Saturday, March 18, 2006

The Messiah

The fusion of tumbling, breakdancing, martial arts, and East Indian traditional dance moves fed my rapacious hunger for inspired ballet as I watched the Royal Winnipeg Ballet perform The Messiah. From the stark, but powerful opening scene of the dancers lying on their fronts with arms extended under the shadow of blue light to the effortless lifting of two embracing women by the male dancers this production delighted the viewer. Unfortunately the show ended after just 80 minutes, which seemed hardly adequate given inspired interpretation of the music and voices. It was an excellent evening out with my wife.

The Gnome

I do not want to continue much further without talking about the Gnome. He was my Jedi-like master, who trained me in the ancient arts in the desert of Jordan. I was working on an archaeological dig there and was first drawn to him by the confident aura he exuded despite his stature and weathered face. I then watched him for a while and noticed a few things about him. It wasn't that he was anti-social, just that he lived by the old ways, when he made his own tea while others shared theirs. His tea was always made in his own teapot, on his own stove away from the others. I do not know whether others could contaminate his tea, but out of fifty Bedouin workers he was the only one to make and drink his tea alone. The same held when it came to preparing the on-site breakfast, careful and premeditated actions. He lived by the code, in fact he embodied the code of elite warriors that had passed through countless generations of the wisened few to our age. Now those since the last generation have incorporated modern technology with the old ways to create a new way of being. Here is a picture of the Gnome and one of both of us while working on the site (away from our training camp).


Thursday, March 16, 2006

The wonders of UHF

The peaceful music broadcast on CBC2 only seemed to heighten the fact that I was waiting and had been waiting for a long time. I have felt constrained. As I dwelled on this pause of life, two choruses rang in my head by Blowin' in the Wind Dylan and Pacing the Cage by Cockburn. I also re-read a rant I wrote a while back:

It is so difficult to write. I feel like a bomb, which is exploding in a vacuum. How do I make my voice heard, all the passions pent-up in me, all the emotions, how can I possibly express them without being constrained? How to be proper, serious, respectable ease out little of my passion? I want it to envelop the reader. Should I abandon all and just write, with no obligations or responsibilities, something inside me tells me not to, that this is wrong. Where was I programmed and where did I learn these things. Who am I, who made me, and who has influenced me? I am going to be misunderstood anyway so I should let it all hang out and not bother with interpretation, who understands my interpretation? Why should I suffer for a little bliss in pleasing people? There is so much to me and intentionally I will not clarify this statement, I am so eclectic I do not know what is my prominent source. I want to do it my way, not the way CS did it or anyone else. No boundaries. Why are there so many rules? Because we only care for ourselves.

Last night I watched Hidden Land and Bela talked about how long it takes to find your own style, a journey I am still on.

Anyway after the dentist I picked up a copy of UHF and much to my delight found the article "The High Fidelity Digital Jukebox." This article, though not explicitly, confirmed my conclusion that Apple Lossless is the way to go. On the whole it is an awesome magazine that takes much care in testing and in answering correspondence, but I wish there was a version of this magazine that dealt more with new technology. If you know of one let me know. UHF has 3 relatively recent articles on the subject and they talk of doing more so the future looks bright. I am most interested in streaming music from my computer via Wi-Fi or LAN in a Hi-Fi manner. Any help would be appreciated.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Initiation

This is nuts. I have joined into the fray of speeding bytes to, in a way, journal, opine, and argue about both nothing and something. Well here goes my first blog. The other night I checked out this organ recital at a church in town. It turned out that a famous - in organ circles- organist from Austria was playing. I listened with joy and soon I was lifted from my awkward position (seated in a pew, facing away from the organ) to the heavens. No longer did I see that woman's hair in front of me instead only the streams of the melody. After an intermission, in which I found few approachable, I found myself hearing electric guitar licks reminiscent of Eddie in Bach's work. I could not escape this association in the second piece either. Maybe one day I will master Bach for the electric guitar. Until then I will strum away on less abstract pieces, as I try to escape from marching with the ants.

Reverb

Reverb plug-in