Tone Poem Tuesday (and light posting ahead)

Posted on April 9, 2024 by ksedinger

We are currently entertaining a visit from my brother-in-law, so posting will likely be light here until the weekend. That being the case, it’s time for Franz von Suppe! Here is the Poet and Peasant Overture.

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Sun and Moon (and clouds)

Posted on April 8, 2024 by ksedinger

In Buffalo, the eclipse was simultaneously an astonishingly powerful and deeply disappointing experience. Clouds were in the forecast all along, but for the last several days, local meteorologists were constantly offering up reasons for optimism…which turned to “Sorry, we’re not clearing out until after totality, bummer, but it’ll still get dark and stuff.”

I know these folks don’t control the weather, but for all the technology and scientific expertise they have, it sometimes seems that their ability to offer up any kind of reliable forecast has been whittled down to timeframes measured in hours, or even minutes. I know some people around here were lucky enough to get enough of a view of totality to get a photo or two, but I wasn’t that lucky; all I caught of totality was a brief glimpse, maybe half a second.

Those four minutes or so of darkness, though? They were amazing. Truly, astonishingly amazing. For every cynic out there who has been saying things like “It’s just like at night, what’s the big deal,” I can’t say it any other way than to simply say, “It’s not just like night.” There was something qualitatively different about those four minutes…in how quickly they plunged over us, in how the flocks of gulls in the parking lot across the street went mad, in how everything in my circadian-rhythm loving body was screaming, “This isn’t right.” I can see how eclipses were terrifying moments for humans, for millennia, before we learned what they are and how to predict them and thus rendered them a thing of wonder.

There were other feelings, too. I couldn’t help thinking of Mom and how she would have loved to make it to today. She loved the sky and celestial happenings. I remember going to see if we could spot Halley’s Comet back in 1986, and she loved the Perseid meteor shower. She would often send me emails: “Go outside tonight and look at the moon because Venus and Mars are going to be right by it.” She would have been amazed by today, even if she would have been really annoyed by, as she would almost certainly have phrased it, “all these goddamned clouds”.

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Today in Bookbanning

Posted on April 6, 2024 by ksedinger

Let’s see what the bookbanners are up to, shall we? I know, it’s depressing work, but these people are relentless and they are finding more and more creative ways to tighten the noose around books, free expression, and those of us who value those things.

::  I saw this GoFundMe campaign to support a library whose board fired four employees who defied orders to remove books from the library. And that’s bad enough, but what caught my eye here was this sign:

 

The sign, in front of what is clearly the children’s section of the library, reads:

As a safety precaution, children under the age of 12 may not be unattended. The library cannot be held responsible for your child. Thank you for your cooperation.

And look, maybe that’s simply about the safety of children being left unsupervised; it may even be an advisable and wise policy. But I have to admit to being saddened by the loss to young people of a safe space that I enjoyed in my childhood. I spent many of my childhood hours hanging around in libraries, reading and looking through books, while my parents were off running this or that errand. We continue to send the ever more insidious message to our kids that the world is an inherently dangerous place and that they are not to be allowed to explore it at all until such time as they are, what? Of legal age to drive, or serve in the military? Both of which you can do years before you can vote, or drink alcohol.

Also, I can’t help thinking that this sign isn’t just about that. I can’t help thinking it’s a prophylactic measure. This way, it’s not the evil librarians’ fault if Little Johnny is (gasp!) exploring the shelves on his own and happens upon a copy of something dangerous! something that will warp and pervert him! I can’t help wondering if this “No unattended kids under 12” policy isn’t so much aimed at protecting kids but protecting the librarians from some busybody Mom-For-Liberty type who spends her toilet time watching LibsOfTIktok videos who is livid that her precious Little Johnny somehow managed to get his hands on a copy of Gender Queer and maybe actually read a few pages of it. To the fainting couch, Helen!

::  The library in the item above is in Alabama. Not to be outdone is Louisiana, whose state legislature is considering making it a literally jailable offense for any state employee to do business with the American Library Association. I won’t quote all the nauseating details here, but I will note the ongoing creativity our country’s right-wing has in finding ways to tighten the screws on whatever the hell it is they don’t want other people doing. They’re not going to violate any specific rights, you see; they’re simply making it harder and harder and harder to actually exercise those rights, or they’re making it easier and easier and easier for people who don’t want you exercising your rights to stop you from doing so. It’s Stealth Fascism, but it’s still Fascism.

Be aware, folks–especially if you’re at all inclined to dip your toes into the “Third Party” waters this November for whatever reason.

 

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Something for Thursday

Posted on April 4, 2024 by ksedinger

In honor of Monday’s eclipse….

 

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Vlogging Adventures: Best Reads of 2023

Posted on April 3, 2024 by ksedinger

Get thyselves to YouTube to watch my newest video, in which I discuss my favorite reads of 2023! (I know! Timely!)

Or…just watch it right here. And as always, please “Like” and “Subscribe”!

