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Mar. 21st, 2006 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zotzToday's paper had a few articles about Modernism. Very interesting, including one by Ballard on the death of heroic Modernism, and the Modernism of death - "After taking the ferry, you disembark at a gloomy landing stage worthy of Böcklin's Island of the Dead. This is a place beyond hope, of haunted gateways and melancholy statues. But then, in the heart of the cemetery, there is a sudden lightening of tone, and you find you are strolling through what might be a Modern suburb of Tunis or Tel Aviv. The lines of family tombs resemble cheerful vacation bungalows, airy structures of white walls and glass that might have been designed by Le Corbusier or Richard Neutra. One could holiday for a long time in these pleasant villas, and a few of us probably will."
The intro to the Modernist bit is here.
There's also a reprint of Jimmy Carter's recent article about Israel and the peace process. As always, he's worth listening to.
In other news, I spent about three days waiting for Ed's new phone to arrive, and finally it turned out it wasn't coming. I also seem to be doing very well for spoons, but actually want a knife.
The Ig Nobel roadshow last week was very good. A couple of eccentric Dutchmen were over discussing their papers on erotic conjugation, repectively within NMR scanners and between male mallards with contrasting levels of biological viability, along with various other items including a short opera.
Someone pointed me at this animated graphic, which is worksafe, probably, as long as frivolous nonsense is permitted. I also read the obituary of Anna Marly, who wrote/cowrote/whatever the song that Leonard Cohen made famous in English as "The Partisan". I remember hearing a woman (maybe Joan Baez?) singing it on the radio in a car in Jamaica in the mid-seventies. ON the sleevenotes to Greatest Hits, Cohen remarked that when he was very young, he had the odd feeling that the fascists were defeated by song.
One of the more frustrating parts of the last week was spent trying to change the bolts holding my wheels on. One on each wheel came with Peugeot's standard security bolts, with an odd pronged spanner to turn them. Over the years, with mistreatment from the airhammers of a thousand cheap garages, these keys have twisted, cracked and broken, until I had only one left from the replacement set. I went and got some bogstandard replacement bolts and set to getting the old ones out one last time.
Guess what?
Well, happily I gave up on the really sticky one for a minute or two to take out the last easy one, so after going back and breaking the last remaining key on it, I only have to find a way to remove the one. Ho hum.
Errr . . . I went to see a band called Voices of Masada, as well. I thought I'd seen them before and been lukewarm, but it turned out I was wrong, and actually I rather liked them in spite of being very standard three-goths-a-drum-machine-and-no-trumpet, because they were musically competent, had some tunes, and the singer was obviously having a laugh, and as often at his own expense as at anything else's. The support bands - Februus and Hounds of God - seemed competent enough (especially as it seemed to be a first gig for both) but were way too prog for my taste.
This is apparently coming to London soon. Look at the pictures, if you're near there and allowed to look at pictures at all. It may be wise to have jaw support prepared. One not to miss.
I will leave you with this scientific finding, expressed so beautifully by a contributor to Mr Crowley's journal:
A recent scientific study found that the kind of male a woman finds attractive can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For instance, if she is ovulating she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features.
And if she is menstruating, she is likely to prefer a man doused in petrol and set on fire, with scissors shoved deep into his temple and a cricket stump jammed up his arse.
The intro to the Modernist bit is here.
There's also a reprint of Jimmy Carter's recent article about Israel and the peace process. As always, he's worth listening to.
In other news, I spent about three days waiting for Ed's new phone to arrive, and finally it turned out it wasn't coming. I also seem to be doing very well for spoons, but actually want a knife.
The Ig Nobel roadshow last week was very good. A couple of eccentric Dutchmen were over discussing their papers on erotic conjugation, repectively within NMR scanners and between male mallards with contrasting levels of biological viability, along with various other items including a short opera.
Someone pointed me at this animated graphic, which is worksafe, probably, as long as frivolous nonsense is permitted. I also read the obituary of Anna Marly, who wrote/cowrote/whatever the song that Leonard Cohen made famous in English as "The Partisan". I remember hearing a woman (maybe Joan Baez?) singing it on the radio in a car in Jamaica in the mid-seventies. ON the sleevenotes to Greatest Hits, Cohen remarked that when he was very young, he had the odd feeling that the fascists were defeated by song.
One of the more frustrating parts of the last week was spent trying to change the bolts holding my wheels on. One on each wheel came with Peugeot's standard security bolts, with an odd pronged spanner to turn them. Over the years, with mistreatment from the airhammers of a thousand cheap garages, these keys have twisted, cracked and broken, until I had only one left from the replacement set. I went and got some bogstandard replacement bolts and set to getting the old ones out one last time.
Guess what?
Well, happily I gave up on the really sticky one for a minute or two to take out the last easy one, so after going back and breaking the last remaining key on it, I only have to find a way to remove the one. Ho hum.
Errr . . . I went to see a band called Voices of Masada, as well. I thought I'd seen them before and been lukewarm, but it turned out I was wrong, and actually I rather liked them in spite of being very standard three-goths-a-drum-machine-and-no-trumpet, because they were musically competent, had some tunes, and the singer was obviously having a laugh, and as often at his own expense as at anything else's. The support bands - Februus and Hounds of God - seemed competent enough (especially as it seemed to be a first gig for both) but were way too prog for my taste.
This is apparently coming to London soon. Look at the pictures, if you're near there and allowed to look at pictures at all. It may be wise to have jaw support prepared. One not to miss.
I will leave you with this scientific finding, expressed so beautifully by a contributor to Mr Crowley's journal:
A recent scientific study found that the kind of male a woman finds attractive can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For instance, if she is ovulating she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features.
And if she is menstruating, she is likely to prefer a man doused in petrol and set on fire, with scissors shoved deep into his temple and a cricket stump jammed up his arse.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 03:09 am (UTC)>/i>
You'll be meeting the man of your dreams next...
no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 08:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 10:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 10:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-21 01:00 pm (UTC)