De Dicto

The Creative Juices

2008-06-19T10:36:00.001-05:00

Obama Wins the Democratic Nomination

2008-06-04T10:50:00.006-05:00

By any measure, this is a historic event. And historic events deserve songs.

Here are two:

Is the Sky Falling?

2008-06-02T11:08:00.004-05:00

A refreshingly sober and yet utterly unnerving Atlantic article by Greg Easterbrook, complete with video supplement ...

My sense is that Easterbrook overstates the case for immediate action, but that his question -- Why the hell isn't this even a topic of conversation at NASA or in the relevant Congressional committees?! -- is well taken.

Placement Data

2008-05-24T14:01:00.015-05:00

Some departments are starting to beat Leiter to the punch in providing this year’s placement data. So, for those of you keeping score at home, I give you …

Top 30* English-Speaking Philosophy Departments
Recent Placement Data

[1] New York University
[2] Oxford University
[2] Rutgers University
[4] Princeton University
[4] University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
[6] University of Pittsburgh
[7] Stanford University
[8] Harvard University
[8] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[8] University of California, Los Angeles
[11] Columbia University
[11] University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
[13] University of California, Berkeley
[13] University of St. Andrews
[15] Australian National University
[15] Cambridge University
[15] University of Arizona
[15] University of Notre Dame
[15] University of Texas, Austin
[15] University of Toronto
[21] Brown University
[21] Cornell University
[21] University of Southern California
[21] Yale University
[25] University of California, Irvine
[25] University of California, San Diego
[25] University of Chicago
[28] Birkbeck College, University of London
[28] City University of New York Graduate Center
[28] University College London

* According to the 2006-08 Philosophical Gourmet Report

PEHDTSCKJMBA

2008-05-05T12:07:00.006-05:00

STOP THE PRESS!

Highlights from the Press Conference:

(Be sure to watch all the way through to the end.)

Glitter and Doom Tour
2008 US Concert Dates

June 17- Phoenix, Orpheum
June 18 - Phoenix, Orpheum
June 20 - El Paso, Plaza Theatre
June 22 - Houston, Jones Hall
June 23 - Dallas, Palladium
June 25 - Tulsa, Brady Theatre
June 26 - Saint Louis, Fox Theatre
June 28 - Columbus, Ohio Theatre
June 29 - Knoxville, Civic Theatre
July 1 - Jacksonville, Moran Theatre
July 2 - Mobile, Saenger Theatre
July 3 - Birmingham, Alabama Theatre
July 5 - Atlanta, Fox Theatre

Confirmation at Anti-, from Eyeball Kid, from Pollstar, and from tomwaits.com.

And just to get you in the mood ...

Happy May Day

2008-05-01T14:29:00.004-05:00

Happy May Day ... from Oxford.

PS. It's 'Magdalen', not 'Magdalene'. Magdalene College is in Cambridge.

The Earth Died Screaming

2008-04-30T08:59:00.005-05:00

I'm not usually a fan of Waits covers -- and the clips I've heard from Scarlett Johansson's forthcoming album haven't done anything to dissuade me from this bias, frankly -- but this guy is pretty good.

Here's his version of "The Earth Died Screaming":

Sartre's Cookbook

2008-04-27T15:48:00.007-05:00

The Jean-Paul Sartre Cookbook
We have recently been lucky enough to discover several previously lost diaries of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre stuck in between the cushions of our office sofa. These diaries reveal a young Sartre obsessed not with the void, but with food. Aparently Sartre, before discovering philosophy, had hoped to write "a cookbook that will put to rest all notions of flavor forever.'' The diaries are excerpted here for your perusal.

October 3
Spoke with Camus today about my cookbook. Though he has never actually eaten, he gave me much encouragement. I rushed home immediately to begin work. How excited I am! I have begun my formula for a Denver omelet.

