A Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas Many years ago, while listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, it seemed to me a shame that such great classical music had been allowed to fall into disuse. Pieces like Capriccio are clearly of interest to today's youth and rock culture, but just need a re-interpretation by some good musicians with a populist sensibility and modern instruments. Last night, I got to see my idea live on-stage.The Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings classical music alive with electric guitars and drums and bass - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart, Pachelbel, with distored guitars, throaty vocals, and colored flames, sparks and lazers. So, my vision came to be, right? Well, not exactly.The show was a Christmas show - a Christmas Story told by a narratator and punctuated with rousing renditions of traditional Christmas songs and classical pieces, sometimes with lyrics written for them. Even putting aside the amateurish writing (of lyrics and narration) and the frequently comical juxtaposition of suggestively dressed females singers with the Christams themes, the music was not what I envisioned. Although they played a variety of Tchaikovsky and Mozart and Beethoven pieces, they managed to make them all sound alike. A little keyboard intro leading into a wall of guitar/bass sound. With 2 keyboardists, a drummer, bassist, 8 cello/viola/violin musicians, and 2 guitarists, they pretty much managed to fill every slot in the harmonic territory, leaving no gaps for the listener to enjoy himself. The Tchaikovsky pieces were especially out-of-place as they missed entirely the lightness of the pieces. But there were moments of very good music, thankfully. Their rendition of Pachelbel's Canon in D was done in markedly different style to good effect, and even the lyrics added to the piece were inspiring. Another piece I didn't recognize, also done in a change of style away from the wall-of-rock-sound was excellent - mostly due to the excellent vocalist Jay Pierce and the gospel-bluesy guitar work of Alex Skolnick. Later, the thudding of the electric guitars plus bass worked well for the Beethoven inspired finale, featuring variations on the 9th's second movement and the 5th's first movement. One can easily imagine a deaf Beethoven appreciating being able to feel his music in his very bones. Mozart played in the same style, while fun and amusing, just didn't work as well.The light show was very entertaining though, and the whole production very impressive. I just wish more rock groups, especially the older ones like Kansas and the like, would allow themselves to move on and see themselves as a band, not a group - the difference being the a band plays music live from any composer (not just their own pieces), reinterpreting it for a live audience. Bringing up-to-date the pieces that have made music history. But it needs a little more musical sensibility that what TSO brought last night.

Many years ago, while listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol, it seemed to me a shame that such great classical music had been allowed to fall into disuse. Pieces like Capriccio are clearly of interest to today's youth and rock culture, but just need a re-interpretation by some good musicians with a populist sensibility and modern instruments. Last night, I got to see my idea live on-stage.

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra brings classical music alive with electric guitars and drums and bass - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart, Pachelbel, with distored guitars, throaty vocals, and colored flames, sparks and lazers. So, my vision came to be, right? Well, not exactly.

The show was a Christmas show - a Christmas Story told by a narratator and punctuated with rousing renditions of traditional Christmas songs and classical pieces, sometimes with lyrics written for them. Even putting aside the amateurish writing (of lyrics and narration) and the frequently comical juxtaposition of suggestively dressed females singers with the Christams themes, the music was not what I envisioned. Although they played a variety of Tchaikovsky and Mozart and Beethoven pieces, they managed to make them all sound alike. A little keyboard intro leading into a wall of guitar/bass sound. With 2 keyboardists, a drummer, bassist, 8 cello/viola/violin musicians, and 2 guitarists, they pretty much managed to fill every slot in the harmonic territory, leaving no gaps for the listener to enjoy himself. The Tchaikovsky pieces were especially out-of-place as they missed entirely the lightness of the pieces.

But there were moments of very good music, thankfully. Their rendition of Pachelbel's Canon in D was done in markedly different style to good effect, and even the lyrics added to the piece were inspiring. Another piece I didn't recognize, also done in a change of style away from the wall-of-rock-sound was excellent - mostly due to the excellent vocalist Jay Pierce and the gospel-bluesy guitar work of Alex Skolnick. Later, the thudding of the electric guitars plus bass worked well for the Beethoven inspired finale, featuring variations on the 9th's second movement and the 5th's first movement. One can easily imagine a deaf Beethoven appreciating being able to feel his music in his very bones. Mozart played in the same style, while fun and amusing, just didn't work as well.

The light show was very entertaining though, and the whole production very impressive. I just wish more rock groups, especially the older ones like Kansas and the like, would allow themselves to move on and see themselves as a band, not a group - the difference being the a band plays music live from any composer (not just their own pieces), reinterpreting it for a live audience. Bringing up-to-date the pieces that have made music history. But it needs a little more musical sensibility that what TSO brought last night.

