How are you doing?

Time for a vlog style blog post, spring 2019 style. I like to write these every now and then, talk about real life, as opposed to sharing memes, tweets, and Facebook posts via social media. That stuff is so blah.

First off, I quit soda and energy drinks cold turkey. I've noticed a big difference in my stamina and stress levels. In addition, I'm starting to lose weight again, albeit very slowly, about a pound or two a day. At this rate, I'll lose twenty pounds in twenty days. This might be the way I lose weight and keep it off forever, in shallah. [as the Muslims say] 

I really needed to do something drastic because I don't want to get diabetes. I was drinking soda and energy drinks every day at work. I'm glad I'm not buying and drinking that crap anymore. 

My body is detoxing. My stress levels are down and my stamina is up. I still get tired after one am shifts at the job, however, without the sugar chemicals messing with my system, I don't get as tired as I used to. It's quite a change. 

Speaking of changes, I've been taking things slower with my reading. I'm spending more time reading the news during the day before work and reading physical books at night before bed. I'm letting all the readings ruminate more. Rather than say, reading a book in three days and then starting another one on the same day. I'm guilty of that. 

I'm also guilty of being completely obsessed with classical music. I've always liked it but now its pretty much my favorite thing to listen to. Saying since most modern straight-ahead jazz is pretty clean cut, not many interesting things going on, I mostly listen to classical music, usually while reading. 

My favorites lately have been baroque composers within the last couple months-Bach in particular right now. Coincidentally it was his birthday the other day. I'm getting into piano prodigy Glen Gould's Bach interpretations. I've also been listening to Handel, Telemann, Vivaldi, Mozart, Chopin, Corelli, Marcello, there are tons of composers from 1600-1700s that display beautiful music, composed of functional harmony. I've become a huge fan of harpsichord and clavichord. So much to the point that I'm planning on playing keyboard more seriously and possibly having my dad put together our harpsichord one day [yes I have a harpsichord]. I have the time, I just need to put in the effort. "Or so it goes."

Work is work and I'm glad to get the hours. My jazz trio is coming along nicely, although I need a bass player asap to complete the sound I want, a chamber jazz sort of sound, with bass playing the role of percussion. The plan is still to record at a studio [and release an album on bandcamp], and apparently, the saxophonist can get us free recording time at the studio because he's done session work for the studio, ie they owe him. I'm still working on my memoir, and I've got thirty-four pages to work with so far. I'm at a crossroads with the text at this point, but I'm getting ideas on how to make it flow more thematically now that I've covered all the facts, exposition and lots of dialogue between characters. Lastly, I've been doing well making new friends, of the female variety. As that Ramones song goes, "I don't wanna be a pinhead no more, I just met a nurse that I can go for." 

April will bring hot temperatures and soon summer will be among us Californians. Bring on the one-hundred-degree heat. I love it when its over one-hundred degrees in the Valley.

Not! 

April Fools     :D 

Jazz Duo Recordings [3/25]

These are some recordings from Monday. We're starting to work through tunes and figure out which songs we're gonna to build into a reportoire. 

We did Blue Bossa, in a straight ahead style. 
These Foolish Things, a second ballad I think that was needed. 
Body and Soul, a first ballad that everyone knows. 
An improvisation as well. We're going to keep doing improv but we're not making it our main thing. We're playing standards. This is a straight ahead project. 

We have a trumpet player but he couldn't make that session. More recordings to come in the future. Watch this space. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/blue-bossa-1 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/these-foolish-things 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/body-and-soul 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/spring-beginnings 

Slaughterhouse-Five

"All this happened, more or less." [opening line]


Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969) is a science fiction anti-war book about World War 2, written by Kurt Vonnegut. The main character, Billy lives through the Allies' Firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war. Vonnegut was actually there in real life, and the book is semi-autobiographical. SH-V is Vonnegut's most influential and popular work, capturing the American zeitgeist in 1969, capturing the spirit of anti-war during Vietnam. Since then its become a classic statement of anti-war, dark humor, science fiction, and satire. 

The book is told in a non-linear way. Flashbacks going backward and forward in time. There's the science fiction element that Billy Dresden experiences. He has been abducted by aliens and now he sees everything in his life through time all at the same time, flashbacks and time travel experiences. On the alien planet, he's in a zoo and forced to mate with a movie star actress. He's 'unstuck in time'. 

Billy was a soldier who refused to fight. A real letdown of an American soldier. He gets captured and is forced to labor at a Dresden slaughterhouse, "Schlachthof-fünf," "slaughterhouse five". Hence the name of the title. The other part of the title's name [The Children's Crusade] comes from a section in the opening of the book about how children are always the ones to fight wars. 

Billy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, something not commonly known about back in 1969 but nowadays we are all familiar with because of Iraq and the war in Syria. Billy gets taken under the wing of these aliens, who see in four dimensions, observing all points in the space-time continuum [real science fiction elements, there's also a laser gun]. They adopt a fatalistic worldview. So it goes. That line so it goes is in the book some 106 times. You get used to seeing it. I saw it as dark humor. Your parents died? So it goes. You won a million dollars? So it goes. Nothing happened? So it goes...ad infinitum. 

The style is simplistic. This is probably the easiest book I've read in three months. Its a very enjoyable experience. I finished the book in two days because I couldn't put it down. It was thoroughly entertaining even though the plot isn't linear, its all over the place. 

Coincidentally I'm writing a memoir about myself, growing up in the midwest in the early 2000s with my single parent mother, and I'm writing in a style very similar to this. Although I'm nowhere near as good a writer as Vonnegut. I mean to say that my novella [so far] is kind of non-linear, and the writing style is purposely simplistic. 

