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Archives: June 2004
Wed Jun 30, 2004
Peacocks and mysteries
Through the agency of T.S. O'Rama, Flannery O'Connor now has a weblog.
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Ronde
The first half of a dance pair by Tielman Susato, published in 1551. (Susato's counterpoint, not mine.)
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Tue Jun 29, 2004
Summer color
Although daylilies are good, foolproof sources of yellows and oranges, my favorites are the deep reds, such as these, which have been blooming enthusiasically along the side of the house despite total neglect and encroaching honeysuckle and trumpet vine.
I also like true blues, such as this convolvulus.
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Computer music of another sort
An antique musical instrument: the IBM 1403 Printer.
(Via The Fredösphere.)
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Goat culture
I may not be the most eccentric person in Wichita, after all. I looked at the list of Kansas weblogs at Globe of Blogs and found Year of the Goat.
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Mon Jun 28, 2004
Harry and Thor
Cacciaguida on the danger of Harry Potter:
On the whole, I think the danger that the Potter stories will turn well-brought-up kids into sorcerers are about on a par with the danger that Wagner's operas will turn well-brought-up kids into worshippers of Odin and Thor. I stared doing Wagner heavily at age six; I became a Catholic at age 24, and have remained one, while fully maintaining my Wagner habit.
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Bookmarks
I
I visited a used book store Saturday. Among my purchases was Orson Scott Card's The Folk of the Fringe. Naturally I read the afterwords first. The following passage caught my attention:
When I said I had no small talk, that really wasn't true. I can slip right in and be comfortable with any group of my own community. But this wasn't my community. These guys were Americans, not Mormons; those of us who grew up in Mormon society and remain intensely involved are only nominally menbers of the American community. We can fake it, but we're always speaking a foreign language. Only when we get with fellow Saints are we truly at home.
I have always considered myself both fully Catholic and fully American. I would never say that "I'm American, not Catholic," or vice versa. While, as a Catholic, I am appalled by certain laws and court decisions, I am not "faking it" when I call myself an American. I may be a "nominal" Republican (you have to declare a party affiliation to vote in Kansas primaries), but I am no nominal American or Catholic.
I've not taken any surveys, but I think in this respect I probably am typical of most USA Catholics. My question is, is Card representative of most Mormons?
Not-quite-irrelevant footnote: I spent the largest chunk of my childhood in Brigham City, Utah. Most of my friends were Mormons, and the differences in our faiths never caused any friction. There was plenty else to fight about.
II
Every time I visit a used book store, I check the shelves for collections of R.A. Lafferty, which I rescue and donate to friends who might find him interesting. I was lucky Saturday and found a copy of Nine Hundred Grandmothers, his first collection. If anybody reading this is interested in this book, email me with your snail-mail address, and I'll be happy to send it to you. (Please include "Lafferty" in the header so I don't delete it with the daily spam.) I also have extra copies of Lafferty's second collection, Strange Doings and Gene Wolfe's Endangered Species and several of Lafferty's novels which need homes.
Here are a couple of web pages on Lafferty: Bryan Cholfin's essay comparing Lafferty and P.K. Dick, and an overview of Lafferty's writing.
Soundtrack: Be Bop Deluxe, "Shine"
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Lisztomania
Another blasted list, courtesy of Lynn S. The pieces I've heard are in bold, and those I have recordings of are in italics.
More...
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Charles O'Connor
A lively tune from Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738).
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Sun Jun 27, 2004
Carolan's Welcome
One of the approximately 200 tunes attributed to the blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan. If I remember correctly, the Chieftans played this for Pope John Paul II when he visited Ireland.
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Sat Jun 26, 2004
Fit only for dentists' offices
The Chicago Tribune lists what it thinks are the 50 best magazines. The list includes Time, Entertainment Weekly and People. Missing are First Things and The New Criterion. Need I say more?
(Via Reflections in d minor.)
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Stunted creativity
Barbara Nicolosi on Steven Spielberg:
The director has desperately tried to make himself a brilliant reputation with films like AI, (Pathetic attempt to appropriate Kubrick's spiritual distortion. On Spielberg it just felt embarrassingly pretentious.) Minority Report (Fun film. Too bad the real minorities here were the deep insights.) and Saving Private Ryan (The battle scenes are amazing. The insight into men at arms was awol.) All of these faltered under Speilberg's facile gremlin. Borrowing from Flannery O'Connor, Speilberg just can't seem to give up finding cause and effect solutions for every human problem. He has no comfort with mystery - and so his movies all end up feeling pretty pat.
*****
Oh, if only Spielberg could, like, lose all his money, spend a few years in some public opprobrium and enter into some dark night of the soul. But, I don't think he is going to be that lucky.
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Carolan's Receipt
In which Carolan celebrates getting his doctor's permission to drink again.
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Fri Jun 25, 2004
Housekeeping
I spent part of the evening cleaning up my music page. The links should all work now, and I've added a few new ones. Sometime this summer I'll give it a major revision, dumping many of the older tunes to make room for all the wonderful new music I have in mind, but that won't happen for a month or two (or three, or four ...).
Soundtrack: Rare Air, "Onward Blindly Onward"
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Get your Rush on
In case John L. missed it: the whitest band on Earth.
(Via St. Blog's #1 Rush fan.)
John reviews a recent concert wth Geddy, Alex and Neil here.
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Basic literacy
For those who missed the link at Mark Shea's place:
Quoth the Maven: In response to my last post, Calee posted a comment how I explain my love for the Harry Potter books, given that so many people believe they "promote witchcraft."
To be blunt, I think many Christians have never been taught how to read a book. They can't see past the most obvious surface level to understand what a book is really about. And I think some Christians will be a bit embarrassed (if they bother to look) when the last Harry Potter book comes out and it becomes clear (for those who have eyes to see) that Ms. Rowling is in fact, writing a series of Christian books.
I regret to note that the Director of Religious Education for the Diocese of Wichita is among those who haven't read Rowling but nevertheless feel competent to advise parents to keep their kids away from Harry Potter.
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Michael and me and Evercrack
Via OGIC, Pauline Kael's review of Michael Moore's first movie:
The picture is like the work of a slick ad exec. It does something that is humanly very offensive: Roger & Me uses its leftism as a superior attitude. Members of the audience can laugh at ordinary working people and still feel that they’re taking a politically correct position.
OGIC also recently posted an excerpt from an article on economics within online game universes such as Everquest. The entire article is worth reading:
When the on-line world Second Life launched, the players were impressed to see a female avatar industriously building a sprawling monster home. An in-game neighbour stopped by to say hello only to discover she was a homeless person in British Columbia, logging on using her single remaining possession, a laptop. Penniless in the real world, she belonged to a social elite in the fake one.
