Glee as nostalgia machine

One of the things I love about the popularity of the new TV show Glee is that it propels songs to new audiences; older viewers who come for the show tunes get to hear some new music, and vice versa. Put it together with YouTube, and you can venture down the path of memory in unexpected ways.


Here's the band Journey, doing the original version of the song "Don't Stop Believing" from 1981 that was featured in the pilot of Glee. Since then, the show has brought lots of songs back to popularity, some recent, some old enough so that old people like me can go on a nostalgia trip. The latest episode included a great cover of Christina Aguilera's song "Beautiful," a favorite of mine.

I think Christina's live vocal at the Grammy's was amazing, but the offical video is also very powerful



I was thrilled when Curt Colfer's character sang "A House is Not A Home"--it provided one of the strongest emotional moments in the show (yes, I cried), and showed off a lovely lower register. Luther Vandross had a hit with this song in 1981, and there are a lot of live versions floating around YouTube because it is so strongly associated with him, to the point that many younger viewers think Luther's version is the original. But it's a Burt Bacharach song from 1968. So many great singers have covered it. Dionne Warwick was the original muse, but Della Reese has a bluesy version that is fun, less fragile, more mature. I'm also fond of Dusty Springfield's live version with Bacharach on the piano because she has such a unique timbre in her voice. I had never heard Ella Fitzgerald singing it live in 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival until today. A master class in singing.

I don't know if she ever sang the song; I can't find it, but I wish I could hear what Sarah Vaughan would have done with it. In 1946 you could already hear the range in her voice.

In this live performance of "My Funny Valentine" the voice is deeper, gravelly, sometimes even ugly, but always amazing.

Baby alligator!

I just spent a long weekend in Lafayette Louisiana. I don't have time to write about the experience, but here is a picture from the swamp tour of the Atchafalaya Basin: our guide caught a baby 'gator (5 months old) and we got to hold it!
More later

BROKEN WEAR!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

LOLOLOLOL!

Volcano song

An Icelandic singer (not Bjork) helps us with name!

Lucinda

World Without Tears

Elements of a costume

For cosplay from the series Kuuchuu Buranko

Eyjafjallajökull, or "we said send CASH, not ASH!"

Well, I suppose if you are not stranded in an airport somewhere, you might find some humor in the ways that all of us are trying to learn to pronounce the name of that pesky Icelandic volcano! The New York Times has a great sound clip in which various people attempt to say the name, and then someone from the Icelandic consulate says it right. The NYT blog called the Lede has more links to great video and stories about the ash cloud and its impact on travel.
My favorite comment is the first :

A e-mail is going around in Norway written in quasi-Icelandic that says:

“Put 30 billion euros in unmarked bills in a bag by the gate of the Icelandic embassy in London, and we’ll turn off the volcano.”

Unfortunately, the joke is in reference to the fact that Iceland's economy and government have been wrecked by the financial crisis, leaving the citizens responsible for debt brought about by reckless financial institutions.

This a video highlights futile attempts by newscasters to say the name. The comments are full of Icelandic yuks.

BOOK--a revolutionary technology!

Never worry about batteries!

Eyjafjallajökull

"Volcano 101" from National Geographic:


The Big Picture has amazing photos of the volcanic eruption in Iceland that is causing so much ash in the air that flights over Europe have been canceled.

If you are wondering how to say the name of the volcano, listen here.

In my house, it's library week all year long.

Because this week is National Library Week, I went looking for photos of the Minneapolis Central Library, a newish building by Argentine architect César Pelli, and a building I just love. It is full of light, welcoming in a cold climate, and a hub of activity. The branch libraries are just as busy.

On Flickr, I discovered a photo set that lead me to the work of photographer, Nattapol (aka jbnuwat). His architectural images are fabulous. You can see his work at his website Five O'Clock Studio, including the set of photos of the Minneapolis Central Library.

When we moved back to the U.S. from Japan, I was a very lonely sixth-grader, and I found refuge in the school library. That was the year I discovered The Lord of the Rings, but I had already been devouring books for years. In the next six years of Jr. High and High School, while we lived in San Francisco, I usually had books out from three different libraries. My refuge was in books, and the library was my second home.

"Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain" author talk

The Google Author series puts up videos of talks by fascinating thinkers. Here is a video of a talk (via Neuronarrative, a blog by David DiSalvo) that I was fortunate enough to see in person when Alva Noe visted the Institute for Advanced Study at U of MN: he's a dynamic speaker and explains difficult concepts in extraordinarily clear fashion. The talk presents the argument of his latest book Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness. This book is aimed a popular, rather than a specialized, audience.


Here is the description posted with the video:
Alva Noe visits Google's San Francisco, CA office to discuss his book "Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness." This event took place on April 16, 2009, as part of the Authors@Google series.

