A rabbi friend tells me that if everyone in the world would observe the Sabbath just once, Messiah would come. We're not quite there, but isn't it cool how Passover, Pascha (Orthodox Easter) and (Western) Easter all coincided this year? Happens sometimes, but it's kinda rare.

You don't get Messiah, however, you get a long-overdue re-REC album from me. God, that must be a let-down. ;)

Interview Questions for my Final paper on hitRECord (amylion)—Anyone who slogs through my response to this will understand why I love it so much. It's a great set of questions provoking reflection on what we're doing here (in both senses of that phrase) and why. I've added my response to my hitRECord.edu collab as well, and if anyone wants to have discussion I think it would be lots of fun to do it over there! Maybe amylion will add the original set of questions to that collab... I'm curious to know what kind of paper this could possibly be for, but apart from that, I think it's a good thing for all of us individually and collectively to reflect on the wonderful questions she's asking.

Catch a Falling Star (SereneQuill)—This is such a fun little drawing/tiny story. I love the complete randomness of SereneQuill's choice to draw a duck in a princess? party? hat. I also love that she has not just illustrated a tiny story, but has taken it a bit further—this is an adaptation and drawing of a tiny story by Hati. I'm sure Hati's honored by that—I would be anyway.

Light Painting Alphabet (geeksweetie)—These letters, numbers, and symbols are SO COOL. Hopefully people with the appropriate software and talents will find them useful!

I call him Mr Fielding (LydiaSaskia)—I find this delightfully creepy for a few reasons. First, the title—due to a personal connotation (a person once told me about a "ghost" he'd seen, and said, "I call her Katherine." So the phrasing "I call him/her..." makes me think of something paranormal. I'm sure that's completely unique to me!). Second, the first comment is LydiaSaskia changing his name! And of course, the picture itself is creepy. LydiaSaskia has helpfully also uploaded related images—his hand, and a pencil sketch of his face—for anyone who wants to work with this guy!

the sinking ghost (Johnnyclyde)—It's been a while since I've downloaded a song from here for my mp3 player (mostly 'cause I haven't had time to really spend here lately), but this one I knew the minute I started listening to it that I would need to have it on hand. I'll bet it could be used either to remix as music or to put to video. I love the way Johnnyclyde builds it in (IIRC) 3 movements that both repeat the basic theme and expand on it. Very lovely, and soothing, to me at least.

Yes, we're sinking (eaneikciv)—Speaking of sinking, and lovely music...I also downloaded this one. I really enjoy the simplicity of the lyrics as well as the music. You're going to want it on your mp3 player too!

freight train (SarahMacLeod)—Being asthmatic, the idea of death by suffocation or drowning really terrifies me. The imagery in this poem is a bit chaotic, but artfully so. It's a great example of how poetry can communicate if you let your logical mind relax and let the images move you. If this inspires further remixing, I think it could be especially good if that inspiration weren't overly literal or direct, but rather worked the way the images in this poem do.

And to celebrate collaboration, I want to include a few pairs:

New born tales (Lea Dniel) and New Born Tales (Colored) (aglow)—The original drawing is imaginative and just plain awesome. I love aglow's coloring of it, too—my favorite things about it are the color scheme, the way the hair looks like gold-leaf, and the way it looks like it's painted on wood.

Tunnels (AlleyWest) and My Response (Kristen.Duh.)—As I commented on one of these RECords, I can hear the original and smell the remix. When I first looked at AlleyWest's photo, I had a strong feeling of a strange silence caused by absorption of sound and maybe a little reverberation (I know, that's not technically silence, white noise maybe), and in Kristen.Duh.'s saturated version, I hate to say, I smelled that acrid smell that you're not sure if it's urine or just mold or algae or something growing in the dampness... But the point is that these sensory responses were called up simply by pictures, and I think that's very cool.

morning birds (via) and Birds out my Back door (monkeychow)—These aren't related, other than that they're both sound recordings of birds that might come in handy for something! Also I was turned onto both of them by Elspeth's most recent reRECs. She has lots of great stuff there, so be sure to check it out! (I actually got a few of my reRECs from hers. I promise I'm not being lazy, I just really agree with her choices!)

This week has seen a lot of work re: the "At the Movies" event, and I'm sorry I haven't included any of it here. Most of it seems to be video footage (other than the wonderful drawings by caceth, but they're featured so my re-RECing them is pointless) and my ancient computer won't play video. So I haven't SEEN any of those RECords.

On a personal note, In about a month I'll have a newer computer, yay!!! I'll be bringing it back from Detroit—I can't wait for my trip home, I haven't been home in 2 years!!! I'm so homesick. I saw my sisters last summer (they came here), but I haven't seen my mom & dad, or so many of my friends, or my beloved city of Detroit, for two whole years. Plus I get to be there for the celebrations around the 100th anniversary of our building's completion at my home church, the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (May 21 & 22). I'll take lots of pictures & stuff!  :)