Ransen's Blog

 I heard a podcast, which I cannot find now, about how Spotify models the sort of songs that are created. For short pop songs, many of which are only 2 minutes long, the song writer and/or performer gets almost immediate feedback about how well the song is doing, and they can change the music. Slower beat, less plays, less income, so let's up the beat. Some song writers are trapped in a disagreeable loop of constant modification in order to earn enough money to live on. (To see how poorly streaming pays songwriters listen to " The Price Of Song " a BBC Podcast in the " Seriously... " series. )  Anyway, musicians chasing more plays reminded me of a disagreement I had with a friend about one of my drawings...  He said that there are certain rules in art which need to be respected, one of them is balance, and my drawing was not balanced. I was amazed at this assertion, as if art must be made for decorative purposes.    That criticism, together with what Spotify is

 

 Two happy discoveries last week.  What Happens In Ulster is a very entertaining mockumentary crime podcast written by Marc McElroy, and starring Diona Doherty. I have to admit I binged on it.  And then I stumbled across a new version of Bach's Goldberg Variations, transcribed by Yasuaki Shimizu for five saxophones and four contra basses.  I've had the versions by Gould and Richter for years... ...and brilliant they are, but Shimizu's version is a whole new fresh rich sound.

 I was recently given, as a present, a copy of the "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam". A lovely volume.  It is a long time since I'd read the whole poem, but this time it struck me that almost every page is about death and alcohol. Fitzgerald, the translator who brought the poem to the West, decided to try to transmit the spirit of the poem, rather than make a literal translation. I can't read ancient Persian, so the only thing I have to go on is the translation. And the Art Nouveau illustrations (mostly by Renè Bull). Come fill the cup... the Bird of Time has but a little way to flutter . There you go, alcohol and death. And as the cock crew those who stood before the Tavern shouted "Open then the door! You know how little while we have to stay and once departed may return no more!" Oh oh! More alcohol and death. And how come Persia of 600 years ago is full of 1920s Hollywood actors? Want some more death and alcohol? Never fear: Ah make the most of what we may ye

 Many years ago my back was so painful sometimes I had to roll out of bed, I couldn't "get up", I had to "roll up". My doctor recommended a physiotherapist who taught me some exercises to do, and since then I've had very little back trouble. But. The exercises require you to, for example, "repeat 5 times and hold for a count of 15 at each repetition". And I as I got to do the exercises automatically, my mind would wander and I'd forget how many repeats I'd done and how long I'd been holding the position. The problem was the mixing up of the numbers.  So I solved that problem by counting the exercises with numbers and the "hold for" with letters. So if I had to hold for 10, I'd "count" from a to j . And instead of saying the letters I'd visualize them. Seemed like more fun. But I found to my surprise that some letters were hard to visualize. The first 6 are a doddle, but for the life of me I could not easily

 

 In this post : For Reasons Beyond My Control I listed a few of my favourite comedy shows, but I'd forgotten two. The first is "When The Dog Dies", written by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent, with Ronnie Corbett and Liza Tarbuck.  You'd imagine a quiet gentle comedy, and it sounds like that initially, but the deep grasping nastiness of Ronnie's children and the sexiness of his lodger (Liza Tarbuck, always half dressed or in tight leather it seems) gives an edge to the comedy.  Then there's "Robin And Wendy's Wet Weekends":  It is written by and stars Kay Stonham and Simon Greenall. It is about Robin and Wendy Mayfield, a childless couple from Stevenage. Robin is obsessed with Mayfield, the model village he has built in their garage. Again it sounds like a "gentle comedy" but involves (for example), adulterous sex with a dying man in a hospital.