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Sumiki

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Blog Entries posted by Sumiki

  3. Sumiki
    Well, well, looks like BZP's back already, and just in time for this week's Tablescrap.
     
    This week is a monolith from the book/movie "2001: A Space Odyssey". The dimensions in the book state that a monolith is 1:4:9, the squares of the first three numbers. I did my best to recreate this.
     

    (excuse the slight blurriness, my camera wanted to act obese)
     
    The monolith appeared at BrickFair 2011, but I didn't want to make a full-blown topic for it. Its card read "no epic music required", prompting at least one public attendee to comment on how it was one of the best things there.
     
    Also, Brickeens' dad said: "It's a fantastic use of color."


  4. Sumiki
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cLvxekUaps
     
    Josef Hofmann belonged to a category of pianists that can only be classified as super-virtuosi. But how good was he? Sergei Rachmaninov himself admit to practicing 15 hours per day to get to his level. (Rachmaninov's hands were immense, and Hofmann's were slightly below average.) Hofmann also flawlessly played works in concert that he hadn't as much as seen for nearly three years.
     
    His immense talent at the piano - especially in his ability to play rapidly repeating notes - served to overshadow his excellent compositions (sometimes published under the pseudonym "Michel Dvorsky"). "The Sanctuary" is the third of three movements from his collection "Impressions," which I think is a certainly apt title - some of the left-hand passages put Ravel to shame. It's an étude and a half and I could never play it, but that doesn't make it any less glorious to listen to.
  6. Sumiki
    The Tuesday Tablescraps make their triumphant return with the Hinklebot, a fusion mech that appeared at BrickFair VA '13, only to have its pilot replaced by a Kevin Hinkle minifigure.
     


     
    | | | |



    Last semester's schedule meant that I rarely - if ever - had free Tuesdays. I've still built stuff, but I haven't posted them, much to my regret.
  7. Sumiki
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWgwPpb42kM
     
    Percy Grainger is one of the only Australian composers that people talk about. He wrote a significant number of pieces, including orchestral and vocal works, but his piano output is his only significant contribution to the modern repertoire. He was known for his dislike of Italian musical terms and notations, so instead of using them he often described how his music should be played in explicit English instructions - so explicit that there leaves little room for interpretation if played exactly as written.
     
    Nearly all of his piano compositions are virtuosic, and In Dahomey (subtitled "Cakewalk Smasher") is certainly no exception. Based off of the cakewalk dance and blending tunes from popular showtunes from the late turn of the century, In Dahomey is an incredibly catchy piece. In it, Grainger provides alternatives to the notation in smaller staves (called ossias, one of the few Italian terms Grainger was fine with using), so there are many "correct" ways to play it.
     
    Grainger's music is worth exploring for its complexity, and performers of his music have to possess a keen attention to detail: some glissandos are notated down to what finger they're supposed to be played with. In Dahomey is scored in such a way as to instruct the pianist to imitate a brass band, including trombone slides.
  8. Sumiki
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3z0eMiMrNw
     
    Originally a working title, this Nocturne was composed in late June and early July of this year, and was premiered in concert on my birthday, the conclusion of a three-week-long composition workshop at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. This is the same concert I alluded to in a previous entry, so yes, that's me at the piano. (Bow ties are cool.)
     
    The melodic content of the Nocturne was developed out of the arpeggiated phrase that becomes practically an ostinato by the piano. Emphasis is given to the flute and cello as solo instruments as opposed to the piano, which mainly executes arpeggiations (in various forms), emphasizing harmonies and rhythm, with only occasional melodic content. Both the other players got confused with the beat at certain points, and I can't blame them - there's one passage where the time signature goes from 4/4 to 7/4 to 5/4 to 6/4 to 7/4 to 3/4, but we got most of the kinks worked out in rehearsals and that particular section went off without a hitch.
     
    To round off the piece and to give a sense of night coming to a close, I included a birdsong imitation at the end. Also present near the end is a musical shout-out to Alexei Stanchinsky's lone Nocturne, an underrated piece and one of my favorites in the genre.
     
