Music of the Hemispheres
Dr. Levitin beamed. “You hear only one note, and you already know who it is,” he said. “So what I want to know is: How we do this? Why are we so good at recognizing music?”
Topiary Coiffeurs
In belated recognition of National Barbers’ Day, I offer this passage from “Rhinocratic Oaths” (Vivian Stanshall/Neil Innes), Bonzo Dog Band, The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse (1968).
Much as he hated arguments or any kind of unpleasantness, Ron Shirt thought things had gone too far when, returning from a weekend in Clacton, he found that his neighbor had trimmed the enormous hedge dividing their gardens into the shape of a human leg. Enraged and envious beyond belief, Ron seized his garden shears and clipped his white poodle Rex into the shape of a coffee table. “That’ll fix it,” thought Ron — but he was wrong. The following Wednesday his neighbor had his bushy waist-length hair cut and permed into a model of the Queen Elizabeth and went sailing. Everywhere he went, people said “Hurray!” Sometimes you just can’t win.
Fakespeare
We know his plays intimately, but for centuries his outward appearance has been a mystery. Now a scientific investigation has examined the evidence and believes that this is the true face of William Shakespeare.
“Kate has the script” (“Thwaites has your letter”)
Clipped from “NB”, the column contributed to the TLS by “J.C.” (15 December 2006):
In the literary business, you’re always on the lookout for the next big break. It could come out of nowhere. The poet and former co-editor of Encounter, Anthony Thwaite, received an offer he could hardly refuse in a letter last week. It was written on headed notepaper, from Anderson Management, Inc of New York, and was signed by the CEO herself, Jennifer Anderson. She asked Mr Thwaite — in her excitement she addresses him as “Thwaites” — to help her complete a book, and to share in the resulting film bonanza.
Guilt
Whenever I return home and spend extended time with my family I am always reminded that guilt is a terrible, ineffective motivator for change.
Resolutions
Alright, give ‘em to me in the comments. I’ll start.
The Days of Yore
Kotsko makes an apt point about this picture:
Believe It or Else
“The Wizard of Oz’s tin man costume was largely destroyed” onstage at a Long Beach war rally in 1942. As burly longshoremen crushed the tin torso, midgets unfurled a banner encouraging citizens to contribute to scrap metal drives.
America the Overfull
In a NYTime’s essay on America and the world, Paul Theroux reflects not only on the past, but the future of our country and the planet. Moving forward into 2007, we need a clear understanding of where we are now and where we have been. Theroux says,
We are passing through a confused period of aggression and fear, characterized by our confrontational government, the decline of diplomacy, a pugnacious foreign policy and a settled belief that the surest way to get people to tell the truth is to torture them. (And by the way, “water boarding” was a torture technique at the worst of the Khmer Rouge prisons.) It is no wonder we have begun to squint at strangers. This is a corrosive situation in a country where more and more people, most of them strangers, are a feature of daily life. Americans as a people I believe to be easygoing, compassionate, not looking for a fight. But surely I am not the only one who has noticed that we are ruder, more offhand, readier to take offense, a nation of shouters and blamers.
The Graying of Naughty
“There has been a greater openness to older performers than there once was,” said Mark Kernes, a senior editor at Adult Video News, or AVN, the industry’s main trade paper. “Typically, once you got to 35, your possibilities were pretty much shot.”
National Barbers’ Day
Theater
“God damn you,” the guard said.
“God damn you,” responded Saddam.
Tonight
Cowardly Lion costume
It is going for 700,000 on ebay. (via ToM)
Katy, TX
Earlier this month, Baker conceded that the Muslims probably aren’t after his land, but he said he had to go through with the pig races because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t.”
Gene Therapy for Depression
The research represents the first time that depression has been eliminated genetically in any organism, said Guy Debonnel, a psychiatrist and professor at McGill University.
Might-y Fine
I like the conclusion of Sarah Churchwell’s December 15 TLS review of William J. Mann’s weasely-waffly-did-she-or-didn’t-she-was-she-or-wasn’t-she biography of Katharine Hepburn, Kate: The woman who was Katharine Hepburn. It recalls that wonderful Sunset Boulevard line, spoken by Gloria Swanson as silent star Norma Desmond: “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces.”
Of Mann’s “repeated carping that [Hepburn's] acting range was limited”, Churchwell writes, “With the possible exception of Bette Davis, none of the classic Hollywood stars had much range. They had something far rarer: personality.”
Devil Names and Fortean Places
Nostrils of Satan, indeed.
Says Loren Coleman in his Mysterious America [Revised Edition] (Paraview Press, 2001):
I have long noticed an American historical acknowledgement of Forteana-ridden places by the use of the work “devil” in the naming of these locations . . . .
Nostrils of Satan
“As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone National Park selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of Satan,” (said PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.)
Gas
Almost every time a company drills for oil or gas on federal property, it’s supposed to pay a royalty or tax to the government…. But CBS News has learned from a Congressional source that the federal agency responsible for collecting billions of dollars in those royalties has routinely failed to hold the companies accountable.
[your joke about owning-big-trucks-as-compensatory-behavior here]
As Dr. Nowicki chronicled in his book, biologists have long puzzled over deception. Dishonesty should undermine trust between animals. Why, for example, do green frogs keep believing that a big croak means a big male? New research is offering some answers: Natural selection can favor a mix of truth and lies, particularly when an animal has a big audience. From one listener to the next, honesty may not be the best policy.
Speaking of vertigo . . . : “The Most Dangerous Roads in the World”
Re North Yungas Road in Bolivia:
Apparently some companies make business on the road’s dubious fame by selling the extreme bike tours down that road. “Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking” is one of them. (you can read one such biker’s account here.) If you are nuts enough to consider it, please be advised that you will be only adding to the road hazards, as it’s hard to spot a cyclist on the road’s hairpin curves, and your shrieks (as you fall down the abyss) will disturb the peace and quiet of the villagers nearby.
Pictures that will leave you gasping for breath.
Part I and Part II (roads which “did not quite make the list”) (3 Quarks Daily)
“Collage students,” Part IV: Playing Bach for Africans
Note: I’ve made reference to the earlier posts on Clusterflock, but for convenience’s sake I’ll refer the curious to the earlier posts on my blog: Part I is here, Part II here, and Part III here. The present post exists in a slightly-longer form here.
* * *
The booklet that accompanies A Lazarus Taxon has essays about Tortoise written in several languages, only one of which I’m able to read, alas. No matter for the moment, though: it’s what led me to the reason why this post is here.
In that essay, Alan Licht mentions an essay by Brian Eno written in 1994 called “Unfinished,” in which Eno writes about the implications of interactive media on the notion of definitive versions of art. Curious, I looked for and failed to find the essay, but I did find this interview with Eno in the May 1995 issue of Wired in which he talks about that very idea:
Sithchatchawal v. Monshipour
There were more head-snapping uppercuts landed than in all six “Rocky” movies put together.
Realization
Yahoo used to be a cool company.