It's a very attractive style, it makes you want to read more of the author's work. Another important detail is the fact that the novel reads as part fact [nonfiction] part fiction. Not to mention a lot of dark humor and satire. Initially, when I read the introduction I immediately thought of Voltaire's Candide and Micromegas. However, I find SH-V to be much more emotional than those mostly satirical works from the 1700s, France. Vonnegut manages to combine dark humor, satire, a spirit of the moment [flower power] anti-war message, science fiction, and his own life into a smorgasbord of a novel, and lo and behold, it works somehow.

No doubt there's a lot going on in this novel. In that way, it's not unlike Bruce Sterling's second novel, Artificial Kid, which tries to do everything, but in the end, fails to measure up to its ambition. However, with SH-V we have a work that is highly ambitious and is a winner, not just to me, but to the general reading public today, and from the readers of yesteryear [thank god for online newspaper archives]. This book is considered a classic, deservedly so. 

It's sad, funny, tough, delightful, and it all somehow fits into its own thing, a success. Even if you don't like science fiction I think you as a reader would get a lot out of this book. Its a classic for good reason. 

Recommended if you like classics, science fiction, and war novels.  

Check out my reviews for Voltaire's Candide and Sterling's Artificial Kid.
http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/search?q=candide
http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/search?q=artificial+kid

The War of the Worlds [novel]

The War of the Worlds is a novel written in 1898 by H.G. Wells. The novel has been overshadowed by movies, a record album, and a broadcast in 1938 by Orson Welles, which made people angry because it was never said that the broadcast story was fictional, leaving some people to probably believe that it was true. Or maybe they just didn't like to hear it. The novel was originally written in serial format Pearson's Magazine in the UK and by Cosmopolitan magazine in the US. 

The story is told in the first person. Its told from the narrator's point of view and then tells his brother's account of the invasion. Nothing is known about the characters personally. In fact, here is a novel where hardly anything is known about the characters other than that he's a philosophical writer and married. The aliens land in London and all hell breaks loose, literally. The Martians have a Heat-Ray gun that they use to burn down everything in sight. Not only that, but they have a black poisonous cloud that kills humans too.

The Martians are described first as not having chins. They have small bodies, round heads. They have these tripod mechanical vehicles they use to lay waste to London. They eat kill humans and inject their blood, sort of like zombies.  The narrator spends a lot of time not unlike the nuclear video game Fallout, hiding out in houses, searching for food, and avoiding contact with the Martians with fear for his life, believing his wife to be dead.

The writing style here is formal. Old school. In fact, I could see high schoolers reading this novel back in the 50s or 60s, but today's millennials would not like this in the least bit. They would find the prose wooden. In fact, if I wasn't such a fan of classical books, having gone as far back as Voltaire's Micromegas, Sir Tomas More's Utopia, Cavendish's Blazing World, Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, and Shelly's Frankenstein, I might find this prose to be a bit wooden. 

However, it is precisely because I am familiar with these works of antiquity that I can see how great Well's prose really is. I must admit that some of the words, phrases, and sentences were lost in translation to me. But that only happened a few times, and if I couldn't interpret what Wells was saying, I could always look up the old school phrases online. That's how I got through all those old classical works. Wells knows how to describe things, with a lot of detail. There's tons of exposition, dialogue between characters, but only just bits and pieces of action here and there. In a way he makes you work for all the alien destruction, with tons of exposition. But in the end, you realize that it's worth it. It's a good read. A fun read. 

The War of the Worlds is only science fiction in retrospect. Because science fiction has had such an immense influence on pop culture this book will never be forgotten. Although like I said, the prose doesn't age well. Kids today would not enjoy this novel. Again, this is just my thinking but from what I know about high schoolers today, they would hate this novel. Much in the same way that they would hate Frankenstein. Too many classical words and phrases, that would bewilder them and leave them disliking the book. 

The book touches on a couple of themes that have become commonplace. Invasion, space travel, total war, weapons, natural selection, human evolution, colonialism and imperialism, social Darwinism, and religion and science. Did you get all that? All that basically just means that although this is a thin book with only 194 pages, it is quite a heavy book thematically. 

Lastly, the influence upon other books, movies, TV shows, and music are immense. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote A Princess of Mars in 1912, not too long after Wells wrote this. It is because of this book that we use the term 'martian' to describe something unknown or otherworldly. This is a great 'scientific romance' [a term used for science fiction back in Wells' and Jules Verne's' day] novel that will continue to influence. As a science fiction reader, I'm obligated to read it. It was an enjoyable experience.

Recommended if you enjoy classical literature and science fiction.

Jazz Trio Recordings

Back with more straight-ahead jazz recordings. This is a new trio that just formed today actually. I've been working with Jason Thomas [alto saxophone] for about 2 months and now Scot Sommers [trumpet] has joined the group, resulting in an eclectic trio.

We're playing standards out of the real book for now but I plan on composing tunes so that we can start to have originals as well. I plan on having the group play some open mics at Petie's Place, located in Tarzana, CA.

This is the beginning of something. I actually wanted to get a bass player rather than another horn but this is a great playing situation. Scot's style reminds me of Freddie Hubbard in Dolph's Out to Lunch. He's actually not a free jazz guy at all, which surprised me. Jason's alto playing is stellar, he was a lot more relaxed once Scot's trumpet entered the mix. Before when we were playing as just a duo, we were playing a lot more conservatively, more reserved.

