tonight's sound and light

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Late train

This morning the 6:16 local to North White Plains is operating five to ten minutes late.

Some blue-sided express train rolled by the station without stopping at 6:21. Hmmph.

Why I Like David Blaine

David Blaine's stunts have a zen quality to them, say I, that affirms survival against a contemporary dread.

In the aftermath of 9/11, he stood on a tower for 36 hours, and survived.

With the broadening awareness of global warming and its concomitant rise in sea levels, he seals himself in a water globe for seven days, and emerges with injuries.

Y'see? Y'see?

Saturday night I went to Tiny Theater, a production of the Incubator at Ontological Hysteric. Eight short performances limited to a 6' x 6' x 6' space. The quality was uneven, but three were memorable in a positive way:

Barely There, a monolog where the performer plays with character / breaking character in a charming Pirandellovian way.

Neo-Futurist Play Redux 3.0.4, a four character piece that I thought was witty but the overserious person next to me thought was a waste of time (she had seen Faust earlier in the day and may have had her quality threshhold temporarily heightened).

A Cool Wind is Blowing, a gymnastic performance by Leigh Evans consisting of graceful fluid and utterly controlled movements of the legs during a headstand sustained for five minutes. The performer's head and shoulders were concealed in a large valise; after a few seconds, I felt my brain reinterpret what I was seeing as a headless figure with very long arms. The audience was awestruck. I want to take yoga classes with her.

A: Some useless part of my mind keeps playing wouldn't-it-be-nice-if, along the lines of wouldn't it be nice if my wife was not acting like an adversary. I hope that moving apartments and a new job will provide an overwhelming amount of alternative brain fodder.

B: Sometimes it is useful to have 20 high payoff/low odds ideas floating around, as long as you have a contingency for the most likely outcome.

A: That's good advice.

Collapsable Kitchenware

I like saving space.

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Getting Things Done and mood

One of David Allen's methods is to organize tasks by occasion, rather than topic. "Things to do while waiting at an airport." "Things to do at my desk at home."

Perhaps moody people could use "Things to do while feeling worthless" and "Things to do while feeling invincible."

Microsoft Vista: Microsoft loses confidence in .NET

I noticed that my .NET application's panels with eighty-one refreshes with a wave rather than a blink. I'd like to find out what's taking so long, but I can't step down any lower than IL. I wonder if the people developing for Microsoft also grew uncomfortable being so far away from the metal.

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theatre of ideas

Religion as a natural phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett in conversation with Robert Thurman.

February 13th, 8 pm.

No program. Two chairs black wood red fabric at 120 degree angles, a brown wood end table between them with two bottles of Poland Spring and a tray of pencils. The audience ranges from subteen to mid 70s.

Parasites that manipulate host behavior - does it happen in us?

Mick Jagger is two years younger than Dick Cheney and three years older than George W Bush.

ad sequence

Four ads in the White Plains train schedule: a dating service, a real estate agent, a marital counseler, and an attorney specializing in collaborative divorce.

Zack Parsons' take on the Palestinian elections is pretty good.

Waterfall 2006

A methodology conference is always good for the spirit.

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La Conquita

La Conquita (236 Lafayette Street at Spring) has "the best rice and beans in town," according to Peter Meehan, food critic for the New York Times in his review. He mentions portion size: "Nearly two pounds of nourishment for $6."

Celluloid Heroes and Hurdy Gurdy Man have a similar chord progression.

The version of Hurdy Gurdy Man by Angel Corpus Christi makes the similarity plain.

Indigo girls Uncle John's Band

2D Scrolling Using Hand-Drawn Look

I hope these screenshots of Ambrosia Software's new 2D scroller are not a hoax.

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I wondered what would happen to my unlimited metro cards. They are of little value during the strike.

According to the MTA, they will be extended for as many days as the strike lasts.

Whew!

Accordion 3

* Baba O'Riley
* Einstein on the Beach
* Heroes
* The Orff thing with the medieval text and all the grunting. Carmina Burana.
* The Arabian Dance from Nutcracker.

Accordion arrangements

I remember making a list of songs to consider arranging for accordion choir, but it has gone astray. I should have blogged them.

* Jump Into the Fire (Nilsson)
* Night and Day (Porter)
* Sweet Dreams Are Made of These (Eurythmics)
* Rhianon ( Swirling near-arpeggio melody over ostinato laying ground for massive mushy chord climax )
* Tusk ( Raucus marching band finale, but how to adapt the foundational "drummer's exercise" ? )
* Tainted Love (but will the choiristers be willing to declaim "Doink! Doink!"?