I can’t tell if the commenter in this post is commenting to me, to Raymond Fortun, or to me about Raymond Fortun.
Apple Safari
Safari: Apple’s new web browser. I’m still not sure whether to be happy or worried.
More feedback: Slashdot, Metafilter, MacSlash, MacNN, Mac OS X Hints, and of course, Crazy Apple Rumors.
McEverything
How many of you can honestly say that, in your entire life, you haven’t tried everything on the McDonald’s menu at least once?
(Beverages and McSalad Shakers don’t count.)
Vox Patris Caelestis
I’m listening to William Mundy’s 16th Century motet Vox Patris Caelestis, sung by The Tallis Scholars. Vox Patris is a Tudor work, which may explain its intensely Romanist themes. The motet itself is beautiful and expansive; a joy to listen to, though of course my Protestant sensibilities take issue with a setting of verse about the Assumption and Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. I must say, though, even were I a devout Catholic, I would be shocked by the portrayal of God the Father calling to Mary as a husband to his beloved wife. It’s almost blatantly lustful! A sample: “Et ponam in te thronum meum quia concupivi speciem tuam.” Translated, “And I will bestow upon you my kingdom, for I have long desired your beauty.” Whoa there, whoa; I think someone needs a cold shower!
Textual considerations aside, the motet is sweeping and grand, layered with beautifully intricate polyphony on every octave. Here’s the CD. Give it a try if you’re into amazing early music from the days of the Counter-Reformation, when Rome, through the work of composers like Mundy, Allegri, and Palestrina, rediscovered the beauty of polyphony.
Postal Experiments
Postal Experiments. See what happens if you ever need to mail a helium-filled balloon. Or a single ski. Or a brick. Or a dollar bill wrapped in clear plastic. Or a toy monkey in a box yelling “Help! Let me out of here!” Just a tip: don’t mail individual bottles of mineral water. (Link via BoingBoing.)
Morning at Baltimore Penn Station
Concourse at Baltimore Penn Station by the light of the early morning sun.
Looking out from the Baltimore Penn Station north windows over the Light Rail tracks. The still-unfinished Charles St. Bridge is in the background.
Looking up from the Baltimore Penn Station train platform.
Photo taken with an Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3MP SD.
Graves, Coburn, Nolte, Busey, and Lileks
Lileks on ST:Nemesis. (Scroll down a bit.) I agree with him right up until the words “loved it.” More input some other time in the far future. Brain is too lazy now.
Embarassing pop culture confession: I am constantly mistaking Peter Graves and James Coburn for each other. Also Nick Nolte and Gary Busey. Don’t laugh. Sometimes they look exactly alike.
Postscript to an Iniquity
“True enough, there’s something monstrously outrageous about that Marcos bust, which looms up on you when you take the, well, Marcos Highway up to Baguio. The sensation is not unlike being fried in your own fat.”
De Quiros on the Marcos Bust Blowup. He makes excellent observations as to how the bombing of the bust relates to “quick-fix” religious fetishism within popular Filipino culture.
Speaking of which (“which” meaning Marcos AND religious fetishism), check out Ernesto “Ambassador of God” Maceda’s latest spiritual epiphany.
Snowy Sunday
After trudging through the snow to attend a heartwarming communion service at Old Otterbein, it has been a perfect afternoon to sit in my room, recoding the travel logs with a plate of cookies, a cup of Earl Grey, and J.S. Bach’s keyboard concerti, while the snowflakes outside coat the world in soft, white silence.
I direct your attention to the poetry of Archibald Lampman.
Old Otterbein
Old Otterbein UMC, Downtown Baltimore. Oldest church building still in use in America.
Looking out at a cold, gray, wintry day from the Old Otterbein sanctuary.
Photo taken with an Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3MP SD.