A Good Story

"Divorce" by Madison Arent, Cornell University
Published in Rainy Day, v. XXXVII, No. 1 / Winter 2009

Dad left that night. He didn't even stay. He clutched his brown leather briefcase. Its brass locks twinkled once. The house was dark. His back. I watched it as it went down the hall until the hall curved and he disappeared. But not to his and Mom's room. To some other room in some other house. With his brass locks and the little numbers on the dials that unlocked the briefcase. It was hard and clean. It smelled lonely and important. It was a perfect rectangle. The handles were hard too. The leather was stitched with thick twine. I liked to spin the dials. They had neat little ridges. I liked to play with the brass locks. Flipping them open and shut. They would snap into place. They knew exactly what they were doing and what they were supposed to do.

Good, eh?

Wolf Parade - Grounds for Divorce (Apologies to the Queen Mary, 2005)

Huun-Huur-Tu

Huun-Huur-Tu, the throat singers of Tuva, hearken from southern Siberia. They practice xöömei, or throat singing, and "transform the sounds of the natural world into music through imitation," making "sonic 'maps' of physical landscapes:" mountains, grasslands, wind, water, and light.

According to their website, "Tuvan music is not abstract, like most Western music, but radically representational, the product of a cult of imitation that ties it to an animistic understanding of the world."

Hell yes!

Oh, yeah, and they can sing two notes at the same time (see second video).

P.S. And they have something to do with Doc Fowler-precursor and physicist Richard Feynman! Go figure!

BUY The Orphan's Lament

One of the better things I've ever seen/heard

Want to cry?

Indulge yourself in watching this video of opera diva Jessye Norman performing the aria "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" from Saint-Saëns's Samson et Delila at Avery Fisher Hall in 1994. In this aria, Delilah attempts to seduce Samson.

I don't understand, then, why she sings a song so beautiful that it would bring him to tears...

Rita Gorr, Jon Vickers, Etc.; Georges Prêtre: Opéra De Paris - Mon Coeur S'Ouvre À Ta Voix from Samson et Delila, first performed in 1877

BUY the definitive version of Samson et Delila

Stealing from Tyler Cowen: "Worry less about releasing terrorists"

As you may have noticed, I'm constantly linking to Tyler Cowen's top-notch economics/miscellany blog, Marginal Revolution. So I've decided to come clean and call my actions by their name: stealing from Tyler Cowen.

Here's a post Cowen wrote a week ago on why we should stop freaking out about releasing terrorists from prison:

The total population of terrorists ebbs and flows all the time. When the number goes up by one hundred, no one much notices. If the number goes up by one hundred because we release some previously identified terrorists, there is or will be a public outcry. But it's the same consequence.

Fewer terrorists are better than more terrorists, to be sure. But a terrorist we release is not obviously worse than a terrorist who was free in the first place.

We evaluate outcomes differently when we feel we are in control or should be in control. We should examine this intuition carefully, since it is not always justified.

We also treat an outcome differently when we feel it allows an enemy of ours to "get back at us." I suspect this difference in feeling is not usually justified and that it is the primary driver behind the fear of releasing terrorists.

I can think of "political theater" reasons why an attack from a released terrorist would be worse than an attack from an "already free" terrorist. Overall I do not yet feel that we are thinking about this issue rationally.

I personally find this brief essay calming. How about you?

Television - See No Evil (Marquee Moon, 1977)

Architecture in Helsinki - It's 5! (In Case We Die, 2005)

Monty Python - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (The Life of Brian, 1979 )

http://www.bunnypablo.blogspot.com

I stumbled upon Bunny's Yummies when, in a fit of narcissism, I googled my own blog. As it turns out, there exists a blog that goes by the URL: http://www.bunnypablo.blogspot.com. What a coincidence!

Bunny's Yummies is an Bloggie award-winning blog written by Bunny the baker aka Señor Pablo, and it is tremendously appetizing. About once a week, Bunny posts pictures of a delectable new pastry treat that you can ORDER (for realz). My favorite is last July's Sushi Birthday Cake. Mmmmmmm......

Some confectionery songs:

Serenaide - The Sweetest (The Other End of the Receiver, 2004/2005)

Vashti Bunyan - 17 Pink Sugar Elephants (A Pot By Any Other Name, 2001 (rec. 1966))

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey (Psychocandy, 1985)

New Electro Sufjan Stevens: ONE DAY ONLY!

The Dark Was The Night charity double album looks like it will be amazing. Each day, they are streaming one track from their star-studded playlist on Myspace.

Check out Sufjan's phenomenal contribution here.

The compilation, produced by Aaron and Bryce Dressner of The National, is set to come out on February 17th. According to the Myspace page, proceeds will benefit "the Red Hot Organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS."

Feast your ears!

Bunny's Got a Crush on: Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic is a new band from Brooklyn led by Luke Temple. Their music is undulating and percussive, with hypnotizing loops, clean guitar, and high vocals. Imagine Animal Collective meets Grizzly Bear, and you have Here We Go Magic.

I know, awesome, right?

Or, you could go for the description written by test pilots:

Here We Go Magic falls into the category of artsy-genre-defying-experimental-folk-rock-pop. It may sound a little atypical, but you all know what I'm talking about. The kind of music that would be made by Williamsburg hippie hipsters while floating in outer space. And if you don't, just listen...it's good.

So take a listen!

Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision

Here We Go Magic - I Just Want to See You Underwater

Here We Go Magic - Fangela

Here We Go Magic - Ahab