What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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Florestan

Quote from: Ken B on April 19, 2019, 11:09:23 AM
The Great Awokening. https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/17/listening-at-the-great-awokening/

Andrei, do look at this.

I just did and I have only one comment:

Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

greg

Quote from: Ken B on April 19, 2019, 11:09:23 AM
The Great Awokening. https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/17/listening-at-the-great-awokening/

Andrei, do look at this.
So what do you think is the fundamental drive for people joining the cult?

I saw an interview recently with Anton LaVey and what he said about God and Satan is the same basic concept. People want to be on the correct and winning team, but they also need an enemy. Without the existence of Satan, think of how much less the impact is of the goodness of God. Without there being any sports teams in other cities, the local football team will have no opponents, and therefore won't be able to win anything.

So it's all tribalism. To appear good, you need an enemy at any cost, even at the expense of facts (as demonstrated by the article). Which weirds me out as someone who actually doesn't want to "fit in" with a group, to see people so desperate to belong somewhere.

As for the end of the article, as the saying goes... Get Woke, Go Broke (it's a saying supported by many examples over the last few years).
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

ritter

Revisiting that monument of world poetry that is Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal, this time in the edition illustrated by Henri Matisse:

[asin]2754109536[/asin]

« Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté
 ».


Florestan

Quote from: ritter on April 21, 2019, 09:22:56 AM
Revisiting that monument of world poetry that is Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal, this time in the edition illustrated by Henri Matisse:

[asin]2754109536[/asin]

« Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté
».

Pour l'enfant, amoureux de cartes et d'estampes,
L'univers est égal à son vaste appétit.
Ah! que le monde est grand à la clarté des lampes!
Aux yeux du souvenir que le monde est petit!
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini


JBS


Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

André

Quote from: JBS on May 02, 2019, 06:56:27 PM
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-disquieting-power-of-wilhelm-furtwangler-hitlers-court-conductor/

Interesting article. I wonder if the title is the author's own or if some editorial board plugged it on ?

Knappertsbusch disliked rehearsals and recordings, relying on the inspiration of the concert/opera night. I don't think that would make his a 'more disciplined approach' than Furtwängler's.

Ken B

Quote from: André on May 03, 2019, 05:57:46 AM
Interesting article. I wonder if the title is the author's own or if some editorial board plugged it on ?

Knappertsbusch disliked rehearsals and recordings, relying on the inspiration of the concert/opera night. I don't think that would make his a 'more disciplined approach' than Furtwängler's.

Especially as Furtwangler had a reputation for being demanding. I too think the headl8ne unfair.

Brian

In my experience writing for various publications, I've been asked to suggest headlines if the editor isn't clear what point I'm trying to make  ;D , but generally that is the domain of the editors, not the writers.

I thought the article was a fascinating read.

André, I have hardly listened to any Knappertsbusch, but I interpreted that discipline comment as referring to audible traits like rubato rather than work habits.

André

Quote from: Brian on May 03, 2019, 06:53:54 AM
In my experience writing for various publications, I've been asked to suggest headlines if the editor isn't clear what point I'm trying to make  ;D , but generally that is the domain of the editors, not the writers.

I thought the article was a fascinating read.

André, I have hardly listened to any Knappertsbusch, but I interpreted that discipline comment as referring to audible traits like rubato rather than work habits.

That could be. The article doesn't make it clear IMO. Having Karajan and Knappertsbusch as examples of 'more discipline' in the same sentence/context does invite questioning. Still, a very interesting read as you mention.

SonicMan46

Well has been a few months since my last posting and onto some new books - the top two are currently being read (first in hardback & second on my iPad - same author); the lower two are hardbacks in my 'to read' pile - Dave :)

The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath (2018) by Garrett Peck - a different look at the Great War through an American perspective - short review HERE for those interested in the topic (and its aftermath relative to WW II and the Middle East).

The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet (2009) by Garett Peck - enjoyed the author's writing in the Great War book and looked for others by him - this one on 'alcohol in America' piqued my interest being an avid wine drinker - short description below from Amazon.

Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants (2018) by H.W. Brands - biography of the three giants who dominated Congress in the first half of the 19th Century, namely Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster.

The Pirate World: A History of the Most Notorious Sea Robbers (2019) by Angus Konstam - I've loved pirates since boyhood and could not resist this new book on the topic; plus, living just hours from the Carolina coast where Blackbeard roamed furthers the interest - looking forward to starting this one soon!  Dave :)

QuoteSociety is constantly evolving, and so are our drinking habits. "The Prohibition Hangover" examines the modern American temperament toward drink amid the $189-billion- dollar-a-year industry that defines itself by the production, distribution, marketing, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Based on primary research, including hundreds of interviews with those on all sides--clergy, bar and restaurant owners, public health advocates, citizen crusaders, industry representatives, and more--as well as secondary sources, Garrett Peck provides a panoramic assessment of alcohol in American culture and history. (Amazon Source)

 

 


Brian

Quote from: SonicMan46 on May 03, 2019, 10:22:28 AM
The Pirate World: A History of the Most Notorious Sea Robbers (2019) by Angus Konstam - I've loved pirates since boyhood and could not resist this new book on the topic; plus, living just hours from the Carolina coast where Blackbeard roamed furthers the interest - looking forward to starting this one soon!  Dave :)
I read a fun little book a couple years ago called, I think, "The Invisible Hook: The Economics of Pirates" - would recommend that!

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on May 03, 2019, 10:35:20 AM
$229 for a collection of 70+ year old recordings?

Everything on that label is outrageously expensive. I see a set of Rattle conducting the four Schumann symphonies for $53.

SonicMan46

Quote from: Brian on May 03, 2019, 10:39:11 AM
I read a fun little book a couple years ago called, I think, "The Invisible Hook: The Economics of Pirates" - would recommend that!

Everything on that label is outrageously expensive. I see a set of Rattle conducting the four Schumann symphonies for $53.

Thanks Brian for the recommendation - sounds like the book below - will put on my 'Kindle list' - :)  Dave
.

Ken B

Quote from: SonicMan46 on May 03, 2019, 01:12:37 PM
Thanks Brian for the recommendation - sounds like the book below - will put on my 'Kindle list' - :)  Dave
.

Interesting book.

SimonNZ


geralmar

#9297

1999

The more I read by Clarke the smaller he becomes.  It becomes abundantly clear in reading this 500+ page book he was his own greatest admirer.  Decades ago when I was in junior high school, the schoolmate son of a respected academic told me his father had recently met Clarke at a scientific conference and the author was greatly offended that the father had no idea who he (Clarke) was.

As the subtitle indicates, the book is a collection of Clarke's published brief essays and writings (110) over six decades.  Breezily written, the essays strike me as mostly vapid and I especially tired of his travelogue writings on Ceylon since obviously I will never be privileged or important enough (like Clarke) to live there.  His observations on science fiction writing and science (especially on rocketry and space exploration) are certainly interesting and worthwhile; but not particularly original, and his earlier essays, while reasonably and commendably accurate about the future, do not make him a prophet.  I was amused by the photograph selection in the middle of the book.  Except for the first, which showed a young Clarke in military uniform, every photo that followed could be captioned, "The author shaking hands with xxx celebrity/dignitary."  I did find interesting his experiences with Kubrick on 2001 and the sequel; but they amount to only a few pages.  In fairness to Clarke, he refers the reader to a previous book. 

The book gets generally positive reviews, however, so maybe I'm just being curmudgeonly.  I left science fiction along with my youth long ago and therefore did not approach Clarke with particular reverence.  I do hope, however, to find "A Fall of Moondust".   I started it in junior high and would like to finish it some day.

Florestan

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Jaakko Keskinen

Quote from: Florestan on May 11, 2019, 11:06:52 AM


I have never read Stendhal yet (although I have, of course, heard of him). Is he good?
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo