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February 27, 2006
Why, Alex, Why?
Why do I come to extremely value certain things that Alex publishes, but this revaluation always happens after 4-6 months after poo-poo-ing them as technodrivel or unapplicable to my interests? Examples:
- Moveable Type, the blogging software run by blog().this
- The concept of Wikis
- Del.icio.us and his shared bookmarks technique
- The brilliance of everything by Phillip Greenspun (ok, 4-6 years)
Because of Alex, I was exposed to all of this stuff almost eight months before any of them become "well known". But how does he pick them up a year before that happens? Maybe if I had a real engineering job.
And how do I sort this "useful on a delay timer" stuff out from the other stuff he publishes that I ALSO blow off as "not relevant" to me? Bluegrass? Motorcycles? Shameless opinion? Offending my Muslim friends?
All I can predict is that as much as I think it's impractical and stupid right now, in 4 months I'll probably be engaged in a 50 month interest free loan. And riding a bicycle daily.
Posted by Jeff at 06:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 21, 2006
Opera: Rigoletto
On Friday, Jeremy and Bobbie Bredfeldt treated us to the opera Rigoletto at the Lyric Opera House. It was surprisingly enjoyable. They translate the Italian lyrics into English and project them as supertitles above the stage. It was funny to see the translation of La Donne e Mobile, a song that most people have heard and could hum along to without ever identifying the source. It's an upbeat and noble tune that sounds like it would be cooing about love, but it's actually complaining about women:
"Woman is fickle, like a feather in the wind,
she changes the tone of her voice and her thoughts
and her thoughts, and her thoughts!
Always a sweet, pretty face,
in tears or in laughter, she is always lying
He is always miserable who trusts in her
who to her confides, his unwary heart!"
To make any opera enjoyable, my advice is to read about it beforehand, and remember coffee and binoculars (really). And arrive in style in a stretch limo.
Posted by Jeff at 11:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack