July 31, 2007
The Last Post
A body washes up on a beach, thought to be the remains of Jeremy Blake. Glenn O'Brien writes a last post to The Wit of the Staircase expecting Theresa Duncan to offer some final mot juste (via LA Observed).
Or possibly not. Blake's show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art is to go ahead this fall.
The Cure: To Wish Impossible Things
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
July 30, 2007
Books I have not read
Pierre Bayard is a psychoanalyst, professor of French Literature at the University of Paris (VIII) and turns up on French chat shows (warning: head tilt). The ultimate cake life, in other words.
But all is not gâteau for a man expected to have read some books and does not enjoy reading. Worse yet, as a professor he is often expect to comment on books he has never read.
Good man. There is no other way to survive undergraduate teaching. I knew a professor of philosophy at a certain Canadian university who could not bear the thought of Sartre but could not stand anyone knowing it. Instead of wading through Being and Nothingness she opened her copy to the last page and carefully wrote an exclamation mark after the final sentence. Problem solved.
Also featured: The genetic lottery
A film-adaptation of Repo! The Genetic Opera starts shooting in Toronto on September 10. How to get a gig as an extra, preferably one who gets organ-harvested? I will do (almost) anything to be in a film with Paris Hilton (hat tip to Sadie).
“The idea is that everybody is buying up organs, and they cannot afford to pay for these organs,” director Darren Lynn Bousman recently told MTV. “Thus, legalized organ repo-men come into the picture. Murder becomes sanctioned by law. So, if you buy a heart and can't afford it, someone can burst through the door and take your heart out… and they don’t get in trouble for it."
High concept.
July 27, 2007
An imperial adventurer of a particularly English sort
Let me first say I loved the Jason Bourne movies and look forward to the next one, if slightly less than I had. I particularly enjoyed the first one, whatever it was called, and especially the love interest who was later to play the daughter of an Armenian gangster on The Shield. Now that's some fine television. But my enthusiasm for the Bourne films is not unalloyed upon learning Matt Damon believes Jason Bourne is quite different from James Bond. You don't say.
"Bourne is this paranoid guy. He's on the run. He's not the government. The government is after him. He's a serial monogamist who's in love with his dead girlfriend and can't stop thinking about her," Damon said. "He's the opposite of James Bond."
I tend to agree. Yet Damon fails to grasp the consequences of his own observation. Babbling Brooks sums up the distinction neatly.
Quite right. But then Damon "spits on" Bond's values (and this the man billed to play James T. Kirk; the mind, it boggles). Damon goes on to describe Bond as "an imperial adventurer of a particularly English sort." I have had some opportunity to think along these lines recently as I learn from some of my Buddhist colleagues at work. They appear to have a genuine equanimity and the ability to face troubling situations with outward and - to all appearances - inward calm. This by contrast with my Protestant disposition, rarely arriving at breakfast before contemplating violence upon the person or persons of Toronto's great unwashed (and I mean unwashed) commuting public. Which is not only why Buddhists have a reputation for serenity but also why we are speaking English.
Related happy thoughts: Menwith Hill is to be incorporated into the missile defense system. Better yet, the Type-45 guided missile destroyer Daring is undergoing sea trials. Best of all is this animation of the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. It remains to be seen if we have the spleen to use the kit. It sure looks pretty.
Enemy of Humanity Update: Do not get me started on the Geneva Conventions and the most basic principle of all human social relations, viz reciprocity: We abandon it at the risk of extinction. Let us instead celebrate the life of an "imperial adventurer". Captain 'Pug' Mather was a hero in the truest sense of the word; he lived, a free man.
On January 5 1953 Mather was a member of 801 Naval Air Squadron, flying from the carrier Glory, when his Hawker Sea Fury was struck by flak and blew up. His wingman watched the aircraft go into a vertical spin without engine or tail, and saw Mather thrown from the cockpit, apparently lifeless.
But Mather recovered consciousness in freefall to pull his parachute ring and float downwards while the Koreans continued to shoot at him. He was so incensed that he fired back with his pistol.
David Bowie: Let's Dance (live)
What a week. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Underground
This Jubilee Line Extension documentary has its high-points; I am particularly drawn to the line-walkers and their 8k nightly treks in the dark. But as official stories go it misses much of the use to which ordinary people put the Tube.
Skiing at the Angel, for example. Or an ever so slightly affected dinner party.
