Notes by Farouk Rojas

"A new library allows readers to borrow people for a 30-minute chat. Here's the experience of one man who offered himself as a human book"

This interesting article in the Times Online came to me through Jessica Duchen's classical music blog, a most excellent electronic publication, albeit sometimes way above my head. 

"The idea, which comes from Scandinavia, is simple: instead of books, readers can come to the library and borrow a person for a 30-minute chat. The human “books” on offer vary from event to event but always include a healthy cross-section of stereotypes. Last weekend, the small but richly diverse list included Police Officer, Vegan, Male Nanny and Lifelong Activist as well as Person with Mental Health Difficulties and Young Person Excluded from School. I was there as Gay Man."

“We work on the principle that extreme violence and aggression happens between people who don't know each other. So the Living Library can bring together people who are otherwise unlikely to meet. We want to show that not every Muslim wants to blow you up, not every policeman is a bully.” 

Whenever there's something I don't know how to do with a computer, I always end up googling my question, and usually I can quickly find a good answer.  Such a site that provides good answers is Tech-Recipes.  Check it often if you are looking to increase your tech-ability.

I think Anna Netrebko is the best acting opera singer around right now.  Check out those subtle inflections on her face! (watch the video linked below)  If you know of other great singers who are also great actors, do let me know. 

See her work it on YouTube. 

I didn't even know who Miley Cyrus was until today, when I accidentally bumped into this post on a blog, criticizing Vanity Fair's upcoming publication of an Annie Leibowitz portrait of Miley Cyrus.  

It raises many interesting questions about 1) What is bad or not bad about an underage girl being photographed in this manner?  2) If it is bad, what is bad about it? 3) If there is something bad about it, would it be not bad if the girl were 25?  What if the girl is 18?  What if they're 16?

Also interesting is what appears to be the difference in how Cyrus felt about her picture the day it was taken, and how she feels now since a bunch of people have reacted negatively.  What does that say about her and how she makes decisions?  And what does it say about the people who think the picture is bad that they think that it is bad?  If you don't think it's bad, does that make you bad?

I am experiencing frustration when trying to interact with people through Facebook.  From where I am, it seems waaaaaaay slower than other websites.  Everytime i click to look at a picture, or something someone's posted, it takes forever to respond.  I'm wondering, are there too many people on Facebook?  Is their IT infrastructure insufficient?  Is it something that only happens to me because of something weird in my own computer?  Hard to tell, but I wish there was another way that I could look at the stuff my friends are posting. 

That's I guess the issue with controlled, encapsulated structures like Facebook.  You get the convenience of having everyone in one place (no need to remember everyone's blog or website address), but also, you get to experience the systemic failures.  I have an issue with waiting though, which I need to work through as soon as possible.  Maybe it's all in my head. 

Roaming on the web I found this website.  Take a look at the folio for some very beautiful illustrations.

Hi.  As you may have noticed, my last documented attempt to be persistent at my voice practice was a failure.  Yet, there is hope.  I have a plan, like I've never had before, and I'm working on it.  Of course I will make adjustments to the plan along the way, as is the case with all good plans, but for now, suffice it to say that I'm feeling a lot more confident about my voice work.

That said, there's other areas to improve, like my weight, which I will be journaling about in this blog as well.   

I am also opening up this blog to keep track of everything that i like or am interested in, as I find it on the web.  I have found that many times I bump into stuff that I think is interesting, to me at least, and I think could be interesting to others, so I am making a repository of stuff that is interesting to me on this blog, along with my adventures in self improvement. 

Yes, my sister just sent me a link to the new online, DRM-free download store of Deutsche Grammophon.  If you like classical music, this is where you need to go.  320kpbs MP3 downloads that work on ANY music player, and that you can have in as many computers and players as you want. 

The end of DRMd music is near, hopefully!