Rodney

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  1. Rodney
    I should mention I don't like 90% of her work, especially the later things (I admit I have not heard much of it)! But the things I do like I find stimulating and challenging. Moreover, I am fascinated by her personality, which you might as well get a sample of here. I am a melody man, and there is not much of a tune in this song ("Hunter"), but there are other aspects of the music I do like--and look at her facial expressions as she sings!
  2. Rodney
    I was aware of the Regina connection, having noticed it mentioned in a YouTube comment also. I don't think Björk so much was influenced by Regina as admired and identified with her. Björk had, very early on, quite a repertoire of vocal expressive tools, completely sui generis, as is shown in her very first independent release, Human Behavior (which I'm hoping you've never heard--it's a great example of her virtuosic vocalizations!)--which shot her to major fame. You bring up many subjects that I don't have time to discuss these days. Maybe sometime later. (You certainly have a varied history and background in many topics! Your theme song might be Björk's 'I've Seen It All,' the song nominated for an Oscar she would have gotten at the ceremony where she wore that 'swan dress.')
  3. Rodney
    Her approach to music and songwriting is completely alien to my own, and yet some of her records, and the things she does with her voice, really get me. A basic part of her personality is expressed in "Isobel," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NxVxZTyok4 . Note the primal cry about three-quarters through. That wasn't on the record, but it may have developed in repeated performance, and I hear it as the hidden torment of being direct and natural in a world of artificiality. She was interviewed in 2007 by Harp magazine: HARP: Do you feel as if you stayed young for as long as you wanted or that you grew up – grew too mature – for your youth ? Bit of both. Because I had to be self-sufficient from early age, I sort of peaked at age seven. And the balance I found then has sort of stayed with me. I’m half child half ancient. [Emphasis mine.]
  4. Rodney
    I wouldn't say it is 'affected,' but it is mostly in jest, I believe. At the time, she was in punk bands that thumbed their noses at all musical and social conventionality. I don't know the context of this clip, except that it was part of a TV show about the band she was in at the time, and she might have taken the opportunity to do a bit that would draw on her preexisting positive feelings about technology and yet also align with the attitudes of her bandmates and likely of herself at the time. The innocence that comes through is real, though (see her early interviews, as in the first clip I posted and elsewhere), and I find it utterly charming.
  5. Rodney
    Here is Björk at a much earlier stage of her technology-love, where she dissects and defends TV: Honestly, I don't know just how to take this. Judge for yourself!
  6. Rodney
    Here she is, defending, as only she can, man's dominion over nature; machines; and modernity--including nuclear energy:
  7. Rodney
    I could have worded my joke more clearly--sorry about that!
  8. Rodney
    Rand famously said, "[T]hose who try to be all things to all men, end up by not being anything to anyone." There exists video of a young Ayn Rand going into more detail on this principle and how she arrived at it. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS-yTAELra8&feature=youtu.be&t=486 (Note from MSK: YT is confusing at times. The short link embeds when starting at 8:06. The long link doesn't.)
  9. Rodney
    Thanks for your interest. Below is a video of the premiere in Chicago. (Note: In the middle section she sings the word 'strange,' but it should be 'vain.')
  10. Rodney
    I was recently asked by an organization called The Voices of Vienna for permission to use my song "To Venus and Mars" at a concert on April 13. The attached has been created for this event. I am referred to on page 2, as "Rawlings." I love the Vienna and Franz Lehár connections! Lehár was my original inspiration to start writing music. It is especially pleasing to me because this song expresses the Objectivist metaphysics in an essential sense.
  11. Rodney
    Success! I asked the singer, Aliese Hoesel, how the performance went and she replied: Hello, Rodney! Yes, the performance went quite well! The audience was full of interested and appreciative art goers! I got lots of positive feedback on your piece from people after the show. Your work was a hit! Thank you for the opportunity to sing it! Aliese
  12. Rodney
    The concert has taken place! Of course, I wasn't there. I wonder if there will be any newspaper review, as there was for the Austin performance of this song by One Ounce Opera. Opera on Tap, which hosted this show, did make this announcement later the same evening: Opera on Tap - Twin Cities was attending OOT Twin Cities Presents: New Arias On Tap at honey mpls. March 11 at 11:54pm · Minneapolis, MN, United States · A huge thank you to all of the composers, singers, librettists, and our stellar accompanist Emily Urban for being a part of our New Arias on Tap performance tonight. What a show!!! Bravi!!!!
