The most recent Ultra collection is very upbeat and terrific for exercising. It's not particularly deep and definitely not something to listen to as you would music that takes you away from everything for a while and becomes a mind-altering experience. Last year's compilation stood on its own and had some great zen-like moments.

 

2015's edition is strictly for the beats and the infectious urge to dance. Stand-outs include: "Delirious (Boneless)," "Five Hours," "My Head Is A Jungle" (MK Remix) and "Brand New (Extended Version)." 

 

*See complete track listing below:

 

 

http://www.allmusic.com/album/ultra-2015-mw0002771318

 

 

 A review for Ultra 2014:

 

Review by David Jeffries

                   

Packed with club hits like Calvin Harris' "Thinking About You," Steve Aoki and Chris Lake's "Boneless," plus the Benny Benassi and John Legend team-up "Dance the Pain Away," Ultra 2014 continues to display the mighty licensing muscle this Universal label's annual series has previously wielded, but the difference is in the "details," which in other series is called "filler." Here, powerful, excellent, and yet lesser-known numbers make all the difference, with Hadouken!'s "Levitate" and Lazy Jay's "On the Rocks" being the top candidates, although the delicious and unexpected gathering of Flosstradamus, Yellow Claw, and Green Velvet on "Pillz" will jump right to the top of the list for anyone who loves speaker-ripping electro eccentrics. Being mixed well is icing on the cake, leaving nothing to complain about except for this being one of the shorter (disc one comes in at under 50 minutes) entries. Minor complaint; otherwise the Ultra series remains ultra.

 

 

Catching up with the papers...

Please Look After This Bear

Pico Iyer

JAN. 9, 2015

                       

             

Credit Peggy Fortnum 

                   

When Paddington Bear landed in London in 1958, it was still quite a provincial place. Safe, settled, a little gray — no sign of the Beatles or the swinging ’60s yet — it upheld the ceremonial proprieties immortalized in “Brief Encounter” and “84, Charing Cross Road.” Men wore ties to dinner, women skirts; the post-nuclear nightmares and beatnik explosions of America were barely visible on occasional television screens. Yes, the likes of the Trinidad-born novelist Samuel Selvon were beginning to give voice to other realities in works like “The Lonely Londoners,” but if a British family’s name was Brown, you could be fairly sure its skin was not.

Continue reading the main story

 

Speaking of beloved children's books, I will always be very grateful that my parents, especially my mom, read to me as a child and that I got my love of fiction from them. I also have fond memories of elementary school teachers reading out loud during class:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/us/study-finds-reading-to-children-of-all-ages-grooms-them-to-read-more-on-their-own.html



This essay from last Sunday's New York Times sums it up so well when it comes to religious objection to gay marriage. One passage that really stands out is this one:

Their owners are routinely interacting with customers who behave in ways they deem sinful. They don’t get to single out one group of supposed sinners. If they’re allowed to, who’s to say they’ll stop at that group?

It has long gotten to me that very conservative Christians say they object to all sins and that they are not being bigoted when it comes to gay people. If this is so, then why are we their only scapegoats?

If, for instance, their religious sensibilities are offended by serving gay people, where are their objections to serving straight people living together, but not married? They supposedly believe it is a sin to have any relations outside of traditional marriage, yet they are not denouncing those between unmarried men and women. When was the last time a minister spoke ill of straight people "living in sin"? The 1960s, maybe?

I am so tired of feeling frustrated and getting preachy over something that will probably always be a huge wedge issue in our world. I certainly don't think homophobia will ever disappear in my lifetime. And while it doesn't personally affect me, unless we reach a point where religious fanatics start going after single and celibate gays and lesbians as well, it deeply hurts. 

The thing is it should bother all people when someone's right to love and spent the rest of her life with her partner is infringed upon. No one should ever have the right to keep two people in love apart. And the idea of putting that right up to voters (most of whom are straight and would certainly be devastated if their right to love were treated that way) is both mind-blowing and heartbreaking.

