So, letting by/ons be bygones, I should also note that we had the usual blast at the GrinGoat estate last night. Poor Ben unfortunately had a migraine, but rather than retreat to a dark quiet place he decided to stick it out for dinner. And it turns out that Beck and Ali are exceptionally good at making fun of someone suffering from a migraine, or more specifically, suffering from the visual aura of a migraine. Ben essentially couldn't see, so Beck and the pajamaed Ali took over in the kitchen, but continued to make fun of Ben's blindness for the next few hours. It also turns out that Ali's voice exactly matches the resonant frequency of Ben's skull, which made for an evening of hilarious jokes and laughs followed by Ben clutching his forehead. Seriously, Ali is pretty much always very funny, but last night Beck and Ali comedy duo-ed things to a new level. The evening ended honkingly.
We had intended to play games, but we were all wiped from the day AND Christophe / Sarah once again opted out, this time their excuse being "we're in Florida." Lamaze and Florida, what will they come up with next?
Anyways, another grand old time in the books. Back to the exact present, Beck just left for the gym and I am sitting here grimacing because I pulled something in my back earlier this week, argh. Between that and the cold/wet that penetrated my joints yesterday, I don't think exercise is going to happen for a couple of days. I've already tutored today and am otherwise unspoken for for the remainder of the weekend - and Beck is going to a supper club function in Boston tonight, which means I will rock the house and read a book or something. Wooha, I have obtained a state where you are all in check.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
(On Account Of) The "Recent Unpleasantness," or What Happens When You Eat Dinner with Yankees
So I said someone had done something "on accident," and all hell broke loose at the GrinGoat household last night. And they're absolutely right; by all Oxford English Dictionary style standards, it's supposed to be "by accident," as in "After having been offended by Ali's rudeness, it is questionable whether I dropped cyanide in her drink by accident." The clear problem is that there's a non parallel use of the preposition between two situations: you either do things "on purpose" or "by accident," and you shouldn't flip the two. Okay, fair enough.
But the problem, and the reason I'm invoking "The Recent Unpleasantness" (world's best euphemism for the Civil War, for you Yankee dolts) (aka the "War of Northern Aggression") is that upon doing a wee bit of research this morning, I've discovered that "on accident" is a Southern colloquialism. I had NEVER heard anything about the "on accident" / "by accident" distinction until last night, so i figured it was a regional and/or elitist Californian thing, but I wondered if there's an actual reason for the distinction - I'm as much of a grammar policeman as anyone, but I consider the arbitrary choice of a preposition much lower on the general offense scale than, say, the systematically incorrect use of an entire tense (see every TV show in the world w/r/t "if I was"). In my web scroungings, I came across the following post by self-proclaimed English grammar specialist Whit Liggett (who, upon a little further investigation, appears to be a military linguist / interrogator, so I would not mess with this dude in any kind of post-24 viewing circumstances):
****************************************************************
Which actually sort of implies two different meanings of the phrase: "by accident" = by means of an accident = I dropped the egg in an accidental manner (or "my dropping of the egg occurred in a manner which did not involve my explicit intent), whereas "on accident" = on account of an accident = because of an accident = an accident caused me to drop the egg. And given the way we use "accident" in other contexts, like a "cerebral vascular accident," the fact that an accident caused you to drop the egg seems reasonable to me, since if you're really being precise, it is some miscalculation within a biological process that actually results in the dropping of the egg. All of this pointing to the real conundrum, that none of this is what we mean at all - the accident is the event itself, so what we should really say instead of "he did this or that on/by accident" is either "he did that accidentally" or "his doing of that was an accident."
All of which centers on the fact that "on account of" is a decidedly Southern and/or lower class phrase - "We closed the barn doors on account of the coming tornado" - but it's also a reasonably decent substitution for "because of" and one that is used across the country all the time: "The game was called on account of darkness."
So despite my Yankee friends' gasps (and in Ali's case, loud and migraine-inducing shrieks) of horror, I'm just going to embrace my Dixie roots and let the on/by distinction go (though I'll try to use "by" when writing). Cool? In the meantime, I'd be careful and not bring this up around mixed company. Particularly if some of those company happen to be wearing gray uniforms - I wouldn't want there to be any "accidents."
But the problem, and the reason I'm invoking "The Recent Unpleasantness" (world's best euphemism for the Civil War, for you Yankee dolts) (aka the "War of Northern Aggression") is that upon doing a wee bit of research this morning, I've discovered that "on accident" is a Southern colloquialism. I had NEVER heard anything about the "on accident" / "by accident" distinction until last night, so i figured it was a regional and/or elitist Californian thing, but I wondered if there's an actual reason for the distinction - I'm as much of a grammar policeman as anyone, but I consider the arbitrary choice of a preposition much lower on the general offense scale than, say, the systematically incorrect use of an entire tense (see every TV show in the world w/r/t "if I was"). In my web scroungings, I came across the following post by self-proclaimed English grammar specialist Whit Liggett (who, upon a little further investigation, appears to be a military linguist / interrogator, so I would not mess with this dude in any kind of post-24 viewing circumstances):
****************************************************************
As a specialist in English grammar as well as many other languages, I aver that both are grammatically correct. How? Let me explain…
English, like most languages, makes use of certain implied words because they are superfluous.
For example: “I sent him a letter.”
The preposition “to” is implied as it is not necessary in order to convey the meaning.
I will use a simple sentence to demonstrate this phenomenon as it pertains to our topic.
“I dropped the egg by accident.”
There is an implied phrase that has been intentionally omitted. Including the phrase, we arrive at “I dropped the egg by means of an accident.”
It is equally correct to use “on accident” with a different implied phrase.
