Thursday, May 27, 2010
Ahhhh zeeee mooozic for zeee vacazione
I'm having one of my Musical Journey evenings. Where I'm listening to one thing, and it leads to another, and another, and I end up going to bed too late having spent too much money.
I listen to a lot of music while researching, so sometimes I go through under-listened-to parts of my library, to weed out stuff I don't want.
1. Tonight I was going through Céline Dion's D'Elles--a collection of songs by women songwriters. One of the songs is about Maria Callas and starts with a clip of Callas singing.
2. And I thought--do I own any Callas? (Just one song.) So I had to find a Callas "best of" to buy.
3. Which got me youtubing about, listening to various sopranos.
4. Which made me think of Charlotte Church and her version of "The Water is Wide" (my fave arrangement), which led to listening to various versions of the song.
5. Which landed me on a Joan Baez & Indigo Girls version I'd never heard. Baez is lucky to have had two totally different voices in her lifetime, and both are gorgeous. I have a Young Baez version of the song. But this Old Baez is even better! I've heard the Indigo Girls do this arrangement with Jewel and Sarah McLachlan, but Baez sounds like a Long Lost Indigo Girl.
6. And so... here I am with a new Callas album, and a new Baez. And it's past my bedtime.
I listen to a lot of music while researching, so sometimes I go through under-listened-to parts of my library, to weed out stuff I don't want.
1. Tonight I was going through Céline Dion's D'Elles--a collection of songs by women songwriters. One of the songs is about Maria Callas and starts with a clip of Callas singing.
2. And I thought--do I own any Callas? (Just one song.) So I had to find a Callas "best of" to buy.
3. Which got me youtubing about, listening to various sopranos.
4. Which made me think of Charlotte Church and her version of "The Water is Wide" (my fave arrangement), which led to listening to various versions of the song.
5. Which landed me on a Joan Baez & Indigo Girls version I'd never heard. Baez is lucky to have had two totally different voices in her lifetime, and both are gorgeous. I have a Young Baez version of the song. But this Old Baez is even better! I've heard the Indigo Girls do this arrangement with Jewel and Sarah McLachlan, but Baez sounds like a Long Lost Indigo Girl.
6. And so... here I am with a new Callas album, and a new Baez. And it's past my bedtime.
My Annual Bug Mystery
As you must know by now, any bug that makes its way into my home must be identified. Drives me crazy otherwise.
Right now it's some sort of flying-beetle--in all this hot weather, it's the only bug I've seen coming into the apartment over and over. We had one moth a couple weeks back, but otherwise--just this frakking beetle. A beetle which, I might add, likes flying at me.
I tried to get Haley to kill one yesterday for me, but she thinks it beneath her hunting abilities. She'll watch them, but that's it. Then Fernando walked in and whacked it with his croc. (Crocs, by the way, aren't very effective at killing bugs.) I can kill my own bugs, I just don't like to cause I feel like a Bad Vegan. But later last night I did kill one because... well how can you fall asleep with a bug in your room that you know favors hanging out with you?
Now I think there's one hiding in my Kleenex box. I wish it would at least sit out where I can see it and identify it. It looks like this, but black or dark brown, so I wonder if it's some sort of tree pest. The trees 'round here have taken a beating the last couple years.
...
Aha! I was about to give up, but then I pursued the "bark beetle" angle and I think I've got it. A brown spruce beetle. Well, now I know it's a pest, so I won't feel bad for just killing another two. There's still plenty to go around.
Friend Mae, who holds books sacred, would I think shudder at my bug killing technique, which involves (a) a well placed Kleenex, and then (b) a well placed book. Tomes of choice tonight were a book about Prince, and White Teeth. Now maybe I should turn off the light in my room so they'll leave me alone.
Right now it's some sort of flying-beetle--in all this hot weather, it's the only bug I've seen coming into the apartment over and over. We had one moth a couple weeks back, but otherwise--just this frakking beetle. A beetle which, I might add, likes flying at me.
I tried to get Haley to kill one yesterday for me, but she thinks it beneath her hunting abilities. She'll watch them, but that's it. Then Fernando walked in and whacked it with his croc. (Crocs, by the way, aren't very effective at killing bugs.) I can kill my own bugs, I just don't like to cause I feel like a Bad Vegan. But later last night I did kill one because... well how can you fall asleep with a bug in your room that you know favors hanging out with you?
