Extraordinary Discourse 053

The March Of Folly




It's modern to use history as a kind of closet in which we can rummage around, pull influences from different eras, and make them into collages or pastiches. People are doing this with music all the time. I hear it in, say, Christina Aguilera's new album, or in the music of Sufjan Stevens.
from
The Ballad of Henry Timrod
By SUZANNE VEGA
NYT
Published: September 17, 2006


One can name all kinds of great men [sic] who were not very gifted. They acquired greatness ... all of them had that diligent seriousness of a craftsman, learning first to construct the parts properly before daring to make a great whole. They allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole.
Friedrich Nietzsche


…irregularity -- that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment -- is an essential part and characteristic of beauty.
Charles Baudelaire