ejp626

Completed Madame Bovary. What a downer. Not that I expected things to turn out well for her (that's pretty much a given), but her husband really was such a simpleton. So many people in the novel make such bad choices, though I suppose it really is the Bovarys that end up the worst by the end. Still, I kind of felt Flaubert really piled it on in the last few pages. I guess his point is that there are some people you can't save from themselves, and this includes M. Bovary. I have some shorter pieces to read, including Mahfouz's Karnak Cafe, and then will try to wrap up Midnight's Children.

And tried his very best to destroy the lives and careers of all those who told the truth about he was up to. Don't think that "all of his peers" did that. Yes, but that was not cheating, that was something else. Only the winner would ever have had to do that. Why be more angry about Armstrong's cheating than about that of every rider who took a podium place, or indeed of anyone who placed 50th? The answer is not in the cheating. That was already there in the sport, there are hundreds of names implicated. The teams and cycling authorities knew all about it. So yes people dislike Lance humanly, but without him some other cheat - sanctioned implicitly by the team and by the race and by the UCI - would have won. Hate Lance, yes if you like, but why not hate everyone else? If Armstrong were not so arrogant in his denials, if he didn't sue and otherwise try to ruin people who told the truth about his doping, if he had merely denied the doping and then admitted it I might be OK with that as an admission of guilt. But he didn't. Let's not forget that he sued a UK newspaper for libel for hinting he was doping -- and won! That takes real chutzpah when you know you are lying -- and again puts him in a category quite different from his peers. You can better believe they are going to ask for some higher court to overturn that judgement and ask for costs etc., and probably get them. Some folks are saying that Lance is not actually in legal jeopardy in the US for this reason or that. I'm not so sure about that. But I do think he probably perjured himself in the UK libel case and that may cause him serious problems in the future. Couldn't happen to a nicer dirtbag. (Not that I don't think the UK libel law is a shambles that deserves to be completely uprooted, but that is a different post for a different day.)

It's a tough call. I have somewhere between 60-75% of this, so I'm probably not in the market for it, but maybe there will be enough newly released material to cause me to change my mind. If the packaging is really well done, it might sway me a bit as well, since I have a lot of the Vogue material on fairly ugly cut-outs.

True, though it wouldn't have been much of a shop if he hoarded the best LPs. I don't know about the UK, but the US changed the way inventory was treated for accounting purposes, and this was one factor in the decline of brick-and-mortar stores.

No, I think he was worst than most in being a heavy pusher -- and someone who tried to and often did destroy the careers of those who blew the whistle on him. That puts him in a special category well beyond his peers.

It is a CD. I believe they will press more than the number pre-ordered and sell through normal channels. But the label is trying to pre-sell enough to make sure they can pay the musicians and cover costs. No system is perfect, that's for sure.

You could always try to email the sponsor and see what they say. Of course sometimes all the info goes away after the project closes. I believe I still have contact info, since I am one of the backers. No rush now, given that the CD should be shipping in the summer...

Should have tried working on the plane this weekend, but just too cramped, so I gave up and read the books I brought instead. I wrapped up Edward Jones' Lost in the City, comprised of short stories set in Washington D.C. After reading several of them, it struck me that the tone was quite similar to Raymond Carver, though the stories were not nearly as tight. Carver often wrote about working class whites, and Jones is writing about Blacks further down the class spectrum, though there are a handful of children who "escape" and live among the ghosts, i.e. in white neighborhoods in D.C. The stories are accomplished, but boy were they depressing. I'm not sure there is a single one with an uplifting ending. I also read Mordecai Richler's Barney's Version. This was recently made into a movie, though so much of it covers the same territory as Sideways and Paul Giamatti is in it as well, that it seems really redundant. Anyway, it has some amusing moments, but I did feel somewhat manipulated into siding with a guy who was an absolute boor and drunkard, and whom I would avoid in my real life. Back to my other reading, I am about halfway through Madame Bovary. It certainly has its moments, but I wouldn't call it a page-turner or anything like that.

It looks like they just made it. About 90 minutes left. I am probably going to go ahead and pledge as well. Remember seeing Harrison around Chicago a few times. Any idea who the other 3 musicians being recorded are? Are they drawn from the sextet he used for Morning Sun Harvest Moon? It would have been nice to know that...

