I recently attended the Joffrey Ballet’s production of Carmen, and while I had the privilege of watching from a perfect front-row, center seat (thanks to a remarkable $30 ticket), I left the theater somewhat unsettled. The dancers’ technique was solid, the orchestra gave a nice performance, and yet — something about the production went fundamentally astray. what went wrong in my pov: Carmen Herself The greatest shortcoming, in my view, lies in the characterization of Carmen. She was not the radiant, magnetic figure we expect — the embodiment of confidence, independence, and dangerous charm. Instead, this Carmen seemed curiously subdued, at times even mournful. When she rejected Don José, she appeared more sorrowful than defiant, as though regret had clouded her resolve. ...

Two fascinating cases of market design for grad students at UChicago. Bidding for classes At Booth, students enroll in courses through an auction system. The process runs across four stages — each a separate round of auction, with waitlist and drop-refund rules layered in. The bidding schedule for Fall 2025 quarter At the start, students are endowed with virtual currency (e.g. 8,000 Bid Points for new PhDs; returning students carry over 2,000 points per course completed). They can see the total seat supply, remaining spots, and the clearing prices from all past rounds — including the current quarter. ...

There’s a carillon on the top of the Rockefeller Chapel at University of Chicago. The Rockefella Chapel viewed from the 7th floor of the David Rubenstein Forum building. It’s kinda like a piano, but instead of strings or pipes (like an organ), Carillons use bronze bells of different sizes, each producing a distinct pitch. The Rockefeller one operates pure mechanically. ...

Some fun algebraic manipulations.

You can configure Hugo Papermod file to create audio cards in websites—like pictures. Everytime you store in static/audio/track.mp3, then put the following embedding code in the markdown text: {{ < audio src="/audio/graze_the_roof.m4a" title="Graze the Roof" artist="Ariana Tang" caption="April 2022, Created using Logic Pro" cover="/audio/graze_the_roof_cover.jpeg" download=false > }} And the audio player would appear: Graze the RoofAriana Tang Your browser does not support the audio element. April 2022, Created using Logic Pro Here’s what you need to do for the above to work ...

Professional music critiques rarely poses any aptitude for mathematics. As they like to compare musical processes unintelligible to them with the equally darksome methods of mathematical thinking, especially they hated algebra: “The science of Mousier Berlioz is a sterile algebra” (P. Scudo, Critique et Littérature Musicales, Paris, 1852); “The music of Wagner imposes mental tortures that only algebra has a right to inflict” (Paul de Saint-Victor, La Presse, Paris, March 1861); “This theme serves [Ravel] for four movements [of the String Quartet] during which there is about as much emotional nuance as warms a problem in algebra” (New York Tribune, Dec 12, 1906). ...

“[Mendelssohn] was certainly THE greatest composer under 18 that we know of (and yes I’m including Mozart in that), and his best music ranks up there with the best composers in history.” Sticky Notes | Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Sticky Notes podcast had this wonderful episode about Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Nights Dream. It strikes the perfect balance: weaving together the composer’s background, the craft of his orchestration, and detailed comparisons of music passages. It’s the kind of introduction that makes the music both accessible and luminous: ...

Plants vs. Zombies has been my favorite game since childhood—through high school, and still today. During the pandemic, after binging through every level (twice), I found myself turning not to the gameplay but to its music. Graze the Roof is one of my favourite: PvZ soundtrack is remarkable. The composer and sound director Laura Shigihara was in a relationship with George Fan, the creator of the first game. ...

Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major is heavily influenced by Jazz (see this post Ravel and Gershwin and Their Obsession with Jazz). You can hear a lot of Jazz colored motives in the fast, vivid first movement (I. Allegramente). And, as Ravel famously remarked that “The most captivating part of jazz is its rich and diverting rhythm.” — even subtle Jazz influenced can be noticed in the breathtakingly beautiful slow movement (II. Adagio). ...

Today at Booth’s PhD math camp, we revisited some foundational concepts in probability theory. Two key topics stood out to me: Frequentist vs. Bayesian Perspectives A crucial distinction lies in what we treat as random: Frequentist: Parameters (e.g., population mean $\mu$) are fixed, and randomness comes from the data. Example: $$ P(X \mid \mu) $$ We ask: Given a true mean $\mu$, how likely is it to observe sample mean $X$? ...