Loreena McKennitt, the Solar Decathlon, jdramas, BBC's 'Five Days' & Radiohead
First: a belated happy birthday to miyamiaki! I hope it was a wonderful, wonderful day, and that all good things come your way in the year ahead. *hugs*
It's only taken me 3 days to finish writing this post. I also apologize to everyone for not answering comments to previous posts: replies are coming!
oo1. Loreena McKennitt I went to see Loreena at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore on Friday (with N, icajoleu & JA), and it was an incredible performance. For starters, the Lyric was MUCH smaller than I'd anticipated, and I was so, SO glad that our foursome had sprung for more expensive orchestra-level seats. Row P was closer than I'd expected, and it was a huge improvement over our very good first tier seats at DAR Constitution Hall back in the spring. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant before and unfortunately, just as we were leaving to walk the two blocks to the Lyric, a driving rainstorm decided to pound us, so we all ended up with wet feet and legs: umbrellas and raincoats were no match for the high winds and pouring rain.
BUT NO MATTER. The performance was so fantabulous! Loreena was relaxed and chatty, and the concert was just the most wonderful thing. Do you know how sometimes you get so happy that you smile until your face hurts? Well, that was me, Friday night. Especially during "The Bonnie Swans" (my fave LM song), which kicked ass, and also during "The Old Ways" and "Santiago," to name a few. The band was so tight, and once again, I was completely bowled over by her unbelievably talented musicians - she calls them her "idling Porsches" and it's a true phrase: each of them is so spectacularly good that to see all of them assembled and performing these complicated melodies and rhythms together without missing a beat or dropping a note is truly mind-boggling.
Needless to say, I have been listening to a lot of Loreena lately, and thinking fondly of that show. I feel fortunate that I got to see her on both legs of this tour because FSM only knows when she'll tour again.
oo2. THE SOLAR DECATHLON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the coolest thing. If you don't know what it is: The Solar Decathlon joins 20 college and university teams in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house."
Saturday, 20 October, was the last day of the Decathlon, and so we made time to go into DC, because I absolutely didn't want to miss it. It was wonderful. All the houses were so neat, and of all the ones I was able to see inside (there were lines for all the houses!), they were all beautiful living spaces: very warm and inviting. This event proves that solar living isn't the stuff of science fiction: we have the technology and design skill right now to do great things. If you have even the tiniest interest, I encourage you to click the links and look at some of the homes these student teams assembled. I really can't wait until developers get a clue and start incorporating solar technology into apartment/condo developments and other commercial properties, especially in urban areas.
oo3. TeeVee!
1. I finished watching Hanazakari no Kimitachi e! I must reiterate my admiration of Ikuta Toma. He was the main reason I finished watching because he was just that delightful, and I'm going to miss his Nakatsu. And yes, I admit, I did laugh a lot and get rather teary during the final episode. I'm a sucker for emotional manipulation. ;)
2. I watched all five episodes of BBC/HBO miniseries Five Days, and I loved it. If you like well-written murder mysteries that explore unfolding character dynamics, this is a very good drama. And if you love David Oyelowo (some of you may know him from Spooks/MI:5), he does a terrific job as one of the leads. The NYT did a very nice review of it here.
3. I also watched episode nine of Hotaru no Hikari last night! *flail* I loved it! I cannot wait for the subs for the final episode.
oo4. Radiohead I've been fascinated by the whole pay-what-you-want experiment, particularly as I've more often seen the new album described as "free" or that Radiohead is "giving away" their latest for nothing. Which is certainly one way of looking at it, and when I see language like this, I personally find it a bit depressing because it doesn't bode well for the commercial sustainability of artistic endeavors. What value do people place on music if given the choice? [full disclosure: I don't have it yet, haven't listened to it yet, simply because I haven't gotten around to it]. In any case, I can't see how this is the business model of the future. Art has to have value for it to be sustainable (not everyone can create for the sake of creation - artists need to live, too) - it costs money to create and produce a body of new music, and certainly a band like Radiohead can afford to produce a new album independently, but the percentage of artists who cannot afford to finance their creative work is much higher. Bizblast's article provides some more insight into the initial results of Radiohead's experiment.
