NvB: Bored in Brno?: August 2007

10 August 2007

Schenkerians are to musicology as flowerpots are to the city of London.

Thanks to Jean-Jacques Nattiez for my musicology quote of the day. Courtesy of Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music, ch. 1.

Boring since 00:06 | Comments:

Don't Miss Blog Day

09 August 2007

I just noticed that Blog Day will happen again this year. I had visited their site a few times in July, but it hadn't yet been updated. :-( Anyway, it was good to see that it hasn't faded away. You can read my Blog Day 2006 post, which did in fact alert me to the (then unconfirmed) rumor that Patrick Stewart would conduct the Michigan Marching Band. And he did. I wasn't there, of course.

In case that you read this and are interested in doing an extended post, Global Voices offered some good ideas last year.

Tags: blogs, blogday

Boring since 22:58 | Comments:

Blogs, Radios, and Stuff

I thought I'd draw your attention to the Czech Daily Word, a new English-language blog by Petr Boruvka, a Brno newspaper editor. I've had a link on the sidebar for a while, but just in case you hadn't noticed. In a recent post, he mentions the lack of a direct voting system in the CR. I wasn't sure whether people had strong feelings about this—I mean, it didn't seem as though there's a very active Moravian secessionist movement at present, but things can change—anyway, I also made a slightly related comment about the issue.

And hey, in case you've forgotten: send requests (you can put them in comments here) for radio tonight. If I don't get any requests, I may have to play some favorite opera selections, orchestral marhes, and promenades from nineteenth-century operettas. Well, maybe. Definitely something by a tuba ensemble (ooh! Bruckner?) and at least a polka or two. But I'm flexible. :-)

Now for a blog ramble since it's been a while. August seems to have come early this year. If I'm not mistaken, August arrived earlier than ever before. And with less happening in the intervening year since last August. But of course, the real problem is that it has brought with it annoying flocks of incoming students who seem to wander around looking confused with maps. It's worse than tourists in downtown Prague! Seeing as I've spent more consecutive time in Ann Arbor this year than any since 2001, I suppose it's not surprising that I never noticed the buildup to the academic year. No doubt it's exciting for all the new students, but while I've got a certain nostalgia for that time, I can't say I'm that envious this year.

And in weather, just in case you needed something light and fluffy. With all the rain, it seems like we're officially mourning summer. I, for one, will welcome the Ann Arbor winter this year—such a relief after dreary Central European winter. If there's one thing I don't envy the Czechs at all, it's winters—no snow, no light, hardly any cold, just unending bleakness and tepid chill.

Tags: radio, discursions, blogs

Boring since 21:49 | Comments:

The Blog

What is "Bored in Brno"? a) the best Czech movie of 2003, b) a blog about Brno (the Czech Republic's second largest city) and my adventures in and observations of south and east Moravia. I usually post about music, arts, culture, and stuff in Brno; or, I talk about whatever; or, I may bore you.

There's a Czech saying about how you are a new person for every language you learn. Here's your chance to experience Czech vicariously and to become your new self, now conveniently available in English translation. (Or at least something reasonably close to English.)

If you have questions, suggestions, like what you see, or you're just plain bored, don't hesitate to leave a comment or e-mail me.

The Blogger

A graduate student in music and anthropology writing a dissertation about music in Moravia, the eastern third of the Czech Republic. At some point, the Czech Republic's "second city" (that would be Brno) captured my attention, and I've since been blogging about events, arts, music, and other stuff—basically whatever interests me in and around the cityscape. I'm not living in Brno now, but I keep up with the cultural pulse from afar as best I can.

More about Brno, Me, Euro-Czech