Author: Matthew Eilar

When I decided to maintain a personal weblog, I envisioned a space where I could post about things that I like, a place where I could publish thoughts that I would have to stand behind. Basically, what I wanted was a place to hone my writing skills and perhaps find an audience for my thoughts about things that I am interested in.

I have always been wary of the intersection between life and the internet, so I didn’t (and don’t) want this to be a personal journal, but it’s probably true that the majority of the people who regularly read this blog (and there are very few) probably know me in the meatspace. The fact is, whenever I pass on links or videos or things of that nature, there are a hundred other blogs doing the same thing better.

So, I’m looking for direction. I’ll be continuing to blog, but if you want to leave a comment, or send me an e-mail at meilar@gmail.com about what you’d like to see, I would appreciate the input.

I’ve made a few changes here. I’ve got a new header. Considering how recently I’ve started to play the organ, a picture of the pedalboard as the header is perhaps presumptuous, but I got tired of the canned header.

I got rid of all traces of the disastrous and annoying ‘LOLspeak Mondays’ (hopefully the last time I wholesale delete anything, but I was just embarrased by the whole thing) and I think I’m going to begin posting listening notes from the Minimalism class I’m taking this semester. It’s all good music, and some of it is lost in the arcana of those who study it.

It goes without saying (or maybe it doesn’t) that I am super busy with schoolwork at all times, but I also plan on resuming a more regular posting schedule. I will also take this opportunity to plug my RSS reader, Newsfire (OSX only, sorry). It’s clean, functional and makes it easy to group feeds.

Matthew Eilar

I know this video has been making the rounds on the internet; unfortunately once I stopped using Twitter I lost that connection to the meme-of-the-day. It’s the only thing I miss, and sometimes I don’t even miss that. Anyway, here’s an amazing cover of “My Favorite Things” from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music.

I can’t even begin to express how impressed I am (not that they care) with this cover. I love how they change the chord progressions entirely, but preserve the harmonic function. Also, the production value that they extract from a condenser mike, a camera and a laptop is impressive, and if anybody had any doubts about the democratizing potential of home recording studios, here’s proof that it is a positive thing for capital-m Music. Also, Nataly Dawn has a refined and enchanting beauty (not that it should matter, but I thought it was worth mentioning).