days of naze

video game music + lifting babes = be there
12:02 AM

Take a moment to listen to this beautiful piano melody by Nobuo Uematsu:

This may give you a sense of where video games are now in terms of influence and reach when they are able to commission such high quality work, in this case, for Final Fantasy X. It probably occurred to very few of you that this is a waltz.

It did not escape Chad Brooks' attention. He has choreographed a gorgeous waltz routine for the Ballroom Dance Company Performance Team, of which I am a humble member.

Should you choose to attend the Ballroom Dance Company Showcase on Saturday, April 12, you will witness Yours Truly performing a pretty spectacular solo lift at the 2:15 mark of this dance.

It may not make YouTube, so I'm just saying...

March 18, 2008

eloquence is not a sound bite
11:18 PM

Barack Obama is my choice for President.

Only a handful of you will listen to this:

Where we are and where we came from

Just listen, people.

"...these people are part of me and part of America."

Do you hear the music of an intelligent American speaking from the heart? What would it be like to wake up from 8 years of dimwitted deceit and be led by a man of great spirit and wisdom? Is it worth 30 minutes of your day to wonder about the future of this nation?

Will the Swift Boat Traitors decide for you or will you reject the mainstream media's third echo of Fox News?

March 15, 2008

a trip outside of the body
09:42 PM

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a well regarded brain scientist, has a stroke and is taken on an unexpected journey through consciousness. Watch it.

Note as the experience intensifies, how critical figurative language becomes in naming what is happening. The upward orientation, commonly seen in religious worship, just happens to feel really good for the brain.

Just imagine what we can do as we begin to understand more about the brain, consciousness, and our world. These old, deeply flawed things that we used to connect to the thing we call spirituality become less necessary or unnecessary.

The real world, the one we can talk about using science, narrative, and yes, metaphor is as deep and beautiful and wondrous as any we could hope to imagine.

[link via Calamity Jane]

March 14, 2008

back in portland
11:31 PM

"Back in Portland, in my hometown,
If cities were royalty, it takes the crown.
My friends ask me why should Portland be cheered,
I say I don’t know, but let’s keep Portland weird!"

Ian Doescher grew up in Portland. He went afar for college and work. And when his passion for the Rose City couldn't be quenched, he did just what you might expect of a great Portlander - he wrote, performed, and produced an album of songs, a paeon to his home.

I bought the album and immediately fell for the a capella groove, the funny and simultaneously heartfelt love songs "Urban Growth Boundaries Can't Stop My Love" and "Crossing Over".

I play it in my classroom after lunch recess and after dismissal as I'm planning the next day.

Ian's back in Portland and now he's upping the ante. A song a week for an entire year: One Year of Portland Songs. That's 52 songs - more than most bands will release in 10 years. If that weren't insane enough, he's giving them away for free.

After I listened to "A Quiet Night in Portland", "Toss of a Coin", and "Back in Portland", I clicked straight to the donation button. Hell, if I toss a buck to a street busker, I'm going to do better for the Bard of Portland.