“I dropped the egg on account of an accident.”
One simple solution would be to go back to the Latin and just use “via” to convey the meaning.
“I dropped the egg via accident.”
True, it sounds odd, but it is still correct in form. Notice that with this sentence there is an implied “an” omitted before the word “accident.”
********************************************************************Which actually sort of implies two different meanings of the phrase: "by accident" = by means of an accident = I dropped the egg in an accidental manner (or "my dropping of the egg occurred in a manner which did not involve my explicit intent), whereas "on accident" = on account of an accident = because of an accident = an accident caused me to drop the egg. And given the way we use "accident" in other contexts, like a "cerebral vascular accident," the fact that an accident caused you to drop the egg seems reasonable to me, since if you're really being precise, it is some miscalculation within a biological process that actually results in the dropping of the egg. All of this pointing to the real conundrum, that none of this is what we mean at all - the accident is the event itself, so what we should really say instead of "he did this or that on/by accident" is either "he did that accidentally" or "his doing of that was an accident."
All of which centers on the fact that "on account of" is a decidedly Southern and/or lower class phrase - "We closed the barn doors on account of the coming tornado" - but it's also a reasonably decent substitution for "because of" and one that is used across the country all the time: "The game was called on account of darkness."
So despite my Yankee friends' gasps (and in Ali's case, loud and migraine-inducing shrieks) of horror, I'm just going to embrace my Dixie roots and let the on/by distinction go (though I'll try to use "by" when writing). Cool? In the meantime, I'd be careful and not bring this up around mixed company. Particularly if some of those company happen to be wearing gray uniforms - I wouldn't want there to be any "accidents."
Friday, March 2, 2007
Emosi Jiwa, Mencemaskan
Rabu, 28 Februari
Pagi yang normal, hanya sedikit deg-deg an karena saya belum membaca modul Komunikasi Kelompok untuk bahan kuliah pagi ini. kuliah nya jam 8. dan mami Jenny tidak pernah terlambat. kebiasaan sebelum kuliah, pemanasan dulu membahas bahan kuliah minggu lalu. yang parahnya, saya lupa apa kuliah minggu lalu. mencemaskan. sampai di kampus, ketemu Asrul. katanya Mami jenny kayaknya gak masuk, soalnya ada yang mau seminar proposal skripsi. dan dia sebagai tim penguji. agak lega, liat penjual roti beli roti pisang soalnya belum sarapan. setelah itu cari toilet di depan akademik yang jauhnya harus ditempuh 2 tahun cahaya, anjrit! sesampai di koridor lagi, baru mau bergosip (sesuai dengan jam tayang infotainment di Tv) Mamy Jenny lewat. kuliah dimulai dan seperti dugaanku, karena menarik perhatian. saya pasti dapat pemanasan. untung bahannya mudah. buat yang lain. mencemaskan. habis komunikasi kelompok, lanjut masuk lab komputer. saya belum mengedit tugas media audio visual besok. mana deadlinenya jam 8. take voicenya sudah, tinggal editnya saja. di jam produksi siaran saya berniat mengerjakannya, tapi ternyata saya dijebak. anak-anak yang lain sudah terlebih dahulu berniat melakukan itu dan saya sebagai orang-yang-mengerti-dan-paham-cool-edit saya harus membantu mereka. emosi jiwa. masalahnya saya harus mendatangi mereka satu persatu. kenapa ketika saya menjelaskan kalian tidak memperhatikan sih? mencemaskan. datang anak-anak cari absen prosir. ada yang nyeletuk, "ngabsennya di bawah, gak bisa di bawa naik. sama pegawai akademik saja langsung". begh. masa harus turun lagi? jadi saya langsung turun saja absen prosir, habis itu masuk ke jurusan, ternyata saya mau menanggap buat yang lagi seminar proposal. habis seminar, ternyata banyak teman yang emosi jiwa di lab. kenapa? ternyata tu petugas akademik sudah mencoret semua kolom tanda tangan anak-anak yang ambil prosir. mau tidak utuh mukanya itu bapak. kita kan kuliah di lab, jadi gak usah pake absen gitu juga gak apa-apa. toh yang dikumpul nanti hasil produksi siaran saja. mencemaskan. sumpah serapah sudah keluar ternyata.
siang menjelang. media audio visual sudah kelar, yang mencemaskan tugas media format kecil besok. saya presentasi jam 8 pagi. dan saya belum mempersiapkan bahannya. temanya sudah, tapi ternyata saya blank. mana plesh disc ku ternyata terinfeksi virus, jadi pas mo ngedit di lab komputer, tu Fd mesti di format ulang. yang berarti bahan saya hilang semua. mencemaskan. saya mesti lintas fakultas lagi ke FK buat ambil bahan. arrrrgggggggggh. sehabis itu pusing mo kerja dimana. kalo di bawa pulang, apa masih sempat. soalnya hari ini ulang tahunnya Nuri, sahabat saya (sebenarnya ulang tahunnya 29 Februari sih, tapi saya ingin merayakannya hari ini saja). dan saya ingin ketemu dengan Nuri. jadi saya memutuskan kerja di kampus saja. perjalanan balik ke sospol singgah ke Jasbog dulu buat makan. lagi makan capcay, K' rahim telpon, ambil gaji sebentar di kantornya jam 5 an. berarti sesuai rencana. saya kerja tugas MFK di lab sampe jam 5, trus ke FK lagi buat ngambil duit, habis itu ke tempatnya nuri.
utak-atik power point buat tugas ternyata saya bingung. tidak tahu mau ambil dari segi mana bahan persentasi saya besok. saking banyaknya bahan yang saya save. dari perspektif studi kasus public relations kah, ataukah dari segi khalayaknya sendiri? pusing. karena ternyata bahan saya kurang disana-sini. tapi saya sudah malas mencari. pusing liat tu bahan. ini sudah berganti tema untuk ketiga kalinya. dan bahan terakhir yang sudah saya persiapkan yaitu studi kasus Indosat saja. jam 5, ke Fk ngambil duit trus ke Briton buat ketemu Nuri. di pete-pete ributnya itu cewek bergosip! emosi jiwa lagi. mencemaskan. saya berusaha untuk tidur tapi suara tu cewek masih masuk juga ketelingaku. walopun sudah terhambat dengan headset mp3 ku. sesampainya di Briton, magribh an dulu disana, Nuri ternyata udah kerja. niatnya sih mo ngajak jalan. tapi dia bilang ke rumah sakit saja, jenguk nunung yang melahirkan. tapi tunggu yaya dulu. sambil cerita-cerita di lobby nya briton, lewat makhluk yang yo oloooooooooooooooooo, kenapa sesempurna itu? anjrit! otomatis pandangan saya tertuju ke dia. nuri bingung kok saya tiba-tiba diam. dia melihat ke arah yang sama, dan dia mengerti. "namanya bla bla bla..." damn!!! emosi jiwa ku tidak stabil lagi. mencemaskan. datang yaya, kita langsung ke catherine booth buat jenguk nunung. wah ini keponakan kedua nya Sonix (hebat yah, umur 22 udah punya 2 anak!) sambil cerita-cerita sama papi arie dan mama nunung. dua-duanya teman sma. jadi mengingat masa lalu juga sih. tapi yang saya pikir adalah, bagaimana tugas MFK ku besok? tidak jelas, mencemaskan. malam sudah semakin larut. saya pulang dan tidur! tugasnya, besok saja dipikirkan.
Kamis, 1 Maret
malam yang mencemaskan. saya terbayang-bayang tugas besok. stel alarm hape jam 3 subuh buat kerja MFK. dan ternyata saya kalah. saya baru terbangun ketika sudah jam 4. sambil membaca lagi semua bahan yang sudah saya ambil, akhirnya saya putuskan saya ambil dari segi jenis komunikasi selularnya saja. untuk mengedukasi orang menggunakan produk selular. beres. sudah utak-atik power pointnya. cuma masalah terakhirnya, yaitu mengenai materi terakhir saya menyelipkan materi 3G. dan saya tidak mempunyai bahan apa-apa. alternatif usaha, pergi agak pagian dari rumah supaya bisa akses internet dulu di studio, habis itu ke sospol buat kuliah. jadi tidak sempat sarapan lagi, langsung hajar! mencemaskan. sampai di FK ternyata sudah jam 8 juga. soalnya jalanan sudah agak macet. jadi dengan pengharapan terakhir saya browsing dan setelah dapat bahannya, print dan lari ke sospol! untung belum masuk, dan saya presentasi pertama diantara 6 orang. nafas yang memburu plus gugup apakah materi nya bagus ato tidak buat konsentrasi saya hilang. dan saya tidak sadar pas presentasi. evaluasinya, bahannya ternyata bagus, beda dengan bahan teman-taman yang lain. tapi pas presentasi saya tidak boleh kehilangan konsentrasi. walopun ada yang telat datang, saya tidak boleh berhenti. lanjut saja, dan terakhir sebagai anak PR jangan lagi presentasi pakai baju kaos. hormati forum (damn!!!habis ini saya tidak akan pakai baju kaos lagi kalo kuliah!)
kelar kuliah, saya menunggui teman-teman (yang ternyata) belum mengerjakan Media Audio Visualnya. hm,,, soalnya saya menawkan diri buat sekali dikasih satu CD saja tugasnya. dan berarti saya menunggui mereka sampai siang, sampai mereka selesai mengerjakan tugas itu. bggggggggggggg, capek deh. mencemaskan. siangnya, langsung ke bibli dulu buat workshop pembuatan website ininnawa. soalnya kayaknya saya akan dimasukkan sebagai administrator sebagai bagian publikasi dari Rumah Kaum Muda. capek liat penjelasan Sophie (berhubung dari Kanada, otomatis we speaking english!) ngantu menyerang dan saya tidak dapat menahannya lagi. Jadi saya memilih meningalkan forum dan masuk ke kamar terdekat untuk tidur. Soalnya sudah 2 minggu ini laju tidur saya sangat berantakan. Rasanya baru semenit saya memejamkan mata, ada sms masuk. Smsnya sih gak sadar, tapi ternyata yang punya sms langsung nelpon karena saya tidak membalas smsnya. Dari ucchank. Dia minta semua cd masternya yang saya pake untuk menginstall kompie saya minggu lalu. Dan ternyata tu cd masih ada di kamar nya baqir. Langsung saya telpon ballo, yang bawa kunci, ternyata dia sudah di Maros! Begh, ndak enak sama ucchank. Saya sudah memakai barangnya, tapi belum bisa di kembalikan. Soalnya laptop pacenya ternyata mo diinstal ulang juga. Soalnya malamnya mo dipakai. Emosi jiwa. Mencemaskan. Saya pun menelpon keda. Plish!! Alternative terakhir. Soalnya daripada saya menyuruh ballo untuk lintas makassar-maros lagi hanya untuk membawa kunci. Dan saya pusing! Antara panik dan tidak enak. Jadi saya tunggu saja Keda di bibli sambil browsing internet. Jam setengah 6, keda datang. Saya ke kampus bawakan cd nya uccank, ke studio bwat ngambil data. Pulang. Hibernasi. Emosi jiwa ndak stabil. Mencemaskan.
