Thursday, April 08, 2010

Williams Syndrome

Though “Musicophilia” did not strike me as strongly as, say, “The Noonday Demon,” I read its last chapter, “Emotion, Identity, and Music” with great interest. Especially, the parts that describe Williams syndrome, which I had never heard of and is truly extraordinary, and what magic music can demonstrate with demented people perhaps at the subcortical level are informative and even emotional.

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The corrective work of bookcase boards continues. Yesterday one of the five boards under supervision was considered good enough and I put it back to where it should be. But the four others are not in shape yet. I am thinking about placing them under the subwoofer that is probably the heaviest standalone object here.

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鳩山家の弟が「『舛添要一・前厚生労働相、与謝野馨・元財務相をくっつけるぞ』と言いすぎた。坂本龍馬発言で反発が出た」(読売新聞電子版)。何なんですかねぇ、この人は。見た目とは裏腹に重さが感じられない。そして、ずっと思っているが、同家の兄の話し方がイヤだ。絶句を避けようと何とか言葉をつなげるから、文章が意味不明になりがち。答えたくない内容を話す時には「国民の皆さん」が「国民の皆はん」に聞こえる。そんな場合は目線も焦点が定まらない感じで泳いでいる。1999年の民主党党首選挙を前にして生中継された彼の演説だったと思うが、途中で言いたいことを忘れて真っ白になったような一瞬があり、それまでと語調がはっきりと変化してしどろもどろの状態だった。この人の誠実さを疑うわけではないが、どうも重さが足りない。

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One of the CDs is damaged. No matter how carefully I clean it, when I play it, the sound skips. I know the same title is still available but with a different jacket design. I want to stick to the original. I should get an “ointment’ that cures disk damages.

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