Ben's Songs

Posted by: bnewman This song is part three of the song cycle Melissa Mielfée and the Omphalonian Orchid, a Harry Potter x Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fanfic.

Posted by: bnewman Opinions within the gamer community differ widely regarding the ethics of emulation — copying old games onto modern computers where they can be played by using software tools to mimic the behavior of older console hardware.

Posted by: bnewman The Eagles' original has been crying out for this pun for a long time, and I'm certainly not the first to think of it or mention it, but I may be the first to expand it into a complete story-song.

Posted by: bnewman This one began with just the pun(ch) line, but when I realized what piece of media it could be about, it grew (ahem) into something deeper.

Posted by: bnewman If you're at all familiar with action adventures or comic books, you've surely heard Justin's name before, but did you know he has a twin brother?

Posted by: bnewman Hekate is a mysterious and complex goddess, associated with magic and witchcraft, liminal spaces, and threes — such as places where three roads meet; or the upper, middle, and lower worlds.

Posted by: bnewman In Hebrew, "chochmah" means "wisdom", and "kavanah" means "intention", often particularly referring to a statement of intention or mystical formula recited before the main part of a prayer or ritual to set an appropriate tone — so a "ch…

Posted by: bnewman According to a meme that has been going around, the name of OpenAI's flagship product sounds especially funny if you know French. lyrics and music by Benjamin Newman listen to this song ( Read more... ) comments

Posted by: bnewman Having disposed of certain people's ambitions of Mars colonization, let's plant the seeds of a more egalitarian vision for our future on the red planet — a future we can build together if only we keep marching Martian. lyrics by Benjamin

Posted by: bnewman Avinu Malkeinu (Our Father, Our King) is a solemn hymn chanted on the holiest days of the Jewish year, reminding us of the G-d before whom we stand.

Posted by: bnewman Just in time for Purim, a chant from the Scroll of Esther, and a midrash (interpretation).

Posted by: bnewman Just in time for Purim, a classic verse from the Scroll of Esther: "Who knows, maybe it was for just such a time as this that you came to royalty?"

Posted by: bnewman In the memorable Babylon 5 episode "War Without End" (for which spoiler alert but I will, like the character who sings this song, try to keep them vague), the alien Zathras is assigned by Cmdr.

Posted by: bnewman I began writing this song when the current assault on the federal bureaucracy was just a talking point and a twinkle in a candidate's eye.

Posted by: bnewman Updated song titles and added recordings for three older Dave Carter parodies: Solitary World Gandalf the White Orodruin comments

Posted by: bnewman Based on a haunting and pointed Advent hymn, this song is a pointed rebuke to religious conservatives who blame natural disasters and the decline of nations on the "sins" of the same people they've always picked on, while ignoring the v…

Posted by: bnewman Skroderiders are one of several iconic alien races in Vernor Vinge's classic A Fire Upon the Deep— cyborgs consisting of a sessile, frond-like intertidal animal and a wheeled cart with computing faculties.

Posted by: bnewman Explorators are sentient, self-replicating and self-improving space probes sent out by a race of makers who developed AI but not the technology to sustain organic life across interstellar distances.

Posted by: bnewman Zoe's original song tells the story of a set of heirloom crystal glasses that become fewer in number but dearer to memory as time passes.

Posted by: bnewman This song sets out one of the foundational myths of the Storytellers' World, an original fantasy setting.

Posted by: bnewman In Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky, "Rappaport Digby" is the (translated) name of the host of the radio show "The Children's Hour of Science" on the home planet of a race of spider-like aliens.

Posted by: bnewman 326-3827, the number of the trash compactor unit in Star Wars: A New Hope, may not have anything in common with 236-6132 besides being someone's telephone number, but something about the tone of the song seemed to fit the scene, setting…

Posted by: bnewman Durian is a large tropical fruit known for its tough, spiky exterior (you don't want to be hit with one), delicate yet unctuous floral taste, and a peculiar and penetrating smell which to some resembles rotting garbage.

Posted by: bnewman This song was inspired by a social media post about Asherah, the Canaanite goddess who was sometimes worshipped as the consort of the G-d of Israel.

Posted by: bnewman One of the wonderful things about Persephone is that She is a many-faced goddess who means different things to different people.