Looking Back

Recently I received a small note in the mail from my high school, which is the first contact I had had with my high school since a year or so after graduating. They are in the process of trying to compile an alumni directory of sorts, which you would expect a high school of that size and (some) stature to already have been doing before 2015. Unfortunately this unwanted contact brought be back to those days, and also served as a stern reminder that no matter how hard to you try to distance yourself from something, you can always be found. (I mean, no one I went to high school with or grew up with should know my address.) Overall high school was pretty forgettable for me. I never really fit in, though that was more of my own choice and doing. Obviously I didn't need any reminders from that period of time-a time I no longer associate myself with.

Sensory Overload

As of late I've been gradually listening to more cpop compared to American/European tracks, as I find Chinese music to be much easier on the ears and mind. It's not overly distracting if I'm focusing on work and it doesn't throw a million things at me every second. Comparatively, it seems most western popular music seem to be quite in-your-face. I find it much more difficult to focus on work if I have western music in the background since the beats tend to be heavier and overly complicated in an attempt at attracting my every attention.

Idiocracy

The problem with watching the film Idiocracy is that, for a period of time after the film, I will look more closely than usual for any hint at society heading towards the direction of anti-intellectual attention-lacking idiots. So naturally today the latest thing I saw after I came home from work was none to pleasing.

Apparently on ESPN the audio on single-highlight videos has been replaced by music to engage viewers instead of using either existing commentary from the original broadcast or whatever the microphones at the field pick up. Think about that for a second-even for 15-second highlights ESPN feels there is a need to use music to engage the audience to drive clicks (and thus revenue) compared to any competing service, and that existing commentary is not enough to get enough people to watch a highlight. This kind of falls into the reign of click-bait headlines trying to get your attention with some ridiculously stupid phrase such as "You won't believe what happens next!"

Perhaps I'm digging down the rabbit hole a little to far...

Television and Irrational Behavior

A while back I was on a plane flight and, with not much else to do to pass six hours, watched a seasons of Parks and Recreation, the first sitcom (or any other television program outside of sports) that I had watched in probably ten or so years. It will probably be at least ten more years before I watch another television program, because watching television makes me irrationally angry and unable to enjoy the program.

This irrational anger stems from the irrational behavior often exhibited in these shows, often to create a plot or develop character developments and foils. However, what I am unable to get past is why it's acceptable to behave irrationally in television when it is often not acceptable to do so in real life. Given that these sitcoms are often supposed to be funny, these behavior is often trivialized. (Of course, if I wanted to watch comedy without any sense of morality or political correctness, then I'd rather watch Dave Chapelle or whatever where everything goes instead of sitcoms that feel forced).

In Parks and Recreation, I could not stand Leslie Knope, because the character was always acting in an irrational manner and was mostly selfishly thinking about herself, which is a common trait prevalent through society. Most of the other characters I couldn't stand as well, like Tom's creepy flirting and Andy's immaturity. I have a hard time being entertained while this type of behavior is occurring. While I can understand enjoying comedy for comedy's sake, I don't like it when I see people who behave like these sitcom characters and model their personalities and actions as such.

Perhaps this may be a case of looking at everything as a potential effect of society's anti-intellectualism movement towards the trend of Idiocracy, where people no longer think for themselves and allow the corporations and media to control everything, but I have a hard time believing that society will ever become more forward-thinking.

Cricket and Picking Up Local Culture

When I travel abroad (or sometimes within the states), I always like to try something new and try to take it home with me. Previous attempts have more or less failed, such as a gravlax habit that would have been prohibitively expensive here in the states or gradually losing interest in international rugby after the 2011 world cup.

Ever since I went to Australia I have been fascinated with cricket and even attended a couple T20 matches ahead of the cricket world cup, and I have been able to maintain an interest in cricket long after my interest in other foreign tidbits has already faded. During work I can tune into a test match and have it running in the background, and watching limited-overs cricket leads to every ball being important, which can't exactly be said for many other sports. Even in test cricket, where the strike rate is relatively unimportant, can provide constant entertainment over several days, such as the current iteration of The Ashes. Combine test and limited-overs cricket, and you have a sport that could entertain in any situation.

It seems that the primary hurdle of watching cricket is achieving a basic understanding of the rules, as otherwise it would be impossible to enjoy the game. While the game doesn't seem quite so complex after watching for a while, I realized that it can be very difficult to explain to other people with all the ways to get runs, to get out, etc. Once that significant hurdle has been overcome, it seems that cricket can be something I can enjoy for a long time to come.

Panda Cheese

Back in 2010, Panda Cheese, a cheese made by an Egyptian dairy company, made commercials featuring a panda destroying stuff. I remember these commercials having great success over the internet and having quite a few good chuckles back in the way. I was reminded of these commercials recently, and while they still provide good comedic value, I was more curious about the song featured in the commercial.

Buddy Holly's True Love Ways is reminiscent of songs of generations past, where the instrumental was more than just a series of beats and the chorus didn't repeat over and over again. The lyrics were meant to be meaningful and the song overall was easy on the ears, instead of today's overstimulus in all facets of life. Kind of like...

