Ira and Philip Glass

This weekend I listened to an episode of Fresh Air that featured Ira Glass (host of the PRI radio show, This American Life, interviewing his second cousin - composer Philip Glass.

This American Life happens to be one of my favorite radio shows, and Philip Glass happens to be one of my favorite composers. The interview is fascinating, focusing on the process Philip Glass goes through when writing music, and how he learned to do it.

Quit Smoking via Brain Injury

According to the New York Times, a paper will be published soon in the Journal of Science that shows a link between a certain area of the brain and addiction. Stroke patients who had injured this specific area had lost their desire to smoke.

Before you go hitting smokers in the heads with a baseball bat, at least read the NYT article so you know where to aim.

How to: Harvest Stem Cells from Home

Finally there is a guide which shows you, step by step, how to harvest stem cells from a human placenta - in the comfort of your own home! I know people who have eaten their children's placenta - but this seems like a better option which will produce something that may come in handy someday. Imagine you do this with your newborn's placenta. Sixty years later, they develop cancer. Having their stem cells in your freezer could potentially be a lifesaver.

Now I need to go on eBay and look for centrifuges.

The Smart Elevator

NPR had a piece about the smart elevator. Instead of pressing the up arrow or the down arrow, and then pressing your floor when you get into the elevator, you enter the floor you wish to go to on a keypad outside the elevator and it directs you to the elevator that will get you there in the fewest number of stops.

This is one of those ideas that is both brilliant and simple - I can't wait to use one!

Step Away from the Computer

I guess I'm just enough of a dork to appreciate this - but Engadget has a bit about AirSoft Project 2.0 - a guard turret for your computer. This thing has optional radio control and four cannons.

How You Say . . . "Politesse"?

The New York Times has an interesting article about the French and their search for politeness.

As part of the consciousness-raising, private sessions on proper table settings and dining habits are offered to Parisian ladies of leisure. The Paris transit authority is in the midst of a campaign of respect to improve the quality of travel for its passengers. Humorous posters hung last fall prodded travelers to muzzle their pets; use trash cans for their garbage; speak softly on their cell phones; avoid whacking their neighbors with their backpacks; and, of course, say hello and goodbye to conductors and ticket vendors.

In 2005, in response to complaints about interaction between patients and staff, the hospital Federation of France began its first national advertising drive for politeness in public hospitals and nursing homes, with a list of rules for how to behave and the motto “Stay polite!”

The Ministry of Education has made good citizenship part of the national curriculum in high schools. The Ministry of Transportation designates an annual “day of steering wheel courtesy” to encourage polite behavior on the road.

Perhaps Americans need to take a lesson from the French - politeness is a quality that is slipping from the American character - and there are so many instances when the difference between a pleasant experience and a disaster is just a little politeness.

Folding@Home with the PS3

Now that the PS3 has launched, the Folding@Home for the PS3 is getting underway. Folding@home is a project that utilizes the unused processing power of computers (and now the PS3) to run simulations and calculations related to protein folding and protein folding disease. If you have a PS3, why not check out their website.

Project Gutenberg

Anyone who's anybody already knows about Project Gutenberg. But in case you're not in the know, Project Gutenberg is an online ebook resource. You can download any book they have for free. This includes over 20,000 books that are in the public domain. Poetry, novels, plays - you name it. They even have foreign works in the original language and translated.

I highly recommend that you visit the site whenever you need to, and don't be afraid to support them - you can volunteer as an editor or even just send them a monetary donation. This is the internet at its best.

The Art of Joel-Peter Witkin

Joel-Peter Witkin is an amazing photographer - it's been awhile since I have seen any of his stuff, but recently I stumbled upon this gallery. His images are surreal and haunting - giving the viewer a sense of reality through their dark fantasies.

A word of warning, many of the images are potentially disturbing and are NSFW.

Sealand for Sale

Sealand, the country/principality, is for sale. If you have the desire to live on a 550 square foot abandoned military fort in the north sea where you don't have to pay taxes - you're in luck. Here's a link to the Sealand wikipedia page, and here to the abc article.

Hamlet reeks of Popcorn

The New York Times reports on the growing trend of allowing theater patrons to bring food and drink into theaters.

“It’s a reflection of changing audience habits,” said Jim Boese, the organization’s vice president. “As the audience for Broadway expands, there are changing audience needs. This is part of a broader attempt to enhance the audience experience.”

It also helps the bottom line for theater owners, who profit from sales at the concession stands. And when people can eat at their seats, they tend to buy more.

I have to say, I'm opposed to this. Working for a non-profit theatre myself, I can understand a company's desire to raise revenue. But I also believe that by allowing food and drink into the theatre, the company is simply not doing their job. Distractions such as cell phones, noisy candy wrappers, or the smell of popcorn detract from the experience. These infringe upon the artistic integrity of the play and of the performers.

As far as the audience goes - if you can't go two and a half hours without a tub of popcorn, you've got bigger problems to worry about. I would like to believe that people, for the most part, go to the theatre to have an experience - I would like to believe that playwrights, for the most part, write plays anticipating the audience's experience. I don't think popcorn and a big gulp are neccessarily a part of either.

Einstein on the Beach

I've just finished listening to one of my favorite pieces of music - Philip Glass's opera, Einstein on the Beach

"Repetition" is the word most often used to describe Philip Glass's music - although that isn't (most of the time) meant in a negative way. Glass uses repetition and sound tonality to create a musical experience that transports the listener outside of themselves. This is not background music, and you won't hear it in any elevators or any radio stations - it is music that was meant for something far greater than just filling silence - it is meant to be an experience, and you have to treat it as such. You have to be willing to invest yourself in it - to give up a time of your life to the music, with the knowledge that if you do this, it will change everything.

It really is a three hour excavation into sound - into resonance - into that space where it echoes in your head. Without your full dedication to the experience the opera will fail - one only needs to let the music into one's self and be amazed at how the controlled chaos of noise comes together to not sound beautiful (although indeed it does) but creates beauty.

This is the kind of art that requires something from the audience. It is impossible to be a passive participant in this experience - you must remain active in it. If you are unwilling or unable to give yourself to the melodies than stick with popular music.

All great art is great because it takes something from the audience. Something intangible, something metaphysical. It is when we have nothing left to give that all forms fall away and we are left with experience - a true experience, unaffected by the prisons of culture and expectations. In this state anything is possible and the only thing at risk is you.

It's as though we stand at the edge of a cliff and look down into the abyss - we know that at the bottom is Eden - all we have to do is jump.

Forgive me this rant - I just think it would be a shame if you lived your life without taking this chance.

I encourage you to find three hours and sit in a dark place and let the music fill you.

The Perfect Celery

They've engineered stalks of celery that are hallow, to be used with bloody marys and such.

I love me some vodka in the morning, so I'm all for this innovation.

Welcome to Modern Excess

Welcome to Modern Excess! This blog will be devoted to all things cool - from technology to art to the latest social trends, I'll post things that are worth knowing about.

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Thanks for reading!