*****
Of course, every booming economy has not only its white-shoe financiers but also its lowly offshore workers. A few years ago, a company called Black Snow Interactive opened up a "levelling" service for the game Dark Age of Camelot. It had a digital sweatshop in Mexico; there, ultra-low-wage workers would click away at computers, playing the characters twenty-four hours a day to level them up. Mythic, the company that runs Dark Age of Camelot, got wind of the scheme and closed down Black Snow's accounts and auctions. The operators vanished, and have not been heard of since.
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Carolan's Concerto
by Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). It was supposedly written for a contest with Geminiani, a baroque composer who visited Ireland and spent some time with the blind harpist.
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Thu Jun 24, 2004
Lavena/Picking of Sticks
"Picking of Sticks" is a popular dance in the Society for Creative Anachronism. However, the melody for it in Playford is so short and trite, and the dance goes on for so long, that SCA musicians usually combine the tune with that of another Playford dance, "Lavena." I have done that here. The outer parts are "Lavena," and the middle is "Picking of Sticks."
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Wed Jun 23, 2004
Mathematical theorems and visual elegance
A NYT article on David Huffman and computational origami:
In contrast to traditional origami, where all folds are straight, Dr. Huffman developed structures based around curved folds, many calling to mind seedpods and seashells. It is as if paper has been imbued with life.
In another innovative approach, Dr. Huffman explored structures composed of repeating three-dimensional units - chains of cubes and rhomboids, and complex tesselations of triangular, pentagonal and star-shaped blocks. From the outside, one model appears to be just a rolled-up sheet of paper, but looking down the tube reveals a miniature spiral staircase. All this has been achieved with no cuts or glue, the one classic origami rule that Dr. Huffman seemed inclined to obey.
*****
What fascinated [Huffman] above all else, Dr. Tanner said, "was how the mathematics could become manifest in the paper. You'd think paper can't do that, but he'd say you just don't know paper well enough."
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Ducks on the Pond
A contradance tune that sounds particulary good on a hammered dulcimer, as Princess Harris is happy to demonstrate.
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Tue Jun 22, 2004
Too much popcorn
Two more movie lists:
100 top-grossing movies, adjusted for inflation. The overall quality is higher than on the unadjusted list below, and I've seen more of the films, but it still illustrates why I am a reader, not a moviegoer.
100 most daring films. (Via Reflections in d minor.)
The "most daring" list is by far the most interesting of these cinematic surveys. It includes a few films that I would actually like to see again (e.g., Brazil, the Marx Brothers, Metropolis) as well as several more that are on my "to investigate" list (e.g., Akira, The Rules of the Game, Sullivan's Travels). "Daring" might not be the right word; these are largely movies that aim to be intelligent and original rather than popular. (Not all of them, of course. There are many on even this list that I have no intention of seeing.)
The National Catholic Register is taking a poll to determine the best "Catholic" movies. If you are a Catholic and a moviegoer, go and vote (I only qualify on the first count). (Via Jeff Miller.)
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Cherokee Lullabies
Three Cherokee tunes. The third sounds more like a reveille to me.
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Mon Jun 21, 2004
The man ain't got no culture.
The 100 top-grossing films of all time, with the ones I've seen in bold. The ones I could stand to see again are in bold italics.
More...
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The most irrational number
A very interesting article on the Golden Ratio, the favorite number of crackpots everywhere:
... not only is GR a very special number mathematically - all of its genuine appearances in mathematics and Nature show that - it also has enormous cultural significance as the number that most people have the greatest number of false beliefs about.
(Via Dappled Things.)
Soundtrack: Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, "Tyronglaea"
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Sun Jun 20, 2004
Don't pass the popcorn
John Hawkins and Robert the LLama Butcher recently posted their top 25 comedies, so of course I will, too.
1. (tie) Monkey Business or Duck Soup. The first three-quarters of the former is the funniest of all Marxist works, though the big fight at the end belongs in a different, lesser, movie. The latter is nearly as good all the way through.
3. The Wrong Box. Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Michael Caine, Julie Christie, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, all in perfect form with a good script and director. Peter Sellers turns up, also.
4. The Lavender Hill Mob and
5. The Ladykillers. Alec Guinness' smile is one of the great works of 20th-Century art.
6. Big Business. Laurel and Hardy demonstrate that for pure hysterical comedy, nothing beats mindless destruction.
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. No comment necessary.
8. Animal Crackers. The first great Marxist comedy.
9. A Night at the Opera. And the one that marked the beginning of their decline. It's still very good, but the plot starts to matter more than than the silliness.
10. Tampopo. All about food; a "Japanese noodle western."
11. Hope and Glory. Multiplication tables and gas masks in WWII London.
12. The Producers.
13. Young Frankenstein.
14. Take the Money and Run. I haven't bothered to see any Mel Brooks or Woody Allen movies in years, but once upon a time they were funny.
15. This Is Spinal Tap. Once again, no comment necessary.
16. Airplane!. The less said about this, the better.
17. Bread and Chocolate. A pathetically funny movie about an Italian out of place in Switzerland.
18. The Life of Brian. For the Latin lesson.
19. Dr. Strangelove. For Peter Sellers' variation on the Guinness smile.
20. Raising Arizona. If this list had 25 entries, this would be in 25th place, but any movie that lists a "baby wrangler" in the credits deserves recognition.
... And that's all I can confidentally name. I remember thinking that A Shot in the Dark was the best of the Inspector Clouseau movies, but it's been decades since I last saw it. I have similar fond-but-dim memories of the original Bedazzled and The Mouse that Roared, and there are undoubtedly many good movies that I've missed.
Soundtrack: Metamora: "Little Potato"
Addendum: How could I forget Local Hero?
Hope and Glory belongs on more than just one list of outstanding movies. While it is a "poignant memoir," it is also often broadly funny enough to be called a comedy. (I also consider Hamlet to be Shakespeare's funniest play -- to my ears, the prince of Denmark sounds like an Elizabethan Groucho Marx.)
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Feline choreography
One of the pleasures of Brooke McEldoney's 9 Chickweed Lane is that he actually knows something about ballet. In today's strip, he features a different sort of pas de chat.
