Cutting the Final Tie

It's been years since I attended a meeting of NOVA, preferring instead to visit with the friends I made there at Tom's house when he has a gathering. But a sense of nostalgia kept me subscribed to the mailing list. Occasionally someone like Bob would post an interesting tidbit about the anime world, and it was sort of like revisiting the old haunts.

But I haven't really found any anime series that I want to watch over the last year, so tidbits are kinda out of context. And announcements of the next meeting venue and playlist are rather moot. So this evening, I unsubscribed from the mailing list. Goodbye, NOVA! You were a great experience, and I hope the remaining members get much pleasure for years to come.

iPods 'Shuffle'

I usually try to wait longer than two years to recycle a gadget, and with rumors that the iPod Touch would eventually get a camera, I thought about waiting at least until next summer, but truth to tell, I've built up such a large music library between twenty-five years of CDs and however long I've been on eMusic, and there's not enough room on my original iPod Touch. So I broke down and got a 64GB one today.

Renee inherited the first one, which was a 16GB G1. She surrendered her nano (also inherited from me), so that I could get the 10% discount. That was my price for giving her my old unit.

One observation I'll make is that while the iPod Touch still doesn't do some of the things I used to use my PalmPilot for, it has come along far enough that I don't use the Palm at all any more. It sits in a drawer in the den.

The other observation I'll make is that I've always had a habit of naming my computers, including PDAs, after anime characters, usually female. I haven't watched an anime show regularly for several months now, so I'm out of options. Instead, I decided to name this one after my penpal Nami. Hi, Nami! We got the shirts you sent, and Renee is going to wear one of them. Surprise, even a Japanese XL is too small for me.

Lars and the Real Girl

Jean and I watched Lars and the Real Girl this week, and like Kitchen Stories, it crept up on us. Once again, a winter story with much of the acting conveyed by expressive looks. The premise sounds sketchy, but it turned out to be very touching and kinda funny. I recommend it.

Nostalgia Music

Grabbed a best-of album for Electric Light Orchestra, Strange Magic. I've listened to the whole 29 tunes, and while I remember many of them fondly, I just re-listened to Mr. Blue Sky, and gotta say that that's very nearly my fave ELO song of all time. Play It Loud!

Then on a slightly more experimental note, I grabbed the well-known Celtic Punk band Flogging Molly. The album in question is called Swagger, and sounds pretty good so far. I didn't buy these guys in a vacuum, as I've heard some of their stuff in the past, and Renee has two of their songs.

Eclipse

University of Nottingham hosts a site called Sixty Symbols. I've been meaning to begin viewing them, and will note them here. For your viewing pleasure, here's the one for a solar Eclipse.

P.S. - I should note that in fact this was not the first video I watched. While the solar eclipse video is basically a fun diary-of-an-eclipse, it doesn't have much beyond a couple of neat video shots of the eclipse to recommend it.

On the other hand, the video on the fine structure constant is all hard science and wonder, in one capsule interview with a real live physicist, who clearly digs the magic of physical constants.

Fable of Faubus

I think someone at This American Life got a blanket license on the music of Charles Mingus, or at least to the composition Fable of Faubus. It seems not a week goes by when they don't use a clip from 'Fable' as a bridge in one of their stories. Just googling, I'm unable to find any direct admission, but by gob it's there!

Other Albums I Forgot

• Happenstance - Rachael Yamagata


• David Gilmour - David Gilmour

And just recently acquired:

• Down Another Road - Graham Collier Music


• Abbey Is Blue - Abbey Lincoln

Update

Oops, I did indeed mention the first two albums, and Jimmy Heath, in this entry. It's just that I forgot to tag that entry 'Music', so my metadata search missed it. Fixed!