Comcast/NBC annoys me right now

So, I thought I'd take a look at the COMPLETE figure skating from yesterday - you know, check out some of the non-american or non-top-4 pairs...gee! who'da thunk. So, I go onto NBC.com, where I could watch it. But there, not only do I have to download "microsoft blah-viewer", because obviously one of the other video players ISN'T ENOUGH, but then I also have to verify my cable/tv provider, and register for a "Comcast Video" username and password, because I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PASSWORDS ALREADY. Honestly, people - I thought NBC was a not-for-pay network - you get your revenue through ads, right? And Comcast - I'm already getting my service through your friggin network - can't you tell? We have wireless, it's password protected, and there's a router. Is it somehow impossible for you to detect that I have your service? Or impossible to detect that I have certain things approved/not approved? I mean, you do it on my TV ALL THE TIME. That's why I can't watch Starz or HBO whenever I want. So LET ME WATCH MY COMPLETE FIGURE SKATING, because jeez! Few enough people want to watch the full program, and apparently, you want to make it harder. Good job, screwups.

Plus, I don't care about the polar bears, when you've avoided playing figure skating for a full 25 minutes now. It was the first event you said you'd cover. BTW, NBC, you deserve to lose money on this, if you're going to cover it so badly.

Note on Last Night

Ask and ye shall receive:

Last night the Germans did a short program to "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music... by Sondheim. I was pretty appreciative (it was a nice, if unimaginative arrangment), except what ruined it was the OVERWHELMINGLY AWFUL clown costumes.

And I guess that partly answers my question about why all figure skating music is somehow awful - because skaters don't understand what the song means. *shudder*

In honor of the olypics (hopefully part I)

I'm trying to watch the opening night of figure skating (pairs' short program) which is being interrupted constantly by luge (I don't care) advertisements (many of them totally awful - there was one about a "preparation H"), and talk of the luge competitor who was killed (I feel awful about this - he was younger than me :( ).

So, in honor of figure skating, here's this article from the Washington Post, about the utter crud music that figure skaters perform to. There is a clear bias against modern music in the article, one which I think is worth a bit of thought. Why is pop music so rare? One reason the article states is that vocal music (sung words) is against the rules in singles and pairs, if not ice dance. But why couldn't you do arrangements of other popular music?

Again, back to the purists where classical music is the only good music. Personally, I feel like a Sondheim arrangement might be kind of cool - and unique. "You need something people can relate to, something that can evoke some kind of picture quickly," Weisiger says, wondering how many iterations of "Phantom of the Opera" will be heard at this year's Olympics.

Why is ballet and classical music the only music that both gets "good for figure skating" and "good music" tags?

If you actually have knowledge about this, I'd love to hear what you think.

Awesome Sauce #1

I wish America would do this......

Createquity - the blog I ought to read every chance I get, but don't

As a welcome but still disheartening reminder about why good, prolific bloggers don't really have other jobs, Createquity (see updated blogroll) just put out a list of the 10 biggest arts policy stories in 2009. There are 2 reasons this is disheartening (for me) 1) there are some things on there that I didn't even know! Like Number 8. I had no idea that the two biggest west-coast funding groups were going through a leadership change! Yeah - I ought to have kept on top of that. 2) it proves that other people are doing this better, and more thoroughly than I am. Go figure.

Check it out. The list is BEAST.

Also, this quote is my life, and feels really true to me right now, for some reason.

The problem of course, as far as private funding goes, is that what billionaire wants to fund school education? Where’s the glamour in that? You don’t get your name etched in marble on the outside of a hall for that, or get invited to amazing galas, so what’s the point? That’s why I’m focusing on public and state funding — let the private funders bankroll the opry halls, if that’s where they want to hang out.

I sense that in the long run there is a greater value for humanity in empowering folks to make and create than there is in teaching them the canon, the great works and the masterpieces. In my opinion, it’s more important that someone learn to make music, to draw, photograph, write or create in any form than it is for them to understand and appreciate Picasso, Warhol or Bill Shakespeare — to say nothing of opry. In the long term it doesn’t matter if students become writers, artists or musicians — though a few might. It's more important that they are able to understand the process of creation, experimentation and discovery — which can then be applied to anything they do, as those processes, deep down, are all similar. It’s an investment in fluorescence.

It's all an investment in fluorescence. Beautiful, beautiful sentence.

Shows I want to see #536

Enron. The play.

And this is news to....

Anyone who hasn't ever bothered to learn about the dramatic side of Shakespeare.

I'm very sorry this academic is dead, and he seems like he was a really amazing guy, but his insights are really very....hmm....accepted? Understood? Been told to everyone 20 times over (hopefully). I guess the fact that he first encountered Shakespeare in a college Shakespeare course accounts for why he was so amazed that Shakespeare is really only alive when in performance. But go figure.