A MUSICAL MEME
19 March 2005
What's a "meme"
anyway? It's a term that has cropped up to represent the various "quizzes"
or lists of questions that appear on journal pages on a regular basis. I checked
with the source of all things trivial, Wikipedia and
found this definition:
Meme, (rhymes with "cream" and comes
from Greek root with the meaning of memory and its derivative "mimeme"), is the
term given to a unit of information that replicates from brains and inanimate stores of
information, such as books and computers, to other brains or stores of information. The
term meme was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in his bestselling book, The Selfish Gene.
Inanimate sources of information have been termed 'retention systems'.
In more specific terms, a meme is a self-propagating unit of cultural evolution having
some resemblance to the gene (the unit of genetics). The difference lies in the
replicative potential and minimally required resources to replicate. Memes can represent
parts of ideas, languages, elemental particles, tunes, designs, skills, moral and
aesthetic values and anything else that is commonly learned and passed on to others as a
unit. The study of evolutionary models of information transfer is called memetics.
Well, that's clear as mud...sort of...but anyway, I
found this musical meme over on Jim's
Journal, who took it from Bozoette and I thought I
would follow suit... (Actually, I read it on her site first, but reading it on Jim's
made me feel left out if I didn't answer the questions too!)
What's the total amount of music files on
your computer?
Apparently 3.5 gigabytes. I didn't realize I had so much. I don't usually
download a lot of music, but I have lots that Steve has sent me, lots that Jeri has sent
me, and lots that I've recorded from CDs that I own. I've also downloaded a
bit for slide shows. Probably the weirdest is something called
"Colorectal Surgeon." I don't have a clue how I happened to download that!
What was the last CD you bought?
Maureen McGovern sings Harold Arlen. I heard about this CD after we went to a
concert of Harold Arlen music and I was intrigued by it. It's very lush and very
nice, and not at all contemporary. But then I'm not a contemporary kinda gal!
What was the last song listened to before getting this message?
A song from the original cast recording of Wicked called "For Good,"
which is a beautiful song about friendship.
Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
* Lots of stuff by Steve, of course. Hard to
pick just one, but I always come back to "Save Me a Seat,"
which may not be my favorite, but which is a song that has great meaning for me
on oh so many levels.
* Jeri tells me that Funny
by Lawsuit (for which this journal was named) was written as a joke, but the song came to
mean something special between Paul and me after David died, so it will always have a
special place in my heart.
* Two Different Directions is by John
Denver. There are actually a lot of John Denver songs that I like, but I think that
this was the first one that made me sit up and take notice. I remember the first
time I heard it Peggy and I were driving around Lake Tahoe the first week she was visiting
here and I giggled a bit when I realized that a lot of the song described the two of us,
coming from two different directions.
They come from different places
Different points of view
They find themselves in different spaces
Everything is all brand new
Two different directions
Too many different ways
One always on the road somewhere
The other one always stays
* I should put a Judy Garland recording on here. One would think that it would be Over the Rainbow, but I really think that
my favorite recording by her is Stormy Weather from the Carnegie Hall album.
I remember I used to lie on the floor next to the speaker and play that full-volume
when I lived alone and worked for UC Berkeley. That song has been around for a long
time!
* My current favorite CD is the aforementioned cast
recording from Wicked. I love both Defying Gravity and For
Good. Surprisingly good music from that show. I must go see it
if The Big Voice gets to New York and we fly back to see it!
Who are you gonna pass this stick to (three
persons and why)?
Oh lord, I don't know. Seems like a lot of people have already done this
survey. How about Mary because I'm her
second mother and one should always do what your mother tells you; Michelle because she's just
started a journal of her own and needs something new to write about; and Kathy because I don't think she's done it
yet.
Mood
By the way, I uploaded a slide show about our
canal boat trip from London to Oxford back in 2001, in case anybody would like to see it.
(It's not one of those downloadable ones, but one that will start as soon as you
click on the link.) If you want to read the
captions/descriptions, you need to exit the slide show and view the photos one at a time.
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