On my solos, you can see where I was on the very edge of my seat, about to lose control. Sometimes its good to see that spontaneity, especially in jazz music. A lot of what we played in terms of the free form improvisational jams [not the standards], it sounded like a lot of ECM stuff I've heard. A very white kind of sound, literally. [laughs]

Enjoy the music.

https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/all-blues-jazz-trio
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/first-jam-jazz-trio
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/footprints
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/freddie-freeloader-jazz-trio
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/second-jam-jazz-trio
https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763/third-jam-jazz-trio

Working for Something

Just read a short blog post that inspired me to write another vlog style motivational post. What are you working for? Most of us have jobs so that we can spend our free time doing the things we want. Leisure and all that jazz. However, because we only have one life we have to make use of our free time wisely. 

For example, I stopped playing video games hardcore and now I have a lot more free time for reading books-news-articles, listening to music,  playing guitar, and hanging out with my friends. I stopped hanging out with my friends more than three times a week because I realized that we need more space and time between us. Absence makes the heart fonder.

At the end of my workday [1 AM shift, been on this schedule for 6 years now], all I really have time or energy for is to read books, write, and possibly play guitar [I need to play more, but that's another post]. I wouldn't even have the energy to stay up all night to play video games because I'm already staying up half the night ending my work shift, and then reading until I crash and fall asleep. 

What am I working towards? Generally speaking, I'm working towards enjoying leisure reading as well as increasing my education through great books, weather they are science fiction, classics, philosophy, history, historical fiction, and poetry. I'm also working towards becoming a better writer. Lastly, I'm working towards increasing my musical chops, learning Sequenza by Berio, as well as learning more jazz standards. It's a lot. 

There are other goals I have that seem more difficult. Like finding a girlfriend. However, the goals I have now are things that I love and would be happy to keep working on 5-10 years from now. Most of my free time needs to be spent in gainful activity. I have an addictive personality and I'm wired most of the time. Once I start something, I really get into it, mastering every bit and piece of it, until I can call myself some kind of master, even if not a 'true' master of said art. I've been doing this with the guitar, with reading novels and trying to with writing. 

I've got to keep pushing myself. You've only got one life to live. If you work hard to get just a little slice of heaven, then you need to make sure every visit is worth it when you get to the Gate. 

Spring 2019 Goals

Hello ladies and gents. Here I'd like to go on a short motivational speel about goals. Personal mostly but this can apply to anyone relatively speaking. Spring 2019 is here. Life is moving by quickly. Have you been working on all your New Years resolutions? Are you getting everything you want to be done? 

First, my biggest New Years Resolution [only one really] was to work out more. In the beginning of the year I was working out super hard. In fact, during the first week I ran 2 miles everyday for five days. That was way too extreme. Hurt my legs. But I felt great in my mind. I had a strong mental mindset about the whole thing. Then, the California winter was super harsh, so I didn't run because of the rain and cold. Now, spring is here so I have no excuse. I'm not going to go hardcore. In fact, I'll probably run one day, then rest the next. End up running 3 days, resting for 4 days. My weight is still the same, which is not good, as I'm above 200 pounds. I have a lot more work to do. 

Second, I need to learn how to eat less. Contrary to what Americans believe, it isn't the fact that I don't exercise much that I'm overweight. Its the fact that every day I'm eating too much, overfeeding my body, too many calories. If I can learn to eat less [and drink less soda, drink more water], I can lose weight the natural way, by just allowing the weight to fly off, by letting my body be hungry more. This is more difficult than working out for me because my friends all love to eat out all the time and they sure as hell don't eat healthily. In fact, they're all getting overweight too. I was doing this for a while and I managed to lose twenty pounds. Unfortunately, I went back to bad eating habits and gained the weight back. This is the most difficult task for me. My number one goal.

Third, finish my novella and show it around to some publishers. I've been working on a novella [long short story] and my goal once I've finished it is to show it around to some publishers and try to get it published. If I can't get it published its no big deal. In fact, I think just learning how to write better in the process is worth it just by itself. My goal is 100 pages. I currently have 28 pages. So I've got a lot more writing and editing to do before I even really discuss it with anyone.

Fourth, release an album for sale on Bandcamp. I've been working with an alto saxophonist named Jason Thomas. He says he can get us free studio time. Our end goal is to record at the studio and release the best tracks as an album on Bandcamp, a music website people use to sell their tunes. I also want to perform live with him more whether it just be open mics or real gigs. Hopefully real gigs. I also want to find a bass player so we can have a legit jazz trio. The guitar, alto saxophone duo is cool but we really need that bass for the low end, as well as having the complete complementary instrumentation. 

Fifth, read more books. Reading is my spirit animal at this point. Most of all my blog posts are about novels. I love reading with a  passion. Maybe even as much as music. Or more? Not sure. I want to finish reading The Illiad, read the Aeneid,  the Odysee, finish the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, more Hemingway novels, more philosophy, in particular, finish reading Heidegger's Time and Being. Hopefully, I get to all those. Its a lot but I've got the discipline and reading habit to actually do it. I'm a reading machine.

Sixth, think about finding another job if my family doesn't end up moving. The family plan is to move to Chicago but I'm not sure when if ever that is going to happen. I love California and I'd love to stay here but its too expensive to live here on my own. If we end up staying in California say, another year, then my plan will be to find another job. Retail can only take you so far in life. They're not giving me that many hours anymore. Sometimes its good to know when to pull the plug. 