Ps : mohon jangan lelah sewaktu membacanya
In the PM Interim
So, um, this is ridiculously sweet - lean back and enjoy a 9:00 short homemade film:
And as long as we're posting, I'll write a little mabob on a couple things I've read / experienced lately:
Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion: 72
This was an Audio lecture series on CD I listened to the past week to and from the job. It walks through the various incarnations of jazz in order, explaining some of the history of the various forms' developments as well as playing samples of tunes and the various characteristics of each style. The lectures were given by Bill Messenger, a fantastic piano player who sounds like something of a Don Knotts clone. The lectures were fairly dumbed down but very enjoyable, and the lecturer was very clear on which particular points of each of the types of jazz he wanted to emphasize. He played numerous pieces and examples himself which were great, and when he wanted to emphasize band arrangement or otherwise go beyond what he could do solo on the keys, he played classic recordings from the various eras. He brought in a couple of other musicians for a couple of the lectures, and while their playing was superb, his interviews with them were pretty horrendous. Overall, it gave a great framework for determining the different aspects of jazz to listen for; I would definitely recommend it as a very good intro to the subject. Below are some notes (mainly for me) on the primary features of the different styles.
West African Music - Polyrhythmic and Syncopated music. B-buh b-buh buh (Hello my baby...)
Cakewalk - African meets Western music, basically a syncopation of European marches
Ragtime - A more complicated and "ragged" form of the cakewalk, ragtime maintained the syncopation and upped the energy; it offended Victorians as low-class and was the "rock" of the 1890s. Classic examples include The Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer, both by Joplin.
Dixieland Jazz - culled from the New Orleans funeral dirge/march, it's syncopated and polyrhythmic but also polyphonic (multiple running melody lines) AND utilizes improvisation. First used the tuba and banjo but later, with mics, used the bass and guitar (in addition to allowing soft-voiced crooners to take front and center). Features solo breaks.
Blues - 12 bar arrangements (I,I,I,I7,IV,IV, I,I,V7,IV,I) as opposed to the 32 bar w/ 8 bar bridge typical jazz arrangements. Blues is the visceral germ of jazz, or jazz with the abstract intellect removed. Features blue notes, embellishments of the typical pentatonic scale.
Swing - Based on the "swing" beat where quarter notes are not really quarter notes. Served as a blend of energy, improvisational spontaneity and composition/arrangement. Also featured antiphonal lines, or "call and repeat" sections. Stood out from "society bands," the adult contemporary / easy listening of the time.
Boogie-Woogie - A solo piano form featuring ostinato bass (3 piano notes rolled over and over in pattern) played in a blues progression. This is really the precursor to rock and roll piano songs (think Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino).
Big Band Blues - Sort of an "advanced blues" which melds the jazzier cords and big band instrumentation with the blues progression / lyrical structure. It gets away a little bit from that which sounds gut-level about the amotional blues; it's more in the arty end of the spectrum.
Be-Bop - The punk of jazz - arose as a response to the over-slickness of commercial swing and is named after its harsh b-buh stops found throughout. Be-bop eschews the rest - the sound is constant and running and fast, and is generally difficult to play, requiring mastery of the level of Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie. Be-bop's hallmark is the flatted fifth, an odd insertion into the scale, that serves as the modern jazz blue note. Be-bop also largely drops the clarinet and does not feature piano ragtime, relying on the bass to keep time.
Modern Jazz (General) - generally an explosion of possibility. The traditional scales are expanded to include 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, you name it. Dissonance is now legal, and "modern jazz" tends to be a shifty term, indeed.
Cool Jazz - A response to the frenetic tendencies of bebop, cool jazz is a "gentle rebellion," a style that uses the preceding innovations in a laid back way as well as some space to define them. The jazz of and behind the beatniks. It also features chord innovations (from the likes of Thelonious Monk) and time signature experimentation (Dave Brubeck, Take Five). Unsurprisingly, this style began with The Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis.
Modal Jazz - "neoprimitive" jazz that sticks to a single chord / key and dances within a particular mode. Messenger called this "Medieval Jazz" as it utilizes some of the same intervals found in, for example, the Gregorian chants. It is notably easier than some of the other forms, though perhaps not AS easy as...
Free Jazz - an apt description is that free jazz "divorces the notion of art and craft." No chord changes, no chordal instruments, and the only real structure is something of a constant tempo and occasionally an introduced theme.
Fusion Jazz - Jazz meets rock. Solo and riff-oriented jazz.
Okay, phew, another review:
Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: 40
Yawn. What I didn't know already was presented in the cutesy know-it-all fashion typical of Neyer. Plus he doesn't even adhere to some of the hallmarks of sabermetrics, such as not mentioning rbi's and average at every other breath. Blah. I was highly disappointed.
Yet another:
US Guys by Charlie LeDuff: 43
It really does come off as Hunter S. Thompson redux. I felt like I was reading a bunch of quirky characterizations with nothing in common but their quirkiness - I think he has really gone out of his way to find the fringe, and nothing to do at all with what makes a "U.S. Guy." Maybe this is a second level illustration of the fact that we really have nothing all that in common, but I felt his hippie-isms and come-on mans were nowhere near as good in print as they were on radio. He is a talented writer - vibrant descriptions throughout, and solid story-telling skills - but I highly question the existence of anything resembling a point. It almost reeked of a "Look at me the gonzo involved journalist" - am I supposed to be impressed by the fact that he thrust himself into all these absurd situations for the sake of lived-in journalism? My mind-set does not match his - I am an ardent denier of the concept that there is something vitally superior to actual, real experience as opposed to crafted and imagined experience. In other words, as I read this I found myself not caring whether it was real or not; the spice of him having "actually done it" did not add anything for me; I just thought it was a bad fiction story about an idiot out for too much attention. The quirky characters he ran into, the implausible stories, benefited not at all from their trueness, and they were generally boring enough to be entirely passable. Their trueness was a crutch, take it away and... anyways, the book was saved by a chapter on Burning Man in which Leduff exposed every hypocrisy and shallow, insipid stupidity the event has come to represent. Even that faltered towards the end; I suppose the deal is that the world of the real is not for me.
