Ummagumma

Time to close out 2024 with various things that were on my mind throughout the year that I didn't write about. As several posts throughout the year suggest, it was another great year to explore music, particularly classical music. I discovered someone new in African-American composer Brain Nabors. His Pulse from 2019 really caught my attention. This piece lasts for almost 12 and a half minutes and is lively, even playful, almost optimistic but most certainly confident. There's little conflict or dissonance to be heard though it is clearly contemporary and relevant. Though performed more or less continually, Pulse consists of the classic three-part structure with the first two parts containing most of the rhythmic drive of the work. Part three is much softer and more tranquil, ending with the uttermost peace and rest. A wonderful few minutes of music that I returned to several times during the course of the year. It is inspirational to me. How lucky I am to have ...

Art by Gemini AI.   The previous article in Psyche critiqued the reliance of human beings on narrative to navigate life, calling for us to break our stories down into “perspectives.”  This recent article in Noēma by Pamela Swanigan appears to offer relevance to narrative in the contemporary world with respect of global warming. Marvelously entitled “It's Time To Give Up Hope For A Better Climate And Get Heroic,” the article argues that traditional hope-based rhetoric around climate change and environmental issues is failing to motivate action, and proposes adopting J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of "the long defeat" as a more effective framework. In doing so, the author absolutely focuses on a perspective, making this in one sense a great example of what the previous article calls for. “The long defeat” certainly has narrative characteristics but it is more so a singular point of view of a much larger narrative Tolkien is telling in his great tale beyond our consider...

Aragon drinks from a chalice offered him by Eowyn.  We are led to believe this relationship will blossom.  The Christ-like imagery is obvious in this beautifully lit and composed shot by Jackson. [My review of The Fellowship of the Ring ]  [My review of The Two Towers ] A worm and hook.  A young Smeagol (Gollum) is fishing and we are introduced to how the One Ring came to him, in murder on his birthday.  We witness how the Ring completely possessed him over time.  It was a gradual, grotesque transformation at first.  “We forgot the sound of the trees.”  All in the name of “my precious.”  This is a terrific touch by Jackson.  This backstory is told at the Council of Elrond in the novels.  Holding on to it until here in the films gives it the proper weight.  It is a huge event in the grand narrative.  Everyone thinks of how Bilbo got the Ring.  But how Gollum came to have it is even more important. As he leads Sam and F...