*Insert fangirl squee here.*

[railenthe]

 

What a way to welcome the Full Moon.  Truly, a gift from the Goddess.

Described by the composer himself as “something resembling poetry/but it’s not the same thing,”  Colorful Fortune is a collection of verse by American ambient/minimalist/Avant-garde composer Harold Budd.  The first half of the book contains ‘poem sketches’ previously unknown and unreleased.  The second half features work that is more familiar, from his albums By The Dawn’s Early Light, Glyph, and She Is A Phantom (with Zeitgeist).

 

Notice the little trail on the cover, like the contrails of a butterfly hopped up on amphetamine-laced nectar.  These sketches are a visual representation of the music that Budd was listening to at the time—in this one’s case, Monteverdi.  The line begins somewhere on the page, sometimes exeunt on one side, reappearing on another part of the page unbroken—a visual metaphor for the sound of music.

 

…I’ve wanted this book like burning since discovering its existence one year ago.  And a month ago, this desire came to a head.  You see, there are only two hundred copies of this book in existence.  250 if you count the hardback—the hardback is WAY too rich for my pay grade.  It was released in ‘09.

 

Yea verily, time was of the essence.  Who could say when there weren’t any more to be had?  I ordered a copy on my Nook Tablet and…

 

waited.

 

And waited.

 

I get a “zzzt!” on my phone on the way back to the apartment from dress fitting: my package was no longer ‘in transit.’  I grew antsy on the way back home, realizing: this was it.  The thing I’d been waiting for.  I got a little nervous when the super-careful packaging was stuck in the mailbox, but finally I got it home…and devoured every verse within.  I lingered over the sketches, and sort of roosted in one particular zone of the “something resembling poetry” entitled “Wings:”

 

…
Through it all

I danced toward my sun

as my soul sought to fly—

Through it all

it was you.

It was always you.

 

I actually forgot to read forward at that point.  My mind?  Blown.  I needed to find a new fuse for my mind.  Except I didn’t.  I kept reading that portion of the poem, fingers loitering on the heavy-weight superfine paper, like the memory of a lover’s touch on the palm.

 

I then began to transcribe the entire book, so that I would not harm the book by taking it outside later in search of photo opportunities that seemed to speak the very verses; while I was typing, I hung up again on that passage of “Wings.”  The entire damn book is full of such loveliness that there are passages that I despair of ever finding a fitting photo op for. 

 

I know two things about this project:

1. I’m glad I’ve got almost a whole entire year of nature to go through for this project, and
2. I’m going to pull a Genesis or a Kuja with the randomly quoting verses fairly often.

       (From:  Reflected In The Eye Of A Dragonfly: )

…

Unexplained light reflected from the spine of a

     metallic viper

I’ll seal your radiant kiss my lover

…

Comments

[ilenn.livejournal.com]

Never heard of Harold Budd, but that sounds so awesome! ^_^

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

It really is.

The first time I heard his poetry was a year ago, while I was listening to the album She Is A Phantom (quite a title, eh-what?). As it was billed as an ambient/chamber type of album (and as this was the first time I'd ever even listened to Harold Budd) I hadn't been paying much attention, but then I hear the line—

a definitely different different
flat plateau you know kind of
flattened sandstone that flakes
when you it it with your heels
and Christ you’re doing a
two-step like Jesus-on-fire.

I was in the middle of cooking. I forgot about the stove and went "What???" at that one. Then I grabbed the iPod and decided to devote the night to actually paying attention to the music.

For the record, it ends on another "What???" line and a stinger!drum.

…aah, why don't I just do this. --> ___

EDIT: I'm not sure when LJ started eating the GrooveShark widgets, so lemme try that again with a link. http://grooveshark.com/s/We+Step+Across+/2CZWxZ?src=5


Now, if only I had the slightest idea why my .epub of my transcript isn't formatting the way I need it to. I think I'm going to have to learn at least some base HTML.

No poetry in my rambles I'm afraid...

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

Now that is some nice loot. I'm not even a poetry fan and I'm impressed! (I don't dislike poetry but my English Literature A-Level managed to suck all the beauty out of it by making us study a terribly dull welsh cow who thought blathering about welsh things in English was interesting and a miserable old git who decided that being bitter and grumpy and cynical was far more enchanting than anything the rest of humanity considers wonderful. I'd have killed for some Wordsworth or Keats...)

