Ahoy Facebook #20

 

New acquisitions. 👍

Five CDs: Organ Works by J. S. Bach, Madrigaux by Carlo Gesualdo/Les Arts Florissants, Live at the Witch Trials by The Fall, Dragnet by The Fall and Sequenzas I-XIV.

One record: Telemusik and Mixtur by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

One book: Napoleon by Alan Forrest.

One DVD: Being There by Hal Ashby.

I ordered a disc by Renaissance composer Claudio Monteverdi, but they delivered a disc of organ music by Bach instead. I'll keep this and order the Monteverdi disc some other time.

I bought a disc by Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo. He was innovative and way ahead of his time. I do enjoy his music, even though he was a sadist who murdered his wife and child.

I bought a series of discs by Luciano Berio. These are all pieces for solo instruments and he wrote them over a period of 34 years.

I bought a record by Stockhausen. I can't claim to fully understand his pieces, but some of his screechy and weird pieces do excite me from time to time.

I bought the first two discs that The Fall made in the late 70s.

I am interested in European history, but it's still too fucking hazy. I'm prioritising history books next year, so I bought this book about Napoleon.

This film is brilliant, Peter Sellers' swan song. It is about a simpleminded gardener who is hailed as an insightful political philosopher.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six CDs: Madrigals: Book Six by Claudio Monteverdi/Delititiae Musical/Marco Longhini, The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection by Chet Baker, Cerebral Caustic by The Fall, The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall by The Fall, II by Led Zeppelin and In Rock by Deep Purple.

New acquisitions.

Three mugs: A J. S. Bach-themed mug, a Frank Zappa-themed mug and a Miles Davis-themed mug.

I had a dream the other night in which I owned a J. S. Bach-themed mug. Unlike other dreams I've had, this dream could come true.

So, I searched for mugs with Bach designs and I liked this one the most. It has one of his most iconic pictures with him holding a cup of coffee. The other side has one of his notated scores.

So I thought that I could do with mugs with other of my favourite musicians. The Frank Zappa one has the album 'Roxy and Elsewhere' printed on and the Miles Davis one has a 'Bitches Brew' design on it.

🇦🇷♥️🏆

ARGENTINA!!! 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷♥️♥️♥️

New acquisition.

A bust of Socrates.

I asked if I could get this for Christmas and, lo and behold, I did. He looks really cool next to my busts of Bach and Beethoven.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2022/5993530

These are all the books that I read last year. I read some good books. 👍

New acquisitions.

Two posters: A poster of Jorge Luis Borges and a poster of Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger.

A postcard: A Robert Crumb-themed postcard.

I bought a poster of Jorge Luis Borges, which has his famous quote 'I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.' I placed on the door that leads to the living room. I also bought a poster of 'A Matter of Life and Death,' which is one of my favourite films ever. I placed it on the door that leads to my bedroom.

I also bought a postcard of a Robert Crumb cartoon. It depicts a man shaking nervously, with the caption 'People make me nervous!' I can certainly relate to it.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six books: Cognitive Neuroscience: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Passingham, Is God Happy?: Selected Essays by Lesek Kolakowski, Essays by Michel de Montaigne, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke, Two Treatises of Government/A Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke and Reveries of the Solitary Walker by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

I had zero interest in science until quite recently. Thing is, if you had told me about a lot of this stuff as a teenager or in my early 20s I would have been blown away by it. The interesting thing about a lot of science isn't that it is true (or as close to the truth as we can get), it is how counterintuitive a lot of it is. This book is all about how the brain works.

Kolakowski seems like a really interesting thinker. He was an academic in communist Poland and he had been an orthodox Marxist, but he was eventually exiled due to writing stuff that was critical of Marxism/communism. Soviet communism is something that I have developed a visceral, almost irrational hatred for. His 'magnum opus' was 'Main Currents of Marxism' where he argues that Leninist and Stalinist versions of communism are not distortions of Marxism, they are one of many possible interpretations. That book is really long and would take a couple of months to read, so I thought that I'd tackle this more slender collection of essays.

I wrote an essay about some of Montaigne's essays for my undergrad degree. I remember quite enjoying them, so I thought that I could do with reading them again at some point.

Back in the 18th century, there were a lot of discussions as to whether knowledge was acquired or innately or through experience. The former camp were called 'rationalists' whilst the latter camp were called 'empiricists.' Locke makes the case for empiricism in this book where he argues that the mind is 'tabula rasa' that absorbs experience. We still have discussions about this sort of stuff today and we are still not 100% clear about it.

The 17th century was notorious for religious conflict, namely 'the thirty years' war' between Protestants and Catholics, which left a large death toll and ravaged the economies of Europe. At the end of the century, John Locke wrote this book in which he argued for tolerance of different religious beliefs. These ideas were radical at the time and influenced English law after the 'Glorious Revolution.'

Rosseau, alongside David Hume, was one of philosophy's loners and a hermit. (Even though he came up with all that guff about 'the general will.') In this book, he writes about going for walks on his own.