And as long as we're posting, I'll write a little mabob on a couple things I've read / experienced lately:
Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion: 72
This was an Audio lecture series on CD I listened to the past week to and from the job. It walks through the various incarnations of jazz in order, explaining some of the history of the various forms' developments as well as playing samples of tunes and the various characteristics of each style. The lectures were given by Bill Messenger, a fantastic piano player who sounds like something of a Don Knotts clone. The lectures were fairly dumbed down but very enjoyable, and the lecturer was very clear on which particular points of each of the types of jazz he wanted to emphasize. He played numerous pieces and examples himself which were great, and when he wanted to emphasize band arrangement or otherwise go beyond what he could do solo on the keys, he played classic recordings from the various eras. He brought in a couple of other musicians for a couple of the lectures, and while their playing was superb, his interviews with them were pretty horrendous. Overall, it gave a great framework for determining the different aspects of jazz to listen for; I would definitely recommend it as a very good intro to the subject. Below are some notes (mainly for me) on the primary features of the different styles.
West African Music - Polyrhythmic and Syncopated music. B-buh b-buh buh (Hello my baby...)
Cakewalk - African meets Western music, basically a syncopation of European marches
Ragtime - A more complicated and "ragged" form of the cakewalk, ragtime maintained the syncopation and upped the energy; it offended Victorians as low-class and was the "rock" of the 1890s. Classic examples include The Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer, both by Joplin.
Dixieland Jazz - culled from the New Orleans funeral dirge/march, it's syncopated and polyrhythmic but also polyphonic (multiple running melody lines) AND utilizes improvisation. First used the tuba and banjo but later, with mics, used the bass and guitar (in addition to allowing soft-voiced crooners to take front and center). Features solo breaks.
Blues - 12 bar arrangements (I,I,I,I7,IV,IV, I,I,V7,IV,I) as opposed to the 32 bar w/ 8 bar bridge typical jazz arrangements. Blues is the visceral germ of jazz, or jazz with the abstract intellect removed. Features blue notes, embellishments of the typical pentatonic scale.
Swing - Based on the "swing" beat where quarter notes are not really quarter notes. Served as a blend of energy, improvisational spontaneity and composition/arrangement. Also featured antiphonal lines, or "call and repeat" sections. Stood out from "society bands," the adult contemporary / easy listening of the time.
Boogie-Woogie - A solo piano form featuring ostinato bass (3 piano notes rolled over and over in pattern) played in a blues progression. This is really the precursor to rock and roll piano songs (think Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino).
Big Band Blues - Sort of an "advanced blues" which melds the jazzier cords and big band instrumentation with the blues progression / lyrical structure. It gets away a little bit from that which sounds gut-level about the amotional blues; it's more in the arty end of the spectrum.
Be-Bop - The punk of jazz - arose as a response to the over-slickness of commercial swing and is named after its harsh b-buh stops found throughout. Be-bop eschews the rest - the sound is constant and running and fast, and is generally difficult to play, requiring mastery of the level of Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie. Be-bop's hallmark is the flatted fifth, an odd insertion into the scale, that serves as the modern jazz blue note. Be-bop also largely drops the clarinet and does not feature piano ragtime, relying on the bass to keep time.
Modern Jazz (General) - generally an explosion of possibility. The traditional scales are expanded to include 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, you name it. Dissonance is now legal, and "modern jazz" tends to be a shifty term, indeed.
Cool Jazz - A response to the frenetic tendencies of bebop, cool jazz is a "gentle rebellion," a style that uses the preceding innovations in a laid back way as well as some space to define them. The jazz of and behind the beatniks. It also features chord innovations (from the likes of Thelonious Monk) and time signature experimentation (Dave Brubeck, Take Five). Unsurprisingly, this style began with The Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis.
Modal Jazz - "neoprimitive" jazz that sticks to a single chord / key and dances within a particular mode. Messenger called this "Medieval Jazz" as it utilizes some of the same intervals found in, for example, the Gregorian chants. It is notably easier than some of the other forms, though perhaps not AS easy as...
Free Jazz - an apt description is that free jazz "divorces the notion of art and craft." No chord changes, no chordal instruments, and the only real structure is something of a constant tempo and occasionally an introduced theme.
Fusion Jazz - Jazz meets rock. Solo and riff-oriented jazz.
Okay, phew, another review:
Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Blunders: 40
Yawn. What I didn't know already was presented in the cutesy know-it-all fashion typical of Neyer. Plus he doesn't even adhere to some of the hallmarks of sabermetrics, such as not mentioning rbi's and average at every other breath. Blah. I was highly disappointed.
