In the review of the novel for The Washington Post, Marie Arana called it "a deeply affecting novel, not only for the dark nooks and crannies it explores, but for the magic that seeps into its characters’ subconsciouses, for the lengths to which they will go to protect or damage one another, for the brilliant characterizations it delivers along the way ... Murakami can herd the troubles of a very large world and still mind a few precious details. He may be taking us deeper and deeper into a fractured modernity and its uneasy inhabitants, but he is ever alert to minds and hearts, to what it is, precisely, that they feel and see, and to humanity’s abiding and indomitable spirit."[57]
The scene with the baby in the delivery room crawling away, neglected: It's the reason I don't put my loved ones in my Facebook posts, and am careful what I put out where.
I was the last one I know to get a smartphone. And it still bothers me how much it seeps into my day. Always checking, swiping, notifying... very disruptive for even one's sleep. Sad.
"We have bigger houses but smaller families; more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicines but less healthiness. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble in crossing the street to meet our new neighbor. We built more computers to hold more copies than ever, but have less real communication; We have become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are times of fast foods but slow digestion; Tall men but short characters; Steep profits but shallow relationships. It’s a time when there is much in the window but nothing in the room." -Dr. Bob Moorehead
Between the darkness of earth and heaven she was burning fiercely upon a disc of purple sea shot by the blood-red play of gleams; upon a disc of water glittering and sinister. A high, clear flame, an immense and lonely flame, ascended from the ocean, and from its summit the black smoke poured continuously at the sky. She burned furiously, mournful and imposing like a funeral pile kindled in the night, surrounded by the sea, watched over by the stars. A magnificent death had come like a grace, like a gift, like a reward to that old ship at the end of her laborious days. The surrender of her weary ghost to the keeping of stars and sea was stirring like the sight of a glorious triumph. The masts fell just before daybreak, and for a moment there was a burst and turmoil of sparks that seemed to fill with flying fire the night patient and watchful, the vast night lying silent upon the sea. At daylight she was only a charred shell, floating still under a cloud of smoke and bearing a glowing mass of coal within.
And this is how I see the East. I have seen its secret places and have looked into its very soul; but now I see it always from a small boat, a high outline of mountains, blue and afar in the morning; like faint mist at noon; a jagged wall of purple at sunset. I have the feel of the oar in my hand, the vision of a scorching blue sea in my eyes. And I see a bay, a wide bay, smooth as glass and polished like ice, shimmering in the dark. A red light burns far off upon the gloom of the land, and the night is soft and warm. We drag at the oars with aching arms, and suddenly a puff of wind, a puff faint and tepid and laden with strange odors of blossoms, of aromatic wood, comes out of the still night—the first sigh of the East on my face. That I can never forget. It was impalpable and enslaving, like a charm, like a whispered promise of mysterious delight.
O youth! The strength of it, the faith of it, the imagination of it! To me she was not an old rattle-trap carting about the world a lot of coal for a freight—to me she was the endeavour, the test, the trial of life. I think of her with pleasure, with affection, with regret—as you would think of someone dead you have loved. I shall never forget her.... Pass the bottle.
Sad and true. I can't imagine being ten and awash in rapids of e-mail and competition socialtech. I see it in their lustreless eyes.
This sturdy sense of self and self-esteem, the start of a core identity, takes time to develop. It’s pretty amazing when you consider the difference between a first-grader and a fifth-grader. Day by day, kids need time to process their experiences intellectually and emotionally, to integrate new information with their existing body of knowledge and experience. They need time to consolidate it all so that it has meaning and relevance for them. Ideally, they do that with their parents and in the context of family and community. It happens in debriefing time after school over a snack with mom or dad, in extended-day with a teacher, a caregiver or with someone else at home. Dinnertimes when thoughts about the day are processed through family conversations that are supportive and nonjudgmental. Bedtime reading and rituals that offer a quieter space for reflection and an opportunity to bring the events of the day to a peaceful close.
