Darkstate

"If the baroqueness and oppression of applications is akin to the overly complex prog rock of Rush,..."

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:02:06 -0500

“If the baroqueness and oppression of applications is akin to the overly complex prog rock of Rush, then the lightness and simplicity of apps is akin to the carefree buoyancy of Ke$ha. Shortening and slang are easy and comfortable.”

- WHAT IS AN APP? by IAN BOGOST

Code 46 - a Movie Review with Mild Spoilers

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 23:53:49 -0500

Code 46 takes place in a strange near-future world in which society is confined to a few cities in which citizens are protected from a world wracked by undescribed forces. However, some fraction of the
population has been abandoned to live outside the protected cities in a hot, dusty wasteland, ignored by the rest of society. Meanwhile, a nominally benevolent big brother watches over the protected populace, keeping them safe and in regions where they are fit to live. As the story progresses, we learn that the population inside the cities has shrunk to the point that all couples must be tested to ensure their genes are sufficiently different that they can be allowed to reproduce, and many couples have children via in-vitro methods. Sufficiently advanced technology, refered to as viruses, enables people to read minds, speak languages they otherwise do not know, or develop perfect pitch. In the midst of the developing story there is a cameo of Mick Jones, long ago of the Clash, in a karaoke bar singing “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”

Our hero, played by Tim Robbins, is an insurance adjuster sent to Shanghai to investigate the theft of “papelles,” papers which allow people to travel from one enclave to another if big brother sees fit. Maria, played by Samantha Morton, works for the papelles company and is involved in the theft of papelles. To drive home the work of big brother, a minor character, traveling on papelles supplied by Maria dies when he travels to India from a disease to which the local populace has genetic immunity.

The story opens with an explanation that Code 46 is the emergency when a couple too closely related conceive a child. In the next few scenes we meet our protagonists: William, the insurance adjuster, and Maria. We know from this moment the Code - for we only learn of one - they will violate. We never really learn why William falls for Maria and risks everything, including his loving wife and son. Was William unhappy enclosed in the cities, with his work, or with his family? We see no motivation for any of these possibilities. In the end, the company blames it on a virus. Though the voice-over describes this possibility with scorn, it is as likely as any other explanation of William’s actions.

Unfortunately, the rhythms, troubles, history, and future of the world William and Maria inhabit are only hinted at. In classic science fiction, the world would have been fleshed out at the expense of the life of the characters; this would have been interesting. Delving into the motivations of William and Maria would have been a more standard telling of this story and could have been compelling and heartwrenching. Alas, Code 46 delivers neither, leaving us only to imagine the potentialities implicit and is thus ultimately a dissatisfying tale. There are pieces of this story that feel like the work of Philip K Dick, but in the end the film falls flat.

"popular highlights are useful, if initially jarring… But if you can’t handle that discomfort,..."

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:57:20 -0400

“popular highlights are useful, if initially jarring… But if you can’t handle that discomfort, you shouldn’t be reading popular books like “Freedom” and “Eat, Pray, Love” anyway — and certainly not in e-book form.”

- Virginia Heffernan in the New York Times - at least she closes with this sensible advice after complaining about Kindle highlights through her whole post!

I finally read Dennis Overbye’s obituary of John Huchra. I...

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:12:00 -0400

I finally read Dennis Overbye’s obituary of John Huchra. I didn’t know him beyond seeing him at astronomy talks from time to time (when I actually show up). I love the Stick Figure in their large-scale galactic structure map, the CfA2 Great Wall which I’d forgotten about completely. You can see it at the bottom of the galaxy map above. Huchra’s Lens I was more familiar with.

Huchra did a bunch of his work at the 60 inch telescope at Mt. Hopkins where we’ve been testing out some of our laser hardware. When Overbye talks about running up and down the stairs at the telescope, I smile, having spent quite a few nights doing that myself.

Global Warming in the Senate

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:06:28 -0400

I just finished reading As The World Burns, an article portraying the efforts of Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham to get climate change legislation through the senate. The portrait Ryan Lizza paints of the three senators is so damning that it sparks a contrarian perspective from me: they can’t really be that bad.

Lizza hits all the cliches of our three senators beginning with each being more interested in the legislation’s effect on their legacies than on its effect on global warming and the nation’s economy. Our journalist goes on to describe Kerry delivering monologues at the start of each meeting, Lieberman demanding whatever made him look good, Graham unable to face up to either his colleagues or constituents, and special guest appearances by McCain - flip-flopping - and President Obama - as a feckless Carter clone.

Perhaps Lizza is giving the audience what it wants, but these guys would never get elected if this was the actual level of their political skill. I would love to put a political article down feeling that I had learned something about the difficultly in reconciling divergent political and philosophical perspectives amongst the governing and the governed in this country, but alas, that isn’t this article.

Radiohead/Jazz Playlist

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:59:00 -0400

I’ve put together a short playlist with a mix of tunes performed by Radiohead as well as covers of Radiohead by jazz groups and tunes harmonically inspired by Radiohead.

Exit Music (For A Film) - Radiohead
Optimistic - Radiohead
Nemesis - Aaron Parks
Airbag - Radiohead
How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead
Exit Music (For A Film) - Brad Mehldau
Everything in Its Right Place - Brad Mehldau
Yeso - Guillermo Klein
Let Down - Radiohead
A Wolf at the Door - Radiohead

The list is a little radiohead-heavy right now but fun. I’d like to find some covers of some of the more rocking Radiohead tracks and not only the beautiful, haunting, harmonically rich tunes - not that I don’t like those as well. Off to Brad Mehldau’s discography.

