September 30, 2004
Sorvino
I have been trying to come up with an excuse to write about Mira Sorvino so I could run this image. Let us ponder life, the universe and everything for a moment shall we?
That's better. Comments and suggestions on possible Sorvino themed topics are welcome! For example, I loved her in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. That accent slayed me.
Stripper's Pole
This Stripper's Pole will finally let me tone my hard to reach Q-Zone!
Lost
A recording of Stephen King's The Mist is seriously creepy (in Kunstkopf binaural sound!). ABC's new series, Lost evokes the same feeling. I missed the pilot but it is being rebroadcast this Saturday evening...
Cutie Honey
I have no idea what Cutie Honey is about but I demand its immediate broadcast on North American television (hat tip to the Neighbour of a Flea).
Kittens for Kerry
This kitten does not share your values.
Panzerfausten-Telefunkenvagen
This Telefunken Kannon must be defeated if we are to prevail.
- Winston Churchill
Antagonist
Sophia Sideshow has thoughts on flipping channels and heroism and wonders if Japanese artists and directors are puppets of the VRWC.
Swastika
The Agence France-Presse continues its downward slide into collaboration. This celebratory commemorative photo of a German Olympic ski champion either chooses to mark the wrong moment in a distinguished sporting career or the apogee of a career in service of symbols that must never be celebrated again.
Yes, that Olympics and yes that is a swastika patch on the ski suit. We have descended a long way when the Nazi Olympics can slip into an obituary unremarked.
It is all happening again.
September 29, 2004
Terminator 4
Hollywood keeps flogging a dead gift horse with the possibility of yet another Terminator film. I would have thought the not very good Terminator 3 would have forestalled more of the same. Now it looks as though they will proceed even if it means doing so without Arnold Schwarzenegger.
With apologies to Arnold, this is beside the point. Those films were all about Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. Bring her back for Terminator 4 and the franchise might be saved.
Bonfire Part LXV
The Bonfire is crackling away at Kin's Kouch.
Mecha Barbara
"Ok! Now this is very important. Where is the Triangle of Zinthar now?"
September 28, 2004
Robin Himmler
"You can see Mr. Trump now."
With apologies to Maxim for borrowing their documentary efforts. You would not believe how difficult it is to find web materials on the supporting cast of The Apprentice, a subject of obvious import. So who is Donald Trump's mysterious receptionist? The Apprentice' Robin Himmler is not the fake some have claimed.
"It's definitely been an experience," Himmler said, declining to comment on whether she received extra pay for the TV gig.
Enquiring minds want to know how you get through high school with a last name like Himmler.
And then... An article by Charlie McCollum writing for the San Jose Mercury News (Thu, Apr. 15, 2004) makes a peculiar claim (emphasis added).
Not that I can find. Shades of Stephen Glass? I know it is a minor detail in a puff piece for a smallish newspaper... but Mr. McCollum, as an Apprentice fan looking for these fansites, could you please point me to one? Have they disappeared since season one? Or was this just padding out the end of a paragraph?
The Streets, "Blinded by the lights"
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
* Possibly nsfw... no, wait, make that definitely nsfw. Though it is strangely beautiful much as the rest of The Streets' oeuvre.
Mep Ball
I am truly terrible at Mep Ball but it has got a great soundtrack.
Kirby Gasoline
Mile High Comics has set photos from the Fantastic Four film in production. I am delighted to pass on news of Jack Kirby tributes.
And more Fantastic news as Hollywood North Report has images of a statue of Victor Von Doom and the Von Doom Industries logo.
F4 Phantom
Jet meet concrete. Concrete, jet.
Propaganda
andúnië reports on efforts to counter Michael Moore's Wormtonguery. I linked to Celsius 41.11 yesterday... now FahrenHYPE 9/11 is on the way! ¡No Pasarán! has more including a link to another Michael Moore documentary. Cutting facts makes for a more truthier truth!
Rather full of himself
Guerrilla News Network (sounds reliable don't it?) quotes a June 2002 Dan Rather UK appearance that makes interesting reading in light of recent events.
"It's an obscene comparison," he said, "but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here. You will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck." No U.S. reporter who values his neck or career will "bore in on the tough questions."
Because anchoring a network news broadcast means you are silenced. Because a seven-million dollar a year salary is the same as being lynched with a burning tire. Because this man is so full of himself that dissenting opinion is sacred unless it is dissent against the ideology of CBS News. Yes, I would say there is something obscene about those comparisons.
September 27, 2004
La la Hoo Hoo
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Adstrip
Dear Flea-readers,
I have no idea what that new graphic in the Zud ad in the sidebar is supposed to represent. The BlogAds interface allows advertisers to change images without notifying the blogs on which the ad sits. I can only express my befuddlement at an apparently disturbing image.
Invasion of
A graffiti artist is tagging the world with Space Invaders.
Khartoum
It looks like Khartoum's racing days are over.
