Inspired simultaneously and erratically by the blog thoughts of both Stanley Lee and Ned Rorem.

Jan 30, 2003

I smoked a grand total of 37 cigarettes today. Maybe I really am turning into one of those stereotypical, frazzled-out, coffee-drinking, babble-talking artists that I've always thought of. My lungs hurt. I'm going to sleep.

Jan 29, 2003

Good Forward from Jeff:

jm2cal: The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends.
I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time.
What do you get at the end of it? A death. What's that, a bonus?
I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first,
get it out of the way.

jm2cal: Then you live in an old age home.
You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch,
you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough
to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party,
you get ready for high school. You go to grade school,
you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities,
you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you
spend your last nine months floating...you finish off as
an orgasm.
Lifted from a progressive Yale leaflet:

"It is the country's fourth poorest city, where the ghetto laps at the walls of a university worth $11 billion in tax-exempt endowments, educating America's next generation of rulers...Students have been given special maps, and advice not to venture past the CITGO gas station, where the ghetto begins. Houses are boarded up and gas stations take cash only - payable up front - and have bullet proof glass and bars at the pay point. Yale is exempt from paying city taxes, except on commercial property it owns. But a consortium of community groups asked the university to donate a single day's interest on its invested endowment - that's $5.2 million - to the city's public schools. So far, no response...."

Fuck Yale.
Congratulations to my homeboy Eugene, on his recent acceptance to Washington University Medical School - ranked No. 3 in the nation.

Jan 28, 2003

"Without music, life would be a mistake."
-Friedrich Nietzsche

Gigi's away message:
i am currently away from my computer because i am playing a cello game that takes up my whole life.
I've been painfully busy lately. I can't think straight anymore.

....counting the days til Copenhagen.

Jan 23, 2003

More to follow....

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/01/22/fraternity.brawl.ap/index.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/01/22/state1645EST0121.DTL
Just a bit of weather news: It's colder in New Haven right now than it is in Moscow, Alaska, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland. -1 F. That's fucked up.

Jan 22, 2003

Sorry, guys. I've been busy lately.

peterlsb (12:59:38 AM): carlos, i think music is negative affecting our relationship
peterlsb (1:07:01 AM): all you do is check my blog, but we never talk anymore. i feel used.

Jan 21, 2003

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans are suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you." -Rita Mae Brown

"If you cannot read this, please ask the flight attendant for assistance."
-United Airlines Flight Safety Brochure

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life." -Brooke Shields

Thanks, Gigi.

Jan 20, 2003

Five-dollar reference:

Her: If I told you, "don't think of the color red", what would you automatically think of?
Him: Sex
For all you nerdy pianists out there. If you find this funny, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

A broke and failed pianist who had just recently hit rock bottom, in his ultimate desperation, decided to try out for a position at the circus. The circus manager told him that, unfortunately, there was no need for a pianist but that if he put on a bear costume and walked the tight-rope - he would have a job. In his pathetic desperation, he accepted.
On his first day of the job, the circus manager told him not to be nervous, and above all - don't look down. Alas, he could not help it, and in looking down, he fell four stories down, directly into a den of lions. Unhurt yet scared out of his mind, he cowered into a corner as the lions approached him hungrily. At the last moment, suddenly all the lions took off their masks and the men underneath the masks replied, "oh don't worry. We're all pianists too."

Jan 19, 2003

It's been a long time since I've been so infuriated for an actually-inspired emotional cause.

Tonight, I saw the New Haven police point a gun at the temple of a homeless man sleeping in the streets (for what reason, I don't know).

Consequently, this came only moments after I had read an article stating that there have been 4 deaths in the past two weeks of homeless people as a result of hypothermia.

Even as a grown man, sometimes - I could still cry.

Jan 17, 2003

Lately, I have been at the piano non-stop - please excuse the dryness of this blog for the time being. I have a shitload of work to do.

Jan 16, 2003

Check out Stan's new ride yo:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1874867868
We've finally hit rock bottom with Bush:

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_AFFIRMATIVE_ACTION?SITE=CATOR&SECTION=HOME

Jan 15, 2003

Congratulations to my old, long-lost homeboy, Lynz Floren, on his recent engagement. Best wishes, bro. Always remember the old times!
Taken from Stan's blog:
will everybody on the internet who has noticed that more and more girl blogs are being used to complain about how crude guys are, please IM me with a "werd"? i aint misogynistic, but damn girls can be fucking bitchy.