Soundtrack: Hot Club of Cowtown, "Devil's Dream"
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Sat Jun 19, 2004
New tune
This month's KvR competition is for science-fiction movie theme music. I've long thought that Poul Anderson's novel The High Crusade, in which a handful of medieval Englishmen capture a spaceship and overthrow a galactic empire, would make a good movie, so here's some of the music. The first and third sections are based on a bits of two thirteenth-century tunes, and the second and fourth are versions of the fifteenth-century "l'Homme Armé." (This is a bit like using Mozart and Stravinsky to score a movie about Christopher Columbus.) N.B.: it starts quietly, but it gets quite loud. Don't be too quick to turn up the volume.
The High Crusade (1.7 megabytes)
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Music and Mathematics
Edward Rothstein in the NYT this morning:
But music has a power unique among forms of human communication: it can teach itself. Gradually over repeated hearings, without the use of a dictionary or any reference to the world outside, music shows how it is to be understood. The listener begins to hear patterns, repeated motifs and changes in meter and realizes that something is happening, that sounds have punctuation, that phrases are being manipulated, transformed and recombined.
Gradually, the listener gains a form of knowledge without ever referring to anything outside the music. Sounds create their own context. They begin to make sense. Similar processes with varying richness and power take place in all forms of music, which is why it is much easier to understand another culture's music than another culture's language.
Nothing else is quite like this self-contained, self-teaching world. Music may be the ultimate self-revealing code; it can be comprehended in a locked room. This is one reason that connections with mathematics are so profound. Though math requires reference to the world, it too proceeds by noting similarities and variations in patterns, in contemplating the structure of abstract systems, in finding the ways its elements are manipulated, connected and transformed. Mathematics is done the way music is understood.
There are occasionally discussions in St. Blog’s on the virtue, or lack of virtue, of various kinds of music. These generally start with the assumption that music works primarily on the emotions and can lead to “chant good, rock bad” pronouncements. This is hopelessly simplistic. There’s plenty of music that is mostly intellectual in its appeal, and there’s even more that’s primarily physical in its effect. Neither characteristic is in itself a bad thing (otherwise, I would have to give up playing Irish reels, writing peculiar rock ‘n roll and listening to music with intricate counterpoint or chords beyond a dominant seventh).
Articles like Rothstein’s (and books such as his Emblems of Mind) are useful in demonstrating that music is profoundly deep and mysterious, operating on many levels, from the highest level of abstraction to physical processes in the brain. Rothstein again:
Much of the brain research is teasingly inconclusive. Every effort to examine the effects of single musical variables — pitch, meter, harmony — inadvertently shows just how much more music is than the sum of its parts. Despite attempts to identify a particular musical region of the brain, for example, Dr. Tramo has shown that many regions are active when music is heard; even motor areas of the brain can become active though the body might be at rest.
Soundtrack: Schumann, “Papillons”
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Estampie Royale IV
Another French dance tune from the thirteenth century.
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Fri Jun 18, 2004
Thu Jun 17, 2004
Deadly job
T.S. O’Rama recently noted that
[...] it is interesting that non-fiction writers live longer than fiction writers and fiction writers live longer than poets.
My “modern American poetry” textbook included 40 poets. Three — Plath, Sexton and Berryman — were suicides, and Jarrell probably was also. That’s a 10% fatality rate. In addition, a disproportionate number were basket cases or spent their vacations in mental wards. Poetry is a dangerous business; perhaps OSHA ought to issue some regulations.
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New World Order
I spent some time exploring the Fredösphere this evening. Frederic is not merely “the hardest-working dilletante in Rock ‘n’ Roll,” but is also a visionary on the grandest scale, developing alcohol-free absinthe (“... a clean, light, low-calorie drink that retains the capacity to blow your mind” — the Old Oligarch might be interested) and boutique gasolines, and pointing out the advantages to realigning the north and south poles — sure, Tokyo might end up in the same latitude that Fairbanks, Alaska is at now, but the entire Antarctic continent would become habitable. There are also some examples of his music to download.
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Guess how many shades of green
I occasionally wonder if there is any color that doesn't have some special significance. Apparently not; a quick perusal of a list of ribbon campaigns indicates every color of the rainbow has been repeatedly claimed by causes ranging from Genealogy Addiction to Save the Dragons to Banana Eagle Awareness. You can also find such such trendy tones as ecru, teal and puce, as well as plaid and polka dot, plus gold, silver, chrome and just plain glittery. (I didn't notice any paisley, but I might have missed it.)
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You heard that right
My niece in Alaska's favorite Beatle tune.
(Via Mark Shea.)
An inspirational classic: The Ghashlycrumb Tinies.
(Via Mark Sullivan.)
Also from Mark #2: if you believe in the fundamental decency of human beings, you might want to read about the fate of Marie Antoinette's son and reconsider.
The Surrealist Compliment Generator:
The expanse of your intelligence is a void no universe could ever fill.
(Via Catholic Ragemonkey.)
And finally, Evelyn Waugh on James Joyce:
EW: -- and he wrote absolute rot, you know. He began writing quite well and you can see him going mad as he wrote, and his last books - only fit to be set for examinations at Cambridge.
EJH: He didn’t always write gibberish, did he?
EW: No, you could watch him going mad sentence by sentence. If you read Ulysses, it’s perfectly sane for a little bit, and then it goes madder and madder - but that was before the Americans hired him. And then they hired him to write Finnegan’s Wake, which is gibberish.
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Early morning miscellany
Here’s a new weblog that might be worth keeping track of: the Fredösphere:
At this point I'm supposed to wax philosophical and give you an inspirational, high level description of this blog and its mission, but whenever I try that kind of writing I look foolish. (So do most other people.) So here are some keywords, since probably the only entities that end up reading this thing will be search engines anyway: God, choral music, living composers (including Our Fredöspherehood), architecture: new urbanism -- good, modernism -- bad (welllllll, sometimes), religious art, absinthe, Ann Arbor & Ypsilanti, Michigan, Objectivism. There.
Erik poses an entertaining question:
Is there a book that makes you want to strangle the author? I am not just talking about being a bit peeved, but having to deal with the temptations of deep-down, homicidal impulses. If so, please explain. Be honest.
I mention a couple worth burning (books and/or authors) in the comments there.
Finally, a friend sent a quiz I had missed:
More...
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Estampie
Or "saltarello." Whatever you call it, it's a lively 14th-Century Italian dance tune.
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Wed Jun 16, 2004
Round
A round by Henry Purcell. Sorry, I don't have the words, but considering his poetic abilities, that may be just as well.
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Tue Jun 15, 2004
Edgy and chilling
As a rule, I detest remakes, but the new Manchurian Candidate might be worth watching for one particular performance:
"Meryl is brilliantly scary and evil," my Paramount buddy says, who's seen the film through several rough assemblages and later cuts. "But she clearly seems like she's playing Senator Hillary, not just any woman senator. It's also something test audiences have commented about."
