The Beatles

I can't say I'm exactly rediscovering the Beatles. They're too ingrained into my being for that. However, I had taken enuough of a break from them that in listening to Magical Mystery Tour yesterday, I was impressed by how truly special they are. Who needs to be told this again? Well, sometimes we need to be reminded of something we already know. Recently I read Douglas Adams' The Salmon of Doubt, a posthumous book of unfinished work and essays. Forgive me for paraphrasing but he recalls how special the Beatles were and how many people didn't get it. They didn't get how incredibly different they were than, say, the Rolling Stones. How can you compare? It makes me wonder about objective truth and the mystical value of music. How does the sound of the music relate to the music itself. More and more I find what I enjoy is the sonics, the soundspace, the quality of the music as contrasted with the notes. Nobody illustrates this better than the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Radiohead.

Do yourself a favor and stop reading this and put on Magical Mystery Tour or the White Album. I have spoken. Wait, then put on Dark Side of the Moon and Kid A. (Warning: don't ask yourself what you've done with your life in any temporal proximity to listening to this music unless you happen to be J.S. Bach.)

Issa

The farmer pauses,
wipes snotty fingers
on the plum blossom.

--Issa

I've decided Issa is the best Haiku poet ever. Don't try to deny it.

Make magazine

This week in the local hip bookstore I found a magazine that speaks to my desire to make things, aptly named Make (www.makezine.com). Or "Make: technology on your time" to be complete. Beside the subject matter, I was also drawn to its graphic design which is clean and interesting and suited to the purpose of outlining the projects contained inside, many of which are electronics, at least in this issue. I can't tell whether this discovery is ultimately good for the many unfinished and even unstarted projects I have. Is it inspiration or distraction? It's hard to know why I haven't got where I want to be (dare I say "finished"?) on the projects I do have going. In any event, I rationalize that this is at least a wholesome alternative to television. I wonder how much longer I can hide behind that one.