Top 10 Lists

Egads! With all the top 10 lists inundating the Internet these days I've noticed that I've forgotten to link to the finest source of psychiatric film reviews on the Internet.

Go to Atkinson on Film now!

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Leave the Midwest

As Lady Luck would have it, Phooeyhoo's DSL connection went down less than 24 hours after he left the cold winds of the Midwest for the wetness of the Pacific Northwest. Thank goodness for that backup e-mail server . . .

Anyway, what are you doing here? Go and enjoy the holidays with your family!

The Diabelli Variations

In 1819 a music publisher named Anton Diabelli composed and then sent around a waltz to the prominent composers of the time and asked them to compose variations on this waltz for publication. You may say that it was the first composite album ever made! Diabelli received contributions from Schubert, Listz, and others but it was Beethoven who took the trivial waltz and expanded it into what Alfred Brendel calls "the greatest of all piano works."

At first, Beethoven put the waltz away and considered it mere childs play. However, by 1819 he had composed not just one but, rather, 23 variations. The work was put away until 1823 when the final number of variations is as it stands today: 33.

The work is brilliant in far too many ways then I can discuss here. But particularly brilliant was in the way that Beethoven seemed to mock and yet expound on the original theme. For example, in variation 21 he greatly exaggerates the major C chords in the right hand — as if parodying the weaknesses of the original theme. There is humor, too, such as in variation 22 which is surprisingly similar to the Leporello's opening number from Don Giovanni. The variation perfectly captures the humorous servant-follower that Leporello was to Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera.

I will finish by noting that those who give a careful listening to Beethoven's final piano sonata (Op. 111) will be pleasantly surprised by the conclusion that is given here in the Diabelli Variations. It's as if these variations are an extension of those final piano sonatas.

I highly recommend the Pollini and Brendel recordings of the Diabelli Variations.

What Happened To Version 4?

Winamp 1 was good. Winamp 2 was godly. Winamp 3 blew so many goats that I quickly hurled it out the window and went back to Winamp 2.

And today I learned that Winamp 5 was just released. The logic? I don't know. Maybe 4 wasn't good enough or they added their previous releases (2+3=5, kids!). At any rate, I've only used it this morning but Winamp 5 works well, fixes the dreaded playlist problems in Winamp 3, and is damn sexy.

So what are you waiting for? Go get it. Don't tell me you're going to listen to Beethoven with Windows Media Player?!?

Happy Birthday Mr. Beethoven

In honor of Bonn's favorite son, posts today will focus on my recommendations of Beethoven recordings, focusing primarily on the later works. Not surprisingly, listening to these works will also make you a better person.

The depth of Beethoven's final output is staggering. In the time period between 1815 until his death in 1827 he published the 10th Violin Sonata, the last 3 piano sonatas (op. 109-111), the Diabelli Variations, the late string quartets (op. 127, 130-133, 135), and the Missa Solemnis. Oh, and did I mention that there was a choral symphony buried somewhere there as well?

Stay tuned for a day filled with pithy analysis and music. For now, listen to the first movement of the Op. 109 piano sonata and bask in its glory.

The Impossible

I thought it would never happen, but the Supreme Court upheld major portions of McCain-Feingold. A major victory for democracy but it's only a matter of time until politicians find loopholes. Oh, well, I'll take it over nothing at all.

Slow Week

Graduate school applications must go out this week so ranting will be sporadic, at best.

So, for now, I bring you my Statement of Purpose.

Dear Graduate School,

Please accept me into [Insert Graduate School here] for [Insert Degree here] and rescue me from this reality of tears and torment otherwise known as my job.

Sincerely,
Kenny

Bonzi's Gone

I eluded to this in a previous post and it looks like team Blazer Survivor is starting to be dismantled. Quick! Someone send a shipment of weed to Blazer 1.

On the net, Memphis thinks that the walking corpse known as Hubie Brown can turn Bonzi around, SI writer Jack McCallum thinks Portland fares much worst then other Bad Image teams, and John Canzano thinks the trade was a no-brainer.

Isn't She Adorable?

To family members forced to read this web log here's a picture of Carolyn from Thanksgiving. Isn't that the cutest thing you've ever seen? She plays wonderfully, too!

You know your franchise is going downhill when ...

... the free gift for attending a game is a poster of the team's head coach.

At It Again

I should have posted this yesterday as the fun continues for the Blazers!

We Love Dreamers?

Oregon's economy is going into a tailspin and unemployment is up to 8% in some parts of the state. How is the Oregon legislature going to combat this? Well, duh! What any other state would do. Come up with a new slogan!

As part of its new advertising campaign, Oregon will now be known as the state that loves dreamers. Yep. That's not a typo that you just read there. Oregon. We Love Dreamers will replace the superannuated former slogan Things Look Different Here. (Damn! Just when I started warming up to that one.) Not surprisingly, the "things look different here" slogan was widely ridiculed. Do I smell a repeat performance? Oh, well. At least they're both an improvement over the Klamath Falls slogan: Klamath Falls: Get the Fuck Out of Our City!

Wow. Thousands of dollars and months of advertising meetings later, the best they could do is We Love Dreamers? Somehow, this doesn't seem to be the tag line that's going to help jump start an economy. When I think of dreamers, I think of people who sit at home all day watching The Price is Right and only occasionally getting up to piss. Did I miss something? Don't we want to lure in hard nosed working Americans, illegal aliens who will work for less than minimum wage, and midgets that can transform the local entertainment industries?

Maybe it's a Billy Beane thing except this time it's not all about on-base percentage. Perhaps Oregon did a systematic survey of all the states out there and discovered that the most prosperous economies were populated by the most percentage of dreamers per capita.

Of course, we could take this one step further and hypothesize that almost everyone dreams. This could just be a statement of all inclusiveness. The state is trying to welcome people of all races, religions, and creeds. Oregon: we love dreamers (i.e. everyone!) so come on down and spend your money! But this message could be misconstrued. The inventors of the motto hope that the slogan will get people to move to Oregon and boost the economy. But what if others take it as just a press announcement? "This just in. Oregon loves dreamers. That is all. We now return you to your normally scheduled vapid existence in this vale of tears and torment."

What do supporters have to say in defense of the new slogan?

Let the Spending War Begin

That sweet potato pie that Theo Epstein brought to Arizona must have been pretty good. Good enough to get Curt Schilling to drop his no-trade clause and sign with the Red Sox.

But not to be outdone by Bean Town, it was reported this morning that the boss signed Gary Sheffield to a three year contract.

So now the only question is how far will Boston and New York go to buy next year's world series? Rumor has it that Epstein is trying to squeeze enough money together for Alex Rodriguez. What about Nomar? Shift him to third? What will the Yankees counter with? Miguel Tejada? Shift Jeter to third? The Sox will probably counter with Keith Foulke, giving them a much needed upgrade over Bruyn Kim.

By the time this is all over both teams could be spiraling toward the magical $200 million dollar mark. Wouldn't it be great if another no-name sub $50 million dollar club won it all like in the past two years? Stay tuned!