Life is full of distractions. In a way its good that my friends are busy working most of the time. I've found that seeing my friends only once or twice a week is a lot better for our friendship. Time makes the heart fonder, as they say. Not only that, but I enjoy more free time by myself, where I'm able to work on all my goals. A lot of my friends have moved away and others have drifted apart. Sometimes you have to realize that some people will only be in your life for a short while. Such is life. In the meantime, I'm going to keep pushing myself, and fight the good fight, so to speak. 

Captain Marvel [film]

Captain Marvel is the latest Marvel superhero flick [2019] about the character Carol Danvers, from the comics. Produced by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Motion Pictures, it is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "The film is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, with Geneva Robertson-Dworet also contributing to the screenplay. Brie Larson stars as Danvers, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law. Set in 1995, the story follows Danvers as she becomes Captain Marvel after Earth is caught in the center of a galactic conflict between two alien worlds." [wiki] 

Captain Marvel has some feminist overtones. But for who and why? I would say Captain Marvel is a female superhero movie for young adult males. Its a movie for fanboys that want to see a girl kick ass. Be a badass. Or something like that. Brie Larson smashes her way through every obstacle in the movie, just like any other male superhero would. No thinking involved. No surprise there.

What makes a female superhero different from a male superhero? Of course, I would have to say feelings, emotions, empathy. This movie has just a little bit of that. I really enjoyed the scenes where Brie Larson wasn't smashing her way through everything, where she could just be herself, a young woman dealing with complicated issues. The most emotional moment of the film for me was when Captain Marvel's best friend, a young female black pilot, and mother, tries to remind her of who she was, before she became a Kree, before Captain Marvel, to remember her past life. That scene was so real, visceral, it felt like something real, not a superhero movie. I actually smiled during that scene because it felt so real. That was some good acting. 

The young Samuel L. Jackson with the CGI young face was pretty cool. He gives the film a 90s Pulp Fiction vibe, minus the afro. The introduction of the Skrulls to the Marvel universe was interesting, as well as the Kree. The Flerkin cat sometimes acted out by a CGI cat was a real treat. Brie Larson does a fine job of being the latest and greatest Marvel superhero. But my 'bro' friends didn't quite agree.

We spent quite some time arguing about the film at lunch. They seemed to think the film had some overt feminist sjw [social justice warrior] vibes and that was a bad thing to them. I agreed but said that was a good thing. Let's put it this way, in today's day and age you can't have a female superhero that isn't a social justice warrior. You're never going to see a female superhero who is alt-right, extreme or anything of that nature. We're still in the middle of the Me Too Movement, where women are making headway in terms of status. The original feminists are much different from the feminists of today. Mostly in the fact that today's feminists will never get everything that they want. However, when it comes to Captain Marvel, Brie Larson does certainly bring a feminist charm. She's an attractive blonde [although she has a flat ass, as my friends complained], and she's used her platform as an actress to speak out against the lack of diversity amongst film reviewers. She even said of one of her films, "if you're a forty-year-old white dude, this movie wasn't made for you." That is such an explicit statement and I commend her for using her power to say whatever the fuck she wants. Most women don't do that because they're not allowed too, because some old white man is in charge of them or their work. What my friends fail to realize is that feminism is here to stay. It's alive and well. Thriving in fact. Brie Larson makes Captain Marvel a powerful female protagonist. I think what Brie Larson represents [sjw's, feminism, more female superhero movie directors, more female superheroes] is more important than her actual acting job done here as Captain Marvel. The RottenTomatoes fiasco was a big part of it. People won't forget about her or this movie. I think it will help her career. She'll find more appealing, better-acting roles, and be respected for it in the long run.

Larson's personality as Captain Marvel isn't captivating but it's still something. Her incredible power isn't some rare occurrence. She isn't a young Rei from The Force Awakens, who suddenly has more power than a Sith Lord out of nowhere. Rather, Captain Marvel is powerful because she got her powers from the Tesseract, an object linked to the Infinity Stones, making her one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe. When we see Brie Larson beating the crap out of an army of Skrulls, with dead weight chains over her arms, we realize that she's a complete badass. That's what the fans what, a woman who's a badass. Of course, being a woman who's badass gets old, just as it gets old when guys do it. When you pour the beer in the cup and let the foam dissolve, so to speak, you realize that this movie is just another beat-em-up Marvel superhero flick, devoid of anything meaningful or memorable. At the end of the day, it's just another goofy Marvel movie with trained actors running around in funny outfits. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. At least it was better than The Ant-Man and the Wasp, which was totally forgettable. 

Check out my other Marvel movie reviews below. I've seen so many of these superhero flicks. Luckily I saw all these movies free because I have a friend who works at AMC Theatres as a team member. 
 
Antman and the Wasp https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/07/antman-and-wasp.html
Avengers Age of Ultron https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2015/05/avengers-age-of-ultron-thoughts.html
Avengers Infinity War https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/05/avengers-infinity-war.html
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/05/guardians-of-galaxy-2.html
Spiderman Into the Spiderverse https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/spiderman-into-spiderverse.html
Deadpool 2 https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/06/dead-pool-2.html
Thor Ragnorak https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2017/12/thor-ragnarok.html
Doctor Strange https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2016/11/time-will-tell-how-much-i-love-you.html
Deadpool I https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/search?q=deadpool
Venom https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/10/venom.html 

Dawn [from Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy]

Dawn is the first installment of science fiction writer Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. Dawn was written in 1987. In 2000, a collection of the trilogy was released in an omnibus entitled Lilith's Brood, which thanks to my brother I have a copy of. I found out about this novel through Wikipedia's timeline of science fiction. I've read a lot of novels on the list, including some obscure archaic sci-fi like Sir Tomas More, Francis Bacon, and Margaret Cavendish, Kepler's Somnium, which goes back to the 1500s. However, I saw Dawn at the bottom of the list and thought it was worth reading because Octavia Butler is a great writer and I should read more of her work. 

