This Is Beautiful: Mindfulness

I'm an overachiever. Or at least I try to be. That's why I always feel like I have to be working, have to be doing something, that's partly why this blog exists and these series posts exist. But I try to also make room for mindfulness.

Mindfulness to me can mean meditation, but it also just means stopping to smell the flowers and watch the world go by. Meditation helps with that, helps to make it easier to focus on your breath, but that's not all of it. It's also sometimes taking a second out of your busy day to reflect and think and observe.

The effects are really incredible, sure there's some science about it, but on a basic level I feel better when I'm more mindful. Less stressed, less rushed. There's something really beautiful about that.

“Games Wizards Play” by Diane Duane

This is a series that I hadn’t picked up in a while. I think I wrote about an earlier installment in this saga a while ago, but I haven’t touched anything by Duane since then. I don’t remember being thrilled with it, but this one made me remember just how much I love the series all over again. It made me strangely nostalgic for high school, seeing the close knit community that the characters have and how close they are with their families. And my high school experience was nothing like that!

This book centers around peacetime for the Wizards, or as peaceful as you can get. Every eleven years there’s a competition for young wizards, with only slightly older ones serving as their mentors. The idea is that you’ll learn more from someone close to your age. Nita, Kit, and Dairine all are nominated to serve as mentors to the next generation as they design spells and submit them to a competition. The winner works with the Planetary wizard for a year, which is quite the award since she’s the most powerful wizard on Earth.

What really struck me during this book was the intense amount of world building that Duane has done. To observe the competition, characters from all over come by, and they each reveal something new about themselves. Even characters that are mentioned in passing are usually revealed to be working on something new and exciting since the last time we saw them. And the main characters are continually having flashbacks to earlier memories that are so stunningly consistent with the way that I remember them. Of course, Duane has been doing this throughout the series, introducing something in passing in one book that then gets fleshed out in a later installment. It just never ceases to amaze me just how much information she has about this alternate reality that she has created.

There is also a greater amount of diversity introduced in this book. This series has always been diverse, with characters from different planets mentioned as much as people with different backgrounds, but this one seems to do that more than usual with its focus on Earth. Dairine’s mentee is Islamic, and Nita and Kit’s mentee is Chinese. One of the recurring characters is revealed to be gay, while another one is shown to be asexual. (Sidenote: as an asexual I appreciate this incredibly, representation matters to me so much. This character in particular is wonderful, one of her opening lines clarifies that it isn’t that she can’t have sex or hasn’t has sex, it’s that she doesn’t. And she very clearly isn’t aromantic as well, which is something that people easily confuse asexuality for. I love her and I love this.) The Planetary wizard for Earth has always been described as a woman with a baby at her hip, but the baby’s character is expanded on in this book, and revealed to have had leukemia. Imagine that: the most powerful wizard on Earth is a working mother with a sick baby! That’s incredible!

Duane is doing amazing things with the fantasy genre. We knew that from the beginning since Nita has always very firmly been the (female) main character, with relatable thoughts and ideas. But with this latest book she finally comes down to Earth and shows that all of the other humans are just as interesting as the mystical beings she creates from scratch.

This Is Beautiful: Opera

So I just got back from seeing "La Traviata" and I keep forgetting how gorgeous opera music is. People like to talk shit about it, and I get that there are definitely barriers and issues to it, but it is so powerful to listen to. Having the classical orchestra and impossibly high sopranos and smooth-as-silk tenors really captures emotions in a way that most musicals never could. And the entire show is set to music, giving you a pipeline into the character's thoughts at any given time.

Now I know that there are valid criticisms about opera. It has been historically something that rich snobs go to. It's in a different language. There are a slew of reasons to dislike it. But that doesn't mean we should write off the whole genre. Broadway wouldn't exist if it wasn't for opera, and so much other art is indebted to opera composers and other artists (ballet, forms of pop music, theater, etc.). If you have never heard any opera before, I would strongly consider giving it a chance. There is a lot of different opera out there, and somewhere there exists an opera that you are going to love.

“It Devours!” by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor

Full confession: I’ve never listed to the “Welcome to Night Vale” podcast and this is actually my first exposure to the series. I think it’s amazing.

Night Vale is full of crazy stuff like vague yet menacing government agents, and helicopters circling the city. All of these descriptions are given in a completely serious tone, as though it is the most normal thing in the world for there to be someone farming invisible corn. Just the tone and the details themselves really draw you into the world and make you want to continue reading.

But there is much more to this story than that. This is about the interaction of religion and science, and about the limitations of both of them. In this day and age, we can often forget about how science does have limits, or how religion has numerous strengths to its name. I wish I could go into more detail, but that would completely spoil the ending.

Let’s just leave it at how the characters are super engaging, the world is quirky, and everything about it keeps you guessing and giggling. I would highly recommend this to anyone, and I think I’ll start listening to the podcast now, I wonder how it compares to the book.