October 4
Still working on the omelet. There have been stumbling blocks. I keep creating omelets one after another, like soldiers marching into the sea, but each one seems empty, hollow, like stone. I want to create an omelet that expresses the meaninglessness of existence, and instead they taste like cheese. I look at them on the plate, but they do not look back. Tried eating them with the lights off. It did not help. Malraux suggested paprika.

October 6
I have realized that the traditional omelet form (eggs and cheese) is bourgeois. Today I tried making one out of a cigarette, some coffee, and four tiny stones. I fed it to Malraux, who puked. I am encouraged, but my journey is still long.

October 7
Today I agian modified my omelet recipe. While my previous attempts had expressed my own bitterness, they communicated only illness to the eater. In an attempt to reach the bourgeoisie, I taped two fried eggs over my eyes and walked the streets of Paris for an hour. I ran into Camus at the Select. He called me a "pathetic dork" and told me to "go home and wash my face." Angered, I poured a bowl of bouillabaisse into his lap. He became enraged, and, seizing a straw wrapped in paper, tore off one end of the wrapper and blew through the straw. propelleing the wrapper into my eye. "Ow! You dick!" I cried. I leaped up, cursing and holding my eye, and fled.

October 10
I find myself trying ever more radical interpretations of traditional dishes, in an effort to somehow express the void I feel so acutely. Today I tried this recipe:

Tuna Casserole
Ingredients: 1 large casserole dish

Place the casserole dish in a cold oven. Place a chair facing the oven and sit in it forever. Think about how hungry you are. When night falls, do not turn on the light.

While a void is expressed in this recipe, I am struck by its inapplicability to the bourgeois lifestyle. How can the eater recognize that the food denied him is a tuna casserole and not some other dish? I am becoming more and more frustated.

October 12
My eye has become inflamed. I hate Camus.

October 25
I have been forced to abandon the project of producing an entire cookbook. Rather, I now seek a single recipe which will, by itself, embody the plight of man in a world ruled by an unfeeling God, as well as providing the eater with at least one ingredient from each of the four basic food groups. To this end, I purchased six hundred pounds of foodstuffs from the corner grocery and locked myself in the kitchen, refusing to admit anyone. After several weeks of work, I produced a recipe calling for two eggs, half a cup of flour, four tons of beef, and a leek. While this is a start, I am afraid I still have much work ahead.

November 15
I feel that I may be very close to a great breakthrough. I had been creating meal after meal, but none seemed to express the futility of existence any better than would ordering a pizza. I left the house this morning in a most depressed state, and wandered aimlessly through the streets. Suddenly, it was aif the heavens had opened. My brain was electrified with an influx of new ideas. "Juice, toast, milk.." I muttered aloud. I realized with a start that I was one ingredient away from creating the nutritious breakfast. Loathsome, true, but filled with existential authenticity. I rushed home to begin work anew.

November 18
Today I tried yet another variation: Juice, toast, milk and Chee-tos. Again, a dismal failure. I have tried everything. Juice, toast, milk and whiskey, juice, toast, milk and chicken fat, juice, toast, milk and someone else's spit. Nothing helps. I am in agony. Juice, toast, milk, they race about my fevered brain like fire, like an unholy trinity of cruel denial. And the fourth ingredient! What could it be? It eludes me like the lost chord, the Holy Grail. I must see the completion of my task, but I have no more money to spend on food. Perhaps man is not meant to know.

November 21
Camus came into the restaurant today. He did not know I was in the kitchen, and before I sent out his meal I loogied in his soup. Sic semper tyrannis.

November 23
Ran into some opposition at the restaurant. Some of the patrons complained that my breakfast special (a page out of Remembrance of Things Past and a blowtorch with which to set it on fire) did not satisfy their hunger. As if their hunger was of any consequence! "But we're starving," they say. So what? They're going to die eventually anyway. They make me want to puke. I have quit the job. It is stupid for Jean- Paul Sartre to sling hash. I have enough money to continue my work for a little while.