Time for all this was more readily available in the predigital age. With unstructured play on the wane and immersed as they are now in media and tech through these formative years, our children have lost that protected time for reflection and conversation, especially with parents and family. Instead, they often plug in for the ride home from school, watching handheld screens, circulating pictures, texting, or e-mailing friends en route. By the time they arrive home, their social network has moved on to the next thing and they with it, still plugged in to the trending conversation with peers. Kids don’t get home from school anymore; they bring school—and an even larger online community—home with them.
"I believe Thoreau was first and formeost a spiritual man, a prophet in some ways, as from his post there at Walden Pond he foresaw the many challenges that would face mankind if we continued, as we did, at full speed into the industrial age. He had already witnessed men who led lives of quiet desperation as they sought satisfaction and fulfillment in material gains, and he knew this futile effort would only increase as new industry brought more goods to be obtained and more hours were spent working to earn the money to pay for such goods. The instruction from his masterwork, Walden, to 'simplify, simplify' has for 154 years now summed up his message that satisfaction cannot be found in material things and the statement from his essay 'Walking' that 'Wildness is the preservation of the world' reminds us that nature offers us salvation as it stands as a testament to purity and truth, while at the same time it calls us to recognize what is most natural within ... the natural state of man is to Thoreau a spiritual one. This is a theme that is present throughout all of his work. - Cathryn McIntyre
Great article yesterday on NPR - the cable t.v. hawkers are afraid, very afraid: (LINK). It's been a year and about four months since I cut the umbilical. To reflect, I'd say it's been satisfying getting my time back. I simply lost interest, with the majority of shows catering to dullards, specializing in the profane, debasing our sensibilities, and peddling "infotainment" to mostly the lowest common denominator. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of pop culture, I keep up with what's going on (especially '80s). Full disclosure: I watch two shows. One is "The Walking Dead", but on the other side of the spectrum is PBS News Hour or Nova when I can catch it. I also like Craig Ferguson if I'm ever up that late. I refuse to keep a t.v. in the bedroom. I'd rather reach for a magazine, short story, or Imprimis in the morning, something light and imaginative at night, or just good old talk radio.
I remember a telemarketer calling, more than one, trying to test the waters, looking for vulnerabilities and the means to bring me back. I've done battle with a grizzled vet who could care less and a more idealistic college graduate who wouldn't quickly succumb to my arguments against plugging back in. I have a few handy references to back myself up - the time when Dateline NBC falsified their data, newscasting dirtbags, or shows like the Kardashians and Maury. The barrage of media in all forms contributes a great deal to the malsocialized, spoon-fed, attention-deficient public; I asked the kid coming over today looking for a quarter what he'd do with it. He said he'd "buy an iPad with it." I said, "That scooter you have there looks a lot more fun than an iPad."
It was in the '90s that I began to become turned off by cable, and my friends were probably somewhat taken aback. I don't pretend to be a saint, but back then, MTV had long since turned into 24/7 pulp trash (and zero music) with forerunners of the "reality" model like The Real World, Road Rules and Jackass, themselves harbingers of the Idiocracy to follow. So when I would leave the room when my roommates watched, they'd get confused, "What's the matter with him?" I was never above locker room talk in the frat house but the relentless drumbeat of s_x and scatology was overbearing as networks raced to the bottom in who could outdo whom in terms of shock value. I used to defend shows like Howard Stern for standing up for creative freedom and maybe - Anti-Puritanism? But I held onto something that I think is valuable, and that's a bit of modesty. Attention to modesty, well, elevates us from behaving like animals in the long run. It's...civility. Civility is good, civility promotes harmony, allows us to better resist pressures that make us want to clobber the clod in Wal-Mart with their pants hanging down off their asses or mumbling in line, cutting us off on the highway, not defending women, taking advantage of the elderly.
So, I'm happy with my decision. Maybe I spend more time on the internet, as seems to be the case with other emerging "zero-t.v. households". But there is just very little satisfying or worthwhile on t.v.