    Since I know what was supposed to be played, I noted no less than six deviations from the score upon hearing the recording - two by the flutist, two by the cellist, and two by me. The great thing about pieces that no one's ever heard before, though, is that there's no way of telling what was accurate and what was inaccurate.
  9. Sumiki

    Undersea Cowboy

    By Sumiki,

    A very last-minute entry to the Titans vs. Monsters contest. To my knowledge this is the only System-Based Creations entry ... which could prove to be interesting once the votin' time rolls 'round.
     


    (--c--l--i--c--k------f--o--r------t--o--p--i--c--!--)


  11. Sumiki
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeFMztwJpKk
     
    Catoire is a highly neglected composer, but his works are steadily gaining their due recognition - in no small part due to the CD of his piano works released by super-virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin. Russian and French, both influences are heard in his music, although in his best works, he takes French fluidity to new heights. The second Prelude from his collection "Cinq Morceaux" is one of the best things he ever wrote.
     
    Catoire's music exhibits plenty of rhythmic complexity - in this piece, much of the gossamery texture is due to its consistent 3-against-2 polyrhythm. (The right hand plays in a 12/16 time signature while the left hand plays in 4/8.) It's been on my to-learn list for quite a while, but its considerable technical difficultly (mainly in the aforementioned rhythmic complexity) make it daunting to begin.
  12. Sumiki

    Aftermath

    By Sumiki,

    BrickFair was quite the awesome. Long entry coming in a few days once I get back home, but it was great.
     
    My Heavily Armored Wasp ended up getting third, which was ridiculously cool - it actually ended up edging out Makaru's Kahu. Again, it's really just fun to get nominated, even if the concept of winning is hopelessly out of reach.
     
    Also Xaeraz and Valendale and I slapped each other all weekend, especially after being ... moistened. With snipples and snapples.
  13. Sumiki

    BrickFair Nomination

    By Sumiki,

    There have been way too many crazy awesome things that have transpired over the past three days, and these things will be chronicled in a blog entry in due time, but I just wanted to say that one of my MOCs - the Heavily Armored Wasp - was nominated for Best BIONICLE!
     
    My chances of actually winning, however, are somewhat less than slim: I'm up against DeeVee's Vayland Dragon III, Steve the Squid's wearable Bane mask, and Makaru's Kahu, so I'm basically just thrilled that I got nominated and have accepted the fact that I'm going nowhere beyond that.
     
    Of course, many, many thanks to the always-awesome Nukaya for nominating the Wasp for consideration.
  14. Sumiki

    I'm At BrickFair!

    By Sumiki,

    When this entry gets posted, I'll be somewhere inside the Dulles Expo Center, getting registered, setting up MOCs, and making absurdly long vendor raids.
     

     
    BRICKFAIR
  15. Sumiki
    We're taking our time going up to BrickFair this year, getting there in two days instead of one. We're just about to head out the door towards Richmond.
     
    I'm pumped!
     
    And I have lots of hats!
     
    This is exciting!
  16. Sumiki
    This has more or less become an annual thing to do on the Monday after BrickFair. In 2011, Brickeens and his dad toured various monuments and statues in the Capitol as well as part of the Air and Space Museum. In 2012, Zatth joined up with us as we went around the original Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum.
     
    So, BrickFair goers and fellow BZP members: who's willing and able to take a tour of Washington, D.C. sights on Monday, August 5th?
     
    (I wanted to put this out there well in advance of the 'Fair to make sure people are aware of what's being planned.)
     
    BUMPED 7/24 BECAUSE BRICKFAIR IS LIKE A WEEK AWAY ??? I'M PUMPED
  18. Sumiki
    So, folks are posting music in the blogs. I figure that I might as well get in on the action, so I'll be posting my favorite pieces of music semi-intermittently. Might be weekly but iunno - depends on how much interest I can generate with classical stuff.
     
    http://youtu.be/oOQ7JvdzWig
     
    So! Leo Ornstein. Guy lived a whopping 109 years and produced a number of fantastic compositions. In his early years he was known for popularization of the tone cluster and lived around the time Charles Ives was experimenting with those same techniques. (Neither Ornstein nor Ives get credit for their uses of the tone cluster - that honor goes to Henry Cowell, mainly because he coined the term "tone cluster".)
     