November 24
Last night I had a dream. In it, I am standing, alone, on a beach. A great storm is raging all about me. It begins to rain. Night falls. I am struck by how small and insignificant I am, how the entire race of Man is but a speck in the eye of God, and I am but a speck of humanity. Suddenly, a red Cadillac convertible pulls up beside me, In it are these two beautiful girls named Jojo and Wendy. I get in and the take me to their mansion in Hollywood and give me a pound of cocaine and make mad, passionate love to me for the rest of my life.

November 26
Today I made a Black Forest cake out of five pounds of cherries and a live beaver, challenging the very definition of the word "cake." I was very pleased. Malraux said he admired it greatly, but could not stay for dessert. Still, I feel that this may be my most profound achievement yet, and have resolved to enter it in the Betty Crocker Bake-Off.

November 30
Today was the day of the Bake-Off. Alas, things did not go as I had hoped. During the judging, the beaver became agitated and bit Betty Crocker on the wrist. The beaver's powerful jaws are capable of felling blue spruce in less than ten minutes and proved, needless to say, more than a match for the tender limbs of America's favorite homemaker. I only got third place. Moreover, I am now the subject of a rather nasty lawsuit.

December 1
I have been gaining twenty-five pounds a week for two months, and I am now experiencing light tides. It is stupid to be so fat. My pain and ultimate solitude are still as authentic as they were when I was thin, but seem to impress girls far less. From now on, I will live on cigarettes and black coffee.

Sartre died in Paris in 1981. [NOTE: He did not. He died on April 15, 1980.] His last word is reputed to have been, simply, "Trix."
_____________________________________
by Marty Smith
The Free Agent (a Portland, OR alternative newspaper)
March 1987

Hillary's Campaign IS History

2008-04-23T10:38:00.004-05:00

Even after her victory in Pennsylvania last night (contrary to what the news outlets will tell you, it wasn't a 10% margin, but a 9.2% margin!), you might've thought that Hillary's campaign was destined to failure. Turns out, not so much ...

Wood Hits One Outa The Park

2008-04-11T08:42:00.006-05:00

Ah, to be tenured and able to write such things ...

"This book was written mainly in the United States, between 2004 and 2006. The history of this period is a disgraceful one. It feels as if we have been living under a malignant alien occupation. An unelected political regime, representing everything that is worst about American culture, compiled a record of injustice, corruption, and gross incompetence at home, and of numerous and aggravated war crimes abroad. Then it was confirmed in office by another election of dubious legitimacy so that it might continue unrelentingly its monstrous wrongfulness and stupidity. Those with the power to oppose its crimes instead acquiesced in them, or else resisted too late, and too feebly. The very ideas of democracy, community, and human rights are in the process of dying in our civilization - or they are being willfully murdered by those in power and by that segment of the population which supports this regime. All they give us in place of these ideas is the empty words (and plenty of those). People have now perhaps begun to awaken to the situation, but the historical roots of what has happened are sunk deep in political trends of the previous century, and I fear these trends will not be reversed soon or easily. There are references here and there in the book to this dismal history, usually to illustrate arrogance, lying, and egregious violations of right. A few readers of my earlier work have told me they think this sort of thing is inappropriate in a scholarly book. But my worries about appearing "unscholarly" pale next to my shame, which all Americans should feel at having failed to prevent the disastrous course of events."

-- From the preface to Kantian Ethics by Prof. Allen Wood (Stanford University).

[HT: Necessarily Eternal]

Hillary's Inner Tracy Flick

2008-04-10T16:37:00.002-05:00

Now, if only her campaign were as good as the film ...

Satisfaction

2008-04-08T22:51:00.002-05:00

PJ Harvey and Björk sing the Stones ... Fabulous!

Dick to the Dock to the PhD!

2008-03-30T12:42:00.003-05:00

You don't have to be a believer to think that this is hilarious!

"If I was dyslexic, I’d even hate 'dog' too."

Earth Hour ... Today

2008-03-29T08:55:00.001-05:00

"A(nother) Whopper!"

