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Several of us went to see Mama Mia at The Kentucky Center last night as a Christmas present from two of my sisters. It’s a good show and the performers look like they’re having a really good time. I suppose it has more appeal for those of us that grew up in the era of (and enjoyed) ABBA music. I did both.

ABBA is sort of one of those guilty pleasures we have to allow ourselves occasionally. You’re not going to find really deep, thoughtful lyrics. You’re not going to hear complex instrumentation. You’re not going to venture into groundbreaking musical terrritory. ABBA made pop music that appealed to a broad international audience. It’s just fun.

Q. What do you get when you play rock music backwards?
A. Satanic messages.

Q. What do you get when you play country music backwards?
A. You don’t lose your job, your wife doesn’t leave, and your dog doesn’t die.

Q. What do you get when you play new age music backwards?
A. New age music.

Generally, I’m not a fan of new age music, but then I’m not a fan of labels or of putting artists in pigeonholes either. Recently I picked up Eastern Energy by 12 Girls Band. Aside from the fact that the group is a dozen good looking young women (I am a guy, after all), I really like their mix of traditional and contemporary music played on traditional Chinese instruments.

12 Girls Band

TJ zonked out in the middle of Christmas day. He was just getting his second wind before opening MORE presents! Check out those new boots….

I got quite a surprise in my Tai Chi class this morning. Master Chang gave me a book, Discovering the Secret Geomancy Behind the Layouts of the Forbidden City. It’s written in Chinese, so it will be a while before I will be able to really read it, but it is filled with photos and illustrations and it is beautiful to look at. I can get the gist of some of the number sequences, their use of what we know as the Pythagorean theorem and the golden mean. The whole city (which was the imperia; palace complex) was laid out according to the principals of Tai Chi, to be in harmony with nature and express yin and yang. The same basic principals are at work in what we know as Feng Shui, but I get the impression that the way it is often practiced here in the West has lost a lot in translation.

As I write this, WCEU, one of the local PBS affiliates is airing Touching the Void. From http://www.pbs.org/previews/touchingthevoid/:

In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to climb the forbidding 21,000-foot Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes - the only mountain in the Peruvian range that hadn’t yet been conquered. Young, fit and skilled, climbers Simpson and Yates were confident they would succeed. What happened on their trip has since become a mountaineering legend about human endurance and the will to survive. Based on Simpson’s international best-seller, the… film, which combines dramatic and documentary techniques, was shot on location in the Peruvian Andes….

I rented this when it came out on DVD. The film is at times breath-takingly beautiful because of its location and frequently spine-chillingly horrific because of the ordeal the climbers endured.

In the news today: Jeb Bush [our beloved governer] and the Florida Cabinet have approved eight new specialty license plates bringing the total available now to ninety-seven. 97! As I write this the new ones are not yet posted, but the state kindly provides a list at http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/specialtytags/specialindex.html. If you want to get into the act, there are instructions on how to propose yet more specialty plates at http://casey.hsmv.state.fl.us/Intranet/dmv/Manuals/DMVProcedures/BTR/RS/RS-20.pdf. I haven’t read the whole thing (and don’t intend to), but before we start thinking that everyone can have their very own specialty plate note that among the requirements are:

The results of a scientific sample survey of 30,000 Florida registered vehicle owners or registrants, listing their Florida license plate numbers or driver license numbers, complete address and county of residence, who state their intent to purchase the proposed specialty license plate. An independent organization (NOT the requesting organization), which conducts similar sample surveys as a normal course of business, must perform the sample survey. It is the responsibility of the survey company to ensure that the person certifying to purchase the license plate is the owner of a vehicle with a valid Florida registration. This information must be legible for verification purposes (Exhibit C).

An application fee of $60,000, payable to the Division of Motor Vehicles, is required to defray the department’s cost for reviewing the application and developing the specialty license plate. State funds may not be used to pay the application fee except for collegiate specialty license plates. This fee is deposited into the Highway Safety Operating Trust Fund. If the specialty license plate requested by the organization is not approved by the legislature, the application fee shall be refunded to the requesting organization.

Blog is the most looked-up word of the year (2004) on the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. See the top ten at http://m-w.com/info/04words.htm.

I was looking at excerpts from a book on how to blog at www.tonypierce.com/blog/bloggy.htm. I’ve already failed to meet many of the recommendations. Oh well, who says there’s only one right way to do this?

I missed most of the interview with Bob Dylan on 60 Minutes Sunday. In the part I did see, he looked very tired and unhappy. I did see the interview with Dustin Hoffman last week. Two things he said keep going through my head:

Hoffman is 67, and he says in one sense, he feels it. “I can see the end of the tunnel. When you’re 20, double that, I’m 40. And I can double that, I’m 80,” says Hoffman. “I can see the end. That’s all right. I would like to be courageous enough o take my audience along with me in an honest fashion.”

I’m 45. Both my parents are nearing 80. I could possibly make it to 90. But we all reach a point where we know we are most likely more than half-way through any reasonable expectation for our lifespan. I’m not sure exactly where that is, but I’m close…. And:

Is there anything that he hasn’t done that he wants to do? “Yes,” says Hoffman, laughing. “Everything I haven’t done.”

Well, if we’re going to do everything we haven’t done, we had best get started!

Now that I have my computer at work hooked up to the audio enhancement system, I’ve been using it occasionally to stream music. I often play classical music during classes, depending on how quiet the students are and what kind of mood I happen to be in. But one of the “radio stations” listed in the MS media player is Folk Alley. I have a real fondness for folk music and it’s not always easy to find much of it on broadcast radio.

The description of the site states:

Folk Alley is produced by WKSU-FM in Kent, OH. Streaming music programming is created and hosted by Jim Blum, who includes his own special mix of the best of singer/songwriter, Celtic, acoustic, traditional, and world sounds.

WKSU is an NPR affiliate at Kent State University. Registration is free and registered listeners can rate songs and post comments to the blog. There is also news of folk festivals, concerts, CD releases, etc. If you like folk music at all, it’s definitely worth a look… er, a listen… hmm, do both!