Coloured Glass

Don't call it a comeback

Back to blogging. With no further ado, I'm gonna break out a monster update here. What better way to get this baby up and running than blogging our way through the annual bonfire of the vanities that is the Oscars?

clank, cloink, boing

                 

I used to have a completely worn out VHS tape with this little Swedish short film - Music for one apartment and six drummers - that I forced everyone I knew to watch. Even brought a VCR with me at one point to show it to someone. And now it's all over the web. And I'm actually a little conflicted about this. Of course, I appreciate the fact that it's accessible to anyone. But there was something delicately precious about that tape that's just... lost. Maybe there is such a thing as good things being too readily available. Here it is anyway, as I do my bit to contribute to the loss of informational innocence.

You want to eat this?

Always remember, lambchops are chopped off from somewhere.

More support for Scoop Bown's campaign for Sausage against Lamb after the jump.

had enough of silly lovesongs?

I was going to do another "Masterworks of modern poetry". On this song, if you must know. What an utterly craptastic thing of blandness.
But then for some reason I remembered this very touching essay by Proust, In Praise of Bad Music. Probably won't stop me from harping on bad music for very long, but it did give me pause.

And I think there's a very basic point about creative value in there; that we shouldn't be quick to dismiss emotive power in the name of good taste.

I really think it's worth reading in its entirety, so for the francophonically challenged, my translation here:

the wurst day for bacon

It's official (I think): spearheaded by the genius of Marcus the Elf, sausage has beaten bacon in the meat bracket.

As the old butcher Sausage-Holger, played by the brilliant Ole Thestrup, says in the Danish hit movie The green butchers: Sausages have always fascinated me... there's something almost mythological about killing an animal, and then humiliating it by stuffing it into its own intestines...

I think the most fascinating part of this project is the follow-up questions offered by the poll site. Are you concerned over China's Anti-Satellite Weapons Test? No, you cretin, I just want to vote sausage over bacon. Get your priorities straight!

another of life's mysteries solved

Yes!

Are you sure the light in your fridge is turned off when the door is closed?

How do you know?

And can you sleep without checking?

apt for forget to remember

Cleaning out old firefox bookmarks, I stumbled across this article from Slate 2 years ago, an intriguing look at the U.S. memory championship. Fascinating read. Apparently, US competitors are miles behind the best Europeans, like the incredible Ben Pridmore, current record holder in many memory disciplines, like "5 min binary" - where he managed to memorize 780 digits of binary code in 5 minutes. This memory sports statistics page has all current records and rankings.
How would you live without it?

all in the mood for a melody

I've been meaning to recommend this since forever. Just the kind of thing where I felt I should have it sandwiched in between two deep, meaningful posts discussing existential matters. Since I'm a bit low on that, I figured I'd just run with it now.

From the internet version of the hipster magazine McSweeney's, the link to a very funny piece by otherwise quite obnoxious comedian Michael Ian Black:

"What I would be thinking about if I were Billy Joel driving toward a holiday party where I knew there was going to be a piano."

If that doesn't make you want to read it, I don't know what to tell you.

The long tie

So, here's a dirty secret: I'm not getting the whole Seth Godin thing. I ask this without a hint of irony or sarcasm: what's the big deal? how's he remarkable? I've read about the purple cow, and the fez, and the sneezing, and I sat through all 20 minutes of this disjointed, seemingly unprepared presentation on Google Video. The thing is, I haven't been surprised once. Not a single sentence that made me go, hm, I never thought of that.

Ok, not true. Bit surprised about the incredibly long tie. Not sure I've ever seen a tie this long before. Just imagine how lush a knot one could tie with that much fabric.

So, honest question - have any of you found it helpful? Thoughtprovoking? (the body of work, not the tie). What am I missing?

less deceptive than life

...is beeker's new blog about classical music. I'm joining her there, so maybe it's even our new blog. Anyhow, feel free to pop by. No prior experience required.

And I promise there won't be any 'classical music is slow and beautiful'-thing going on. Just a place for people who'd like to know more about great music to meet, listen, discuss. And if someone knows a bit that might help people out, sharing is encouraged.

On that note: just after doing this rant on how it's a shame to always introduce people to classical music by playing all the slow melodies that are used in boring tv ads, I found this video of comedian Rob Paravonian ripping the dreaded "Pachelbel's Canon in D" (a classical mainstay to the point that an old cello-teacher of mine used to crack "...composer unknown").