It's Oh So Quiet...

E=mc2

So much time has passed since I last wrote here. And this headline that I flagged up here last week really confronts me from writing about the stuff I really would like to write about. Anyway, maybe later this week...

The headline is a kind of sequence to the "The pleasure of finding things out" story I wrote a while ago. In a sense that I continued my research on the history of science and finished a book that I bought a while ago from the airport in Frankfurt- it’s the Bodanis' E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation. A book that has got a lot of praise by all kinds of magazines, newspapers- even the first pages of the book is spent on useless kudos...

And the book? It's initially about equation that Einstein developed in his five papers in 1905 setting the ground for the theory of special relativity. Bogdanis starts his story by looking at each of the elements in the equation: e, m, c and follows on by looking at the history of the application of the equation in the 20th century (basically the development of the nuclear bomb). Eventually he concludes the book by looking into the future and past of the universe.

Ok? The overall impression: not too bad (like the Englishmen say). Nice easy reading for a train trip from Brighton to London (that's where I started reading it). But then again, actually I would have liked the balance to be a bit more scientific. The main expression left from the book is that it’s written in a kind of schizophrenic manner. At one point it tries to explain the facts in a real neutral manner and at the other point it's falling into these literal descriptions and kind of artsy way of writing. I don't know, maybe I’m a bit picky, but it actually disturbed me a bit. Oh, and one more thing, why didn't the book look at notions that the Einstein's famous theory can't explain? That is really the weakest point of the book and kind of leaves the whole story a bit incomplete... But anyways, I still recommend it and as for myself I’ll try to continue this line of reading. But for now, I guess I have to really start focusing on my dissertation and read all the stuff that comes with it...

Zero 7 at Brighton Dome

I've always been puzzled about how to put music into words. To be honest, I really think that cannot be done in a proper way. Even critiques, who write about music every day, well, they don't really describe the music- they mostly talk something about their feelings that associate with that music. I guess that's the route I have to take as well when writing this little comment here.

Firstly, the venue, Brighton Dome. Actually quite perfect for this kind of a small concert- not too small and not too big offering both seating and places to stand up. Reminded me a little bit of the Sakala Centre in Tallinn, where I saw Matthew Herbert Big Band.

And the concert in itself, well, I really enjoyed it. Very fresh and original in terms of the mood that it created- I really haven't had a "similar" experience to this. The main singer Sia offered just a right bit of “pepper” to the whole mood, exposing some crazy dance moves and cool comments about tracks. And of course, the machinist-hillbilly looking guy with a red old-school hat making abrupt moves at times. The voice of Sia was raw and powerful, which matched José Gonzáles' calm and quite pure voice with exactly the right balance. Most of the songs came from their new album The Garden, but obviously they couldn't leave out Destiny and the theme from Give it Away. Anyway, I really like this band and hearing them live was an awesome experience, which I recommend to everybody. As one review about their new album stated, it could be the record of this summer. Hope it is...

PS: one thing, which left me puzzling: how come every time music gets louder, people greet it with applause and whistles? Maybe it makes sense to play music as loud as one's ears can possibly tolerate?