From the comments to an article, "Amish Population Booms in U.S." (LINK)
12 users liked this comment 11 users disliked this comment
What a horror. Hardworking people who provide for themselves and their families. People who take responsibility for educating their children. Don't let this spread. These ideas could be a disaster for the Democrats who have worked so, so hard to teach the urban dwellers that they shouldn't be responsible for anything.
Two ideas for you: "tolerate or die" and "scale of convenience/to actualized reality."
Despite the size of the quote, so much is contained within that is loathsome to so-called progressives. When exposed to fact, they hiss, spit venom and melt. Despite a small sample size, note the domestic Balkanization inherent in 12 people 'liking' and 11 'disliking' this comment. A few other telling comments on the article, "It's a cult,", "What do you do if you have no t.v., no cell phone, etc."
So you have this group, the Amish, that choose to withdraw insulate from the surrounding culture (informational and economic), build their own communities, farm, and so forth. Hey, that's not illegal. On a sliding scale of convenience/actualization that moves from flint and tinder to the automatic-donut-feeder (Simpsons reference), it's not a huge logical leap to surmise the progressive "party of tolerance" would be the group that that doesn't appreciate the idea that someone would rock the boat, and is greatly suspicious of an entity that has self-removed from the path of its shrill propaganda vehicles. ("Tolerate or die.") You duck the a wrecking ball of political correctness the first time, don't worry, it's swinging back. Remove your Chick-fil-As from Chicago and Boston.
It is an implicit indictment of torn American values; the mere suggestion that the Democratic NEA may be culpable, the politics of victimization may be the norm, the handout society says, "Gimme," and that big journalism may frown on ideas like self-reliance, religion, community, morality being alien and even fulsome in the national fabric.
We are the problem, we like to blame x and y and z, the Trilateral Commission, or who knows what, but it’s not really that way. We Americans are so addicted to stuff, we are overweight, we have this well-fed consumer hog nation where you go to Wal-Mart or Costco, Sam’s Club or Best Buy, et. al., and these box stores are just chock full of stuff you can get for very favorable prices…
…You have breakfast as I did at a motel in Minnesota a few days ago and after a four minute breakfast you have a pile of trash of plastic cups, plastic spoons, plastic containers that have now been used for their one and only time in the history of the planet and they go into the landfill.
So we’ve got the people who drive to the food shop at the end of the block to buy a 96 oz. drink filled with sugar who get no exercise, who are just awash in stuff. We have garage sales not because we don’t want the stuff anymore, but we want to get rid of it so we can have more room to put more stuff in its place.
My point is: We are this people that have got this sort of transfusion of the fruits of life until it’s choking us, we’re dying. Our health is bad, we don’t get any exercise, we don’t have any civic engagement, we don’t read books, we don’t have - we’ve lost - the art of civility and the art of conversation, we’re watching American Idol or the Housewives of New Jersey and this nation that we’ve produced can’t be saved until each individual listening to this - and by the way, the Jeffersonians are the class act of American life - until the people that are the Americans shut off the t.v., stop feeding themselves 5, 6, 10,000 calories per day, start taking a stroll, start engaging in actual conversation, stop just spouting the talking points of Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olbermann and start actually retaking their lives from this thing that we’ve allowed to happen to us, and when we do that, corporate America will be less powerful than it is. I believe corporate America is working hard to keep us addicted, but we can break the addiction anytime we want by stepping away. We as a people have to say no: We have higher values for our children; we don’t want to just be Wal-Mart Americans. We want to grow some of our own food. We want to read books and have actual converations, we’re not just going to spout talking points. This is liberation. And the liberation has to start with each individual and then your mate and your friends, and the people that you work with, and we have to learn to say no, (and I’m the worst of them!).
I’m trying to break my addictions to the world that I know is destroying the American way of life, so that’s not about Romney, Gingrich or Obama or Wall Street, that’s about habits of the heart. And until we change the habits of the heart, we cannot be a republic.
