On the plate

The Racing Scene

Been working on some songs as of late. It's hard to pick up a guitar after not playing for 6 months. It's not so much a lack of dexterity, but having no ideas. It's starting to come again though, and I hope I can finish off the material.

Books

Started rereading The Spandau Diaries - Albert Speers' account of his 20 years in Spandau prison. I find the idea of isolation appealing in some way - being forced to keep yourself sane with a pen and paper. Produce creatively to ward off the depression of loneliness.

Films

Been watching TV Nation and The Awful Truth, both Michael Moore shows (thanks kazaa lite). I think Moore bites off a little more than he can chew with F911. He seems much better suited to goofy satire and tripping up the megacorps.

Listening

Still listening to The White Album. Despite all its faults, I love this record. I am more of a Rubber Soul and Revolver era fan (though I pretty much like the whole catalog), but the best songs on this record are amongst their finest. Savoy Truffle is a rare Harrison gem. I can't stand While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Games

Go is proving the greatest of challenges. It is a highly abstract masterpiece of lateral thinking. It is fairly chessy in that it merges tactical and strategical thinking nicely (go is a little heavier on the strategic side of things). However, go as it is played (as opposed to how it might theoretically analyzed) is considerably less about calculation (even though the possible variations in a game of go is much larger than a game of chess) because the calculations get completely out of control very quickly, and the player is forced to rely on strategic understanding, experience, and intuition, to predict the result of many situations. Shwew!