pianogonzology

Monday, March 14, 2016

Absolutely . . .

. . . nothing! . . .

(from Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann, translation by John E. Woods)
". . . We are lost. Which is to say: The war is lost, and that means more than a lost campaign, it means that we in fact are lost - lost, our cause and soul, our faith and our history. Germany is done for, or will be done for. AN unutterable collapse - economic, political, moral and spiritual -- in shor, an all-embracing collapse looms ahead. Not that I would have wished for what threatens us, for it is despair, it is madness. Not that I would have wished it, because my pity, my forlorn compassion, is far too deep for this unhappy nation; and when I think back ten years to its awakening and blind fervor, to the uprising that broke forth to break open and break down, to the new beginning that was to purify everything, to our popular and national rebirth, to that specious holy ecstasy, in which, to be sure, were mixed, as warning signed of its treachery, so much savage brutality and hulking vulgarity, so much obscene lust to violate, torture, humiliate, and which, as every sensible person knew, already bore war, this entire war within it . . . "

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Sunday, March 13, 2016

Reality . . .

. . . in the eye of the beholder. . .

Some pundits call Donald Trump the 'reality show' candidate, but the reality is . . .

(from http://www.politicususa.com/2015/12/11/abc-cbs-nbc-news-intentional-decision-ignore-bernie-sanders.html)
". . . Bernie Sanders polls equal to or better than Donald Trump in every single poll, but the corporate owned network news divisions have given Trump nearly 30 times more airtime than Sanders. . . The networks are ignoring Bernie Sanders because his anti-corporate message is dangerous to their well being. The broadcast and cable networks both have a habit of ignoring stories that can hurt their bosses’ bottom lines. . . Sen. Sanders is trying to inform the electorate, but the broadcast networks would rather focus on keeping voters ignorant by focusing on Trump. . . "

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Stranger . . .

. . . than fiction . . .

(from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-deweydefeats-story-story.html)
". . . presidential candidate, Gov. Thomas Dewey of New York was not a glad-hander, not a flesh-presser. . . But on Nov. 2, Election Day, an overwhelming sense of inevitability hung about the Republican nominee. The polls and the pundits left no room for doubt: Dewey was going to defeat President Harry S. Truman. And the Tribune would be the first to report it. . . Arguably the most famous headline in the newspaper's 150-year history, DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN is every publisher's nightmare on every election night. Like most newspapers, the Tribune, which had dismissed him on its editorial page as a "nincompoop," was lulled into a false sense of security by polls that repeatedly predicted a Dewey victory. Critically important, though, was a printers' strike, which forced the paper to go to press hours before it normally would. As the first-edition deadline approached, managing editor J. Loy "Pat" Maloney had to make the headline call, although many East Coast tallies were not yet in. Maloney banked on the track record of Arthur Sears Henning, the paper's longtime Washington correspondent. Henning said Dewey. Henning was rarely wrong. Besides, Life magazine had just carried a big photo of Dewey with the caption "The next President of the United States.". . . The ink was hardly dry on 150,000 copies of the paper when radio bulletins reported that the race was surprisingly close. The headline was changed to DEMOCRATS MAKE SWEEP OF STATE OFFICES for the second edition. . . The Tribune blamed the pollsters for its mistake. . . He had as low an opinion of the Tribune as it did of him. Truman held the paper up, and photographers preserved the moment for history. . . "

Friday, March 11, 2016

It's OK . . .

. . . to change your mind. . .

(from http://wallstreetonparade.com/2016/02/new-york-times-rethinks-hillary-clinton-for-president/)
". . . One month ago, the Old Gray Lady (the New York Times) said that Democratic primary voters “have the chance to nominate one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.” . . . Last Friday, the same editorial board at the New York Times that had endorsed Hillary Clinton less than a month earlier, compared her to a “mischievous child.” The Times wrote: “ ‘Everybody does it,’ is an excuse expected from a mischievous child, not a presidential candidate. But that is Hillary Clinton’s latest defense for making closed-door, richly paid speeches to big banks, which many middle-class Americans still blame for their economic pain, and then refusing to release the transcripts.” . . ."

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Nothing . . .

. . . or something? . . .

(from Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann, translated by John E. Woods)
". . . sometimes not even taking off his hat and coat, he would walk straight to the piano, his face strained with concentration, as if this had been the real point of his having come, and then with a strong attack would sound knotted chords and, his eyebrows raised high as he emphasized each modulating note, try out the preparations and resolutions he might have been considering on his way there. . . "What is that"? . . . "Nothing," the pianist answered with a quick shake of his head, a gesture that looked more as if he were shooing a fly. "How can it be nothing," someone retorted, "since you're playing it?" . . . "And how can he say it's nothing, when it's something he's playing? You can't play what doesn't exist?". . . "Everything . . . was once nothing that became something. ". . . "

Cognition
©2016 Raymond M. Jozwiak, from the upcoming "No Frills"

What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html or at
http://www.ohomusic.com

Get your copy of OHO's Where Words Do Not Reach now!

The Ocean City Ditty Video is now on YouTube

My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Look . . .

. . . it's important . . .

(from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-sanders-gabbard-idUSMTZSAPEC2S9JDNKG)
". . . "I think it’s most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment," (Tulsi) Gabbard, a U.S. representative for Hawaii, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." . . . Gabbard, one of five vice chairs, and her committee colleagues have butted heads over a thin debate schedule in the months leading to Democratic voting contests for the party's nomination, with Gabbard calling for the group to add more debates to the calendar. . . Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is competing with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination to run for president on Nov. 8. Critics have said the scheduling of the debates has favored Clinton, who is better known than Sanders and is favored to win the nominating contest. . . "

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Turned . . .

. . . on it's head . . .

. . . whatever happened to the old business model of find talent, sign to a record company, promote the talent, sell product, etc? . . .

(from http://time.com/money/4228959/kanye-west-gofundme-why-donate/)
". . . Luckily, a fan named Jeremy Piatt came to Ye’s (Kanye West) rescue . . . Piatt created a GoFundMe web page to help fund the rapper’s future music and fashion endeavors, asking for (you guessed it) $53 million in donations. “We must open our hearts and wallets for Kanye today,” he wrote. “Sure he is personally rich and can buy furs and houses for his family, but without our help, the true genius of Kanye West can’t be realized.” . . . As of Thursday at midday, nearly 400 donations had been made to the page, for a total of around $3,800. But who in their right mind would donate to someone like Kanye–a superstar who earns in the neighborhood of $20 million to $30 million a year? . . . In many cases, donors are not concerned about helping out Kanye so much as they’re trying to raise awareness for their businesses and favorite charities. The Kanye charity page has gotten plenty of attention from the media (we’re guilty), and it’s received 99K social media shares, according to GoFundMe. . . "