Matthew Cain's blog

What I’ve learnt from the Economist

Matthew — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:12:47 +0000

1. The Beatles 1. Album is the best selling in the US this century

2. In the 10 years to 2008, Asia’s energy use grew by 70%

Source: 24 July

http://matthewcain.posterous.com/what-ive-learnt-from-the-economist 1. The Beatles 1. Album is the best selling in the US this century 2. In the 10 years to 2008, Asia’s energy use grew by 70% Source: 24 July …

Lessons from the Economist

Lessons from the Economist

Matthew — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:01:04 +0000

1. America’s prison population has risen from 1 in 400 in the 1970s to 1 in 100 now – and 1 in 19 of black men

2. Scientists are studying ants to make computers more efficient (sort of)

3. Offices that have a dog during a brainstorm are found to be more collaborative

4. Georgia is a race to watch for the Palin effect in November

5. The number of coups in Africa has fallen from 20 every 10 years (1980-89) to just over 5 (2000-09)

6. Only 40% of South Africans of working age have a job

http://matthewcain.posterous.com/lessons-from-the-economist 1. America’s prison population has risen from 1 in 400 in the 1970s to 1 in 100 now – and 1 in 19 of black men 2. Scientists are studying ants to make computers more efficient (sort of) 3. Offices that have a dog during a brainstorm are found to be more collaborative 4. Georgia is a race to watch …

A history of the symphony

Matthew — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:19:17 +0000

As a musical form, the symphony has given us some of music’s greatest moments. From Mozart through Beethoven and Brahms to Wagner and beyond, one of the contradiction of the symphony is that for all its length enabled composers to express themselves its the musical eequivalent of soundbites that we remember.

But how did the symphony develop? Sitting in the Royal Albert Hall last night, listening to Prokofiev’s 3rd symphony at the BBC Proms was a good a place as any to ask. In a venue built for large works, which is synonymous with the big orchesteral works, composers and conductors, a Proms programme without a series of big symphonies would be empty. But how was it that composers went from writing church music, salon/dance music and the odd opera to a full-blown symphony? How did they get the audience to sit down for that long? How did the economics of music-making enable the art form to flourish?

Musically, symphonies are also fascinating. Watching a Mozart symphony is very different from, say Mahler 8. So how did the art form change as new instruments became available, choirs were added, off-stage bands given an occasional role? Which were the outliers or anomalies and which were the innovations that changed the form? After hearing the 5th movement in Beethoven 6, did other composers sense they were missing a movement? Did others scramble to write choral parts after Beethoven’s 9th? If not (and I suspect not) why not?

There are also questions around symphonies and composers. Why was it that Bach wrote none, Mozart 41, Hayden 104 then Beethoven and most others settled on 9 or fewer, before Shostakovich came along with 15? And why has the symphony all but died as a form for new art (apart from completions such as the Payne/Elgar 3rd symphony?

I’ve gone to Amazon and thus far not found anything which looks as though it might provide the answers. It seems like a great subject for a Bill Bryson-style effort. Do you have any recommendations?

Further reading I found online today was:

1. BRIEF JOURNEY THROUGH THE HISTORY OF THE SYMPHONY

2. A brief history of the symphony as musical form

. . . so clearly all the best titles have already been grabbed.

Stepping into the unknown: Liverpool season preview 2010-11

Matthew — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:18:52 +0000

When I recorded my thoughts at the start of last season I was full of trepidation. As my worst fears were realised it was little comfort that I’d thought it all possible. And I don’t want to be wrong this year. So with total certainty, I can declare that this season is uncertain. We are stepping into the unknown.

Most importantly, our league challenge (for fourth place) could be over by September or, more worryingly, before the transfer window shuts. With tough early fixtures against top sides and bogey teams, Hodgson’s budget honeymoon may come to a shattering end.

