Tuesday, 9 December 2008

Commas, inverted commas and no commas

HEEEEEEEEEEEELPP!!!

I spent the whole evening trying to learn something about commas in all possible configurations. I was desperate. Decided to relax and just finish the article I was reading and then ... BANG!
She controls her emotional objectivity because she is a scholar, an occupation that literary critic Bregman believes embodies that "cold intellectuality that precludes empathy." Her studies of Donne's texts, even to the point of analyzing the significance of the placement of a comma, allow her to maintain control over her analysis of that text.

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Moving Castle and the Balance

Howl: Calcifer, move the castle sixty miles west.
[walks away]
Howl: And while you're at it, make hot water for my bath.
Calcifer: Fine, like moving the castle isn't hard enough!


Endre Nemes. Balansegang 1947. Bergen Kunstmuseum, Lysverket


Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki


Thursday, 30 October 2008

La Sylphide and Les Filets de Vulcan

"Thinking his sylph has returned, he rushes over, only to find the witch"

from the plot of ballett "La Sylphide"


"After La Sylphide, Les Filetes de Vulcan and Flore et Zéphire were no longer possible, the Opéra was given over to gnomes, undines, salamandres, elves, nixes, wilis, peris - to all that strange and mysterious folk who lend themselves so marvelously to the fantasies of the maitres de ballet"

(Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850)

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Gertruda Stein and kōans

Suppose no one asked a question, what would be the answer

Gertruda Stein


Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?

Hakuin Ekaku

Thursday, 9 October 2008

Sylvia Plath, Nicaragua and People Who Don't Read

In my diary on my fieldwork in Nicaragua in 2007 I wrote:

In my project I asked if people expressed their thoughts on the volcano "through music, dance, rituals, literatur". The question seems ridiculous to me now. About 50% of them cannot read and the rest is not intersted in reading. They say themselves that after going down to the town eller to the water reservoir and back home, they just want to rest. In most cases it means getting into bed and sleep to be able to to get up at dawn, at the latest.

In July 1950 Sylvia Plath wrote in her diary:

I may never be happy, but tonight I am content. Nothing more than an empty house, the warm hazy weariness from a day spent setting strawberry runners in the sun, a glass of cool sweet milk, and a shallow dish of blueberries bathed in cream. Now I know how people can live without books, without college. When one is so tired at the end of a day one must sleep, and at the next dawn there are more strawberry runners to set, and so one goes on living, near the earth. At times like this I’d call myself a fool to ask for more …

Friday, 19 September 2008

Police is going Red. Belief vs. Sale

A few days ago I saw the picture of a friend of mine, Miha, conducting
"The Internationale" anthem to the Slovenian Police Brass Band
(10th anniversary of the Metelkova City Autonomous Cultural Centre, September 2003)


Yesterday I saw this commercial on Norwegian TV

Sunday, 4 May 2008

The Screaming Drum

Eugenio Recuenco

Three wise monkeys

Edvard Munch

The Tin Drum by Volker Schlodorff (photo by Igor Luther)

Thursday, 3 April 2008

Who is and who wants to be Britney?!

Two or three days ago I got, a little bit out of the blue, link to one of those metal "versions" of Britney Spears.
and I thought: Hmmm, what's up with her actually? So I visited her webside! Yes, I did it! And I was thinking how cool is that to have so many wigs and extensions!! Yes, I spent at least 30 minutes on her pictures hehe. Well, I would have probably forgotten this episode, but...
today I saw that a friend of mine made a post on her blog titled Britney Spears Dream.!!!!!
A little bit creepy....

Thursday, 27 March 2008

Radioactivity and the Bomb

Yesterday I was looking through a book that literally changed my life some years ago. One of the best books I've ever read.At night my husband said rather unexpectedly (hihihi) that I had to see Dr. Strangelove



Today I heard Kraftwerk in a radio


Saturday, 22 March 2008

Running from and toward


Reminds me of Stalker


And then I thought about

Saturday, 15 March 2008

Double booking



This happens when you order too many books at the same time and start losing track of your reservations:)






And this happens if you are stupid enough :)
(the other one is Norwegian translation of Goffman's book)

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Haunted by Sylvie Guillem

Thanks to my friend A. I discovered In the middle, somewhat elevated (se previous post). I became absolutely enchanted by
Sylvie Guillem
It turned out that I actually had seen her before, some weeks ago, when I tried to find some movie image of smoke and found an extraordinary ballet where she danced with Niklas Ek (choreography by Mats Ek, music by Arvo Part)

"Smoke"






Tuesday, 11 March 2008

In the middle, somewhat elevated

Double beauty




Sylvie Guillem and Laurent Hilaire




Svetlana Zakharova and Andre Merkuriev

Wednesday, 27 February 2008

Archery: the Art of Repetition

Vandermark is playing with The Ex in Oslo soon. Old times! (dictionary says: "that's old HAT"!!!) The Ex recorded with Tom Cora. Read that he recorded Archery with John Zorn!! Wanted to find the cd and instead of this


the search result was this

The same

"As usual, the same guests, the same twaddle, the same food (...)"