Some place out there on the web is a Master class where Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus analyzes Let Down. I couldn’t find it quickly here at work. I’ll let you all search. It’s worth a listen.

"Surely for someone who sets out in an iron steed infused with the sparkling sap of magnificence,..."

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:01:56 -0400

“Surely for someone who sets out in an iron steed infused with the sparkling sap of magnificence, deeper mysteries of orthographic fallibility will soon fall like a spring rain of low-hanging fruit,”

- They’re back Mark Liberman at Language Log

"The great immigrant languages of yesteryear such as German, Italian and Japanese now R.I.P. in..."

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:34:10 -0500

“The great immigrant languages of yesteryear such as German, Italian and Japanese now R.I.P. in American soil.”

- Will Americans Really Learn Chinese? - The article itself is OK, if predictable. I’m fascinated with the use of R.I.P. as a verb, though.

"Alfred Jensch, head designer in the astrology department at Carl Zeiss in Jena for many years and..."

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:05:00 -0500

“Alfred Jensch, head designer in the astrology department at Carl Zeiss in Jena for many years and creator of the 2-m universal telescope. [oops. Perhaps they didn’t mean ‘astrology’]”

- pdf at Zeiss.com

"The drum set could symbolize the African diaspora as interpreted by Americans."

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:50:24 -0500

“The drum set could symbolize the African diaspora as interpreted by Americans.”

- Ethan Iverson

"Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to..."

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:17:00 -0500

“Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that [Larry] Ochs’s music was not, well, jazz.”

- The Guardian via Taran Singh

Brain Scans Show...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:31:28 -0500

Every time I read someone proposing that we use a brain scan to learn something about how the mind works, I remember the old Language Log post, Distracted by Brain.

Even irrelevant neuroscience information in an explanation of a psychological phenomenon may interfere with people’s abilities to critically consider the underlying logic of this explanation.

They found that not just the lay public but also students in a neuroscience course were susceptible to this distraction. “Brain scans show” has become a code phrase in our household for over-hyped argument based upon untrustworthy evidence of questionable relevance.

Sara Tavares played at the Berklee Performance Center Saturday...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

Sara Tavares played at the Berklee Performance Center Saturday night under the auspices of World Music/Crash Arts closing out the world music section of their Fall Season. This was our second trip in a week to the BPC where an enthralled audience sang along in Portuguese. (The previous trip was for Milton Nascimento from Brazil.) Tavares is of Cape Verdean descent but was born and raised in Lisbon. On stage, Her ukulele/electric guitar player and percussionist to stage right hailed from Cape Verde. The drummer and bass player to stage left were from Portugal. Sara Tavares, naturally, stood between them. The implicit metaphor did begin to break down when we learned that she found her bass player in a small Lisbon club singing Cape Verdean songs.

The program reports that the “young singer and guitarist has drawn widespread praise for her worldly songs spiced with Angolan and Portuguese slang, Cape Verdean Crioulo and English, and layered with Afro-beat, reggae, jazz and infectious Cape Verdean rhythms. ” Rhythmically, many of her tunes were built on complex exchanges between the drummer and percussionist. At times, the two had such intense concentration on their faces that when they broke into a straight chorus, the relief was palpable. Even at the most intense however, Sara Tavares danced easily through it all. She sang, played guitar and danced around, making it look easy. Ahead of the beat, behind the beat, right on top of the beat, rhythmically, she was effortlessly just where she wanted to be. Live, the band have a punchier sound than they produce on the album, Balance, which we rushed home to buy after the show. The playful side of Tavares does come through even more strongly in the studio. I’m looking forward to her next trip through Boston. I’ll be there rocking out and smiling.

We saw Mariza at the Berklee Performance Center this evening....

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:54:01 -0500

We saw Mariza at the Berklee Performance Center this evening. Fado lives! Mariza can bring one to tears without understanding a word of the Portuguese in which she sings. The emotion and power of her voice are that powerful. We were in the fourth row and it felt at times like we were sitting in her living room while she was playing.

Her band wasn’t bad either. The guitarists were out of this world, switching from restrained power to free-playing pyrotechnics. The drummer could play 16th notes on the bass drum while also playing the high hat. She joked before introducing him at the end of the show that she didn’t like him because he stole all the applause. While he indeed received great applause from an appreciative audience, there was no doubt we were there to see Mariza.

Mariza was perhaps the most stunning performer in Fados, the movie, which was full of both spectacular musicians and great dancing. If you haven’t seen it, you should:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1056422/

Photo

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:01:04 -0500

A little bit of high autumn color here in Coolidge Corner before...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:53:45 -0400

A little bit of high autumn color here in Coolidge Corner before the day’s wind storm blows too many leaves off of the trees.

"We had a stray cat named Qutals, and he was always begging, since he’d nearly starved as a..."

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:58:00 -0400

“We had a stray cat named Qutals, and he was always begging, since he’d nearly starved as a kitten. Of course, we called him ‘The Mendicat’.”

- on the AWAD mailing list issue 382

"No one ever wrote the B minor mass to Socrates"

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:27:25 -0400

“No one ever wrote the B minor mass to Socrates”

- Jaraslov Pelikan

Tarragon soda from Arax Market in Watertown That’s some green soda for you. It’s tasty,...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:35:04 -0400

Tarragon soda from Arax Market in Watertown

That’s some green soda for you. It’s tasty, though.

The first snow of the season here in Brookline. There are big...

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:37:45 -0400

The first snow of the season here in Brookline. There are big flakes falling which are hard to make out in this blurred cell phone photo.