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Classicism Redux

A post by Layla spurred a recollection of something I wrote (for the nth time *heh*) back in 2006:

One of the primary reasons I am a fan of Classical (and even much classical *heh*) music is not just because the music is complex, beautiful and compelling but because it is the expression of a particular ethos which our society sorely lacks.

Aside from technical matters of form, the Principles of Classicism as found in Classical Music were

  • balance
  • clarity
  • accessibility
  • expressiveness
  • edification

Although two of these principles are still found in abundance in contemporary music (though not in contemporary “serious” or “academic” music, IMO) it is the lack of the others, especially the last, that has seriously harmful effects upon our society.

Keep in mind that the Principles of Classicism can be found in Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” as easily as in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It’s not the genre but the genuine artistry and teleos that makes the difference.

When the only principles of an “artist’s” presentation (I won’t call the presentation Layla displayed music or even the “artist” an artist, without the denigrating quotation marks) are expressiveness and accessibility and the presentation itself lacks any real art, all it usually has going for it is just groping for the groin. It’s not even as useful as fecal matter, as fecal matter can at least be useful in compost.

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Oh, Well…

Just read a novella by a “popcorn fiction” author I enjoy, and it was good (well, good enough to entertain while I sat in front of the TV with my Wonder Woman *heh*) but…

*sigh*

One thing bugged the heck out of me. Just one. Now, this author is more literate and a much better writer overall than some doof like Dan Brown and rarely makes a mistake like the one that gave me groans. Referring to a character blowing a shofar, the author wrote,

“Damn good thing she had a great embrasure… “

Oh, no. Did not write that!

em·bra·sure

noun

  1. an opening (for a door, window, etc.), esp. one with the sides slanted so that it is wider on the inside than on the outside
  2. an opening (in a wall or parapet) with the sides slanting outward to increase the angle of fire of a gun1

What the author intended to write, I’m sure, was embouchure.

em·bou·chure noun… the position and use of the lips, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument2

The really sad thing is that no one at the publisher caught it.

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Freudian Lingerie?

From Language Log:

Rep. Steve King:

“As I deliberate and I listen to the gentleman from Tennessee, I have to make the point that when you challenge the mendacity of the leader or another member, there is an opportunity to rise to a point of order, there is an opportunity to make a motion to take the gentleman’s words down, however many of the members are off on other endeavors and I would make the point that- that the leader and the speaker have established their integrity and their mendacity for years in this Congress and I don’t believe it can be effectively challenged and those who do so actually cast aspersions on themselves for making wild accu- accusations.” [emphasis added]

And if you doubt that the “maroon” quoted above actually asserted–vigorously asserted, I say!–that his colleagues lack integrity, then listen as he speaks:

[audio:What-a-maroon.mp3]

Of course, this is simply a case of a puffed up politician using words he thinks sound high-falutin’… that he knows not the meaning of.

Common synonyms of “mendacity”: fabrication, falsehood, lie, untruth, whopper.*

But one hears (and sees in print) this sort of thing all the time: people who really are NOT literate–or at least not as literate as they think or want others to think them–speaking “above their own heads” as it were in an attempt to puff up the seeming importance of their utterances.

Just another politician *gag-spit* Nothing new. Move along, now.

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RPG for the Idle Rich

Make that, “RPG for the Dhimmicraps, Mass MEdia Podpeople and ‘The Political Elite'”.

(Note the copyright. I excerpted one pane for my purposes of 1. sticking something sharply pointed into the “debt ceiling” talk and 2. “Fair Use” of a small portion of a strip to point to the larger opus, hoping some others might get sucked into the world of the Foglios, which includes not just the strip referenced here but also Girl Genius.)

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New Year’s Resolution

My New Year’s resolutions are simple: respond to any idiot who asserts to me that Islam is a “religion of peace” with, “Are you naturally stupid or do you have to work at it?” Apologists for the hate cult that is Islam seem to reason much like Othar Tryggvassen,

“Remember – just because someone is shooting at you, it doesn’t mean they don’t like you. Some habits are just hard to break.”

Yeh, like a 1,400-year-old “habit” of of emulating Mohamed’s mass murder, torture, rape, and pillaging of anyone deemed to be an “unbeliever” in the hate cult that is Islam.

Next up? A resolution to respond much in the same vein to any idiot who believes the “feddle gummint” can solve any problem by any means other than getting out of the way.

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I Hate to Say “I Told You So” But…

I did. A couple of years ago (and again, three years ago), I said the economy would be getting worse and that getting out of debt, curtailing unnecessary expenditures (especially credit card “purchases”), doing all essential maintenance on properties–and person–and other such sensible things made, urm, sense in light of what we were facing at the time.

Makes even more sense nowadays, what with unemployment still growing, the Fed deliberately increasing costs to citizens for ALL goods and services by continuing to devalue the dollar, and a debt load increase in the last year on every man, woman and child in these (dis)United States of $10,000 ladled on by a spendthrift Congress that’s wasted every (borrowed–stolen from future generations!) “stimulus” dollar it’s thrown down the toilet–in just the last year alone.

Hold on folks, because the ride’s just going to keep getting bumpier before things turn around (said hopefully).

Again: get out of debt, make sure your “stuff” is in good shape (so you don’t have to buy new “stuff” or fix a hole in your roof or whatever when things are even worse off), buy what you need and stockpile essentials–paying cash.

Heck, if worse comes to even worse, that (well-guarded) stockpile of toilet paper could be worth far more than its weight in gold… *heh*