Genesis really should just move to FFIX's Gaia.... Poetry and drama fans galore!

(Also I wonder if it's right that Kuja gets labelled as a 'quoter' when it's never specified whether he's actually quoting Lord Avon's work or just making it up himself. Whilst it's more likely intended to be the former, the deeper meanings of all his speeches are far too coincidental to have been lifted from someone else's work. Plus Lord Avon's work is deliberately written in 'Ye Olde English' whilst Kuja's dramatic wafflings, pretentious as they are, all follow a sophisticated but nevertheless modern manner of speech. Hmm, I'll have to look out for that in the Japanese version of FFIX. I'm guessing Lord Avon's stuff will be written in archaic Japanese (which I have no understanding of) and Kuja's speeches will be similar to how they are in Dissidia - longwinded but ultimately comprehensible.)

Anyway back to the book - this does sound like a poet's dream and I can understand your delight over securing a copy. Take good care of it, it'll probably be worth a whole lot more than just fanatical joy someday!

Hmm, I suppose the equivalent rarity I'd really love to get my hands on would be Igarashi-kun no Hito ni Ienai Gin no Yoru (Igurashi-kun's silver evening where there are no people) since it's a rare Akira Ishida CD drama where he plays EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER INCLUDING THE WOMEN. I've checked amazon jp, cd japan and yes asia but they've never even heard of it let alone sell it. What's really frustrating is that the two clips from it that are available online do not match up so I'd love to get the real thing for myself to appreciate the genuine performance.


(This is probably closer to the real McCoy than the other one since there have been no obvious edits or cuts but the fact that the mother and father sound so different in the other version (and the answering machine has a different pitch) is making me wonder how authentic this version is.)

I WILL FIND THIS EVENTUALLY, EVEN IF I HAVE TO GO TO JAPAN AND USE ALL MY WITS TO PURCHASE IT!

More poetry-related TL;DR. I might be a fan.

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

LOL ANSWERING MACHINE BEEP JUST GAVE ME GIGGLEFIT.

I didn't want to miss my chance on getting my mitts on this. With such a limited run, the odds were very real that I would lose my chance at it if I didn't move quickly enough at it. I was lucky—I happened to have an English teacher in high school that took approximately NOTHING seriously, even SERIOUS BUSINESS poetry.

I mean, the man was HAMTASTIC. I wish I had taped him reading "The Raven." It was deliciously schizophrenic. He made a point of telling us that there was only one rule about reading, be it poetry or prose: READ EVERYTHING and keep an open mind. Followed by him saying "Yes I know that sounds like two but it's one rule. Why? I said so. Don't question MAH AUTHORITAH." And he did the Cartman voice there, too. So even if there's not much of it that I've gotten into, I keep an open mind, and sometimes, something pops out at me

On the albums, he reads his own work, too. He's got this deep(ish) voice and on the rare cases where he pulls the snark card ("…and Christ you're doing a/twostep like Jesus-on-fire.") it's damn near a scare chord (that makes you laugh and say "WAIT, WHAT???" at the same time). Very distinctive sort of voice.

He'd never leave the theatre. "No time to destroy things, the curtain's rising!

(Mmmh, that's a good question. I never noticed that before. It makes me wonder: it could be entirely possible that there were non-Olde Englishey versions availble on Terra of apocalyptic verse, foisted off of a young (but still svelte and Viewer-Gender-Confusion-Inducing) Kuja, verses that he memorized, and took to heart so deeply that the only satisfying way to induce destruction on the world of Gaia would be with bringing in the equivalent of the Book of Revelation's vision of the apocalypse. Like putting it to a symphony of destruction and screams. His other DRAMATIC WAFFLINGS as you put it (Mmm, waffles) could very well be lifted directly from someone else. And that makes me wonder who.


HOLY CRAP, I've overthought that.)

I'm not even particularly good at poetry or even basic verse (though I've scribbled more than a few). I'm just a HUGE fan of Harold Budd's music, and discovered his poems through the music.

(She Is A Phantom features classical compositions with minimalist sensibilities, a pair of dominant leitmotifs, and the revisited themes found in a piece he wrote for that collaboration specifically. Speaking of things that are vaguely apocalyptic, listen to this, from "And Then I Alone Am Alone":

…Shards exposed
Sand dancing across the graves
Triple lights in the western sky
The Old Ones are here
My Dear
Black desert noon
We are alone
My Dear
The Old Ones are here

It might be my familiarity with Lovecraftian mythos, but that piece gets creepy, especially with the fact that it's an ominous marching beat drum that echoes off of what sounds like PURE EMPTY SPACE. That and the Old Ones want to EAT OUR BRAINS.)