"Hahaha... you know I'm jus' playin' ladies, you know I love you." - Eminem (Kill You)

Being at Yale, I had almost forgotten what it was like to hear an in-tune violinist. Thank you, Wayne, for this refreshingly nostalgic run-through of the Bernstein Serenade.
Happy Birthday and rest in peace, Sean Sanderson. Memories are a reminscent anchor to younger days.

Jan 14, 2003

Perhaps this is the real reason classical music isn't popular in the massive public. On a sidenote, Ebert has my ultimate respect, as always.

The restored Director's Cut of "Amadeus" opens Friday at the Landmark Century, and is in revival around the country. The one brief scene of Constanze's breasts, in medium-long shot, has inspired the flywheels at the MPAA to re-rate the movie R from its original PG. Thus high school students are discouraged from seeing this movie. Our rating system is held hostage by sick crypto-moralists. Surely PG-13 would have been adequate to advise parents of this scene, while acknowledging that anyone over 13 in America who is alarmed by the simple sight of a woman's breasts is in need of counseling (I include our attorney general).

-Roger Ebert

Jan 13, 2003

The death penalty is evil and racist. Props to Republican Governor Ryan of Illinois. Yes, you read that right. Republican.
Playlist, to be accomplished before March 1st.

Bach - Chromatic Fantasie and Fugue
Beethoven - Piano Sonata Op. 111
Schubert - Fantasy in f minor, for Four Hands
Brahms - Ballades, Op. 10
Prokofieff - Piano Concerto No. 2
Gershwin/Wild - Grand Fantasy on Porgy and Bess
Gershwin/Wild - Embraceable You Etude
Bolcolm - Graceful Ghost Rag
Gould - Boogie Woogie Etude
Cheung - Live Ear Emission!
Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time

Jan 12, 2003

Classical musicians should never be allowed to rap. This is a change from my earlier belief - but Ken forced it on me.

KenPlaysViola: lang lang gettin' no bang bang from the fone that neva rang rang
KenPlaysViola: you like my rap?
As a follow up to the last post: Think about a world for a minute where technique is no longer an issue. A musical eutopia (ala Marx). Finally people stop bickering over notes and fingers and get down to what's important: the music.
On the issue of splicing/editing for recording musicians: Musician or not - please respond with comments. Which opinion do you carry....

A) The Glenn Gould mentality profesionally molded into the politicism of Malcolm X: Artistic perfection by any means necessary, even in the case where it might imply and even necessitate a certain amount of sacrificial integrity. In short, the mentality revolves around the following premise. Artistic perfection is an impossible dream, but to strive for it is a perpetual necessity, so why should I ignore the technical unlimitation that can help me take a step forward? Integrity is a small price to pay for near-perfection; at least certainly on a technical level.

B) The Heifetz/Rubinstein way mentality. Art and music are man-made creations which, hence, are and should be limited by the stench of man's limitations, if not only for the sake of integrity. Integrity is not only a fundamental basis for art and music, it is an implicit inclusion in the very meaning of the word! To ignore it or compromise it would be diminishing your character as a musician - your artistic self would be an artificial joke. Something unreal - only possible with high-tech technology. What if somebody asks you to play what you recorded? To not be able to do it is hideously disgusting and humorous. You make me want to swallow my own vomit.

C) Splicing isn't sacrificing integrity. (wtf?)

D) You're dumb.

Jan 11, 2003

There is a new best blog out there which is not receiving the hits it deserves. Intelligently written, informatively provocative, democratically biased, and very cool - please visit this page. You will feel more educated after you do.

http://peterlsb.blogspot.com
I just finished Red Dragon - definitely one of the most suspenseful movies I've seen in years. My mom likes to rub it in.

CA r LOCO 6 9: i'm going to take a shit
CA r LOCO 6 9: but anthony hopkins might be in the bathroom
charcoalj: he is waiting in the bathroom stall
charcoalj: muahahahhahah

Jan 10, 2003

For those who believe that blogging is for the narcissistic and confidence-lacking aZn gurl - welcome to the renowned New York Times of blogging: (Thank you Pete for the respect that blogging deserves). The second blog, for the informationally curious, is written by the chair of the Political Economy of Industrial Societies department at UC Berkeley. The third blog, for the exceptionally curious, is by the Governor of Vermont and presidential contender, Howard Dean. BLOGGING NOW HAS STREET CREDIT.

www.instapundit.com

http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/

http://www.dean2004.blogspot.com/
Tyler, the genius that he is, has found a perfect way to rack up hits.

