Molto Vivace: Music Babble

Here is a list of some of the greatest music pieces, songs, and albums that go back over four hundred years. The timeline begins with composers who pre-date the seventeenth century all the way to music considered contemporary (modern), with origins in the twentieth century. Again, this list is just a fragment of written works in the history of music and could extend forever if every body's taste was accurately reflected in it. Nonetheless, these are consequential and historic sounds that have managed thus far to endure the test of time.



1) Sacred Music

• Gregorio Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus
• Tomas Luis de Victoria: Requiem Mass
• Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D major
• Rachmanivov: Vespers
• Arvo Part: Kanon Pokajanen
• The works of Thomas Tallis
• The works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrinna

2) Classical (The term "classical" is used generically and encompasses both baroque, classical, and romantic styles of music)

• Bach: "Brandenburg Concertos"
• Beethoven: Symphonies No. 6 "Pastorale" and No. 9 "Choral"
• Tchaikovsky: Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6 "Pathetique" (Not "pathetic")
• Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G Minor
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" in E flat Major
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor
• Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor

3) Modern/ Present Day (Albums)

• Beatles: Abbey Road
• Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
• Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Stevie Wonder: Innervisions
• America: America
• Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
• Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours
• Bee Gees: Saturday Night Fever (Yes, I love the Bee Gees)

3) Jazz/ Blues

I'm not a big jazz fan, but you can't go wrong with these three classics.

• Dave Brubeck Quartet: Take Five
• John Coltrane: My Favorite Things
• George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

4) Best Song (not always accompanying the best albums)

• Beatles: Hey Jude
• Stevie Wonder: Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing
• Elton John/ Eric Clapton: Runaway Train
• Beatles: With a Little Help from My Friends
• The Alan Parsons Project: Eye in the Sky
• Beatles: Let It Be
• Queen: We Will Rock You
• Stevie Wonder: He's Misstra Know It All

5) Best Love Song

• Barbara Streisand: Evergreen
• Alisson Moyet or Dusty Springsfield renditions: What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life
• Elton John: The One
• Bee Gees: How Deep is Your Love
• Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the Heart
• Beatles: Something
• Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody

Which one am I missing that should DEFINITELY have been up there? Let me know.

Take care,

Tom

Cinema Babble

Well, since I've been discussing this in both blog sphere and with my immediate friends, here is a small list of some of the best movies ever made (in my humble opinion) according to genre, but in no particular order. The list, of coarse, can grow considerably beyond five films but I wanted to keep it concise.

1) Sci-Fi

• 2001 A Space Odyssey
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Alien and Aliens
• Star Wars Trilogy
• E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

2) Horror/ Thriller

• The Exorcist
• Dawn of the Dead (2004)
• Halloween (the original)
• Silence of the Lambs
• The Thing (1982)

3) Mystery

• In the Heat of the Night
• Chinatown
• Rear Window
• The Maltese Falcon
• Citizen Kane

4) Action

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Predator
• Robocop
• Gladiator
• The Matrix Trilogy

5) Drama

• Saving Private Ryan
• Schindler's List
• The Godfather I and II
• The Shawshank Redemption
• To Kill a Mockingbird

6) Romance

• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Casablanca
• Somewhere in Time
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
• Roxanne

7) Comedy

• Dr. Strangelove
• Groundhog Day
• Animal House
• Austin Powers I and III
• Shrek

8) Fantasy

• All Harry Potter movies
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• Clash of the Titans
• The Wizard of Oz
• Fantasia

Kris, you were right. Love Actually was a pretty descent movie, even with Hugh Grant in it. There were a few scenes that should have been edited out and flushed down the toilet, but otherwise a worthwhile flick.

Take care,

Tom

Part I: Indolent Babble; Part II: Neurology

Part I: Indolent Babble

Well, for me no weekend has ever been more lethargic than this one (thank God). I was able to do a few more detailed checks on the camera I'm going to purchase and feel thoroughly comfortable with the choice I've made. Also, I was able to order a few more computer components to (hopefully) begin assembling the behemoth I'll be using for all my multimedia functions.


Part II: Neurology

Am I missing something? Have neurologist or scientists with theistic inclinations not discussed the neurological functions of the brain and how it relates to continuation after death? I can find NOTHING on this subject matter. I'm to the point where the question might be considered taboo [Why? This would make no sense. Have they (theistic scientists) been stumped by a finding they have no rebuttal against?], or so trivial that they have not only discussed it, but they are no moving beyond this topic and unto more lofty subject matter. In my understanding of God, the soul, and life after death, the neurological activities of the human being are a major sticking point for me. If you have any exposure to this topic, try answering a few of these:

1) If our personalities - and virtually everything we are - is sustained within some lobe inside the brain, WHAT continues after death when ALL neurological activity has come to a complete STOP?

2) What evidence even merely suggests continuation after death? Is "non-entity" a more accurate description of our ultimate fate?

3) If religious activity is nothing more than a psychological necessity to keep us emotionally "balanced" (as some have suggested), could we not extend this line of thinking to God, and conclude He exists nowhere but in our own minds, and not outside us as a living, detectable, consequential Deity?

These questions are just a few from a much larger volume. If you have an opinion, I welcome it.

Tom

“The search for truth is in one way hard and in another way easy, for it is evident that no one can master it fully or miss it wholly. But each adds a little to our knowledge of nature, and from all the facts assembled there arises a certain grandeur.” ~Aristotle

Tech Babble

Item #1

Well, the computer that I'm assembling is slowly coming together. All six hard drives, optical drives, CPU. MOBO, and other components are poised for action. I'm missing a few more items, after which this over sized hunk of junk will (hopefully) redeem itself. This tower will have a predominant multimedia functionality (I've go 2 iPods and I'm buying an Archos 160 GB Multimedia Player - if I can find one). When will it end?


Item #2

I'm narrowing down my selection of cameras. I'd like to post pics of friends, family, and myself to my blog, since everybody else seems to be doing so already. I should be clicking away and posting in the next few weeks. It seems everybody has some opinion on which camera is worthwhile. I didn't know pictures were so absolutely popular (what cave am I living in?).

Item #3

The Apple iPhone- is it worth it? cnet.com gave the new gadget positive reviews with minor gigs for missing features and call quality. My personal idiosyncrasy is to wait for the second or third generation iPhone (I know that could still be a while away) so they not only work out the bugs from this first generation iPhone, but expand pre-existing technology (4 GB of hard drive is not all the much for my usage) as well as introduce features that at this moment in time are in the beta phase.



And finally, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Stay safe (too late for sane).



Tom

Why the desire?

Why the hunger for God? If He isn't real, or just the mere product of human imagination, why have we - for thousands and thousands of years (anthropologically speaking) - been a species to bury our dead with ritual and ceremony? Why do the majority of human beings living on the planet believe in some kind of deity or life after death? Could so many be fooled at once? Sometime ago Skeptic Magazine reported that at the turn of twentieth century, the expectation was to see a significant decrease in the number of people who adhered to a theistic philosophy - that number actually increased. In the book Why God Wont Go Away, Andy Newberg and Eugene D'Aquili indicate that the human brain has a natural propensity to engage in religious practices and experiences. Why, in the evolutionary history of the human species, has such a practice increased with the modernization of industrialized society?

Sometimes in my own personal search for God, I might incorrectly seek affirmations that are too sensational and unrealistic: Perhaps a new image from space or a new discovery in biology flips the scientific community on its head by introducing a new theory, or modifies a pre-existing one to faintly suggest God is real. These expectations would be nice and soothing to a skeptic who wants to believe, but how conceivable are they? Maybe God's omnipotence comes with incomprehensible subtlety and patience. Perhaps I should be looking for a whisper that might contain the answers I'm looking for. That, I think, is much more consistent with his style:)

"Then the LORD said, 'Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.' A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave." - 1 Kings 19 11-13

Nothing but babble

This past week I decided to revisit some of the literature produced by the famed late poet E.E. Cummings. In the interest of time, I'm not going to delve heavily into biographical data, writing style, or include an excerpta of his works...except one. I'm sure some of you may have read this poem on your own, or heard it recited (very poorly and melodramatically) in movies that sought to commandeer its beautiful romantic imagery. The poem is named after it's first line, "Somewhere I have never traveled" and is one of the most beautiful love poems in the Cummings repertoire. It does remind me of someone close to me, but I've never asked her what she thinks, or if she's even heard of this poem. Anyway, read it and share it with that special someone in your life. Here it is...


somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

The lack of punctuation was typical of Cummings, as was the manipulation of syntax.


Disclaimer: Let see, how shall I put this. I'm no different than the regular guys you know, which means I don't specifically like poetry. There are some poems, however, that are amazingly beautiful and you'd have to be a dunderhead not to like.

Tom

Finding God

A few years ago I came across a story on CNN that galvanized my interest in science and religion (although the questions related to this subject matter have been combusting inside me since childhood). It featured an interview with Fr. George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory in Arizona, and his experiences as a Jesuit priest and scientist. I have added a link to this site here http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9901/26/pope.astronomers/index.html so that you might read and see the interview for yourselves.

Inspired Wisdom

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." - Louisa May Alcott


I love this stuff.

The Mystery of Suffering?

Perhaps the most difficult part of digesting an agonizing moment in one's life is the uncertainty, chaos, and hopelessness it evokes. It is in this excruciating emotional state that most cries for the Divine Interceder seem to evanesce into some dark abyss, followed by an inexorable silence. No matter how wise, knowledgeable, and profound the spirituality of the mystic might be, NO ONE has ever given a satisfactory answer to the question why God lets bad things happen to good people. I don't care who or what brought on the sufferings of an innocent child, the injustice the powerless and the weak are subjected to, no theologian can provide a response to the "mystery of suffering" with adequacy that is proportional to the suffering itself.

By the sufferings of a child, and the injustice to the weak, I'm attempting to address the response some believers rebuttal with when presented with God's uncompromising truancy. Their argument is that human beings have free will (a gift from the Almighty) and are therefore free to treat each other as they see fit. This is true. We (human beings) are by far the single biggest contributors to our own misery and demise (by the way, don't forget natural disasters, decease, etc. that have nothing directly to do with human comportment). But what does that have to do with God's scantiness? What I do as a sadist or failed humanitarian does not relieve him of his responsibilities as a Father, all-loving, omnipotent, Creator. I know that if I had the ability to assist those who truly needed from me I would do so without a second to spare. If even I feel this way, why doesn't God? How much divinity would it take away from him if he intervened when we needed him most?

This post is not meant as an inveigh against God in any way. But it does bring the cliched question "Why God lets bad things happen to good people" to its lowest common denominator. And although the question has been around since human beings had any concept of who and what God is, in all my explorations and introversion I've yet to find an answer - or anyone with an answer - to this perennial observation.

Take care,Tom

A Bout of Introversion

I wonder how histories greatest mystics wrestled with their doubts, and what type of doubts those were. Some, by most accounts, had their faith as the single most valued element in their lives that also remained constant and undiminished. Was Chardin ever in any distress over what the science of his time told him about the Maker he served? No. Did Merton, with his gradual entry into monastic life, ever wonder if he was deceiving himself by not asking more questions? No. On the other hand, some of these spiritual masters did wrestle with doubts and uncertainties that in the end only made them stronger and more devout.

Is this what some of us are going through?


Tom