New acquisitions.

Six records: Stairway to the Stars by Paul Fenoulhet, Rhapsody in Rhythm by Ray Starita and his Ambassadors band, Edith Piaf by Edith Piaf, The Incomparably Big Band Sound of Tommy Dorsey, Gregorian Chant by The Choir of the Carmelite Priory London and Introducing Christopher Parkening - Segovia Transcriptions of Bach and Spanish/Latin American Guitar Music.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six books: The Dreyfus Affair: The Story of the Most Infamous Miscarriage in French History by Piers Paul Read, History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Ronald H. Bainton, Charles Darwin: The Power of Place by Janet Browne and The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas by Isaiah Berlin.

I bought a book about the Dreyfus affair, who was accused of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was a ruse, as they resented him for being Jewish. This was a notorious anti-Semitic case right at the start of the 20th century and it prefigured some nasty developments later on.

Thucydides had been ostracised from Athens for making criticisms of the certain public figures, namely for spending a lot of public money on major buildings. Whilst he was exiled, a war raged for ten years between Athens and Sparta. He observed this from afar and wrote this book, 'History of the Peloponnesian War.' We still read it thousands of years later and it is the most detailed account we have of the war.

This is another classic history book about antiquity and it was written in 1788. It is over a thousand pages and the print is really small! Of course, it chronicles the decline and fall of the Roman empire...

Martin Luther revolutionised the world, as he brought about the Protestant reformation... I bought a book to learn more about him.

Charles Darwin was another figure who revolutionised the world, with his theory of natural selection and evolution. This is volume two of a biography and covers the period when 'On the Origin of 

Species' was published and Darwin was thrust into the spotlight.

Issiah Berlin was a liberal philosopher whose worldview seemed to be absolutely correct and similar to my own. This is a history of ideas and he writes about fascism, Romanticism, nationalism, the Enligthenment, utopianism and other topics.

New acquisitions. 👍

Two posters: A print of The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David and The Academy by Raphael.

I saw some empty spaces on my walls, so I thought that I could cover them with posters. They are both really iconic paintings. The one by Raphael has most of the most famous Greek philosophers, with Plato and Aristotle in the middle. The one by David (which is a larger print) depicts Socrates when they seized him and gave him hemlock.

New acquisition. 🙂

One book: La historia oculta de la década socialists by Ascanio Cavalla and Rocío Montes. 

I am currently in Chile, so I thought that I'd buy something related to Chile. This book is all about the centre-left governments during the noughties. Two 'socialist' presidents were in power for the first time since Allende (or 'social democratic'... I dunno, these are really hazy terms which are really difficult to define). They were part of the 'Concertación,' a coalition of centre/centre-left parties which were in power for twenty years after the fall of Pinochet. They were really successful in reducing poverty.

New acquisitions. 1/2

Two figurines: A figurine of Condorito and a figurine of Pablo Neruda.

Two CDs: 1959-1969 by Victor Jara and Grandes Exitos by Violeta Parra.

Three books: Conversación en la catedral by Mario Vargas Llosa, Escape a los Andes: la historia Mauricio Hochschild, "El Schindler de Bolivia" and Páginas colonials by Rafael Gumucio.

I bought a figurine of a classic Chilean cartoon character called Condorito. I also bought a figurine of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

I bought two CDs of anthologies by Chilean folk singers Victor Jara and Violeta Parra.

I bought this classic novel by brilliant Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa and it is meant to be his best book.

I received this book as a gift from my uncle. It is about 'the Bolivian Schindler.' It is about a Bolivian Jew who took in Jewish refugees who fled the Holocaust and settled in South America.

Gumucio is a contrarian writer/journalist from Chile. In this book, he travels around several places in Europe and writes about them.

New acquisitions 2/2.

Six CDs: Absolutely Free by Frank Zappa, Overnite Sensation by Frank Zappa, Bongo Fury by Frank Zappa, Zappa in New York, Studio Tan and Sleep Dirt by Frank Zappa.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six CDs: Round about Midnight by Miles Davis, Ascenseur pour l'echafaud by Miles Davis, A Tribute to Jack Johnson by Miles Davis, Big Fun by Miles Davis, Get up with It by Miles Davis and Pangaea by Miles Davis.

New acquisitions. 👍

Two records: Poetic Champions Compose by Van Morrison and Joe's Garage: Act 1 by Frank Zappa.

Van Morrison is a brilliant songwriter/singer and this album has some great songs. This is probably one of my least favourite Zappa albums (Zappa fans love it, but the smutty songs meander too much and test my patience), but it was for sale only for £5, so I thought that I'd buy it.

New acquisitions. 🙂

Six CDs: Petrouchka and Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky/Pierre Boulez/New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Eight Lines and City Life by Steve Reich/Ensemble Modern, Different Trains and Electric Counterpoint by Steve Reich/Kronos Quartet/Pat Metheny, Four Classic Albums by Charles Mingus, The Doors by The Doors and Paranoid by Black Sabbath.