Yet another:
US Guys by Charlie LeDuff: 43
It really does come off as Hunter S. Thompson redux. I felt like I was reading a bunch of quirky characterizations with nothing in common but their quirkiness - I think he has really gone out of his way to find the fringe, and nothing to do at all with what makes a "U.S. Guy." Maybe this is a second level illustration of the fact that we really have nothing all that in common, but I felt his hippie-isms and come-on mans were nowhere near as good in print as they were on radio. He is a talented writer - vibrant descriptions throughout, and solid story-telling skills - but I highly question the existence of anything resembling a point. It almost reeked of a "Look at me the gonzo involved journalist" - am I supposed to be impressed by the fact that he thrust himself into all these absurd situations for the sake of lived-in journalism? My mind-set does not match his - I am an ardent denier of the concept that there is something vitally superior to actual, real experience as opposed to crafted and imagined experience. In other words, as I read this I found myself not caring whether it was real or not; the spice of him having "actually done it" did not add anything for me; I just thought it was a bad fiction story about an idiot out for too much attention. The quirky characters he ran into, the implausible stories, benefited not at all from their trueness, and they were generally boring enough to be entirely passable. Their trueness was a crutch, take it away and... anyways, the book was saved by a chapter on Burning Man in which Leduff exposed every hypocrisy and shallow, insipid stupidity the event has come to represent. Even that faltered towards the end; I suppose the deal is that the world of the real is not for me.
SubQuorum Science
BLAR.
I showed up for my 8 AM class this morning (actually, i showed up at 7:30, but that's besides the point) and welcomed... eight students. Eight! Out of a class of seventeen! What the what?!?!
So I already knew that the presentation we'd been working on all week was going to be derailed because 4 of the students told me they weren't going to make it. So I had struggled on the way here about what to teach today, given that it was ridiculous to do anything substantial because we'd just have to repeat it for the other students AND because we go on break after today so there's going to be a huge gap between this class and the next. So I settled on reviewing one of the questions from the exam* and then talking a bit about how to make rational arguments.
* - Basically, i am tired of people answering animal rights questions with "food chain" or "survival of the fittest." Those are descriptive terms, a "how" things happen and not a "should" things happen line of reasoning. True, you can meta-argue the whole thing (as I often do), that humans are entrenched in an implicitly non-ethical game, that of survival, and so ethical questions are on some level absurd. But that' not what's happening here; they are giving a relatively simplistic "that's just the way it is" style argument. Like "the way it is" somehow defines the "way it ought to be." Bollocks to that. Drives me nuts.
Interestingly, there are only 5 ways to respond to a truly rational argument. And by truly rational argument, I mean one of this variety:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
--------------------
Socrates is mortal.
The five ways to respond are:
1. Question the premises - check that an assertion like "Socrates is a man" is true.
2. Question the logic - check whether the individual steps actually follow one another.
3. Question the terms - do they mean what they think they mean (inconceivable, etc.)?
4. Grant that the argument is correct. Adjust your worldview accordingly.
5. Grant that the argument is correct, but "agree to disagree."
So I thought this would be cool, given that part of we're trying to accomplish in this class is learning to make succinct, rational arguemnts. But then I look up and see less than half of the students here. Argh. Frustration. So I talk briefly about the how/should distinction and then send them back to their rooms. Pointless day - why teach something you're only going to have to reteach two weeks from now? Plus the kids, spring break fever in the air, had one foot out the door anyways. Tres annoying.
Did I mention that Crappy Weather: The Wint Remix is playing outside? So yeah, I booked it here in the rain and the snow (I got the funk funky flow) to find that we didn't have a quorum. So I cancelled class; sue me. I have to stick around to tutor a student on the Ottoman Empire, so I'm now waiting. To talk about coffeehouses and homosexual man slaves who have social status and such. Concubines, harems (which according to the textbook are not actually sexual in nature, who knew? Another fantasy dashed) and the like. You know, stuff on which I am clearly an expert. If by expert you mean someone who "read the textbook in the bathtub yesterday."
Man, do I ever rule.
On the plus side, I got some work done during the cancelled clas and walked down the hall (HE WALKED ON DOWN THE HALL) to find fellow teacher Ellie showing Apocalypse Now. Sweet. I watched the ending sequence, from the Dennis Hopper's "The Hollow Men" quotes to the yak sacrifice to the Helicopters in the background... I love that film. I think i will watch the whole thing and write a review soon. Wahoo. I will also read Conrad's Heart of Darkness, just for completeness's sake.
I will not, however, be doing any of that tonight, because we are allegedly going out with GrinGoat and SaviorBump (Lamazz obligations not-withstanding). We are supposed to eat, drink and play games. It will be awesome. If we play poker (Christophe already did. Hey-O!), perhaps I will throw on The Doors tune "The End" just to set the tone and let the competitors know that the Nyet will slaughter you like a helpless yak in a way that would never make it past PETA-sensitive censors nowadays. Metaphorically, of course.
Another funny fact to end the post - one of my fellow Nut instructors, Gina, has a reputation as a hard grader. I am using her keyboard right now... and I notice that the F key is worn out. the rumors ring true.
I showed up for my 8 AM class this morning (actually, i showed up at 7:30, but that's besides the point) and welcomed... eight students. Eight! Out of a class of seventeen! What the what?!?!
So I already knew that the presentation we'd been working on all week was going to be derailed because 4 of the students told me they weren't going to make it. So I had struggled on the way here about what to teach today, given that it was ridiculous to do anything substantial because we'd just have to repeat it for the other students AND because we go on break after today so there's going to be a huge gap between this class and the next. So I settled on reviewing one of the questions from the exam* and then talking a bit about how to make rational arguments.
* - Basically, i am tired of people answering animal rights questions with "food chain" or "survival of the fittest." Those are descriptive terms, a "how" things happen and not a "should" things happen line of reasoning. True, you can meta-argue the whole thing (as I often do), that humans are entrenched in an implicitly non-ethical game, that of survival, and so ethical questions are on some level absurd. But that' not what's happening here; they are giving a relatively simplistic "that's just the way it is" style argument. Like "the way it is" somehow defines the "way it ought to be." Bollocks to that. Drives me nuts.
