About Me

Hey! This is where I write a bit more about myself.

Me and my vision

Still thinking

Music

Music plays a very important part in my life, even if I never formally engaged with music academically or by playing an instrument. Like everyone else I suppose, music triggers memories, but I want to think that the link between my memories and the music I've heard throughout my life is remarkably strong. My favourite pieces of music/songs include (order/entries might change in the future):

• Bach's Chaconne (Partita No.2 in D minor). I particularly enjoy Stokowski's transcription. I am not a professional music critic, nor do I pretend to be one; however, if I were forced to rank the best piece of music ever composed by humanity, it would be Bach's Chaconne. I quote a YouTube user whom with I fully agree: "Keep in mind this piece was written for a single violin. The fact that it can be transcribed successfully for an entire orchestra is unique. No other piece that I know of would hold up so well to such an expansion. This piece has tremendous internal potential energy, so much that even the orchestral transcription feels like it could be expanded. It's like an image that is small but is so resolved that it can be expanded to the size of the solar system and all the details would be as crisp as ever. It's like a black hole - an unimaginable amount of musical matter forced into an unimaginably small space. It is the gift that keeps on giving. The Chaconne is the clearest, best, signature of humanity."
• Alcalá Norte's La Vida Cañón. Spanish for "The cannon life" (means something like "the cool life") is a song that describes the wishes of a 1930's man if he were to win the lottery. This song is very upbeat and the lyrics (like all of Alcala Norte's lyrics) may seem a complete mess and have no particular meaning, but I believe they do. This song reminds me of someone who made my year in Cambridge very special.
• Charli XCX's party 4 u. Yes, I love Charli XCX. What can I say
• Much of Niña Polaca
• Much of La La Love You, and their magnum opus El fin del mundo
• Pavarotti's interpretation of Nessun Dorma
• Notable mentions: Elvis Presley, El Duo Dinámico, Julio Iglesias.

Books

I enjoy reading (sometimes). Last year, I became quite obsessed with Science Fiction. This is what I have read

• (Almost) Everything by Arthur C. Clarke. I have read essentially all the major novels he wrote. I have also not finished reading his (immense) collection of short stories, although I have made a good dent. My favourite books by him are in decreasing order: Rendezvous with Rama (very special to me for other reasons as well), 2001: A Space Odyssey (classic), Songs of Distant Earth (beautiful), A Fall of Moondust (anxiety-inducing).
• Other things: Solaris (weird), Roadside Picnic (super weird), Tau Zero (insane), Pushing Ice (quite cool), The Last Question (insane).