Monday, November 24, 2003
Metalepsis: "Reference to something by means of another thing that is remotely related to it, either through a farfetched causal relationship, or through an implied intermediate substitution of terms. Often used for comic effect through its preposterous exaggeration. A metonymical substitution of one word for another which is itself figurative. "
Sunday, November 23, 2003
Saturday, November 22, 2003
Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Author rejects prize from 'anti-migrant' newspaper: "Not since 1972 when John Berger gave half his winnings from the Booker to the Black Panthers, and rubbished book prizes as glorified horse races, has literary London witnessed such a dramatic demonstration of writerly conscience."
Friday, November 21, 2003
Thursday, November 20, 2003
belated birthday greetings to William Cowper :
from "The Winter Morning Walk"
"The cattle mourn in corners where the fence
Screens them, and seem half petrified to sleep
In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait
Their wonted fodder; not like hung'ring man,
Fretful if unsupply'd; but silent, meek,
And patient of the slow-pac'd swain's delay.
He from the stack carves out th' accustom'd load,
Deep-plunging, and again deep-plunging oft,
His broad keen knife into the solid mass:
Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands,
With such undeviating and even force
He severs it away: no needless care,
Lest storms should overset the leaning pile
Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight."
from "The Winter Morning Walk"
"The cattle mourn in corners where the fence
Screens them, and seem half petrified to sleep
In unrecumbent sadness. There they wait
Their wonted fodder; not like hung'ring man,
Fretful if unsupply'd; but silent, meek,
And patient of the slow-pac'd swain's delay.
He from the stack carves out th' accustom'd load,
Deep-plunging, and again deep-plunging oft,
His broad keen knife into the solid mass:
Smooth as a wall the upright remnant stands,
With such undeviating and even force
He severs it away: no needless care,
Lest storms should overset the leaning pile
Deciduous, or its own unbalanc'd weight."
Conrad Black's retinue of insiders, cronies, and clunkers: "Given this cast of characters, it should come as no surprise that over the years the stock of Hollinger International has failed to keep pace with the broad market indexes and many of its peer media companies. After all, putting a bunch of right-wingers with occasionally dubious foreign policy credentials in the position of directing a profit-making business seems almost as illogical as putting a bunch of right-wingers with occasionally dubious business credentials in charge of foreign policy"
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Happy Birthday Billy Strayhorn!
Lush Life
I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes
on the axis
of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingue traces
That used to be there
You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales
Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong
Life is lonely again
And only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore
A week in Paris could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it
I'll forget you, I will
While yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive
So I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be, while I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely too
Lush Life
I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes
on the axis
of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingue traces
That used to be there
You could see where they'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales
Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
Ah yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong
Life is lonely again
And only last year
Everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A trough full of hearts could only be a bore
A week in Paris could ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it
I'll forget you, I will
While yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
Stifling those who strive
So I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And there I'll be, while I rot with the rest
Of those whose lives are lonely too
The Onion | I Have To Admit: I Love The Nuts: "I'm not a strong-willed squirrel. If you take a can of nuts and dump them in your backyard, you'd better believe I'm gonna eat those nuts. I won't be polite about it, either. I won't share them with the chipmunks or the birds. No, I will behave like a fool to secure those nuts. I'll shove as many nuts in my mouth as I can fit, and chew as fast as possible to make room for more nuts. If I have some leftover nuts, I'll bury them for later. And let me tell you: If I can't find my nuts, there's going to be some frantic chirping and running around, believe me. I don't care if passersby stop, point, and laugh at my actions. They can call me me all sorts of nut-loving names. I won't stop until I find those nuts."
