An Echo That's Reversing – Page 34 – more discussions on the Fine Arts, current events, programming, and what-not

Impeachment

(diary)

More horrible times, but repeating that is a truism.

Biden has taken off over the past weeks and it looks confident that he will vanquish the threat of a contested convention and a Sanders hissy fit. Well, the fit will still happen but there will be no air to sustain it. The loss of Warren (at least for me, as a guy) I can live with and in fact I turned around pretty quickly to Biden after she dropped out. He was never even on my short list of choices because, let’s face it, we really need to stop with old and white and male beating out qualified. However, when he became effectively the last man standing, I felt how I think many people felt (again, as a guy) that a clear, reasonable decision had finally brought some certainty into our, Democrats’, direction moving forward. The certainty is the thing.

Impeachment

(diary)

The DOJ has been destroyed with Barr, now on to the IC with Richard Grenell. No experience in intelligence (no pun), hated by Germany when he was Trump’s ambassador to Germany, Fox News contributor. He’s an “acting” director so, no Congressional oversight. A senior adviser to Grenell is Kash Patel. He worked closely with Giuliani and tried to discredit the Russia probe. Quoting Masha Gessen: “Institutions will not save you.”

Orchestral Study #3, updated audio

Orchestral Study #3 (adagio with melisma), updated audio and original audio

New Complexity

(I’m not sure how I encountered this. Some sort of internet spelunking but who-knows-where.)

New Complexity is a composition style that originated in the 80s, consisting of inconceivably difficult music with beautifully difficult scores. Upon first listening, I felt that it was just a rehash of mid-century serial technique, at least in expressiveness. I fell into the “I’m smart enough to understand this immediately” trap of the moderately informed. It is instead yet something different and contains more performance/conceptual art aspects that put the responsibility of process on the performer as a way to manifest the ideas in the score. It may be a pendulum swing from what has been called the “downtown” style of minimalism that appeared in the late 60s/early 70s, which was itself a pendulum swing away from the atonality of decades prior. No style completely disappears, but I am happy to see a rhythmically- and harmonically-difficult style return.

Impeachment

(diary)

Fri 14 Feb 2020

I’m ending the week that should have despondency instead with optimism. One of the lawyers I follow (probably Teri Kaniefeld?) advised that the coming months up until the election, and likely after, will contain a maelstrom of offenses. He’s completely unfettered, he benefits from distractions, there’s no chance that Rs will check him in any way from this point on. Instead of focusing on the day’s chaos, plan for the exit strategy that is the next election. Accept that there is (very likely) no punished or pause for him while in office. This is good advice that could have been given at any point in the last 3+ years, so the following it always depends on just how much zen-like calm you can muster.