Nothing really. For today's desperate attempt at escapism (the daily), I’ve picked Schubert. The chosen piece is “An die Musik” written in 1817 which is a German poem, written by his friend von Schober:

Du holde Kunst, in wieviel grauen Stunden,
Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt,
Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb' entzunden,
Hast mich in eine beßre Welt entrückt!

Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!

This is the English translation:

Oh lovely Art, in how many grey hours,
When life's fierce orbit ensnared me,
Have you kindled my heart to warm love,
Carried me away into a better world!

How often has a sigh escaping from your harp,
A sweet, sacred chord of yours
Opened up for me the heaven of better times,
Oh lovely Art, for that I thank you!

And this is how I remember singing it in English, though I can only remember the first verse:

Thou lovely art in every troubled hour
When I have bowed before the storms of life
hast though revived my heart with glowing power
in higher realms unknown to earthly strife
in realms unknown to earthly strife

Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm_AKMV0ME0

sigh

I wanted to go last Wednesday, but for whatever reasons which were not good enough, I didn't.

Like several others though, I did stay pretty much glued to the TV for most of the day, even wearing my best yellowish shirt (which happened, by happy chance, to be a Gunner's jersey). I was well dressed for my couch, my seat of choice, watching from the start of the mass until the burial.

But while they discussed the Outspoken Daughter, Who Did and Didn't Attend, the torrential rain, military protocol, Cory's life, family and All Things Important, I was lamenting something....

inconsequential...(cough)

the musical aesthetics of the requiem mass...

and, I must confess, rather uncharitably thought, perhaps it was planned by those who went to that Other School*. That's mean. I take it back. My prejudices though are deep and are difficult to unlearn. Have patience.

The orchestra detracted from the solemnity and it seemed really odd to me. I would have preferred an organ for Those Songs. And of all the beautiful requiem music in the world, why was the choir singing Those Songs? Those Songs, I felt, could not rise to the occasion and were not fitting of a high mass in a cathedral. I felt a disconnect between the rich and ancient symbolism of the mass and the modern, seemingly informal music, they tried hard to elevate through orchestral accompaniment. Mind you not that I didn't love Those Songs in the normal mass,it's just that it seemed wanting in a cathedral.

It does occur to me that maybe, these were the songs Cory loved. So maybe, I will let it go. And maybe this doesn't matter....and I know I'm being a terrible snob...BUT...

But, since the only times where I actually stood in the presence of Cory, was for a command performance in Malacanang, and the inauguration of PALs Boeing 747 (yes millions of years ago), and because I love Rutter, it seems fitting to pay tribute in a way I know how.

And so, I'm leaving This for her, and her historic speech before the US Congress, for you.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Notes:

*who composed Those Songs

July 15, 2009
By Scott Stewart and Fred Burton
www.stratfor.com

On June 23, 2009, Director of Central Intelligence Leon Panetta learned of a highly compartmentalized program to assassinate al Qaeda operatives that was launched by the CIA in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. When Panetta found out that the covert program had not been disclosed to Congress, he canceled it and then called an emergency meeting June 24 to brief congressional oversight committees on the program. Over the past week, many details of the program have been leaked to the press and the issue has received extensive media coverage.

That a program existed to assassinate al Qaeda leaders should certainly come as no surprise to anyone. It has been well-publicized that the Clinton administration had launched military operations and attempted to use covert programs to strike the al Qaeda leadership in the wake of the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. In fact, the Clinton administration has come under strong criticism for not doing more to decapitate al Qaeda prior to 2001. Furthermore, since 2002, the CIA has conducted scores of strikes against al Qaeda targets in Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) like the MQ-1 Predator and the larger MQ-9 Reaper.

These strikes have dramatically increased over the past two years and the pace did not slacken when the Obama administration came to power in January. So far in 2009 there have been more than two dozen UAV strikes in Pakistan alone. In November 2002, the CIA also employed a UAV to kill Abu Ali al-Harithi, a senior al Qaeda leader suspected of planning the October 2000 attack against the USS Cole. The U.S. government has also attacked al Qaeda leaders at other times and in other places, such as the May 1, 2008, attack against al Qaeda-linked figures in Somalia using an AC-130 gunship.

