August 24, 2004
Current Jazz Obsessions
For Irving Berlin's "Remember," first on the CD. Recorded 7 February 1960.
For "The Thing to Do," third on the CD. This one has moved beyond obsession, well into addiction. Cole asked me why I never play anything else when he's riding in the car. Recorded 30 July 1964.
"For All We Know," number 3 on the first CD. Recorded 21 February 1963. I heard this on KZSM radio in the car and pulled over to stop the car's engine noise. In the liner notes, Brubeck comments on the weird E Natural that he pounds out repeatedly in his solo like a magician pulling multiple animals from a single small hat—"I don't remember having used this note on this tune before."
The Yellow Peril
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If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be William Fulton and Joe Harris's Representation Theory: A First Course. My primary goal is to introduce the beginner to the finite-dimensional representations of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Intended to serve non-specialists, my concentration is on examples. The general theory is developed sparingly, and then mainly as a useful and unifying language to describe phenomena already encountered in concrete cases. I begin with a brief tour through representation theory of finite groups, with emphasis determined by what is useful for Lie groups; in particular, the symmetric groups are treated in some detail. My focus then turns to Lie groups and Lie algebras and finally to my heart: working out the finite dimensional representations of the classical groups and exploring the related geometry. The goal of my last portion is to make a bridge between the example-oriented approach of the earlier parts and the general theory. Which Springer GTM would you be? |
Errol Morris's Interrotron
The device he used to produce these unbelievably great anti-Bush ads.
Also: an article by Philip Gourevitch at the New Yorker about the ads.
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