Several random topics

A few thoughts on a variety of themes from the past few days

David Sylvian

I have never been a great fan of David Sylvian, though in fairness I have only heard a couple of Japan albums and the record he made with Robert Fripp. But the current issue of The Wire has a long interview with him that piqued my interest. First up there were some comments that he may, during his spell with Virgin, have been unconsciously self-censoring his work. Now he is off this label, his work has changed dramatically. Secondly, he is now much more involved with the improv movement and had a number of interesting points about linking his singing in with improvised music. Finally, he apparently lives on his own miles from anyone spending most of his time alone. I am still very tempted by such a life style choice! So I have been listening to his last CD - Blemish - for the last couple of day and a fine record it is too, especially the title track. But I do find his voice a little irritating after a while

Translation

Lots of reading about theories of translations. Mainly Eco's Mouse or Rat, which has proved extremely interesting, especially the many examples he gives from his own books. I have also been struck by the many clues to Eco's style of fiction writing, which seems to involve lifting great chunks of material from documents from the middle ages, but in an intertextual way rather than as acts of plagarism.

Not sure yet whether I feel up to the challenge of translating medieval science. Quite a few points have suggested just how hard this will be

Not writing much

As always - reading too much, writing too little. But I do have a few things planned before the end of the current month.

Diet / exercise

After one good week, I got distracted. So little progress. But I am interested in the process of all this. I will get going again soon

Domestic events

Many recent domestic events have reminded me of some events from my distant past. This is not a good thing. I suspect I remain rather naive about these processes. Reading more fiction has alerted me to some of these points, as has a recent focus on biographies.

Some interesting recent viewing / listening

A documentary about Arvo Part, the Sigur Ros video Heima, and some cds by British shoegazing band, Lush, which I haven't heard for years, the usual sort of thing

Another musical hero - Aro Part. His Cantus in Memorium Benjamin Brittain would be in my top ten

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Sigur Ros, Heima. Some beautiful photography and a reminder of how amazing Iceland is. Can it really be 8 years since I went there?

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Miki and Emma from Lush - wonder what they are doing now? Today's listening was mainly Gala and Split. "Desire Lines" from the latter is today's favourite track

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I only saw Lush in concert once, and I remember that the sound wasn't great. I always felt they were treated rather badly by the music press. There was definitely some quality stuff there I felt.

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More from "Guitar Geek" - Miki's live set-up. Not the most complicated!