I’m up late again with yet another stomach ache. Last night it kept me up until 4 am! Good thing I had something to read, even if it led to weird thoughts of world domination. 🙂
But, you might be pleased to know I finished ‘Shadow of the Hegemon’, so maybe the urge to spill the beans about my desires to “save the world” will subside over the coming days. Weeks. Whatever.
The book met and exceeded expectations in the sense that it has made me think seriously about some pretty hefty topics. It wasn’t just mind candy to pass the time, it’s made me evaulate a few things. I don’t think I have any new insights on where I want my life to go, so I think I might avoid that topic as of this paragraph.
I’ve spent my day reviewing my classical music collection in an effort to pull together a soundtrack for my silly Harry Potter fan fiction. A friend has convinced me it’s time to work on the audio version, so I figure, why not have a soundtrack as well? People often ask me what I was listening to at the time I wrote certain chapters (since some of them turned out so dang weird), and now they can listen for themselves. Well, except for the chapter I wrote when I was on heavy pain killers and listening to Amon Tobin. That’s going to have to be an experience all my own, I think. 🙂
But, the collection has turned out a lot better than I thought it would, and I’ve only had to download two new pieces of music. Not too shabby for a precisely organized collection of over 35 classical works to fit 41 chapters. And half of my music collection’s in storage! Anyway, things fit nicely. It’ll take a little remixing to make sure I get snippits from one piece, then transition it into another, to fit the changing moods within certain chapters, but that’ll only make it that much more unique. It’s an interesting collection. I’ll post the list tomorrow.
There’s a point to this, I promise, a way to tie it in to how this whole blog entry started. At the very end of ‘Shadow of the Hegemon’, in the afterword, Orson Scott Card linked writing historical fiction to classical composers. I was very pleased to note that he and I share several favorites, although I’m inclined to disagree with him about his views on Tchiakovsky. Anyway, he mentioned Dvorak and Satie, both of whose works are rather prominent in my soundtrack. I just thought it was a bit funny to work on a project all day, completely unaware that it’s coincidentally connected to something else that’s been occupying my thoughts a lot lately. For goodness sake, he listens to the same things I do for the same purposes. I think that’s just a wee bit creepy. Good? I don’t know, I think I’ll stick with creepy for now, but then again, I usually get the heebie-jeebies at 3:00 in the morning. 🙂
Another thought on Dvorak – do you have any idea how much John Williams has stolen from poor Antonin? The soundtrack from Phantom Menace mimicks the third movement of the New World Symphony *so* closely. Am I the only one who’s noticed this?
Ah, the fourth movement’s fantastic. Sending chills up my spine, cleverly aided by the fan that’s sending cold air around my room, tickling my ankles. Hey, there’s that chord from Phantom Menace again… Stupid John Williams. He also stole a buttload from Danny Elfman for the Harry Potter soundtrack. Makes me sick. He should be haunted by the three composers of music’s past, present, and future. But wait, is that stealing from Dickens? 🙂 Ah well, never really liked him anyway.
Stupid stomach! Can I buy a new digestive tract, please?
So my brother Kevin called the Infamous Post a tirade. Was it really? I didn’t mean it to be. I have a feeling that when I write when I’m deep in thought it always comes out sounding like I’m really mad. I need to find a way to fix that, or maybe it’s all Kevin’s fault. Yeah, that’s so much easier to fix. 🙂
Still no new developments on what I want to narrow my “journey of life” down to, at least temporarly. I thought about several options today; ballet, professional boxing, opera… as you can see, each as silly as the one before it. 🙂 How about a ballet-dancing, opera-singing, professional boxer? I can confuse my opponants by entering the ring in a pink frilly tu-tu, whilst singing Schubert’s Ave Maria. And then, to further confuse them, I’ll abruptly switch from a soprano to an alto. They’ll be so lost they’ll knock themselves out, just to escape the horror of it. TKO by Aria, I like that.
Blogging at three AM should be outlawed, I’m going to bed now. 🙂