Going camping

Going camping this weekend. Should be fun. Purchased some new waterproof trousers, some thermal underwear, and a new pair of walking boots for the experience. I'll be in the Edale Valley, in the Peak District.

I'll be moblogging the weekend, so if you'd like to see the pictures, go to my Flickr page.

Technorati tags: Hiking, Peak District, Edale, moblogging

Bach's St John Passion

Last night, under the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, I listened to the London Mozart Players perform what I consider to be one of the finest examples of Baroque music, Bach's St. John Passion. It has long been one of my favourite pieces, a work that I almost know by heart. It is this piece that convinced me that Baroque isn't the stodgy, emotionless bore so many are convinced it is. The long somber notes of the Evangalist illustrate how Simon Peter wept alone after denying Jesus, the relentless, rolling rhythm of the introduction foreshadows the events to come, the warmness and beauty of the final choral sections.

I am not a religions person. Never have, and probably never will be. But this piece of music is perhaps as close as I have come to a religious experience.

And what could be more perfect than hearing this work in St Paul's Cathedral.

Before the performance, we were asked not to applaud at the conclusion, but to sit in silence. At first I was a little confused, but I suppose there is a reason for this. The Passion is usually performed on Good Friday, and depicts the last day of Jesus. The piece ends with the crucifixion and death of Jesus. And while the spirit of the ending is that of hope, the story does not reach its conclusion until the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The passion is but half the experience, as a good friend of mine is wont to point out. You have to listen to Bach's Easter Oratorio for that.

But, after the final notes of the piece were struck, the chords from the organ and the orchestra and the sounds of the chorus, hung in the space of the cathedral. To applaud would have ruined the experience. Like I said, almost religious.

I try and avoid using any combination of the words religious, experience and spiritual in the same sentence. Sentences like "I'm not religious, but I am spiritual" really grate on me. It reeks of pseudo-intellectualism and non-conformity in a conformist kind of way. It seems as though people who are not-religious-but-spiritual, are all not-religious-but-spiritual in the same way.

I prefer to say that I am neither religious or spiritual, but I enjoy reflecting on the sublime experiences of life.

Technorati tags: Bach, Easter, Baroque

Sights and sounds this morning

Sights
Big Brother is Listening - The Atlantic Monthly - The US government is watching terrorists eat their cornflakes in the morning!

Assorted blog entries via Bloglines including The Rothenberg Political Report, Daily Kos, Escheton and The Accidental Hedonist.

Sounds
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - Discussion of White House Chief-of-Staff Andy Card's resignation (RSS feed)

Gallup Poll Daily Briefing - biggest concerns for American's are health care (61% say it is an issue they are concened about) and Social Security (51%) (RSS feed)

2am NPR news summary (RSS feed)

Channel 4 News' Snowmail - Is education in Britain as bad as it seems? (RSS feed)

Bits of CubsCast - Sheps, Sneetch and Lou celebrate one year of podcasting their miseries as Cubs fans (RSS feed)

The beginning of NPR and WBUR's On Point - a discussion of divided political views on immigration reform: the House bill which makes undocumented immigrants criminals and the Senate bill which would legalize them if they begin the road to citizenship. (get the RSS feed through here)

Technorati tags: The Atlantic Monthly, blogs, podcasting, NewsHour, Gallup Poll, NPR, SnowMail, Cubscast

Tavarez, at it again

God, I love Julian Tavarez. I remember he pitched the first game that Fred "Dead" McGriff played for the Cubs and spent the whole time mouthing off to various members of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Technorati tags: baseball, Julian Tavarez, Cubs

Damn, no milk!

Just got into work. Made some coffee, but alas, there is no milk. What to do?

I played golf this weekend. A nice course in Mitcham, south London, appropriately named Mitcham Golf Club. I think the layout of the holes is fairly straighforward. The beauty of the course though is in the undulating fairways and tough lies just off the fairways. Also, it has the fastest greens of any course I have played in the area (I should note that I haven't played any of the hoity-toity courses around London). The kind of greens where you keep saying "but I only just tapped it" as the ball goes rolling past the cup.

The one drawback of Mitcham GC is that there are so many freaking rules one has to follow to play there. They even have a rule about the kind of socks one must wear if one is wearing shorts (the shorts must be uncreased and fitted).

To be fair, many of the rules are understandable and commonsense, like no spikes in the pro shop, but there are some which are just outdated and nonsensical. If you are on the putting green, you must not putt into a cup that still has the flag in place. They go so far as to underline that rule. Out-of-date rules still apply at MGC as well, like no hats when you are in the lounge area. That rule stopped applying in general society like forty years ago.

I suppose they are trying to keep to a certain high standard of conduct, but I think the high-browness of it all is negated if you can yell curses across the lounge and no one really seems to mind. Classy.

The socks, by the way, must be white and either pulled up around the calves or short, but they cannot be rolled down or crumpled.

Technorati tags: golf, dress code