't leave, I assume. But tomorrow morning when his defenses are weakened I shall escape!
I'm leaving to go here tomorrow. The Tanglewood festival in the middle of Massachusetts.
And I can't tell you how incredibly excited I am.
XD

So What Is It All About, Really?

Classical music, I mean. Well, this first article isn't about specifically classical music, but the general audience response to it. I really have nothing to add, but the general gist is: "Why do audiences these days feel the need to applaud loudly and to give a standing ovation to every performance?"
I think that a lot of people feel uninformed about classical music, and so if one person stands up and cheers, they feel like they should too. I don't often stand up on my own - unless someone I know is onstage. What kind of crap mentality is that?

But in the grand scheme of things, the only thing that this habit is hurting is the feedback for the performers. Or maybe music critics have taken the place of direct audience feedback?

And in a lot of ways, isn't it true that classical composers don't necessarily want the approval of their audiences? Historically, what is at first received poorly goes on to be more famous ( Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, jazz, Beethoven, Berlioz).

This article takes the other side - what happens when audiences can't stand the music. I kind of feel like it's their right to express their displeasure. It makes things a little more entertaining. Maybe if I was on stage during a performance like that one I wouldn't feel the same way. At least the audience is involved to some degree, instead of just falling asleep until the piece they want to hear.

On a completely different note, Scout Niblett is awesome (and it's not just her name). This video especially shows some of her stuff with more interesting harmonic progressions. It would be fun to analyze sometime.

List of Hapa People Who I Didn't Realize Were Hapa

1. Ashanti
2. Kelis
3. KT Tunstall
4. Charles Mingus (<--- Link to awesome thing. Listen to it. It's hot)
5. Eddie Van Halen (Indonesian an Dutch)
6. Naomi Campbell (Chinese and African American) (questionable. Her father is apparently part chinese but "unnamed" according to wikipedia.)
7. Vanessa Hudgens (Filipina, Spanish, Chinese, American Indian, Irish. Ridiculous conglomeration.)
8. Sean Makin - the violinist from Yellowcard.
9. Kristin Kreuk - Actually I have no idea who she is. But I recognize the picture.
10. Ashanti - African American and 1/4 chinese
11. Karen O - Actually I knew that she was hapa. But I still love it.
12. Kirk Hammett - Lead guitarist of Metallica.
13. Michael Kirney - A very interesting fellow. I've never heard of him, but apparently he's a ridiculously smart kid. Finished high school at age six.
14. Ne-Yo
15. Sean Paul

People I definitely knew were hapa.
1. Sean Lennon
2. Apolo Ohno
3. Mike Shinoda
4. Tiger Woods.
Why are these all boys? Who knows.

And then there's me...Japanese, German, and Irish. Anything else? I don't know. I can't remember. It sounds more interesting than Japanese and WHITE, doesn't it?

LAST.FM

www.last.fm/user/picadillette/

New and exciting. Hurrah! More internet ways to keep track of my every mood and whim. Yea, but seriously. Check it out. Maybe it will expand my horizons, since I don't have enough money to buy every cd I could possibly want.
For example:
Arcade Fire
Syd Barrett
Modest Mouse
Soka
The Bird and the Bee
Jamie T

July 21st, 2007

And do you know what day that is? I bet you do.
IT'S HARRY POTTER DAY! The last book of seven. The very last! The end all of end alls! When we finally find out all about Voldemort and the other horcruxes. When we find out if Dumbledore comes back! Which is obviously the most important part.
I'll let you in on a little secret:
I still think Snape is going to be on the good side. Or at least he's going to be a pain in the rear until the very very end and then he's going to do something selfless.
And then either Neville or Harry will die.
Although when you look at those in conjunction - maybe Snape will save Harry or Neville from death?
Anyway, it's very exciting. I'm reading the fifth and sixth as little bit of a catch - up.
It's ridiculously easy to read them. I'm already on about page 400.\

Too much Harry Potter hype. It kills me.

Don't feel like sleeping.
So, instead, I'm watching lame tv and daydreaming over clothing. It's the only thing my brain is capable of at 11:58 PM.
Actually, it's not lame TV. It's six feet under. Nothing like dead people walking around and having conversations with gay religious funeral undertakers. Adorable scruffy haired funeral undertakers with paternal instincts to rival those of a mother bear.

My camera came, and I took a hot picture of a radish.

Finals week....

is finally over!
Actually, it didn't take as long as I thought it was, and it wasn't nearly as hard. The first grades have already started coming in. So far, so good.

I just ordered this camera from Costco. The entire reason I'm buying it is so I don't have to argue with my sister over cameras this summer, since she will be at Stanford and Michigan, and I will be in Lenox, MA. Apparently you can run into Joshua Bell in the woods there, and if I run into Joshua Bell and I don't have a camera.
Well.
Somone's head will roll.

Speaking of cameras, there is such a movement of mechanical cameras and watches in the popular culture. At a rock concert a few weeks ago, the guitarist had the best old camera - it wound and clicked and clacked and had finicky parts that might break if you smacked them hard enough. But at least you could see fissures if it broke instead of just a bug in the system.
He worked it too - he had the gloves and the glazed look.
It must be part of the revival of old stuff - so everyone went through their victorian-esque phase and now we've moved on to... I don't know, the sixties?
Maybe it's just a backlash against not being able to find your phone anymore because of how small they are. OR crappy cell phone pictures.
I ask you: When you can take amazing pictures with these new digital cameras why would you put people through the pain of hundreds of blurry pictures?

And what about watches? Men's watches are big contests for who can have the most gears. They tell the time in several time zones, and do leap years, the exact day of the week.
But they don't make them like that for girls. Not enough room on the feminine wrist, apparently.

Happily Entering the Blogosphere

Hello,
Apparently high rise pants are on the way in. Who knew?
And now that we have that out of the way let me assure you that this is the last you will be hearing about them.
This blog, currently, is going to cover the following topics:
1. Interesting events occuring in my life.
2. Interesting events occuring in other people's lives.
3. Interesting music that someone needs to listen to, somewhere. (Genre is not important, however, rap and country* have to be really damn good)
4. Interesting things found during procrastinating. (other things that are related tp procrastination: writing a blog)
5. And some and sundry very NOT interesting things. But we'll talk about that when we get there.

So for now, with a perspective,
<3

*Jolene is the one exception to the exception, of course.