Philosophy for today

Slow change is the only true change.

Ask her:

Philosophy for today

I think I'm going to be happy today, if only because I can't find a reason not to be.

Eleven down, none to go.

I'm an obsessive science fiction and fantasy reader. Mad I tell you. And the longer the series, the happier I am. That is, until I finish it.

This morning, I put to rest the eleventh book of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Eleventh and last.

Sadly.

I sure I look a bit like a heroin addict right now with the restless twitches and furtive glances over my shoulder.

I had the first five in paperback, and I read them 2 years back. The remaining where nowhere to be found I tell you! Then came the kindle with its awesomeness, back lit leather cover, online one click book downloads and a few weeks later, I knew what Richard Rahl had to do to rid the world of the sinful self righteous ways of the Order. This series really appealed to my feudal (I'm told) sense of morality and righteousness :)

Great series, other than Terry's annoying habit of repeating things oh-so-often. He couldve cut it down by a book or two.

Jeeebus!

*twiddle*

What to do? Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time finale (14th book it is y'all) should be out soon, and so far I'm quite enjoying Brandon Sanderson's prowess as he completes the resting-in-peace masters tale.

Any recommendations? I'm planning to reread the Foundation Series (Asimov)

The secret recipe to awesome music listening

Today, I'm going to tell you how I take a piece of music I don't particularly like, break it into components and thus appreciate its nuances (or pelvic thrusts, depends on the philosophical plane of the music)

First the recipe, then I'll explain why it works. (you still need a mildly discerning ear for this, or the ability to concentrate and focus)

The secret recipe to awesome music listening:

Ingredients:

a) 1 6' x 4' or larger sofa / bed with sufficient cushioning

b) 1 awesome set of comfortable headphones (Bose QC 2 for the haves) or a serenely quiet room with good speakers

c) Lightless-ness. a complete absence of light. Remember, we need to accommodate the vegans.

d) 30-40 minutes of time

e) A hi fidelity recording of the piece. Do try to avoid playing the track in question on youtube

f) A relaxed and positive demeanor. Remember, this can sometimes be frustrating.

Method:

Slip in the cd/lp or whatever medium the song is on and grab the remote. Try to use level equalization. Not too loud, but it should be all you hear and make sure that the bass or top isnt turned up too much, we need to hear everything clearly. 

Look at the eq in the picture. Its not a bad general setting for good speakers. Keeps the bass from booming and the high notes from becoming shrill. Also, most of the melodic sound is in the mid band, which gets a slight nudge.

Look around your room, remember where the tables are, because now you've got to turn off the lights and plop onto the sofa/bed. 

Play the track once. Listen to it like you would normally listen to music. (Im assuming I dont NEED to tell you to put on the headphones if thats your chosen medium of delivery, but hey, PUT THEM ON)

First repeat:

Here is where you need both patience and a decent ear. You have to listen to this track around 4-5 times. With every repeat, single out and listen to only one element at a time.

For example:

a) For the first enlightened listen, try to ignore everything but the drums and percussion. Concentrate. Really try to pick out every cymbal hit and ghost note. Do like Arjuna did with the bird and focus, ignoring everything else.

b) Next repeat, target the bass. figure out what the bloke is trying to do. Picture him playing his lines, on stage, alone, just for you

Depending on what you are listening to, pick out the instruments or sections (like the horn sections of a big band) and listen to them individually. Make sure you dont lose your focus.

Finally, after you've heard 5 different tracks played by entirely different instruments, all claiming to be the same, listen to the whole thing with completely open ears. I promise you, you'll hear a sound unlike anything you've heard from that particular song.

The Baniyas science:

The four essential components of music, the very basic, can be broken into Melody, Harmony, Rhythm and Bass.

What we essentially did, in this exercise is to isolate each and listen to them. Also, if there were several instruments playing different harmonies and melodies at the same time, we gave our ears time to identify them individually so that we can make some sense of them put together. Capiche?

My favorite way to look at a piece of music is to compare it to a painting. Since its easier to perceive minute differences with eyes (mostly due to the practice they get), there are some direct relationships between art and music that made a lot of sense to me. 

