Spring break / Non-blogged week / New Books / New CDs

Spring break

MIT is having its official spring break this week. I have been doing all kinds of extra-curriculum activities: traveling, having nice lunches and dinners, drinking enough in order to tee-total whole April, and, of course, reading. What follows is a long story compressed short, and after that longer stories of certain events.

Non-blogged week

Last week: Thursday: doing the last exercises (especially systems optimization case studies, and preparing the NGATS-presentation. In the morning, giving the RFID-presentation with Kumar. Long day, ending with having pizza with professor Sarma, and some pints with Spiros, Cristian, and others, I assume since I cannot remember anymore. Friday: the NGATS-presentation, last marketing class, then meeting with Kössi and Ville: a few beers in the R&D-pub, some more with classmates in the Muddy Charles bar (which I am not that fond of), then having squid, lobster, and Key lime pie in Barking Crab, and still some beer at Boston Beer works (the reader may google the places, I have no energy to do that today). Saturday: taking the Grayhound to New York (the busses are bad, just like those we used to have in Finland 25 years ago, terrible), checking in the hotel (the one owned by the German Church for Seafarers), having not-so-good Indian dinner in the 6th street, listening to some local bands in the Continental--club. Sunday: walking around NYC, visiting downtown, seeing what used to be and is not anymore and what I do not miss, but which still is sad, and still happening daily by both sides, having nice Thai-food in Brooklyn in the evening, and still a couple pints and watching semi-naked drunken local girls dancing and kissing each other in some local pub in Brooklyn. Strange, explicit. Monday: in the evening, seeing off-off-Broadway theater (more later), and later seeing the punk/heavy karaoke in Continental (really fun: excellent band playing classic songs, and some locals shouting in the vocals). Tuesday: walking around Brooklyn, having pizza and enough wine under the Brooklyn bridge (excellent Italian pizzeria there), in the evening seeing Henry Rollins ranting and doing some stand-up comedy in the Zipper-theater. Wednesday: returning by bus to Boston (even worse bus and really unskilled driver - I really miss the nice bussed of Brazilia...), seeing The Soundtrack of our lives from Sweden in the Axis-club. Thursday: trying to do some MIT-stuff, and even managing to produce something, visiting Mirja and Milton in the evening. Friday: walking in Back Bay, working on some classes, visiting MIT for the first time in one week, and them something coming up later.

New Books

In New York, we visited Strand and several other book stores. Some books arrived by mail, too. I think, that one cannot ever be so busy that one would not have time to read some good books. How could one? I would be as being dead, or at least in persistent vegetative state. Or, as Chekhov puts it: "What you must do is work unceasingly, day and night, read constantly, study, exercise willpower. Every hour is precious" (quoted by Nick Hornby in The polysyllabic spree. I do agree - a day spend just partying is waste of one's life: at least one should read something, there are always some short moments during the day, when one is waiting for something or someone, and one can immerse oneself in some great book.

My new books are

• Conversations with Joseph Brodsky by Solomon Volkov - my favorite poet speaking.
• Joseph Brodsky - conversations by (edited) Cynthia L. Haven
• The polysyllabic spree by Nick Hornby. A collection of essays on reading and literature.
• Small things considered - why there is no perfect design by Henry Petroski. Essays on designs of every-day things - fascinating.
• The end of oil by Paul Roberts. What happens soon enough when the oil production peaks, why USA really invaded Iraq, etc. Good background material for current political discussions and developments.
• I, etcetera and Regarding the pain of others by Susan Sontag, one of my favorite essayists and art theorists.
• Granta 44: the last place on Earth containing stories by Paul Auster and Paul Theroux
• Shake hands with the devil by Romeo Dallaire, the UN-commander of peace keepers in Rwanda 10 or more years ago.
• Brotherhood of the bomb by Gregg Herken telling the story of Oppenheimer, Lawrencem and Teller, and the A-bomb.

New CDs

Music is important, too. Therefore, one must have some CDs at home. My newest CDs are:

• Psychic by Thurston Moore. Excellent solo record. I especially like "Ono Soul" and "Patti Smith math Scratch"
• Hidros 3 by Mats Gustafsson / Sonic Youth with friends. Rather strange modern noise, dedicated to Patti Smith.
• Silver session for Jason Knuth by Sonic Youth. Total looping guitar-noise, extremely strange.
• Untitled by Pray for the soul of Betty. This is some heavy with Sonic Youth style guitars. It is a present from S.
• End of silence demos by Rollins band. Rollins band sounds very much like Black Flag did, but the songs are not that good.
• Elämä ja kuolema by Kauko Röyhkä. Older rockers are getting better in Finland. A present from Kössi.
• Kinaportin Kalifraatti by Tuomari Nurmio & Alamaailman vasarat. More older and even better rockers from Finland - but they are not playing rock at all. A present from Kössi.
• Origin vol 1 and Behind the music by The soundtrack of our lives. An excellent rock-band from Sweden. I saw them live in Boston, and they are even better live than on CD. The singer is like overweight resurrected Jesus. Presents from Kössi.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs March 2005".