"The notion that consciousness is confined to the brain, like software in a computer, has dominated science and philosophy for close to two centuries. Yet, according to this incisive review of contemporary neuroscience from Berkeley philosopher Nöe, the analogy is deeply flawed. In eight illuminating, mercifully jargon-free chapters, he defines what scientists really know about consciousness and makes a strong case that mind and awareness are processes that arise during a dynamic dance with the observers surroundings. Nöe begins with a sharp critique of scientists, such as DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick, who insist that nothing but neurons determines our daily perceptions and sense of self. He then examines studies of human and animal behavior that demonstrate an inextricable link between identity and environment. Nöe regrettably limits his treatise by ignoring considerable research from transpersonal psychology suggesting that consciousness transcends physicality altogether. Still, the resulting book is an invaluable contribution to cognitive science and the branch of self-reflective philosophy extending back to Descartes famous maxim, I think, therefore I am."

UPDATED TO ADD: Leee was kind enough to steer me to this great podcast on "neuroplasticity" in which Noé is interviewed along with Rick Hanson, a neuroscientist. The lovely hippocampus is mentioned!

Kids today!

I'm so proud to be an alum of Lowell High School in San Francisco! When Fred Phelps and his hate group (I refuse to call it a church) came to town to picket schools and Jewish organizations, some schools chose an active, peaceful response.
I can imagine my daughter's friends and school doing something like this. Kids today can be wonderful when they have good models, the support of their elders, and are encouraged to be their best selves.

Weird Al Yankovic, you are my hero!

What a great idea. I should do this next time I go to Lund's.

"Grammar, people, come on! seriously!"

Weird Al has his own YouTube channel

Easter poem for non-believers

Masa

César Vallejo

Al fin de la batalla,
y muerto el combatiente, vino hacia él un hombre
y le dijo: “No mueras, te amo tánto!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Se le acercaron dos y repitiéronle:
“No nos dejes! ¡Valor! ¡Vuelve a la vida!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Acudieron a él veinte, cien, mil, quinientos mil,
clamando: “Tánto amor, y no poder nada contra la muerte!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Le rodearon millones de individuos,
con un ruego común: “¡Quédate hermano!”
Pero el cadáver ¡ay! siguió muriendo.

Entonces, todos los hombres de la tierra
le rodearon; les vio el cadáver triste, emocionado;
incorporóse lentamente,
abrazó al primer hombre; echóse a andar . .

from España, aparta de mi este cáliz (1937)

spring cleaning the blog

It's Spring Cleaning time! The new banner gets rid of the snowy landscape in favor of a shot I took in SF, of a display in a Japanese restaurant window on Fillmore Street. Fresca has pointed out the banner contains a Japanese version of Leo the Large.

I'm excited because I have to have everything in my office packed up and ready to move by May 19; our building is going to be renovated! They've only been promising to do that since I arrived in 1988. This means sorting through the accumulated crap of about twenty years--longer than I have lived in my present home. I need external motivation (such as "we will tear down the walls") because every year I give office clean-up a shot, and every year I fail miserably. This time, I will have the motivation of a deadline and at least 20 free boxes--about half of what I'll need-- and furniture movers, to get me going. But there is no point in starting that process until after the semester is over, so I'm having to resist the urge to plunge in immediately as a form of procrastination.
I'm itching to do the same at home, although I did most of that last summer during the big purge and I have to wait for the same reason: two papers to finish writing! Class prep to do! But, the itch must be scratched, so I decided to tweak this blog instead. I have not been happy with my blogging process lately. So I decided to play around with the layout a little: I've removed the bloglist and I'm adding the blogs I follow to my iGoogle page instead. I may change my mind about this, but I'm going to try it out for now. As I've moved to using iGoogle to manage my online calendar, gmail, news feeds and work-related sites, I realized that it was probably a better way for me to keep up on blog feeds than an RSS reader or a blog list. So if anyone who was previously linked to this page misses their link, I am following you in a different way.

In the summer, I plan to migrate from Blogger to Word Press, but that will take some time and attention that I don't have now. I think it will be a better platform for work-related blogging, given what I've seen others do with it elsewhere. Not a priority, just on the agenda.

That mother-daughter talk

MPR has a new series of events, hosted by John Moe, called Wits. I missed the first one, although I followed it on Twitter, and it was a huge hit. They have kindly provided a video clip of their first guest of the series, Julia Sweeney, whom some may remember from SNL, while others may know her for her one-woman shows about surviving cancer or her spiritual journey "Letting Go of God." She also is a regular on "Wait, Wait! Don't Tell Me" on NPR, and is reliably funny as hell.
We had our version of this conversation, but I headed off at least some of the surprise element by getting some age-appropriate books. You'll have to ask my daughter how she remembers it.