There's more I need to post about, but this will have to do for now.
It's only taken me 3 days to finish writing this post. I also apologize to everyone for not answering comments to previous posts: replies are coming!
oo1. Loreena McKennitt I went to see Loreena at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore on Friday (with N, icajoleu & JA), and it was an incredible performance. For starters, the Lyric was MUCH smaller than I'd anticipated, and I was so, SO glad that our foursome had sprung for more expensive orchestra-level seats. Row P was closer than I'd expected, and it was a huge improvement over our very good first tier seats at DAR Constitution Hall back in the spring. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant before and unfortunately, just as we were leaving to walk the two blocks to the Lyric, a driving rainstorm decided to pound us, so we all ended up with wet feet and legs: umbrellas and raincoats were no match for the high winds and pouring rain.
BUT NO MATTER. The performance was so fantabulous! Loreena was relaxed and chatty, and the concert was just the most wonderful thing. Do you know how sometimes you get so happy that you smile until your face hurts? Well, that was me, Friday night. Especially during "The Bonnie Swans" (my fave LM song), which kicked ass, and also during "The Old Ways" and "Santiago," to name a few. The band was so tight, and once again, I was completely bowled over by her unbelievably talented musicians - she calls them her "idling Porsches" and it's a true phrase: each of them is so spectacularly good that to see all of them assembled and performing these complicated melodies and rhythms together without missing a beat or dropping a note is truly mind-boggling.
Needless to say, I have been listening to a lot of Loreena lately, and thinking fondly of that show. I feel fortunate that I got to see her on both legs of this tour because FSM only knows when she'll tour again.
oo2. THE SOLAR DECATHLON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the coolest thing. If you don't know what it is: The Solar Decathlon joins 20 college and university teams in a competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house."
Saturday, 20 October, was the last day of the Decathlon, and so we made time to go into DC, because I absolutely didn't want to miss it. It was wonderful. All the houses were so neat, and of all the ones I was able to see inside (there were lines for all the houses!), they were all beautiful living spaces: very warm and inviting. This event proves that solar living isn't the stuff of science fiction: we have the technology and design skill right now to do great things. If you have even the tiniest interest, I encourage you to click the links and look at some of the homes these student teams assembled. I really can't wait until developers get a clue and start incorporating solar technology into apartment/condo developments and other commercial properties, especially in urban areas.
oo3. TeeVee!
1. I finished watching Hanazakari no Kimitachi e! I must reiterate my admiration of Ikuta Toma. He was the main reason I finished watching because he was just that delightful, and I'm going to miss his Nakatsu. And yes, I admit, I did laugh a lot and get rather teary during the final episode. I'm a sucker for emotional manipulation. ;)
2. I watched all five episodes of BBC/HBO miniseries Five Days, and I loved it. If you like well-written murder mysteries that explore unfolding character dynamics, this is a very good drama. And if you love David Oyelowo (some of you may know him from Spooks/MI:5), he does a terrific job as one of the leads. The NYT did a very nice review of it here.
3. I also watched episode nine of Hotaru no Hikari last night! *flail* I loved it! I cannot wait for the subs for the final episode.
oo4. Radiohead I've been fascinated by the whole pay-what-you-want experiment, particularly as I've more often seen the new album described as "free" or that Radiohead is "giving away" their latest for nothing. Which is certainly one way of looking at it, and when I see language like this, I personally find it a bit depressing because it doesn't bode well for the commercial sustainability of artistic endeavors. What value do people place on music if given the choice? [full disclosure: I don't have it yet, haven't listened to it yet, simply because I haven't gotten around to it]. In any case, I can't see how this is the business model of the future. Art has to have value for it to be sustainable (not everyone can create for the sake of creation - artists need to live, too) - it costs money to create and produce a body of new music, and certainly a band like Radiohead can afford to produce a new album independently, but the percentage of artists who cannot afford to finance their creative work is much higher. Bizblast's article provides some more insight into the initial results of Radiohead's experiment.
There's more I need to post about, but this will have to do for now.