July 26, 2007
Poseur
The place: "The first and only true cyberpunk bar"... Savage Garden, 550 Queen West, Toronto
The time: Doors open at 8. I am on just after 9. I asked the promoter for a 9-5 friendly spot in the line-up...
The door: $5- 19+
The gig: Toronto Noise Promotions presents TECHNICAL GLITCH experimental/IDM/noise night.... featuring Toronto Noise Company, Ghost of a flea, NWODTLEM, Crushkill, Worma, Moonbass, This Camera is Red, Cauterwall, Brother Rat, Kyle Bobby Dunn and featuring DJ Razorgrrl & B7.
Worth the cover if only for B7 assuming he is in his Tusken Raider gear.
I admit I am not quite sure where I was going with the "poseur" tagline. Parker Posey/poseur/vampires/goths, etc. Basically, I did not think it through; it has been that kind of 24 hours. Tomorrow: Thoughts on James Bond and imperialism. Spoiler for new Flea-readers: I am pro-James Bond and pro-imperialism.
Rammstein: Benzin
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
I resemble that remark
Mike Mitchell considers a middle-class Batman. The image is priceless (hat tip to Mr. Taylor*).
* Who is blogging about the extended family at the moment, btw.
July 25, 2007
The opposite of silence (updated)
Theresa Duncan, film-maker and video-game designer, perhaps best known to Flea-readers as the writer and publisher of The Wit of the Staircase, is dead. She committed suicide July 10. Many of us are only finding out now - her last posts suggested she was away on business - as the press seeks comment from the many people touched by her work and her spirit.*
Horror upon horror, her long-time partner followed her into the unknown region. It seems he chose not to live without her.
The filmmaker, Theresa Duncan, 40, who has also drawn attention for her writings on cultural topics, committed suicide in their East Village apartment on July 10, the police said. Her companion, Jeremy Blake, 35, a well-regarded artist known for digital animation that blurs the line between abstract painting and film, has been missing since his clothes were found on a beach in the Rockaways on Tuesday evening, they added.
A New York Post article cites friends who are, of course, shocked at this final turn of events. Shocked by the tragedy and shocked because suicide seems out of character. They were both so absolutely alive.
Theresa is quoted in the comments to Perfume of Life. She had wandered so very far from home.
A: My cologne is called Santa Ana after the powerful winds that bring desert heat and faraway smell into the city. It smells like: Celluloid and sand, coyote fur and car exhaust, contrail cloud and chlorine, bitter orange and stage blood and one bushel of ghostly, shivery night-blooming jasmine flowers like blown kisses from the phantoms of the ten thousand screen beauties who still haunt our hills every full moon because they think it's a stage light.
What a soul to come out with a sentence like that. As a friend used to say, she is missing.
* This is the first, and will hopefully be the only, time I have ever learned someone was dead because I was asked for comment. Still, best to know.
Update: The LA Times has more details. Some speculative.
Charlie Finch remembers the couple at artnet.
Links: Other posts about Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.
The Last Post, July 27, 2007
The Lunar Society of Los Angeles, August 2, 2007
Good Artists Borrow, August 9, 2007
We Are Just Another Damn Song, September 11, 2007
So Not Cool, May 1, 2008
Let. Them. Rest. In. Peace., May 2, 2008
Letting the Freak Flag Fly, October 14, 2009
The Master, December 4, 2009
The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift, February 27, 2010
The Commodification of Tragedy, May 21, 2010
Ars Memoriae, May 17, 2011
Manu Chao: Mr. Bobby
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
* Also, Me gustas tu. Smile, it can't be that bad.
Tempus, as they say, fugit
As an aside and for the record regarding something I am not going to link: Theresa Duncan was far more accomplished than Kate Moss. But Kate Moss is a great beauty, a professional beauty, and Theresa was capable of appreciating beauty. Some beauty remains while some of us are left to appreciate it.
There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: The Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything.
- V.I.N.CENT
The robot is right. A reasonable guide to the personality type your are dealing with is in reaction to the success or failure of well-known, accomplished people. If the first instinct is to do the same - to do better - you are dealing with a Will. If it is to belittle, dismiss or pathologize the accomplishment you are dealing with a Won't. If it is to ask for an autograph, that's a Can't.
In my experience it is best to surround yourself with other Wills as much as humanly possible. Move heaven and earth to be with the Wills; the Won'ts will stop at nothing to prevent you from succeeding. Increasingly I find I cannot stand the Won'ts. I have no patience left for them. F--- them. They have no Mastery.
