The Tragic Plane

"Arthur Koestler...once wrote that there were two planes of experience, the tragic and the trivial, and that artists and writers are blessed--cursed, really--with seeing 'everyday experience' on the tragic plane, the 'angle of the eternal.'"

--Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker via TPM (TPM is cited because it gives a permalink as opposed to making you Digg it or whatever).

"Rinso Piano"

"Rinso Piano" [mp3 removed]

Short piano piece written by my household robot, who wants very much to be human (and mambo).

Previous piano works:

"Piano Three Hands" [mp3 removed]

"Reel for Omniverters (piano version)" [mp3 removed]

"Enigmatic Rap (Piano Version)" [mp3 removed]

"Subharmonic Duo (Piano)" [mp3 removed]

Art Tales: The Mummy

Julia, 32, Art Consultant:

"I was working as a docent at our local museum and a traveling show came through of Egyptian artifacts, including an honest-to-gosh mummy in a glass case. This attraction was seriously hyped in the press kit and our local media picked it up. 'See the Mummy!' It was like a carnival.
"We handle a lot of school field trips. One day several busloads of kids came into the museum, causing some chaos at the Egypt entrance. We docents were called in to create some manageable lines at the entry area.
"I was herding a class of third or fourth graders over to the place where they would form a line. I knew they were all very excited about seeing the mummy. But I had no idea how much till I reached down and momentarily touched my hand to a kid's chest, keeping him back from the entrance. His little heart was beating like a pneumatic hammer--it felt like it was going to explode out of his shirt."