This will probably be my last missive this year. So I'd better make it count, right?

Well, first things first, it's Beethoven's birthday today. As a musician, it's interesting to me that there is really no other composer that evokes such a positive response from people, musicians or not, than Beethoven. So here's a little game to play:

The Beethoven Quiz:

1) What famous Beethoven piece is this:

Ba-ba-ba-bummmmmmmm!
Ba-ba-ba-bummmmmmmmmm!

2) What did Beethoven himself say that musical phrase was supposed to sound like?

3) Beethoven's 9th Symphony is also known as:
--- -- ---

Hint: for a lot of people, this is one of the first songs they learn on the guitar.

4) Which one of his five senses did Beethoven lack by the end of his life?

5) What nationality was Beethoven?

6) What famed 1980's Keanu Reeves movie featured Mr. 'thoven playing three synthesizers in a California mall?

Okay, before you scroll down to read the answers, here's some pieces of trivia: Beethoven is the second of who in classical music circles are known as the "Three B's." Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. I've now cited two of their birthdays on this blog. Can you name the other one? Okay, that's not a quiz question. Anyway, all three are highly good, and worth checking out. Other B composers are: Berlioz, Bartok, Barber, Bernstein, Borodin...you get the picture.

Another bit of trivia: Though Beethoven was deaf, his condition was compounded by the fact that he was a certain kind of deaf. Instead of falling into a world that was drenched in silence, Beethoven's ears were constantly filled with a "deafening" roar, which plagued him until his death. They say he would often go into "black moods," and destroy everything in his apartment. Hey, wouldn't you? To overcome his disability, he cut the legs off of his piano, and he would lie down and press his ear against the floor and bang as hard as he could on the keys so that he could hear at least a little of the song he was playing.

Okay, here are the answers:

1) The 5th Symphony
2) Fate knocking on the door (can you hear it?)
3) Ode to Joy
4) He was deaf.
5) German, though he studied and had his career in Austria.
6) Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.

If you won, give yourself a pat on the Bach. Bwa ha!

In other news, Siena has her first little head cold. Poor babe. Is it mean that I think that her sad little cries are cute?

Alright, see you after the holidays, peeps. I feel a little guilty about how little I've "Christmas-ed" on the blog this year, so....um....Merry Christmas.

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Merry Christmas, Trekkies!
(and LOTR fans, too)
(and especially fans of both)



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A wider view of the 'hood in Bethlehem...



Merry Christmas!

On the way home from the pediatrics office today, Sheri and I were comparing the rules that we used to play that "perdiddle" game by. You know, the look-for-cars-with-one-headlight game that you used to play as a teenager. Anyway, I was astounded to find the vast differences that the game was played by just between Northern and Southern Utah. Check it out:

My rules: Cars with one headlight were called perdiddles, and were worth one kiss. Cars with one taillight were called perdunkles, and were worth ten kisses. In order to claim a perdiddle or a perdunkle, you would have to be the first to kiss your palm and smack it against the ceiling of the car. Once you gained a hundred kisses, you won the game and could "cash in" with a girl you fancied. Later on, instead of kissing your palm, my friends came up with this semi-complicated smacking rhythm that you would have to do against the dashboard and windshield: two down, one up, one down. No kissing of your palm was necessary.

Sheri's rules: Cars with one headlight meant for people to shout out, "sex!" and do the same hand-kissing-ceiling-smacking ceremony as described above. Cars with four headlights meant for people to shout, "four-play!" and do the dashboard thing: one down, one up, three side to side. A "four-play" with one light out meant for people to shout, "menage-a-trois!" and do the same down-up-side-side thing. If you were the last in the car to smack or claim, five times in a row, you had to get out and run around the car at the next red light. There was no "cash-in" system in the Southern Utah version, at least as far as Sheri could recall.

Does anybody else remember any other rules?

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Here are two videos that more people in the world need to see. The first one, I think, is pretty accessible to a wide audience, but will be most appreciated by geeks like myself.

The second is a bit more intrinsic - I had awesome friends in high school who dedicated their time to making movies. PS - Shblogger: any chance we could post "To Have Loved and Lost?" Or that other one about skiing?

The third one is a long-overdue post about my classmates. This video doesn't have all of them in it, but it shows the true spirit of those who are.







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