A World of Wolverines Wolverine is a Marvel comic hero (anti-hero?) whose bones are laced with the made up steel "adamantium". Adamantium is the material of convenience for unimaginative writers needing a crutch - due to it's complete indestructibility. Such things are needed in a comic universe whenever one needs something even The Hulk can't smash. So Wolverine has a bone structure that can't be beat, so to speak. In an earlier blog, I made an offhand remark about wanting carbone nanotubes incorporated into my bones. Apparently my remark wasn't exactly prescient, as scientists have already started on it. What especially kills me about this article is the line The nanotubes were chemically treated to attract calcium ions and produce the growth of hydroxyapatite crystals on their surfaces. Of course, it seems carbon nanotubes can be chemically modified to do nearly anything.Maybe someday we'll all be able to leap tall buildings.

Wolverine is a Marvel comic hero (anti-hero?) whose bones are laced with the made up steel "adamantium". Adamantium is the material of convenience for unimaginative writers needing a crutch - due to it's complete indestructibility. Such things are needed in a comic universe whenever one needs something even The Hulk can't smash. So Wolverine has a bone structure that can't be beat, so to speak.

In an earlier blog, I made an offhand remark about wanting carbone nanotubes incorporated into my bones. Apparently my remark wasn't exactly prescient, as scientists have already started on it. What especially kills me about this article is the line The nanotubes were chemically treated to attract calcium ions and produce the growth of hydroxyapatite crystals on their surfaces. Of course, it seems carbon nanotubes can be chemically modified to do nearly anything.

Maybe someday we'll all be able to leap tall buildings.

Reason #834 Why little Jaime is (hopefully) destined never to go to School School LunchI'm not sure what there is to add to that link. My favorite line? As a culture, we Americans tend to fixate on certain exotic dangers (unpasteurized cheese will kill our children!) while completely ignoring real and pervasive dangers (there's shit in our meat; our schools are feeding children swill).

School Lunch

I'm not sure what there is to add to that link. My favorite line?

As a culture, we Americans tend to fixate on certain exotic dangers (unpasteurized cheese will kill our children!) while completely ignoring real and pervasive dangers (there's shit in our meat; our schools are feeding children swill).

Everything New is Old So, just when I got a new baby, I also got a new job, though I haven't blogged about it yet because I've been kind of busy with Jaime. However, it's really an old job at Lazer, whom I worked for in 1998-1999. I've wanted to go back to working at Lazer for a long time because I've learned to hate big companies and working with too many other people with differing viewpoints. It's nice to be a good team player, but when you're not, then it sucks to try to pretend you are. Trying to work within the framework of what is acceptable/understandable/satisfying to others has been little else but a drag.On the other hand, I originally left Lazer to better learn the craft of programming, and nothing makes it clearer how successful I was at that than to come back here and work with my old code. Ugh! On the one hand, working with others was annoying, but on the other, I was right that I needed to do it to learn. It's a good thing I learned one other thing though, or else this return to Lazer would represent nothing but acceptance of stagnation.I learned how to learn. Most of what I learned I learned via open-source projects and by engaging in conversation with other programmers around the net. And so, coming back to Lazer, I'm armed with the connections and the habits of exposing myself to new ideas on a daily basis - via the internet. I not afraid I'll stagnate here at Lazer - in fact, without having to work under an organization that doesn't share my biases, I'm hopeful I'll progress more quickly. And best of all, I get to do it at a small company I actually enjoy working at. I'm feeling pretty fortunate about how all this has worked out.

So, just when I got a new baby, I also got a new job, though I haven't blogged about it yet because I've been kind of busy with Jaime. However, it's really an old job at Lazer, whom I worked for in 1998-1999. I've wanted to go back to working at Lazer for a long time because I've learned to hate big companies and working with too many other people with differing viewpoints. It's nice to be a good team player, but when you're not, then it sucks to try to pretend you are. Trying to work within the framework of what is acceptable/understandable/satisfying to others has been little else but a drag.

On the other hand, I originally left Lazer to better learn the craft of programming, and nothing makes it clearer how successful I was at that than to come back here and work with my old code. Ugh! On the one hand, working with others was annoying, but on the other, I was right that I needed to do it to learn. It's a good thing I learned one other thing though, or else this return to Lazer would represent nothing but acceptance of stagnation.

I learned how to learn. Most of what I learned I learned via open-source projects and by engaging in conversation with other programmers around the net. And so, coming back to Lazer, I'm armed with the connections and the habits of exposing myself to new ideas on a daily basis - via the internet. I not afraid I'll stagnate here at Lazer - in fact, without having to work under an organization that doesn't share my biases, I'm hopeful I'll progress more quickly. And best of all, I get to do it at a small company I actually enjoy working at.

I'm feeling pretty fortunate about how all this has worked out.