Two Things I've Been Doing, Two Things To Be Grateful For
Sorry to my readers for not checking in more often in recent weeks. My time has been occupied lately by 1) cleaning up my place and moving items to storage; 2) refining and submitting my latest science fiction story.
Today, I'll write about two unrelated things I'm grateful for.
1) Being despammed.
2) The album The Crane Wife by The Decemberists, which I'd recommend to just about anyone. I'd describe it, hopefully not misleadingly, as being something like what you'd get if you combined Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick with Smile by Brian Wilson. Enjoyable in its own right, Crane Wife will probably please and fascinate even those who have never heard the two albums mentioned above.
Prog-rock is a pretty good label for it, but--much like Tubular Bells, Dark Side Of The Moon, "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, or the more recent song "Knights Of Cydonia" by Muse--Crane Wife will appeal even to listeners who ordinarily don't like prog. (Turns out, I actually do like prog... but that's just me. Or, grammatically speaking, that's just I.)
Crane Wife is a great accomplishment both aesthetically and intellectually; it's enviable and amazing how well the words, music, and artwork complement each other. (Note: I bought the album from iTunes and it came with a PDF version of the CD booklet. Who says album art is dead... ?)
One caveat, though: this is not background music. You actually have to listen intently. Most of my favorite music fits that description, with the exception of Music For Airports by Brian Eno.
Science_Officer
Today, I'll write about two unrelated things I'm grateful for.
1) Being despammed.
2) The album The Crane Wife by The Decemberists, which I'd recommend to just about anyone. I'd describe it, hopefully not misleadingly, as being something like what you'd get if you combined Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick with Smile by Brian Wilson. Enjoyable in its own right, Crane Wife will probably please and fascinate even those who have never heard the two albums mentioned above.
Prog-rock is a pretty good label for it, but--much like Tubular Bells, Dark Side Of The Moon, "Tom Sawyer" by Rush, or the more recent song "Knights Of Cydonia" by Muse--Crane Wife will appeal even to listeners who ordinarily don't like prog. (Turns out, I actually do like prog... but that's just me. Or, grammatically speaking, that's just I.)
Crane Wife is a great accomplishment both aesthetically and intellectually; it's enviable and amazing how well the words, music, and artwork complement each other. (Note: I bought the album from iTunes and it came with a PDF version of the CD booklet. Who says album art is dead... ?)
One caveat, though: this is not background music. You actually have to listen intently. Most of my favorite music fits that description, with the exception of Music For Airports by Brian Eno.
Science_Officer