(identity 'myron)

Sat, 29 Apr 2006

LibraryThing [/books]

Here I was thinking I'd write this long post about the books I've read recently but then I stumbled on to LibraryThing. So screw all the typing for a blog entry, here's my bookshelf, at least as many books as I could think of without calling home to ask what's in my room in Vancouver too.... And on the side-panel to the left, what I've read recently or are reading now.

Incidentally, the order they're shown right now kind of shows how they're related too. The two books touching Plato's Republic are also the books that lead the way to it. By some strange coincidence I bought both books at the same time looking for something to read, neither related to the other at first, but it turns out they both open with a quote from the Republic and end with direct references to it too. Shit happens.

Oh and if there's any other José Saramago fans out there, I just noticed a sequel to Blindness is out, Seeing... which I'm on my way to pick up now :)

// posted at 13:21. permalink   comments

The Turangalîla Symphony [/music]

Funny thing, I went looking for new music to listen to and I stumbled on the Turangalîla Symphony. If a lightbulb just lit up in your head, yes, it's the symphony Futurama's Turanga Leela is named after. It features an instrument called the ondes martenot, AKA "that instrument" from the original Star Trek theme that sounds voice-like but not quite.

Anyway, the symphony itself is quite... interesting. At times it sounds East Asian and at others, out of this world, though it's supposed to center around more earthly themes of love and death. Some passages sound almost like orchestral palpitations or heaving and it's hard to imagine what this would look or sound like played live. Strange music indeed.

// posted at 08:27. permalink   comments