"But before the paintings went up on the cave walls, before the wood was carved so well and wrought - we sung; we danced. - ... paraphrase of someone, I think."
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Eric S. Hummingpenguin's Interests
General
Classical music (has become a fascination and probably near an obsession)
Fiction (sci-fi/fantasy, alternate history, mystery especially)
History
Left politics
Therapeutic horseriding
Mathematics
Philosophy
Editing (ironic since I edit my own stuff so poorly. But that can be tricky even when one edits others' material well! I've done some good work with a few other music articles on Wikipedia, though, I believe.)
Autism (see About Me section)
Computers, programming
Music
Classical and show tunes. A few favorite pieces include Wilhelm Stenhammar's 3rd and 4th string quartets (around 1900); Beethoven's C-sharp minor quartet; Prokofiev's first string quartet (me, a quartet person?... never have played in a string quartet, though) and Sondheim's A Little Night Music.
Favorite composers include Beethoven, JS Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and (Joseph) Haydn, for five. Also Robert Schumann and Liszt.
Favorite 20th-century composers would have to include Debussy, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Bartók, Roger Sessions, Barber, Bloch, Piston, Martinu, for ten... (this written on the sixtieth anniversary of Webern's death; the BBC is playing a day's worth of his compositions, there's not that many of them to begin with.)
Also Sibelius, Nielsen, Mahler, Bruckner, Medtner, Reger, Dvorak, to expand the list a little, and I follow - for example - BBC Radio 3 - over the net pretty closely. Next to obsessed, yes.
The lesser-known in music interests me, I have spent a lot of time wandering the corridors - well, not of obscure, dusty libraries, though I like the image; but of university libraries, yes; bothering librarians with interloan requests and some of the odder LP hunts they might have been asked to go on, though - not the oddest. .. Nah. And here the Weimar school of Liszt and his associates (including, say, Joachim Raff - not of the "school" but still someone on the scene in a complicated way..), and Brahms and his circle too (Friedrich Gernsheim and Robert Fuchs!), especially interest me, but only those who sound - or, if I haven't heard them, who look like they'd sound - like they had a good ear and a good mind, who seem to have written music that could survive being brought to the light of day again. (This still needs a bit of editing that I promised awhile back- but for more about my music interests read most of the posts in my blog. If you're not on my "friends-list" the public posts still contain lots on the subject.)
On the weak grounds that this section is searchable I have some reason to list a few more of my favorite composers and pieces than formerly. (Joy and rapture, to borrow a line from Ozymandias Llewellyn.) Not otherwise listed: Charles-Valentin Alkan (especially his Sonata Les Quatres Ages, his Esquisses, his solo symphony and solo concerto); Nicolai Myaskovsky or Miaskovskii or Myaskowsky or... - Soviet composer born in Poland, friend of Prokofiev, teacher of the next generation, composer himself of a large output of mostly very good, emotive and searching music for various combinations; Nicolai Medtner, may also be better known as a "friend of"- of Rachmaninoff in this instance - or even moreso, as "the Russian Brahms"... my favorite works by him, of some sixty opus numbers all of which I believe involve the piano, are three violin sonatas and those I've heard of his many songs. There was a CD of some recordings from the 1940s and '50s with Schwarzkopf and others singing Medtner songs, the composer accompanying, along with Medtner piano works - again, the composer playing, part of the EMI Composers in Person series.
Edmund Rubbra- British 20th-century symphonist and pianist, composer of 11 symphonies, four string quartets, a much-played oboe sonata, quite a lot of choral music (often for liturgical use), several concertos (for violin, viola, two for piano)- influenced by the Tudor period of British music but no neo-Renaissance composer in the current fashion, still very noticeably contrapuntal in "feel" (no complaint from me). More later.
Note as of June 12 2006 - Reorganization of this section not yet undertaken, but being seriously considered. (Excuses, excuses.) (Soon, soon. Ok, as of January 2008, not yet...)
Current listening: Brahms: first quartet for piano and strings (1863)
Movies
I've been watching more films the last few years. My favorite is Andrei Rublev - I haven't seen anything else yet by Tarkovsky but that is right there. Of others I've enjoyed the following particularly but will probably revisit this list... 2010,
Airplane!,
Les Diaboliques (the original),
The Graduate,
The Incredibles,
Jacob's Ladder,
A Mighty Wind,
Night on Earth,
Shrek 2,
Take the Money and Run,
The Truth about Cats and Dogs,
Twelve Angry Men,
Wings of Desire (saw this with English subtitles and of course paid them attention since my German has never been very good),
You Can Count on Me,
Some of the Pink Panther films (haven't yet seen them all),
several Coen Brothers films,
and loved March of the Penguins.
Television
Briefer list. I don't dislike television, but it's right next to my computer. Guess which wins. Favorite shows include The West Wing (definitely lately, though the series has ended- at least they're beginning another with some of the same cast.), Boston Legal, Monk, Jeopardy, occasionally the Simpsons and increasingly NUMB3RS, 24, also now LOST and a few other shows besides being added to the list...
