Jean Françaix was a French (approprately enough) neoclassical composer that lived through almost the entire 20th Century. L’Horloge de Flore is a suite for oboe and chamber orchestra, almost an oboe concerto in a different form. A floral clock is either a lansdscaping feature with a subterranean mechanics below a flower bed in the shape of a clock, or (as Françaix was inspired by) a bed in the shape of a clock that tells time based on the different times of the day that a flower blooms. Each movement of the suite takes its inspiration from one of these flowers.
I heard this on the radio as I was driving to the airport on Sunday. It pushes my musical buttons in all the right way; I really like the neoclassical technique of preserving the form and structure of traditional music while incorporating what were forbidden or alienating harmonies. I think it’s perfectly lovely, especially this first movement:
I. Galant du Jour (Poisonberry)
Author: Matthew Eilar
Just a dude with a stereo, a computer, and a brain.
Tuesday’s Top Tune – L’Horloge de Flore
Jean Françaix was a French (approprately enough) neoclassical composer that lived through almost the entire 20th Century. L’Horloge de Flore is a suite for oboe and chamber orchestra, almost an oboe concerto in a different form. A floral clock is either a lansdscaping feature with a subterranean mechanics below a flower bed in the shape of a clock, or (as Françaix was inspired by) a bed in the shape of a clock that tells time based on the different times of the day that a flower blooms. Each movement of the suite takes its inspiration from one of these flowers.
I heard this on the radio as I was driving to the airport on Sunday. It pushes my musical buttons in all the right way; I really like the neoclassical technique of preserving the form and structure of traditional music while incorporating what were forbidden or alienating harmonies. I think it’s perfectly lovely, especially this first movement:
I. Galant du Jour (Poisonberry)
Mad Men and Heroes
While I was on break last week, I had dinner with one of my former teachers and her husband, a graphics designer. They asked me what TV shows I keep up with, and I mentioned Mad Men. I had recommended it to them before and I thought it would be a natural fit for an art teacher and a graphics designer.
To my surprise, they said that they couldn’t get into the show. I thought perhaps that they gave up after a couple episodes, but they said no, they watched the whole first season. I asked what they found elusive about the show, and they agreed that there was no likable character, no hero. At the end of the season, they couldn’t get behind any of the characters, or care about what happened to them.
At some level, I think our difference of opinion comes down to differences in taste. I would agree that there is no “hero,” but I think that is because almost every character is the protagonist of the scenes they are in. Clearly Don is the focus of the show, and by screen time alone must be considered our protagonist, but at no time do Peggy, Joan, Betty, Pete, or even comedic characters like Roger or Ken lose independence to create a dramatic situation for Don to play against.
The more I thought about it, the more interesting I found the observation that there are no likable characters (whether that’s true or not). I’m pretty heavily invested in the series at this point, and at first I was surprised, because with very, very few exceptions (currently Dr. Rapist and Ugly Betty), I like every character. And that’s even more suprising. Don’s a bad philanderer (not that the activity is categorically wrong, but Don tends to have more destructive affairs than most), Roger is disgustingly sexist, everybody’s racist, most homophobic. Yet even with all of these very un-21st century attitudes, nobody is set apart as so bad that they’re a villain, or even an anti-hero.
I think that this is the thing that makes people so uncomfortable with race and, to a lesser extent, sexism and this show. We don’t get the psychological comfort of having a perfect Peter Fonda or Gregory Peck figure to stand in for us. We don’t even have a character that is so fundementally good that we can excuse their bad behavior. We just have people. People who are sometimes villains, sometimes heroes, and sometimes bad at both.
This is where my teacher and I diverge in opinion. Because of this impartiality, she can’t get into the show. I can’t get enough.
'Meh'st Week Ever – Fall Break Edition
I have grown attached to this weekly tradition, so I think I will continue to do it. Apologies to anybody that has seen all these before.
1. Visual Illusions from Scientific American
There’s a cool slideshow on the Scientific American website that shows some of the fruit of new research into how we process images. I’m sure most people have seen the standard optical illusions, but these all pertain to the way that we analyze faces. I can tell from my stats page that most people don’t actually click on the links, but I promise you that this is a fun way to spend 2.5-4 minutes of your time.
2. Every time you turn on the heat in Sweden, God kills a bunny.
Apparently the feral rabbit population in Sweden is so out of control that private contractors cull the rabbits then turn them into biofuel for home and commercial heating. The idea is so bizarre, not to mention squeamishly gross, that I would believe that it’s a hoax, but the reporting comes from Die Spiegel, an outfit with some credibility.
Thousands of stray rabbits in Sweden are being shot, frozen and then burned for heat. Stockholm even hires rabbit hunters for the task, like Tommy Tuvuynger, a modern day Elmer Fudd.
