My dad practically raised me on classical music. (And oldies, but that's another story.) I have very strong memories of sitting in the car with him and a piece coming on and him asking me if I knew which one it was which left me scouring my brain trying to pin down the name and composer.

I only mention this because the other night a bit came on the local classical station that I knew I'd heard but couldn't pin down. I racked my brain but it was getting late by that point and I ended up using Shazam to identify it. It turned out to be Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. There was no wonder I had heard it before, it's one of my dads all time favorite pieces of classical music.

Anyway, this got me thinking about themes in classical music that most people know, or have at least heard before, but that might not be recognized as having come from that realm. So, in the spirit of my music posts, here is another.

( Oh hey, it's that guy! You know, that one guy... )

There are many more than that. If there's interest I might do more again at a later date.

This face makes me squee as I have never squeed before:




That is all.

Happy 2010 everybody!

Possibly slightly "nsfw" for a bit of language.

No pretext here, my top five AMV's OF ALL TIME.

Firstly my exhaustive list of demands:
1. No subtitles. I can't stand when subtitles show up in amvs. They're distracting.
2. The song fits the anime and/or the story. ie It is appropriate.
3. The creators don't try to make the characters 'lip sync' with the lyrics. (There is one exception where I think this works extraordinarily well. See below.)

Bonus points:

The animation rhythmically matches the music. Examples will be noted.

( Aaaand cut! )

Warning: random musings ahead.

Two concepts I would like to see explored in the Harry Potter universe:

1. Sorcery
2. Technomancy

By sorcery here I mean the concept of a sorcerer being different than a wizard in the way they access/practice magic. And I'm not so much looking to the D&D concept, since in that system anyone can choose to play a sorcerer and it's mostly just a difference in stats and availability. What I'm far more interested in is a sorcerer as an event. Seventh son (or daughter, I'm not picky) of a seventh son, and all of that; a rarity that impacts the very world. Someone whose very existence shapes and effects the magic of the world, who doesn't need spells or school, but who is so powerful and for who magic is so easy that it's hard not to misuse it. They might not need magic school to teach them how to cast, but they need just as much guidance as any other child, perhaps even more, for the sake of the world.

The Terry Pratchett novel Sorcery (surprise!) addresses this topic in this way. In that universe there are the wizards, bound by rules and books. Sorcerers don't need any of that and are able to access raw magic and bend it any way they like. Wizards are discouraged from having children for the very reason that a sorcerer might come out of it and threaten the order of everything. Things are quiet for a long time and then one shows up and shakes the very foundations of magic and the world itself.

Could you imagine something like this showing up in the HP universe? Who could raise such a child? Could magic remain a secret when a person of such power wields it? Could the wizard world handle it?

Technomancy is another piece that I feel would have a legitimate place in the HP universe. You've got technology everywhere (at least on the mundane side) but you've got more than enough magic users coming from the human end of things, who grew up relying on technology, that I don't see this as impossible. We saw inklings of it in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, but what if that sort of tinkering was done by those who had a real knowledge of tech and machines? Mundanes (Muggles, but I've never quite liked that word) are sort of taken for granted, not given much thought really, but that's not the best route to take. Magic can cook your breakfast and port you from here to there near instantly but humans don't have any of that, they've had to use their brains and harness the world around them to approximate the magic that wizards take for granted.

Again Terry Pratchett gives a nod to this concept with Hex, the thaumaturgical engine (magic computer), created by one of the wizards (who reminds one quite a bit of an older, and infinitely geekier, Harry Potter). Hex is a machine but is capable of being used for doing spells that might take a wizard much longer to complete, much in the same way a regular computer can calculate far faster than the human brain. It could be a valuable asset, or valuable weapon.

From the attitude towards messing with muggle stuff this would probably be an underground movement and generally frowned upon since a large chunk of the wizarding population either a)likely has no idea what a toaster, let alone a computer, is and b)seems to want to keep things traditional. (Lots of them still do dress like they're from the middle ages and they still use metal money to buy things.)

Either of these could be major story events. Unfortunately I don't think JK Rowling could properly handle either of these topics to my satisfaction. Perhaps I could ring up Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett and see if they'd want to have a go at it.

So the local public radio station around here (which I like bc it only plays music and no news) is having a classical music countdown where they've asked people around the area to submit their 10 favorite pieces of classical music so they can count down the top 100 next month.

It was hard for me to narrow it down to 10. (And yes I know that a large majority of people couldn't name 10 composers let alone be able to claim 10 favorite pieces.)

Anyway, here are the ones I submitted.

( Oh sweet music )