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Saturday, June 20, 2015

8 PM

Symphony No. 3 in D minor - Gustav Mahler

Kräftig, Entschieden

Tempo di menuetto: Sehr mässig

Comodo, scherzando, ohno Hast

Sehr langsam, misterioso

Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck

Sehr langsam und durchaus mit inningster Empfindung

Christianne Stotjin, mezzo-soprano

Northwest Boychoir

Women of the Seattle Symphony Corale

This was my final concert for the 2014-2015 season, and needless to say I was excited heading into the concert, as it's not every day someone performs a Mahler symphony. Most are marathon affairs, and the third symphony is no exception, with the performance clocking in a shade under 2 hours from start to finish. I was impressed by the overall body of work , but as usual, I was not blown away by the performance. Most of the piece was technically sound and everything was together for the most part (and they even sent the trumpet player up high into the balcony for the 3rd[?] movement), but there were some things that stuck out (including the dude two rows in front of me and the guy next to me who were both using their phones during the performance).  Firstly, it is my belief that no one individual should stand out during the performance, but at every performance, there is one guy in the first violin section who sticks out like a sore thumb. He is much more animated than the rest of the section (and by a long shot), and it's always a little unnerving for me to see a head (and the musician) not quite in sync with the rest of the section, bobbing and swaying excessively to a point where I feel it is distracting. Additionally I didn't feel that the soloist was able to project into the hall, as I had some difficulty hearing her in the middle of the orchestra-level seating.

As the season has concluded, you are now free from hearing me write about my Seattle Symphony performances until September! Rejoice!

End of a Musician

Before I went to college, playing music wasn't about playing for fun, but instead music was about being the best musician possible (and hopefully the fun would follow). I had started to take the violin very seriously and I was even considering it as a career option. To that point I even attended Interlochen Arts Camp in high school in addition to the standard high school orchestra festivals. Outside of my academics, playing the violin was probably the endeavor I took most seriously.

To that point I ended up electing to study to become an engineer and, after high school, music became a much lower priority. There was no longer time for me to be able to continue playing at the level that I had become accustomed to playing, and playing music primarily turned into an outlet for stress relief. While I was able to play in the orchestra for two years and play chamber music all four years, I didn't receive the same fulfillment as I previously had. I wasn't thrilled that I was playing at a decreased ability, and the stress relief outlet didn't quite compensate for the lack of enjoyment. My motivation was greatly reduced, along with my desire to play music. At that point music was no longer an immensely integral part of my life. This culminated with one last hurrah-playing Brahms' String Quartet No. 1 in C minor and walking off into the proverbial musical sunset.

It has now been a little over two years since I've picked up my violin, and I'm not sure when I will next bring it out of its case and play it again. Now there is no end goal of becoming a better musician, and I find it difficult to play music without direction.

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Thursday, June 11, 2015

7:30 PM

Egmont Overture - Ludwig van Beethoven

In lieblicher Bläue for Violin and Orchestra (US Premiere) - Julian Anderson

Carolin Widmann, Violin

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 - Johannes Brahms

Un poco sostenuto - Allegro

Andante sostenuto

Un poco allegretto e grazioso

Adagio - Più andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio

Originally I wasn't planning on going to this performance, but I had a change in plans and I was unable to attend Pinchas Zukerman's performance. I was able to exchange that ticket for this one, as subscribers are allowed to have free exchanges. I have always been a fan of the Egmont Overture and the Brahms symphony, but I'm always skeptical of anything recent, and Anderson's work did nothing to dissuade me from my dislike of contemporary music, where I feel that the composers are so obsessed with following rules that the choose these rules over the music itself. The work began with the soloist offstage before the soloist emerges and begins playing from the side of the orchestra. The white noise continued, and the piece concluded with the soloist turning away from the audience. Interestingly, this performance was the first time I had heard the conductor speak before a Seattle Symphony performance (another no-no in my book). Barring another change in travel plans I'm hoping to avoid any more performances featuring anything contemporary.

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines has been out for a while now, and I've been having a lot of fun playing the game. It's basically almost everything you wanted the Sim City franchise to be, and it's much more addicting than any previous Sim City game.

My favorite part of Cities: Skylines is how you can turn the game into a sandbox for whatever your creativity comes up with. The game allows the build of custom assets so that you can supplement the stock assets the game provides. Additionally, the game allows for modding, allowing for amazing user-generated content. If you can imagine it and build the mod, it's available for your use. For example, the Traffic++ mod can be used to create bus lanes in the road and can restrict turns at intersections for better traffic control. One of the built-in mods allows for infinite money so that you can be completely free to do whatever your heart desires without having to make your city viable at all.

Cities: Skylines also improves upon a lot of other things that were wrong with Sim City. When you start building the city, it becomes very evident that the Cities: Skylines road-building tool is much better, allowing for customized curved roads, and roads at different heights (and trying to create crazy interchanges as a result). In addition, the engine itself for Cities: Skylines would simulate every individual and assign them to jobs at specific locations and to specific residences, instead of the nearest location. The traffic simulation is also much better, with Cities: Skylines providing a detailed simulation, leading to emergent puzzles where players will have to adjust how the build their road system to better cope with how traffic develops (and this is easily one of the most challenging things with the game-developing a smart road system that can handle high traffic without huge backlogs). With the detail in the simulation, you can see where each person is going, where they work, and where they live. The same works for vehicles, such that each person/car/building/etc actually serves a purpose instead of just being there, which is what Sim City does.

What's also great is that Colossal Order, the minds behind the game, continue to develop the game. For example, the first big update included the use of tunnels for roads and trains and multi-levels underground in addition to controlling the height of the roads in the base release.

Naturally, playing the game doesn't mean I'm any good at traffic simulation, and I often continue to create huge traffic messes. However, the dynamic nature of the game prevents me from settling on anything and provides an ongoing challenge to keep me interested long after I stopped playing other games.