This Is Beautiful: Community Bands

So I don't think I've mentioned this, but I am in a community band. Have been since I graduated. And it's wonderful honestly. I've been playing saxophone since middle school, and I definitely wanted to keep it as part of my life. I just wasn't sure how much of it I would be able to do outside of a school setting.

Then I found this wonderful group to play with, they have a concert band, swing band, and a marching band over the summer. And I just think that there's something so beautiful about a bunch of adults with day jobs coming together to make music. Because none of us are getting paid for this or are turning it into our career, we are all simply here because we like making music and it adds meaning to our lives.

Doing things just for the love of it is so underrated. People ooh and aah over the professionals, but I think it's the amateurs that need more love. They don't need to be doing what they're doing, they just want to learn and grow in a different way. And in my opinion everyone needs an outlet of some variety that they aren't getting paid to do. For me that's anything that lets me be more creative and create some form of art, specifically band mainly. I have a friend who designs t-shirts though, and another who is into pottery.

So support and fund your local community band. Go see their concerts, give them money. They are working their butts off to practice and put on these events, and they certainly don't have to be doing it. Go give them some love.

“Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain” by Oliver Sacks

This book is pretty much exactly as advertised. Each chapter is a small tale about music and the brain, usually about what happens when things go wrong with the brain and its effect on music. Which leads into insights about how we perceive music while healthy as well.

As someone who loves both music and science, there was a lot that I really enjoyed about this. However, I will say that there are chapters where Sacks does not really explain what the name of the affliction is. He’ll just continue on about the effect of dystonia or whatever on his patient assuming that you know what that means. There are other chapters (like the one on William’s syndrome) where he does an excellent job of explaining what is happening biologically, but it is inconsistent.

Similarly, possibly because each chapter can function independently, I had a hard time pinning down his voice and tone throughout the book. As a result I wasn’t sure whether I liked it or not, which made the whole work rather disjointed.

Having said that, this is a really interesting overview of how little we really understand about ourselves and the effect that art has on us biologically. Scientists tend to get bogged down into exactly what molecule is doing what, which is so hard to pin down when it comes to something as pervasive as music. Hopefully the coming years will reveal new insights into this, because I find it all fascinating.

This Is Beautiful: Fire Spinning

When I was in college, I was part of a circus club. We had some acrobats and things like that, but it mostly consisted of prop manipulation. And a big part of that is lighting your prop on fire and spinning it.

Of course there are plenty of regulations to follow, you need proper fuel, toys, safety, everything. But nothing quite compares to that feeling of holding and controlling an enormous ball of fire. You feel strong, powerful. There's nothing like it in the world.

I recently went back to my old college to see some friends of mine spin fire, and it's so much fun to watch. The patterns that you can make with light and even sound (fire is very loud) are gorgeous. But I miss spinning it myself.

If you don't know what this looks like, just google it. You'll find some really cool videos! And remember that if you want to try it out yourself, do so in a safe manner, there have been some really bad accidents in the past.

“Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder

At first I thought that this book was a work of fiction. It seemed incredible to me that someone like Dr. Paul Farmer could actually exist in real life. To be honest the best way to sum his character up comes up rather late in the book, he lived his life as it should be lived, but not the way we all ought to live.

Farmer essentially dedicated his life to the Haitian poor and treating them against all odds. He has a family but rarely sees them, he spends so much time travelling. Splitting his time between treating everyone in Haiti and seeing bigwigs to make policy decisions, he barely has time to sleep and eat. However he has an incredible passion for the work, that much is evident.

Kidder chronicles everything from Farmer’s early years and schooling into founding Partners in Health and all of his attempts to treat tuberculosis and AIDS. Despite his aging years, I’m willing to bet that he has more energy than me. He strongly believes in treating everyone correctly, and damn the price and the consequences.

Like I said, I hardly believed that this was a real person. I’d strongly recommend this book to anyone wanting to go into medicine, again because this is an example of what we should all be doing. This is the standard that we will be comparing ourselves to, and an impossible one at that. But it’s important, since we have to choose what battle we want to be fighting, and here is an example of someone who fought with an incredible amount of gusto and heart.

This Is Beautiful: The Birth of Tragedy

Now I knew pretty early on that I wanted to take philosophy classes during college. I had been a philosophy nut from pretty early on, stemming out on my interest in religion but continuing beyond that. I ended up minoring in the philosophy of art, but I didn't choose that until I read this work by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Something about it spoke to my soul, I felt as though he was articulating something that I could feel intimately but was incapable of putting into words. It was the same sort of feeling that I got when I read "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" for the first time. Honestly I think most of my journey through reading is just looking for that feeling to hit once again.

This was also how I fell in love with Nietzsche in general. For those who don't know anything about his life, he essentially studied classics and the history of Ancient Greece until he wrote this book. And then "The Birth of Tragedy" drops and it has very little to do with actual history, it's mostly speculative, and talks a lot about German art and where it is going. So after that he was mostly seen as a philosopher who was also kind of an artsy guy. He was friends with Wagner and wrote music and poetry on the side (if I remember correctly Wagner never cared for his musical compositions haha). He had a break with Wagner after hearing his Ring cycle and reacting in a way that I think can be summed up as: WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT (which is what a normal person should say in response to the Ring cycle). Eventually he died after seeing someone beat a horse in the middle of the street and throwing himself on the horse to save it. After that he went completely mad and died soon after. After his death his sister tried to take all of his works and make them more Nazi-like, but I think that idea has mostly died out now.

