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If you are not a fan of opera, give this a quick listen anyway. I saw the movie “Life is Beautiful” again a few days ago, which if you have never seen… do yourself a favor… watch it!  I had the privilege of seeing it (captioned) in the theater when it was released, and it is a very moving story.  It won an oscar, and unlike most oscar winners… I thoroughly agreed.

Anyway, there is an aria from an opera they used as a theme in the movie, which was very appropriately chosen, and well used.  I had to go find it, and now I share it with you.  What a piece!

It’s the aria Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour from the opera Les Contes D’Hoffman and is composed by Jacques Offenbach. It’s clearly the most celebrated aria in the opera, and you should agree it’s worth the honor.  The main part is sung by Beverly Sills, (who, sadly, died last year) and she rocks it… despite having a higher pitched voice than other performances I have heard.  I kindof like this song with a deeper voice.

The intro is pretty quiet to begin with… give it time to get going…

Listen, and be moved unless your soul be hewn from stone.

I told you I’d “branch out” 

For me, reading his short story, The Last Question proves that Isaac Asimov was brilliant. His work is not tarnished by his dated references of nuclear power and vacuum tubes. In fact, it often contains numerous prophetic scientific constructs that he extrapolates from the technology that existed at the time of his writings. e.g. he conceieved of the microprocessor (calling them “molecular valves”) in a time when the transistor had just been invented, and computers were still largely vacuum-tube monoliths.

But he was more than just a linguist and prophet of technology… spend a few minutes, and read this story, and it might make you appreciate him a bit more. I know it did for me.

The Last Question

Wow this is very very cool.

Been way busy lately. Getting buried! AND I had my first bona-fide internet attack yesterday, bringing my service down for almost an hour. Wasn’t specifically directed at me, but some chinese schmuck attacked my block of IP’s for some reason, and killed my firewall. Got it sorted out, but it was my first real outage of my service. Phooey.

I had to post as I just found a band that I really like. Back in the day, I played a cool game called Mafia, which is based on the Grand Theft Auto engine, and was a really fun game. But the best part about the game was the soundtrack, imho. Google it. Many people agree. And the music of that soundtrack was provided by recordings of a “Gypsy Jazz” legend named Django Renhardt (pictured at right). Gotta love that little chevron moustache.

So this guy was a gypsy who pretty much invented a form of Jazz, and is largely considered to be the only form of Jazz that doesn’t have its roots in the USA. It’s an amazing guitar style, that is just enchanting, really. And this guy did it with his two little fingers gimpy, and useless. So he fretted with two fingers and a thumb. Seriously, listen to a track of his (I recommend “Minor Swing”, or “Limehouse Blues” - they give me goosebumps). Anyway, the guy was pure magic, and has an interesting back-story too.

So I found this new band that has adopted his style of music, and they do an admirable job! Check out The Cook Trio. They have apparently mastered this form of music, and I enjoy them every bit as much as good ‘ol Django. If you like any form of Jazz/Swing, you will like these guys.

It’s great for playing while you work too…

I stumbled upon this last night, and had to share it. But I won’t be too harsh on Ms. Rowling, as I firmly believe that every idea has been thought of. Artistically speaking, our species is now reduced to rehashing shit that’s been done at least once or twice before, even if we don’t know it. Just when you think that you have just conceived the greatest idea ever conceived… you find that some crusty fuck conceived it 64 years ago, and shit all over it.

I once literally shit my initials into my toilet bowl (we’re talking random freehand here, no wet toilet-paper dangling rearrangement), and was completely thrilled, thinking I had finally joined two concepts that had never before been joined, and made great art in the process. But I was soon to discover that there was already a site dedicated to my art, and there were almost 40 reports involving poop and someone initials. Jesus.

So what if Voldemort is Darth Vader and Harry Potter is Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia is Hermione Granger? (remind me to update this post next year with an off-color joke about a fantasy three-way) Capitalists rejoice! The bar has thus been lowered! Stop looking for something unique! Just grab a history book and thumb around until you find something that was both cool, and made somebody rich. Chances are you can make a mint taking their innovation calling it your own like so many people are doing today.