Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Monday, October 24, 2005

Nightwish drama -- Comment()
Nightwish is number 6 of the most popular searches at Technocrati. The fans of the band seem distraught. How could Tarja be kicked out? Will there be pro-Tarja and anti-Tarja fans in the future?

Nightwish and changing the singer -- Comment()
Will Nightwish manage now that they kicked out their singer? Perhaps they will. There are examples of both failures and successes. Falconer is an example of a metal band which changed their lineup, and seems to thrive. See Album Review of Falconer: Grime vs. Grandeur: "All in all, this is a masterful album, and one that pushes Falconer's music career to even higher levels. How they've made it through four albums and so many lineup changes and yet kept their sound fresh and explorative in a genre that tends to be traditional restrictive is absolutely amazing. Clearly this is the mark of consummate, soulful musicianship and supreme dedication."

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Holmes Sweet Holmes: "Arranged marriages are measured, often solemn affairs; the fist-pumping pomp of the Cruise-Holmes union is another story. And the more times Holmes tells it, the stranger it sounds."

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Presenting Stanford on iTunes: "Download faculty lectures, interviews, music and sports."

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An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: "In a nutshell, Matthew Russell and I have been talking about using the iSight to take and classify images, such as those of a user sitting at the iMac, so it knows who's using it."

Hitchens on fire -- Comment()
Understanding Christopher Hitchens: "What drives Christopher Hitchens' more recent positions on American foreign policy, in particular his support for the War in Iraq?"

I have been reading Hitchens essay collection "Love, Poverty, and War", and have been wondering about his worldview. A complex person - but entertaining, and certainly able to marshal a lot of facts to support himself. I don't agree with his current views on Iraq, but I must say that some of his points are quite relevant. For example his interpretation of fundamentalistic extremists. There is no common ground with them.

The metal band Nightwish kicks out their singer -- Comment()
Nightwish was big news here in Finland yesterday. The band kicked out their singer Tarja Turunen. The open letter is on the web: "People who don`t talk with each other for a year do not belong in the same band." She apparently was in the band principally for the money (or so the band says), and the band principally for the music.

Now there is an open position for a new singer. Perhaps there will be an Idols-like competition... - I sure hope not!

By the way, the singer's web site says "The brightest star of the Finnish rock scene, the soprano singer Tarja Turunen." I didn't realize she was such a star.