Interestingly, there are only 5 ways to respond to a truly rational argument. And by truly rational argument, I mean one of this variety:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
--------------------
Socrates is mortal.
The five ways to respond are:
1. Question the premises - check that an assertion like "Socrates is a man" is true.
2. Question the logic - check whether the individual steps actually follow one another.
3. Question the terms - do they mean what they think they mean (inconceivable, etc.)?
4. Grant that the argument is correct. Adjust your worldview accordingly.
5. Grant that the argument is correct, but "agree to disagree."
So I thought this would be cool, given that part of we're trying to accomplish in this class is learning to make succinct, rational arguemnts. But then I look up and see less than half of the students here. Argh. Frustration. So I talk briefly about the how/should distinction and then send them back to their rooms. Pointless day - why teach something you're only going to have to reteach two weeks from now? Plus the kids, spring break fever in the air, had one foot out the door anyways. Tres annoying.
Did I mention that Crappy Weather: The Wint Remix is playing outside? So yeah, I booked it here in the rain and the snow (I got the funk funky flow) to find that we didn't have a quorum. So I cancelled class; sue me. I have to stick around to tutor a student on the Ottoman Empire, so I'm now waiting. To talk about coffeehouses and homosexual man slaves who have social status and such. Concubines, harems (which according to the textbook are not actually sexual in nature, who knew? Another fantasy dashed) and the like. You know, stuff on which I am clearly an expert. If by expert you mean someone who "read the textbook in the bathtub yesterday."
Man, do I ever rule.
On the plus side, I got some work done during the cancelled clas and walked down the hall (HE WALKED ON DOWN THE HALL) to find fellow teacher Ellie showing Apocalypse Now. Sweet. I watched the ending sequence, from the Dennis Hopper's "The Hollow Men" quotes to the yak sacrifice to the Helicopters in the background... I love that film. I think i will watch the whole thing and write a review soon. Wahoo. I will also read Conrad's Heart of Darkness, just for completeness's sake.
I will not, however, be doing any of that tonight, because we are allegedly going out with GrinGoat and SaviorBump (Lamazz obligations not-withstanding). We are supposed to eat, drink and play games. It will be awesome. If we play poker (Christophe already did. Hey-O!), perhaps I will throw on The Doors tune "The End" just to set the tone and let the competitors know that the Nyet will slaughter you like a helpless yak in a way that would never make it past PETA-sensitive censors nowadays. Metaphorically, of course.
Another funny fact to end the post - one of my fellow Nut instructors, Gina, has a reputation as a hard grader. I am using her keyboard right now... and I notice that the F key is worn out. the rumors ring true.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Hey Homer, You Fell on Aerosmith
So just to maintain a semblance of a running diary here...
Ali, Beck and I went to Moe's to support the Tufts marathon team on Tuesday night. More accurately, I picked up Ali and then we grabbed Beck and then we went to Moe's. This info is mildly relevant because I had popped in The Grateful Dead's Live/Dead on the way home from work that day (after the aforementioned jazz lectures), so when I picked up Ali in her driveway, St. Stephen was playing. And Ali and I bopped heads and sang along to the quirky tune en route to picking up Beck. I don't think I've ever sung along to St. Stephen with anyone other than myself before; 'twas nice.
Though, according to a recent phone conversation I overheard, um, five minutes ago, Ali thinks I am "so nasty." Thanks, PGoat.
Moe's was awesome. For some reason we were all ravenously hungry. Unfortunately, a lot of other Tufts vet folk were eating there also in support of the running team, so Ali and Beck did not feel it right to rip them in the usual manner. D'oh. But we scarfed our burritos and the ladies had a beer and a frozen margarita, collectively. A British guy named Gareth sat with us for a while; I remain "in stun" that no one at the school has spent hours making The Office (UK) jokes at his expense. Anyways, great meal, fun times as usual. (And for the record, I did NOT almost kill Ali on the way home; she was being a back seat driver in the front seat. Phbbbbbt.).
Also of note - a couple of kids in front of me at the soda fountain were dicking around and taking their sweet time. I eventually got fed up and said, "Hey, andale guys!" I cannot decide whether this is because I am from San Antonio or if it was because I was swept up by the When in Rome qualities of the authentic Moe's experience. Let's see what my inner musical consciousness says...
Nyet's inner consciousness: I'm sorry, but I'm just trying to think of the right words to say. I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be. But if you wait around a while I'll make you fall for me. I promise, I promise you I will.
Okay, so it was obviously the Moe-bience that o'ertook me.
That was a fun night, but Beck got home late Wednesday so we just huddled up and watched Lost over an omelet and a pair of Lean Pockets.
And that more or less catches you up - I will try to do something dangerous and vibrant in the upcoming days to spice the nyetverse up...
In the meantime, a review... for you:
The Player: 74
Robert Altman made a hyper-smarmy movie about Hollywood elitism and the incredible shallowness of the scene. I enjoyed this film tremendously more than MASH, but it still rang hollow for me - the cameos and blending of the real / fantasy was all nicely done, but there was a little too much wink-wink fourth wall destruction for my tastes. Case in point: in a brilliant long shot, single cut, nicely orchestrated opening sequence, fraught with characters establishing a major theme of the film by name-dropping and paying homage to the greats of Hollywood's now distant past, Altman wrecks the ENTIRE effect by having characters "ironically" commenting about famous long shots from another film. The meta is too much: it's not clever, it's cheap, like a matter-of-fact hey ma no hands. Whoopi / Lovett's intentionally absurdist scene drowned in its own awkwardness, too - trying to establish a freaky dis-ease by referencing the king movie of freaky dis-ease did not flow and just made it seem like rent-a-mood. So that was a big turn-off. Fortunately, Tim Robbins portrayal of the enormously self-centered, soul-less but still neurotic and vulnerable "Player" was great. The style overall was tres cool and expertly executed; this film was a classic example for me of watching something that I didn't actively like but could recognize that it, in its own way, nailed its intended delivery.
