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music of the week

a few days late and I'm sure many dollars short, here is my most recent musical selection:

Regina Spektor – On the Radio
The Weepies – The World Spins Madly On
Devotchka – How it Ends (Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack)
Regina Spektor – Samson
Josh Ritter – Come and Find Me

day three: secret codes and handshakes

Unlike English, Greek is a coded language meaning that it uses codes to tell what part of language a word is: noun, verb, direct object, indirect object... Thusly, words can and do appear almost anywhere in a sentence.  We English speakers and writers function in a sequential pattern: subject-verb-indirect object-direct object...

Though a different rhythm, because it is coded, Greek is clear and, after collecting enough UPCs to receive a decoder ring, is not to difficult to figure out. 

Learning the codes is much more central to interpretation than a firm grasp on vocabulary.  Even so, my first vocab test is on Friday and I find myself in flashcard mode.  oh flashcards.

things I recommend

Regina Spektor  | Russian-born NY artist who is quite frankly addicting.  This recommendation comes not only from myself but also from JKrishna, who is one cool dude.  We came to a consensus that Regina is so damn addictive because she is not predictive. 

eMusic | Not only legit, eMusic is also one of the best ways to get music.  it's cheap, cheap, cheap!

gourmet pb & j  | mmm, natural peanut butter, malkin's jams and wheatastic bread. 

day two: the beginnings of grammar

A thousand years ago and a million memories away, I liked physics.  I took it in high school, I signed up for it my first semester of college and I enjoyed having to figure out finite things.  however, I remember a certain disdain for vectors.  It was as if I liked physics up until that point.  Unfortunately, vectors are as common to physics as grammar is to language.

I've procrastinated and resisted the erudition of grammar  my entire life.  Sure, it has seeped in here and there, but it may as well be French or German or...Greek.

Day two: it begins.  Cases, Moods, Nominative, Accusative...

Every time I start to learn a language, I learn my own far better.  Slowly, slowly and quite painfully, I am learning and beginning to want to learn English grammar. 

I think I'll pick  a book up.  (ha!)

 

news and noteworthy

Regina Spektor to play Varsity Theater 10/19/06

Sufjan Stevens to release 5-disc box set of Christmas songs, stories and the ever highly probable original drawings.

The next book I want to buy is I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard.

The next Harry Potter book will be titled Driving Lessons.  That sounds a little anti-climatic.  Regardless, the film version of The Order of the Phoenix will be 13 July 2007.

day one: the alpha-beta

hoi poloi!  Today was the γενοσις, that is genesis or beginning of my 8am Greek class.  We learned the alphabet, or the alpha-beta, the first two Greek letters. 

Interesting note: when people started sending their kin to Athens for education (this is way back when), the Latin speakers found that there were Greek sounds that were not present in Latin and the Latin alphabet, the one that we English speakers are accustomed to, added these sounds to the end of the alphabet: χυζ or X, Y and Z.  Of course for us these letters come at the end of the alphabet as an addendum to our other letters, but in the Greek, they are found all over the place. 
See the Greek alpha-beta here.

Also, our "sometimes y" rule that applies to vowels has to do with our use of Greek words and sounds.  The upsilon has a y-sound, similar to the French u or German ü.

Fa-assinating.