- Clay Jenkinson as President Jefferson, www.jeffersonhour.com
"They composed some subtle masterpieces during the 80's, and were just one of a number of brilliant bands that were on the edge of the radar screen like so many others playing second fiddle to the smash hit stars such as Duran Duran, Wham! and Madonna." ~inthe00s.com China Crisis attracts because its simplicity defies easy explanation. For me, one of them thar' metaphysical fellers, the more I spun my wheels, the more I got stuck in the mud. Over time, I came to own their five main releases from the 1980s, less reluctantly each time. The personal appeal - something with feeling light and airy - is apropos for the confident time period, and for one aspiring to "openness".
This new(?) C.C. song was just revealed to me by poking around on the largely defunct MySpace - "Watching Over Burning Fields." As an instrumental, it stands on its own, is solemn, not quite sentimental, evocative of the era's mood maybe a layer or two beneath the surface. Like the rest of the best of New Wave, it came from the U.K.
C.C. isn't even one of my top ten favorite bands, it's their light and airy uniqueness and RELATIVE obscurity that makes me want to know more. (Don't worry, I'm not a frigg'n hipster.) Ambitious name, had heard of them before, why not. I don't want to make them into something they're not or come off like they've moved me into thinking they're the best "quieter" band ever. What I like is that they didn't run around with hubris after their successes but rather continued enjoying making music. In fact, my entire fascination of late with C.C. is about curiosity - background on them has been hard to find. They have been quite a puzzle: first, why their musical style?
At first, I did not care for their blend (I hate to say it, but "elevator muzak" from a different age is what I was thinking), but now my happy realization is that what typifies all I've seen to date on them is subtle yet powerful. From there, why the name? There is a certain starkness they create.
The purport/tenor of their name & music: Is it their interest in the unknown, other hemisphere? Is it political? Sociological? What influenced this?
Finally, now that they've grown on me (kind of like the kid in class or person you never thought you would end up liking, but did), what is thematic to them?
Is there any unity of theme among their covers?
Among their songs?
I see them pair the perspective of large and looming artifacts of the new age with atmospheric music on Fire and Steel, as well as tension of scaled simplicity against the vulnerability of wide-open landscapes. In addition, clear evidence of theme is seen on the album art for 'Shapes', of Minimalist/Modernist nature. "Minimalism argued that extreme simplicity could capture all of the sublime representation needed in art," says that ubiquitous online encyclopedia, and I celebrate in a realization that this whole thing takes flight from these uniting structures.
All in all, I feel they were just of the mind to make music, I've seen written up as borrowing from blues, reggae, among other styles and, of course, new romanticism/new wave. They rejected "African and White" being interpreted as a political statement; others say this was blatantly political. Finally, a different review concluded layering was their strength and trademark: flute over trombone over keyboards among other innovations. Since there is little info on this subject, I wanted to offer some general thoughts of my own. I hope this doesn't come across as a bunch of haughty b.s. from a dabbler in symbolism; but you don't just reduce art to equations. However, there is an analytical process, you get some subjectivity, discussion and scrutiny, and finally some general conclusions - temporary or enduring, which can aid our appreciation.
My favorite C.C songs:
10.Red Letter Day
9.Blue Sea
8.Good Again
7.No More Blue Horizons
6.Wishful Thinking
5.African and White
4.Watching over Burning Fields
3.Arizona Sky
2.Here Come a Raincloud
1.Soul Awakening
While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.
He came closer still and called out, "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
The old man smiled, and said, "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."
-Unk.
Finally, a video worthy of a new spotlight! And for the next 30 days, it's your rad 80s video of the month.
Man, oh man alive! Had not heard this Thomas Dolby (80s synthpop hero) song before tonight. It screams, "New romantic." Though I know little about him, I know of his vast influence. According to one source, he's an INTP, an architect, and of the "Promethean temperament" according to Kerisey temperament analysis.
The most striking scene in the video comes at 2:00, do the expansive rooftop views of snow, an ocean liner in fog - portray bleakness? Catharsis? What is going on here?