If there is something you want to do - something awesome - then do it now. The grass is not greener. Life is short. Etc. It is only a platitude if you do not act on it.
And on that note: I am playing Savage Garden tomorrow night. My limited edition, numbered promo EP will make its debut then and there.
July 24, 2007
Anti-Canada
Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal; Chloe Sevigny would do away with the whole thing (hat tip to Sadie). This is a most distressing prospect for me due to my love of all things fugly.
How to reconcile the hotness of Sevigny with the problematical fact of my current abode? Perhaps we should get with manifest destiny and rename the lot Canadia. U.S. passports for everybody!
Mr. Scruff: Get a Move On
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Platform 9 and 3/4
It isn't that people are going to King's Cross and trying to enter Platform 9 and 3/4. It isn't that they are filming themselves doing it and putting the results up on the internet. It is that I have not gone to King's Cross and tried to enter Platform 9 and 3/4 myself.
Muggle Science Update: Lots of relatives in Tewkebury and Gloucester and surrounds. My favourite part of this Channel 4 report asking "What caused the flooding?" is an exchange with a "climate change" scientist. Their models, see, claim things should be getting dryer. Not the worry: The opposite of what we predicted proves what we predicted... give us more money!
July 23, 2007
Black Sisters: Voldemort is King
For Flea-readers in the aftermath - and consequently having no fear of spoilers - the only book review I care about is offered by the always pureblood Black Sisters. And people wonder why I am in House Slytherin... Their Order of the Phoenix (bad) film review is even better. Here too is the equally excellent (good) film review for contrast.*
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
* Jason of Postpolitical offers another review of the film. I agree with the broad strokes of his argument though - fair warning - this is a man who will not read the books because he does not want them to spoil the movies. Which is twisted. Any reader will know, for example, why Harry has to continue living at Little Whinging until his coming of age.
Certamen Update: Black Sisters duel!
After Potter
J.K. Rowling reads from the introduction to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the atrium of the Natural History Museum, July 21, 2007; many wizards and witches are in attendance.
July 20, 2007
Burial: Unite
I make music because of this album.
B: ‘The Car Test’ started with me boring the f*** out of my mates, trying to play tunes. The car test was ‘do they sound good on the car stereo at night time, driving through London?’ That’s ‘The Car Test.’ Some Detroit tunes have that too, that distance in the tune. The ‘thousand yard stare’ in the tune.
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Related: This dubstep documentary featuring Loefah, Kode9 and a very posh sounding Blackdown.
New Victorians
Lizzy Ratner's New York Observer piece on the values of the new 20-somethings is interesting sociologically; where did these people come from? I can only think the diamond rings and anti-Xer talk is itself both a reaction to and fulfillment of the messianic Boomer self-concept. Their ostensibly perfect children, having never been told any different, echo their parent's high opinion of the little darlings.
Quite how this stands up in the world as the New Victorians leave an educational system that never dared to judge them on anything but "participation" has yet to be seen. More important still is how the diamond rings and statements of intention translate into foreign policy. These are the people who will run the world one day. Whatever is left of it once the Boomers are through.
July 19, 2007
And a xenomorph on a hamster wheel
Much as his visions of Dune never saw the silver screen, H.R. Giger's Batmobile never graced Batman Forever. Which might be just as well; Batman is already creepy enough.
Flea-readers pining for an X-shaped automobile chittering down the boulevard may find some small comfort with an H.R. Giger train-set.
Lydia Lunch: Dance Of The Dead Children
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Columbia Pictures presents...
The Telltale Heart (via La Main Gauche). This one was almost posted as a Flea-dance; think Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face.
July 18, 2007
Don't F*** With Hitch
Christopher Hitchens denies the existence of God. But then he would wouldn't he? The Son of Man and all that... And as for the Other Place.
With a tip of the hat to the Drink Soaked Trots.
Metallica: Sad But True
James Hetfield explains his views are not entirely Sympatico with the organizers of Live Earth.
Quite right. According to Tim Blair, their sales are up 800% too after that little performance, btw. You can't argue with results. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
If all else fails: The Mule
J. Richard Gott III has forecast, amongst other things, the longevity of Broadway plays, newspapers, dogs and the tenure in office of hundreds of political leaders around the world. Also, that humanity will be around for at least another 5100 years. Shades of psychohistory... John Tierney echoes Gott calling it a Copernican Principle (via Instapundit).