“We are shooting rabbits in Stockholm center, they are a very big problem,” he said. “Once culled, the rabbits are frozen and when we have enough; a contractor comes and takes them away.”
3. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking auto-tuned.
I actually heard about this on NPR before I saw the video. I figure if it’s broken into the mainstream, everybody has seen it, but in case you haven’t, here it is:
I think it’s a brilliant example of an art form (or at least an artistic technique) maturing. This is something beyond the novelty of auto-tune applied to an unusual source. I also find it affecting that Stephen Hawking, someone who only speaks through a computer today, has his real voice altered.
4. Organelle Hangeliers
Organelle, a Vancouver design firm, assembles these found-object chandeliers. I am delighted by them. I do wonder if they look as good in real life as they do in these fancy, controlled photographs, but I think they managed to make something genuinely beautiful out of an unexpected material.
(Via Core 77)
5. Talking Piano
It’s basically a physical vocoder. It’s awesome.
6. The American Symphony from Mr. Holland’s Opus
I saw that Mr. Holland’s Opus was available on Netflix, and attempted to watch it. I had forgotten what a sappy, cliché ridden piece of shit it is. It really frustrates me when I watch movies about music education, because they are always so saccharine and terrible. I’m trying to thing about movies that accurately portray the student-teacher relationship, and I’m coming up with precious few examples. Perhaps Shine when Helfgott is studying at the Royal College of Music.
Anyway, the absolute worst part of the movie is the gimmicky, trite ‘symphony’ that Mr. Holland’s students perform for him as he retires. It’s a more painful damnation of him than any funding decision ever could be.
In an example of Youtube commenting genius, user tzebra writes:
An amazing tribute to a unique nation, which for such a young age has accomplished, created, invented, freed, and inspired more than any other in history.
which is like the funniest thing I have ever read. Listen, I’m as patriotic as the next guy, but really. Pretension + absurd hyperbole = LOLZ.
‘Meh’st Week Ever – Fall Break Edition
I have grown attached to this weekly tradition, so I think I will continue to do it. Apologies to anybody that has seen all these before.
1. Visual Illusions from Scientific American
There’s a cool slideshow on the Scientific American website that shows some of the fruit of new research into how we process images. I’m sure most people have seen the standard optical illusions, but these all pertain to the way that we analyze faces. I can tell from my stats page that most people don’t actually click on the links, but I promise you that this is a fun way to spend 2.5-4 minutes of your time.
2. Every time you turn on the heat in Sweden, God kills a bunny.
Apparently the feral rabbit population in Sweden is so out of control that private contractors cull the rabbits then turn them into biofuel for home and commercial heating. The idea is so bizarre, not to mention squeamishly gross, that I would believe that it’s a hoax, but the reporting comes from Die Spiegel, an outfit with some credibility.
Thousands of stray rabbits in Sweden are being shot, frozen and then burned for heat. Stockholm even hires rabbit hunters for the task, like Tommy Tuvuynger, a modern day Elmer Fudd.
“We are shooting rabbits in Stockholm center, they are a very big problem,” he said. “Once culled, the rabbits are frozen and when we have enough; a contractor comes and takes them away.”
3. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking auto-tuned.
I actually heard about this on NPR before I saw the video. I figure if it’s broken into the mainstream, everybody has seen it, but in case you haven’t, here it is:
I think it’s a brilliant example of an art form (or at least an artistic technique) maturing. This is something beyond the novelty of auto-tune applied to an unusual source. I also find it affecting that Stephen Hawking, someone who only speaks through a computer today, has his real voice altered.
4. Organelle Hangeliers
Organelle, a Vancouver design firm, assembles these found-object chandeliers. I am delighted by them. I do wonder if they look as good in real life as they do in these fancy, controlled photographs, but I think they managed to make something genuinely beautiful out of an unexpected material.
(Via Core 77)
5. Talking Piano
It’s basically a physical vocoder. It’s awesome.
6. The American Symphony from Mr. Holland’s Opus
I saw that Mr. Holland’s Opus was available on Netflix, and attempted to watch it. I had forgotten what a sappy, cliché ridden piece of shit it is. It really frustrates me when I watch movies about music education, because they are always so saccharine and terrible. I’m trying to thing about movies that accurately portray the student-teacher relationship, and I’m coming up with precious few examples. Perhaps Shine when Helfgott is studying at the Royal College of Music.
Anyway, the absolute worst part of the movie is the gimmicky, trite ‘symphony’ that Mr. Holland’s students perform for him as he retires. It’s a more painful damnation of him than any funding decision ever could be.
In an example of Youtube commenting genius, user tzebra writes:
An amazing tribute to a unique nation, which for such a young age has accomplished, created, invented, freed, and inspired more than any other in history.
which is like the funniest thing I have ever read. Listen, I’m as patriotic as the next guy, but really. Pretension + absurd hyperbole = LOLZ.
hammer & jack 