Advogato blog for badvogato

29 Mar 2008

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:00:54 GMT

Aloysius Bertrand : First French Prose Poet

Gaspard de la nuit - http://allthingsgo.us/Richard_Walker_Live_at_Capp_St__Track__6_64kb.mp3

Ondine from Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel. To play, doubleclick black arrow at left & wait a few seconds... black block to stop.

ONDINE

Translated by Michael Benedikt

I fell asleep, and thought I heard ere long A harmony, subtle and enchanting; And close beside me a gentle murmuring So tender and sad it can silence song. Ch. Brugnot--The Two Sylphs

"Listen!--Listen!--it's me down here, Ondine, splashing all these droplets against your casement windowpanes so that they echo, here in the dim, regretful moonlight; and up there, high above us in her black silk dress, is the chateau's lady upon her balcony, gazing out at this beautiful starry night and at my lovely, sleeping lake.

"Each ripple that you see is a water-sprite, swimming in the flowing currents; each current of each stream winds path-like towards my palace; and my palace, too, is a liquid domain, located well beneath the lake-waters, in the triangle of fire, and earth, and air.

"Listen!--Listen!--my father stirs the croaking stream with a green birch branch, and my sisters with their foam-flecked arms embrace entire islands of iris, water-lilies, and glistening stands of grass; or, giggling, make mock of the ancient, bearded willow, as he bends his back and goes on fishing."

And when her softly murmured song was done, she begged me outright to slip her ring on my finger, so as to become an Ondine's husband; and to return with her to her palace, there to become king of the lakes.

And when I told her I loved a mortal woman, she pouted as if vexed; then shed a teardrop or two--but finally burst out into laughter, to dissolve then like radiant raindrops, streaming down the length of my blue-black windows....

The Gallows from Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel

THE GALLOWS

Translated by Michael Benedikt What's that up there, still stirring on the gallows?--Faust

Ah! What's this I hear now, might it perhaps be the cold north wind whining, or a hanged man sighing his last sighs atop the gallowstree?

Might it perhaps be some cricket singing, ensconced within the carpet of mosses and ground-ivies that so mercifully enfold the forest floor?

Might it perhaps be some fly in its flight, hunting down its prey and tooting its tiny horn into ears otherwise gone deaf to the sound of triumphant trumpet-calls?

Might it perhaps be some beetle in its wayward, erratic flight, plucking a single, bloodstained hair-strand from out of that dead bald skull?

Or might it perhaps be some spider, weaving from a half-measure of muslin a long tie for his strangled neck?

No: it's a bell slowly tolling from the walls of some distant city beneath the horizon; and a hanged man's corpse, swinging back and forth, reddened by rays of the setting sun....

Scarbo from Gaspard de la Nuit by Maurice Ravel

SCARBO

Translated by Michael Benedikt He searched under the bed, looked up the chimney, scoured the cupboard-- nobody! He just couldn't figure out how he'd gotten in or out. E.T.A. Hoffmann--Nocturnal Tales.

Oh! How many times have I seen and heard Scarbo, with the moon shining bright in the midnight sky like a silver shield on an azure banner studded with golden bees!

How often have I heard the vibrations of his laughter, buzzing somewhere in the shadows of my bedroom, and the scratching of his nails raking down the length of the silk curtains around my bed!

How often have I seen him descending from the ceiling, then pirouetting on one leg and spinning around in my room--like a spindle flung out from some witch's distaff!

Did I think he'd vanished? Between me and moon that dwarf would loom, like a Gothic cathedral's belfry, with a golden bell atop his pointed cap!

But soon his body turned blue, and as transparent as wax dripping down a candle and with his face turning pale as a candle-end--suddenly he'd be gone.

Ne me quitte pas

Don’t leave me now We must just forget All we can forget All we did till now Let’s forget the cost Of the breath we’ve spent Saying words unmeant And the times we’ve lost Hours that must destroy Never knowing why Everything must die At the heart of joy

Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now I’ll bring back to you

The clear pearls of rain From a distant domain Where rain never fell And though I grow old I’ll keep mining the ground To deck you around In sunlight and gold I’ll build you a desmene Where love’s everything Where love is the king And you are the queen

Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now

For you I’ll invent Words and what they meant Only you will know Tales of lovers who Fell apart and then Fell in love again Since their hearts stayed true There’s a story too That I can confide Of that king who died From not meeting you

Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now

And often it’s true That flames spill anew From ancient volcanos We thought were too old When all’s said and done Scorched fields of defeat Could give us more wheat Than the fine April sun And when evening is nigh With flames overhead The black and the red Aren’t they joined in the sky?

Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now

I will cry no more I will talk no more Hide myself somehow And I’ll see your smile And I’ll see you dance And I’ll hear you sing Hear your laughter ring Let me be for you The shadow of your shadow The shadow of your hand The dog at your command

Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now Don’t leave me now

Ne me quitte pas Il faut oublier Tout peut s'oublier Qui s'enfuit déjà Oublier le temps Des malentendus Et le temps perdu A savoir comment Oublier ces heures Qui tuaient parfois A coups de pourquoi Le coeur du bonheur

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

Moi je t'offrirai Des perles de pluie Venues de pays Oþ il ne pleut pas Je creuserai la terre Jusqu'après ma mort Pour couvrir ton corps D'or et de lumière Je ferai un domaine Oþ l'amour sera roi Oþ l'amour sera loi Oþ tu seras reine

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

Je t'inventerai Des mots insensés Que tu comprendras Je te parlerai De ces amants-là Qui ont vu deux fois Leurs coeurs s'embraser Je te raconterai L'histoire de ce roi Mort de n'avoir pas Pu te rencontrer

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

On a vu souvent Rejaillir le feu De l'ancien volcan Qu'on croyait trop vieux Il est para¡±t-il Des terres brulées Donnant plus de blé Qu'un meilleur avril Et quand vient le soir Pour qu'un ciel flamboie Le rouge et le noir Ne s'épousent-ils pas

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

Ne me quitte pas Je ne vais plus pleurer Je ne vais plus parler Je me cacherai là A te regarder Danser et sourire Et à t'écouter Chanter et puis rire Laisse-moi devenir L'ombre de ton ombre L'ombre de ta main L'ombre de ton chien

Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas Ne me quitte pas

23 Mar 2008

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:08:52 GMT

processing.org is cool

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.
Processing is free to download and available for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Please help to release the next version!
Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab.

7 Mar 2008

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 16:51:01 GMT

It's Dr. Seuss week. And I signed up to read to my son's Kindergarten class today... just this morning, a friend mentioned James Tiptree Jr., so I decided to change the reading to her SF short story 'Love is the Plan the Plan is death' ( and why is that .html so slow to load? i wish there is a script to strip out java script of .htmls...)

24 Feb 2008

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:22:18 GMT

I am going to recollect fragments of my failed dreams... The Inn of Sixth Happiness

6 Jan 2008

Sun, 6 Jan 2008 20:40:52 GMT

Brian is the man who look after my den allthingsgo.us. Right now, my site was hit by 'tsunami' that i have no clue where and how it came about... giving away should also carry the responsibility of receiving unexpected..spending is not or is it? i just don't feel like troubleshooting on weekends. enough troubleshooting on the job already...reading Brian's fatherhood checklist is more fun... & also about E. Littlewood's work that used mathematics to minimize miracles... The miracle i so want for now is to fine out the whereabout of this Chinese scholar and poet Xi chuan 西川. He was teaching at NYU in the Spring of 2007 but he seemed to move on out of my reach again...bummer

27 Dec 2007

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:51:26 GMT

so how do i draw lines between 'The Broom of the System' and 'The Pacific - a third movement ? There seem to be infinite possibilities...

18 Oct 2007

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:59:29 GMT

Recent Progress in Computer Go - A talk given on July 22, 2007 at the 2007 European Go Congress in Villach, Austria.

A parodist's paradise! Bob High wrote this 43-page adaptation of "The Mikado" for the world of go.

6 Sep 2007

Thu, 6 Sep 2007 13:41:21 GMT

ncm's POV is well taken. i won't be posting to his thread EVAR... ( note to self...)

met a new friend who once had the ambition to start a 'Bell' lab in China with his invention of voice recognition hardware built on 8-Bit chips. More later...

26 Aug 2007

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:13:38 GMT

A few readings this week got me thinking...

CMU's internal memorandum on allegations of The Rimm Study

EFF's defense page on Martin Rimm's case

From Gordon Cook's blog 'peering and the internet backbone business model - top secret'

From Cook Report : 'Kick Starting the Commons and Preserving the Wealth of Networks'

I wonder how y'all feel about these issues

ps. Sun Aug 26 08:14:16 EDT 2007 attempt of posting the above as artile failed with my impatience when 'preview' fails to display contents within ~10 seconds... one of these examples i believe in the holy ghost...

19 Aug 2007

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 23:44:07 GMT

Gordon Cook, a 30 year Ewing resident. Self employed for 16 years as editor publisher of the cook report on internet protocol

wow! nothing beats discovering a good neighbor - badvo

http://cookreport.com - The COOK Report on Internet Protocol Technology, Economics, Policy