Celsius 41.11
Celsius 41.11: the temperature at which the brain begins to die.
The trailer to this film includes graphic violence and yet more graphic stupidity. It is important to steel yourself and to watch it nonetheless.
September 25, 2004
Boddingtons Brewery
"If they pull out of Manchester, the brand will die. It won't be the Cream of Manchester, it will become the sour grapes of South Wales."
I had resigned myself to living without Boddington's down to my decision to leave Manchester but could at least cherish the thought of the real thing being enjoyed by my friends. Now a... monstrous... decision to close Boddingtons Brewery means they will be left with the same insipid simulation that even I, in my colonial exile, could buy in a can. This is the best bitter on earth and it is being murdered.
I write to express my dismay at the possibility your company will close the Boddingtons Brewery. Please know that should you do so I will never buy any of your products again.
For the rest of my life.
I will also do my level best to explain my decision to anyone I see consuming any of your products and convince them to join me.
For the rest of my life.
If your company cannot act as responsible guardians of this centuries old brand you should sell the brewery to someone who can. To do anything else cannot be forgiven.
Not that giving up Stella Artois is a great loss. Yates on the States is leading the way. (via Gen X at 40, with thanks).
Land of the Dead
Rumour has it Asia Argento is to feature in the latest of George Romero's series of Dead films, Land of the Dead.
Because we all watch zombie movies for their social commentary.
Fantastic
USA Today runs a picture of Jessica Alba as Sue Storm in the forthcoming Fantastic Four feature film. Va va voom!
Loyalist studies
The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies offers materials relating to the Loyalist military, genealogical information and "information on how the Loyalists are portrayed today throughout the US and Canada in Living History organizations, including photo galleries, schedules of events, and information on how to join a group in your area."
For our purposes, we define a Loyalist as any inhabitant of North America, from Newfoundland to Nicaragua inclusive, plus the islands of the West Indies, Bermuda and Jamaica, who served in a military capacity for the British, or provided services of a military nature or other beneficial services to the Crown.
Victoria class
Canada's new submarine fleet is belatedly coming into service (via Rantburg). I saw all four of these former Upholder-class submarines when they were still on the market and, despite their difficulties, am delighted they were purchased by Canada.
September 24, 2004
Bewitched
How did I not know Nicole Kidman plays Samantha Stevens in a forthcoming movie remake of Bewitched? Perfect, perfect casting.
Trackback
My "most recent pings" box in MT shows a trackback from a post at another blog yet there is no link to the Flea from that post. How do I remove this obnoxious, forced trackback link from my blog? Unfortunately, the "most recent pings" box shows the link this jerk has created but does not show me where in the 75Mb of Flea files it is to be found... Any help is much appreciated!
More thoughts on trackback etiquette at today's INDC Journal.
Yuri In Da Cab
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
*Where do I get my Green Card? Oh, here.
Solomon's Key
Solomon's Key is fun once you figure out it is the control key that allows you to make and break blocks.
Mercy Killing
There is no denying the satisfaction of taking a chainsaw to Teletubbies no matter what Mr. Blair's anti-hunt friends may have to say about it.
Wall Street
The Flea School for Wayard Expats continues a series in rhetoric and oratory. Today we are addressed by Mr. Gordon Gekko.
Thank you very much.
Comics Archive
Andy's Early Comics Archive offers a history of picture stories.
September 23, 2004
Strange
An Ain't It Cool News review of Strange, the newly minted J. Michael Straczynski and Samm Barnes interpretation of a Marvel classic, describes the book as Dr. Strange: Year One. This is exactly right. JMS does his usual bang-up job and artist Brandon Peterson provides the best drawn Strange book ever.
Cosplay
I should publish a Flea-themed comic and related anime tv show so people could dress up as their favourite Flea characters.
You're my only hope
I am almost more annoyed with the people who respond to email scams than the scammers themselves. If people did not fall for this stuff the con-artists would stop sending me these emails. I mean seriously, an enormous "moon-shaped space station"? Please... (via ***Dave).
COMPLIMENT OF THE DAY TO YOU. I WISH TO EXTEND THIS MUTUAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL TO YOU WITH THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL GLADLY ACCEPT. I AM AN IMPERIAL SENATOR AND DEPOSED PRINCESS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC. IN THE COURSE OF DISCHARGING MY AMBASSADORIAL DUTY LAST YEAR, I DISCOVERED THAT SOME GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE EMPIRE, WHICH REGIME HAS CONTROLLED THE GALAXY WITH AN IRON FIST, COMMITTED SOME FISCAL IRREGULARITIES DURING THE DEVELOP OF AN ENORMOUS NEW MOON-SHAPED SPACE STATION WITH TERRIFYING DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIAL.
Video will
Last will and testament (with director's commentary).
Scott Haefner
Scott Haefner presents a variety of stunning aerial panoramas (via kite). Lovely castles and lighthouses but I was most impressed by the clear line of the San Andreas Fault.