We can also be fairly certain that Liverpool FC will have new owners at some point during the year. The Hicks and Gillett LBO nightmare is playing out its final stages but we don’t know whether the new owner will be a rich knight, a dodgy speculator or RBS.

There are rational reasons to be optimistic for the team’s chances. We haven’t signed bad players; as a unit we know they are almost as good as any other (it’s not a wholly different team from the one that finished second) they can’t be as bad as last year and whatever happened last summer (remember how bad pre-season was as an omen) is now consigned to history. None of the other top sides – Manchester City excluded – are demonstrably stronger this year.

But there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about the team’s chances. We haven’t signed particularly good players at the peak of their careers. You’d expect the early start to the season and a long Uefa Cup run will be damaging at some point. We will always be playing catch-up on a Sunday afternoon. More importantly, Roy Hodgson has been unable to deal with any of the most obvious weaknesses in the team:

a lack of defenders that attack the ball,
a lack of height in important positions
fullback
Second striker

There are a number of factors which are up in the air. A new medical team was recruited to lessen the prospect of soft tissue injuries – but when will they have an impact? Carragher says that training was as hard as he could remember in pre-season, but will that mean we fade away at the end of the season?

The factors that worry me most for the medium term are:

Goalkeeping. The happiness of Pepe Reina is immensley important. And it’s one area where teaching all the youngsters in the same way was clearly having an impact. But now Hodgson wants to sign Brad Jones. And who is the goalkeeping coach?
We don’t know what will remain and what will change of the team’s structure. Frank McParland has said that he hasn’t talked to Hodgson yet about what he wants from the young sides. Will they be playing the same formation as the first team? Or will LFC be abandoning 4-2-3-1 just as world football adopts it as a standard?
We don’t know what chances there will be for young players coming through. Benitez or a member of his staff were always t reserve team games. Will Roy or Sammy be as committed?

A month ago, I would have settled with a 7th place finish this season. With the futures of Torres and Gerrard uncertain, not going backwards was the key objective. Now, I’m not so sure. But would any of the big players hang around if we finish again outside the Champions League places and fail to win a significant cup?

I haven’t lost that tinge of excitement at the start of a new football season. But I also know what an emotional investment it is; that it will end up in disappointment but there will be flashes of ecstasy and despair on the way. Will this season be worth it?

Quitting Sky Sports might make my year

Matthew — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:29:57 +0000

The first thing I did when I came back from holiday was to quit Sky. I won’t miss anything but Sky Sports. The Sky customer magazine was waiting on the doorstep so I called the number and cancelled my subscription, which I have had since I left students halls in 2001.

I realiased before I went on holiday that I just watched too much TV. There would be evenings when I’d sit down on the couch after putting Eloise to bed and promise myself half an hour TV before dinner. That would turn into an hour, then a further hour during dinner. Then it would be 10pm and I’d be having to wake up early to catch up on the things I should have done the previous night. It had to stop.

In Cyburbia James Harkin estimates that the total amount of time it took to write wikipedia amounts to the length of time America spends watching TV commercials in a SINGLE WEEKEND. That’s what a time-sapper TV really is. And, fair credit to the Sky call centre operative, he didn’t argue when I said that I was cancelling it because I watched too much of it.

Tonight, I was reminded just why. I started 30 minutes during dinner which turned into an hour as I hopped between some comically bad T20 cricket (featuring 3 people in the stands and some awful fielding from Imran Tahir) a Barenboim Beethoven masterclass with the sort of ugly people in the audience that would have had Margaret McDonagh shaking, an episode of Friends I’d already seen and a review of the 2008/09 Premiership season which was an average one for Liverpool. A true waste of time. No-one wrote in Abe Lincoln’s biography that he achieved extraordinary things channel hopping during the civil war. So now it’s all gone.

So just wait to be amazed at what is possible without the power of Sky (and an extra £25 a month in my wife’s pocket). Next challenge: staying sober when I’m down the pub watching Liverpool games twice a week.

Hopes and Fears on the dawn of the new season