  13. Rodney
    Sorry, above I had said 'Jon' but I meant 'Jonathan.' I've corrected.
  14. Rodney
    The next two performances, in Chicago and Minneapolis, will be hosted by two other different organizations.
  15. Rodney
    Here is audio of a previous performance in Austin (I wrote it for soprano, but a tenor sang it here): https://soundcloud.com/oneounceopera/fsoas2017-2-3?in=oneounceopera/sets/2nd-annual-fresh-squeezed-ounce-of-art-song
  16. Rodney
    Whoops! Didn't see these responses. Just as I score a Minnesota performance, the city is in the news for another, double 'scoring' event! FWIW, I don't follow sports at all. I don't mind. And thanks to Jonathan--even though I was horrified at the name-calling and insults in that so-called 'Love' thread that even led to a banning! I will soon post a recording of an earlier performance of the song that took place in Austin.
  17. Rodney
    Just heard that a song of mine will be performed on March 11 in Minneapolis! (The song was premiered in Austin and is slated for a Chicago performance.) Rodney, We are pleased to inform you that we have selected your piece, “When Matter Touches Antimatter,” to be performed at our New Arias on Tap performance on Sunday March 11th at Honey in Minneapolis, MN at 6:30 pm. Please let us know if you’re able to be present at the performance. I’ll be sending out a separate e-mail to introduce you to the singer performing your piece. The rehearsal dates with our accompanist are are Sunday March 4th in the afternoon and Monday March 5th in the evening. Once we’ve worked out a rehearsal time we’ll let you know and you can let us know if you’re able to attend in person or via Skype/Google chat/Facetime. In the meantime, if you could please e-mail the following: … [photo, bio, etc.] Thank you for being a part of our collaboration! We look forward to working with you! Eryn Tvete Managing Director Opera on Tap Twin Cities
  18. Rodney
    It's all in the writing. On that topic, I hate those many sitcoms that largely consist of 'setup-immediately-followed-by-punchline' happenings. It is shallow and predictable humor. I often find British comedy better. Character- and situation-based, it goes deeper and you feel prouder laughing. John Cleese has commented on this in the past.
  19. Rodney
    OK, I admit I have not followed all the back-and-forth here. Of course, you are within your moral rights if all of that is true.
  20. Rodney
    This is a sad ending to things. Perhaps you are giving too much weight to your perception of subtexts? I grant that R's persistence and tone can annoy, and his theories are much too rationalistic. The reason I took his part here was because, in the past, I had sometimes agreed with his reasoning regarding various topics on the Rebirth board and elsewhere, and had once observed that he had a thriving message board of his own with many devoted followers (though I never joined that forum). Moreover, recently on Facebook one of my female "Friends" (who unfortunately is somewhat rationalistic in her own thinking) announced her discovery of his voluminous online writings (most of which I have not read myself), and posted about how she was tremendously impressed not only with his thought but also with the occasional poetry of his writing style. So with all this in mind (including the possible autism aspect), I would hope you make it clearer what you do not impute to him. Remember that the Internet is pervasive and forever and that certain accusations nowadays can be very damaging.
  21. Rodney
    When Rand said this, she clearly meant that no set or interrelationship of non-consciousness facts can define consciousness in the way that, for example, the concept of a meteor can be defined in terms of matter, body, falling, Earth, gravity etc. There is just no way you can do this and end up with "awareness." Even if you say that awareness is the state of a living being in which it registers outside things and prepares to deal with them in the interest of preserving its continued existence (as I would), and even if you somehow completely explain all the physical processes underlying this state, you have not broken down or derived "awareness" as such but only described how it operates. Awareness is that actual final state you and I are now experiencing, and that is the only realm and sense in which consciousness as such exists. You cannot break that final state into components. (Don't take it amiss if I do not fully engage in these discussions. At present I have very little leisure of the type I would need. Why do I start in on these discussions at all? Well, that's a question I ask myself! My mind gets going and I like to think things through and explain things.)
  22. Rodney
    Yes.
  23. Rodney
    I would agree with that.
  24. Rodney
    If I understand your point, I would reply that consciousness being an irreducible primary (I assume you agree with Rand on that), we will never be able to say that THIS physical state is a complete explanation of THAT conscious state--however many connections one might prove. Therefore, if the former contradicts the latter, we should assume that more investigation is required of the former.
  25. Rodney
    I would not have said that. My point was that science is not restricted to the study of physical things. Psychology, I said in answer, is saturated with concepts of consciousness. Remember the focus of the article, to answer a religionist's charge that Objectivism is materialist.