Category: Rants and Rambles

A Wistful Meditation on Mono no aware

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

N.B.—I wrote this post prior to Tuesday, November 8. Look to the end for a post-election postscript.

The sun sets over the Boulder Public Library on a Saturday Evening in November.
The sun sets over the Boulder Public Library on a Saturday Evening in November.

All things considered, this has been a fairly mild autumn in Boulder, CO. We have had scattered days of temperatures in the 80s with most days having been in the 70s or mid to upper 60s and mornings rarely dipping below freezing. Despite this, the green has slowly faded from the world with the exception of the evergreen pines of Colorado, and I can’t help but begin think more about the cycles of life and death and the concept of mono no aware. Continue reading “A Wistful Meditation on Mono no aware” →

Just a Matter of Time: Musings on Arrival

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

Warning: Spoilers lie ahead. Just go see the movie first and then return to ponder its meaning with me.

arrival-posterTwice now in one week have I not fallen asleep until 2AM or later. The first was Tuesday night while still in shock from both the election and my ill-advised whiskey toast to the end of the American experiment. I should really never drink whiskey. Nothing good comes from whiskey.

The second time was Saturday night after seeing Arrival, the new film from Denis Villeneuve. I had only recently seen any of Villeneuve’s films, having watched Sicario about a month ago, though I had wanted to see Arrival since I had seen the first trailer.

It looked intriguing and most importantly seemed positioned to be a good thinking person’s science fiction film. One that asks big questions, and also asks more than it answers. Continue reading “Just a Matter of Time: Musings on Arrival” →

“Just Vibrations” and Academia: A Few Thoughts

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

just-vibrationsFor my friends in the world of musicology, William Cheng’s latest book, Just Vibrations: The Purpose of Sounding Good, caused quite the furor for a month of two this summer (sample some commentary on it here and here). While I had/have no intention of wading into the mess of internet comment threads or the American Musicological Society mailing list (especially since the brouhaha has seemed to have quieted down), the strong reactions against Cheng’s book made me curious enough to read it.

I initially planned to write a review of Cheng’s volume, but the deeper I got into it, the more apparent it was that a review would not really do it justice—especially since I am not sure if I grasp the full scope of Cheng’s manifesto. Its four chapters, along with introduction and coda, make for a slim volume with some big ideas. And on their face, the four chapters tackle the central idea of reparative musicology and “sounding good” from disparate points of view: personal account, musical torture, paranoid academic writing, and identity. There is a lot to unpack in Cheng’s book, and I think it might take a few more trips through the text before I can fully understand what it is he is purposing. Continue reading ““Just Vibrations” and Academia: A Few Thoughts” →

An Autumnal Playlist

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

The first frost has hit the Boulder, CO, area, and there is snow in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains. Playoff baseball is here, and jackets are being brought out from storage. And a subtle change in music selections has taken hold on my iPod.

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Fall colors appearing in Boulder in September.

I have never been a person whose musical tastes shift that much with the seasons. I don’t have “summer jams” that I break out every summer, and my personal “Top 100” playlist, carefully curated, is a mix of many different styles and time periods. I consider myself a musical omnivore and will usually give most music a try, even if it takes a few years to finally getting around to listening to it.

But in the past few years, since I moved to Boulder from Longmont and have started spending more time walking places—especially to work and back—I have found myself adjusting the music I listen to when the autumnal chill starts to creep into the air. Continue reading “An Autumnal Playlist” →

Device Consolidation, Technology Ecosystems, and the Internet of Things: Thoughts after Watching “Steve Jobs”

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

jobs_posterI first saw Danny Boyle’s biopic Steve Jobs during its rather lackluster theatrical run in late 2016, but I just re-watched the film last night and would like to work through a few things in this forum.

To me, there are two big things to take away about Steve Jobs as portrayed in the film (I make no claims as to the accuracy of that portrayal): 1) Jobs was a difficult person to be around. Unwaveringly sure about his vision, refusing to admit mistakes, and uncompromising with his ideas. 2) His vision of the future of computers and technology (his belief in end-to-end control and the closed system) was, in the end, right.

In short, he was high maintenance to deal with but he was also correct in what he wanted, just a bit ahead of the curve. To quote The Dude from The Big Lebowski: “You’re not wrong, Walter, you’re just an asshole!” Continue reading “Device Consolidation, Technology Ecosystems, and the Internet of Things: Thoughts after Watching “Steve Jobs”” →

Reflections on Voyager and the Golden Record: America’s Greatest Achievement

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

The Voyager Golden Record seems to float into and out of my life and consciousness at the most random of times. Recently, I encountered it when I was finally reading a New York Times article by Chuck Klosterman from May about who will be the one rock and roller remembered when all of us are but “dust in the wind.”

Klosterman mentions Berry at the end of his article and frames it in the context of Berry’s inclusion on the Golden Record affixed to the Voyager probes now traversing the dark of interstellar space. Like Klosterman, I feel like there is no better distillation of what rock and roll is and was than Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” Ask any former rock history student of mine and they can (hopefully) tell you that I share most of Klosterman’s reasons for his selection of Berry. Continue reading “Reflections on Voyager and the Golden Record: America’s Greatest Achievement” →

Everything is a Dumpster Fire (and I feel fine) – OR – Are We Worthy of Survival?

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

I really don’t know if there is a right way to start this ramble of incoherence, so I’ll just launch in.

In the reimagined Battlestar Galactica that aired from 2004-2009, there was a central question that ran throughout the show: is humanity worthy of survival? Should they be saved from the cylon onslaught that threatens their extinction? The character of William Adama sums it up in a quote from a second season episode: “It’s not enough to survive. One has to be worthy of survival.”

Continue reading “Everything is a Dumpster Fire (and I feel fine) – OR – Are We Worthy of Survival?” →

On Storytelling

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

I suck at video games. There is a reason why the most recent console I own is a Playstation 2 and it is not because I am cheap or that I do not enjoy video games. It is that I suck at them. I do not know the first thing about “first person shootin’” and I don’t really care to learn because I don’t really have the time. However, if you do look through what games I do own for the limited systems I do have (PS2, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and my PC), you will discover that the majority of them are role-playing or adventure games. The reason for this is because when I do play games, I am mainly in it for the story. I love a good story. Continue reading “On Storytelling” →

On The Past, Memory, and History

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris

N.B.: This is not the promised “Part Deux” I teased at the end of my last post. Rather, think of it as Part 1.5. Also, thanks to my friends who I pestered with questions of “what is the difference between history, the past, and memory?” this week.

In my capacity as a student in libraries and archives, I have been thinking a lot about three words that get thrown about in my readings: history, memory, and the past. Continue reading “On The Past, Memory, and History” →

On Rage Quits and Academia

Posted on by filmscore80

By Michael W. Harris, BM, MA, PhD, and MS (in progress)

Disclaimer: This is not the normal fare for this blog, but I think I am going to begin transitioning this to a more multipurpose topic space…so consider this your warning.

Further disclaimer: This is MY experience. I know many adjuncts who love teaching, make it work for them, and don’t have the burn out that I experienced. I applaud their good work and hope that some day soon that work will be rewarded.

I graduated with my PhD in musicology in May of 2013, and by August 2014 I had all but decided to largely abandon the traditional academic world. I did not last long in the adjunct teaching rat race. All of one year and three total semesters (including summer), not counting the three years prior that I was technically an adjunct while also a grad student. But in those three semesters, I taught 35 credit hours and made (pre-tax) just over $44,000. I know that compared to many in the adjunct life, this was comparatively good, and I even had health benefits from one of the institutions I taught at!

So why did I leave? Continue reading “On Rage Quits and Academia” →