The melody, is like the the lines of a painting, defining form and structure and the basic tone of the piece. 

The harmony, is like the colors of the painting, that give it flavor. Changing the color/harmony can completely change the mood of a piece (of either art or music).

A good example to understand the aspect of melody is to listen to Bach's Cello suite no 1 in G major part 1: Praeludium. Its just a melody, but an extraordinarily beautiful one. Follow the recipe and listen to it! I've seen people buckle before the beauty of this song, people who you'd think would stab you if you exposed them to anything that can be construed as culture!

For harmony, the mass connect is easier. Listen to some songs from an album by Paul Anka called Rock Swings. He's basically rearranged some famous pop rock tunes. Which means, he's kept the melody and played around with the rest... the color. listen to them side by side with the originals and see the difference, and dont forget to use my recipe :)

Kinect, we art thy followers!

For over a month, Ive been trying to write a blog, and I've come to have a better understanding of why most books suck. It's hard to write something good and fun. Its harder to keep your (my) writing straightforward and simple. There's a little voice at the back of my head saying "put in a big word you barely know the meaning of here, and here, and here". Nope, sorry, that doesn't work.

Then some gadgety goodness happened, and thats something I always have something to say about :)

First up, its the Kinect:

The Kinect looks pretty damn cool. And if you've seen terminator, its going to give you all sorts of SKYNET nightmares.

But its just so cool!

Microsoft has done what Nintendo started and tried so very hard to do, ie take the electronic interface to a whole new level. They did something amazing when they launched the Surface too, but its not really a game changer if the average middle class Joe-ginder cant/ will never be able to afford it.

So, for a grand package of Rs 10k, I can make like Tom Cruise and play Minority Report in my house.

Didn't I say it was cool?

And it isn't a toy. Its bloody sophisticated. It very accurately mimics body movement. Some crazy people hacked the Kinect and released open source drivers to use the sensor with a pc. You wont feel like a god till you can close a pc window by clapping your hands!

I got to field test it on day 2. I had about 20 people over, comprising of around 15 singers (between 17-29, from Shillong, and with impeccable manners) and the rest were adults including a very talented pianist with a pretty good classical repertoire all stored in his head (no sheet music for any of the pieces I heard him play, classical or pop), Neil Nongkynrih. It took the all mighty Kinect 10 minutes to break ice and turn the slightly serious and formal gathering to an eight hour long party. Obviously, it wasn't all because of the Kinect, I'd like to give my charming personality some of the credit here :)

On to Numero Dos, the Amazon Kindle:

The Kindle (a recent acquisition) is a joy to read. I had been planning to choose between the Kindle and the Indian designed Adam, and, for now, the Kindle won (I still intend to get the Adam at some point, mostly because it has a whole different forte too)

The Kindle is awesomely compact to carry around. Yes, you tend to need to turn pages more oft, if you, like me, prefer a nice large font. But its as easy to snug with in bed as a book.

Im currently reading Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series on it. I started reading this series many years ago, but had to stop as the second half set of books weren't available here, in India. Now, I'm in heaven

Now all I want for Christmas is a fireplace!

So whats YOUR problem then?

People are stupid. And I'm not excluding myself.

Why cant people let go of the things they've been holding onto longer than the things they ask others to let go off, which the latter cling to only because the former are holding onto their things in the first place. HA 41 words in a sentence. An editors nightmare, I'm told. That's a little bomb I've left for my girlfriend, with whom I'm currently pissed, to come across when I finally give her this blog's link. Much like the lingering, un-discernible, strangely floral smell in Delhi's air early winter. Shes a journo and has OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder. Seriously, I dare you to mispronounce a word in front of her. And I still chase her, I feel like a lost little boy if I don't have the hem of her skirt to hold. Talk about self destructive.

Sigh

This is one time when getting it out of my system didn't help. So I'll cut the post short (edit: that didn't happen once I decided to include some Ruben magic in the post), and maybe finish some of the many I started in the last few weeks, only to abandon,  like the majestic notes of Ruben Gonzalez's playing do to your ear, as they fade after making oh so sweet love to your mind. So depress.