Top Justice Aide Approved Sending Suspect to Syria : "Imad Moustafa, the charge d'affaires at the Syrian Embassy in Washington, has denied Arar was tortured. But he said Syria had no reason to imprison Arar. He said U.S. intelligence officials told their Syrian counterparts that Arar was an al Qaeda member. Syria agreed to take him as a favor and to win goodwill of the United States, he said. "
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Spinoza and neuroscience
"My view is that the substance of feelings, the heart of feelings, is really a perception of what has changed in our organism, in our bodies during an emotion. Emotions are unlearned responses to certain classes of stimuli. We are equipped to have emotions, thanks to evolution. When we emote we alter the state of the organism in a rather profound manner - the internal milieu, the viscera, the musculature - and we behave in a particular way. The collection of these changes is the emotion, a rather public affair which helps us deal with a threat (think of fear) or with an opportunity (eat or drink or mate). Feelings are the perception of these changes together with the perception of the object or situation that gave rise to the emotion in the first place. In essence, this is James's idea, although Spinoza envisioned something similar. James was attacked for this proposal."
"My view is that the substance of feelings, the heart of feelings, is really a perception of what has changed in our organism, in our bodies during an emotion. Emotions are unlearned responses to certain classes of stimuli. We are equipped to have emotions, thanks to evolution. When we emote we alter the state of the organism in a rather profound manner - the internal milieu, the viscera, the musculature - and we behave in a particular way. The collection of these changes is the emotion, a rather public affair which helps us deal with a threat (think of fear) or with an opportunity (eat or drink or mate). Feelings are the perception of these changes together with the perception of the object or situation that gave rise to the emotion in the first place. In essence, this is James's idea, although Spinoza envisioned something similar. James was attacked for this proposal."
Seinfeld Blog
BOOKMAN: (Strict) Yeah, '71. That was my first year on the job.. Bad year for libraries. Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards, Abby Hoffman telling everybody to steal books. I don't judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella.
JERRY: Look, Mr. Bookman. I-I returned that book. I remember it very specifically.
BOOKMAN: You're a comedian, you make people laugh.
JERRY: I try.
BOOKMAN: You think this is all a big joke, don't you?
JERRY: (Completely serious) No, I don't.
BOOKMAN: I saw you on T.V. once; I remembered your name - from my list. I looked it up. Sure enough, it checked out. You think because you're a celebrity that somehow the law doesn't apply to you? That you're above the law?
JERRY: Certainly not.
BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "New York Public Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books?' Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped! (Pauses) Or, maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies.. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Seinfeld. (Opens the door to leave. Marion, the librarian, is at Kramer's door. She quickly enters Kramer's apartment and slams the door in fear that Bookman might see her) That is one week!
BOOKMAN: (Strict) Yeah, '71. That was my first year on the job.. Bad year for libraries. Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards, Abby Hoffman telling everybody to steal books. I don't judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella.
JERRY: Look, Mr. Bookman. I-I returned that book. I remember it very specifically.
BOOKMAN: You're a comedian, you make people laugh.
JERRY: I try.
BOOKMAN: You think this is all a big joke, don't you?
JERRY: (Completely serious) No, I don't.
BOOKMAN: I saw you on T.V. once; I remembered your name - from my list. I looked it up. Sure enough, it checked out. You think because you're a celebrity that somehow the law doesn't apply to you? That you're above the law?
JERRY: Certainly not.
BOOKMAN: Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "New York Public Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books?' Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped! (Pauses) Or, maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies.. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Seinfeld. (Opens the door to leave. Marion, the librarian, is at Kramer's door. She quickly enters Kramer's apartment and slams the door in fear that Bookman might see her) That is one week!