"Though he never had many hits, Thomas Dolby became one of the most recognizable figures of the synth-pop movement of early-'80s new wave. Largely, this was due to his skillful marketing. Dolby promoted himself as a kind of mad scientist, an egghead that had successfully harnassed the power of synthesizers and samplers, using them to make catchy pop and light electro-funk. In 1981, he launched a solo career, which resulted in a number of minor hits and two big hits -- "She Blinded Me with Science" (1982) and "Hyperactive" (1984)." - Stephen Thomas Erlewine
"Taught himself to play guitar, c. 1970; dropped out of school to pursue music, 1974; performed with Jamaican R&B band and played jazz in restaurants; played synthesizers for Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club, late 1970s; toured Europe and U.S. with Lene Lovich; played in Paris subways; played synthesizer for Foreigner, Def Leppard, Joan Armatrading, and Malcolm McClaren, early 1980s; released debut single, "Urges," 1981; signed with EMI Records; released first album, The Golden Age of Wireless, Capitol, 1982; co-produced Joni Mitchell's Dog Eat Dog and produced albums by George Clinton and Prefab Sprout, 1985; participated in Live Aid concert; participated in Roger Waters's production of The Wall, West Berlin, 1990. Composer of film scores." - MusicianGuide.com
Verdict: astounding on all fronts. It was a retrospective from all their albums, starting with selections from most recent, going all the way back to their roots. After pleading with no joy for "North South East West" in the encore, I didn't leave empty-handed. I had great luck in snagging a set list from the stage, scanned in above! All tickets came with a Deadman's Hand EP from the album "untitled #23" and elegant color programmes.
Found this interesting bit of trivia on The Norva. Apparently it's like The Ritz! Who wouldn't want to play there, James Brown definitely liked the hot tub! Someone at the show I met used to bartend there and said it was a "must-visit" for a lot of bands. (Even though it's in ... Norfolk.)
Kind of serious toned until the intermission, but a bit of self-deprecating humor ingratiated The Church to the crowd, although most everyone knew that these legendary musicians didn't need to do so whatsoever. I lost my notes I scribbled, but Steven Kilbey asked why they weren't bigger in 1984, which prompted some innocent joshing at Corey Hart ("Sunglasses at Night"). Then they asked, "Why not '81?" and quipped about Kim Carnes. There were some inevitable Men at Work jibes in there too. Kilbey finally asked why they didn't have better sales in '83, then Marty Wilson-Piper mocked out a Billy Squier ("Stroke Me, Stroke Me") homage - everyone loved it. Kilbey also threw out some commentary that the '90s was a dangerous time to play, because they were caught between the new romantics movement and grunge. He said they were some kind of hybrid or other hard to place movement - " 'motes," a.k.a. darker than most, or something like that, and I think he also got a jibe in that all these "emo" kids nowadays are too effeminate and the 'motes would mop up the mat with them, to more cheers. So many reasons to like them; like other pop icons from Australia, you know you're not dealing with a bunch of Nancy-boys or recycled pop-trash. As an aside, connotations maybe only meaningful to me, I think about the austere landscapes of their homeland and The Road Warrior; they don't suffer from a lot of wuss attitudes down there. This music is going to be real. Lots of impromptu glimpses into their personality that evening were especially memorable because that enigmatic and brilliant soul of theirs has attracted people like me for so long.
Oh, the things we think of while walking around darkened ships.
"Captain Harlock is the first, and possibly the only animation heir to the long tradition of space opera tough and taciturn, competent heroes with a sketchy past that gave us the likes of Northwest Smith and Eric John Stark." "Lean, scarred, melancholy, with a penchant for strong drinks and solitude, looking like he's just been kicked out of somewhere, Harlock is still such a strong character that not even his taking care of the token orphan (a '70s anime mainstay) throughout the series ruins the athmosphere. And the fact that for a change we are travelling with someone that actually stops and asks himself 'How the heck did he end up into this apparently hopeless situation?' is also pleasantly refreshing."
