I've been playing a lot of Warcraft III this weekend, helped in large part by the cable modem. It's a really well-done game, and you'd like it if you played either Warcraft II or Starcraft. It's a little bit slower paced than earlier games, but this allows things to be more strategy-based rather than who can click the fastest. Check it out if you want to waste some time and money.

Tomorrow is the first day of classes. I'm taking String Quartets on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and my class of music theory young'ns is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11:15. Besides that, I'm also taking trumpet and composition lessons, for a grand total of nine credits. Perhaps once school starts, I'll write about interesting things again.

The Portsmouth Symphonia was unique in that fully two-thirds of its members did not know how to play a musical instrument. Result: Their music (if you could call it that) was appallingly bad, but also "refreshingly original," one reviewer wrote. "Unhampered by preordained melody, the orchestra tackled the great compositions, agreeing only on when they should start and finish. The cacophony which resulted was naturally an immense hit."

Conductor Leonard Bernstein credited the Symphonia with "changing his attitude to the William Tell Overture forever." The Symphonia recorded two records, both of which "became very popular, demonstrating yet again the public's great appreciation of incompetence." - Uncle John's 12th Bathroom Reader