Phallic bats
When I first read the expression "phallic bats" I thought of the flappy mice-like creatures and wondered what it had to do with baseball.
September 22, 2004
Self-titled Kylie
"It will become an instant kitsch classic.”
– The Evening Standard
Why are people who work in socialist bookstores such sourpusses? Are they drawn to their employment by their sourpussery? Or do they become sourpusses as a result of the sterile, hopeless philosophy they are forced to buy and sell (ahh... kapitalism!). I was at Pages, a Toronto sourpuss bookstore, when I came across Kylie (Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1999), a casebound artbook by Kylie Minogue featuring photos of Kylie, tributes to her character and some of her own thoughts on life. It was in the dump bin. It was reduced in price. It was shocking pink. I had to have it. Imagine my chagrin on getting to the counter, ready to share my enthusiasm with the world, only to be confronted with a sourpuss. At least their collectivist nihilism and self-hatred meant I could purchase it for a small fraction the cover price. In your face, art-snobs!
Bathtime in Clerkenwell
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
*With a live link this time (fingers crossed).
tATu
tATu are back with a plan to shed their faux lesbian image. Frankly, I find this plan extremely faux lesbophobic.
The Quest for the Red Diamond
The Quest for the Red Diamond is quite simply the best choose your own adventure Flash game yet. I think I am about to be killed by the Mall Demon...
And then... Finished! With a special prize at the end, too (though I rather think she looks like a "flower").
Ultra-Condensed
Ultra-Condensed SF/F Books presents a variety of sf classics in a minute (via Attu).
The God Emperor of Dune summary is particularly apt.
Horror Author Roundtable
This Horror Author Roundtable poses questions of horror authors. For example, "Are you consciously trying to "be scary" as you write a horror story?"
I have, however, creeped myself out at times. Occasionally I'll been writing through a planned scene or relationship when suddenly I see it in a new light and say, "What if . . .?" And then I change it and a whole new realm of unsettling possibilities opens up. And I think, "Where did that come from? I must be a real sicko."
Old English
| Which British Literary Period are you? Old English 450-1066, Caedmon, the Venerable Bede, Beowulf. Trying to record history in a dying time. You think highly of the past, but you are also aware of when change is coming.
|
| Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. |
This observation arrives via Ith, who is Victorian.
September 21, 2004
Eyes Wide Shut
I was out on a date this summer. Architect, back from New York, conversant with the properties of drugs I had not even heard of (hey, I'm an anthropologist... I've read about plenty). All very promising in terms of conversation and such. I was even prepared to overlook the copy of Stupid White Men that was presented for my approval (well, some white men are stupid). But to declare Eyes Wide Shut one of the most over-rated films of all time was too much. It is, of course, one of the most under-rated films of all time.
The cool people jumped on it immediately. They are anti-Tom Cruise so their pro-Stanley Kubrick sensibility was offended that his serious directorial mastery should be wasted on such a commercial actor. The point is not that they underestimate Cruise or over-estimate Kubrick. The point is that they had damned the film before they had seen it leaving me (and one other) as the only people to see at the cinema. Their loss. Look, Kubrick did not choose Cruise and Kidman by accident. If you did not like the film the first time, watch it again (unedited) but this time watch it with Captain Subtext.
Gentleman's Emporium
Gentleman's Emporium looks just the ticket for fashionable Flea-ware.
Enola Gay
The Enola Gay and the Smithsonian presents "contemporary articles, reports, and documents" from a proposed revisionist exhibition of the famous bomber.
Men in tights
Mark Steyn commits pun crime. Excellent Human Torch reference though.
September 20, 2004
Number 6
"In reality, there is a sexiness to people and life and everything in general."
I think I got that quote right. Something was distracting me while I listened to Canadian Cylon threat, Tricia Helfer and some other folks comment on the forthcoming Battlestar Galactica.
Sin City
Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke are to star in a film based on Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novels. If this preview is any indication, we are in for a lethargic mess (takes a moment to load and a partial-nudity warning is in effect). Watching it I am reminded of how beautiful the original pieces are and how difficult it is to translate comics to film. I guess I was spoiled by Hellboy. At least Clive Owen makes an appearance.
Six Feet Under
Accelerate your herse by tapping the right arrow and use the space bar to break when you reach the red area. I managed 588.71m.
A word from our sponsors
I would be grateful if Flea-readers would take a moment to consider the Flea's advertisers. The life of a sessional lecturer is not all tea and cake... your patronage of this blog is most appreciated as is your consideration for the running cost of all these pretty pixels!
Populariser
The Age considers the work of English philosopher and novelist Alain de Botton and considers popularizers of philosophy.
It doesn't do any great harm, except to offend some purists. On the other hand, the promise that it is all pretty easy is the kind of expectation that produces a sort of DIY intelligentsia, because, in the end, the inescapable fact is that it is not easy. It is, ultimately, difficult to understand complex ideas. They have to be taken in slowly, over a period of time, which the readers of fast-food philosophy presumably don't have.
