Cloud AtlasI highly recommend Dreamhost.
They Might Be Giants played a great show at the Vic last night. Being officially old now, we got there early and snagged front row seats in the balcony, where we had a great view. A few thoughts: My first thought, on seeing the band, was “Wow, they’ve gotten much older.” But then I realized [… Read More]
It’s weird how you could make an offhand comment — I’m sure I said something offhand about being the “zombie dude” — and have a reporter decide that this is your nickname. Anyhow, check out this piece which appears to be the front page article for the week at the Leader. My favorite bit of [… Read More]
Last night we drove to St. Charles, home of the always-enjoyable Scarecrow festival, to see the Piccadilly Circus on the Kane County Fairgrounds. Jenny called it an “old fashioned circus,” by which she meant it embodied all the aspects of circus tradition that you’d expect without all the whiz and bang of the Ringling Bros [… Read More]
Since the week of the 100th anniversary, I’ve watched several Titanic documentaries I recorded off History and Discovery in the week preceding 14 April.. Some thoughts: Titanic’s Sister Ship: The Sinking of the Britannic Good: decent footage of deep wreck diving by experienced divers Chatterton and Kohler (from the excellent book Shadow Divers). Bad: About [… Read More]
It used to be that if you saw something cool in a shop, you could buy it, and that would be it. My favorite thing about the new connectivity is the way we can become acquainted directly with artists through the web, as though we’d met them at a gallery show, even if we live [… Read More]
Dan did this great post a while back, so I thought I’d do my own. 1. “Einstein on a Beach (for an Eggman),” Counting Crows I don’t really understand this song, except that it’s darn catchy and its title doesn’t really make any sense at all to me. It comes from that heyday when everyone [… Read More]
from Augusta Chapman We shall survive in the memories of our friends for as long as the remembrance will serve any good purpose And then our work, and thought, and influence, will mingle with the great ocean of human achievement, and the sum total of that will be something more, something different, from what it [… Read More]
First, a Caveat: I have seen every episode in seasons one through four, and nearly all the rest. There are a few (about two or three per season) that I cannot watch via streaming on Netflix, so I’m working my way through them, but I haven’t finished yet. I will update this list if I [… Read More]
continued from yesterday They Might Be Giants holds a special place in my heart for two reasons. First, it’s a meta-detective story about the multiplicity of signs and clues in our world. In some ways, it has filmic resonance with The Crying of Lot 49, infusing the world with wondrous mystery, reading clues from garbage [… Read More]
To those of you (and there are several) who told me that Cabin in the Woods was right up my alley… It’s a great movie. Horror, yes, but something else as well. Nothing more to say about it here.
ZeFrank is currently kickstartering a new year of “The Show” called “A Show.” It’s already funded, but you should get on that anyway. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about: here you go. Hell yeah.
From Frankenstein, Volume 1, Chapter 3: In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism; and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature, that banished every idea of pedantry. It was, perhaps, the amiable character of this man that inclined me more to that [… Read More]
RadioLab is always a treat, one of the most consistently excellent programs on the air (or the podcast, as I use it). But I was particularly impressed with this week’s episode, called “The Bad Show.” Abumrad and Krulwich explore why people do bad things, an what we should think about them. Here’s their description of [… Read More]
The Annual A Miracle on 34th Street post. After I tweeted that I had to wait two and a half more weeks before I’d seem like a weirdo to watch this movie already, I broke down and watched it on Sunday 6 November. Despite the fact that I’ve seen the movie more times than I [… Read More]
Remember this old chestnut? Saturday Night Live – Tom Hanks – 12/08/1990 by ccob In downloading Mule Variations as part of my emusic subscription this month, I realized that Tom Waits has now entered my own “Five Timers Club,” that select group of musical acts whom I enjoy enough to have purchased five of their [… Read More]