2008-03-24T11:52:00.002-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day ... Oh Boy, Oh Boy

2008-03-17T17:01:00.001-05:00

The Best of All Games?

2008-03-16T19:33:00.002-05:00

The state of this blog is best described as moribund. It’s been an interesting experiment, but I’m undecided whether I’ll keep it going. While I’m deciding, though, a charming letter by John Rawls recently surfaced. Here it is. (Click here [.pdf] to read the letter in its original typescript.)

Freezing in Grand Central Station

2008-02-03T16:45:00.000-06:00

More info about Improv Everywhere is here. Not a terribly deep project, but certainly fun.

The American Civil War in Four Minutes

2008-01-18T18:53:00.000-06:00

Did You Hear the One About the Logician Who ...?

2008-01-18T14:18:00.000-06:00

Too busy to write much these days, but Jo Wolff's recent Guardian column is very funny.

Check it out here.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-20T21:14:00.001-06:00

My favorite duck

2007-12-15T12:37:00.000-06:00

Nietzsche for President?

2007-12-09T12:28:00.000-06:00

Who says philosophers don't have a sense of humor?

(HT: Leiter Reports)

Chimps 1 – Humans 0

2007-12-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

Chimps Outperform Humans at Memory Task

3 December 2007
New Scientist
Rowan Hooper

Young chimps can beat adult humans in a task involving remembering numbers, reveals a new study. It is the first time chimps – and young ones, at that – have outperformed humans at a cognitive task.

And the finding may add weight to a theory about the evolution of language in humans, say the researchers.

Three adult female chimps, their three 5-year-old offspring, and university student volunteers were tested on their ability to memorise the numbers 1 to 9 appearing at random locations on a touchscreen monitor.

The chimps had previously been taught the ascending order of the numbers. Using an ability akin to photographic memory, the young chimps were able to memorise the location of the numerals with better accuracy than humans performing the same task.

During the test, the numerals appeared on the screen for 650, 430 or 210 milliseconds, and were then replaced by blank white squares.

Global Climate Change Cost-Benefit Argument

2007-11-30T11:00:00.000-06:00

Hardly the end of the story, but not a bad presentation of the straightforward cost-benefit argument for taking steps to counteract the effects of global climate change:

(HT: Big Monkey, Helpy Chalk)

The Fabulous Moolah

2007-11-07T08:19:00.000-06:00

A national tragedy: The Fabulous Moolah, dead at 84.

Here's the New York Times obituary. Money quote:

The Fabulous Moolah enjoyed the mayhem, but she especially coveted the money.

When she started in pro wrestling in the early 1950s, the promoter Jack Pfeffer decided a name change was in order. As she told it in “The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle” (Regan Books, 2002), written with Larry Platt, Pfeffer told her “the name Lillian Ellison wouldn’t do. Not flashy enough.”

He asked her why she was wrestling, and, as she recalled: “Annoyed, I blurted out: ‘For the money. I want to wrestle for the moolah.’”

And here's the great dame in action:

King Tut ... How'd you get so funky?

2007-11-05T07:01:00.000-06:00

The face of Pharaoh Tutankhamen is displayed in a climate-controlled case at his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, close to Luxor, 500 kilometres south of Cairo, 04 November 2007. The true face of ancient Egypt's boy king Tutankhamun was revealed today to the public for the first time since he died in mysterious circumstances more than 3,000 years ago. The pharaoh's mummy was moved from its ornate sarcophagus in the tomb where its 1922 discovery caused an international sensation to a nearby climate-controlled case where experts say it will be better preserved. By Cris Bouroncle / AFP / Getty. [HT: The Daily Dish] (And here's the story, in case you missed it.)

But what the researchers have yet to discover is that King Tut was a sax player too! Indeed: "He coulda won a Grammy / Buried in his jammies."

This is an ex-parrot!

2007-10-30T07:36:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, I chanced upon this video as part of some genuine philosophical research. As a bonus, it's hysterical.

"This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff: bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot!"