Am listening to the download of the album -- really digging Dr. Funk. Le Petite Ditty is an interesting change-up. Reminds me a bit of Verdi's Voice off of Goldson's New Time, New Tet (the concept of the track more than any musical similarities).

Releasing at the same time as the Silverstri is a 6 CD set (for $4 more than the Silvestri for half the CDs!) of Toscanini (the Complete HMV Recordings). I assume no overlap with the huge RCA set, but hard to tell sometimes. I think I have enough Toscanni to digest for the moment.

Another one of these EMI big boxes coming out - this time the complete EMI recordings of Constantin Silvestri. Really almost no info on this (even whether it is 13 or 15 CDs) at the moment, but the pre-order price is just about $30 (slightly higher at Amazon.ca) and it seems hard to go wrong at that price. Some of the individual recordings that must be on this set have been highly praised. I think I'll go for it.

Ok, the guy really knows his stuff. I particularly liked some of the less iconic ones, like the take-off of Stylings of Silver and Slow Drag. At the same time, it feels a little creepy to be that into Obama, and the cumulative effect is too much hero worship for me.

Yes, free shipping (to the US only). I will be in the States this weekend. Any orders must be placed by 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific today (sorry for short notice). After that, I will be back to regular shipping rates. All from the Leo Records sale (except last 2 not in sale itself) All CDs near mint. $6 Alati, Iselasi, Radaele, Scianjino I am surprised ... $6 Joelle Leandre/William Parker - Live at Dunois $6 Glenn Hall/Roswell Rudd The Roswell Incident $5 The Remote Viewers Stranded Depots $6 Simon Nabatov Nature Morte $6 Moye-Tchicai-Geerken Casava Balls $10 Moye-Tchicai-Geerken The African Tapes (2 CDs) HOLD $7 Simon Nabatov-Han Bennink Chat Room (Leo) HOLD $7 Ivo Perelman-Louis Sclavis The Ventriloquist (Leo) Odds and ends HOLD $7 Alexander Hawkins Moholo-Moholo Keep Your Heart Straight (Ogun) some unfortunate lines on back of CD from plastic sleeve, but plays fine $5 Mal Waldron Black Glory (Enja) VG Thanks for looking! Eric

But if they can literally press 100 copies and essentially sit on them, that hardly seems reasonable and yet meets the letter of the law. Not sure about the Motown stuff whether it can be found in a tangible format, but iTunes is widely available, even if I have decided to opt out.

Still working our way through Get Smart -- up into Season 2 now. Still holds up pretty well, though every now and then Max seems too stupid to tie his own shoes. It's odd, because he isn't simply incompetent -- there are times he occasionally has some good insights. And he is braver than I remembered, though even there it [the writing] isn't entirely consistent. Am supplementing a bit with Futurama vol 7 (the episodes that aired last summer). There are another 13 or so coming this summer. Yea! I do wish Comedy Central would go ahead and renew for the 8th production series, but I suspect the writers are at least sketching a few things out in case it is renewed.

Things have changed. Zoverstocks used to be Guernsey based, but now dispatch from Macclesfield, presumably because the Channel Islands tax loophole has been closed. I agree that the condition of their used stock can be poor, but I've been prepared to overlook this because of their really low prices and the fact that they've always replaced stuff instantly when I've complained. So you're telling us that customer service (or really base competency of the staff) on the mainland can't live up to Guernsey? Only being a bit ironic. In my 18 months living in East Anglia, I found overall customer service appalling compared to typical service in the States with most folks resentful of the fact they had to work in a shop at all. Of course, standards everywhere are slipping. So many stores in North America have decided to cut waaaay back on staff, so it is pretty much self-service. Until you get to the till, and sometimes even finding anyone to take your money can be a challenge...

No problem. I do think the RCA set is quite good. I have the earlier (more "collectible" but also more shelf-filling) version. And there are some performances on the Decca sets I like. I expect the EMI is probably the most thrilling of the 4 sets, but I haven't really absorbed it. The Columbias are probably my least favorite of the 4 sets so far, but I don't regret picking it up. But it will take me years to really absorb these performances. I'm enjoying exploring some of the less famous conductors through these sets that came out over the past 5 years - Munch, Ormandy, Szell,Tennstedt, Barbirolli, Giulini and so on. So much to listen to... No one from the 1950s or 60s would believe that we could basically compile dozens if not hundreds of these LPs and fit them into a shoebox.

