Evolution of Man and Woman
My wife made me post this. Honest.
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Listening #39
<I>One should be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.</I>—F. Scott Fitzgerald
Music in the Round #17
When I got married, my mother pulled my bride aside and said, "Now it can be <I>your</I> fault!" You see, I have always practiced blame-avoidance. Now I get to do it again.
Truth vs Beauty: A Tale of Two Transports
It is a truism that audiophiles love music. What distinguishes us (footnote 1) from the vast majority of music lovers is the importance we ascribe to the high-quality reproduction of recorded music. But what, exactly, constitutes high-quality sound reproduction? To many audiophiles, the answer relates to accuracy. Useful indices of accuracy include many of the parameters that editor John Atkinson routinely measures: flat frequency response, time and phase accuracy, and low distortion, to name a few. On the other hand, many audiophiles apparently have little interest in these aspects and instead seek nothing more—or less—than a romantic and pleasant sound. Such individuals are unfazed by demonstrable inaccuracies in their systems; as long as it sounds good to their ears, they are happy. Are these two schools of thought both compatible with the notion of high-end audio? If so, is one "more correct" than the other? Are they mutually exclusive? What brought this issue to mind was, of all things, a digital transport. Actually, two transports.
"When things go wrong...it hurts me too"
I am writing this copy on a venerable Radio Shack TRS-100 portable computer while flying via TWA from St. Louis to Albuquerque, the very fact of doing so having reminded me of what I wanted to write about in this month's column: hardware reliability. J. Gordon Holt touched on this subject in last June's "As We See It," but I felt it worth readdressing in light of recent events.
So Long, Buck
<I>Big Rock Candy Mountain</I> has posted two of Owens' best: "Close Up the Honky Tonks" and "Streets of Bakersfield." Listen and remember.
How to Write a Novel
Really, really good advice.
Parker and Hellman
When Dorothy Parker left her estate to MLK and the NAACP, she didn't expect one detail to have such long lasting consequences: Appointing Lillian Hellman as executor actually affected her literary reputation. Marion Meade unravels a tangled tale.
The Movie Timeline
The premise is simple: Prepare a history of the world based on events referenced to (or shown) in movies. Man, I had no idea that Bouvet Island, Antarctica was such a happening place. (<I>Alien vs Predator</I>).
2006 FSI a Success
Aside from a few grumbles about the small size of some of the rooms, the 2006 FSI was a resounding success with exhibitors as well as attendees. Show organizer Marie-Christine Prin has managed to maintain the show's appeal to hard-core audiophiles while broadening the show's coverage to include products for the video/MP3/iPod generation. As always, Marie-Christine and her stalwart assistants, Céline Roy, and Diane Hébert, joined for this show by Sarah Bouhali and Elisa Fernandez, ran the show with grace and efficiency. Merci!