Conversely, de Botton's musings on Wittgenstein and relationships may move people to pick up Wittgenstein. The fact is that the work of many economic or political philosophers can be summed up by reference to key concepts without damaging a future detailed reading. In my own teaching, I believe demonstrating the contrast between different schools of thought is at least as important as explication of particular schools of thought. Alain de Botton does yeoman work in making relevant ideas that would otherwise be disregarded. It is a bit much to dismiss his books as "middle brow" consumption for the crime of being popular, commercially successful or, heaven forbid, readable.
KKK
Look at this image and tell me we aren't fighting the KKK (via Merde in France).
September 18, 2004
The Lumberjack Song
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Why judo is better than karate
Why judo is better than karate (via the Accordian Guy).
Mordor
Once pointed out, it seems obvious Frodo wore pajamas on the way to Mordor (via Babbling Brooks).
Traffic report
Glenn Reynolds reports over 440,000 page views for September 16. I imagine Rathergate has boosted traffic across the blogosphere as the Flea saw a spike over 23,000 page views on September 17, around three times what I would expect for a Thursday.
The Borat Doctrine
It seems I have been mislead about the customs of Kazakhstan.
September 17, 2004
Heroic Trio
Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung as superheroes. Latex is involved. What's not to like? Dung fong saam hap (Heroic Trio) is a masterpiece of cheeze wire-fighting action and I now own a copy on dvd thanks to mad collecting skillz.
Sexy Snape
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (hat tip to the Flea's Australian Employment Opportunities Expert).
Antkendo
Antkendo is polished, beautiful to look at and I am no good at it. Vexed again!
Space Ace
Space Ace would be a fine office diversion if my office computer had a sound card. Forget you, thrifty Lutheran university!
The Thing
Hollywood North Report has the first public images of Michael Chiklis as the Thing.
We also can confirm that in the movie this street will be the one and only Yancey Street in New York City, Ben Grimm’s (aka The Thing) home turf.
SG-1
Air Force Link reports Richard Dean Anderson is to be honored by the Air Force Association (via Pinwheels and Orange Peels).
Hurricane Ivan
Above the eye of Hurricane Ivan (via The Bleat).
Cusco
Giulio Magli, an Italian professor of mathematics, argues city planning for Cusco, the Inca capital, may have followed the dark constellation of the Puma.
September 16, 2004
Lillyxandra and Haruka
I do not know who Lillyxandra and Haruka but I am pretty sure they would make a fine addition to any superhero team.
Pajamahadeen
The only thing better than the phrase "the Sauronic Big Eye of CBS" is the term "Pajamahadeen" (why no permalinks Kerry Spot?). Glenn Reynolds posted James Lileks' illustration of the term before it was de-Bleated.
Photos
Does anyone know what these photos are meant to promote?
Unusual Search Engines
Search Engine Journal reviews some unusual search engines.
Historic feet
MemeFirst proposes name changes for various New York landmarks. I will henceforth think of the Chrysler Building as the Hungarian Pagan Revolt Building (via Gothamist).
Empire State Building, 1250ft: Stockholm City Building (City founded 1250 AD)
Chrysler Building, 1046ft: Hungarian Pagan Revolt Building (1046 AD)
Tribute in Light
A panorama of Tribute in Light, 2004.
El Pais
El Pais runs an ad showing two images of the Manhattan skyline. One includes the Twin Towers. The other does not. The ad copy reads: "You can do a lot in one single day; just imagine what can happen in three months"
It isn't that a major Spanish newspaper thinks this despicable sentiment is... what... clever? It isn't even that a major Spanish newspaper thinks this ad will sell newspapers. It is that they may be right to think it will sell newspapers (via lgf).
"Honey, cancel our trip to Spain this winter."
Cross-posted to The Shotgun.
September 15, 2004
Julien MacDonald
The Flea's unrelenting support for the UK fashion industry means I am pleased to report Julien Macdonald (and wow, great fur, btw), creator of the luxury laptop bag, is to receive an award from the University of Wales, Newport.
Krispy Kreme
Making a Krispy Kreme donut. I don't think these have made it to downtown Toronto yet so I will stick with Tim Horton's for now.
D-Fence
D-Fence lets you defend your shoebox fort! It speeds up after Level 10.
“Bunny of the Month” Club
For all your bunny needs (via the Flea's Network Expert).
Nader '04
The Nader '04 Impact Map purports to show the effect of Mr. Ralph Nader's candidacy on the Electoral College election outcome. Any Democrat taking this seriously should consider voting Nader in '04. Even Pat Buchanan thinks he is great guy: anti-capitalist, isolationist, bitter and with ill-fitting shoes... what's not to like? Better yet... stay home and protest that way!
September 14, 2004
Everything I’ve Got In My Pocket
Minnie Driver sings. Who knew?
