Thelonious Monk

On the other hand, I also had a teacher that looked like something out of Harry Potter. Add 200 pounds and a mustache, bam.

Who is in your avatar? Looks exactly like a teacher I had last year.

The M?lamadhyamakak?rik? is essential reading. I'm more interested in reading the Vedas. I've read the Bhagavad Gita three times. I think it will take me decades to fully comprehend.

Camus' novels are moving, brilliantly written, and simple enough for my small brain to comprehend.

Unfortunately, with this snow, going to the hospital is an impossibility. We can barely get out of the driveway. I think it's just a minor injury, with most of the pain being caused by swelling. If I fractured the head of my femur, wouldn't I be unable to walk? I can walk, although going up the stairs is quite the challenge. My thigh isn't numb, or tingly, which should happen if there's a lot of blood loss. I also think it would hurt a lot more. This is about a 4-5 on my pain scale, 10 being when I fell out of a tree and onto a mound of fire ants. If it's just as bad or worse tomorrow, I'll get my dad to take me to the hospital.

Did you guys get hit even harder last night, too? It's more than a foot over here. I went sledding with some friends & younger cousins down a 100 foot hill. Great stuff. The thing is, I decided to take a running start for my last run, riding on one of the little disc sleds. I veered off to the left to avoid hitting a toddler making his way up the hill, and hit a big bump going backwards, and ended up doing a barrel roll or two. When I got up, I realized that I'd shat myself. I've either dislocated/broken something in my pelvis, or there's just a lot of swelling. Worst place to get injured ever.

We're having a thundersnow right now. I just listened to Schnittke's first symphony out on the patio, watching the blizzard swallow up my backyard, with the occasional thunderclap interrupting the orchestral cacophony. I'm cold now, but that was beautiful.

More like Dre injected Parliament samples into hip-hop.

Happy birthday.

I've bought a lot of stuff from them, but didn't know they stocked Indian classical; thanks for the heads up. Other good stores: http://www.sonarupa.co.uk/itmidx4.htm http://www.raga.com

I didn't want to spend an hour picking which videos to use, so I just picked three with great performers. Most of the stuff that gets on YouTube is either showing off or just the fast parts. Albums like Ali Akbar Khan's Bangla Desh will give newcomers a better idea of what the music's really like.

Complex, improvisational music. Sometimes droning, othertimes crushing, always beautiful and entrancing. [ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=TXxJGtnOrOE]YouTube - the tabla drum master!![/ame] [ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=qzDx7vgluq0]YouTube - Ali Akbar Khan & Swapan Chaudhuri - Brindabani Sarang[/ame] [ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=hArUiFv2FaY]YouTube - Nikhil Banerjee-BBC performance[/ame] A few names: Ram Narayan (sarangi), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Ustad Sultan Khan (sarangi), Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), Nikhil Banerjee (sitar), Ravi Shankar (sitar), Brij Bhushan Kabra (slide guitar), L. Subramaniam (violin) Lots of the really good stuff is tough to find, both at the record store and online. Check out this blog for some excellent South Asian classical music, plus some great music from other genres and locales, too.

Trolling = posting controversial, oftentimes irrelevant material in an attempt to garner humorous emotional responses. Posting a YouTube video in an off-topic forum isn't trolling. Maybe if I posted this on a Flat Earth forum or an Islam forum it'd be trolling, but really obvious and shoddy trolling.

How could I forget? I live a half-hour away from the damn Creation Museum.

Personally, I find things like this more interesting than the lifestyle accessory polls & watercooler chat that seems to clog this and most other forums. If you didn't find the video amusing, here's a really cool spider. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1640513/posts P.S.: I detest globalism.

I'm tolerant of other cultures -- I think it's racist and absurd that westerners think their society is somehow superior to tribal societies, for example. Superstitious insanity like this I don't have a problem making fun of.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wppjYDj9JUc]YouTube - Iraqi TV Debate: Is the Earth Flat?[/ame] This and the Saudi witch trial have lead me to believe that Islamic fundamentalists have yet to make it to, say, the 18th century.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OZLSR6DF The quintessential Southern Highlands songcatcher. I don't feel like writing any more, he's all over the internet. Listen for a lesson in American culture history. This record is like a time machine; the distinct musical geography + Lunsford's endearing baritone make it a classic.

The simple solution is to ban anyone who listens to saccharine, insincere pop music.

I am offended by the music forum being placed under the "entertainment" category, being lumped in with transient garbage like TV and video games. It'd make more sense to name the category "Arts & Entertainment" or something.

Imagine fingerstyle guitar as influenced by Ali Akbar Khan/Ravi Shankar and Charles Ives/Bela Barotk as Bill Monroe and Mississippi John Hurt. Anyone else a fan? I'm particularly fond of John Fahey, Robbie Basho and James Blackshaw. I highly recommend Days Have Gone By, America, The Yellow Princess and Fare Forward Voyagers for Fahey, O True Believers by James Blackshaw, and most of Basho's early work, + Zarthus for something less guitar based. It's really beautiful stuff. An album from Blackshaw and a collaborator (forget his name, awesome lutenist) just came out recently, under the name Brethren of the Free Spirit. [ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=-K4BeLRBEmg]f[/ame] You can find most of this stuff on blog searches.

Impalement is absolutely the greatest way to die. I'm especially fond of oral impalement: Very much not for work. May be gruesome for some viewers More anti-religious crap from the 15 yr old give it a rest already