( fruit, books, music )

Editing the tracks themselves isn't the answer, unless you edit every track you might ever play. Every track is automatically part of at least three playlists -- album, artist, and genre -- along with whatever playlists you create. This needs to be a playback option, not an edit of the source data.

It seems hard to believe that this isn't there, but I can't find it. Now granted, the UI for the iPod isn't that intuitive to me [1], so it might really be in there and just not covered in the documentation that came with the iPod, but Google seems to agree that it's not there. How frustrating, and surprising.

[1] For example, I am still utterly mystified by what sequence of key-presses I accidentally issue from time to time that lands me in a "rate this song" mode with no clear way to abort.

Our congregation is currently looking for an associate rabbi, and I managed to get myself onto the search committee. I'm glad to be able to play this role, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to see this process up close. We conducted our first phone interview this morning; in some ways it's not that different from interviewing programmers. Sure, the domain is rather different, but either way, you want to try to figure out how the candidate goes about solving problems, how he works with others, and so on.

The user interface on my cell phone is worse than it first appears. Someone left me voice mail, which I listened to but didn't immediately act on. I figured I could always go back to the "recent messages" menu item to re-hear it. Nope -- no way to do that through that interface. The secret for getting to the voice-mail box is that it's on speead-dial #1 -- which is in the manual, but I shouldn't have to consult the manual for something like that. Putting it on speed-dial is fine, but it should also be linked from the menu that is otherwise about messages. Sheesh.

Dani brought home a book of poetry called Now We Are Sick. That, and that it is edited by Neil Gaiman (and Stephen Jones, who I otherwise don't know) should tell you something about the amount of twistedness in the content.

My copy of "Clam Chowder: Kosher" (new DVD) arrived yesterday. This is a collection of songs from several years' worth of concerts that they actually have publication rights for (mostly traditional, out-of-copyright, and self-written material). It's a good collection. That it was recorded from the back of the hall is obvious; the resolution isn't as good as you'd expect from settings where they can put cameras everywhere they want. But it's good enough. The only regret I have in watching it is that I know there were some fun "audience gags" at some of those concerts (I was there), but none of those were included. Some can't be becuase the songs weren't; for example, the Vegetable Liberation Front, or maybe it was People for the Ethical Treatment of Vegetables, showed up for "Carrot Juice is Murder" one year, but that song isn't on the DVD. On the other hand, I remember uniformed flag-waving folks parading in for one performance of "Ye Jacobites By Name", which is on the DVD, but that's not the version they used. One of the things that makes Clam Chowder special is the relationship they have with the audience; I wish that had come out more on the DVD.

This recording is credible; the playing is competent and the arrangements are generally good. (I think the CD is a couple years old; his live playing was pretty impressive.) One thing I noticed on the CD, though, is that there's one particular ornament that I think is very much over-used. That got me thinking about how that could happen.

The rest of this is not a criticism of the CD. It's just a ramble inspired by that recording and then veering off on its own.

It's possible to over-use an ornament withiin a single piece, but pieces go by pretty quickly when you're playing folk music so that won't stick with people for too long. If you use it on many pieces but you're used to playing background music, people might not notice. If you play focused music (concerts, not background) but don't play for an hour or more at a time, you might not reach the necessary threshold. And if you practice a fair bit -- like you probably do when preparing to go into the studio -- then you'll be hearing so much of everything you do that your perspective will be completely skewed. You may say "gee, I'm using that technique a lot", but then you'll say "well duh, I'm practicing for hours and hours, playing the same few pieces many times; of course I'm hearing that a lot". And then you'll probably dismiss it and go on.

The other thing is that recordings are different from live performances. Really different. Everything you do is there for posterity. You have no interaction with the listener, and no patter to break things up (unless you record that too). And a CD in the player may loop. The listener gets a more concentrated dose of your music than he would otherwise. Similarities between tracks magnify. And your senses were already dulled going in because of all that practice. And you probably did the final mix-down soon after the raw recording, because you were eager to get the CD out.

I have definitely recorded music that, in retrospect, I wish I'd gone back and done over. (Oy. That one note in "Christmas in the Trenches", and the speed problem on "Guenevere and the Fire", and... but I digress.) The schedule wasn't important enough to accept a sub-optimal performance, nor to rush the mix instead of taking a couple weeks to rest the ears, listen to other things, and not keep practicing those pieces. "Good enough" often sounds like a great idea at the time, but a year later when listening to the CD things are different.

Seen at the entrance to an automated car-wash: "Do not enter car wash on foot". Um, yeah. I think I'd be happier living in a world where that's obvious.

I've been listening to Roundworm, a collection of Bob Kanefsky's filk parodies, in the car recently. (The linked page includes some MP3s; I particularly commend "Eternal Flame".) There's a lot of fun stuff on that album, and it's making me think upgrade thoughts about my Kanefsky cassettes. (Oh, drat -- it looks like this is his only CD so far. Oops.) He is particularly good at writing parodies that stand on their own but are even funnier if you know the songs he's parodying. A lot of parodies out there require knowledge of the original; his usually don't. Another nice touch is that he generally gets the original performers to sing the parodies on the recordings.

In January I sent in the rebate coupons for my new computer. Today I got email from HP telling me they'd received them and I should get my rebate in 2-4 weeks. Took long enough -- and I have yet to hear from CompUSA about the one they owe me. I begin to see how this works; not only do they make money from the people who forget to send the coupons in, but they make money on the float (as compared to just lowering the price in the first place).

The last beer buy included a side buy of Belgian lambics. Linedmann's has something new -- a "naked" lambic without any of the fruit additives they're known for. It's called Gueuze (no, I won't hazard a guess on pronunciation) and it's really good. My favorite fruit flavor is Peche (peach) and I didn't expect to like the plain version as much, but I do. For those of you who like beer that doesn't taste strongly of hops, and who can buy single bottles, check it out.