Mutabor
The Secret Garden of Mutabor is a peculiar webgame with a gorgeous Flash interface and design.
First Love
More parkour, this time from a French Nike commercial.
Unemployed
Angua seeks gainful employment.
in unrelated news, a talented, experienced, and creative technical writer and editor is now available for freelance, contract, and full-time work
Geography Olympics
When I signed up for Geography Olympics the US team (56.81) was beating Canada (49.27). My 90% helped the Canadian side by 0.01% (sorry, Samoa!).
Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa
British archeologist, John Prag believes the funerary sculpture of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa is "the first portrait of a known and named individual to be identified anywhere in Western art."
In Prag's view, the when is about the 6th century BC and the where is Etruscan Italy.
Brainwashing 101
Brainwashing 101 is a documentary examining university bias (via lgf).
September 13, 2004
Rockwell Automation
I bet at least half of all Flea-readers design, sell or use Rockwell Automation products.
Quaker rites
Madonna honours two Quaker rites: respect for a Friend's right-of-way to a burial ground on her Ashcombe estate, and; the more contemporary fighting Quaker ale and dancing rite.
Cromwell's navy
Investigation of remains of a sailor found at the wreck site of Commonwealth warship Swan reveal elements of life in Oliver Cromwell's navy.
Intestinal Linguistic Amplification
Detroit furniture salesman, Jason Jablonski suffers from Intestinal Linguistic Amplification.
Macbeth
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival "hopes for an effect 'like Braveheart'" from its performance of Macbeth at Maxwell Air Force Base.
Dana Gioia, the NEA's chairman, insists that the choice of “Macbeth” reflects no underlying message; it is just a short, well-known and portable play with a small (and rapidly diminishing) cast. Besides, he adds, it's a play about soldiers. Well, yes, they do appear occasionally, sometimes as trees.
September 11, 2004
Freedom Tower
A collection of images of the Freedom Tower and WTC reconstruction. Funny a German language site would have the best material I have found so far. Too much of the rest is out-of-date or snarky in tone (what is "inane" about the name Freedom Tower?). PBS' Sacred Ground did a great job detailing personality conflicts in the planning and design process but left viewers hanging when it came to design that was ultimately adopted. I will use this post to add more links as I find them.
And then... The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has posted images (via Gothamist).
Radio Free Canada
PolSpy floats the idea of an internet-based radio alternative to Canada's establishment media.
Tribute
Gen-X at 40 receives an unexpected tribute to Canadian hero, General Roméo Dallaire.
September 10, 2004
Amerika ist Wunderbar
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
* Rammstein translation assistance would be much appreciated. No wait, here are the lyrics. What they sing in irony I sing in earnest.
Angel
David Boreanaz did a great job with Angel and I look forward to his new projects. But not Superman, please.
VisionStation
Best. Monitor. Ever.
Electric blue
Colby Cosh calls it electric blue.
Bang Bang
aBum asks, "Are these guys Gay or what?" Well, probably not. Except in the South Park usage of the term in which case, possibly yes. I was sent the link by a colleague commiserating at the start of the teaching term next week. Yep. You are looking at a slice of university life.
A Brief Monetary History of Gilligan's Island
The Monetary Economics of Thurston Howell III asks if "fiat dollars be treated as valuable without the government around to enforce its fiat" (via ***Dave).
But on Gilligan's Island (and in the Kurdish rebel territories, and briefly in Baghdad), people who are already used to making their exchanges in slips of unbacked paper can continue to do so profitably without the hand of government. The invisible hand of the market serves them better -- even when dealing in government paper.
War
And war they shall have. A murderer of children speaks.
"They gathered us in the woods and 'The Colonel' said that we should take over a school in Beslan. That was our order," he said. "When we asked why we were doing this, what our goal was, 'The Colonel' answered us, 'Because we need to start a war across the Caucasus."
September 09, 2004
Get Smart
The Cone of Silence and other innovations. I have to get one of these things installed at Flea Manor. Strangely, I already know someone who is a dead-ringer for Agent 99.
Danny Bot
Banny Bot is a short film by Frank Lesser. Is there something wrong with me that I find this moving?
You cleaned my room of every spot of soil.
I greased your gears and filled you up with oil;
Oh, Danny Bot, oh Danny Bot, I love you so.
Bonfire 62
The Bonfire of the Vanities has been lit at DeCloah Blog. It promises to be the cutest Bonfire ever.
Batman Theory
The Electric Commentary argues all bloggers want to be superheroes. All the guys, anyway (via Pete Holiday).
I actually think that most guys want to be Batman. Moreover, this desire can be tied to the fact that guys are messy, disorganized, and also tend to procrastinate. I call it, "Batman Theory."
I guess there are some guys who would rather be Superman. Go figure.
Liquor
Bookslut runs an interview with Poppy Z. Brite about her new novel, Liquor. Favourite New Orleans dishes are discussed along the way with an unfortunate, if understandable, ellipsis regarding absolute Flea-favourite roast duck (hat tip to Mondo Sismondo).