Monday, November 17, 2003
Armond White on Isaac Julien's "Baltimore" :
"Julien comments on the Matrix phenomenon in Baltimore when Van Peebles’ perambulations cross paths with the stylish Sister’s. In a bit of sci-fi whimsy, the Sister is able to make Van Peebles materialize out of the ether; later, she levitates in one of the museums that feature paintings by Piero della Francesca. Julien’s caprice asserts the power of black imagination within the European institution. He doesn’t merely use black figures to market an old genre the way black performers, including professor Cornel West, are used in the Matrix movies. Julien’s sense of pop history and political necessity emboldens him to assert their presence, their art, as legitimate. (Perhaps the most splendid f/x in any movie this year is a blue plume that mysteriously streaks across all three screens; it’s like an acrylic aerosol spray of graffiti–rude and beautiful ingenuity–made against Baltimore’s concrete-and-clay cityscape.) "
"Julien comments on the Matrix phenomenon in Baltimore when Van Peebles’ perambulations cross paths with the stylish Sister’s. In a bit of sci-fi whimsy, the Sister is able to make Van Peebles materialize out of the ether; later, she levitates in one of the museums that feature paintings by Piero della Francesca. Julien’s caprice asserts the power of black imagination within the European institution. He doesn’t merely use black figures to market an old genre the way black performers, including professor Cornel West, are used in the Matrix movies. Julien’s sense of pop history and political necessity emboldens him to assert their presence, their art, as legitimate. (Perhaps the most splendid f/x in any movie this year is a blue plume that mysteriously streaks across all three screens; it’s like an acrylic aerosol spray of graffiti–rude and beautiful ingenuity–made against Baltimore’s concrete-and-clay cityscape.) "
Kenny Dorham: "Kenny Dorham was well known for his quiet, subdued sound. He could play as high and as fast as other trumpet players, but his sound was much softer, earning him the nickname of 'Quiet Kenny.'
His sound had a lot to do with his embochure. You can hear that he plays with his tongue high in his mouth, getting a thin sound. Also, he uses primarily upper air, almost never supporting his sound with lower air.
The combination of the high tongue and lack of lower air support made the sound very light, thin, and soft, giving him the sound that we easily recognize as Kenny Dorham."
His sound had a lot to do with his embochure. You can hear that he plays with his tongue high in his mouth, getting a thin sound. Also, he uses primarily upper air, almost never supporting his sound with lower air.
The combination of the high tongue and lack of lower air support made the sound very light, thin, and soft, giving him the sound that we easily recognize as Kenny Dorham."
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Oregon says unlawful labelling of an MP3 is 'terrorism'
"Other acts described as terrorism include (but are not limited to):
* Blocking traffic
* School walkouts
* Computer crime
* Accepting a bribe
* Theft and Burglary
* Unauthorized use of a vehicle
* Unlawful labeling of a videotape
* Unlawful recording of a live performance
* Negotiating a bad check
* Dogfighting
* Delivery of an imitation controlled substance
* Producing fake IDs
* Using another's driver's license
* Drunk driving
* Selling cigarettes to a minor"
"Other acts described as terrorism include (but are not limited to):
* Blocking traffic
* School walkouts
* Computer crime
* Accepting a bribe
* Theft and Burglary
* Unauthorized use of a vehicle
* Unlawful labeling of a videotape
* Unlawful recording of a live performance
* Negotiating a bad check
* Dogfighting
* Delivery of an imitation controlled substance
* Producing fake IDs
* Using another's driver's license
* Drunk driving
* Selling cigarettes to a minor"
'Shoot-to-kill' demand by US: "Ministers have made clear to Washington that the firepower of the mini-gun will not be available during the state visit to Britain. "
Afternoon of a Blakey-ite: "The existence of an 'abysmal' Lee Morgan session suggests another thought. It's difficult to talk about records like The Sixth Sense, The Witch Doctor, and Roots & Herbs without, on the one hand, seeming to overvalue them from enthusiasm for the idiom and for the players' styles, or, on the other, making them insignificant by reducing them to idiomatic and stylistic examples. One is in danger of becoming the pathetic and unwilling hackworker of one of the most unproductive of all critical tasks: contriving to set up an artificial balance between history and appreciation. It's better to love the aesthetic object, to see nothing but it at the moment when one talks about it, and in this way to refuse connoisseurship and spurn the aloof embrace of measure. At the same time, the innocence of a pre-intellectual relationship to the object would be an empty pose. One is left asserting, rather helplessly but also with a certain confidence, the primacy of the pleasure the object gives, a pleasure that the act of talking about the object would perpetuate"
Frank Rich: Angels, Reagan and AIDS in America: "Jon Stewart, as always, could be counted on to crystallize that point when discussing the fictional 'live in sin' line last week on 'The Daily Show.' 'As critics point out, Reagan never said anything like that,' Mr. Stewart said. 'In fact he didn't even mention the word AIDS in public until seven years into his presidency. So you can see why people are upset: CBS made someone totally indifferent look callous.'"