I've always kind of seen Nietzsche as this ultimate idealist. He died protecting a horse for starters. And his split with Wagner has always seemed "death of innocence" like to me. But that's probably me projecting. Point is that I like Nietzsche as a person (besides the fact that he hated women, which is why this post is only about "The Birth of Tragedy").

So to get into the actual work, this is about how in Ancient Greece there were two forces at play in art. There's the Apollonian which is very stately art, usually takes the form of poetry or statues. And there's the Dionysian, which is a drunken revelry of alcohol and food and orgies that cause you to lose your individuality and lose yourself in the masses. Unsurprisingly he elaborates more on the Dionysian because that is much more interesting. The idea is that the Dionysian man has seen into the very reality of the world, and in order to cope with it, he has to partake in these celebrations of mortality or be lost to despair.

The ultimate culmination of these two art forms together was in Ancient Greek tragedies. But this was not to last. Because then plays started popping up that reveled in individual suffering and killed the way that the Dionysian erased the individual. He talks smack about these plays for a very long time.

But there's hope, Nietszche believes, because German music and German culture will soon rise again. He believes that Wagner is the man to do this, and his book stops there. But we all know that in the end Wagner does no such thing, at least to Nietszche, so it is a bittersweet ending.

As you can imagine, there is plenty more in the book about the Dionysian man and Nietzsche's thoughts on music in general. I would highly encourage checking it out, it is wonderfully written and communicates some very important ideas, in my opinion.

Variations on a Theme: Film Scores

This month is film scores! I often think that these get overlooked as just something to listen to while studying or something, but the way that the composer takes the images and emotions on screen and translates them into music can be incredibly powerful. And it’s difficult, like taking the choreography from a dance and finding a song to fit it. The best ones are a seamless part of the finished movie and heighten the action in a way that is truly in a league of their own.

1. "How to Train Your Dragon" by John Powell

This movie has probably my favorite music that I’ve seen so far. The composer uses instruments that clearly set you in the land of the Vikings, such as bagpipes, to set the scene. During more emotional moments, the orchestration is a perfect representation of this. Take “Forbidden Friendship,” the scene where Hiccup and Toothless become pals. The melody starts so uncertain, but then builds and intensifies until the final moment where they settle into their relationship, and then it stops. Wonderful expression of getting to know someone.

2. "The Imitation Game" by Alexandre Desplat

The music for this movie I thought deserved so much more recognition than it got. The opening music in particular is very well written. It begins delicately, but also has a more mechanical undertone to reflect the movie’s focus on machines and cracking their codes. It also lightens up when Turing (the main character) sees a similar young boy/nerd, giving a great insight into his character. Throughout the whole movie, the music serves as a wonderful insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings.

3. "Watchmen" by Tyler Bates

People can talk shit about this movie all that they want, I think it’s spectacular. The music situates you perfectly in the 80s right from that opening sequence with “The Times They Are A Changin’” by Bob Dylan. And that grounding stays there all through it with the certain instruments that are used, think synths, and the style, think big rock songs. It serves to place the viewer in this alternate reality that can be so hard to grasp at times.

4. "Sherlock Holmes" by Hans Zimmer

I thoroughly enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes movies. And the music is also incredible. Again it serves to immerse you in the world of 19^th century England by using primarily folk instruments like fiddles and accordions to conjure up a bustling world of the past. There’s a primary theme that runs through most of the songs, connecting them, but it goes through so many changes and permutations that it can hardly be noticed at points.

5. "Blues Brothers" by Ira Newborn

Another one of my favorite movies, this is a hilarious musical romp featuring several great actors. As you can probably tell from the title, the music is all blues and jazz, making it so wonderful. It’s also full of classics, making this movie still relevant in today’s day and age.

6. "Mishima" by Phillip Glass

This movie is about a Japanese author turned revolutionary. It alternates between his life and scenes from his most famous works. Phillip Glass did all of the music, and it masterfully navigates between the worlds of his books and 20^th century Japan. Wonderfully mesmerizing, it really brings you into the movie and doesn’t let you leave.

7. "Cloud Atlas" by Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil

Finishing it out here with my favorite movie, “Cloud Atlas.” This movie is based on a book of the same name, and features 6 different story lines from different points in history that all interweave based on themes and character archetypes. Music also plays a heavy role in it as the group is referred to as a “sextet.” The composer here did not disappoint, the music is gorgeous and graceful. The main theme is often heard at piano recitals, in fact. There’s also an orchestrated sextet version that is just as lovely. Could not recommend this more.

So that’s all for this month, stay tuned for the next installment which is Outer Space!