on music...

Sent at 4:36 PM on Monday
tonylee415: btw, i thought about the answer i gave you yesterday
about the song and personality
me: oh?
tonylee415: yeah
me: did you change your mind?
tonylee415: yeah i think i did
me: ok
tonylee415: i think any song has to have some personality
whether or not it's communicated
me: so...maybe I'll just write a blog post later
but I have two versions of Copeland's "Rodeo"
one conducted by Bernstein
and another by Michael Tilson Thomas
and the one by MTT literally...made me want to laugh yesterday
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm on crack
tonylee415: no, i'm following
me: the most marked difference between the two is the MTT one is faster
so you have to sort of make your listening brain/ear keep up with the pace of the music
tonylee415: ok
me: but all the little bits are punctuated in a way that make you think they're saying something
and each bit of the song has a personality
and it makes the song so much more fun
(I can't believe it's the "Beef: it's what's for dinner" song)
but that's what a good conductor does
takes apart and reassembles music so that each bit is infused with the musical capacity and fullness that it has the ability to be
tonylee415: ic
me: and each one will interpret it differently
tonylee415: ok
me: MTT"s version is way "punchier" than Bernsteins
I dunno...so that's what I was thinking
tonylee415: right on
sure i buy that
me: like music...can be this really cool thing where each piece of it can be something else
like someone saying something
tonylee415: i think what i was talking about was more of an existential issue
lol
me: oh I know
tonylee415: sure, why not?
like covers
me: but that's what I was talking about
tonylee415: some ppl stick to the original stuff
some ppl put their own spin on it
me: yes
the Rayees did this remix of a Robyn song
tonylee415: there's that hard rock version of billy jean
like acoustic hardrock
me: oh yeah
the ataris
tonylee415: i think so?
i can't remember
me: I like covers
I like it when someone else reinterprets something I"m already familiar with

Why you can't date anyone younger than 30, Penny.

Normally reading Mission Mission makes me cringe because it represents the worst of Hipster Nation that prevails in my fine city, but I actually agreed with today's dating critique:

We’re going to end this week’s examination of dating and friendship and flakiness in San Francisco and California with this sober rap by reader Al:

Here’s my theory, (note: huge generalizations will be made): Our grandparents grew up during the Great Depression thus rearing their children (our parents) to value hard work, decorum, conservatism. As a result we have the buttoned up, squeaky clean 50′s and then the revolt of the free lovin 60′s. Unsure of how to raise us, our parents padded our cribs, fed us on formula of “you can be whatever you want to be” “everyone should go to college” “be an astronaut, honey” “be a ballerina” and it’s left us, as a generation, completely floundering. We can’t make decisions period. About career paths. “Let’s all be designers!” or what the fuck to eat. We’re all looking for the bigger, better, EASIER, next thing. This includes again jobs, lovers, friends, weekend plans. We like to keep all options open, hoping that someday our shot at “space” or “prima ballerina” will fall effortlessly in our lap.

Touche MissMiss....you spoke it to a tee.

24 hours of lucidity

Finally watched 'Inception' last night with some work friends. And, let me throw in this disclaimer, as a person who works for a movie company...I don't watch a lot of movies. In fact, to be perfectly honest, no one here watches a lot of movies. And while the film was enormous in scope and full of lush cinematography and some incredible special effects, I didn't love it.

There were a lot of interesting concepts though, that make me think more and more. It's much better fleshed out than the Matrix; where the mind creates what it wants to create. Inception takes the power of the mind and turns it inward - where everything is almost what you expect with only subtle hints to let you know you're dreaming. But much like dreams, where you become the watcher - so much of this movie did not hook me emotionally. Every moment, because the actors did not feel any fear of death and love was a mere shadow of emotion tainted by the illusion of dream creation; nothing truly engaged me. Not even the tears of Leo's wife. If Nolan's vision was truly to create a dream like world, he succeeded. Visually stunning, emotionally cold and bereft of feeling.

But early this morning, after waking up and falling back asleep at 3am - I had a very lucid dream about swimming. I've been gaining a bit too much weight for my comfort lately. Spending a lot of time at home and eating too many bad things.

I need soba salad, with tofu and greens. I need less fried and more steamed. More fish and veg...less cheese and butter. And I need a workout. My knees have started to give on me a bit, darn these hills. So swimming has always been an amazing aerobic workout that is low impact. And I used to swim all summer, all the time. And if I go in the morning and don't give a shit about who is there and what I look like...well.

I dreamt the smell of cholorine. I dreamt driving into the parking lot where the nearest pool is. I dreamed waking up at 7am to get to the pool to do laps, showering and getting into work with wet hair. I dreamed my first day...only doing maybe three laps and getting too exhausted to do more. I dreamt about tucking my hair into an aqua swim cap. Of icy cold water like a slap on the rear and humid sweated air tinged with the echos of tiled slaps of wet feet...

7 day free pass?