Books
A list of some favorite books in alphabetical order... Asperger's Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (Tony Attwood), Blood of Amber (Roger Zelazny) (just to stay with some of the books in the series I have to hand; I like all ten books of the two Amber series, and the Zangband game partially inspired by it...), Chronicles of Dissent (Noam Chomsky/David Barsamian), Debussy Remembered (Roger Nichols), Franz Liszt: The Weimar Years, 1848-1861 (Alan Walker), Men at Arms (Terry Pratchett), Mozart - his Character, his Work (Alfred Einstein), On Basilisk Station (and series. David Weber), Sorabji: A Critical Celebration (edited by Paul Rapoport), Style and Idea (Arnold Schoenberg), The Callahan Chronicals (Spider Robinson), The Dancing Gods series (Jack L. Chalker) (I have Part Two...), The Politics of War (Gabriel Kolko), The Sleeping Dragon (and The Guardians of the Flame Series - Joel Rosenberg). By way of magazines have often enjoyed Funny Times and the music magazine Fanfare. Was reading several novels by John Irving and Richard Russo a few years back and will return to those authors, enjoyed them quite a lot.
About to start reading: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult Asperger Syndrome (by Valerie L. Gaus, PhD).
Heroes
My family. I have no idols, they too have their faults - but trying to overcome them is part humanity and part of their heroism (as is much of the rest of what they do and have done, in my opinion.)
Advocates for Individuals with High-Functioning Autism, Asperger's Syndrome and Other Pervasive Developmental Disorders Roslyn Heights, New York US Variously web designer and site maintainance.
Jan. 1998 - present
Eric S. Hummingpenguin the not so free pingouin, for now, but it goes well anyways!
To encourage an absence of misunderstanding. Yes. I am 38. Not someone younger or older claiming to be 38, and why does anyone bldy well DO that?
(Valentine's Day note, heck, advocacy note in general: comments from friends that advocate positions- even ones I do not hold- will at least sometimes be accepted in my comment section. --Advertisements-- by people I do not know, or have had 2.467312 :) e-mail exchanges with, WILL NOT. ("Vote for me" links are fine but I won't accept them if there's already one by you on the page, just saying ;) )
.Anyroad. Here for conversation, acquaintance, possible friendship. Single, yes but not looking. Just to make that clear.
Since anyone who tells you they're not all that interesting or complicated is probably lying through their writing teeth ... well! Here's a summary of my averagely complex self.
Musiclover in his mid-30s who lives in central New York, with a few part-time jobs - some of which I've had for a longer time than others, you can find them elsewhere on the page and when it comes down to it--ask, ask!! Is more than moderately curious about people he meets. That may, probably does, include you who reads this...
Among comedians I like Tom Lehrer (not primarily a comedian), Bob & Ray (need to hear more by them), Steven Wright, Emo Phillips, Jon Stewart, say. (ok, where else to put that...)
Proudly pro-choice, left, liberal (and if you didn't read the profile and added me, you'll learn soon enough.)
One of the facts of my life, late-diagnosed, is the fact that I have Asperger's Syndrome. (A condition, not a disease, and it helps and hinders, but I'd sooner not go into it now and just right here. )
Feel free to contact me using the send message feature here, if you like.
I do read quite a few peoples' blogs, a habit picked up from spending years on LiveJournal- not that I've left there but anyway- if you'd rather I did not read yours- ask; if you'd rather I'd not contact you- ask. There are very rare circumstances, easy to guess (with that uncommon thing called "Common Sense") in which I might ignore the request, fairly obvious ones I hope, but really- generally I'll keep away. And hope you'll reciprocate courteously, in that case.)
If you are here to make acquaintance, to make friends, hello, be welcome. If you're here to sell me something, to hide a link to a product on your page, to never speak again- even when asked a direct question- except by bulletin... I gave at the office, and don't let the door hit you on the way out. On second thought, do.
My LiveJournal is here since I mentioned. You can find my screen-names on that page; I'm easier to find on Y!M and MSN messenger more lately.
Am an almost compulsive weblog-writer here and there both...
And this section has been getting merely long for awhile, but hey. Read Ozy & Millie. It's fun.
Two links courtesy of The Ryan King®
Who I'd like to meet: Seems a question taken from a different sort of site, or maybe not- I'm not here with an aim directly to meet people, though making new acquaintances and eventual friends - works for me (aghh)
Specific people I'd like to meet? I've been fortunate here and have met many of the people I wanted to. It does seem that maybe I'd better be either in more of a hurry about the rest, or not, since some of the long list - Harald Genzmer (German composer) to name one and not the most important - have died just recently.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing ur thoughts..hahaha=} Besides its always good to hear from you too..Have a good one and do keep in touch..=]<333 Claudine
Hi Eric S. Hummingpenguin !!! I Hope YOU have a GREAT Tuesday !!!! Thank You for stopping by and leaving Me a Comment. I appreciate YOU making Time in your day for Me:-)))))) . Kisses, Ashlee