    Ornstein's early works are dissonant, virtuosic, and occasionally violent, making his post-tonal works popular amongst the avant-garde of the time. After composing a number of these works, he took a short break from composition and resumed with less harsh works. Vestiges of the dissonance that epitomized his earlier oeuvre still dot his later compositions, but the older he got the more tonal his language became, much to the disappointment in the avant-garde that had put so much stock in his earlier career.
     
    His only Piano Quintet is brilliant, and the third movement is my favorite. Interesting notations include time signature differences between the strings and piano, tuplets that cross measures, and a plethora of poly rhythmic arpeggiations. It's a highly underrated piece that doesn't get performed nearly as much as it deserves to.
  21. Sumiki
    YOU ALL KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS TOMORROW, RIGHT
     
    OF COURSE YOU DO
     
    PROBABLY BECAUSE YOU'RE READING IT ON THAT DAY AND NOT ON THIS ONE
     
    BUT ANYWAY
     
    YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, RIGHT?
     
    THAT'S RIGHT, KIDS
     
    SAY IT WITH ME
     
    IT'S SUMIKI'S BIRTHDAY
     
    (what, did you think I was going to talk about some movie or something? pfffffffft)
     
    Also, I must apologize for inactivity over the past few weeks. I've been pretty busy, but it's going to culminate in a concert wherein I play the piano portion of a Nocturne that I wrote for flute, cello, and piano. I put a whole lot of arpeggios in it so it's pretty finger-breaking but it sounds quite nice.
     
    nerve-wracking aaaaaaaa
     
    After this madness is over I'll definitely resume more normal BZP activities.
     
    Oh and then BrickFair.
     
    I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS ENTRY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT AND I'M TO THE POINT WHERE I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO BOTHER WITH CORRECTING TYPOS IF I MAKE THEM
  22. Sumiki
    We got an early start and headed out of Alabama, soon making it to the Georgia state line and the Eastern time zone. From there we headed up to Atlanta, where I learned that tales of the city's traffic had not been exaggerated. We took the beltway around the city instead of going through it directly. I cannot imagine what kind of mayhem we'd have run into if we'd gone right through, as the drivers on the beltway were crazy enough. (I learned why signals are so rarely used: as soon as you turn one on, some bozo cuts you off.)
     
    Eventually we meandered around Atlanta and arrived in the suburb of Lawrenceville, home of the triple-A Gwinnett Braves, where we located the stadium and collected our pennant as well as pictures of their nearly-new stadium. Soon we were back on Interstate 85, bound for our penultimate stop of the day: Greenville, South Carolina for a pennant from the Greenville Drive, the single-A affiliate of the Red Sox. Our arrival there was greeted with the similar brand of eerie wariness that we'd received elsewhere on our deep-south pennant chases, but we got a pennant and headed for the North Carolina border.
     
    Outside of Greenville we stopped at a Chick-Fil-A to eat. We used up nearly the last of our cash getting chicken strips and a sandwich - the only bill left was, quite strangely, a 100-dollar bill. With this as our only cash, my dad's after-snack peach milkshake was bought using it, which prompted nearly the entire restaurant staff to check and double-check the bill for accuracy. The comical nature of the counterfeit concern was apparent from my perch at a booth across the building. (The bill, of course, checked out.) My mom proved our trustworthiness to the cashier by returning a phone left in a nearby booth by the store manager - and while I cannot be entirely sure, I think they may have been using the opportunity to test us.
     
    We'd gotten no more than a few miles over the NC border before, in the span of about five second, it went from 90 degrees and ominous to a 60 degree downpour where we could barely see a foot in front of the car. We exited near Bessemer City and wound our way westward out of the storm. Using dad's dog-like navigational skills, mom's GPS and iPad maps, and my studious analysis of a road atlas as old as I am, we navigated north and east on secondary roads and followed the storm the rest of the way home. Our route took us on NC-150 through the Lake Norman area, where we saw - amongst other stupidities - folks water-skiing while lightning struck and thunder rolled. I understand the reports of Lake Norman deaths now.
     
