THE OTHER FLUTE

I won't give Mr. Fallon any further exposure by showing his bit on "The Other Flute" where he ridicules Robert's last name during the Tonight Show's "Do not read" segment. Here's Robert's response:

Did you miss it?

Since none of us were anywhere near a place to see the total eclipse, here is a video to help us enjoy it.



My favorite bit is the last part where you get an idea of what it looked like on actual, factual Earth.

The NY Times also had some pretty kewl pictures. And since I haven't included any pictures from this particular spot on the planet, here are a couple photos from 8.April.2013. It must have been cold that day. Otherwise one never sees them this close.

Enjoy.

Food for thought

One of my Ravelry friends, HRHPurpleQueen, has struck again with several images that caused me to giggle and/or to think. I hope they brighten your day. And yes, thank you.

The ups & downs of thinking subjunctively

Fascinating Ted talk on the pluses and minuses of having the subjunctive. Bottom line, maybe it's best to look at the past indicatively, and think of the future subjunctively.

Unfortunately no transcript of this radio show. The speaker, Phuc Tran is both a Classicist and a tattooer. He has taught Latin, Greek, German, and Sanskrit at independent schools in New York and Maine.

The other interesting segment was how assuming a power pose, a la Superman, Wonder Woman, or the "victory" or starfish pose (arms outstretched over the head, legs spread wide) for 2 minutes can increase testosterone & lower cortisol levels in the blood (and make you feel better).

Does Body Language Shape Who You Are?
Amy Cuddy is a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School, where she studies how nonverbal behavior and snap judgments affect people. Her research reveals we can change other people's perceptions — and even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions.

 So when you're feeling down, assume a power pose for a couple minutes & you'll probably feel better. Up & at 'em.

The whole show, Spoken & Unspoken, is here.

Now some shots of Mimsy, who seems to like sitting on my clothes - and apparently my flute case.

Yawn

Should I go back to sleep

Yes.

But I like sitting on velvet.

Toe tappin' music

While fast forwarding through last night's Glee to see if Jonathan Groff from Looking ever showed up again, I saw this, a fave of mine back in the day I'd completely forgotten about. Not sure why you need the lyrics, since they're pretty easy to understand (not to say repetitive - oops I just did).




In case you're inspired to get the whole CD, here's what Genius.com has to say,

Tootling &  stitching on tap for later on. Speaking of toe tappin' music, I'm working on Büsser's Prelude & Scherzo & Taffanel's Andante Pastoral & Scherzettino  since my students are, and I gotta be able to demonstrate.

Modern art revisited

I have to admit some of these made me laugh out loud. In a recent NY Times Magazine spread, an artist applies his drawings to works in MOMA. You might want to download them to your computer to see the bigger versions & to see the text of the names of the works on which they're based (or either click on the link above).

I feel therefore I am

On Being's interview this week is with Eve Ensler. There were some many wonderful moments; I'll just quote a few of them here and hope you'll have time to listen to the show or to read the transcript.

"Descartes has so much to answer for. This idea, I think therefore I am, which sounds like a piece of philosophy, but our Western culture is so built around this way overly cerebral disembodied way that we've created all of our institutions and we're so impoverished. We're so much smaller for it."

"I feel therefore I am. I feel therefore I can feel my existence. I feel my body. I feel the breath. I feel the living, breathing fiber that is humanness . . . As if the brain could somehow separate you from your subjective self has created a level of dissociation on the planet. You can get yourself into some mindset which keeps you from opening your heart."

"What if our lives were precious only up to a point? What if we held them loosely and understood that there were no guarantees? So that when you got sick, you weren't a stage, but in a process. And cancer, just like having your heart broken or getting a new job or going to school or a teacher? What if rather than being cast out and defined by some terminal category you were identified as someone in the middle of a transformation that could deepen your soul, open your heart and all the while even if and particularly when you were dying, you would be supported by and be part of a community? And what if each of these things were what we are waiting for?”

And before it all goes away, I wanted to include a shot of the car and its snow box, much diminished from its heyday, but still impressive. And the almost-obligatory cat pix.

And now for something completely different

"I take this to be holy — If futile, uncertain and dire: Our union of fracture, our dread everlasting, This beautiful, desperate desire. The cloud darkens to harrow, It crosses your heart like hand, but it’s cool like the shadow of all that we've seen by the Light that we can't understand."

Some of the lyrics from Grave Angels by singer/song writer Joe Henry (new to me), with whom Krista Tippett had a wonderful interview with  this week. "The Mystery and Adventure of Life and Songwriting". I hope you'll have time to listen to it, or to read the transcript. Here are a few of my favorite moments.

Joe Henry: John Cage said “The past doesn't influence me, I influence it.” I know I'm constantly reimagining my past and assigning different significance to it. It's completely in play all the time.

“It wasn't peace I wanted, so it wasn't peace I found. I wouldn't stand for reason, and it never would sit down.” [From his song, Sparrow,, for which I couldn't find a decent video. It's on the album Invisible Hour.]

KT: I used to hear people talk about — older people talk about being older and I — it disturbed me. I felt like, why are they focusing on that? Like they were highlighting what was wrong. And now I realize that the process of growing older is so fascinating. I mean, you talk about it because it's really interesting.

JH: And there's a liberation that comes with getting to a point where you think, "I'm not waiting for that next great shoe to drop." Both the shoes may be [lying] here. And this might be what there is. And there's terrific liberation in acknowledging what is. That idea of actually seeing in real time, this. And our culture does not know how to encourage that kind of thinking.

KT: here's a great line from “Slide”: “I'm learning more than I intended, try not to though I might.

Here's an extended concert with him on an NPR show called "Tiny Desk."