It doesn't help, either, that Meryl has a Hillary hairdo and wears Hillarian clothes and jewelry.
"Meryl has the Hillary hand gestures totally down pat," my insider tells me. "I don't know whether this is something she picked up subconsciously or an idea Jonathan gave her, but she's totally dead on. You feel like you're watching Hillary Clinton conspire to take over the world. The Republican Hillary-haters should totally eat this up."
Via Otto Clemson Hiss, who has also re-posted his poster for The Massachusetts Candidate.
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c=(m+n0)/p
A couple more lunchtime links, and then back to work (bleah):
A virtual tour of the basilica in St. Louis. (Via The Charlock's Shade.)
The mathematics of jokes. (Via Ellyn the Oblique.)
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Confused names
Yet another Middle Earth Name Generator
According to the Red Book of Westmarch,
In Middle-earth, Táncos was a
Confused Healer
Elven Name Possibilities for Táncos
The root name suitable for feminine and masculine is:
Vardarod
Another masculine version is:
Vardarodion
More feminine versions are:
Vardarodiel
Vardarodien
Vardarodwen
Hobbit lad name for Táncos
Ilberic Took from Willowbottom
Hobbit lass name for Táncos
Hilda Took from Willowbottom
Dwarven Name for Táncos
Garin Silverlaughter
This name is for both genders.
Orkish Name for Táncos
Snikmazh the Drooler
This name is for both genders.
Adûnaic name for Táncos
Azarmîk
If you have way too much spare time, you might want to waste some of it at The Monty Python Fellowship of the Ring.
Blame the LLama Butchers for the latter link, and also for linking to this repugnant yet oddly satisfying Flash game: Shoot the Teletubbies.
More...
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Oxford Cries
"Three Oxford Cries" made into a round by W. Hayes; published in 1786.
Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend,
Rush of cane bottom'd old chairs to mend,
Old chairs to mend.
New mackerel, new mackerel.
New mackerel, new mackerel.
Old rags, any old rags,
Take money for your old rags,
Any hare skins or rabbit skins.
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Mon Jun 14, 2004
Fairies and pianos
If you're not familiar with Pibgorn, this is a good time to acquaint yourself with Geoff the pianist, Pib the fairy and Dru the succubus. While artist Brooke McEldowney moves his home, he is repeating the online cartoon starting at the beginning. (New stories should resume in October.) In my arrogant opinion, McEldowney is the best cartoon stripper since Berke Breathed abandoned Bloom County. (By the way, has anyone seen the resuscitated Bloom County? Does Breathed still have his edge? The Wichita paper doesn't carry it.) If your newspaper doesn't carry McEldowney's other strip, 9 Chickweed Lane, you can read it here.
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Not necessarily role models
John Hawkins at Right Wing News recently asked various bloggers for their favorite fictional characters. The results are depressing: lots of comic book and movie heroes and -- ack -- James T. Kirk. Let me see if I can come up with something better.
1. Ignatius Reilly
2. Bullwinkle
3. Miss Jean Brodie (Sorry, John S., but she's a great character, however much she might remind you of a certain senatrix.)
4. Severian (from Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun) or Latro (Soldier of the Mist)
5. Uncle Fred or Psmith
6. Death (from Terry Pratchett's Discworld cosmos)
7. Enoch Soames (Beerbohm's, not the gentleman at The Charlock's Shade)
8. Captain Roadstrum (from R.A. Lafferty's Space Chantey)
9. Nobusuke Tagomi
10. Elric of Melniboné
11. Corporal Cuckoo (from a story by Gerald Kersh)
12. Ludvik (from Milan Kundera's The Joke)
13. Father Urban (from J.F. Powers' Morte D'Urban)
Disqualified for technical reasons: James Thurber's mother, Florence King's grandmother, Groucho Marx.
Via The LLama Butchers, who also link to Michelle's cartoon quotes project.
Soundtrack: Allan Holdsworth, "54 Duncan Terrace"
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The Metronome
I've posted over 400 melodies now, the majority in my own arrangements, and I need a break. For the rest of the summer the daily tunes will be ones I've posted before. I'll start the repeats with a round by Beethoven celebrating the invention of the metronome.
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
My dear, my dear Mister Mälzel!
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
Ta, how do you do?
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
Ta ta ta ta ta, hurrah, ta ta ta ta ta
Ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
Ta, hurrah, hurrah, my great
Mister Metronome! Ta ta ta ta ta.
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Sun Jun 13, 2004
A wine card of science-fiction and fantasy literature
If your sensibilities suggest to you that Eric Eddison and Ernest Bramah have written better fantasy than Piers Anthony and Katherine Kurtz, or that Cordwainer Smith and M. John Harrison have written better science fiction than Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, this site should be of real interest to you; if not, you are in the wrong place.
I haven't had time to thoroughly investigate Eric Walker's site, Great Science-Fiction and Fantasy Works, but it looks like it might be worth a few lunch hours. (There's a lot of introductory material, and you might prefer to jump directly to the main directory.) Mr. Walker includes a page on Religion in Science-Fiction & Fantasy Books. I was pleased to see that he has a high opinion of John Bellairs' first three books (he's one of three people in the world I know of who are familiar with St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies (recommended, particularly to Catholics who remember the 1960's; good luck finding it)). He also writes at length about R.A. Lafferty and manages to make some sense of that amazing and bewildering writer.
Soundtrack: Liszt, "Totentanz"
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Technical notes
From Alva Johnston's "How to Be a Great Writer," a profile of Edgar Rice Burroughs, an explanation of a once-familiar sound:
A combination of five different sound tracks is used today [ca. 1940] for the Tarzan yell. These are: I Sound track of [Johnny] Weissmuller yelling, amplified. 2. Track of hyena howl, run backward and volume diminished. 3. Soprano note sung by Lorraine Bridges, recorded on sound track at reduced speed; then re-recorded at varying speeds to give a "flutter" in sound. 4. Growl of dog, recorded very faintly. 5. Raspy note of violin G-string, recorded very faintly. In the experimental stage the five sound tracks were played over five different loud-speakers. From time to time the speed of each sound track was varied and and volume amplified or diminished.
When the orchestration of the yell was perfected, the five loud-speakers were played simultaneously and the blended sounds recorded on the master sound track. by constant practice Weissmuller is now able to let loose an almost perfect imitation of the soundtrack.
Soundtrack: Manuel de Falla: "Fantasia Baetica" (Alicia de Larrocha)
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Missed me
Just a quick note for friends and family: once again, the interesting weather stayed south of Wichita last night.