As early as Oct. 28, 2001, The Washington Post ran a story discussing the Clinton-era presidential finding authorizing operations to capture or kill al Qaeda targets. The Oct. 28 Washington Post story also provided details of a finding signed by President George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks that reportedly provided authorization to strike a larger cross section of al Qaeda targets, including those who are not in the Afghan theater of operations. Such presidential findings are used to authorize covert actions, but in this case the finding would also provide permission to contravene Executive Order 12333, which prohibits assassinations.

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Bush and the members of his administration were very clear that they sought to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and the members of the al Qaeda organization. During the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections in the United States, every major candidate, including Barack Obama, stated that they would seek to kill bin Laden and destroy al Qaeda. Indeed, on the campaign trail, Obama was quite vocal in his criticism of the Bush administration for not doing more to go after al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan. This means that, regardless of who is in the White House, it is U.S. policy to go after individual al Qaeda members as well as the al Qaeda organization.

In light of these facts, it would appear that there was nothing particularly controversial about the covert assassination program itself, and the controversy that has arisen over it has more to do with the failure to report covert activities to Congress. The political uproar and the manner in which the program was canceled, however, will likely have a negative impact on CIA morale and U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

Read more »

June 22, 2009
By George Friedman
www.stratfor.com

Successful revolutions have three phases. First, a strategically located single or limited segment of society begins vocally to express resentment, asserting itself in the streets of a major city, usually the capital. This segment is joined by other segments in the city and by segments elsewhere as the demonstration spreads to other cities and becomes more assertive, disruptive and potentially violent. As resistance to the regime spreads, the regime deploys its military and security forces. These forces, drawn from resisting social segments and isolated from the rest of society, turn on the regime, and stop following the regime’s orders. This is what happened to the Shah of Iran in 1979; it is also what happened in Russia in 1917 or in Romania in 1989.

Revolutions fail when no one joins the initial segment, meaning the initial demonstrators are the ones who find themselves socially isolated. When the demonstrations do not spread to other cities, the demonstrations either peter out or the regime brings in the security and military forces — who remain loyal to the regime and frequently personally hostile to the demonstrators — and use force to suppress the rising to the extent necessary. This is what happened in Tiananmen Square in China: The students who rose up were not joined by others. Military forces who were not only loyal to the regime but hostile to the students were brought in, and the students were crushed.

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My sister remarked that she finally understood why geeks liked Star Trek so much. I replied, "It's because of Spock isn't it?" She replied "Yes, he's so geeky he's cool". (It is a widely acknowledged fact that geeks and nerds love Star Trek...and er,Tolkien [gulps, moves on quickly...]. For more information on this sub specie, watch The Big Bang Theory. I myself maintain that there is a distinction between geek and nerd)

A light bulb lit up. I knew I wanted to pick on someone so I immediately called the person who apparently exemplified this sub specie, the person I had shamelessly stereotyped in the past, and was about to stereotype again (he had already watched Star Trek twice, called me to say he was disappointed that it didn't blow his mind away, but instead blew his entire being away, and called to say he was watching it yet again...obviously a Trekkie and the epitome of geek)and made an accusation, "You like Spock don't you?! Admit to me that you think Spock is The Geek Ambition".

(What was I thinking?? Truly, I had only wanted to victimize. It was some irresistible force that compelled me to pick up the phone...)

His response was negative. Star Trek is The Geek Fantasy. Chuck or maybe The Librarian was The Geek Ambition, I was informed (He happily conceded a point). For whatever reason, the conversion centered around a detailed analysis of different geek archetypes in these movies. I commented, "But geeks are incessant talkers. Spock isn't like that". He paused, then said tentatively, with some level of self awareness, "I wouldn't say incessant..." (Nerd scores again). Feeling magnanimous,I corrected myself "I mean, geeks like to talk". He readily agreed.

I was smug. I had clearly made a point: you geek, me not geek. It made me happy. But Tolkien somehow got dragged into it. I was appalled, and then it happened. Nerd rage took over:

"You CANNOT say that Star Trek is the Fellowship in space!And NO you cannot equate Frodo with Spock. Is nothing sacred???"

There, I lost. I was accused of being a Tolkien purist to boot.

But really, me? nerd? How can I when I wasn't the classmate who called up to tell me the entire history of Middle Earth...;p

Anyway, so that's what happens when you bait a geek. I'll be better off playing rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock. (as If I could ever remember the rules: scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disapproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, rock crushes scissors?)