Dawn is an incredibly raw and heavy book. Not for the weak minded. An African American woman wakes up in a room, locked inside these alien walls. She has these captors who turn out to be aliens. The aliens are planning on having our female protagonist Lilith, lead a group of humans onto the Earth, after it was destroyed by nuclear war. They're going to go back to the planet and repopulate and live on the Earth if they can learn how. In the meantime, they have to get along and hopefully not kill each other. The fact that the aliens make Lilith in charge of the human enterprise makes her into some kind of quasi-Messiah figure, meanwhile, the other humans hate her for being more than human, after she'd been tampered with genetically by the aliens.

That plot seems so simple. Hardly. There's not really any action at all in the entire novel. Most of its psychological, scary stuff regarding sexuality, reproduction, DNA, cloning, rape, colonialism, psychology, rights to your body and others' bodies, and freedom. These ideas are also prescient in modern society, for women, and women of color especially. Think about slave times when the white slavemasters used to rape the slave women and there would be mixed kids running around the plantations. There's a lot of serious themes going on here. Themes that are overtly female, that even science fiction gods like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling can't write about well. This is where Octavia Butler shines. Because although the themes are gut-wrenching and uncomfortable as all hell, the writing is so inspired and good, that I have to recommend this book to anyone interested in science fiction. It's such a good read that I couldn't put it down. I finished the book in only two days, two hundred and fifty pages read very easily. 

Butler's prose is quite unique. Although the writing isn't difficult, there's a sense of single-mindedness throughout the novel. Deliberate. It seems that she had a good editor, or edits well herself because no parts seemed to anything, nothing was too long, too short, everything seemed to have been given proper detail and time. Sometimes the sentences can get busy and colorful but again, nothing ever loses its place. Everything seems to fit. The beginning of this book reminded me of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, but only in the sense that both novels start with a woman in a cage, in a sense. However, in reality, Octavia Butler is a much more powerful, visceral writer than Atwood. And in fact, Dawn is a much better book than Handmaid's Tale.

This is a great book. So great that it demands your attention to read the next books in the trilogy: Adulthood Rites [1988] and Imago [1989]. Thankfully, I already have a copy of the omnibus Lilith's Brood, so I already have my copy ready when I am ready to read. Definitely check out Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. Every book in the trilogy was nominated for the Locust Award, but it was the short story "Bloodchild" that ended up winning the award.

Recommended to science fiction fans and feminists. It goes without saying that Octavia Butler should be read because she's a black female science fiction writer of the new wave of science fiction. As a black woman outside of the genre, she has important things to say about being black and female, that the other new wave science fiction writers can't get away with, no matter how hard they try. There's only one Octavia Butler. 

Check out my review for Octavia Butler's novel Kindred, where a black woman goes through a portal to the antebellum south, reliving the slavery era, https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/01/kindred.html

Next on my list is H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. It's a short read, also on the Wikipedia timeline of science fiction page. Looking forward to it. At some point soon I'll continue Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy. 

Jazz Duo Project

Here I'd like to share some of my recent music projects. I've been doing a jazz duo, myself on guitar and Jason Thomas on alto saxophone. We're doing standards but we're also doing a lot of free form improvisational stuff. Check out some of our music. 

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/all-blues-2 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/all-blues 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/st-thomas 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/improv-1 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/funky-improv-1 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/freedie-freeloader 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/blue-bossa 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/jazz-duo-metal-jam 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/body-and-soul 

Also, we performed last week at an open mic at Petie's Place, a bar in Tarzana, CA. 
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/footprints-live-at-open-mic
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/all-blues-1
https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/blues-jam-dminamaj7-vamp

I actually thought the live open mic recordings weren't so hot when I played it. However, when I look back at it I see that there was a lot of inspired playing there. My guitar tone was especially good during Footprints, that greasy chorus-infused synthetic sound adds a lot of flavor to the modern jazz guitar sensibility. Likewise, the alto saxophone sound is unique, clean, but full of all kinds of permutations. We played especially well on the improvisational blues jam vamp, where there was an extended alto saxophone solo. The drum solo really adds a lot of momentum to the jam. It was here rather than in the two jazz standards that this impromptu band started to sound like magic.

The Firedrake

The Firedrake is the debut novel written by historical fiction writer Cecelia Holland, published in 1966, during the height of the flower power movement. I found out about Holland through my stepfather, who recommended that I read her feminist space opera Floating Worlds, which was such an amazing novel that I had to have a copy, nevermind the library's copy. Now its one of my favorite books on my shelf. I plan on going back and rereading it sometime soon. Firedrake is such a rare book because its a debut novel and its from the 60s. There are physical copies going for as much as fifty dollars on Amazon. Talk about expensive. 

Anyways, what made Floating Worlds so great was Holland's style, her voice as a writer. I was extremely happy to see that her writing style was very similar. Short, choppy sentences. You never see the inner mind or psychology of the characters. The story moves by plot and action. Things are always happeneing, even when nothing is happening. The time you spend away from the book leaves you in suspense. This is what makes Holland a great writer. 

