Archive for the ‘Reading Diary’ Category
House Concerts
When I am not working at the art college where I am employed, or reading and riffing about books, I can usually be found playing music or listening to music. I want to mention a wonderful tradition to all of you, for I have learned many people are unaware of it: house concerts. Many have [...]
January 22, 2012
Tags: Barry Maguire, Bob Dylan, House Concert, John York, the Byrds, Tom Wait, troubadour Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels 
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A New Year!
Hi – I’m rushing off to my teaching and web/interactive media department management job, but wanted to check in this morning to let you know that I am back. It would be better to announce my holidays before the holidays, I know. My apologies. This holiday I really needed to take some down time from [...]
January 18, 2012
Tags: new media author Terry Bailey, Ry Cooder, Salome Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels No Comments
The Genius who lived to merge technology and art and people – you will be missed
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow [...]
October 6, 2011
Tags: Apple, Steve Jobs Posted in: New Media Writing and Technology Diary, Reading Diary No Comments
art + science Guest Riff 01
Amidst the attention given to the sciences as how they can lead to the cure of all diseases and daily problems of mankind, I believe that the biggest breakthrough will be the realization that the arts, which are conventionally considered "useless," will be recognized as the whole reason why we ever try to live longer [...]
September 30, 2011
Tags: art + science, art and science, John Maeda, science and art, science and music Posted in: Book Riffs, New Media Writing and Technology Diary, Reading Diary No Comments
On the subject of “new” writers and wordiness: what author Annie Dillard Had to Say
Here is a riff I wrote in graduate school a few years ago – about author Annie Dillard‘s first book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. In an afterward to the version of the book I read, Ms. Dillard herself talks about the tendency of mature writers to be more “conservative with word count.” (written in 2009) [...]
September 23, 2011
Tags: Annie Dillard, Antioch University, author maturity, John Updike, Jonathan Safran Foer, Marius von Senden, mature author, Maytrees, nature writing, new authors and words, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Pulitzer Prize, Space and Sight, wordiness Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels No Comments
check out seasoned guitarist Bob Saxton (in the back)
(media illustration for previous post) Both great players, but if you concentrate on the actual notes being played . . . Bob Saxton by two heads – minimum. Wait for Bob’s (2) solos after Scotty plays his abundance of notes. The brilliance is in Bob’s choice of notes and phrases. It’s not how many notes [...]
September 16, 2011
Tags: Bob Saxton, Everything is Illuminated, fingerstyle guitar, Jonathan Safran Foer, Scotty Anderson, too many notes Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary No Comments
On being a new (youthful) artist, composer, musician or writer
I’ve just re-read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated, and what came to mind this time was a reflection on what it is to be a young artist. I think it was author John Updike whom I saw quoted once remarking about the abundance of words in his first books. Writers seem to take much [...]
September 11, 2011
Tags: artist maturity, Bob Saxton, Eating Animals, Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, John Updike, Jonathan Safran Foer, Patsy Cline Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary No Comments
Veering off the Modular Mind and the Self for a Bit
I am going to leave the self and neuroscience and the mind for a bit. But I will return to it soon. I have finished the Kurzban book, Why Everyone (else) is a Hypocrite, and have had a pretty strong reaction to it. Although I find his hypothesis about the modularity of the mind fascinating, [...]
September 5, 2011
Tags: art and creativity, art and science, mind and neuroscience, modular mind, morality, Robert Kurzban, self, self and neuroscience, Virginia Woolf, Why Everyone Else is a Hypocrite Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary No Comments
More Mind Watching and “The Self” – (continued from the previous post)
Writer Virginia Woolf watched her own mind. She had plenty of time to do so as she was sent to bed by doctors who, in the 19th century, prescribed the reverse cure to depression that is more often ordered today: get up and out! be with friends! keep yourself occupied! Woolf, fortunately spent her [...]
July 23, 2011
Tags: art and science, automatic writing, Caltech, creativity and neuroscience, Jonah Lehrer, new media author Terry Bailey, new media book review, Pasadena, Proust was a Neuroscientist, Robert Kurzban, self, self and neuroscience, self as ensemble, stream of consciousness, the self, Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf and self, walt whitman, Walt Whitman and self, Why everyone (else) is a hyocrite Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary No Comments
Listening to my unconscious: a riff inspired by authors R. Kurzban and J. Lehrer and V. Woolf
In the previous post I gave an example of listening to my unconscious – or what I might call my “key tracking mind app” in that particular case, if I am to draw upon Robert Kurzban’s multiple minds theory (Why Everyone [Else] is a Hypocrite). Another interesting incident of unconscious watching occurred last December. I [...]
July 10, 2011
Tags: author Terry Bailey, brain and creativity, brain app, Carmel, dream, Jonah Lehrer, mind and creativity, mind app, Monterey, new media author Terry Bailey, Pacific Grove, Proust was a Neuroscientist, Robert Kurzban, Salome, seals of Monterey Bay, self, unconscious, unconsious and creativity, Virginia Woolf, Why Everyone Else is a Hypocrite Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels No Comments
Back to Proust Was a Neuroscientist – with an intro riff to Kurzban’s Why Everyone (else) is a Hypocrite
I’m writing at a Starbucks in Encino today. Outside. Beautiful day. I love L.A.! Just came from a seminar on Neuroscience and Creativity at UCLA. I’ll have a few comments about that in a later post. I seem to be on a theme roll for a while here with those two topics. I gotta admit, [...]
June 25, 2011
Tags: brain and creativity, creativity, creativity and, Jonah Lehrer, Monterey, Proust was a Neu, Robert Kurzban, Salome, unconscious, Virginia Woolf, walt whitman, Why Everyone Else is a Hypocrite Posted in: Book Riffs, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels No Comments
A night of Latin Jazz, Flamenco, Bossa Nova and my Red Dress song
If my Other Mother, Esther, had not passed away two days before this concert, I would have recorded some of it for you. As it was, it was the best I could do to give a good performance. (I will post some music at a later date.) It helped that I had three awesome musicians [...]
June 18, 2011
Tags: Barry Kohan, bossa nova, Caltech, fingerstyle guitar, Fireside Concert Series, Flamenco, Freeman Dyson, Goh Kurosawa, Hugo Aguayo, Jonah Lehrer, Latin Jazz, Patsy Cline, Proust was a Neuroscientist, Robert Kurzban, Why everyone (else) is a hyocrite Posted in: Book Riffs, New Media Writing and Technology Diary, Reading Diary, Terry's Reading Travels No Comments