Classical Music

Note: This is not a comeback post, please don’t expect more posts.
 
I noticed on twitter that someone claimed to have learned the piano and violin for 6 years each and never learned to appreciate classical music more than “Eh, it’s alright”. While most people teased him about it (more or less to the effect, I’m not summarizing 20-odd statements from twitter), I stated, that to the typical layperson (it’s not like we’re music analysts), it’s difficult to understand or appreciate classical music, because it’s often presented with no context. He asked me if I was calling him a layperson.

Let me be honest, I didn’t answer this question until I watched this video (I didn’t see the tweet until I had).

Mainly because this video is what started the thread on twitter.

I eventually responded with questions about whether he’d ever thought of the music as narratives. About the how and why a musical piece might be constructed. Then I realized something as I continued to tell him my thoughts on how contextualization is what gives anything significance.

New Mission Statement!

Alright, I’ve been languishing long enough. I need to get on the ball and start doing things. Expect new things, because I will be putting them up here.

I need to.

SeeU – Hongshi Song (Persimmon Song)

시유(SeeU) – 홍시송 (The Persimmon Song)

Translated lyrics after the jump.

Well, fuck. *That* was fruitless.

So I find work at a Princeton area sushi-ya.

I figure they’re hard-working and fair-handed, at least the guy who “interviewed” me seemed to give that impression. (The “interview” was the dude talking at me for about 5-7 minutes on the importance of punctuality and how they have things set up.)

They tell me that one of their full-time workers will give me a call on Monday and that they expected me to come in on Tuesday.

Fair enough.

Come Monday, no phone call.

I figure that not talking to the FT worker is no big deal and that I can catch up on what I need to know at work.

I move stuff to the New Brunswick house that I’m sorta staying at, anyway.

Today is Tuesday, I drive on over, a full hour before start time.

I call to see if they can let me in and get me started.

“Oh, sorry, we found one of our former workers can work again, so you don’t have to come.”

“… Couldn’t you have told me this earlier?”

“So, don’t come in, and hopefully, we can work together sometime later in the future.”

What the hell. Did you not hear me? I’m here. At least apologize for not calling before I drove for 30 minutes on a 1-lane per side countryside highway, worried that I was going to be late, despite getting there an hour and a half ahead of time.

Ok, it’s upsetting enough that I got kicked out for a former worker. At least it’s understandable. They’ve already invested hours of training him for their restaurant, hours that they don’t have to train me, and thus they save a bit of money. I completely understand and while upsetting, easily surmountable with some “poor-me” sweets.

No, what really annoys me is that they didn’t tell me until I called them. What the fuck is so hard about calling your potential worker that they shouldn’t come in, because somebody else better came along? Why the fuck did they wait until I get there, to let them let me in, before they bothered?

You know what? You deserve to know the name of the sushi-ya with such poor hiring practices. Avoid it if you find a classified for it.

Nassau Sushi

179 Nassau Street

Princeton, NJ

Hmm… Korea.

Yes, I’m visiting Korea. I’ll update with more information, soon.

Also, slightly sad that I won’t be going to Otakon this year. I so do enjoy taking photos of cosplayers.

Even if I take forever to/never put them up.

…Apologies.

The Most Whored-Out Song in the World?

nekura mouko (12:16:26 AM): volez-moi a la lune
houiostesmoiras (12:17:12 AM): et laissez-moi à jouer entre les étoiles
houiostesmoiras (12:17:38 AM): Laissez-moi voire comme il y a printemps sur Jupiter et Mars
houiostesmoiras (12:18:03 AM): C’est à dire prenez-vous mon main.
houiostesmoiras (12:18:38 AM): C’est à dire, embracez moi, chère.

houiostesmoiras (12:19:06 AM): Faire mon coeur plein des chansons
houiostesmoiras (12:19:39 AM): Et laissez moi de chanter pour toujours
houiostesmoiras (12:20:40 AM): Vous êtes tous que je désire, tous que j’adore et que j’aime
houiostesmoiras (12:22:14 AM): C’est à dire, s’il vous plaît être fidèle
houiostesmoiras (12:22:36 AM): C’est à dire je vous aime.

———-

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.
In other words, hold my hand.
In other words, darling, kiss me.

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore.
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.
In other words, please be true.
In other words, I love you.

Frank Sinatra – Fly Me to the Moon

Dreams of Red

A long, long time ago.
I can still remember.
How the music… used to make me smile.

And even if I had one chance,
I could make those people dance,
And maybe… they’ll be happy… for a while.

Anyway, while quicklisting a whole bunch of songs due to a “The Rose” kick, I placed Sting’s “Desert Rose” into the playlist. Ever since a long, long time ago, I can only think about Sailor Mars, a.k.a. Hino Rei, when I hear this song. For whatever reason, I felt inspired enough to draw.

On graph paper.

Nothing wrong with graph paper. Except that since I draw in pencil, I can’t actually scan it in in B & W. So I’ve scanned and auto-leveled it in Photoshop CS3.

-Before I had a chance to get to the scanner, I wanted to show a friend, so I took a photo and coloured it in a bit. It’s incomplete and looks horrendous at the moment, but…

Feeling inspired and motivated, I decided to tackle another character whom I strongly associate with a song. “Starlight ni KISS shite” is Sailor Jupiter’s theme song. I like it lots. :p

Mars took about 18~20 minutes of “Desert Rose” on repeat. Afterwards, Jupiter took about 20~25 minutes with “Starlight ni KISS shite” on repeat. Each took another 10 minutes each for some clean up. Jupiter took longer mainly because I’m terrible with foreshortening.

It feels good to have drawn something that I think looks good enough to show.

Otakon 2008, Thursday and Friday

Otakon is exhausting but fun.

Tsunde-Ray

Tsunde-Ray

Powerful in the wrong hands.

(Got reminded by one of his recent updates.)

Pop!Casts

Pop!Casts

This man makes a good point. Talk to me, people. I’ll listen. I may not agree, but I can listen, I can compromise. Can you do the same?