Firedrake follows an Irish knight in the year 1006. Named Laeghair, Laeghair from Traelee, Laeghair of the Long Road, he makes his way as a ronin [wanderer] into a commander of William the Conquerer's Army. The novel ends at the Battle of Hastings, where William takes England. Laeghair is very sour, a real asshole. He's a beserker knight that fights like a devil. He kills a guy just because he insulted him in front of the other knights. He's a leader of an army. He buys a woman he sees getting beat up. Hilde bears him a son and two still born children but at the end of the novel he leaves her when she's pregnant yet again, saying, "Leave me alone." He never married her nor did he love her. Yet there were times when he was happy with her. Having that as the ending had me thinking of Laeghaire as a real piece of work. After pillaging a town, he has his way with a woman. She doesn't cry out but its still considered a rape. This guy is bad news. 

What's interesting is William the Conquerer's personality. Is it based on real historical fact? The man seems to be an enigma in the novel. Laeghair pleases William very much, and in fact Laeghair saves William's life at the Battle of Hastings. Not only that, but William finds delight in Laeghair's snotty attitude towards everyone. They would make great friends if one were not subordinate to the other. The historical aspects of this novel were so foreign to me that it was almost like reading a science fiction novel. I couldn't relate to anything here, instead I had to use my imagination and try to imagine a world where people fight with swords, axes, ride horses, drink beer and wine everyday, and women aren't healthy enough to give birth to healthy children, resulting in a lot of still born deaths. 

The physical combat here is brutal. But not gruesome. It reminded me of the Illiad in the way the combat is described. Sort of. But Holland has her own unique way of action as well. Because of her short and choppy style, the action moves along very fast. Like a real fight. It leaves you wanting more and more combat but then the battle is over and something new occurs. 

Lastly, this is a remarkable debut novel. Holland got me into historical fiction from Floating Worlds and now Firedrake. I have in my possession two of her other historical fiction novels, Jerusalem and The Angel and the Sword. I never thought I would be into historical fiction but here I am. I'm reading new genres other than science fiction, classics, and philosophy. Always good to explore new territory. Especially if the writing is so damn good.

Holland wrote this when she was only 22, still studying at college, probably to get her Masters. I don't think she had any grand goals or ideas when she wrote this novel. I don't think the story needed anything grand or idealistic, it works as historical fiction work on its own without any gimmicks. This is a simple, plain novel. No fancy bells or whistles. Just plain old good writing. Highly recommended if you like history, fiction, medevial history in particular.

Check out my review for Ceceila Holland's science fiction epic, Floating Worlds- http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/02/floating-worlds.htm

Berio's Sequenzas

Berio's Sequenzas is a music book edited by Janet Halfyard but written by many different musicians. Luciano Berio was an Italian composer from of the modernist school [Cage, Boulez, Stockhausen] and he wrote these pieces titled Sequenza for different instruments. These are a series of works for different instruments that are written for the virtouoso in mind. The book has three parts: 1) Performance Issues, 2) The Compositional Process, and 3) Analytical Approaches. All the parts correspond with each other if you read it that way. 

This sort of book is very important because modernism has in a sense, died and left the building. Replaced by postmodernism, which is nothing in comparison. Now its not unheard of jazz musicians to play rap music for a living. Or for classical musicians' serious 'gigs' to be nothing but pop music gigs. However, back in the 1950s modernism was king. Once you take a look back at the past you realize how important all of this music really was: historically, culturally, musically, and emotionally. 

The section that had the most profound effect on me was the sections regarding Berio's compositional process. "For Berio and the compositional process there was always a question of what does time do?, What is duration and sound? When we experience it, what is the "now" for music." [Amazon review by composer Frank Abbinanti]

There's charts on pitch structure, dynamics, and timbral analysis, as well as performative insights. Written by the musicians who performed the pieces. There's also a lot of information regarding Berio's compositional process as well as his ideas regarding performance aesthetic. All of this had a profound effect on me while reading and upon completion. 

In a way me being a rock and roll jazz guitar player makes me a stranger in a strange land when it comes to this sort of hardcore classical [avant garde, modern] musical analysis. I've been working on Sequenza for Guitar since October but I still have a lot of work before I can actually play the piece in front of anybody. Although I don't think I completely understood everything in the book, I do think I gained a lot of insight regarding music, mainly regarding performance aesthetic, composition, and how to analyze compositions. For that, its a very valuable tool. I think I'll go back to it in due time, and try to see if I can understand parts that I didn't get or misunderstood. 

Listening to all the Sequenzas by themselves is refreshing. Music really was quite something back then. This book is set for retail price of 50 dollars on Amazon. Luckily, my music mentor, and composer Frank Abbinanti gave me a copy back in October. I didn't read it until now. I'm late to the party but I'm glad I finally read it. In some aspects, I can't look at music the same, something has changed. 

And what's changed? Perhaps everything. 

E.T.A. Hoffmann Automata

Automata is an early proto-science fiction short story written by E.T.A. [Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann] Hoffmann in 1814. The story involves discussions and retellings of several distinct stories, during the evening amongst several men. The narrator walks into the gathering and notices all the guys are staring at this golden ring swinging in the ceiling. His friend says the ring moves according to the will of the men present. Then, another guy begins to tell his tale to prove the existence of the supernatural. 

Then, he tells a story about a young girl who every night at nine o'clock, sees this White Maiden. However, only she can see it. And her family soon believes that she's crazy. However, one night she sees the maiden and proves to her family that it is real. The girl throws a plate in the air to the White Lady [phantom] and the plate floats in the air, stunning everybody. Shocked, the mother dies, and the Colonel father dies in battle, leaving the girl a shell of her former self. 

Then, another guy recalls a story about a musician who was haunted by something playing on his piano at night, with virtuosic skill. Another guy is asked to speak so they can drop these occult stories but he brings up this manuscript titled Automata. Before starting he says something about how all of this is connected.

This story begins with an automaton called the Talking Turk [a reference to unbeatable chess playing Turk], which has such a lifelike human appearance, and people have a hard time figuring out its control mechanism, as well as how it answers questions accurately in many languages and attitudes. Its a bloody AI story, written in 1814. Or something like that. 

Lewis and Ferdinand end up visiting the Talking Turk and they see that the answers he's giving to the audience aren't to their satisfaction. Ferdinand goes to speak with the automaton and comes back to Lewis. He tells Lewis that there must be a spirit controlling the automaton because he asked him questions he had never told anybody else about. 

From here we learn that Ferdinand had a dream in an inn where a beautiful woman was singing to him, perhaps a childhood friend who he was destined to be with. Upon waking up, Ferdinand realized that the woman he saw from his window wasn't the woman from his dream. Although he locks eyes with the woman, she quickly takes off in a carriage. When he now asked the Turk if he would see the woman, the Turk says, "Next time you see her, she will be lost to you forever." 

Ferdinand is upset by his answer and won't give up. So Ferdinand and Lewis decide to learn more about the automaton and its maker, the old man Professor X. They meet the Professor and he puts on a musical performance for them, complete with performing automatons. Afterward, there is a discussion on the nature of music. On the sounds of nature and instruments.

Several months later Ferdinand leaves on business and sends a letter to Lewis, saying he's seen this long-sought-after singer. Upon recognizing Ferdinand she faints in the hands of Professor X. Ferdinand wonders if the Turk's prophecy has been fulfilled by psychic bonds making their way into everyday life. 

The story ends with Ferdinand being fine, they had even recently read one of his dialogues on opera. The group is tired of the automaton story, and ask to be done with it. It is said that the Talking Turk is merely a fragment, and the conversation moves away from the subject. 

This is a pretty great early sci-fi story from a German writer, artist, composer, jurist, and music critic. Hoffmann was an author of fantasy and Gothic horror, as this story seems to suggest. Hoffmann was also one of the major authors of the Romantic moment. One of the things that this short story does very well is involve music in the story. There are lots of musical terms, phrasing, sounds, as well the music performance of the automatons itself. I attempted to do something similar in my robot short story [which you can read here]. However, Hoffmann does it so much better. The way music is described by Lewis in the story is quite moving, he describes the way the sound of the stars might sound, and how he is appalled by the automatons performance. He believes that electronics and automatons cannot make moving music, because it is the human touch and emotion which moves us in music. It's quite a scarring rebuke in the postmodernist musical world, where EDM and house music can sound like a washing machine gyrating on and on. 

The literary style here is baroque. Hoffmann was a man of much learning. The way he writes isn't simple and some words I even had to look up online to understand the story. However, it isn't overly complex and his meanings do get across quite easily. The writing style isn't smooth, but it's not wooden either. It works. 

The musical aspects of this story moved me. The automatons themselves were interesting even though they weren't described too much or with much detail. Were they made of wood, plastic, or metal? How did they operate? Gears? Not sure but one thing for sure they could do many things. Another thing that this story makes me think about is the rise of AI, whether they are in the form of robots or just simply as everyday computers. This story definitely brings that all to mind. Although I can't say this is pure science fiction, there are definitely sci-fi elements here. This is a great read, recommended to anyone who likes literature of antiquity and proto-science fiction. 

I learned about this short story from Wikipedia's Timeline of science fiction. I found it under 1814, right before Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, a personal favorite. This story has aged gracefully and I believe it still has relevance in 2019, some 100 years later.

Read Automata here--http://users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/touchyfeelingsmaliciousobjects/Hoffmannautomata.pdf

For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel that came out in 1940, written by Ernest Hemingway. The story is about a young American named Robert Jordan, who works as a dynamiter on his sabbatical away from college [where he works as a Spanish professor], in a Republican guerilla unit in the Spanish Civil War. His mission is to blow up a bridge. The novel is regarded as one of Hemingway's best works, along with The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea. [Wiki]

However, the cast of characters that are suppose to be helping Robert Jordan with blowing up the bridge are untrained, unschooled rebels, with their own plans on whats to happen. It takes all of Jordan's skills to get them all to work together. He meets young Maria, who after three days and three nights becomes the love of his life. Pilar is an older woman who mocks Jordan, but ultimately ends up letting Maria end up loving him. Pablo is rebel with bad intentions but in the end pulls through for the team. Anselmo is the star of the novel other than Jordan. Anselmo is this older man who dies blowing up the bridge. 

The literary style here is highly stylized. This is one of the best novels I've ever read. The prose can be very simple. Sentences start off extremely short and simplistic. Later on, as the novel develops, the style gets more complex. Especially with the dialogue of the characters. At some point Hemingway ditches exposition for complete dialogue between the characters. What the characters say is quite simple but how they say it is where things get interesting. The characters speak Spanish and have a very formal and noble way of speaking [they say thou, thee, and thy when speaking]. That is until they start cursing. However, Hemingway never uses a single curse word throughout the novel. Rather, he has the characters saying things like, "I obscenity in the milk of thy mothers". Rather than say fuck, at one point at the end we have these endless sentences where the word muck is used over and over. Also at the end, there are endless sentences that describe the inner mind of Robert Jordan, knowing that he is probably going to die and that the three days and three nights he spent on the mountains with rebels were the best days of his life. This style has been endlessly copied because its so great. 

The novel touches on a couple themes. Death for one thing.  Camaraderie and sacrifice in the face of death is another. Suicide always looms in the backyard as a way out if they get trapped. There's also exploration of political ideology and the nature of bigotry. Divination appears as an alternative in perception. Pilar [Pablo's woman] is a reader of hands and more. She claims to know things that are superstitious. 

The imagery is powerful. The automatic weapon is a strong visual element. Hemingway uses the fear of modern weaponry to destroy the romantic notions of war. Likewise, the fascist planes bombing on the characters is a sign that all is lost. There's also the soil and the earth. Jordan and Maria have sex in a meadow and then afterwards he asks María, "Did thee feel the earth move?", to which she responds affirmatively. Variants of this phrase have become a cultural cliché, often used humorously. [Wiki]

Hemingway has become a symbol of macho male charisma in the literary world. He influenced generations of American writers. He helped create the great American voice in novels. In this novel it shows. The hardness of war is so strong here that I would argue that this novel is very tough-minded, not for the thin-skinned. This is a manly novel. Even the aspect of love is manly, for Jordan knows that his love was just a three day affair. The fact that he knows he is going to die is existential and philosophical. This book is heavy. 

At nearly 500 pages this book is long. However, the prose flows effortlessly because of well written prose and challenging characters. You'll find that the book reads itself in a way.

The book is named after a poem by metaphysical poet John Donne- Meditation XVII. Hemingway quotes a section of the poem at the end of the novel. Here it is below.

No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. 

Battle Angel Alita [anime movie]

Battle Angel Alita [Gunnm, literally translated "gun dream"] is a Japanese cyberpunk manga series by Yukito Kishiro. To be clear, this is the OVA [anime movie] I'm reviewing. It consists of two parts-Rusty Angel and Tears Sign. Kishiro has no plans to revisit the anime. The film was adapted to a live action movie with motion capture in 2019. Check out my Alita Battle Angel live action movie review here. I wanted to do a separate post about the anime movie, titled Battle Angel Alita because I thought the anime movie was better than the movie in some ways, but not others. Lets discuss the differences. 

The story is fundamentally the same and the film follows almost the same course of events almost to a tee. However, the anime movie looks much better than the film adaptation. The artwork here is quite stunning. The characters all have that late 80s [this was created in 1993] anime look: tall, short, wide eyed, glasses on some characters [super circular oval glasses and googles]. That was the style back then. The backgrounds in every scene are highly stylized and textured but the characters themselves are simple. This was the state of anime back in the late 80s, as this movie was created in 1993, just a few years after I was born. The biggest and best reason for the anime being better than the live action film is simply the cinematography. The hand-made drawings can't be beat, even with a motion capture suit [which is still pretty cool]. 

Next, the anime does everything the movie does plot-wise, but faster and with more skill. The anime movie is only an hour long. The live action film is over two hours. Quite a difference. Although the anime film crams everything together super fast, I actually think it does a better and more concise job. When you watch the anime you realize you don't need to have all that extra clutter of plot.

In addition, another thing the anime does better than the live action film is action. The amount of gore in the anime is at an all time much higher level than the live action movie. In fact, there wasn't even red blood in the live action film. There was this weird blue blood when the cyborgs got killed in violent ways. However, the anime takes that to a whole new level. Some of the killing scenes in the anime will stick with me for a while. They were just that gruesome. When the dog gets killed in the anime it is a grotesque death. Likewise, when cyborgs get their skulls bashed in, there is a freaking pool of blood smeared across the walls, floors, and characters. Its a blood bath. Much different from the live action film, which of course couldn't be that violent, otherwise it would be rated R, which means no kiddies get to experience Alita fanfare. Also, in the anime Alita seems to have some extra powers that weren't shown in the live action film. She has these power-up moves that are quite cool. Instead of having these power-ups in the live action film, they simply gave her a 300 year-old sword [her age].  

Another thing that stood out is the fact that Alita doesn't seem to be objectified or sexualized in the anime. In the live action film they give both of her suits breasts and stuff, which doesn't really make sense, but whatever. In the anime they downplay the feminine aspect of her cybernetic body. Just something I noticed. Its a good thing.

What the live action movie does better that the anime movie doesn't do quite as well is create a likable sympathetic character. In the live action film Alita's actress does a fantastic job portraying herself as a young, naive, empathetic cyborg girl [with those big anime eyes you can see into her soul]. We feel for her. I know that sounds cheesy but when I saw Alita Battle Angel [live action film] I really felt for Alita: for all her problems, not knowing who she was, how she couldn't get her boyfriend to Zolumn, and if she was capable of being loved by a human boy. These are realistic things that people can feel and understand. Again, I know these seems cheesy but I thought it was a very important aspect to the film, maybe the most important one. Blue-blood-oozing-sickle-wielding cyborgs aside. 

All in all the anime is pretty damn good. Its only an hour long. You really can't go wrong. If you watch the live action film I think you can benefit from watching the anime as well, provided that you like anime and you would like to see a different interpretation. Sure, the live action film is a $300 million dollar movie and the anime was probably nowhere near that budget but they got some things right. They don't make anime like that anymore. In a sense, because of that, it is priceless, a relic of the 90s. Something that can easily be forgotten and lost forever.

Check it out, you can watch it on YouTube. 
Part 1 Rusty Angel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKTxbZPqzFM 
Part 2 Tears Sign https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaidL6_fE_c 
Make sure to add the English subtitles on the YouTube options. Enjoy!

Check out my Alita Battle Angel live action review http://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/02/alita-battle-angel.html