Nice guys most definitely finish last, if I can so presumptuous as to call myself that.

Please listen to this. Keep the lights dim and your heart light. Beauty thou hath a sound. Emotive music at its finest.

And this is just about as beautiful as it gets. Even if you don't like the tune, though theres nothing not to like, its the color of the piano tone that overwhelms the senses, imperfect though the reproduction in the old recording is.

Many people think playing a piano is hitting some keys and getting a sound. Little do they realize how the pianist hits those keys, ie the mechanics of his touch, completely change the sound of a piano. 

Think of a golfers swing, the mechanics. The level and relaxed positioning of the shoulders, waist, knees, legs, arms, elbows. The flow of the club as you move it back and forth, how you pivot at the waist, thinking about every tiny detail the instructor told you, and you grandly duff the ball. Once, twice, a thousand times. Then, all the conscious thought disappears, all the mechanics become sub conscious, and only the fluidness of your body is in your mind. Thats when you hit the 320 yarder. Thats when you produce that sweet and harmonious sound from your piano, the little inflections in the hand, arm and shoulder become sub conscious, and you suddenly begin to use gravity rather than force the keys. Its a quest. The nuances of which elude even the most seasoned pianists, who care only about speed and virtuosity. True virtuosity implies perfection in every aspect. And I'll get it someday, peacefully, when I've stopped caring how long it'll take. And I keep playing that one note in the middle of the keyboard, patiently, coaxing the sound to come out.

//For pianists: Ive tried many schools of techniques, but I've found the Barbara Lister Sink method and Seymour Fink manual to, together, be simple, complete and fun. The much toted Taubman approach is too painful to ever be able to enjoy playing the instrument after those grueling 20 hours of lectures, but hey, if you want to be a concert pianist, go ahead. I have tried others. But the main key is the simple motion that Lister Sink stresses on. Listen to her sound! But these are only guides, everybody's body is, after all, different//

Thank you *all* (with a grand readership of one at the time of writing this) for tuning in.

Au revoir 

Remembering Buffy

This I like. Every once in a while, you come across something that triggers an instant flashback.

Introducing the Emergency Bra

So this is a new product on the market, a bra that doubles up as two filtered masks. That opens up a whole world of imagination for us closet perverts. They can really rake in the money selling an exclusive line thats been pre-worn by hot celebs, specially the bustier ones, to men and lesbians!

Question time - After its been gently supporting whose ta-tas would you like there to be an emergency so you can be sniggering under the E bra? (Is that sentence structured okay? Grammar nazis?)

Well, first, I thought my girlfriend. Then I thought what sort of loser fantasizes about the woman he anyway can see naked? (blame trashy, stereotype promoting american comedies for that line of thought)

Then, magic happened. Sarah Michelle Gellar. The first name that popped into my mind. And it hasn't for a while now, mostly because she's been of the radar and one's usually to busy to reminisce. And its not like she has the most impressive rack, but, shes Buffy.

Oh the 7 years spent, religiously watching Buffy. Ive seen every episode. I have the DVD box sets. If nothing else works, my gravestone will read "died at 60 waiting for SMG to comeback for one last season of Buffy"

Then I spent a few hours recalling some favorite scenes, both on and off the screen. For example, when 2 friends turned up unannounced on a "Buffy night" while I was deeply engrossed in tv viewing ecstasy, I actually threw them out of the house. ITS-BUFFY-NIGHT-YOU-FUCKING-RETARDS. Needless to say, I wasn't one of the popular school kids.

Who else, which other pretty lady from the decade before this one did I think of? Well, Liv Tyler for one. I once told an acquaintance with whom I was friendly, and who (apparently) came out of the closet while studying at Browns, that I thought she was one of the most gorgeous women ever. And imagine that coming from Steven Tylers seed! Are we sure Mrs Tyler wasn't humoring the milkman?

I miss the good old days sometimes. The ones before sex was a tangible, known item. Our imaginations were definitely in much better shape then. They definitely got exercised a lot more.

Anyway, I plan to spend my free time over the next 2 weeks re-watching the much loved Whedon series. My girlfriends going out of town and left alone, I'm a total geek :)