Musings @musicandmeaning.com

'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
"He had a theory that musicians are incredibly complex, and know far less than other artists what they want and what they are; that they puzzle themselves as well as their friends; that their psychology is a modern development, and has not yet been understood." – E. M. Forster

Archive for August, 2004


Wednesday, 11 August 2004

Virginia Woolf’s homage to London

Today, the Guardian published a once-lost essay by Virginia Woolf. I just finished reading it for the first time; the experience was like visiting an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. The voice is unmistakably hers: full of purpose and nuance; strong yet subtle. This particular piece reminded me a bit of E. M. Forster’s style, and very much of Woolf’s earlier short stories.

The newfound essay is called "Portrait of a Londoner" and is one of the six essays of a new edition of The London Scene, to be published in September (presently available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk, but not Amazon.com — the current/earlier editions of The London Scene do not include "Portrait of a Londoner"). As someone who hasn’t read any of the other five essays, I’m now definitely interested in checking out the rest.

Posted at 2:59 am | Filed under Books, literature |  

Friday, 6 August 2004

A new DIY CD package

Just spotted this the other day: Jewelboxing, an interesting take on the do-it-yourself CD/DVD packaging solution.

For the past year and a half, I’ve been researching all sorts of CD packaging info and DIY-CD and CD-R options for my music projects; the Jewelboxing idea looks pretty streamlined and convenient for people with decent printers. I have never been a fan of CD labels, though; I’d rather skip the adhesive labels and go for direct-CD printing if possible. Supposedly these jewel boxes are tougher than the standard nickel variety. I’d love to see a sample up close.

Maybe one day I’ll try them out if I get a chance. They certainly seem like a cool solution for those single or short-run custom CD projects.

Posted at 7:11 pm | Filed under Musings & everything else |  

Wednesday, 4 August 2004

The immortality of Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of my favorite photographers and one of the founders of Magnum (along with Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger), died on Tuesday. The legacy of his art ensures the longetivity of his memory — as evidenced by the fact that, although he had given up photography years ago, his name and work are still revered.

   » "Cartier Bresson, Artist Who Used Lens, Dies at 95" by Michael Kimmelman, New York Times
(Reg req’d, or use BugMeNot, but the article is well worth reading, even if you’re not a photographer but generally interested in history, art or media.)

A quote from Kimmelman’s article:

[Cartier-Bresson] studied English literature and art at Cambridge University, then in 1930 was inducted into the French Army. He was stationed at Le Bourget, near Paris. "And I had quite a hard time of it, too," he remembered, "because I was toting Joyce under my arm and a Lebel rifle on my shoulder."

The Magnum home page has links to Cartier-Bresson images. There’s also an online version of the Magnum exhibition that’s in Germany until 15 August:
   » The Man, the Image & the World – A Retrospective by Henri Cartier-Bresson (592 pictures)

Posted at 10:14 pm | Filed under Photography |  

Blog buttons/stickers

Here are a few 80×15 buttons that I made within the past few months. I created them for my blog, but feel free to save them locally and use them to adorn your own blog. You don’t have to link back to me, but it would be nice if you leave a comment, so I can see some examples of where the buttons are being used. If you use the WBE/Anne Litt button, I’d especially love to hear from fellow WBE fans. Same goes for BBC Radio and BBC 7 fans.

   Weekend Becomes Eclectic with Anne Litt
   [GIF, 214 bytes]

   For fellow fans of KCRW’s Weekend Becomes Eclectic and Anne Litt. I used the nifty Zeller/Kalsey Button Maker for this one.

   BBC Radio
   [GIF, 328 bytes]

   After spotting the NPR Radio button, I looked for a similar BBC Radio sticker but couldn’t find any. So I modded the NPR one with the BBC logo. Maybe someone will make a BBC 7 button. (Lately on BBC 7, I’ve been listening to Bleak House with Michael Kitchen; and of course there are My Word and My Music and The Masterson Inheritance. If you’re not familiar with my radio fandom, check out the unoriginally-named Radio page.)

   Kerry/Edwards 2004
   [GIF, 408 bytes]

   Didn’t find any buttons that had both names, so I Photoshopped this one. The flag icon is the favicon for the John Kerry site.

I’ve already submitted the latter two to Steal These Buttons; however, the backlog of the buttons "pending review" appears to be about eight months long, so my entries may not appear in the directory any time soon.

Posted at 6:28 pm | Filed under Tech/geek | 1 reply »