Be authentic about who you are, how you feel and what's going on.-Peter Gabriel
 

There's a scratched beauty to Peter Gabriel's voice that pulls me in every time one of his songs plays. "The Book Of Love" is my absolute favorite, but "Here Comes The Flood" is equally gorgeous in its own way and much more sad and Sunday night quiet.

Peter himself thought the song over-produced the first time around (on his 1977 self-titled album), as he originally intended it to be recorded with just piano and guitar. The 1990 version on Shake The Tree is sparser, closer to his original vision and definitely more haunting.

 

Sunday readings...here and there

 

 

From the July issue of Wired: 

 

 

 

 

 

Given today's technology... a surprisingly interesting article on 'Knuckle Busters' in this weekend's Wall Street Journal:

 

http://online.wsj.com/articles/will-credit-card-breaches-give-knuckle-busters-a-second-crack-1409365854

 

 

 

 

And also standing out in this weekend's Wall Street Journal (if you're a David Bowie fan):

 

http://online.wsj.com/articles/david-bowie-and-quantum-mechanics-1409066727

 

Speaking of Bowie, there's also this article (much older) on what he was thinking when he made his highly successful and commercially friendly Let's Dance:

 

"I wanted to come in touch with the common factor and not seem to be some sort of alien freak," David Bowie told writer Lisa Robinson shortly after the release of Let's Dance, his most accessible — and commercially successful — album. "I don't want to seem detached and cold, because I'm not."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-albums-of-the-eighties-20110418/david-bowie-lets-dance-20110330#ixzz3C1iPNhsf

 

 

This book is coming out next week and got a good review in WSJ and is also discussed here:

 

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christine-okeefe-aptowicz/dr-mutters-marvels/

 

 

Three day weekend reading...

Well, last week's attempt to read Fanny Hill was a complete bust.

 

Granted, I'm not quite sure I could follow, much less understand, all the physics behind the 18th century bawdy frolicking going on throughout so much of the novel, but I am pretty sure a lot of it was wishful thinking on the part of a man (John Cleland) with a very wild imagination. I'm not well-versed in erotica from any century, but I'm also quite sure love scenes ("love" being used loosely) should not sound like something from Gray's Anatomy (the medical text, not the tv show.)

 

 

 

 

I don't know why I pick up much older books when I can't sleep, but tonight I'm going for War and Peace (which it probably goes without saying is much cleaner and far better reading.) What surprises me is how funny the beginning is, though that could be the slap happy sleepiness inside me right now and the 21st century insight that "forty years" is hardly old age.

 

I think before I get into reading it any more, though, I need a good history refresher on Napoleon and his invasion of Russia.

 

Also helpful is this:

 

 

 

 Another great source is this link from Amazon where someone breaks down which translations to read and why:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R1IK42CKUHYV9V

 

I'm reading the Ann Dunnigan version, but I also downloaded (for free from Google Books) the Nathan Haskell Dole one.

 

War and Peace (Signet classics) -- (UNABRIDGED) Ann Dunnigan was born in Hollywood and here she has presented us with a very nice contemporary (1968) "American English" version of Tolstoy's Magnum opus. I call this one the "doctor's office version" because, even though it is 1,456 pages long (Signet paperback/Penguin), a busy errand-runner can still reasonably carry it around without backache. I found the translation itself to be quite competently rendered and most of the text reads straight through with no footnotes to deal with for the French language parts. If you're an American, and plan to read "War and Peace" only one time, and you're a really busy person who likes to read during windows of time, then this is likely your top choice.

Wednesday odds and ends, to start with

• It’s not pleasant when other people don’t like you, but it’s not awful, it’s not the end of the world, and it’s not fatal.

The above is from an article on irrational thinking I've found to be pretty helpful...I still need to work on this, but it's getting better (I hope):

http://www.rebtnetwork.org/library/ideas.html




This song has been on my mind...after "The Things We Do For Love," it's my favorite 10cc song:

• "This song incorporated the backing of a large wordless choir, which in reality was the group's voices. It was painstakingly built up from chord loops and multi tracks. Some 256 vocal dubs were required to complete the lush harmonies behind Eric Stewart's vocal."
   
  source:
   
   http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4113
   

"Every Simpsons Ever" (the FXX marathon that began on August 21st and runs through September 1st) feels like a Christmas present for an insomniac with a soft spot for Lisa Simpson and her family. There's not enough room on anyone's DVR to cover all 522 episodes, but during those times you can't sleep or you to need to smile, it's there for you! :)