Date:	2006-02-12 09:22
Subject:	Beethoven
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	Beethoven - Symphony #6 (Pastoral)

You'd probably think that someone with a sciency background like me would have some famous physicist like Einstein or Galileo as his hero, but I don't. For some reason it's always been Beethoven. I love most kinds of classical music (except opera and most of what's been written in the last 100 years - OK I guess that leaves out a fair bit, but still), but Beethoven just towers over everyone else. His music has the power to transport me to other, not necessarily happier, worlds. He does this not in a gentle way, but often in a way that rips out your very soul, tangles it up in unfathomable knots and thrusts it back, not always in the right place. Nothing else in life ever moves me as much as his music. And all this from a guy who spent most of his creative life deaf - surely the worst curse that could be bestowed on a composer. Perhaps that's why his music has such otherworldly power - when he was creating it, he had to do it entirely in his mind, so he had to create his own world that was supported entirely by his music.

To anyone out there who thinks they hate classical music and lives on a junk food diet of pop bands and chart hits, give him a try. But you need to approach it maturely and with an open mind. Music such as this is not meant to accompany anything - it is meant to absorb your entire being while it is being played. Find an hour, a dark quiet room, and put on a symphony (try #5, which begins with the four most famous notes in music) or a piano concerto (piano concerto #5 - the emperor - is a good one)...then close your eyes and listen.

Date:	2006-02-10 19:38
Subject:	Trivia Chapter 1
Security:	Public
Mood:	cold
Music:	Mozart - Linz Symphony

Do you ever get the feeling that the world is out to get you? No? Well you should. It is. Or even if it isn't, it's planning on it. You can tell. The day looks all sunny and sparkly and little fresh faced children bounce past your window on their way to school and the postman brings you your favourite magazine and you hear nothing but good news on the radio. And then you open the door and go outside and find it's bloody freezing.

well does this work?