Well, it's all just part of the world, isn't it? For me, the most disturbing thing about death is the pain, fear, and loss involved -- not the sometimes-messy physical results.
New York skyline
New York Times architecture critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff discusses buildings under development that will change the New York skyline (via Gothamist). I am particularly struck by Santiago Calatrava's 80th South Street Tower featuring ten condominiums at US$30m a unit.
An unofficial Calatrava site has more on the architect's work.
How can I keep from singing?
The Tiger in Winter writes about Anglican hymns.
I submit "How Can I Keep From Singing" by American Baptist minister, Robert Lowry (music by Ira David Sankey) for your consideration. People often attribute it to the Quakers, falsely I am afraid, or even the Shakers... A good one for fighting Quakers!
"My life flows in endless song, above earth's lamentation,
I hear the real though far off hymn, that hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, I hear the music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?
"When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, and hear their death-knells ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing?
In prison cell or dungeon dark, our thoughts to them are winging,
When friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing.
"What though the tempest 'round me roars, I know the truth, it liveth.
What though the darkness 'round me close, songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is Lord of heaven and earth. How can I keep from singing?
"I lift my eyes, the clouds grow thin, I see the blue above it.
And day by day this pathway clears, since first I learned to love it.
The peace from love makes fresh my heart, a song of hope is ringing.
All things are mine, since truth I've found. How can I keep from singing."
September 08, 2004
Ayumi Hamasaki
Until about ten minutes before I wrote this I had never heard of Ayumi Hamasaki but any of these pimped out vans would make a most excellent Fleamobile.
Odin
Radiocarbon dating links a carving of Odin in the collection at Colchester Castle Museum to the more recently uncovered Seahenge.
Marie Taylor, Marketing Officer of the Colchester Castle Museum, which houses the Odin carving, told Discovery News, "Archaeologists now know that these distinctive features are deliberate, and that the idol is an early representation of the later Viking god named Odin. Odin could change his sex at will from man to woman, and he lost the use of his left eye so that he could see into the future."
The Scream
Edvard Munch's The Scream may have been inspired by an Inca mummy from Paris' Musée de l'Homme now undergoing CT scans at Florence's Museum of Natural History.
Already in 1978, in the exhibition catalogue "Symbols and Images of Edvard Munch," National Gallery of Art, Washington, the renowned Munch scholar Robert Rosenblum, professor of modern European art at New York University, suggested a possible link with an Inca mummy now kept at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris.
Operation HARPOON
The Canadian Army's first non-defensive combat mission since the Korean War and an opinion piece by Major-General Lewis MacKenzie are discussed at Castle Argghhh!!!
Cross-posted to The Shotgun.
September 07, 2004
Toronto Air Show
I took shelter from the sun under the Toronto inukshuk and watched the Canadian International Airshow this weekend. It turns out taking pictures of things that are at a distance and moving at speed is tricky. The Snowbirds obliged by flying in numbers sufficient for my autofocus to get a bead on them. A CF-18 made noise satisfying enough to trigger car alarms, there was an even louder F-18 Super Hornet and I had never thought to get so close to a B-1B. But I was there for the A-10. What a monster! Glad not to have the full attention of one of those things. Better yet was seeing the A-10 do what looked like impromptu formation flying with a stunt plane. Seriously, not something you see every day.
Also spotted was a rather magnificent vessel on the horizon. Does anyone recognize her?
Chavhemian Rhapsody
Now is the time a the Flea when we dance (and more on chavs in case this confuses).
Yoda
For all your time-keeping needs this talking Yoda is.
Yellow Out
I am sufficiently bloody-minded I had to solve every level of Yellow Out, a car-parking puzzle game.
Geoffrey Boothroyd
A previously unknown archive of Ian Fleming's letters reveals the thinking behind James Bond's weapon of choice and the man who would become the model for Q (via Attu).
The criticism came from Geoffrey Boothroyd, a gun expert, and Fleming was so mortified that his hero might be equipped with the wrong weapon that he hired the Glaswegian as his firearms adviser and later introduced him as a character in the Bond books.
Natural Magick
Giambattista della Porta's 16th-century science best-sellers include the Ninth Book of Natural Magick, "How to Adorn Women, and Make them Beautiful." I am particularly struck by Chapter V, "How hair may grow again."
M'kay, I am going to assume this works for men as well as women, skip that burning dung suggestion and go straight to torrifying some pith.
President Black Bush
Chappelle's Show takes on American culture "from the streets to the 'burbs and all things between."
Day of the Jackals
MIFfed reports on the new French literary season.
September 06, 2004
The Decline of Fashion Photography
The Decline of Fashion Photography is an argument in pictures.
MoMA-Berlin
What makes Europe a "creepy place" and messenger of "bad news" are people like the art critics from the Süddeutsche Zeitung or the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung cited in this Herald Tribune review of reaction to MoMA-Berlin.