[0] comments (1352 views) | link
Zog Nit Keynmol
Zog nit keynmolaz du geyst dem letstn veg.
Chotsh himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg;
Vayl kumen vet noch undzer oysgebenktte sho,
Ed vet Poyk to undzer trot! Mir zaynen do!
Vayl kumen vet noch undzer oysgebenktte sho,
Ed vet Poyk to undzer trot! Mir zaynen do!
Never say that you are on your final road,
Though overhead dark skies of lead may death forbode;
The long awaited hour shurely's drawing near,
When with a roar our steps will thunder: We are here!
The long awaited hour shurely's drawing near,
When with a roar our steps will thunder: We are here!
From land of palm tree to the far-off land of snow,
Our people come together crushed by pain and woe.
But where a drop of our blood has touched the ground,
There our strength and our courage will resound.
But where a drop of our blood has touched the ground,
There our strength and our courage will resound.
This song is written down in with blood dna not with lead,
The birds don't sing it, for it fills the air with dread.
This song was sung as all around bullets sprayed,
And walls collapsed as people hurled their hand grenades.
This song was sung as all around bullets sprayed,
And walls collapsed as people hurled their hand grenades.
Another song written by Hirsch Glik.
[0] comments (1414 views) | link
Sat Jun 12, 2004
Friends and allies
While checking a quotation in E.B. and K.S. White's A Subtreasury of American Humor (pound for pound, still the best collection of funny writing ever compiled), I rediscovered Robert Benchley's 1929 appreciation of French journalism, "La Presse Perverse":
In reading French newspapers, there is always one consolation: no matter how little of the meaning you are able to get, you aren't missing a thing.
I found the following paragraph particularly interesting:
But no matter what page you look at in a French paper, you will find America mentioned. Even the front-page essays on Rousseau manage to slip in a paragraph or two taking a crack at Oncle Sam. The ratification of the dettes has, of course, been the chief topic of comment, and from L'Humanité to L'Écho de Paris the general attitude toward the United States is one of boiling rage. Practically the only general news-notes from America that French papers will play up are those dealing with torch-murders, flag-pole-sittings and the extreme heat. It was, therefore, with considerable surprise that we saw a headline on the front page of L'Écho de Paris reading "Un Grand Américain," but it turned out to be a tribute to Theodore Roosevelt and a lament that America had strayed so far from his teachings.
Soundtrack: Dreadnaught: "James Thresher Industries: Building Solid Careers in Middle Management Since 1976"
[0] comments (1407 views) | link
Shtil Di Nacht
Shtil, di nacht iz oysgeshtent,
Un der front hot shtark gebrennt.
Tsi gedenkstu vi ich hob dich gelernt
Haltn a shpayer in di hent?
Tsi gedenkstu vi ich hob dich gelernt
Haltn a shpayer in di hent?
Still, the night, and decked with starlight,
And the frost burned like fine sand.
You remember the time that I did teach you
To hold a pistol in your hand?
You remember the time that I did teach you
To hold a pistol in your hand?
A girl in furs hides in the forest,
Holding tight a hand grenade.
A girl with a face of smoothest velvet
Strikes at the German's cavalcade.
She aims, she fires true and steady
With her pistol smoking hot.
A transport, loaded down with weapons,
Has been halted with one shot.
At dawn she steals from out the forest,
Snowflakes garlanding her hair.
How proud of her one small winning battle,
Leading to freedom everywhere.
A song written by Hirsch Glik.
[0] comments (1409 views) | link
Fri Jun 11, 2004
J.K. Rowling, alchemist
John Granger (no relation to Hermione) argues in an Alchemist's Tale that the Harry Potter books make extensive use of alchemical symbolism:
So Rowling seems to have given the reader lots of obvious hints that the books use alchemical symbols. This takes us to test two: Are both the design and predominant imagery of the books alchemical? They are.
First, the design. Let me give three examples. The first is the analogy of the roles of sulfur and mercury in alchemy with the roles of Harry’s friends Ron and Hermione in the books. The alchemical work purifies a base metal by dissolving and recongealing the metal using two principal reagents or catalysts. These reagents reflect the masculine and feminine polarities of existence. “Alchemical sulfur” represents the masculine, impulsive, and red pole, while “quicksilver” or “alchemical mercury” represents the feminine and cool complement. Together and separately these reagents advance the base metal to gold.
Harry’s two closest friends are Ron Weasley, the redheaded, passionate boy, and Hermione Granger, the brilliant, cool young woman. They are also living symbols of alchemical sulfur (Ron) and mercury (Hermione). Together, and more obviously, in their disagreements and separation, Harry’s friendships with Ron and Hermione transform him from lead to gold. Sulfur and quicksilver are frequently called “the quarreling couple,” an apt name for Ron and Hermione.
Granger ventures a prediction for HP #6:
His new friend Luna is another alchemical symbol. “Luna is the bride, the white queen, consort of King Sol. She is the moist, cold, receptive principle which must be united with Sol, the dry, hot, active principle in the chemical wedding.” A girlfriend for the hot and dry—burned to a cinder—Harry? Luna “symbolizes the attainment of the perfect white stage, the albedo, where the matter of the Stone reaches absolute purity.” (Look for Harry and Luna to be a couple in the sixth book—much to Hermione’s and Professor McGonagall’s disgust.)
(Via the Paladin of Faith and Reason.)
[0] comments (1673 views) | link
Di Mechutonim Geyen
Di mechutonim geyen, kinder,
Lomir zich freyen, Shat nor shat!
Der chosn iz gor a vunder,
Shpilt a lidele dem chosns tsad.
Ayay, ayayay, ayay, ayayay!
Ayayay, ayayay, ayayayay ayayay.
Now all the in-laws are arriving,
Let's all be happy. Come and see!
The bridegroom us just a wonder.
Play a song for his family.
Ayay, ayayay, etc.
[0] comments (1421 views) | link
Thu Jun 10, 2004
Targeted advertising
Meredith, who recently wrote pungently about the Anti-Lewis, might not appreciate one of ads that appeared on her site today:
More...
[1] comments (1472 views) | link
Request
Prayers would be appreciated for my niece, who is scheduled for cancer surgery tomorrow. Thank you.
[0] comments (1420 views) | link
Academia vs. art
Barbara Nicolosi's back:
There is nothing egalitarian about artistic talent, a fact that is an ongoing source of outrage to the melancholic Marxists who hold sway in pretty much every Humanities department at the top universities. I remember one of my grad school professors becoming enraged at me when I asked if she thought any of my class’ final projects were ultimately any good. “How dare you hinder the right of self-expression by asking that kind of question?” Having already gotten my grades for the term, I shrugged back, “How dare this university charge me $30,000 for a transcript of meaningless grades?”
