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A delightful evening at the symphony with Mom this weekend made me aware of the fact that I am not overly keen on Rachmaninov, especially his piano concertos. I haven't heard much of his work, but last night's concerto #3 didn't do much for persuading me to listen to any more of it. Rachmaninov struck me as overly virtuoso, florid, unending, and wholly lacking in cohesion. No one ever told Rachmaninov that too much was enough, I suppose.
Shostakovich's Symphony #10, on the other hand, was astounding - a perfect horror film of a symphony: tense, crushing, inescapable. A perfectly interwoven piece of panic.
In other news, I had the chance this weekend to watch some news programing. (I have a television but no cable or antenna, and I generally like it that way.) One of the things I found most interesting was a segment on Real Time with Bill Maher,where they interviewed democrats in California, asking them who they were voting for and if that person wasn't the democratic pick if they would vote for the rival. I was struck by the fact that, contrary to endless media speculation, the demographics for Hilary and Obama supporters was far more varied than we'd been led to believe. Men were voting for Hilary; women for Obama; and most vowed to vote for the democratic candidate whoever that turned out to be.
One man, classically, remarked that if the democrats hauled someone in off the street he'd vote for them. Gotta love it!
The media is blathering on and on about the viciousness of this campaign, going on about race and gender divergence that will never again be healed, and I think it's a lot of nonsense. Certainly, this contest has highlighted the realities of gender and racial inequality, but the politicking that has gone on in this primary is nothing new - it is the way things have always been done. And once the contest ends - once the referendum is over and the candidate is chosen - the democrats and, I believe, a large majority of the people will rally behind whoever the democratic nominee is. At least, that's what I'm hoping - because John McCain is a doddering moron and if the majority of people in this country are not yet sick of Republican corruption and mismanagement, well then... we deserve what we get.
Moving on to a final and less depressing subject (in a manner of speaking), I saw a wonderfully frightening movie this weekend. The Messengers, directed by the Pang Brothers and produced by Sam Raimi's Ghost House Productions, is a fantastically creepy film. It capitalizes on the notion that the best horror films are those where the horror elements are merely there, where the story is actually about something else. If you enjoy a good, intelligent, gripping scare - see this film.
Shostakovich's Symphony #10, on the other hand, was astounding - a perfect horror film of a symphony: tense, crushing, inescapable. A perfectly interwoven piece of panic.
In other news, I had the chance this weekend to watch some news programing. (I have a television but no cable or antenna, and I generally like it that way.) One of the things I found most interesting was a segment on Real Time with Bill Maher,where they interviewed democrats in California, asking them who they were voting for and if that person wasn't the democratic pick if they would vote for the rival. I was struck by the fact that, contrary to endless media speculation, the demographics for Hilary and Obama supporters was far more varied than we'd been led to believe. Men were voting for Hilary; women for Obama; and most vowed to vote for the democratic candidate whoever that turned out to be.
One man, classically, remarked that if the democrats hauled someone in off the street he'd vote for them. Gotta love it!
The media is blathering on and on about the viciousness of this campaign, going on about race and gender divergence that will never again be healed, and I think it's a lot of nonsense. Certainly, this contest has highlighted the realities of gender and racial inequality, but the politicking that has gone on in this primary is nothing new - it is the way things have always been done. And once the contest ends - once the referendum is over and the candidate is chosen - the democrats and, I believe, a large majority of the people will rally behind whoever the democratic nominee is. At least, that's what I'm hoping - because John McCain is a doddering moron and if the majority of people in this country are not yet sick of Republican corruption and mismanagement, well then... we deserve what we get.
Moving on to a final and less depressing subject (in a manner of speaking), I saw a wonderfully frightening movie this weekend. The Messengers, directed by the Pang Brothers and produced by Sam Raimi's Ghost House Productions, is a fantastically creepy film. It capitalizes on the notion that the best horror films are those where the horror elements are merely there, where the story is actually about something else. If you enjoy a good, intelligent, gripping scare - see this film.