Now I think there's one hiding in my Kleenex box. I wish it would at least sit out where I can see it and identify it. It looks like this, but black or dark brown, so I wonder if it's some sort of tree pest. The trees 'round here have taken a beating the last couple years.
...
Aha! I was about to give up, but then I pursued the "bark beetle" angle and I think I've got it. A brown spruce beetle. Well, now I know it's a pest, so I won't feel bad for just killing another two. There's still plenty to go around.
Friend Mae, who holds books sacred, would I think shudder at my bug killing technique, which involves (a) a well placed Kleenex, and then (b) a well placed book. Tomes of choice tonight were a book about Prince, and White Teeth. Now maybe I should turn off the light in my room so they'll leave me alone.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
eBooks: A little less Metallica, a little more Jules Verne
I was listening to a broadcast yesterday, from a Montreal lit festival, about ebooks. A lot of times when I listen to these discussions, I find a lot fear, thinly veiled by scorn and doubt about the new technology. It reminds me of the attitude surrounding the creation of sound-with-film, which I'm currently researching for my book. And of course it sounds a lot like the music industry when digital music first came upon them (which I'm also researching.)
If people get too dragged down by fear, then they're going to lose out. For example, when Napster first hit the scene, the music companies (and certain heavy metal bands) freaked out and responded by shutting them down. As they now acknowledge, it was totally the wrong approach:
What if they'd worked with Napster to turn it into a subscription based music service, or something like iTunes? They could have ridden the front of the wave, instead of scrambling to catch up.
If the publishing business doesn't learn from this, then they're fools. Stop focusing on all the things that make physical books better -- you can read it on the beach! books are still greener! -- because the digital form will overtake the physical book. I don't think books will disappear, but the digital form has only just begun, so people have no idea what it's capable of. A soundtrack to go with the story? More visual content because it's just as easy/cheap to put a picture in a digital book than to put in words? Interactive content? Research content? Hyperlinked footnotes? Imagine you're reading Harry Potter #4 and a character references something that happened in book 2--and imagine if you had the capability to click on a link and it would take you back to the appropriate passage in book 2?
Right now the possibilities are endless. Our predictions about the digital form are going to be wrong, and probably as silly as a Jules Verne story; but the reality is still going to be beyond our wildest imaginations. I'll get off my soap box now.
If people get too dragged down by fear, then they're going to lose out. For example, when Napster first hit the scene, the music companies (and certain heavy metal bands) freaked out and responded by shutting them down. As they now acknowledge, it was totally the wrong approach:
We used to fool ourselves…We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won. (Bronfman, head of Warner)
What if they'd worked with Napster to turn it into a subscription based music service, or something like iTunes? They could have ridden the front of the wave, instead of scrambling to catch up.
If the publishing business doesn't learn from this, then they're fools. Stop focusing on all the things that make physical books better -- you can read it on the beach! books are still greener! -- because the digital form will overtake the physical book. I don't think books will disappear, but the digital form has only just begun, so people have no idea what it's capable of. A soundtrack to go with the story? More visual content because it's just as easy/cheap to put a picture in a digital book than to put in words? Interactive content? Research content? Hyperlinked footnotes? Imagine you're reading Harry Potter #4 and a character references something that happened in book 2--and imagine if you had the capability to click on a link and it would take you back to the appropriate passage in book 2?
Right now the possibilities are endless. Our predictions about the digital form are going to be wrong, and probably as silly as a Jules Verne story; but the reality is still going to be beyond our wildest imaginations. I'll get off my soap box now.
Keeping Kool
I just chopped up the innards of the watermelon, stuck the pieces in the freezer, so we can have watermelon smoothies tonight.
And I've made myself a milkshake. Menoum.
Settle in to listen to Prince and continue researching.
And I've made myself a milkshake. Menoum.
Settle in to listen to Prince and continue researching.
Trapped in a Martha & the Vandellas song
It's 33 degrees, 35 downtown, feeling like 40 with the humidex. The record high was 33.9 in 1962. But this is supposed to be the last day of the heatwave.
I just spent an hour in the kitchen, with CBC Radio, cleaning and chopping veggies, and making fresh hummus. Uncooked food is de rigueur at the moment. Been eating a lot of faux-cheese sandwiches, avocado & apple salad, cereal.
I just spent an hour in the kitchen, with CBC Radio, cleaning and chopping veggies, and making fresh hummus. Uncooked food is de rigueur at the moment. Been eating a lot of faux-cheese sandwiches, avocado & apple salad, cereal.
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