Don’t know where anything is; don’t know if I live in Haddon Township or Westmont (might be both!); don’t know how to work the microwave (the what?); no curtains on the windows – this level of disorientation actually reminds me of college!
But the Phillies are 5-1 to start the season and the FiOS is furiously fast. Plus, I learned last night that our house is just around the corner from Saddler’s Woods, a major stop on the the Underground Railway. Let freedom ring!
Tomorrow is moving day! I have no idea where anything is. I tend to pack boxes with a terrible mish-mash of items, especially when moving day is hours away. That means that the socks, the mustard, computer cords and hard drives, dish towels and winter hats and gloves will probably all end up in the same box.
This weekend will be pure chaos as I look for all the work clothes I need for Monday. Of course, the stereo will be set up first. We’ll also try to get the kitchen going fairly quickly. Fun fun fun!
We closed on March 18, so its been tough having this great new toy and not being able to play with it. But all that changes tomorrow. Hopefully, the dog and cats will adjust quickly.
Robert J. Sawyer wrote one of the best books of 2009 with www.wake, which envisions the way in which the internet (you know, THE internet) could become self-aware. It’s great story-telling and air-tight tech. The second book in the trilogy comes out tomorrow. Check out a trailer for the book here.
Go ahead, click the bunny.
Emily did a tremendous job finishing up what will be our bedroom when we move in seven days. And I think Lucy is getting less anxious about the coming transition.
Afterwards, we were able to enjoy some quality time and amazing weather at Liberty Lands with Dorothy, Benjamin and Sadie.
Simone Rosetti
Cover bands. Tribute bands. “Experiences.” Do not get me started! Have you never wanted to do something creative? Something that was truly yours? Do you see your job as, essentially, one of impersonation? The only passion that really comes across to the audience is the passion for perfection. At best, the performers disappear, or, as is often the case, wear costumes. But part of it is still an exercise in impersonation.
But I am a good one to talk. Let us not even, for the moment, mention the dozens of shows by a certain Genesis tribute band that I have witnessed. As an audience member I delight in the opportunity to see something I never had the opportunity to witness the first time around. And, taken on its merits, the performance is inspiring – sound, vision, composition. But here’s the sick part: I also have audio-only recordings of tribute bands! Why not just listen to the original? That’s the thing I’ve been listening to for twenty-five years!
But that’s just it. After all this time, I’m looking for something different, another level of genius. And when that raw material is in another’s hands, the possibility for “interpretation” or variation is dangerously prominent.
Well, The Watch is your cure for the common tribute band. Part of what motivated Genesis (a BIG part) was the desire/need to write music. That push to be creative, to do something new, was, no doubt, a big part of what moved the real Genesis on stage. The Musical Box has never had that. New music has always been explicitly excluded from their mandate. The Watch, on the other hand, has four studio albums of original material and a live album of that material. They are established original artists. They have also created two Genesis programs that perfectly imitate the dominating force of Foxtrot and Nursery Cryme. Those records have had a profound, though often overlooked, influence on music throughout Europe, North America and South America.
Will The Watch have that kind of impact? I don’t think so, but one never knows. The point is that they are making the music that they want to make, and while it is overwhelmingly influenced by Gabriel-era Genesis, it is also their own. Or is this what Genesis would have sounded like if that remarkable quintet had never disbanded? That’s a fanboy question for the ages.
For now, I count myself very lucky to have come across this band from Milan. Thirty-eight years ago, Genesis was looking for a break with a live show that they new was good, but it wasn’t getting through outside England. Italy was a home for Genesis when they were on the road. Now, it seems, Genesis has become a musical home for a few gifted musicians from Italy.
I have ordered The Watch’s two most recent titles from Amazon – Primitive and Planet Earth. I also want to thank Sommutante for having an amazing music blog. It’s in Portuguese, but it’s pretty easy to see he’s pretty hip. And I don’t recommend Google Translate. Just listen to the music.