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Tone Poem Tuesday

Posted on April 2, 2024 by ksedinger

A work today by composer Nina Shekhar. The work is called Lumina, and rather than me introducing it, I’ll let the composer herself do it:

And here is Lumina. This is a fascinating listen!

I found this piece suggested in an article about space-themed classical music, which seems appropriate to me leading up to next week’s total solar eclipse. Shekhar herself indicates that her work is a study of contrasting images, light and dark, and if that’s not what we’re all hoping to see next Monday around 3:25pm ET here in WNY, I don’t know what is.

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National Poetry Month begins….

Posted on April 1, 2024 by ksedinger

A Ballad of Baseball Burdens

The burden of hard hitting. Slug away
      Like Honus Wagner or like Tyrus Cobb.
Else fandom shouteth: “Who said you could play?
      Back to the jasper league, you minor slob!”
      Swat, hit, connect, line out, get on the job.
Else you shall feel the brunt of fandom’s ire
      Biff, bang it, clout it, hit it on the knob—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of good pitching. Curved or straight.
      Or in or out, or haply up or down,
To puzzle him that standeth by the plate,
      To lessen, so to speak, his bat-renoun:
      Like Christy Mathewson or Miner Brown,
So pitch that every man can but admire
      And offer you the freedom of the town—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of loud cheering. O the sounds!
      The tumult and the shouting from the throats
Of forty thousand at the Polo Grounds
      Sitting, ay, standing sans their hats and coats.
      A mighty cheer that possibly denotes
That Cub or Pirate fat is in the fire;
      Or, as H. James would say, We’ve got their goats—
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

The burden of a pennant. O the hope,
      The tenuous hope, the hope that’s half a fear,
The lengthy season and the boundless dope,
      And the bromidic; “Wait until next year.”
      O dread disgrace of trailing in the rear,
O Piece of Bunting, flying high and higher
      That next October it shall flutter here:
This is the end of every fan’s desire.

ENVOY

Ah, Fans, let not the Quarry but the Chase
      Be that to which most fondly we aspire!
For us not Stake, but Game; not Goal, but Race—
THIS is the end of every fan’s desire.

By Franklin Pierce Adams.

(I chose a baseball poem because as I write this, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 4-0 and are clearly on their way to their first World Series Championship since 1979. Go Bucs!)

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Sergei Rachmaninoff, 151

Posted on April 1, 2024 by ksedinger

Born this date: Sergei Rachmaninoff, one of my very favorite musical voices in history. Last year was his 150th, and it seemed to me that we did not hear nearly enough about him back then. I wrote quite a lot on Rachmaninoff last year, but I still didn’t finish my project; the big long walk-through post of his Symphony No. 2 is still locked in my mind. But it’s coming. Someday.

Meanwhile, April should always include Rachmaninoff. Every month should include some Rachmaninoff, but particularly April. There’s something in the way Rachmaninoff exudes both optimistic hope and dark brooding, from one minute to the next, that seems particularly applicable to the reluctant Western New York springtime.

Here is the Second Concerto, because…the Second Concerto.

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Sunday Stealing!

Posted on March 31, 2024 by ksedinger

Swiping this from Roger, as always.

1. Do you believe in the unknown and Mystics?

Not particularly. I mean, I do “believe” in things that we don’t know yet, but I do not attribute “unknowns” to anything supernatural. Neither am I particularly given to mysticism, though I do enjoy thinking about mysticism and the supernatural.

2. How do you tell time? Do you use a watch or your phone, and why?

Phones and wall clocks, generally. I like watches, but none of mine are currently functional. I should see to this.

3. How do you stay cool in the summer?

Air conditioning inside, though it increasingly feels “tinny” to me, if that makes sense. Every year we have a long stretch where the windows are closed for a week or more, and eventually the air inside starts to feel kind of gross when we do that. Generally I go for loose-fitting clothing, staying out of the sun, and drinking lots of fluids and doing as much cooking outside as I can.

I have found, though, that as I get older, the heat bothers me less and less and the cold is starting to bother me more. This is a development I wasn’t prepared for, and I hope it doesn’t go too far. I have little desire to move south because I’m cold all the time.

4. Egg yolk or white?

Both. I love eggs!

5. What is your current on-repeat song?

I don’t stick to one song or piece for very long; there’s just too much music out there to listen to to really lock on to something a lot. But I will note that I’ve been greatly enjoying the soundtrack to La La Land, which may end up being my favorite movie of this year. (Well, favorite movie that I see this year, anyway.)

6. What is your favorite sound in the world?

Frying bacon? A cello singing away in its mid-range? Train wheels? Skates on ice? A book being closed? A pen scratching on paper? So many sounds! Church bells? A pipe organ? A match being struck? The shutter release on a camera (even if that clicking sound is often fake now, if you’re using a phone or the electronic shutter on a camera)?

But the best sounds are probably made by water: a rushing stream, a waterfall, or lake waves lapping along a rocky shore, or ocean waves breaking on a sandy one.

