Unguided Blog

Quoting Lala in her comment:

However, that is interesting and now, thinking I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard this song, I will have to go and have a listen (so I’ll be able to spot a Communist )

There is an easier way of course: anyone with an appetite for steak is a good candidate.

I have found a reasonably good version of The Internationale in Youtube (in Hungarian with English sub-titles) and posting it for all fans of McCarthy. I also would like to thank to the anonymous person running the proxy server in Colombia (as you know Youtube is blocked by our beautiful government).

I made a typo in the previous post (actually it was the spell checker, not me, but I did push the “change all” button), Internationale ends with “e”.

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Music and passion is a good mix but when it comes to passionate music, my vote goes to Russians (We are talking about classical music, now). Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov… These composers are symbols of unrestrained passion for me. They could not care less for rules and would venture anywhere their passion lead them.

Germans, like Bach and Beethoven on the other hand, maybe too much under the influence of their era, always seemed secretive, as if they were trying to disguise their feelings, not to show their true colors. They were victims of their adherence to the rules. Too methodical.

But no one beats Mozart when it comes to sweetness. Mozart allegedly composed his 11th Piano Sonata in A (K. 311) upon hearing the Mehter March, a tune played by the army band of Ottoman forces, and that is why it is called Turkish March. Think about it: you hear a song which is essentially played to demoralize opponents (Scottish pipes, drums, cymbals) and signals the soon arrival of one of the most feared armies of the time, and you come up with something as if the boy scouts are marching. That is Mozart, sweet, and devoid of passion. I always wondered what would have happened if, for instance Borodin had heard it instead of Mozart (referring to “A Night on a Bald Mountain”). My, that would really be hot!

Alas, no one but Mozart heard! I looked for a version that would at least spice it up, something that will make one (me) say, “I have to get out, I want…”, and found this. Add some Spanish fire, guitar, two players, and… Damn! It is still sweet. You be the judge:

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Free, my a55! I almost forgot that our beautiful government has been blocking YouTube for more than two months. I was reading a friend’s blog (Hi, SFO), and he linked to a YouTube video of Tito Puento interpreting Dave Brubeck’s famous classic “Take Five”. Naturally I clicked it. And I waited, waited, refreshed, and waited some more. Nope, nothing’s happening. After a few more tries, I almost gave up, thinking the site was down. Then it occurred to me that those beautiful people in the government of ours, the chimpanzees, sorry champions of democracy, who were closer to God (well, they are closer than me, for sure) denied access to YouTube so that no harm would come to 70 million citizens of this country.

I remember the days of military regime. Good old days! Even those, the top brass I mean, were kind enough to let you know what was allowed and what was not. Even censorship must have rules and principles, don’t you think so? They could have smoothly redirected me to a page, telling how censor was good for me and my children, how it was done for the benefit of the many, of the bright days ahead, a secure place in the heavens, etc, etc. No? Is it not my right as a voting and tax paying citizen to know that a site is blocked? Don’t I have a right to know? What happened to the rule of accountability and transparency in government? I am disappointed. I really am.

As a law abiding citizen, of course I did not access YouTube, directly I mean. I watched the video and wanted to share with you. The embedding code was problematic, though. It was not XHTML 1.0 strict but a quick search yielded positive results and after changing the code slightly, the video has taken its place in my non-democratic blog where I am the sole benevolent dictator. Hope you like it.

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