The mirror will only smile if you smile first

One of our forget-me-nots read the words above tonight.

We all like a good-sounding dictum.
Only, they are more often than not "truisms" - trite, shallow platitudes with only a semblance of truth.

But this one is not.
The words above are from an extremely edifying thread on ATS, concerning the so-called "Law of Attraction".

Read it.
You won't regret it.

Light is light is...

... What the heck IS it?

No, really: think about it - really think about what light is, what it means.

It's always there, even by proxy, i. e. by its very absence - but WHAT is it?

Light is defined as a wavelength visible to the eye.

But why is it visible to the eye?
And, more importantly, where does it come from?

I want you to think about it until you can think no more
(Maybe then you'll know. ;)


In the meantime, you gotta see this (and in the next nanosecond you shall, whether you want it or not):

CLICK ON IT


(The author of this fabulous photograph is

Ibrahim Lujaz from the Republic of Maldives

No chkdsk /f at reboot!

Ain't that an elegant title...?

Well, the sounds coming out of my mouth weren't much more elegant (guess what the "F" stands for...) as I was despairing because the blasted XP would flatly ignore its own scheduled tasks, including the "chkdsk" after reboot to which it forced me (arguing that the disk cannot be accessed or something... Is it too much to expect from a multi-billion company to devise a way of checking the disk in a less cumbersome manner...?)

So... do you want to know how to solve this glitch?
(Oh, it happens much more often than you would be led to believe by some Microsoft "experts"!)

The moral solution: ditch Windows and load some other OS.

The immoral solution: don't reboot - turn the PC off and then turn it on again (yes, it should be the same, but don't expect Microsoft to go by human logic).

That'll do the trick.

(And you thought this one post was going to dispense with the usual moral lessons... ;)

There is no music after 35?

This is hardly news, but with so many other distractions - vulgo "real life" - around, film music, although very near and dear to my heart, simply slipped through the sieve of the past year or so.

If you're an aspiring film music composer, you are probably aware of TCM's competition "for young film music composers". Last year (2007) contestants had to provide the music for a 90-second climactic clip of the silent (1924) version of Beau Brummel.

Here you can see the clip accompanied by the versions of the five finalists.

The 2007 TCM Young Film Composers competition


And I am proud to announce MY two winners:

Garth Neustadter and Edward White
(it's a tie).

They will receive nothing but my deepest admiration and enthusiasm.
(It may not sound much to you, but I can assure you it cannot be bought in any store. In fact, it cannot be bought, for love or money.)

What I don't understand is the rules of the competition: participation is limited to residents of certain countries, and there is an age limit (18 - 35 years), which, by definition, is arbitrary.

What exactly is the in-built bureaucracy supposed to weed out?

15 year-old composers? 37 year-old composers? 49 year-old composers? 81-year old composers?

I hear you: you're saying "but it's called the Young Film Composers competition".

And I am asking you: what exactly is the point of any competition with age limits?
(Let's not even go into the obviously murky philosophy underlying the concept of "young" in this particular case... I mean, what exactly is the basis for the cut-off age of "youth" at 35? Why not at 32? Or at 27?)

Do they want to find talented film music composers?
Composers who would write appropriate and attractive music for films?

Apparently not.
Because if they do, then there are a few atrocious elemental flaws in the thinking of those who devised this and any similar competitions.

First of all, apparently they do not believe in the existence of Mozarts.
(On the other hand, even Mozart himself was wise enough to kick the bucket just a few weeks shy of his 36th birthday, so who am I to question that arcane line of thought!)

Then, there is the clearly implicit idea that there is no use "wasting" time and space on anyone who is not a resident of the countries listed - because surely he/she would have relocated to any of the countries listed if his/her talents were worthy of attention.
(Just imagine: would a talented composer, even though he/she were a shepherd or basket-maker by day, stay in his/her native Dagestan, Romania, The Comoros, Turkey, Bolivia instead of moving to a civilised country?)

Just what do people imagine: that they should be able to seriously create and enter creative competitions at any age they please, regardless of where they live?!

Indeed: just imagine...
Imagine people of any age, from any country, deciding to give a go to something they think they are good at, to something they really feel passionate about.

Where would it all end, I ask you?!

If that is the philosophy underlying the framework of such competitions (and it seems to be), then I see little hope for the "civilised" world of achieving true social peace, which can only be achieved through the personal fulfillment and happiness of as many of its individuals as possible. (And that includes all the millions of individuals who have outlasted their "peak "industrial productivity AKA the "old".)

The dry bones of bureaucracy invite anarchy.
And frankly, I think that is precisely what is coming.

To those who are not yet totally blind, even tiny "young film composers" competitions can reveal the fault lines along which this civilised world of ours is about to crack.


Nothing of the above, of course, affects my admiration for Messrs. Neustadter and White.
I hope to be hearing more from them in the future.

Unless they follow Mozart's and TCM's guidelines...