So much of Monty Python's style has either dated badly or been incorporated into the fabric of contemporary comedy as to seem passé that one forgets how funny they really were!

Portishead

2007-10-24T18:31:00.000-05:00

Little reason but for the facts (a) that this is a good video, and (b) that it's been a Portishead kind of day (whatever that means) ...

American Philosophy?

2007-09-29T09:42:00.000-05:00

A new documentary (previously excerpted here) appears to be forthcoming. From the trailer, it looks promising, if (perhaps) confused.

It's an interesting topic: is there such a thing as American philosophy (other than in the merely extensional sense that Michael Hodges mentions)? Certainly, in this extensional sense, I'm an American philosopher, but (qua philosopher, anyway) I am decidedly uninterested in the various themes that are mentioned at the end of the clip (freedom, justice, oppression, etc.).

Moreover, it appears to include a somewhat idiosyncratic selection of interviewees, and some of the filmic outbursts seem sophomoric. Hard to tell what kind of tone it's trying to set, or what audience it seeks. Would this really interest a lay audience? Then again, is it likely to inform philosophers?

Also, there's a rather cruel moment (at about 4:42 remaining), where the editor pauses on the image of Prof. Erin McKenna (Pacific Lutheran University), as if to suggest that it's she who is eccentric. (Watch it in context, beginning at 5:54 remaining.)

But maybe, as they say, any press is good press. Maybe. In any case, here's the trailer:

Shasta Take-Down

2007-09-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

I'm not much of a Pat Forde fan, but this excerpt from his column on ESPN.com is pretty funny ...

Shasta To Golden Bear: Duck!

If you're even vaguely acquainted with YouTube, you've probably seen the video of the Sept. 1 mascot throwdown between Shasta (26) the Houston Cougar and the Oregon Duck (27). It's gone worldwide, reportedly drawing especially enthusiastic response in Japan.

NOTE: Somehow I managed to miss this footage myself, so, in case you did also, here it is ...

Hysterical. Back to Forde ...

The video shows a one-sided, web-footed whuppin' at Autzen Stadium, with the Duck abusing poor Shasta far beyond the bounds of normal mascot playfulness. Punches, kicks and a flying elbow drop were enough to get the deranged Duck suspended for Oregon's home game against Fresno State on Sept. 15. But according to Houston, it was selective film usage.

"For what it's worth, [Shasta] did stick the Duck at least once," offered Houston sports information director Chris Burkhalter.

As it turns out, Houston has more than just a fake-furred mascot's manhood to protect. The guy in the Cougar suit happens to be a walk-on wide receiver named Matt Stolt (28) -- and you simply cannot have a football player being owned by a duck.

So Stolt explained his relative passivity: "Being a mascot is for the fans, it's to represent the school. If you want to fight, take off the gear. He wasn't fighting Matt Stolt, he was fighting Shasta. Shasta got his licks in, but he wasn't there to fight. If it was just me and him, I'd take off the suit and fight."

Stolt admitted he has "taken a little flak" from his teammates over the fight.

"They said there's no reason I should be taking it from a duck," he said.

This is just another line on Stolt's varied Joe College résumé. He's a mascot, he's a football player -- and for his first two years at Houston he played trumpet in the marching band. The only job Stolt hasn't had at home football games is selling popcorn.

"I just like being a part of something and I like to represent UH," said Stolt, a Texas native who will graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology.

With California visiting Oregon on Saturday for a major showdown, The Dash thought it wise to get Cal's Golden Bear (29) a scouting report on the Duck's dirty tricks. Oskie once got into quite a dustup with the Stanford Tree (30) during a basketball game, but this could be a step up in class.

Here's the dish on the duck from Shasta:

"My advice to any mascot that goes against him is not to worry. There won't be a problem. I think the duck's in enough trouble right now. But if it comes to that, just turn that duck's head around so he can't see nothin'."

