November 2008 Archives

via Andrew Sullivan

Is it possible that a) you can get two metaphors out of the appendage of one animal and b) given the internet is it possible that a new generation of children will learn a cliche that identifies the chicken head as a model of stability no matter what the circumstance? This has the potential to upend years of calumny heaped on the chicken based on the idea that a person who can't handle a challenge acts like a chicken with its head cut off.





via kottke (via waxy)

Sometimes I get a chance to write a piece that's slightly off my beat. This one about kids and their questions about Obama is only slightly off but I kinda like it.

Ani Difranco has a new set of songs and mini-interviews as a part of the iTunes Original series. Unfortunately several of the songs aren't from the session so if you're a fan you've already got them. If you're hard-core, you're going to think it's a rip-off.

On the upside, the little interviews are lovely. I like the songs that are originals-- "As Is" and "Smiling Underneath" particularly. I love seeing how musicians change their songs and Every State Line (a song I've liked and not liked over time) shows that neat process.

 

(One great embarrassing thing I did was send Ani a copy of my book. I put her in the acknowledgements since I listened to her during so much of the writing process. Completing a circle I suppose)

I'm struck in these photos by the mix of brilliant colors. Ugliness and carnage mixed with the bright. They're so intense I wonder if they're enhanced.

Map here of attacks.

Can be found here

via lonelysandwich via cynical-c

What is this and where did it come from? It's released by Tam-Tam media which is Spanish. It could just be repackaging of already released 60s songs from Biograph, the bootleg CDs but on a quick listen it suggests maybe not.

[via: kungfugrippe via" Magic and the Brain: How Magicians "Trick" the Mind: Scientific American]

I wrote a piece recently about Barack Obama finding pleasure in the smallest daily activities. He said he found doing the dishes soothing. Some people said: huh? But I was right there with him, as I wrote in the piece. It turns out, he may be on to something. From Mastery:The Keys to Long Term Success (a book I first learned about from kottke.org) which discusses the powers of dish-washing:

The photos of the Civil War in this collection are so captivating. Plus, it was great to see pictures of Mom, including one of my favorites: 

A fabulous video can be found here.

Update: Thanks to commenter Brian Mackey for pointing out that the original of this is at the Abraham Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL.

I can handle photography exhibits for only so long in a gallery. I love them intensely but then I'm ready to move on. But this Flickr show of 1930s New York photographs linked to by Kottke captured my attention for quite a long time. The printing would be better in person, but the intimacy of a snapshot matches the intimacy of viewing in your own space on your computer.

If you only use your computer to crunch numbers at the office then viewing these pictures, or any pictures, on that angry little box is not an intimate experience. Since I live my entire life in my computer, it's quite intimate. With more and more people processing their own family snapshots, personal letters, family genealogy and hobbies on their home computers, I'm guessing the computer is becoming ever more intimate for a lot of other people.

The pictures of Obama on election night feel like a part of this same process. Millions looked in on the campaign photographs which seemed more intimate and approachable than the stylized pictures the newsmagazines gave us.

During our brief holiday away with the kids we watched the first three episodes of Slings and Arrows, a Canadian television comedy about a Shakespeare troupe. I tend to like all art after a campaign is over because I'm so thirsty for it that I'm indiscriminate. Merely having time to think about something other than a campaign makes me overly appreciate everything. However, this series is at least worth a Netflix.

Sometimes on Election Day you need something to listen to while you're passing time. I suggest this song right here.