Red River rebellion:
"The situation in the Canadian Northwest in 1884 was very different from what it had been in Red River in 1869-70. In addition to the disappearance of the herds, the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway was nearing completion, and the federal North-West Mounted Police were a strong presence. But in one unfortunate respect, things were all too much the same: Ottawa was still having trouble hearing the voice of the West, particularly that of the Metis. Frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations over the place of the Metis in the province, Riel, on March 8, issued a ten-point bill of rights for the North-West Territories. The manifesto included provisions recognizing the rights of Amerindians and white settlers as well as the rights of the Metis. When Ottawa did not respond, Riel proclaimed a provisional government on March 19 (the name day of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the Metis) and seized the parish church at Batoche, on the Saskatchewan River. Within a week, with the help of the new railway, federal troops were on the scene."
"The situation in the Canadian Northwest in 1884 was very different from what it had been in Red River in 1869-70. In addition to the disappearance of the herds, the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway was nearing completion, and the federal North-West Mounted Police were a strong presence. But in one unfortunate respect, things were all too much the same: Ottawa was still having trouble hearing the voice of the West, particularly that of the Metis. Frustrated at the slow pace of negotiations over the place of the Metis in the province, Riel, on March 8, issued a ten-point bill of rights for the North-West Territories. The manifesto included provisions recognizing the rights of Amerindians and white settlers as well as the rights of the Metis. When Ottawa did not respond, Riel proclaimed a provisional government on March 19 (the name day of Saint Joseph, the patron saint of the Metis) and seized the parish church at Batoche, on the Saskatchewan River. Within a week, with the help of the new railway, federal troops were on the scene."
Saturday, November 15, 2003
bad map
"After a picture of the lobby of the still-under-construction building ran in the Citizen yesterday, eagle-eyed readers noticed that the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast were missing and that Vancouver Island had suddenly become a peninsula. Further, that new peninsula no longer dipped below the 49th Parallel.
Yet, while the map missed out on those bits of Canada, it did not fail to incorporate what appeared to be a new province: Alaska"
"After a picture of the lobby of the still-under-construction building ran in the Citizen yesterday, eagle-eyed readers noticed that the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast were missing and that Vancouver Island had suddenly become a peninsula. Further, that new peninsula no longer dipped below the 49th Parallel.
Yet, while the map missed out on those bits of Canada, it did not fail to incorporate what appeared to be a new province: Alaska"
Friday, November 14, 2003
Happy Birthday Sir Charles Lyell:
"General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys.
Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville.
Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens.
Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the
Brixham Cave.
Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Superposition of Deposits in the Cave.
Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens.
Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville.
Marine Shells in same.
Cyrena fluminalis.
Mammalia.
Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros.
Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits.
Rivers shifting their Channels.
Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels.
Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul.
Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man
in France.
Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements.
Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained.
Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby.
Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem. "
"General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys.
Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville.
Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens.
Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the
Brixham Cave.
Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia.
Superposition of Deposits in the Cave.
Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens.
Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville.
Marine Shells in same.
Cyrena fluminalis.
Mammalia.
Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros.
Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits.
Rivers shifting their Channels.
Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels.
Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul.
Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man
in France.
Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements.
Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained.
Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby.
Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem. "
Equanimity notes Canada's quiet one-party handover from Reaganesque "little guy" phony Chretien, who actually gets credit for keeping us out of the coalition as if it was some brave thing, to Paul Martin, who probably wouldn't have.
film moratorium in home of realism (olefactory?): "DUMBO - Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass - has become an extremely popular backdrop, thanks to its gritty urban realism, old factory buildings and sweeping views of Manhattan and the East River. "
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Catalog of Birds: "'Then comes a further difficulty, the reproduction of timbres. If I want to reproduce on piano, let's say, the song of a garden warbler or a nightingale, I need to find a complex of pitches for every melody-note. Each note of the melody is furnished with a chord. It consists quite simply of conforming to reality, not only to the birdsongs, but also to everything surrounding them: the landscapes, fragrances, colors, and above all, the passing of the hours during the day and night. It's very complicated. "
And a nice pic too: "As snails are wont to do, these sulfide-armored creatures live sedentary lives. This species doesn't even bother to eat. Instead, the animals gain energy from symbiotic bacteria that live within the cells of a gland in their esophagus, says Waren."
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Burying brutal truths about war:
"Noticeably absent, though, has been the New York Times, which, according to an electronic search, has never even referenced the Blade series or its historic findings in its print pages. Asked about the omission, a Times spokeswoman did not return calls by deadline.
The Times' peculiar silence has raised eyebrows in some journalistic circles. 'I'm appalled the New York Times hasn't run anything,' says investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. 'Not even a wire story?' Additionally, for three weeks none of the network news operations or all-news cable channels picked up the Blade's report. Asked if he's surprised by the lack of media pickup, Hersh answers, 'I'm enraged, are you kidding?' Hersh, who won a Pulitzer for uncovering the 1968 My Lai massacre, where U.S. troops killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, suggests the Blade's work has been ignored because of a chill that's in the media air today, with troops on the ground in Iraq, and the White House claiming too much attention is being paid to bad news. "
"Noticeably absent, though, has been the New York Times, which, according to an electronic search, has never even referenced the Blade series or its historic findings in its print pages. Asked about the omission, a Times spokeswoman did not return calls by deadline.
The Times' peculiar silence has raised eyebrows in some journalistic circles. 'I'm appalled the New York Times hasn't run anything,' says investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. 'Not even a wire story?' Additionally, for three weeks none of the network news operations or all-news cable channels picked up the Blade's report. Asked if he's surprised by the lack of media pickup, Hersh answers, 'I'm enraged, are you kidding?' Hersh, who won a Pulitzer for uncovering the 1968 My Lai massacre, where U.S. troops killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, suggests the Blade's work has been ignored because of a chill that's in the media air today, with troops on the ground in Iraq, and the White House claiming too much attention is being paid to bad news. "
NPR : Sewer Cleaners, Dirty Work: "Americans' perception of sewer workers, Speer says, 'is largely defined by one 1950s-era television show' -- The Honeymooners, in which comedians Jackie Gleason and Art Carney played bus driver Ralph Kramden and his pal Ed Norton, a sewer worker. Real-life sewer workers 'aren't above joking about the work they do,' says Speer -- but they contend their lives are nothing like a TV sit-com. "
The Wine of Life: The Meaning of Drainage:
"This alligator was pinto: pale white, seaweed black. It moved fast but clumsy. It could have been lazy, or old or stupid. Profane thought maybe it was tired of living.
The chase had been going on since nightfall. They were in a section of 48-inch pipe, his back was killing him. Profane hoped the alligator would not run off into something smaller, somewhere he couldn't follow. Because then he would have to kneel in the sludge, aim half-blind and fire., all quickly, before the cocodrilo got out of range. Angel held the flashlight, but he had been drinking wine, and would crawl along behind Profane absent-mindedly, letting the beam waver all of the pipe. Profane could only see the coco in occasional flashes.
From time to time his quarry would half-turn, coy, enticing. A little sad. Up above it must have been raining. A continual thin drool sounded behind them at the last sewer opening. Ahead was darkness. The sewer tunnel here was torturous and built decades ago. Profane was hoping for a straightaway. He could make an easy kill there. If he fired anywhere in this stretch of short, crazy angles there'd be danger from ricochets. "
"This alligator was pinto: pale white, seaweed black. It moved fast but clumsy. It could have been lazy, or old or stupid. Profane thought maybe it was tired of living.