7. What’s the must-have-items in your bag?

Heh! Now that I’ve embraced photography and am consuming all manner of photography content online (mainly via YouYube), I’ve seen tons of videos similarly titled: “What’s in my bag”, which translates to, “Here are the current contents of my camera bag.” And I suppose I’ll need to do one of those myself one of these days. For now, what I carry daily if I’m leaving the house is three items: keys, wallet, and phone. On work days, I take with me a few extra items: pen, index card for notes, digital thermometer (refrigeration is a big deal in my line of work), folding knife (I should probably just start carrying the knife always), and flashlight. A dedicated flashlight, as I do not like using the flash LED on my phone for this function.

8. When dressing up, which one do you put on first: pants or tops?

Well, when your pants are almost always overalls, you get used to top first. It’s hard to put on a shirt when you’ve already fastened your overalls up!

9. what is the one thing you wish you could take back?

Not getting too personal…if we could have the 2016 election back, that would be great.

10. what is your pet peeve?

Bad driving, in all its forms.

11. have you ever been ashamed after buying something frivolous? What?

There was one time when we were in a financial hole and I bought something frivolous for myself because I didn’t realize that we needed something important for The Daughter.

12. what dessert would you eat even if you were beyond full?

If I could conquer my sweet tooth, that would be awesome. It’s probably the single biggest factor in my health not being what it could/should be. (I’m not in bad shape, health-wise, but it could be better.)

13. sweet or spicy?

Sweet, even in savory applications…but I do love spicy! I have dialed down my heat levels though, over the years; pure burn for me tends to kill the flavor profiles in foods, so I want heat in addition to flavor. Heat is a part of flavor, not a thing in itself for me.

14. Which website do you visit most often?

My “big three” social medias: Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky. Also YouTube; I always have multiple tabs open to various YouTube things I’m either watching or intending to watch. I have a small roster of comic strips that I read every day, as well as a small list of blogs I visit daily. (Roger’s is one!) And, of course, this site! Yay!

Now, I should probably visit eBay and Etsy less….

15. Which countries/states have you visited, and which one did you like the most?

I really do love my own state, New York, best of all. It’s got everything I want, in terms of cities and nature. I’m not wild about its government, but I don’t dislike it enough to want to go live someplace I’d find hellish. But for states I’ve visited, it’s actually faster to list the states I haven’t visited: Rhode Island and Connecticut, Delaware, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alaska. I’ve been everywhere else. Hawaii is flat-out amazing and I think every day about going back, but I don’t think I’d want to live there.

Countries: Just two, outside America. I’ve been to Canada and Mexico. Honestly, though, my entry into Mexico was when I was so young that I have literally no memory of it, so I’m not sure I can even count it anymore. I love Canada, though; Toronto is one of my favorite places on Earth, and my dream vacation right now is a trip there for a week of museums, food, and street photography.

Yay! Another quiz down! Wheeeee!

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Mmmm, noodle soup!

Posted on March 30, 2024 by ksedinger
Noodle bowl with MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO art. Note the holes for chopstick storage!

Not really soup, actually, but it’s fun to use a relatively obscure Friends reference to title a post. Anyway, last night I finally got to use the noodle bowl I got for Christmas!

How did we get to almost April without having an Asian noodle dish? I am honestly not sure, but more such dishes are on the menu; I want to start exploring the world of ramen, and not just the sodium-laden stuff you get for $1 a pack at the store. I also need to investigate gluten-free ramen, so we can both use our nifty noodle bowls. (I bought another really cool noodle bowl for The Wife not long ago when The Store was selling a line of Asian dishware.)

Last night wasn’t even supposed to be our first Noodle Bowl Night in the first place! Our original dinner plan was going to be Make-Your-Own-Pizzas. I got a crust for myself, and I picked up several choices of toppings, and it was going to be great! Only, The Wife’s gluten-free crusts turned out to have started collecting mold in the sealed package. This led us to postpone the pizza night thing, and off we went to Asian Star, our favorite local Chinese restaurant. We were both wanting the Pad Thai, though, so that’s what we got: one order of chicken Pad Thai, and one of pork Pad Thai. Out came the new bowls, and lo, it was good! There’s something truly pleasurable about eating an Asian noodle dish from a deep bowl like this. It’s an entirely different experience from eating an Italian pasta dish from a wide and shallow pasta bowl. Not better, necessarily, but different, and still a pleasure.

And if I’m going to use a proper noodle bowl, it’s probably time I start learning to eat noodles with the proper utensils:

Mmmm, noodles! (No soup)

I had to look up “How to eat noodles with chopsticks” to make sure I had the idea right. The key here is to abandon any Western/American notions of table manners that insist that food should be consumed quietly and without any slurping. You don’t use the chopsticks to deliver a nicely-wound packet of noodles to your mouth for silent chewing; you use the chopsticks to guide a messy clump of noodles to your mouth for slurping the rest of the way, and you then use the chopsticks to keep the noodles from falling onto your chin as you lean over the bowl. This is another pleasurable thing to do, and honestly it seems much more sensible to me than some of the other weird table-manners things we do if we’re being all proper and stuff.

Anyway, time to start researching recipes for ramen and suppliers for GF ramen noodles!

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