Pitch Black
That would be Mountain Dew Pitch Black. Despite the questionable point of this time limited product, and their inexplicable failure to advertise at the Flea, I can highly recommend the Terror in the Woods webgame. Seriously creeped me out.
Norman Conquest
BBC History offers a Battle of Hastings game. You know, 1066 and all that.
Monkeysphere
It is enthralling to learn the the name of German philosopher Hans Capitalism and the answer to the eternal question, "So we should kill the French?" I have taught courses on the Monkeysphere without having a name for it. Though to be pedantic it would be the less fun sounding Apesphere... we don't have monkey tails (via Watch Without a Watchman).
Saddle orders
Belmont Club discusses swarming, netcentric warfare and "the Internet cloud of enemies which has descended on the John Kerry campaign." To paraphrase, the VRWC expects every blog to do its duty.
Cross-posted to The Shotgun.
September 04, 2004
Show Trial
The Flea has been found guilty as one of many "contemptible murderers, these vile and insolent enemies of the people."
In reality, of course, I am a cutie pie.
Reviews
Amazon.com reviews written by Chad Kultgen (Los Angeles, CA United States).
Holme Island
I am looking for information about Holme Island near Grange-Over-Sands in Cumbria. I used to pass by the place on my way to Barrow-in-Furness from Lancaster or Manchester by train and have been curious about the house there ever since. My web search has let me down so I am hoping someone with local knowledge can fill me in!
The Stairway Suite
The Stairway Suite imagines Stairway to Heaven by Schubert. And Holtz... and Glenn Miller...
Pompeii
I picked up Robert Harris' Pompeii after enjoying Fatherland, Enigma and Archangel. This is yet another of his novels I wish I had written myself. The inevitable vulcanology lesson is worth the read but I was more struck by how absolutely contemporary in many respects was life in Roman Campania of the first century. There is the (glaring) fact of slavery but otherwise Harris manages to present a story on a human scale despite the difference of two-thousand years and the disaster we know is coming and the characters cannot. I found that having read the book I could go to websites showing the streets of Pompeii and recognize landmarks without having visited the place. Most impressive.
This is also the first I learn Pliny the Elder found time to be praefect of Classis Praetoria Misenensis, the Roman fleet at Misenum. This letter from Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus includes spoilers (or rather, spoliatori).
Campaigns
Roman military campaigns in Wales and southern England indexed using the wonder technology of "the internet".
September 03, 2004
xXx
"She's definitely not just bad and not just good. She's both. That makes her different and challenging to play."
Bad? Good? She's got the gun. And the tattoos. Italian Cinema Week at the Flea™ concludes with Asia Argento as Yelena, Anarchy 99 evil doer in xXx.
While Argento had always wanted to do an American action film I had taken an irrational antipathy toward the movie and avoided it until recently. Fortunately, a fanatic Vin Diesel friend of mine convinced me to give it a chance and now I want, like, a thirty-year Bond run of xXx movies. So much fun.
The A****** Song
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (possibly nsfw but crank your speakers anyway).
And then... A thought: Canada will never understand itself until we can poke fun of ourselves like this.
Knitted superhero uniforms
Knitted superhero uniforms by Mark Newport. The comic cover samplers are nice too.
Battle Chips
This is worth it just to read the line, "I splatted your Battle Chip!"
Sonya Thomas
At last she who is spoken of in prophecy has arrived.
Beneath the Queen's Chamber
Gilles Dormion and Jean-Yves Verd'hurt claim to have located a cavity under the Queen's Chamber in the Great Pyramid using microgravimetry. They argue this may be a tunnel leading to the burial chamber of the Pyramid's end-user, the Pharaoh Khufu (that is Cheops to you classical Greeks). Despite apparent confirmation of their findings by a Japanese team using radar, and their earlier discovery of two previously undetected rooms at a pyramid of Meidum, they have thus far been denied permission to investigate further (supposedly as they are not professional archaeologists).
In the so-called King's room, at the top of a steep shaft reaching up inside the pyramid, they point to deep cracks in the massive granite blocks that form the chamber's ceiling as evidence of this.
The Queen's chamber, meanwhile, cannot be sealed off, meaning it could not have been used as a burial chamber, while work on the third known room was abandoned before it was completed.
Reclining Buddha
Archaeologist Zemaryalai Tarzi searches for a 1,000 foot long Buddha of Bamian sleeping in the sands of Afghanistan. His source, a report from a Chinese pilgrim writing in AD 629.
September 02, 2004
B. Monkey
"My name is B.
B. Monkey.
They call me that because I can get into anything."
Italian Cinema Week at the Flea™ continues with the story of a dream girl come to rescue a teacher from his dreary existence and lead him into a profitable life of crime and adventure. Something like that. Unfortunately, this film's teacher is too much of a wet blanket for suspension of disbelief to quite kick in. Fortunately, B herself more than makes up for it. The only problem with watching a good romantic comedy is the feeling of having your heart yanked out and stomped on. Ha ha! Thanks, Fate! Horror movies are much easier to watch, obviously.
