Regular readers of this here blog may wonder why I've linked so many times to maps of the London Underground. I've always loved the clean design of Harry Beck's 1933 map because it looks so much like a circuit diagram and conveys complex three-dimensional information so clearly in 2D.
Leon Bambrick's guitar tutorial eliminates all the boring parts. You don't even learn to tune until lesson five—and then it goes like this:
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"Buy a tuner and ask your girlfriend to learn how to use it. If you can't afford either of these then ask either a roadie or the band playing after you to tune the guitar for you."
Sean O'Hagan makes some mix tapes and laments the lost art of the sleeve note.
We reported in 2005 on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/082205riaa/">lawsuit against Patricia Santangelo</A> and her suit in response to the trade group's allegations that she had participated in peer-to-peer file sharing. The record companies dropped their legal actions against Ms. Santangelo in December 2006, instead deciding to charge two of her children, Robert (16) and Michelle (20), with downloading songs from Kazaa.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has issued a <A HREF="http://www.ce.org/shared_files/edm/2007/PolicyPapers/HomeRecording.pdf"… paper</A> on consumer recording rights, which it expects to be a "key issue in 2007." The CEA's position, in brief: "We urge Congress to refrain from limiting fair use and encourage market-based solutions to home recording and digital rights management issues."
At <I>On an Overgrown Path</I>, blogger Pliable ruminates on the Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the glorious music the order has inspired.
There's Poulenc's searing, glorious opera, of course, but did you know the sisters commissioned a piece by Handel?
You either loved Molly Ivins—well, I should probably just stop there. If you loved the written word and valued wit as much as spleen, you just did love Molly. I'll miss her.
It reads like the plot of an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel: 145 Roman soldiers survive the death of their general, Marcus Crassus, and, as mercenaries, fight their way across the ancient world, winding up in China.
Huckleberry reminds me that I don't have the big ears in this household. Plus, <I>his</I> swivel.
Bagheera is feeling royally cranky.