Waaaayne: i need to rack up hits!
Waaaayne: that's my REAL goal in life
Waaaayne: rack up hits on my website
T MuZiKnerd: you'll get plenty of hits
T MuZiKnerd: just put links to asian porno sites
T MuZiKnerd: and to some stuff you've recorded
T MuZiKnerd: then if someone looks up like 'azn xxx bartok'
T MuZiKnerd: on google, you'll be the only site listed
I love fobs.

chink15 (7:44:35 PM): have you had main garden yet?
chink15 (7:44:38 PM): ultimate ghetto
CA r LOCO 6 9 (7:44:41 PM): at least 4 times a week
chink15 (7:44:44 PM): nice
chink15 (7:44:52 PM): we used to get that every nite
CA r LOCO 6 9 (7:44:55 PM): plus they're so fob, it reminds me of california
chink15 (7:45:03 PM): YOU OH-DUH CHINESE FOO
CA r LOCO 6 9 (7:45:13 PM): COME DOWN-STEH!
chink15 (7:45:24 PM): WE A WAIT FO YOU OW SIDEAH

Jan 9, 2003

If you never knew HT and Amir from Berkeley, you missed out. These were truly the most RANDOM fools ever to walk the campus. They'd devise quick ridiculous money schemes, shoot pellet guns on our backyard, drive our neighbors off the wall, start shit with Berkeley police, and more than anything, they would talk, talk, talk, talk talk talk talk talk. It's hard to put any real words to describe these two - they were truly just the weirdest people to walk the Berkeley campus, and they lived in our house for an entire summer until we had to kick them out. But it was a trip. Now please welcome DJ Stan the Man:

am i striking a disturbance? hold on, lemme call for backup
HT and amir are coming to fuck your track up
the names that spell fear, in all of berkeleys years
aint nobody more random enough to call cops on his own peers
and sleep with the balls hanging out, snoring with nuts swingin about
had to kick that fool the fuck out, for DTS's bullshit clout
and HTs bullshit mouth, that wouldnt stop to spout
lyrical nonsense, incense, trance dance, ascendance


(ran out of words to rhyme on the last line)

An excerpt of an essay written by my 15-year old sister:

Zehara means a myriad of things. Introverted at times, extroverted at others. Mood switches, unsent letters and the glass is half empty. It means a conscious decision to always be undecided. Laughing while crying, running in the rain and singing off key. Spending too much time worrying about living and not enough time breathing. It means being scared of ordinary. Zehara means running full speed away from routine. It means bittersweet, sanguine and entropic. Zehara is the anchor that holds me to reality.

Jan 8, 2003

I'm back now. Thrown unwillingly from a paradise of palpitating-everythingness, back into a hellish jet-lagged reality of requirement and cynic responsibilty where everything has been kept painstaikingly au courant (word of the day) - including, apparently, my financial aid. Already, the dawn of stress and gloom of post-holiday anxiety have consumed me, and at the moment, rather than work, I would sooner castrate a dog (phrase of the day, courtesy of Geoff).

Please watch Bowling for Columbine if you haven't already. Amazing how Michael Moore could gain so much popularity off a documentary (documentaries are boring) about handguns in the United States. Then again, Best in Show got popular off the premise of a mockumentary on a national dog show. What's next? Both movies kick the shit out of whatever movie you happen to think is 'most badass'.

I'm back from Europe and nothing has changed in 3 weeks. Should anything have? Justin Timberlake is still singing, Bush is still bombing another third-world country the name of which I cannot pronounce (-Michael Moore), it's still colder than a witch's vagina, and Avril Lavigne is still alive.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Jan 7, 2003

My resume of rumbles and public displays of anger has officially now extended overseas; I have gone international (with a Tube worker, no less). At least I now have stories on how London police are a bunch of vaginas. (And I wasn't charged or arrested this time either. Score.)

Jan 6, 2003

If you haven't already, please take the time to read Stan's Japanese Microcosm analysis of cultural shock.

http://leemur.blogspot.com

Jan 4, 2003

In a few days, I'll be forcefully removed from paradise - thrown once again into hell. Otherwise known as New Haven.

On a happier note, it's snowing like mad in Paris right now.

Blog Archive

Followers