Sunday, June 29, 2008

Yea!

I have to say that this has got to be one of my favorite times of year. For those of you who know me, you probably know that I am obsessed with Shakespeare, and where I live, we have a month-long Shakespeare festival, which I always volunteer at. This year, they are doing Richard III (one of my top five Shakespeare plays) and As You Like It. The festival just started and I've been there almost every night. Ahh, life is good.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Thoughts on Corigliano's Pied Piper Fantasy

I have recently been listening a lot to Pied Piper Fantasy, a flute concerto by John Corigliano. It was commissioned in 1978 by Sir James Galway and premiered by him in 1980. What really surprised me about this piece is how wonderfully theatrical it is. John Corigliano wrote a very detailed write up about it on the Schirmer web site. The article can be found HERE. I think that if you listen to a recording of it and follow along with the "synopsis", I think you'll be surprised at how wonderfully the story is told and how vividly the images are portrayed. Check it out!

Monday, June 9, 2008

How to be selective about what you read, and why.

I have recently been rather busy, and I've been feeling like I haven't been having enough to really read the books that I really want to read. In the precious time that I do have to read, I want to read great stuff, soI've made some criteria, for selecting material.
I'll start with why. I've heard that the brain retains everything you hear, read, experience etc. and it affects us unconsciously. I'm going to try and find a link to an article, but until then...
If we retain every thing, then thats great for all the great stuff, but what about the bad media? We are retaining all that too! Thats not so great! So I've decided to be more selective about what I read and make sure I'm not retaining any junk!

So heres the criteria that I'm going to push a book through.

  1. Reputation. Do I know any one thats read it? Did they have favorable reviews? Even they didn't like it, I'll still ask if it was well written and if they think its well written.
  2. Did they learn anything? If they didn't learn anything, I will definitely reconsider if its worth reading.
  3. Relevancy. Is it relevant to where I am in life right now, what I'm interested in at the moment or whats happening in the world? If not, it may have to wait.
I'll likely keep refining this, but its just a basic idea. And this isn't set in stone. Just because it doesn't mean I won't read it. I'm just trying to be more selective, so that I'm only reading the best.

-Dan

Coming soon!

Alas, my blog fadeth into the graveyard of dying blogs. But it shall not be...

Coming soon: How to be selective about what you read, and why.