Asia Argento stars as would be a would be reformed B. Monkey and features a new tattoo. Rupert Everett reprises his role as sympathetic gay friend to hot women. This one will make you homesick for London if you are not missing it already. And a good choice for subtitle haters as it is an English-language performance.
Prowlies at the River
Like all good fairy tales, Prowlies at the River is both cute and creepy. Check out the rest of Bitey Castle for more about this Disney special effects animator's work.
Dark Knight
"I am vengeance. I am the knight. I am Batman."
Not a good day for the Batman. And that was almost certainly "I am the Dark Knight", btw.
And then... ***Dave and Neil Gaiman think the intruder said something else. I think my speculation is better.
Jedi Academy
Dr. Rusty Shackleford is expecting a comfortable academic sinecure in Romania. I am pretty sure the Jedi Academy will hire me too.
Traffic report
The InstaPundit reports 310,000 page views on August 31 and 6 million total for August. The Flea cannot claim such traffic but I am pleased to report 7500 page views for August 31 (11,500 page views on August 30... busy Monday I guess) and 156,805 page views from 37,502 unique visitors in total for August. Woo! Yay!
Helm's Deep
'None knows what the new day shall bring him,' said Aragorn. 'Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.'
'Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,' they cried. 'This is no parley. You have nothing to say.'
'I still have this to say,' answered Aragorn. 'No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared. Not one will be left alive to take back tidings to the North. You do not know your peril.'
September 01, 2004
Scarlet Diva
"I am the most lonely girl in the world."
Today's issue of Italian Cinema Week at the Flea™ features a film directed by Asia Argento and starring Asia herself as an "oblique personality". Scarlet Diva has a stunning soundtrack and direction that suggests these are all of Argento's favourite angles of herself (and her favourite angels... we get to see pretty much all of her tattoos). Everything is a bit unsteady much, I suppose, as we are meant to believe is her experience of life as a successful, sought after and gorgeous actress. Though it does leave one with the impression she is out of her mind. Unhinged. In short, even more attractive than I already thought she was.
Scarlet Diva is maximum non-family rated from almost the first scene. That said, the film makes effective use of Christian imagery, taking on board the redemptive power of grace despite the worst of circumstances. This has the best director's commentary of any dvd I have looked at (that accent... it kills me). It confirms my impression of Vincent Gallo as a cad.
Stiffler
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (with some nsfw banner ads).
Cutie Pie
The Tiger in winter calls me libertarian, BlogsCanada calls me conservative and Classical Values calls me a cutie pie. I am, of course, a cutie pie.
Pshychederic gore trancer
So, basically Japanese people are just cooler than I am. Sometimes the blogosphere presents me with something so awesome no quip seems an adequate response. I look at Pshychederic gore trancer and realize this is one of those times.
Topless 3D Tennis
Topless 3D Tennis is a self-explanatory webgame. I am just not very good at it.
Star Wars: Episodes 7, 8 and 9
Tell you what. For a nominal fee I will sign a Non Audience Agreement if George Lucas will only stop violating my childhood with more badly made Star Wars films.
According to fan site Theforce.net, employees at Lucas's company Industrial Light and Magic have all been made to sign non-disclosure agreements to promise not to talk about the possibility of episode's seven, eight and nine being made.
Coca Cola Timeline
Somehow this slick Coca Cola timeline does not include the history of Fanta.
Staplerfahrer Klaus
Yes, thanks to "the internet" I am watching German industrial safety videos. The Raging Kraut offers the following review:
Losing it
Not so fun for Michael Moore when he is not in the edit suite, Al Franken cannot control his temper in the face of disagreement and the best Senator John Kerry's think puppets can come up with is sophomoric semantics. There is no point in parsing this stuff as logic has nothing to do with it. The Democrats have lost the plot. Having given over the ideological thrust of his campaign to conspiracy theorists, apologists and reactionaries the name Kerry is assured a place in history alongside Dukakis and Mondale.
Cross-posted to The Shotgun.
Sky not falling
The "population bomb" was a damp squib. The NGO money train was wrong on the facts then and they are just as obviously wrong about global warming now. I will not hold my breath waiting for anyone on the wrong side of the argument to admit it.
The solution to poverty and pollution lies in the education and material enrichment of the very people the NGOs need to keep poor in order to hold on to their comfy chairs. To cite only two indices of development, there is a direct correlation between electrification and rates of women's literacy. This is hardly surprising. Find countries where people have little access to telephones and computers and where women have little or no control over their lives and you will find a country whose economy and ideology is medieval. And yet I cannot count the times some "progressive" has patiently explained to me that hundreds of millions of people choose to live in poverty because they are not brainwashed by materialism. It seems to me that most Malthussian predictions share the explict racist paternalism of that sort of talk.