Oh please. Even Homer nodded, as the old saying goes. Anyway, different strokes and all, but I have been completely underwhelmed the 2 or 3 times I've seen Shorter as a leader (not necessarily as sideman). I have no interest in where he is going/where he is now. And for sure I will be passing on this CD.

I guess it depends what you are looking for. There are box sets from Columbia, Decca, RCA and EMI. The Columbias are mostly the most recent recordings from the last years of his life (1976-77), so sonically they are pretty good, but they are not really Stokowski at his peak. (Indeed, the RCA set you reference draws most heavily from 1973-75, so also a fairly aged Stokowski.) The Decca sets are the "Phase 4" recordings mostly from the 1960s and early 70s. The EMI box is even earlier, mostly mid 50s. So the most "youthful" Stokowski from among these 4 sets is the EMI box. There is no comprehensive box set of his mono recordings. Andante had done a good job with the 78s, but those box sets are out of print and starting to get pricy. Cala has kept some of these recordings in print, and also has a license for the Phase 4 recordings (so beware of duplication with Decca), but they have not put out a box set. In any case, aside from one of the Decca sets and the Andantes, they are all bargains, and I didn't see any harm in picking them all up.

Not sure anyone has mentioned the Stokowski Columbia Stereo collection. It is just like an OJC series, though the booklet is on the thin side. The Ives disc has some bonus material, from various Ives sampler LPs that Columbia put out I think the Ormandy RCA set is a pretty good deal, but you might have to go with one of the Amazon resellers. I've been listening to the Stokowski and it seems fine to me. I have just put in an order for the Ormandy.

At one point I had read nearly all the Moorcock series. Elric is probably the most memorable, but I don't know how the more recent additions to the seris stack up. I kind of liked The End of Time series as well. I know he's written a number of more serious novels like Mother London and Byzantium Endures, which I've been meaning to read, but have not had the time. Am juggling three books: Madame Bovary (have never read the entire thing) -- it is part of my "infidelity" mini-challenge. Rushdie's Midnight's Children (re-reading this -- I had planned on seeing the movie afterwards but plans changed). Amado's The War of the Saints The later two are overly convoluted, esp. the Amado, and just take too long to get to the actual plot. I definitely liked Midnight's Children more in college, when I was generally more receptive to "playfulness" on the part of the author. Now I value taut storytelling much more and have far less patience with postmodern literary games. (It does make me wonder whether I should re-read Tristram Shandy, which is nothing but digressions.) I don't recall other Amado novels being so disjointed, and I wonder if he was responding to Cortazar's Hopscotch or similar fictiones (I am almost positive I wouldn't want to re-read Hopscotch in my current frame of mind).

I've got that LP and spin it from time to time. Was just thinking about it today in fact. I think this has been discussed before, more in the context of things that shouldn't have happened rather than a move that was totally surprising at the time.

I don't think this is an appropriate analogy. Unless we are talking about a creative writing class, the purpose of writing papers is to communicate clearly to the reader. There is no such clear-cut purpose to making music. I am surprised that Ornette and Ayler's legitimacy as musicians is still questioned today. I view it as very similar to the creative arts. While some people have no problem with the newer generation who (apparently) have limited ability to draw in correct perspective or to draw human figures before they move into more abstract areas (or who primarily work in computer generated art), I vastly prefer the earlier artists, such as Picasso or Matisse, who clearly had great technical abilities and then went abstract.

Quite a while ago, I sprung for the Complete Get Smart set.* They are great for family viewing with the preteen set (teenagers would certainly find them too corny). We are doling them out roughly one episode an evening, though we miss every now and again. At this rate, it will take about 6 months to get through all of them! This was the days of 26-30 episodes a season. According to Wikipedia, it looks like the writers started spoofing specific films around season 3. I am quite intrigued that the very last episode is a spoof of I am Curious (Yellow). I have to really question whether they did anything more than make a play on words with the title, as it seems far-fetched that the audience for Get Smart would have seen this film, but I guess times were different then... I may watch Curious (Yellow) a bit in advance of this episode, but the kids will not. * This was originally $199, then it dropped to $105, which was what I purchased at, and of course it has now dropped to about $50. Had I known I wouldn't get around to the set for such a long time, I could have waited, but you never know. Theoretically, the set could have gone OOP and be costing over $200 now.