[0] comments (1622 views) | link
Whatever, now and forever
From the comments at Asymmetrical Information:
The Agnostic's Prayer
(Roger Zelazny, Creatures of Light and Darkness, © 1969)
Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after the destruction of your body, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit. I ask this in my capacity as your elected intermediary between yourself and that which may not be yourself, but which may have an interest in the matter of your receiving as much as it is possible for you to receive of this thing, and which may in some way be influenced by this ceremony. Amen.
[0] comments (1499 views) | link
Really silly stuff
The Hatemonger's Quarterly discovered the movie reviews of the Maoist International Movement and found much to snigger at. Where else would you learn that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is "is almost the best we can expect from bourgeois liberalism's films for children"? Or that The Return of the King is "militarist and criminal"? Be sure to check out the capsule reviews as well. Here's MIM on Groundhog Day:
How to get laid by a partner who can say no? Phil, a cynical television weatherman suddenly doomed to live one day in his politically incorrect life over and over again, gets an infinite number of chances to change his patriarchal strategy and hit a lucky number. He uses his 24 hours of god-hood to rape his politically correct producer into "consent." When normal lies and threats fail to produce the required surrender, Phil constructs an elaborate plot in which he enlists the unwitting help of the entire town. By the end of the movie everyone, even Phil, is convinced that he has lost his sexism and transformed himself into the nicest father-figure around.
If you use such vocabulary as "amerikkka," united $tates," "wimmin," "persyn" and "humyn," you'll feel right at home at MIM.
[2] comments (1524 views) | link
Shlof Mayn Kind, Shlof Keseyder
"Sleep My Child, Sleep Securely"
Shlof, mayn kind, shlof keseyder,
Zingen vel ich dir a lid.
Az du, mayn kind vest elte veren,
Vestu visn an untershid.
Az du, mayn kind vest elte veren,
Vestu visn an untershid.
Sleep, my child, sleep securely,
And I'll sing to you a song.
When you, my child, will grow to manhood,
You will learn to know right from wrong.
When you, my child, will grow to manhood,
You will learn to know right from wrong.
When you, my chld will grow to manhood,
there is one thing that is sure:
Then you'll see for yourself the great dirrerence
What is rich and what is poor.
The costly palance, the finest houses,
Are all made by the workingman.
but do you know who lives within these mansions?
Never he -- only rich folks can.
The poor man's home is a dark cellar,
Leaking, dripping, cold as sleet.
And his is bound to get rheumatic fever,
Aches and pains in his hands and feet.
[1] comments (1515 views) | link
Wed Jun 09, 2004
The bunnies are back ...
... this time on the Titanic.
(Via Catholic Ragemonkey.)
[1] comments (1409 views) | link
Words, words, words
The ultimate vocabulary test is making the rounds of the blogosphere again. Enoch Soames scored an amazing 190, topping dylan by one point. Robert the LLama butcher got 171, which is not bad at all, as did Mark Sullivan. The Rat, if I remember correctly, scored 182. I got 179, which is not too shabby.
[1] comments (1730 views) | link
YOU DEFLATE YOUR AUNT RIGHT NOW!
Via Eve Tushnet: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 15 minutes. Spoilers aplenty, but you all have read the book, I'm sure. (N.B.: crude language.)
HARRY: Where’s Professor Lupin?
SNAPE: MOONING AROUND somewhere, I’m sure. In other news, today’s lesson is on WEREWOLVES. Can anyone enlighten the audience on the difference between a WEREWOLF and an animagus?
HERMIONE: Yes! A werewolf can’t help changing into an animal and doesn’t remember who he is, while an animagus chooses to change and can control himself.
SNAPE: Correct. FIVE THOUSAND POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR!
HERMIONE: I—but the—adda—wibba—
SNAPE: I want two rolls of parchment on WEREWOLVES by tomorrow, including what WEREWOLVES look like, how to detect WEREWOLVES in the faculty of a British boarding school for wizards, and the definition of the Latin word “lupus.” CLASS DISMISSED!
Also via Eve: Sorting Hat songs.
[0] comments (1472 views) | link
Sha! Shtil!
"Be Still!"
Sha! Shtil! Macht nisht keyn gerider!
Der rebe geyt shoyn tantsn vider.
sha! Shril! Mach nisht keyn gevalt!
De rebe geyt shoyn tantsen bald.
Un az der rebe tanst,
Tantsn doch di vent,
Lomir ale plyeskn mit di hent.
Un az der rebe tanst,
Tantsn doch di vent,
Lomir ale plyeskn mit di hent.
Be still! Do not make a sound!
For the rabbi will soon dance around.
Be still! Do not break his trance,
The rabbi is about to dance.
And when he starts to dance,
All the walls dance, too.
Le us all now claps our hands, "one, two."
And when he starts to dance,
All the walls dance, too.
Le us all now claps our hands, "one, two."
[0] comments (1374 views) | link
Tue Jun 08, 2004
Snail in space
From the June 2004 Ansible:
Stamp Out SF Authors! The US Postal Service is considering issuing a stamp depicting Isaac Asimov, some time after 2006. Americans who support (or, perhaps, oppose) this notion can write to: Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, c/o Stamp Development, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 5670, Washington, DC 20260-2437, USA.
Well, okay. I can think of many SF writers I'd rather see commemorated, though: Philip K. Dick, C.M. Kornbluth, Lewis Padgett, John Sladek, Cordwainer Smith or even H.P. Lovecraft.
From the same issue of Ansible, some more from Thog's Masterclass:
`I've just gotten a reply. A series of pulses: one, two, three, five, seven, nine. Prime numbers. I respond in kind with the next set.' (Syne Mitchell, Murphy's Gambit, 2000)
[0] comments (1432 views) | link
Embroider that cow
Memorable bits of SF prose, collected in Thog's Masterclass:
`Most of the buildings around us were like towering boxes, almost phallic in their heights.' -- Michael Kring, [The Space Mavericks]
`The sun came up like a piece of fiery yellow butter.' -- Peter Heath, [Men Who Die Twice]
`Dr Kelter's forehead sprouted italics ...' -- Emil Petaja, The Nets of Space
`Don's eyelids fell shut with a silent thud.' -- Emil Petaja, ibid
`The brassy September blue overhead had been obscured by invisible storm clouds.' -- Emil Petaja, ibid
`She knew how to embroider and milk a cow.' -- Connie Willis, Doomsday Book
`Now that important Achilles heel was closed.' -- Geoffrey Jenkins, Firepoint
`Rand stared at her in amazement that oozed across the emptiness surrounding him like syrup.' -- Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven
`He lifted her tee-shirt over her head. Her silk panties followed.' -- Peter F. Hamilton, Mindstar Rising
See also the Adolf Eichmann's Evil Cake Award:
In short, Socrates seems to be the philosophical napkin with which the ensuing cultural thinkers of history wipe their mouths of pedantic ooze.
[0] comments (1473 views) | link
Ot Azoy Neyt A Shayder
"Stitch Away, Little Tailor"
Ot azoy neyt a shnayder,
Ot azoy neyt er doch.
Ot azoy neyt a shnayder,
Ot azoy neyr er doch.
Neyt un neyt er a gantse voch,
Fardint a gilden mit a loch.
Neyt un neyt er a gantse voch,
Fardint a gilden mit a loch.
Stitch away, little tailor,
This is how it is done.
Stitch away, little tailor,
This is how it is done.
Sews and sews the whole week through,
and what he earns, it just won't do.
Sews and sews the whole week through,
and what he earns, it just won't do.
[0] comments (1407 views) | link
Mon Jun 07, 2004
Mit A Nodl, On A Nodl
"With a Needle, or Without One"
Mit a nodl,on a nodl,
Ney ich mir b'kovod dogol.
Mit a nodl,on a nodl,
Ney ich mir b'kovod dogol.
Ich ney un ney a gantze voch,
Ich ken shoyn neyen a Parizer loch.
Mit a nodl,on a nodl,
Ney ich mir b'kovod dogol.
With a needle or without one,
Sewing pleases this devout one.
With a needle or without one,
Sewing pleases this devout one.
I sew a week, it makes me smile
I sew the latest Parisian style.
With a needle or without one,
Sewing pleases this devout one.
[0] comments (1327 views) | link
Sun Jun 06, 2004
Lechayim!
"To Life!"
Lechayim, Yidelech!
Lechayim, briderlech!
Zingt zhe, trinkt zhe,
Ale in a guter sho!
To, lomir hulyenen,
Arayn zich kulyenen
In dem ganeydn
Bolshe nitshevo!
To life, my fellow Jews!
to life, my brother Jews!
Sing now, drink now,
That is what good times are for!
Let's keep on swqggering,
And we'll be staggering
To Paradise,
And there is nothing more!
[0] comments (1407 views) | link
Sat Jun 05, 2004
Friday Five
The original Friday Five is defunct, so Erik has started posing his own five questions. Here's yesterday's.
1. If you could hire any architect from any era to design your ideal house, who would it be and why?
M.C. Escher. Unwanted visitors would find the perspectives confusing and quickly leave. It would also be satisfying to have my own personal endless stairway.
2. If you had to eat exclusively from one cuisine for the rest of your life, which would it be?
American, I'm afraid. I'm not much of a foodie, but I do like steaks, fried chicken and cinnamon rolls.
3. If you could commission any artist, living or dead, to paint your portrait, who would you choose and why?
I'd prefer not to have my portrait painted, if you don't mind. There's a reason why I am usually found behind the camera, not in front of it. If you must have my likeness, I'd rather have Lewis Carroll snap it, or Max Beerbohm sketch it. It won't look handsome, but at least it will associate me with a writer I enjoy.
4. Tomorrow one tune will be stuck in your head. You will not be able to escape it from waking up to going to bed. You get to pick the tune. Which one would it be?
If I have time for langour, Szymanowski's "Chant du Roxanne." Otherwise, Schubert's "The Trout." (Ideally, I'd have the entire fourth movement of the "Trout" quintet in my ear all day.)
5. If you were going to be put under house arrest, but were allowed to pick the place (this is a house arrest where you could travel five miles in any direction, but beyond that your radio collar will trigger the men in black to round you up, rough you up and take you back home), where would you pick?
Actually, the only change that restriction would make to my present routine is that I would forgo occasional visits to Borders, and with amazon.com that would not be a hardship. If the MiB were to pick up the bills, it might be worthwhile to be stuck in a Major Center of the Arts convenient to concerts and ballets. I presume that this collar will be both stylish and sweat-resistant.
[0] comments (1408 views) | link
Ale Mentshen Tantzendik
"Folks Are at Their Dancingest"
Ale mentshen tantzendik un shpringendik un lachendik un zingendik,
Un Moyshele shteyt als veynendik.
Moyshe, Moyshe, vus du veynst?
Ich veyn, vos ich meyn,
Es iz shoyn tzayt tzu der chupe tzu geyn.
Folks are at their dancingest and jumpingest and laughingest and singingest,
But Moyshe is at his cryingest.
Moyshe, Moyshe, why d'you cry?
I cry, tell you why,
It's time to go to the chupe, oh my!
("Chupe" = "wedding canopy.")
[0] comments (1722 views) | link
Fri Jun 04, 2004
A land without socks
At a used bookstore this afternoon I spotted Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. Should you ever find yourself on a tour in Faerie, you will find it informative.
Apostrophes. Few names in Fantasyland are considered complete unless they are interrupted by an apostrophe somewhere in the middle (as in Gna'ash). ... No one knows the reasons for this. Nor does anyone really know how an apostrophe should be pronounced, though there are theories:
1. You ignore the apostrophe and simply pronounce the word. (Here Gna'ash = Gnash.)
2. You leave a gap or lacuna where the apostrophe appears. (Here Gna'ash = Gna-ash.)
3. You make a kind of clucking-sound to stand for the apostrophe. (Here Gna'ash = Gnaglunkash.) Persons with insecurely mounted tonsils should adhere to one of the other two theories.
More...
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Request
Prayers would be appreciated for my niece Kamiko, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer and who faces surgery next week.
[0] comments (1389 views) | link
The incomparable Max
I'm envious: Terry Teachout has just acquired one of Max Beerbohm's caricatures to hung in his personal museum. Beerbohm was not merely the finest parodist who ever wrote -- if ever a writer had perfect pitch, it was Beerbohm -- and a superior writer in every respect, but he also could draw.
In doing a quick search for other art by Beerbohm online, I came across this curious site:
Enoch Soames: the Critical Heritage
Evidentally, I was not the only person who wanted to visit the reading room of the British Museum on June 3, 1997, and some actually made the trip. Beerbohm's account of Soames can be found in Seven Men and is online at Blackmask. (There are a few other works of Beerbohm at Blackmask, though apparently neither A Christmas Garland nor Zuleika Dobson.)