My mother about saturday party she attended

Tuesday, 26 February 2008

why I love Philip Glass

In Uncyclopedia:


Philip Glass (January January January 31 January 31 31 31, 1937 1937 1937 31 January 1937 31 31 1937 – ) is a composer; Philip Glass is a composer of minimalist music, who once worked as a taxi driver; Philip Glass is a composer of minimalist music, who once worked as a taxi driver; Philip Glass is a composer of minimalist music, who once worked as a taxi.

Philip Glass Philip Glass Glass Glass Philip Philip Glasssssssss had Milton Babbitt for a fare once had Milton Babbitt for a fare once had Milton Babbitt for a fare once had Milton Babbitt for a fare once and Milton got off and didn't tip him, didn't, didn't, didn't tip tip tip tip tip tip.

His earliest composition was a short arpeggio which he subsequently repeated; his earliest composition was a short arpeggio which he subsequently repeated; subsequently repeated; repeated; short arpeggio which he subsequently repeated; repeated over and over; repBlah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah This was some agitprop for you eated over and over and over; repeated over and over and over and over and over and over.

Knock Knock. Who's there? Philip. Philip Who? Who's there? Philip. Philip Who? Who's there? Philip. Philip Who? Who's there? Philip. Philip Who? Who's there? Philip. Philip Who? Philip Glass.

Philip Glass is a composer oser oser oser Philip Glass is a composer oser oser oser Philip Glass is a composer oser oser oser. Taxi Waxi Taxi Waxi.

Philip Philip Philip Glass, Philip Gas, Philip Glass Glass had a friend a friend a friend of Philip Glass Glass Philip Glass. The friend the friend of Philip friend the Glass Glass Glass is none other none other one other than Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Boutros Philip-Ghali Glass was a friend a friend, was a friend a one two three four.

One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four. One two three four five six seven eight. One two. One two.

Koyaanisqatsi watsi Taxi Waxi. Koyaanisqatsi watsi Watutsi Taxi Waxi. Om mani padme sum.

Philip Glass is a composer of music that repeats, then Philip Glass is a composer of music that repeats, then Philip Glass is a composer of music that repeats, then Philip Glass is a composer of music that repeats, then phiLip glass is a composer of music that repeats, then does a lot of Ravi Shankar.

Koyaanisqatsi watsi watsi. Watsi.

Oooooh-ah. Ooooooh-ah. Short arpeggio.

Two lovers sat on a on a on a park bench, their parts bench bench bench touching each other, holding genitals in the moonlight in the moonlight in the moonlight.

Eins zwei drei vier. One. Two. One two three four. One two three

same chord. same chord. different chord? nope, same one.

The Dull Flame of Desire

Fyodor Tyutchev
wrote a poem.

I love your eyes, my dear
Their splendid sparkling fire

When suddenly you raise them so
To cast a swift embracing glance

Like lightning flashing in the sky
But there's a charm that is greater still

When my love's eyes are lowered
When all is fired by passion's kiss

And through the downcast lashes
I see the dull flame of desire

(You can read the poems of Tyutchev in English here
I felt in love with them)


Andrei Tarkovsky used the poem in his masterpiece Stalker,
one of best movies on earth




Bjørk and Antony Hegarty sang the beauty







Monday, 25 February 2008

Neurology and the Hat

Train of thought. Associations.


The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat

Alice in Wonderland Syndrom

or micropsia, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human visual perception. It is the reverse of macropsia. For example, a family pet, such as a dog, may appear the size of a mouse, or a normal car may look shrunk to scale.

Love the frustration of Alice:
`At any rate I'll never go there again!' said Alice as she picked her way through the wood. `It's the stupidest tea-party I ever was at in all my life!'




The same week my husband was installing Linux Fedora. Fedora has also another meaning.







Sunday, 24 February 2008

Invitation To A Suicide


Early in the morning while looking through newspapers and checking mail I laughed at my friend who joined a group The Sad Sad World of Bunny Suicides.

I am listening to radio nisha.pl now and for about 5 minutes ago I heard some beatiful music there. I checked. It was Filmworks XIII: Invitation to a Suicide by John Zorn. Strange I've never heard it. It's a soundtrack to the movie of the same title. You can watch the trailer here.

Need to order the cd. The one track I've heard was amazing!

Saturday, 23 February 2008

The man who mistook his wife for a hat

Oliver Sacks wrote The man who mistook his wife for a hat

"Here Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders: people afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations; patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents.

Michael Nyman composed an opera based on this book.


"The plot concerns the investigation by a neurologist of the condition of a singer who suffers from visual agnosia. According to the liner notes, Morris, Rawlence, and Nyman had to spend much time convincing the real Mrs. P. (whose husband is implied to have been a known name) that they were not proposing a musical (her word) that would trivialize her late husband's situation in order to gain her consent"

Still waiting for the book. The opera is just brilliant! Can't stop listening to it.

Book of longing


Leonard Cohen wrote Book of Longing

Philip Glass compose a music to Book of Longing

Have not read the book yet. Have not listened to the music yet. But I love the idea!

"For me, this work is both a departure from past work and a fulfillment of an artistic dream."

-Philip Glass