Shining Bald Heads (5:55) – from Vacuum (2004):
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Within a tiny droplet of water, there can be an entire ecosystem teeming with life. The space between two people who get up and go to work and try to find happiness and comfort and fulfillment can be more complicated and multi-faceted than any diamond. No number of special effects explosions in countless summer blockbusters can equal the poignancy of a moving conversation or a close-up of a human face looking right into the eyes.
Two movie trailers have come my way this morning and they both appear to embody a fearless approach to narrative that pushes my buttons. Why not make movies that embrace the questions of existence, life and death, why we’re here and what it’s all about? Why not tackle the most horrifying and unknowable issues that are present for every sentient being?
The first of these comes from a blog called This is Who We Are. It’s devoted to the television program Millenium and the extraordinary and unique talents of that show’s star Lance Henricksen. He stars in The Penitent Man:
There is a spoiler video of of about 8 minutes, but since it appears this small project will see the dark of moviehouses, I will take my chance and wait.
The next trailer is for a Brazilian film Nosso Lar, and comes to me from the wonderful sci-fi/post-apocalyptic genre website Quiet Earth. Talk about big ideas, this one goes right after death and the afterlife. I’ll happy read subtitles for an hour or two if I can get an opportunity to see this:
There is certainly a time for fart-gags and explosions. There is a time for the Bourne Identity and Inglorious Basterds and romantic comedies and Gladiator. These are all good things. But sometimes, you gotta chuck it all out the window. Sometimes you SHOULD take yourself too seriously. Sometimes you’ve got to shoot for beyond the moon and beyond convention. Maybe, just maybe, that is the space that these two films will occupy
Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Schneeberg
The world is turning rapidly under our feet. This can not be avoided, but it need not always be celebrated.
Last Thursday we attended the successful settlement on our first home. It is a bittersweet moment because it means leaving the city limits of this glorious and frustrating town. I wish I had the money to be a stylish, bohemian intellectual with a beautiful row home in a safe neighborhood, but it ain’t gonna happen. not now, anyway. I’m taking my liberal politics and my strange music to the ‘burbs.
In the midst of preparing for closing, I left a pair of work projects for the weekend. this meant several hours at the office on Sunday, when I should have been home packing for our move 0 which is just a few short weeks away. One thing I was not working on was a trial that has been listed several times, but for one reason or another, has never gone forward. My clients grow weary of the hurry-up-and-wait approach that the Courts insist on. Because the matter had been listed so many times, I am ready. I just have to drag all my files and tech (computer, project and screen for power-point presentation and video testimony to show the jury) to Court and I’m ready.
So our latest listing for this trial was yesterday, and, low and behold, the Judge was actually ready for us. He dismissed us for the morning and advised us to come back after lunch to pick a jury.
As I pulled into the parking lot after getting my gear and a quick snack, I check email and learned that Arthur Schneeberg had died. Arthur was my Mom’s first cousin and a man I had admired my whole life. He was a gifted physician and a loving family member. He was the most unassuming man, completely unpretentious. Yet his level of scholarship about his work and religion always inspired me. I am proud to be a part of his family.
So, instead of finally putting on my trial, the case goes back into the “waiting to re-list” category and today I take my Mom to a funeral.
Tomorrow we go to closing on out first house! I can’t believe that at this time tomorrow I will actually own real estate. Yes, it means moving out of the city and that will take some getting used to, but we’re going to a really cool community with close friends nearby and the ride to my office will hardly be any longer than what I deal with now.
So we have walk thru at 8am and closing at 9. Then back to work for 2pm client meeting.
The actual move won’t happen for a couple weeks, but tomorrow is still a very big day.
Got a nice little case in front of Judge Fernandez-Vina starting tomorrow. I would much rather be telling you all about all the killer music that was added to the collection this weekend OR how we’re getting ready to pack up all our shit and move across the river.
All that will have to come later. For now, make sure you are up to date on Ms. Emily’s prodigious writing efforts. She’s carrying the blogging ball for both of us at: