X is for Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

A Greek modernist composer.

Well, that's all I should probably say, but I won't.

I don't feel qualified to talk about Xenakis' music. Think about that. I won't pretend to be some theory expert and musical genius, but I have studied music at a high scholastic level and actually make a living as a musician. This music, as with most music in the modernist schools, I just can't talk about. I have no footing in that world. I can study and think about the theories and reasons behind what they are doing but at the end of the day all I hear is the noise. Is this art? Personally, I'm going to stop asking that question. It can all be art if people want to call it that. I'm just going to ask is this good and why.

My answer for Xenakis? No, it is not good because it disregards the audience. It does not set itself up as an offering to the audience, it expects the audience to worship it as an idol. That is wrongheaded art and I don't want a part of it.

Good for an X anyway.

This has nothing to do with Xenakis, but it is something I've been doing lately. The video game I play online is having a big tournament and so far our team is doing pretty well. Here's a youtube video of our latest match. If you can stand the stream, the HD looks way better.

You probably won't really understand anything that's going on, but that box in the very top left corner is my character's ship. I'm on the Manifest Destiny team and Rus N is my name. The other team (Caldari Factional Warfare) start shooting me toward the end, but I make it out alright.



I think for HD you have to actually click the link below the video on the actual youtube site.