Alright, Bedtime in Giraffetown. Here's hoping for an S.D. in the wintry mix morn'.
Ali, Beck and I went to Moe's to support the Tufts marathon team on Tuesday night. More accurately, I picked up Ali and then we grabbed Beck and then we went to Moe's. This info is mildly relevant because I had popped in The Grateful Dead's Live/Dead on the way home from work that day (after the aforementioned jazz lectures), so when I picked up Ali in her driveway, St. Stephen was playing. And Ali and I bopped heads and sang along to the quirky tune en route to picking up Beck. I don't think I've ever sung along to St. Stephen with anyone other than myself before; 'twas nice.
Though, according to a recent phone conversation I overheard, um, five minutes ago, Ali thinks I am "so nasty." Thanks, PGoat.
Moe's was awesome. For some reason we were all ravenously hungry. Unfortunately, a lot of other Tufts vet folk were eating there also in support of the running team, so Ali and Beck did not feel it right to rip them in the usual manner. D'oh. But we scarfed our burritos and the ladies had a beer and a frozen margarita, collectively. A British guy named Gareth sat with us for a while; I remain "in stun" that no one at the school has spent hours making The Office (UK) jokes at his expense. Anyways, great meal, fun times as usual. (And for the record, I did NOT almost kill Ali on the way home; she was being a back seat driver in the front seat. Phbbbbbt.).
Also of note - a couple of kids in front of me at the soda fountain were dicking around and taking their sweet time. I eventually got fed up and said, "Hey, andale guys!" I cannot decide whether this is because I am from San Antonio or if it was because I was swept up by the When in Rome qualities of the authentic Moe's experience. Let's see what my inner musical consciousness says...
Nyet's inner consciousness: I'm sorry, but I'm just trying to think of the right words to say. I know they don't sound the way I planned them to be. But if you wait around a while I'll make you fall for me. I promise, I promise you I will.
Okay, so it was obviously the Moe-bience that o'ertook me.
That was a fun night, but Beck got home late Wednesday so we just huddled up and watched Lost over an omelet and a pair of Lean Pockets.
And that more or less catches you up - I will try to do something dangerous and vibrant in the upcoming days to spice the nyetverse up...
In the meantime, a review... for you:
The Player: 74
Robert Altman made a hyper-smarmy movie about Hollywood elitism and the incredible shallowness of the scene. I enjoyed this film tremendously more than MASH, but it still rang hollow for me - the cameos and blending of the real / fantasy was all nicely done, but there was a little too much wink-wink fourth wall destruction for my tastes. Case in point: in a brilliant long shot, single cut, nicely orchestrated opening sequence, fraught with characters establishing a major theme of the film by name-dropping and paying homage to the greats of Hollywood's now distant past, Altman wrecks the ENTIRE effect by having characters "ironically" commenting about famous long shots from another film. The meta is too much: it's not clever, it's cheap, like a matter-of-fact hey ma no hands. Whoopi / Lovett's intentionally absurdist scene drowned in its own awkwardness, too - trying to establish a freaky dis-ease by referencing the king movie of freaky dis-ease did not flow and just made it seem like rent-a-mood. So that was a big turn-off. Fortunately, Tim Robbins portrayal of the enormously self-centered, soul-less but still neurotic and vulnerable "Player" was great. The style overall was tres cool and expertly executed; this film was a classic example for me of watching something that I didn't actively like but could recognize that it, in its own way, nailed its intended delivery.
Alright, Bedtime in Giraffetown. Here's hoping for an S.D. in the wintry mix morn'.
Five tidbits from the audio driven commute
I've been listening to a couple of books on CD on the drive to and from the Nut this week. The first one I listened to was a (really good) 8 lecture series on jazz from The Teaching Company entitled Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalk to Fusion. The review is coming soon, but for now, I just wanted to report this quite hilarious tidbit:
"Robert Frost once said that free verse [poetry] is like playing tennis without a net. Well, free jazz is like playing tennis without the net, without the court, and without the ball: all you're left with is the racket."
I then checked out Modern Scholar's Faith and Reason: The Philosophy of Religion by a Boston College professor named Peter Kreeft. I'm only a couple of discs in, and it's already provided some great jokes / quotes:
"When a philosopher dies and is given a choice between heaven and attending a lecture on heaven, he invariably chooses the lecture..."
"Only a schizophrenic or a hypocrite would believe one thing on Sunday and another on Monday..."
"Religion utilizes the world's oldest profession: advertising."
"If psychology has taught us nothing else, it is that we are good at deceiving ourselves..."
Good stuff. Another entry / maybe some reviews later...
"Robert Frost once said that free verse [poetry] is like playing tennis without a net. Well, free jazz is like playing tennis without the net, without the court, and without the ball: all you're left with is the racket."
I then checked out Modern Scholar's Faith and Reason: The Philosophy of Religion by a Boston College professor named Peter Kreeft. I'm only a couple of discs in, and it's already provided some great jokes / quotes:
"When a philosopher dies and is given a choice between heaven and attending a lecture on heaven, he invariably chooses the lecture..."
"Only a schizophrenic or a hypocrite would believe one thing on Sunday and another on Monday..."
"Religion utilizes the world's oldest profession: advertising."
"If psychology has taught us nothing else, it is that we are good at deceiving ourselves..."
Good stuff. Another entry / maybe some reviews later...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)