Suppose you want to forecast the political longevity of the leader of a foreign country, and you know nothing about her country except that she has just finished her 39th week in power. What are the odds that she’ll leave office in her 40th week? According to the Copernican Principle, there’s nothing special about this week, so there’s only a 1-in-40 chance, or 2.5 percent, that she’s now in the final week of her tenure. It’s equally unlikely that she’s still at the very beginning of her tenure. If she were just completing the first 2.5 percent of her time in power, that would mean her remaining time would be 39 times as long as the period she’s already served — 1,521 more weeks (a little more than 29 years).
So you can now confidently forecast that she will stay in power at least one more week but not as long as 1,521 weeks. The odds of your being wrong are 2.5 percent on the short end and 2.5 percent on the long end — a total of just 5 percent, which means that your forecast has an expected accuracy of 95 percent, the scientific standard for statistical significance.
Which is very interesting though I am not certain Tierney's math is quite working. Still. The snag: Gott thinks our long term survival depends on a Mars colony up and running in the next 46 years. I say we make it.
July 17, 2007
Posh and Becks, cont.
Traffic is down what with Flea-readership on summer vacation. I may be forced to post extra cheesecake. Not to do anything for the numbers, mind you, but as a form of instant karma for anyone currently lounging on a beach instead of cruising the dextrosphere.
Here is Victoria Beckham (QT audio clip) interviewed by Ryan Seacrest on the event of her arrival in Los Angeles. She seems quite nice and entirely - bizarrely - normal, actually. My guess: Libra. I missed the reality show last night as I was flying into Toronto...
Dire Straits: Romeo and Juliet
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
How to you like Harry Potter?
Ron Charles, Washington Post book critic and twat, is better than those "perfectly intelligent, mature people" who enjoy Harry Potter. So, what does a worthy enjoy by way of fiction - "the kind of contemplation, independence and solitude that real engagement with books demands -- and rewards."
The tale of a boy orphaned by the Irish potato famine; no prizes for guessing who Behrens, and Charles, think the "evil force" might be (starts with the E and rhymes with Spinglish). Charming. Imagine being this guy's 10-year old daughter and having been forced to endure his contempt-ridden rendition of J.K. Rowling's work. I would asked him to stop well before book IV.
I could care less if people enjoy Harry Potter. What I cannot stand is an arch would be superiority that insists on distancing itself from the fun the rest of us are having. A long list of things I have little to no interest in includes Carabana, basketball and Bridle Path tours of the gardens of Toronto society. And yet somehow I manage to endure the passions of others without typing myself into a fit of Puritan ecstasy.
House Ravenclaw Update: The Tiger is Spartacus. "School stories are moral stories." Quite. And I suspect this is much of the reason for the contempt J.K. Rowling garners from the ersatz clever set. It would not do to teach children right from wrong, duty and obligation, honour and courage, etc. and so forth.
July 16, 2007
Victoria Regina
I confess there are times I choose not to address a subject at the Flea for fear of encouraging competition in an ongoing eBay quest. Such was the case for the Victoria Regina Tarot. No need for a Tarot of the Flea; this is it. The dratted deck had gone out of print before I made a decision to purchase it and, having failed to follow the Moscow Rule of Shopping*, I had to do without until spotting a sole survivor at Sunnyside Books in Ottawa. When the battle zepellin's improbability drive is working again, this is the deck I am taking with me to Deadwood.
So that's settled. On-line readings are available for those who must continue to do without. Also loving the wallpapers.
* Not to be (entirely) confused with the Moscow Rules. But then the CIA used to be cool once upon a time.
Clan of Xymox: Imagination
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Creating awareness
Just by reading Jeff's post to Agent Bedhead you will help create awareness of life-threatening celebutard posturing. Act now. Read his post. Only you can stop wasteful public policy protesting the weather. Small children and ducklings are counting on you. Go now.
July 13, 2007
Mrs. Peel
I was going to write something like: Yes, yes, Diana Rigg. But please, Joanna Lumley. Then I watched the 1967 Avengers opening credits and I realized, oh, right, Diana Rigg. Also featuring feminine wiles and PVC.* So, sorry about that. A useful reminder of an England before it lost its bottle. As the Bard put it, another country.
But still, Joanna Lumley on Top Gear: The World's Fastest Grandmother!**
* Also Helen Mirren. Best not to think about it too carefully.
