brainstorms

Sunday February 19, 2006

random 10 [meme]

meme seen in geoff's blog. 10 random selections from my music library, courtesy of itunes.

Bottomliners	Brian Eno [ Another Day On Earth]
Aubade: Vive amour qui reve	Angela Gheorghiu [Arias]
Symphony 25 IV. Allegro	Mozart [ The Late Symphonies]
Bizim Eller	Hasan Cihat Orter [ Anatolian Folk Music]
Deacon's Hop	Big Jay McNeely & Band [ Blues Masters 5: Jump Blues Classics]
Sol De Maiz	Illapu [Music Of The Andes]
Mademoiselle D'Gascony	Wynton Marsalis Septet [The Marciac Suite]
One For Mort	Booker Ervin [Jazz With Prestige]
Como Olvidar	Placido Domingo [ 100 years of Mariachi]
Going Back To New Orleans	Joe Liggins & Honey Drippers [ Creole Kings Of New Orleans]

[updated links. i only buy rip-able cds.]

leon in winter

what makes a good review? balance, clarity, consistency, understanding, respect for the material and the author, and an ability to keep acidic ad-hominem impulses under control [sometimes known as professionalism] come to mind. alas, this is evidently hard work for difficult and possibly annoying material. today's NYT review [requires login] of dennett's breaking the spell by leon wieseltier is an undergrad-textbook example of how not to review a book. deeply disappointing.

[updated NYT link. thanks geoff!]

[there has been a number of awful reviews of this book and i expect more; here awful describes the overall quality of the review workmanship. these could have been written for some other book i am now reading; my response would be the same. enough with these insulting, bubble-gum and razor-wire "reviews".]