notes from underground

Character names:
Waltham Madak: Young, Debonair, Adventurous
Prosigonia Priety: Proper, Prudish, Scandalized

The most important people at any social event are the tailors and dressmakers. Discuss.

While there is still some hope that it will return, we are leaving (indeed, have already left) the age of the wristwatch. It’s a pity, really, and it has broader implications: no longer do we check our wrist to ascertain our own remote, mechanically determined personal time (a subtle movement, intensely familiar and understood to mean many things depending on context). These days, we check our cellphones, our blackberries, to see a digital readout linked in to a worldwide communication infrastructure through a device designed purely to link you to other people. The movement is more invasive–try looking at your wrist, and then for comparison drawing a cellphone our of your pocket or purse, and you’ll see that I’m right– and the social nature of the device is more dramatically limiting: you can’t turn off your network without turning off time itself.

Overly dramatic, but there you have it.

“I’m terrible at finding the right words for things. I’m sure Tolstoy would have been able to come up with exactly the right word.” - Haruki Murakami, in Sleep, from The Elephant Vanishes.

This, of course, is read in English after being translated from the Japanese, not to mention its being a statement in Japanese about a novel (Anna Karenina, as it turns out) written originally in Russian; it is a statement, moreover, that can only fully be understood by English readers if they have read the novel in translation from the Russian (as I have). Somehow, we all understand each other. I’m impressed.

I wonder sometimes whether the idea of concentrations at schools like Brown is counterproductive. We are told, quite reasonably, that we have to focus on one area of expertise. This makes sense, as there simply isn’t the time to do more. Most schools require a basic smattering of general education, then let you get down to the business of focusing on one thing. Brown decided that people would satisfy distribution requirements on their own, and that they should be allowed to guide their own path to either specialization or greater breadth of knowledge, however they saw fit. It’s their own future they are playing with, so chances are they’ll take responsibility for it and get a well-rounded education of their own making.

Well, for the most part it works. I only know a few people that focus narrowly on one thing, as most of them disperse out to many different fields, especially those who are interested (as I am) in those interesting liminal places in which different disciplines overlap. However, I for one feel pressed for time. We are reminded how short a time we have in college or university, barely four years. The suggestion is to get a good basis in everything, then go in for a specialized type of knowledge that, hopefully, you can apply to whatever you end up doing after graduation. The strongest effect I have noticed is that people scramble to learn all they can in those short years, to the extent that most of us overextend ourselves and try to do everything at once. The complaint I most often voice about school is that, because I am trying to do everything I can, while I still can, I don’t have time to finish any of it.

It’s an issue that can only be resolved at the personal level–it’s not like schools are going to shift to teaching one course, in depth, at a time–but it still bothers me. There has to be a way to allow myself the time to explore subjects to a satisfying degree, without self-defeatingly trying to do it all at once.

I’m still terrified of the schedule i have constructed for the next semester, and Dad’s still not happy with it. Some things never change.

Today– well, yesterday, to be fair, but the past 24 hours, give or take– has been an interestingly back-and-fourth kind of day. I woke up Friday and spent a few hours futzing around with my computer, setting up my new harddrive, moving files around, that kind of thing. Around lunchtime I gave a friend a call, and we went out for lunch at Roba Dolce on Thayer street. The service was veeeery slow, but when we finally did get our paninis they were quite tasty. Additionally, it was Free Gelato Friday, so once we bought the sandwiches we got small scoops of gelato or sorbet. We walked around for a few hours in the sun, then once I got back to my room I crashed and slept for another few hours. Bright sunlight always makes me sleepy if I stay out in it too long.

Once I woke up I went back to messing around on the computer, then wandered over to Katie’s to hang out for a bit. It was fun, but it’s still vaguely awkward trying to figure out exactly what my place is there, now that we’ve broken up. Wasn’t too awkward, though, and before I left I showed Suzanne Bunny and borrowed a weird Japanese zombies-with-guns movie from Simon. Anyone interested in watching it later this week? [he asked, as if anyone reads this ^_^]

Got a call from Jason Lee a bit later on, asking if I wanted to go see the midnight movie at the Avon on Thayer. Frankly I kind of didn’t, I was still tired, but it was by Chan-wook Park, the same Korean director who filmed Oldboy. I watched that film over winter break with Rachel and Megan, and it was the most disturbing and violent piece of beautiful cinematography I think I’ve ever seen, so the chance to see another movie from the same director’s “revenge trilogy” was exciting. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance had a VERY different feeling from Oldboy, more resolved and deliberate and less chaotic. I think I liked Oldboy more, after having a night to think on it, but there was one scene in Lady Vengeance that really tore something out inside of you. Less visceral, though, and the camerawork wasn’t quite as deleriously perfect as in Oldboy, at least to my untrained eye. Very fun movie anyway.