** Not a grandmother at this point... And now, back to Plymouth (nsfw, blurry).
July 12, 2007
The Lesser Book of the Vishanti
Catherine Yronwode has posted her index of magick in Dr. Strange to the internet. This is certain to come in handy to aspiring witches and warlocks; my first book of spells was a spiral-bound Spiderman notebook featuring all the lore that could be gleaned from Dr. Strange and Mighty Isis.
The Lesser Book of the Vishanti has taken on a life of its own. Even a single published chapter, viz Chapter 2 on Deities, Powers and Forces, created echoes back into the Multiverse.
Careful with this stuff. If you imagine a book like the Necronomicon it is only a matter of time before it starts writing itself. To parse Lucian by way of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: "I say to you againe, do not calle up that which you can not put downe." In case you do, repeat the following (loudly and with drama):
OGTHROD AI'F
GEBL - EE'H
YOG-SOTHOTH
'NGAH'NG AI'Y
ZHRO
Sound advice.
Always had this thing about Clea Update: In other magick news, Kylie and Dr. Who on the Titanic (hat tip to Mr. Dodds).
Stab-o-nauts
Being Warren Ellis, he considers stabbing an eyeball tattooing and asks a question:
And me with 905 friends scandalized by news of a new 416 friend engaged in chocolate skull manufacture.
July 11, 2007
Tail-end charlie
Flea-idol, Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear - the best show on television - have been accused of eco-crime for driving about the lifeless salt plains world's last pristine wilderness, the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana. The crime? Failing to drive single file thereby having a laugh scarring the fragile local ecosystem. Now, one might expect this sort of caddishness from Imperial Storm Troopers (everyone knows the Sand People ride single-file) but from the BBC the same hijinx leaves delectable traces of hypocrisy given the Beeb's mind-numbing eco-puritanism.
Of course it would help if the accusations were not utter nonsense. The real target here is a popular television series known for its "petrol head" politics and unashamed love of toys for boys. Can't have that; thought-crime. Meanwhile, a casual perusal of Makgadikgadi images via Google reveals a whole lot of non-single file going on. This includes an image posted by the government of Botswana and - my favourite - a majestic seven abreast from Pangaea Expeditions (above). Some may say tire-tracks in caustic alkali sands are a problem; of course, the next time it rains they will be left with nothing to complain about. But by then, I expect, they will have found some fresh witch to burn.
The critics might also have thought to refer to Clarkson's own description of the instructions he and his crew received before crossing the wasteland.
Super was going to be tail-end charlie for our 250-mile trek. But first, he had a health-and-safety lecture to deliver, Botswana style. Two weeks later I'm able to quote the whole thing verbatim. It went like this..."Let's go".
There were no helmets, no high-visibility jackets, no disclaimers to sign, no lectures on what to do if you were to be hit in the face by a giant meteorite and no reason that Super could see why our seven-year-old shouldn't drive her bike the whole way if she wanted to. Which she did, very much.
And not a word of outrage from the thin of skin. Still, the complaints let me learn about the pristine wilderness of Botswana, its Australians on three-wheelers and its primordial concrete aardvarks. Et in Arcadia ego.
David Bowie: Be My Wife
In the near future Japanese people will pay to have teeth as cool as mine come natural. Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.*
* Note to self: As soon as the improbability drive is working, set coordinates for Manhattan, December, 1979 and kidnap Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias so I can cover TVC15 properly.
Top Gear s09e06
I knew Billie Piper was cute. I had no idea how cute. It's the accent you see. Just delightful.* **
* Any Billie Piper coverage - even of the see-through variety - is sure to irritate Andrew. Better throw him a bone; it looks like one of his mates is running for office: Lee Rotherham for Mayor of London!
** And by delightful I mean sending me into Pon'far early.
July 10, 2007
It's better to die than to be a coward
Prince Harry is undergoing training with 3rd Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles. Now if only we can find a Parliament that will allow him to fight.
Time to limit the franchise, raise the royal standard at Oxford and set about business in earnest.
Venetian Snares: Szamár Madár
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
What a pity
Will describes him - quite accurately I should think - as a petit-bourgeois individualist dilettante. Well, I am all in favour of that sort of thing. Hazzah for Anthony Carr, vicar of Holy Trinity church in East Peckham. Carr walked into the police station in Tonbridge...
"He said 'Will you please put that out as this is a no smoking area' and I said 'I will not'."
When officers told him he would not be "bundled into" the back of a van he said "what a pity".
An environmental health issue, apparently; as with so much else these days, not the business of the police.
July 09, 2007
Help us decide what to wear!
Paperlilies and Theslyestfox go cosplay shopping. Wonder Woman and Supergirl are featured. And they said the internet would never be perfect.
