Et Hoc Genus Omne

A David Forster Wallace Impersonation Relating to P2P Legislation and Music Industry Margins

Whoa.

I woke up last Sunday and I couldn't hear particularly well from my left ear. It was scary -- I take my hearing for granted but they're my tools of the trade (or one third thereof). I didn't tell anyone, but I'm sure people noticed my tendency to align my right ear towards them, even when it was noticeably awkward. Nonetheless, I took myself to see the Michel Gondry Retrospective at the Newtown Dendy. When I turned up it was sold out. But due to my awesome skills of scamming shit, I got a ticket anyway. It was very impressive and inspiring.

I took myself to the Doctor on Monday and was given antibiotics due to a middle ear infection due to my cold. I suspected this since Wednesday when I first noticed my left-ear hearing was a bit flat. Was annoying as I got to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra play with their new conductor, Gianluigi Gelmetti.I wasn't so impressed with his intepretation of the Beethoven Triple Concerto, but he surprised me with his versions of Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess and Bolero. They're amongst Ravel's most popular pieces (along with his orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition) -- which, unfortunately, overshadow his other work -- and always bring in the Greyhairs. I've been going to the SSO for a long, long time (over 10 years) and I think I've heard Bolero performed at least 3 or 4 times. While I think its a wonderful piece of music, I wasn't super-eager to hear it. Well... Gelmetti proved himself to be an astounding conductor. He's rearranged the Orchestra, doubling the number of double basses and shifting them to the back (behind the brass), moving the viola's to stage left, and putting the cello's in the middle. These slight changes gave the basses a wonderful amount of articulation and made the whole orchestra feel 'full'. He has an impressive control over dynamics. But, most importantly, he really let the players be expressive. It was touching stuff. Wow. It was exactly like seeing a classic play directed by a great director -- it makes you remember why the work is a classic! After the rather directionless feeling of the SSO over the last 18 months (which seems when Edo do Wart gave up on em), its nice to see someone with a vision leading the Orchestra.

PLUS

It's been one of those weeks where you manage to finish a whole bunch of stuff.

I finished reading Paul Davies' "How to Build a Time Machine"; Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's the Watchmen; and and Chris Sarrachini & Pat Lee's Transformers: Generation One. I finished watching Paul Abbot's State of Play (interesting case of the writer asserting ownership rather than the director or producer -- the opening titles specifically read under the title "By Paul Abbot"); and the fifth season of Mutant Enemy's Buffy. I also finally turned around a first draft of a script I've been talking about for over two years. Oh, and we finally did our Satellite Broadcast for Nobel Biocare on Friday.

Individual reviews appearing soon :)