When we got out of the movie I walked back towards Young Orchard with Jason, Aleks and Patrick, before bidding them goodnight as they carried on to their apartments. It was already past two, but I couldn’t help working some more on my computer, then I watched The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine while I backed up my harddrive.

THAT was a fun contrast: From Lady Vengeance, to Yellow Submarine. I’d never seen it, so it was really fun– weird animation, but it worked for what it was.

After all that, computer work, lunch with a friend, napping, hanging out, bloody revenge drama, and Beatles madness, I finally managed to sleep. Entertaining day, in the extreme.

Well, we’ll see how well it works, but there is some hope that I have temporarily thwarted the comment spam on this blog. Leaving comments open on this post to test, feel free to comment, we’ll see how the filtering goes. (you don’t get to comment, Owen, after last time :-p ).

For anyone who’s interested, here’s the set list from the party I DJ’d tonight, in reverse order (last songs played are at the top– the times listed are when I first cue’d them up, not when I actually started putting them out through the speakers.)

Also for anyone who’s interested: Award for Best Song I Forgot to Play goes to Bomfunk MC’s for B-Boys and Flygirls. Maybe. There were a lot of contenders.

00:55 - Witch Hunter Robin Soundtrack - Robin
00:49 - Garbage - Milk (Massive Attack Mix)
00:45 - Daniel Belanger - Dans Un Spoutnik

00:42 - Röyksopp - Poor Leno
00:39 - Deep Dish - Say Hello (Rock Mix)
00:36 - DJ Fex - Indie Walk
00:32 - Radio 4 - Dance to the Underground (Prance Mix by The Faint)
00:30 - Placebo - English Summer Rain (Freelance Hellraiser Remix)

00:24 - Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby (Techno Remix)
00:22 - M.I.A. - 10 Dollar
00:18 - Lil John ft. Pit Bull - Culo
00:16 - Royksopp - What Else Is There (Trentemoeller Remix)
00:14 - Daft Punk - Around The World
00:11 - Fatboy Slim - In Heaven
00:09 - White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (Slide Remix)
00:05 - Placebo - Passive Agressive (Brothers in Rhythm mix)
00:02 - Afro-Celt Sound System - Whirl-Y-Reel (Beard and Sandals mix)
00:00 - Martyn Bennet - Chanter
23:54 - Dead or Alive - You Spind Me ‘Round 03 (Ultimix ‘98)
23:53 - Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch (12” Rollerblade Remix)
23:48 - Cassius - The Sound of Violence (Club Mix)
23:46 - Studio B - I See Girls (Tom Neville Radio Edit)
23:42 - The Drill - The Drill (Exclusive Edit)
23:40 - Sean Paul - Temperature
23:25 - David Guetta - The World is Mine

[Fire Poi Interlude]

23:18 - Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
23:15 - Daft Punk - One More Time
23:12 - David Guetta - Atomic Food

23:09 - Gorillaz - Dare
23:06 - Destinys Child - Soldier
23:01 - Placebo - Pure Morning (Howie B Remix)
22:58 - Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood.
22:56 - Bomfunk MC’s - Freestyler
22:49 - Katamari Fortissimo Damacy - Katamari on the Rock
22:46 - Rihanna - SOS (Rescue Me)
22:43 - Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc
22:40 - Crazy Frog - Axel F
22:38 - Josh Wink - Don’t Laugh

22:32 - Orbital - Initiation (Orbital Remix)
22:31 - Playback - Just ADJust
22:28 - Bran Van 3000 - More Shopping
22:23 - Lemon Demon - The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
22:20 - MC Chris - Fett’s Vette
22:18 - Sean Paul - We Be Burning
22:15 - Kelis - Milkshake
22:11 - Ciera feat Missy Elliot - 1 2 Step
22:08 - Gwen Stephani - Holler Back Girl
22:04 - Shakira - Hips Don’t Lie (Feat. Wyclef Jean)

22:01 - Scooter - How Much Is The Fish
21:57 - Culture Beat - Mr. Vain Recall
21:54 - Scooter - One (Always Hardcore)
21:51 - Scooter - Fuck The Millenium

21:47 - Boards of Canada - Iced Cooly
21:43 - Snake River Conspiracy - How Soon Is Now
21:40 - Dido - White Flag (Johnny Toobad Mix)
21:36 - B21 - Darshan
21:35 - Tarkan - Simarik
21:31 - Daddy Yankee - La Gasolina (Remix)
21:28 - Shakira - La Tortura (Reggaeton Remix)
21:27 - Scooter - Nessaja
21:22 - Scooter - Nessaja (Original Mix)
21:19 - Prodigy - Firestarter
21:16 - DJ Tiesto - Just Be (Antillas Radio Edit)
21:10 - DJ Tiesto - Adagio for Strings
21:03 - DJ Alligator Project - Blow My Whistle(Club)
20:59 - Scooter - Fire (Xtd Emergency Rmx)
20:55 - DJ Balloon - Technorocker (Warp Brothers Remix)
20:49 - 02 Three Drives - Greece 2000 (Tatana remix)
20:47 - Scooter - Faster Harder Scooter (Signum Remix)
20:45 - Voodoo & Serano - Slide To The Vibe
20:43 - Brooklyn Bounce - Loud & Proud

