The Long Winters

Dandelions are health-giving herbs, well respected by the wise for their virtues -- primarily, cleansing the liver, easing digestive troubles and supplying valuable minerals to the diet. The leaves, served raw, add a wonderful bitter counterpoint to lettuce, rocket and other salad greens. Cooked, th...

Before Nick Hornby's High Fidelity came out as a novel, a section of the first or second chapter was excerpted in Granta (the magazine that thinks it's a book!) under the title "To Laura, Age 14." It's an OK piece of writing, describing the narrator's various infatuations & close brushes with the fa...

This high coup might topple Princes Though lonely word rarely convinces Those who hardly feel oppressed; So cries of "foul" seem, well, obsessed -- (Though points are won by eloquences) Where one man's brief survey evinces Proof of tyranny, he winces, and counts his syllables, distressed (though met...

It's not the chorus, then the verses, then?

Except, perhaps, Ms Marni Rice. She's not happy, she's mysterious . A accordionist fatale. And Merlin, I would say that you too are the wind beneath my wings, except that would lead to an awful lot of wind, and quite possibly some damage to our feathers. I will, however, attest that if loving you is...

Were there spelling nerds when people used cuneiform? Yes. They were known as scribes , and held in rather more high regard than today's lexicographers & logophiles. However, their influence came at a rather high personal price: (from the above link) To meet this need there were a number of scribal...

meg wrote: Everything is performative, "performance" is just the part where we name it. Which I think is what grant said.

Yes, quite.

Doubly so for those whose existence is defined by a stage performance, yclept "indie rockers."

the problem with pianos/keyboards is simply that you have to sit down while playing. i think tha't why many people on keys look a little pissy by default. Au contraire ! Not all keyboardists sit: http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:sgax-zRMqDoC:www.daveedmunds.com/images/jerry.jpg . http://images...

You put the kibosh on a bounder? Good show!

Merlin wrote:God, these are all so much better than mine

Petrarchian, old fellow. The Japanese forms are all well and good, but they can leave you feeling a bit hungry after. Nothing like a European form to stick to the ribs.

'Twas in the twilit city streets, the anarchist and I Would often walk, the best to talk away from listening ear For in those times, the loose-lipp'd thought could loose the bonds of fear And surveillance trumped our common sense, with all this might imply. "When suspicion shackles trust," he cried,...

Actually, I've found it quite surprising, the sounds you can make with a simple Casio keyboard by simply running it through a pedal or two into a guitar amp (overdriven, with reverb). And then miking the amp.

Which is not to say that the famous cannot be sincere; some of those celebrated chappies are quite decent sorts once you get to know them properly.

But once you get to know them properly, you're not seeing 'em as famous, now, are you?

Not that the question was directed at me, but yes, yes, sincerity is mutually exclusive from fame on at least one level, because fame is performative and sincerity, presumably, is not.

Footlights and makeup, as opposed to making up over candlelight.

I have a little scrap of paper with "the plainest words are the finest" scotch-taped to my computer monitor. It gives me something to focus on when I'm having a slow-word day -- so as you can imagine, I was happy to have a moment to employ my adopted credo somewhere besides in my day-to-day writing...

This is the diary entry being discussed . On first read, that "coy vocals" line appears to be a bit (ho ho!) counter-revolutionary. But then, I would say that, as a fellow who has dedicated far too much effort to the ironic appropriation of pathos. I mean, if you're a ruddy post-modernist, what isn...

A long life with a bare modicum of vices, carefully selected and only indulged in moderation!

And what samples will you be feeding into the Nord Electro? Oh, wait a bit -- just looked at the site: http://www.clavia.se/nordelectro/ where it says: The organ in the Electro 2 is based on a digital simulation of the mechanical tone wheels of the B-3 organ. It offers a number of very innovative so...

The local radio broadcast of " Evenin' Jazz " uses, as its signature tune, one of the most unusual applications of the oboe I have ever heard: Yusuf Lateef playing a version of " In the Evening ." Quite something, that. French horns - lovely, distant, emotionally wrought instruments. Yes. I am all i...

Just been reading up on the Optigan. Splendid, stirring stuff. Optical sampling -- just lovely. Nonetheless... I'm wondering two things: First, how an Optigan might compare with other sampling instruments like the mellotron, in general character and timbre and what-not. Second, and most contentiousl...