Seen:

I’m kind of addicted to the site GiveIt100. Not only because I’m participating  (I have to visit regularly to post an update on my progress) but also because some of the projects others are undertaking are just so damn inspiring/fascinating/out-there/cool.  Participants post a 10 second video of their daily progress on a chosen project. Mine – restoring my cello skills to their (somewhat) former glory.

Read:

According to this Quora answer to the somewhat innocuous question “What is the evolutionary benefit or purpose of having periods?”  I’m voting the human uterus as the best setting for the next HBO drama series. Move over GOT.  Scandal’s got nothing on these twists. This is some sh*t.  Somebody notify me when Suzanne Sadedin publishes her first book. I am so there.

My two days at Breitenbush Hot Springs was pretty much consumed by Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I confess, as much as I loved Kafka on the Shore, after 1Q84 I took a long break from Murakami’s stuff.  I enjoyed Wind Up Bird but I’m only partially sorry I waited so long – early morning soaking in the natural hot springs was a perfect setting for this occasionally mundane, often touching, and subtly disturbing novel.

Heard:

This is truly more like a “found” although I’m doing a lot of listening too. Museopen.org  is a site that makes public domain music recordings and sheet music available copyright free for educational purposes. You do have to sign up for a free membership to download, but it’s worth it for me.

Two of this week’s favorites are Concerto no. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 by Camille Saint Saens (check out that cello theme in the opening)  and the Adagio: Nimrod – from ‘Enigma’ variations, Op.36 by Edward Elgar. Both cover me in goosebumps and leave me itching for my bow.