Personal Dork Assistant

Public Service Announcement - Game Division

Now that the China factory takes Sundays off, I'm glad to have the Nintendo DS (old-school version, but a Japanese Graphite unit for cool value). Finally managed to beat Castlevania DS and now I'm going back to work on the GBA DoublePack version (Harmony Of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow). I was going okay on HoD until I got the Griffin Wing relic which is suppose to allow you to Super Jump with a Down-Up-Jump button combo but I simply couldn't make it happen no matter how I timed it.

I thought it was just my poor button-mashing reflexes, but thankfully I finally found the answer on a GameFAQ message board discussion.

Not sure why this is happening, but the Griffin Wing never works for me if I remap the Jump button under Key Config (if I use B instead of A). Has anyone else who's playing HoD experienced this? Some more info - I have the newer Double Pack version and I'm using a DS, not a GBA.

Hey, that's me. I'd customized the button assignments to more resemble the Castlevania DS layout. So I reset the button configuration and now I'm on my way.

We Suck

First heard of Joshua Bell on the NPR All Songs Considered podcast, which usually features song excerpts from indie musicians and never features classical music. But in this case they were so impressed by The Voice Of The Violin they made room for an entire sonata from the CD after wrestling with Sony for the podcast rights. Not that one can really appreciate a good violin performance in over-compressed MP3 form, but at least the name stuck. So I was drawn to the Washington Post Magazine article which featured Mr. Bell.

By all accounts Mr. Bell's suppose to be a nice guy, and he was a good enough sport to go along with Wash Post's stunt to go into a busy DC Metro station during the morning rush-hour to play for an hour incognito. This isn't your typical morning busker, but an internationally recognized musical genius with classical chops and crossover appeal, playing masterpiece repertoire on a Stradivarius violin in perfect tone.

He emerged from the Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.

It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant.

Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?

So would the bourgeois bureaucrats be struck by the beauty of the moment? What did they say about never underestimating the stupidity of the American public?

With "Chaconne," the opening is filled with a building sense of awe. That kept him busy for a while. Eventually, though, he began to steal a sidelong glance.

"It was a strange feeling, that people were actually, ah . . ."

The word doesn't come easily.

"...ignoring me."

Bell is laughing. It's at himself.

"At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change."

Only a handful of people even took a second glance. One person recognized the music as special and stopped to listen, and one person recognized the famous face.

Total haul for the hour: $32.17
("Yes, some people gave pennies.")

I can go on and rail about the ignorant Philistines, but to be honest if I were there I'd have the iPod on, the headphones in, and walked right on by, too. Although I'm now slightly motivated to go find a good recording of the Bach violin partitas. I'd like to think I know what I like and can recognize good music when I hear it, but I'm most likely just as easily prejudiced as anyone else by popularity and the name in the lighted marquee. Not unlike wine when we pay the big bucks for the grand cru Bordeauxs because frankly we don't know any better.

At least it's comforting to know that somebody is being taught to appreciate classical music, even if it's Asian-style cram-school appreciation in China.

Italy Notes

Took the SO for a 11-day trip to Rome, Florence, and Milan after our formal engagement. It was a good excuse to buy a new DSLR camera and associated goodies. Took lots of pictures, some of which even managed to turn out okay.

Random thoughts from the trip:

• Everyone warned us, but I was an idiot and allowed myself to get caught up with a bunch of gypsy kids near the Spanish Steps. As I was walking away, thinking I'd pushed them off, one of the kids came running up with my wallet. "You dropped this," she said. Oh well, gave them an euro tip for "picking it up" and chalked it up as a cheap lesson. It's smart of them this way to get a few bucks each time for harassment without drawing attention from the cops for outright theft.
• Best view: Castel Sant'Angelo's terrace.
• The Prada outlet had way more good stuff than the Gucci outlet, although it was a bit harder to get to. The 50%-off wallets were worth the price of admission alone.
• Get to the Vatican Museum way before it opens to be at the head of the security line, or be prepared for at least an hour wait in the security line winding around the city wall.
• Don't touch soda pop in Europe. At least two euros for a freakin' can.
• On the other hand, sparkling water is the same price as plain bottled water. Drank a lot of San Pellegrino with our meals.
• Florence was way better for knick-knack buying than Rome, with more choices and better prices.
• In the ubiquitous bars, pay first for your coffee and get the ticket then hand it to the bartender. Drink at the bar for the cheap price, about an euro. Paired with a cornetto, it's perfect for a quick and breakfast. The sit-down price is at least twice.
• Real Italians don't go out to eat before 9pm, which leaves us tourists plenty of time for the early reservation. Although popular places get fully booked regardless.
• The ubiquitous water fountains and spouts in Rome are free and fully drinkable. Apparently there's a naturally replenished aquifer under Rome so that water spurts forth with no pumping required.
• It goes against every grain of habit for us Asians, but you really aren't suppose to touch the groceries when browsing the markets.
• Highly recommend the electronic ticketing at Trenitalia for train tickets. Just give the conductor the ticket code on the train. The less you deal with Italian lines, the better.
• When the Italians say al dente they bloody mean it. Couldn't shake the feeling that the pasta was undercooked but if that's the way it's suppose to be done then I'll roll with it.
• It's three-euro more per ticket, but it's probably a good idea to pre-book at the Accademia and Uffizi in Florence, especially if you're there anywhere near high season. Our hotel did it for us for free.
• The Mouth of Truth is really just an old Roman manhole cover set in the porch of a church.
• By the time they finish screwing you with fees and conversion rates, don't expect to see more than a 10% return from your VAT refund.
• Get a guide for the Colosseum, unless you're already a Classics/Archeology double-major. The ruins are totally meaningless unless someone's there to explain the significance.

Of course, the most important thing, as with all travel, is to chill out and take things as they come, even if you're lost in the streets, run into a rude waiter, or face adverse weather. And gelato is always good, even in the face of said adverse weather.