Neil Fein's Blog

I have a sorta-idea about the music. I think this is an ArtDiff song, but who knows? Wrote this on Wednesday. I don't like the title, it makes it sound like the song is about a surreal insurance and banking cartel. Propped up with money from oh-so-mysterious offshore investors.

The fish is my friend.

Maybe the chorus should be in German? Anybody want to try and translate it? I mean somebody who knows German, so I don't end up sounding like Kurt Wagner.

Ensured (working title, first draft)
Copyright (c)2005 Neil Fein

I worry about money, worry about her
I worry about work, and I worry about allergies

Chorus:
I ensure myself around them
and lure myself to be there
I ensure I'll be around them
and never climb the stairs

I hurry to go to work, hurry to get back home
I hurry to make plans, I hurry to not be home

Chorus:
I ensure myself around them
and lure myself to be there
I ensure I'll be around them
and never lose my hair

Bridge:
Impulse repulse shine,
Submit permit refine.
Move prove approve eye,
Surge merge purge and lie.

I'm blurry about what, blurry what I want
I'm blurry say hello, and blurry go away

Chorus:
I ensure myself around them
and lure myself to be there
I ensure I'll be around them
and I never share affairs

Repeat chorus, EOS

music

Graz and I are in-between betting bored with Racketball and finding Another Two Person Sport we can play. So I'm absent my weekly outdoor excercise until A2PS shows up. (A2PS -- sounds like a droid, or an abbreviation for an oft-used episode title of a polemic 60's SF TV show.) In any case, I'll need to pick up the slack with the stationary bike or something until we figure something out.

excercise

Have been very much in a non-reading-prose mood lately. Not sure why. This afternoon, I went to a local cafe in an attempt to re-kickstart reading The Confusion, a historical novel thicker than my daytimer. I liked Quicksilver so much, you see, but I stalled in the middle of this, book 2 of Stephenson's saga of scientific self-righteousness.

Armed with a summary of Quicksilver's characters from Wikipedia, I got back into the mood of the book pretty well. While The Confusion is still not an easy read, I think I must have been in an impatient mood when I dropped the book. Or maybe reading it on the train.

Or maybe the coffee helped? Will read it with caffeine in hand. I never thought of that before.

Robert Fripp's "soundscape" music, at low volume over earbuds, will screen out most distracting café noises. (Soundscapes vol. 2, "A Blessing of Tears". I love my iPod.)

books, music

V for Vendetta
by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

I recently reread this, the story of a near-future Orwellian England and V, its masked hero (or serial killer, depending upon whom is speaking). V is avenging... something. I won't ruin the plot by telling you what, but there are shadows of The Prisoner and Buchenwald in the way he... educates his protoge Evey.

Other characters are not so well defined, a flaw in this powerful work. Adam Susan, the Leader, may govern Britan, but he doesn't keep the reader's attention beyond being a dysfunctional, powerful figure. But perhaps that is enough, that we're shown the result of a misenfranchised head of state. Dascombe, a bitter, sarcastic, and jolly fellow, is at once a rebel, a conformist, and a sterotypical "flaming" gay man working in radio. And Finch, the detective investigating the murders, is an enigma, yet another squandered opportunity of a character.

Perhaps the most fascinating character is Lewis Prosthero, the voice of fate, and we see precious little of him, as his demise is one bookend of the string of killings.

David Lloyd's art is noteworthy for conveying the sheer weight of the world these people live in. His style of incompletely defining his subject is well suited to conveying the sense that something is missing, something is wrong in the world.

It says much that this story rises above its characters. This is one of Moore's least accessible works, yet it is worthwhile reading for its message. While hardly original, it is important that we see where we could be going, especially in these times.

books

My mother-in-law (comma evil) and father-in-law have been in India for the past week. Judith has been sending out emails daily to the family, partly to keep in touch, also to build up a travel journal.

They've been mostly in Bangalore, and now they're in Mumbai.

Travel

Have recorded, with Bruce, demos of Eyes Up Front, Woke Up On the Fourth, There's That Song, and tonight Never had a Brother. Need to work on some of the vocals and then mix down.

music

Any of you who like the folksy side of my music will likely enjoy the Raritan River Fest, this Saturday 24 Sep 2005, Noon to 7pm. It's in Piscataway, NJ, and will feature a bunch of acts, including the Mine St. Coffeehouse Revue and The Spook Handy Show. Also rides, a canoe race, and an art exhibit.

Not sure if there's an admission fee or not (will likely determine if I go, since it's on shabbes). Have emailed one of the organizers. Will update this if I hear back from him in time.

music, Judaism

Just got home from work. Was to meet Martha and we were going to walk into Highland Park and do some errands, but she's just plain not here.

Not having a cell phone means I can sneer at cell-using rude idiots, luddite-style. But it sure would be nice if... nah.

I cruise the net and iPod.

Home

Have been doing blog housecleaning, because a clean blog is a happy blog. And it will make me rich with wire-transfer money, and give me a huge penis.

You will now notice tags at the bottom of some entries. At the moment, I've only categorized the ones for books and music posts, the two most common things I write about here. Need tags for other stuff, but that would entail I go back and reread my blog. Since nobody else does, I am disinclined to do this.

I'm also woefully behind on book reviews. I've read the books, just need to write them up. Will get reviews up, even if they are short.

Also, you may see some comment spam. I've registered this site with Technorati, to try and boost readership. Will see if it actually helps, but it has drawn the spammers. (Quickly. Nice job, folks.) I had to delete a few posts along the lines of "nice blog you have, and did you know you can enlarge your penis while ordering cheap prescription drugs from Canada?" Enabling psychadelic word decoding for commenters may help.

blog (Right, that's a third tag)

People have been asking me fairly often if I'll be performing anytime soon. The answer is, I hope so.

I've been recording a new demo, with the help of Bruce. The last one had decent performances but the recording quality was embarrasing.

In other news, I'm behind on recording the album. It's due to various factors, mostly personal stuff. As a result, I'll be devoting my vacation this December to recording.

Just got an iPod. It has changed the way I listen to music, mostly exposing me to stuff in my music collection I'd not listen to much if I had to think, "what do I want to hear?"

music

It's time for the fall blahs, a little early this year. The car, a Saturn SL2 1998 with 140,000 miles, just had a lot of repairs. I brought it into the shop because of a whiny grinding noise.

I'll pick it up after work, I'm getting a ride to the shop.

Oil change, $30
Engine flush, $60
Spark plugs and wires, $40
Fuel injection service, $75
Brakes and pads, $180
Roters, $125

...and lots of other fiddly things, bringing the total up to $810. Ouch.

The Mini Cooper I saw the other day (while at a wine festival, oddly enough) is looking like more and more of a bargain.

The mechanic seems to think I can still get it to 200k miles if I treat it well. Heh. I think "treating it well" means bring it in to his shop often.

car