[0] comments (1484 views) | link
Kum Aher, Du Filozof
"Come to Me, Philosopher"
Kum aher, du filozof,
Mit dayn kortsn maychl,
Un Zets zich ts tsum rebns tish;
Dort vest lernen seych.
Yam bam bam bam,
Yam bam bam bam
Yam bam bam bam bam bam
Yam bam bam bam,
Yam bam bam bam
Yam bam bam bam bam bam
Come to me, philosopher,
And do not be frightened,
And sit down at the rabbi's desk;
There you will be enlightned
Yam bam bam, etc.
You designed a big steamboat,
It caused a big commotion.
The rabbi spreads his handkerchief
And sails across the ocean.
You designed an air balloon,
And you brag about it.
The rabbi scoffs -- the rabbi laughs,
For he can fly without it.
What does our rabbi do
When we alone do leave him?
Up to the skies he quickly flies --
The heavenly hosts receive him.
[0] comments (1530 views) | link
Thu Jun 03, 2004
Inside the music
OS X Audio has establised a forum for music theory. How useful it will be remains to be seen (not very, I expect), but I did find a couple of links to sites devoted to music theory:
Music theory & history online
MusicTheory.net
I've posted the latter link before, but the first is new to me.
Soundtrack: Scriabin; Etudes, Op. 8
[0] comments (1419 views) | link
An age of moderate virtue
Words by T.S. Eliot, with visuals and sound effects.
Via Basia me, Catholica sum, where you can also find yet another thrashing of Guilderoy Lockhart:
It is only natural that Pullman knows no more about "the Church" than Dan Brown does. How else could he have written all that garbage? He gets his imagery from Milton and Blake, but his perception of Catholicism is straight out of Ian Paisley and Jack Chick. Sweaty-palmed assassin-priests with names like Fr. Gomez and Fr. MacPhail (Them bloody micks an' spics) engage in "preemptive absolution" to build up a store of merit that will let them commit mortal sins with immpunity. Gloomy cloisters, secret torture chambers and heresy hunts abound. It's fascinatingly awful.
[1] comments (1397 views) | link
Put your TV set out with the trash
It is hard to pinpoint exactly when it became safe to be a stupid slut on television.
The New York Times notices that much television is absolute crap.
Network executives at Oxygen and other networks justify their slumming by insisting that such shows are breaking down unhealthy taboos; but there are no taboos left on television, except perhaps, girls behaving decently.
(One minor correction: if I remember correctly, Loni Anderson's character on WKRP was a sharp blonde and the brightest person on the show.)
[0] comments (1439 views) | link
Hulyet, Hulyet, Kinderlech
"Play, My Dearest Little Ones"
Shpilt oych libe, kinderlech,
Der friling shoyn bagint,
Der friling shoyn bagint.
Oy, vi ich bin, kinderlech,
Mekane aych atsint.
Oy, vi ich bin, kinderlech,
Mekane aych atsint
Hulyet, julyet, kinderlech,
Kolzman ir zeyt noch ying,
Vayl fun friling biz tsym vinter
Iz a katsenshpring.
Play, my dearest little ones,
For spring is here at last,
For spring is here at last.
As for me, my little children,
All my springs are past.
As for me, my little children
All my springs are past.
Have a good time, little ones,
While your youth is still here,
For from spring to wintertime
Is shorter than a year.
[0] comments (1361 views) | link
Wed Jun 02, 2004
Are there gun racks for bicycles?
This week's pointless quiz, via Discoshaman:
You're a Red Stater! Your values and tastes are
those of America's Heartland. Which explains
the gunrack in your minivan.
Are You a Red or Blue Stater?
brought to you by Quizilla
This one is more entertaining than most. Here are a few of the questions:
You read the most life-changing book the other day. It was called . . .
--Left Behind, Book #16: False Profits, by Tim LaHaye
--Feng Shui for the Shallow But Trend-Conscious Soul, by Richard Gere
Michael Moore . . .
--A visually repugnant boor who makes fraudulent documentaries.
--A visually repugnant boor who makes impeccable documentaries.
Abortion . . .
--Stops a beating heart.
--Is a sacrament. I've written a liturgy for it.
Your church has a new pastor. He . . .
--Came through the gender-reassignment surgery like a trouper.
--Graduated with honors from the Backwoods Bible Institute
Soundtrack: Dixie Dregs, "Odyssey"
[1] comments (1740 views) | link
Rupturewort
English Language Trivia
How many ways can you pronounce "ough"? "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
(Via The LLama Butchers.)
[0] comments (1438 views) | link
Hamentashn
"'Hamentashn' are traditional, triangle-shaped pastries filled with sweet fruit confections," baked during the holiday of Purim.
[0] comments (1465 views) | link
Tue Jun 01, 2004
Blinkers, gliders and dancers
Links for the lunch hour:
John Conway's "Game of Life" is probably the best-known example of cellular automata, in which simple rules lead to very complex behavior. Here is a good overview of Life with Java applets you can run and experiment with.
From a glossary of ballet terms at Ballet Talk:
Flat foot: Caused by a girl coming down on a guys foot in pointe shoes
Forever cramp: You point your foot so hard it seizes up, only it looks so good you can live with the pain
Ballerina's fist: What dislocates a male's jaw in Pas de deux
Floating knee: That magical knee that gets out and cracks across the front of male's tights
Aggravating friend: Perfect feet, perfect turnout, good legs, naturally flexibility, naturally beautiful, good body, no interest in dance at all
Human sprinkler: Pirouette + Cold
2,000 Pound Ballerina: A ballerina that leans forward at the height of a lift
Swiss Ballerina: A ballerina whose leo has more holes in it than a Gilligan Island plot
Fragile; handle with care: Usually a male, will over exaggerate any accident to the point of ridicule
Centre freak: Has a quote from "Center Stage" for any moment
Duck and cover: What other dancers do when human sweat machine turns
Modest quick change: No such thing; never been seen
[0] comments (1437 views) | link
Di Mezinke Oysgegebn
"My Youngest Daughter's Married"
Shtarker, beser!
Di rod, di rod macht greser!
Groys hot mich Got gemacht,
Glik hot er mir gebracht.
Hulyet, kinder, a gantse nacht!
Di mezinke oysgegebn!
Di mezinke oysgegebn!
Better, stronger!
Let's dance a little longer!
Go has exalted me,
He has made me happy.
Let the party just be care-free!
For my youngest daughter's married!
For my youngest daughter's married!
[0] comments (1698 views) | link