    Before we knew it, we were home and unloading our things into the house. I'm glad we sprayed for bugs before we left, as a number of them are curled up. We've gotten rid of the ones along the main walkways in the house, but we didn't get them all and as such will need to vacuum them up tomorrow.
     
    On this trip, we covered more states and provinces than we did last year (26 to 25) in more days (30 to 28). We traversed the continent in a manner that would nearly encircle last year's route, but we somehow ended up with less milage (8252.2 to 8355.4). Total mileage for both trips combined comes out as 16,607.6. The number of car fixes increased (3 to 1) and we ended up with more pennants as well (17 to 15, though we got four free ones in Vancouver).
     
    Tomorrow: we sleep in. Our trip has come to its conclusion earlier than we had planned, but I would prefer it this way, as the similar scenery of our southern excursion increased our anxiousness to get back home.
  23. Sumiki
    I rescind my earlier statements about how awful the idea seemed.
     
    It looks ... pretty good? Only so much can be discerned from the trailer, but the animation style looks pretty cool. Also, quite a cast of actors they've got there.
  25. Sumiki

    The Voting Booth

    By Sumiki,

    I've always been a fan of the Voting Booth, especially on the old forums. When I got my Premiership, I was still a wee noob, and created tons of polls ... well, I tried to, at least. My habit of hitting preview-post canceled out the polls I made, which led to frustration on my end and by whatever FA had to come clean my mess up.
     
    When the forums came back, I was happy to see the Voting Booth busy again, but this spurt of activity didn't continue for very long at all. Soon the Voting Booth looked like a derelict of the forum it once was, and this saddened me. I made a few polls and people voted in them, so it's not like there's a severe lack of interest in member-based polls, just very few topics - but now, even the voters are decreasing. The number of staff members assigned to the forum (aside from the Mentors) was, as of earlier today, equivalent to the number of topics: a whopping three, and that's including the pinned VB Policy topic.
     
    During my time as a Mentor I was more of a forum wanderer than at any other time during my BZP career, as the job description was basically "go where the unapproved posts are." The VB's lifelessness really struck me, and I submitted some ideas for reform to some of the other staff and specifically to Smeag, then the VB FL. (This was, of course, before the advent of the Tracker.) This led to no reforms, which is why we're still talking about this now, stemming off of the "BZPower's Activity" Tracker ticket. (I don't blame Smeag for inaction, as the forum was relatively busy when compared to what it looks like now, and while I genuinely respect the wisdom he gained in his post as FL, under the circumstances, I think it may be time for reconsideration.)
     
    My suggestions are as follows:
     
    I. Make posts count! I see arguments for posts counting in the off-topic realm, but if any forum needs it, it's the Voting Booth: an all-but-dead LEGO-based forum with an easy method of attracting attention and regaining activity.
     
    II. Let non-Premiers post topics! I've never seen any logic to keeping this around in any forum - it's hardly used for anything and no member has bought Premiership for the purpose of being able to post topics there. It made sense when polls were a hot commodity - anyone remember the old Premier Poll-Making Squad? - but in this day in age, it makes hardly any sense.
     
    Considering the nature of this kind of change I would say that, at best, only one of these would be done, and the decision comes down to Watashi Wa, the VB's current FL. This makes sense on a number of levels, but it all basically comes down to increasing awareness and activity in the forum. These rules are the last vestiges of a forum that once featured a great amount of activity. Once they were good and served a useful purpose - one to control spammy posts, and the other to help capitalize on the popularity. In the present day, these regulations are now unnecessary hoops to jump through.
     
    Should the Voting Booth attract enough attention to aggravate the problem that led to the implementation of the first of these two policies - namely, brief posts that stated nothing more than the member's particular vote - we should include in the VB policy that any member who wishes to post stating their vote must include a reason as to why they voted in that way. This is not a requirement to post, nor would it be a mandatory implementation alongside the ones posted above! This is simply an alternate solution to a problem that, if things go well, might rear its head again.
     
    What do you think?
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