The rest of the op-ed piece can be read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-religious-liberty-bigotry-and-gays.html?_r=0

 

 

I've never listened to Aphex Twin before, but this album is pretty neat and definitely unlike anything I've ever heard before. Though it's a bit too cold and clinical for me, it's definitely not boring. Track 5 is the most pop-friendly of them all while track 12 is the closest to being beautiful and almost warm.* Reviews for Syro have been glowing and I imagine fans of techno, trance and electronic music will be happy. :)

 

Review by Andy Kellman                      

Thirteen years passed between Drukqs and Syro, the fifth and sixth Aphex Twin albums. The long stretch, however, wasn't short on new material from Richard D. James. From 2005 through early 2014, the frequently dazzling Analord EPs (all but one of which was credited to AFX), an EP and LP as the Tuss, and a liberated Caustic Window LP all reached the public. In August 2014, a nylon Aphex blimp -- not quite as immense as the S.O.S. Band's presumably decommissioned aircraft, yet transfixing nonetheless -- was spotted over London, and the following month, Syro arrived on Warp. Low on frenetics, Syro is anchored by rotund and agile basslines that zip and glide, and it's decked in accents and melodies that are lively even at their most distressed. It also flows easily, a notion epitomized by the sequencing of "XMAS_EVET10 [Thanaton3 Mix]" and "Produk 29," where a mesmerizing combination of snaking low-end synthesizers (10:31, not 12:24 in length) is trailed by an avant-rap body mover that bears some resemblance to Dabrye's lithe and sprightly early releases. Components of certain tracks, like the squiggled Mr. Fingers spin-cycle bassline in "4 bit 9d api+e+6" and scrambled rhythms of "CIRCLONT6A [Syrobonkus Mix]," make the album seem like a bright progression from the Analord releases. Apart from the straight-ahead slamming drums in "180db_," the most striking aspect of Syro is the funkiness of its synthesizers relative to James' previous output. His playing here is far too fidgety to be grafted onto the likes of "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "You're the One for Me," and "Just Be Good to Me," though some of the lines in, uh, the title cut, have that grimace-triggering quality. Only a trace of the indiscriminate sequencing and stylistic switch-ups heard on Drukqs remains. It's saved for the end, with a rather elegant, part-drum'n'bass excursion as the penultimate number, followed by a placid piano-only piece in the vein of those heard on the 2001 album. These tracks actually enhance, rather than hinder, one of James' most inviting and enjoyable releases.

 *

Rather than a studio-birthed composition like the rest of Syro, ‘Aisatsana’ (presumably a reference to Aphex’s wife, Anastasia) is a recording or replay of the part of Aphex’s 2012 “remote orchestra” show at London’s Barbican where music was produced from a suspended, swinging piano (with added bird song). Naturally, some Aphex fans have picked up on this, but most reviews of Syro - ours included – completely missed it.--factmag.com

So The Queen’s Companion is that kind of gentle and sweet that I love in a romance yet (especially because of its time period) also struggles with the impossibilities that come with being a woman in love with a woman.

There is a scene where the main character goes to church to pray away her feelings. It is so sad and all too easy to relate to:

No matter how hard she tried to extinguish them, her thoughts returned again and again to Bella…The more she tried to shake her feelings loose, the more intense they became and the more she was afraid…

She prays and prays to God until her heart aches and still she has strong feelings for Bella, one of the ladies who attends to her. THIS is why I need lesfic in my life…because it speaks to me in a way nothing (or no one) else does. Everything Catherine feels and prays to leave her body and soul…THAT is how it’s been with me much of the time when I've liked someone I shouldn't.

The Queen has reluctantly agreed to marry for the sake of her country and for Bella’s safety (people are beginning to suspect the two women are in love). The pressure she faces to marry would seem like a mockery of the sacred institution (i.e. forcing someone to marry someone she doesn’t love) but given the time period, I imagine there isn't much choice involved. Gay or straight, many women throughout history were made to get married, through societal or family pressure.

I've been keeping a dream journal for a long time now, but I stopped a few weeks ago to see if I could un-train myself to remember my dreams. I figured since I taught myself how to improve dream recall and even have lucid dreams I could do the reverse. I was desperate, not because of the nightmares I was having, but because of the occasional beautiful ones where someone I liked liked me back. 

Those  were the tormenting dreams, not the nightmares, because besides how awfully disappointing it is to wake up from a lovely dream, I also feel terribly guilty. Maybe I can't help what dreams I have and how real the falsehoods feel, but I certainly can make myself not remember them if I try hard enough.

I think perhaps because I'm not remembering my dreams as much anymore, I am sleeping somewhat better and my daily life is receiving the benefit. I am not over my crush yet, but I think I'm reacting better and I have reached this point in my life where I am neither ecstatic nor despondent...I'm just kind of there.