While we're waiting for a post with some substance....

A meme, from my friend Brian.

1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences.
5) Tag three people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

At the moment, the only book on my desk is uncracked, so I have literally no idea of what will come of this.

And more still: even in this "moment," the musical-ness of music will often be due to an even briefer conjunction, the briefest instant within a brief moment, an opportune minute, one beat of a single measure — like the ravishing chord in Chabrier's Sulamite, like the captivating harmonic sequence in Chaikovsky's Dumka, or the Gregorian cadence at the end of Fauré's fifth piano prelude. The Charm hangs on the imponderable musical-ness of a brief occasion, a lightning strike of an event.

But can one install wisdom on the seat of this delicate, imperceptible point in an ephemeral instant?

-- Vladimir Jankélévitch, Music and the Ineffable

Wow. Can't wait to read the lead-in. Tag to music bloggers DaveX and Marcus and literary blogger Maitresse (who must have some interesting books sitting around, since she just passed her orals — in Paris, no less).

And posts with some substance are in preparation.