The chase had been going on since nightfall. They were in a section of 48-inch pipe, his back was killing him. Profane hoped the alligator would not run off into something smaller, somewhere he couldn't follow. Because then he would have to kneel in the sludge, aim half-blind and fire., all quickly, before the cocodrilo got out of range. Angel held the flashlight, but he had been drinking wine, and would crawl along behind Profane absent-mindedly, letting the beam waver all of the pipe. Profane could only see the coco in occasional flashes.
From time to time his quarry would half-turn, coy, enticing. A little sad. Up above it must have been raining. A continual thin drool sounded behind them at the last sewer opening. Ahead was darkness. The sewer tunnel here was torturous and built decades ago. Profane was hoping for a straightaway. He could make an easy kill there. If he fired anywhere in this stretch of short, crazy angles there'd be danger from ricochets. "
Happy Birthday Shakey!!
You wake up
in the morning
And the sun's comin' up.
Its been up for hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
It's been up
for hours
and hours
and hours
And you light up
the stove
And the coffee cup, its hot.
And the orange juice is cold,
cold, cold
Monday morning,
Wake up,
wake up,
wake up,
wake up
Its time to go,
Time to go
to work.
You wake up
in the morning
And the sun's comin' up.
Its been up for hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
and hours
It's been up
for hours
and hours
and hours
And you light up
the stove
And the coffee cup, its hot.
And the orange juice is cold,
cold, cold
Monday morning,
Wake up,
wake up,
wake up,
wake up
Its time to go,
Time to go
to work.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Armor-Plated Snail Discovered in Deep Sea: "Waren said that when he first examined the sea snail, the animal's magnetized scales kept sticking to his forceps. He guessed that an iron mineral was involved. "
Songs of ourselves: " In music we hear the echo of our basic sound-making instrument -- the vocal tract. The explanation for human music is simpler still than Pythagoras's mathematical equations: We like the sounds that are familiar to us -- specifically, we like sounds that remind us of us."
Buffalo Grain Elevator Project : "When LeCorbusier saw the pure cylindrical forms of Buffalo's concrete grain elevators he exclaimed: 'The first fruits of the new age!' "
Monday, November 10, 2003
Sunday, November 09, 2003
wild boys of Vernon: "'I spent a lot of my former life in the bush,' Stinson told the Vancouver Province. 'I once met a person who hadn't been out in society since 1918. We took him out in 1976 and he flipped out seeing cars and stoplights. So is it possible, you bet it is.' "
Happy 18th Brumaire!
"But unheroic though bourgeois society is, it nevertheless needed heroism, sacrifice, terror, civil war, and national wars to bring it into being. And in the austere classical traditions of the Roman Republic the bourgeois gladiators found the ideals and the art forms, the self-deceptions, that they needed to conceal from themselves the bourgeois-limited content of their struggles and to keep their passion on the high plane of great historic tragedy. Similarly, at another stage of development a century earlier, Cromwell and the English people had borrowed from the Old Testament the speech, emotions, and illusions for their bourgeois revolution. When the real goal had been achieved and the bourgeois transformation of English society had been accomplished, Locke supplanted Habakkuk. "
"But unheroic though bourgeois society is, it nevertheless needed heroism, sacrifice, terror, civil war, and national wars to bring it into being. And in the austere classical traditions of the Roman Republic the bourgeois gladiators found the ideals and the art forms, the self-deceptions, that they needed to conceal from themselves the bourgeois-limited content of their struggles and to keep their passion on the high plane of great historic tragedy. Similarly, at another stage of development a century earlier, Cromwell and the English people had borrowed from the Old Testament the speech, emotions, and illusions for their bourgeois revolution. When the real goal had been achieved and the bourgeois transformation of English society had been accomplished, Locke supplanted Habakkuk. "
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)