I made a point of washing my hands three times before even touching this book for the first time. Then I made a point of transcribing the whole thing onto my computer. I can't reproduce the etchings, but I'm doing a personal project to personalize this. /dept. of redundancy dept.

I don't want ANYTHING BAD to happen to this book. But everything's so Gawrsh Darn Lovely™ that I don't want to go anywhere without it, either, which is why I'm trying my damnedest to produce a decent looking (and READABLE) .epub for myself.

Listened to that clip. Am I wrong in saying that this seems that it's incredibly cute?
YOU MUST GET IT! AND POSSIBLY RUNNING SUBTITLE IT FOR THOSE OF US WHO DO NOT HAVE A PLACE TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE! (kidding, I wouldn't badger you like that...that's why we have Google Tlansrate!)

*LE-GASP*

[toffeethesnob.livejournal.com]

I'd have killed for a better poetry teacher when I was studying English Literature. The problem was we technically got two teachers for Eng Lit based on the schedule (actually it ended up being three in the second year) and I never got the awesome teacher for poetry and he was so batshit geeky... *sigh* Whilst one of the other poetry teachers was nice, she wasn't exactly skilled at making me feel enthusiastic over the content. Though I do feel sorry for her in that she chose the awful welsh poet and after a disastrous case of assigning us a poem even she couldn't get her head around, she sent an email to the woman through her website asking for help and all the woman did was patronize her and try to flog her new book. :/

The guy sounds like a lot of fun which probably makes all the profound beauty all the more delectable.

Genesis would be an interesting addition to Ruby's mini theatre. "Fer pete's sake, Genesis, we ain't havin' no more of that darn LOVELESS for this season! Now get into those pantaloons!"

(Hmm, I doubt that theory given how the only other sentient on Terra up until Kuja's birth was Garland and he wasn't sentimental enough to even consider indulging in fiction. Whilst there are other plays in FFIX (such as "Moogle Wannabe 2") it appears that Lord Avon is the favorite as he's the only named play-write in the game (whether he also wrote the play based on Ipsen's life is unknown since Ipsen's dates are never given) and the Alexandrian royal family is noted to be large fans of his work to the point of having public performances for special occasions. My guess is Kuja studied drama specifically to fit the bill of a noble and get into the Alexandrian royal family's good graces (he probably targeted them as early as 9 years before the start of the game due to wanting Alexander) and ended up enjoying it so much that he made it part of his schtick. Though he could've lifted his wafflings from another play-write - we just haven't seen any other plays to confirm or negate this theory.)

I'm one of those people who is rhytmatically challenged to the point that I can't register beats properly. I know they're there but I can't follow them or even properly appreciate the pattern. (I also have no clue how syllables work - I hear things in tones rather than anything else (which helps a lot with Japanese; English not so much) so playing charades is like dancing with one leg for me. NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS THE WORST PLAYER WHEN WE DID CHARADES AT CHRISTMAS. I WAS NOT HAPPY.

Creating a transcript is a good idea, as is taking photos of the interior. Then find somewhere safe to store it and try and avoid regularly peeking and fumbling until RL starts to wear it out. (That's happened with so many of my possessions... Mind you Mont didn't help...)

The clip is so adorable - I never knew Ishida could voice a MILF but if you could read the Japanese comments on Nico Nico Beta... I really need to get it because KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Hehehe, I would like to subtitle it but my Japanese isn't really up to scratch (I still fail to follow that sophisticated BL drama he did with Morikawa because it's got a whole load of archaic terms) though I can at least give you a rough translation of the clip - just lemme do it in another comment - it's pretty big.

[alex-damien.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! That looks really lovely, even if I'm not too into poetry :)

[railenthe.livejournal.com]

Even the pages are ridiculously pretty. It was made the old-fashioned way with that limited printing, and you can feel the text on the paper. And the etchings, too—the etchings are nothing fancy; a line looping, angling into the page, coming just close enough to almost touch a line of verse, then leaving the page at one point—re-entering elsewhere.

It's all so simple but so lovely at the same time.