Though I should point out this Dan Radcliffe plan conflicts with my Theslyestfox plan. I am quite certain she has more in common with me than some actor.
Spinal Tap: Stonehenge (live)
Let no one say Live Earth was without redeeming moments.* Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
* Or giant creepy holograms. I still cannot stand al-Gore's voice. As for the fragile layer in which we live: Less Live Earth, more Belter independence.
Bring graph paper, 500' of rope and a ten-foot pole
Stone mined to build Bath has left a village undermined. Now 15km of underground roads have been built to reach and fill the voids. This BBC video conveys the scale of the problem.
It is not clear to me how foamed concrete squares with preserving archaeological features of note or habitat for rare Greater Horseshoe bats and endangered Gelatinous Cubes. Depressing thought: A subsiding miner's cottage on the outskirts of Bath is well beyond my means; £350,000 manages a semi-detached (must consider larger tip-jar).
July 07, 2007
Technical Glitch
The date: 26/07/2007
The place: Savage Garden, 550 Queen West, Toronto
The time: Doors open at 8
The cost: $5- 19+
Toronto Noise Promotions presents TECHNICAL GLITGH experimental/IDM/noise night.... one venue/two rooms featuring Toronto Noise Company, Ghost of a flea, NWODTLEM, Crushkill, Worma, Moonbass, This Camera is Red, Cauterwall, Brother Rat, Kyle Bobby Dunn along with DJ Razorgrrl and B7.
Mighty Dub Katz: Magic Carpet Ride
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
Sony VAIO customer service
Jane Galt describes her ongoing nightmare with Sony VAIO customer service. The preamble is familiar and this sentiment spot on:
The comments are worth a look. My favourite: A guy still enraged at Sony for a Beta repair problem in the mid-'80s. Feeling better and better about my HP Pavilion all the time.
July 06, 2007
Welcome to my house. Enter freely and of your own will.
Flea-readers with a spare US$135m might consider hitting the tip jar; Bran Castle is for sale. There could hardly be a more ideal Flea HQ.
In related news: Vampires still kicking werewolf ass. Not related at all really: The Hauntening. Scaaary.
Househunting Update: Agent Bedhead calls it the ultimate chick magnet.
This is very nearly correct.
July 05, 2007
The Cardigans: Don't blame your daughter
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
July 04, 2007
Best. Xmas. Ever.
Kylie Minogue is to star in this year's Dr. Who Christmas Special (hat tip to Jadjad).
"This will be the most ambitious and best Christmas episode yet," promised executive producer Russell T Davies, who has also written the script.
Hecklerspray explains the importance of two national treasures teaming up for Xmas tea-time.
Ultimate Companion Update: End of Season 3 spoiler alert. Also, Kylie. Red nail polish, anyone?
Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove
Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (via the Jawas). And if that is insufficiently awesome check out the original.
Loop Quantum Gravity
Penn State physicist, Martin Bojowald gives some thought to the Big Before. It turns out the minimum volume of the universe at the "Big Bang" was not zero and its maximum energy was not infinite...
Beyonder to line five. Paging the Beyonder...
In tangentially related physics: Warren Ellis comments on global warming. We have two choices, apparently.
July 03, 2007
Strandbeest
Dutch physicist turned artist, Theo Jansen makes "skeletons which are able to walk on the wind." These kinetic sculptures may be the most amazing thing I have seen on the internet.
Jansen explains his method: "Fifty years ago I started to make basic forms of life..."
Ministry: Breath
Oh to be at Porter Hall again. Crank up the speakers: Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
July 02, 2007
From the Oak High School inaugural Variety Show: Theme to Halo and Halo 2
Think of this post as an oasis between two news of of the stupids. It is enough to give one faith in the youth of today.* Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.
* And here. And here. And for the real enthusiasts, here. I do not know what it means that I get choked up every time I hear the piece. Note to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: If you want a full house, do this.
So... can you tune a marimba to the key of E Dorian?
The silver lining
In Glasgow they take the law into their own hands. And feet.
Little did he know, as he happily dragged on his fag, that two crazed al-Qaeda operatives were preparing to meet their maker. But they didn’t meet their maker. Instead they met BAA’s answer to Jack Bauer.
Now going to kick in a pint (that's an IOU, they will get my PayPal contribution as soon as I confirm this is not a scam... sad days).
"This is Glasgow, We'll set about ye!" Update: John Smeaton interviewed.