Scuffulans hirsutus

Right now I’m playing loud music to drown out today’s treat: a bunch of no-longer-young drag queens lipsyncing to mediocre music down at the corner. No pictures; I want to forget the images, not share them with unwary visitors. There’s also an ice cream vendor playing tinny banjo recordings of teevee themes in the parking lot across the alley.

Aziz listed seven songs that he is currently “into.” I might as well, too. Most of these you’re not likely to hear on the radio, so I’ve uploaded mp3s.

Naftule’s Dream, “Speed Klez.” John Manning is the Tony Levin of tuba players.

Polysics, “Rocket.” The eccentric ending theme of the eccentric show Moyashimon.

Don Ross, “Dracula and Friends (Part One).” Motown on six strings.

Alkan, “Finale: Presto” from Symphony for Solo Piano, Op. 39, #7. (Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano). It is not true that Alkan was crushed to death by the Talmud, nor did his obituary begin, “Alkan is dead. He had to die in order to prove his existence.”

Gilbert and Sullivan, “Three Little Maids from School Are We.” If you want your kids to grow up hating Gilbert and Sullivan, play Iolanthe twice a day every day. Many years have since passed, and I can now appreciate the craft of G&S without too much pain. This number is from The Mikado.

Mayumi Kojima, “Poltergeist.” I’ve posted this one before, but it remains a favorite.

Kou Otani, “Ailes Grises.” A favorite for several years now.

Update: Here are the official directions.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

I’m not gong to tag anyone (though I would be curious to find out what Steven’s, Erik’s and Maureen the Suburban Banshee’s current enthusiasms are). If you feel like playing along, go right ahead.

Snark 101.

The other ballet company in Wichita performed their version of “Peter Pan” yesterday outdoors as the temperature approached 90°F. More pictures here.

An introduction to medieval harmony (N.B.: crude language):

(Via Aliens in This World.)

I’ve added a few more pictures to the gallery.

Because they are idiots.

Three things to keep in mind when you ride a bicycle on Wichita streets:

1. If there is any possibility that a driver won’t see you, he won’t.

2. If there is no way on earth that a driver can possibly miss seeing you, he still won’t see you.

3. Right-of-way? What’s that?

Who “… may be personally responsible for the consumption of more billions of hours of human time than anyone around“?

(more to come)

Not everyone was fascinated by the dancers posing for their group portraits this afternoon.

Read the rest of this entry »

The inhabitants of the moon never see an earthrise or earthset. However, spacecraft orbiting the moon, e.g., the Kaguya, do. Here is the earth rising and setting, as recorded in HD. (Via Aziz.)

*****

Speed Racer is probably worth skipping (though I might listen to Racer X). If you’re looking for an exciting race story, I recommend instead the Kuricorder Quartet’s take on “Highway Star”:

Here’s the quartet again with some tunes you might recognize.

*****

Understatement of the week:

Something tells me the commenter hasn’t met all that many nuns.

*****

Give peas a chance:

(Via Blackadder.)

Echinocereus triglochidiatus

I finally felt steady enough on my feet to take the good camera out to Botanica, and I filled a two-gigabyte card. I posted a selection of pictures at my gallery.