Journal Entries
Minimalist Journal
Posted Dec 16, 2000
Journal
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Latest reply: Dec 16, 2000
Tea Break
Posted Aug 17, 2000
Still rushing around but at last I've time for a teabreak. At the weekend I managed to reply to some postings on h2g2. I noticed that h2g2 has been changed again but I'm too busy to notice the changes. It doesn't seem as friendly as in the past and this university nonsense is pompously pretentious. But who I am to comment.
I ordered a CD from blighlty today, Champion Concrete Mixer by Zen Baseball Bat. I unsuccessfully looked for it in Tower Records but did pick up a copy of Hi-Bop Ska, the 30th anniversary recording by The Skatalites. Almost the scorching set of new and old jams as proclaimed by the sleeve. Just a little too polished in places. It's great to have a good recording of the Guns of Navarone though.
During an earlier trip to Tower, I bought corea.concerto and eight seasons. The Corea has his piano concerto and a setting of his song "Spain" for sextet and orchestra. I like his jazz influenced composed music especially when his Latin roots show through in the tunes.
(I was going to write his jazz influenced classical music but it isn't classical it's less than 20 years old. I've heard modern music called serious but I feel that's an insult to other music. So I opted for composed.)
Eight Seasons is a recording by violinist Gidon Kremer and his ensemble, Kremerata Baltica. Yes, it is another version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons but interspered with Astor Piazzola's "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires".
Tea Break Over
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Latest reply: Aug 17, 2000
Coming up for air
Posted Jun 20, 2000
My attention has been diverted from my journal for a few weeks now. I've been busy, working, writing content for a forthcoming website, and being a nuisance on the guide.
Yesterday, I visited the second Tower Records to open here in Malaysia. Like the first, it's a smaller version of Tower Records I've visited elsewhere in the world. It has a correspondingly smaller selection. It still has a much wider collection than most record shops.
Of course, I didn't come out empty handed. Influenced by all the recent conversations mentioning Bob Marley that I've had on the guide, I bought a CD of Live! to replace my vinyl copy. (Which means I can now listen to it as my old record collection is still back in Blighty).
I also bought, "New Ancient Strings" by Toumani Diabate and Ballake Sissoko. It is a album of traditional Mali tunes played on two koras. (The kora is a harp-lute with 21 strings arranged in two rows from West Africa. Beautiful, timeless music.
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Latest reply: Jun 20, 2000
Doesn't Time Fly
Posted Apr 29, 2000
It's four weeks since I last managed to find the time to write a journal entry. True, I have been busy working but the time has just flown past.
What is even more unusual is that I haven't bought a single CD during the four weeks. I'm one of those lucky people who can listen to music of my own choice when I'm working in the office. Perhaps that's one reason that I work such odd hours.
Recently, I've been listening heavily to my very limited ska and reggae collection and Don Pullen's and The African Brazilian Connection's Ode to Life. Excellent, expressive piano playing, quite percussive in nature, over a relaxed latin beat spiced up with some good horn playing.
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Latest reply: Apr 29, 2000
My Working Weeks Gets Longer
Posted Mar 31, 2000
It's been a busy week. Bordering on hectic in fact. I haven't been this busy for months. But that's work, either there isn't enough or there's more than you'd really like. I suppose it's preferable to have more rather than less.
There is a saying "If you want something doing, give it to a busy person". The logic being that busy people get things done, whilst people who perhaps aren't so busy take their own sweet time over things. This week I wrote and submitted my first guide entry despite the amount of work. It looked good at first, now I'm not so sure. I don't think anybody's visited it yet, perhaps they never will, time will tell.
Anyway, I've got plans for a couple more entries and as I expect to be even busier with work for the next couple of weeks maybe I will write them.
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Latest reply: Mar 31, 2000
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