20:37 - The Killers - Somebody Told Me (Josh Harris Club Mix)
20:33 - O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei
20:31 - Scooter - Shake That
20:27 - Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song (The Dirty Funker Remix)
20:25 - Timo Maas - First Day (feat Brian Molko)
20:20 - Basement Jaxx - Do Your Thing (Jaxx Club Remix)
20:18 - Stardust - Music sounds better with you (Dimitri From Paris)
20:15 - NERD - Rock Star (Nevins Club Blaster Remix)
20:12 - Kill Hannah - Kennedy
20:10 - Jay Chou - Ren Zhe (Ninja)
20:08 - M.I.A. - Fire Fire
20:04 - Prodigy - Poison
20:01 - NERD - Lapdance (Paul Oakenfold Mix)
19:57 - Chris Brown feat. Bow Wow & JD - Run It (SoSoDef Remix)
19:51 - Chemical Brothers - Galvanize (feat Q-Tip)
19:48 - BT - Smartbomb
19:45 - Nobuo Uematsu - For the Reunion (Beatmixed with “Stripped”)
19:42 - Rammstein - Stripped (KMFDM Mix)
19:39 - Massive Attack - I Against I
19:36 - Fat Boy Slim - Weapon of Choice

Just got back from Ravinia, an outdoor music pavilion about 20 minutes north of where I live, where I saw a Blondie concert with my family. At least that’s what I’d been told I was going to see… Until last Wednesday I thought it was just Blondie, with some no-name opening act, and even when we got to the theater I assumed the new incarnation of ’80s band The Cars, now headed by Todd Rundgren, would open for Blondie, the big-name lead act.

Frankly, if Blondie had played second I doubt many people would have stayed.

She started playing right on time at 7:30, and although Kip stayed behind on the lawn to read his book I followed Mom and Dad into the pavilion. Dad has a thing for strong female vocalists–a few years ago we came to see Pat Benetar here–and this was really his treat, but Mom liked Blondie too and I followed more out of duty than anything else. Deborah Harry can still sing, but she hasn’t held up as well as singers in other bands I’ve seen, particularly Yes, who I saw in concert a number of years ago but still carried their show off with an amazing degree of musicianship. The band played good songs, but Blondie’s been around 30 years according to the Ravinia site for the show, and Deborah Harry has gotten kind of old (and is a little wider, perhaps, than she had been in the late ’70s). I went back out and spent the first half of the show on the lawn, reading my own book.

I didn’t go in for the start of the second act for The Cars, preferring to finish my chapter instead, but when I got up to walk around the lawn a little later on I kept drifting towards the pavilion. They were playing good songs (turns out I recognized more of The Cars’ music than I thought I would) and they sounded great, a little overmic’ed but very strong. When Kip and I figured the concert was dying down we packed up our blanket and chairs, then I went back to the pavilion while Kip finished his book. I missed my favorite song they played (don’t know the title), but the last few songs were great and their encore opened with “Just What I Needed,” a great song which I did know. Really fun.

The best part, I think, was the way the band looked… Todd Rundgren had what Mom described as a “Skunk Wig,” and the keyboardist was described by Rundgren quite accurately as a garden gnome. The backdrop, set and general atmosphere was very retro at times. I don’t know what it was like for the whole time, as I only saw the last segment of the show directly, but some of the music I heard while on the lawn felt a lot more epic and progressive too… they were all over the place, but despite being a bunch of old guys they managed to still be very cool, in a way Blondie couldn’t quite carry out. Very fun show.

Now, it’s sleep-time for Adams. G’night.

-A

Basic goals for the summer: Learn to Paint (through a Brown Summer Session painting course, VA131), teach myself the basics of Cinema 4D and maybe Blender, and finish a lot of books and video games.

Well, that all depends on the Summer Session office replying to me… The website claims confirmation emails go out in “Early May,” but it will be JUNE this week and I haven’t heard a peep from them. Whenever I email, they put me off with a “next week,” or, encouragingly, a “we’ll tell you tomorrow” reply that I received this morning. Well, if it’s tomorrow night and I haven’t heard, I’m gonna raise hell. It’s too late to change travel plans, frankly, so if they don’t have a dorm or an official class space for me I’m gonna sleep on a friend’s floor and show up to class anyway.

Hopefully this mini-rant is the first step in getting into a regular posting rhythm…. we’ll see.

fukusuke-pon 福助ぽん on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It has NOTHING to do with fireworks, class, or anything, but this bunny loves you.

(brought to my attention by cute overload)