I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RODRIGO Y GABRIELA-Tiny Desk Concert #30 (October 19, 2009).

I have seen the names of Rodrigo y Gabriela for quite some time, but I never knew what they were about.  I assumed they played world music or something (shame on me).  They are a Mexican couple living in Dublin and they have several albums out.  When the Concert opens, Bob Boilen says that the first time he heard them, he was blown away.

And I was too.

Holy crap.  Rodrigo and Gabriela play nylon string acoustic guitars, and they play them like nobody I have ever heard before.  Gabriela plays a lot of percussive sounds with her strings and the body of her guitar.  And Rodrigo is all over the map–doing heavy metal chords (they play Metallica’s “Orion” on their debut album), and flying solos in addition to flamenco notes and even sound effects.  It is a  stunning display of virtuosity and melody.

My only complaint about this Tiny Desk Concert  is that it is too short!  I need to hear more.

They play two songs in about 12 minutes and each one is amazing.  They dazzle your ears as they play, and watching them do it is even better.

[READ: January 5, 2014] “The Man Who Invented the Calendar”

B.J. Novak wrote for and acted on The Office.  This comic piece is about the man, well, who invented the calendar.

The tone of the piece is contemporary with lots of current phrasing–fun with anachronism.

But it is also a funny idea of him deciding to make the calendar starting January 1st. He says he came up with the idea way back on Day After Day After Very Cloudy Day.  His initial plan: one thousand days a year, divided into twenty-five months, forty days a month.  Easy.

At first, the man is enjoying the compliments he’s getting–a guy who says he’s going to organize his life around it.  And Alice says she doesn’t know if she’s busy, she’ll have to check her calendar (wink).

But of course, complaints start to build.  By January 30, people are sick of January.  So all the months will just have 30 days instead.  Or maybe 31.

Soon enough, Alice is his biggest supporter.  Then things get weird on February 14th. 

By the 28th, he is sick of the month and decides to end it early.  On April 1st the calendar has taken on a life of its own when people start doing pranks for no reason.

In June he meets a new girl, Jane and, as with most diarists, he skips several months until October.  He’s excited by the summer and how good the year has been going.  And yet there’s so many months left December, Latrember, Faunus, Stonk….

There’s a very funny sequence where Alice introduces him to the guy who invented the diary which our man says he is using.  He “invented that for girls.”  Ha.

By the end of December, our man is lonely and bitter and decides to end the year early.  Time to plan for the next year.

I enjoyed this very much.  Much of it made me laugh out loud.