Just saw this guy in the grass this morning, on my way to campus.

Who says you can’t get shallow depth of field out of a pocket camera?

For those who are interested, WP-Cats now works with Wordpress 2.5.1.

I took a Richard Powers waltz workshop in Toronto a few months ago. I’m not very good at it and haven’t had enough chances to practice, but I can now hold down the basics of cross step and rotary. Since learning it, I’ve begun to notice much more distinctly songs that are in 3/4 or 6/8 rather than common time. All swing and related dances are strictly in four, so the lilting rhythm of waltz time can be a lovely change for the ears and feet.

The traditional music of waltz is, I think, largely Strauss and a number of other pre-20th century composers. And there’s merit in doing a dance to its traditional music. However, waltzing seems to work well to plenty of modern tunes too; here’s a selection of my favourite popular songs in 3/4 and 6/8 time. I’ve linked each to somewhere you can hear at least a sample of it—Amazon MP3, YouTube, or an artist’s page. Read on…