Obama's Strategy

2007-09-24T08:12:00.000-05:00

In today's Times (UK), Andrew Sullivan has a perceptive, big-picture take on Barack Obama's strategy and standing in the Democratic primary now underway. Here's the money quote:

In a polarized climate, where Rudy Giuliani is already lambasting Hillary and itching for a fight, Obama is sticking to a disciplined message of reconciliation, unity, responsibility.

Is this a mistake? Whoever won a Democratic primary by insisting on being open to Republicans? That is the risk Obama is taking. But when you observe and listen closely, you see this is what he actually means.

He detects an enormous weariness among Americans about their internal divisions in a time of war, overlaid by the anger and divisions that have deepened and widened under the Bush presidency. He suspects that if he can get past Clinton’s aura of inevitability, Democrats will realise he has a much better chance of winning a real national majority in the general election than Clinton does. Clinton polarises the way Bush polarises. She can hope for a Karl Rove-style 51% majority in a deeply divided country. He’s aiming for 55%.

Clinton, in other words, represents payback for the Democrats and liberals after the Bush era, just as Giuliani is emerging as the inheritor of the Bush legacy of divide and rule. Right now, Obama remains to the side, offering Americans something else: not payback, but a new page.

The rest of the article is available here.

I think Sullivan is absolutely correct about the kind of strategy Obama is relying upon, and he's right that it could well fail. The hard question is whether we should prefer to fail with his strategy or to win with hers. My fear is that we are bound to do both.

Manamana

2007-09-23T08:41:00.000-05:00

Classic:

Classic:

R.I.P.

2007-09-14T06:32:00.001-05:00

I've long had a penchant for obituaries. Something about the stock-taking involved attracts me.

Something that's always bothered me is how unfortunate it is that the notable-but-not-household-name deaths are over-shadowed by the deaths of the more famous. It's no one's fault, but somehow it seems to add insult to injury.

For instance, while I admit to tearing up every time I hear him eulogize himself through recordings played on TV and radio, Pavarotti's recent expiration outshone that of Alex, the African grey parrot who died the same day, and about whom I've written previously. Alex's last squawk just couldn't compete with Luciano's glorious tenor, but his untimely death (he was expected to live for many more years) deserves mention.

Likewise, amidst the September 11th memorials, we didn't stop to pay our respects to the great Joe Zawinul, who died on that fateful date this year. But Zawinul was an extraordinary composer, keyboardist, and band-leader. Listening to John McLaughlin talk today reminded me of how difficult it would be to conceive of jazz fusion without Zawinul, Bitch's Brew, and Weather Report.

And then there's the recent spate of philosopher deaths. When the big-shots die, the profession bows its head -- or thumbs its nose, as the case may be. But also significant are the less heralded losses: those like Susan Hurley -- whose obituary didn't make the national papers in the UK until nearly a month following her death (The Guardian, The Times) -- Michael Frede -- who drowned off the coast of Greece and whose death has yet to be acknowledged in any national paper (though the Berkeley Classics department has a notice here) -- and Timothy Sprigge -- whose death seems to have attracted about as much notice as his work, I'm sorry to say.

The world has become significantly poorer following these departures. So it seems to me anyway, even if not to the mass media. And so we acknowledge them here, lest they be forgotten.

UPDATE: Okay, so Frede's death was noted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

It was like this

2007-08-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

An exquisite poem, from a recent collection (After) by Jane Hirshfield -- quickly emerging as one of the most significant voices in contemporary American poetry.

It was like this: you were happy

It was like this: you were happy,
then you were sad, then happy again,
then not.

It went on.

You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.
At times you spoke, at other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent–what could you say?

Now it is almost over.

Like a lover, your life bends down and kisses your life. It does this not in forgiveness– between you, there is nothing to forgive– but with the single nod of a baker at the moment he sees the bread is finished with transformation.

Eating, too, is now a thing only for others.

It doesn’t matter what they make of you or your days: they will be wrong. They will miss the wrong woman, miss the wrong man, all the stories they tell will be tales of their own invention.

Your story was this: you were happy, then you were sad, you slept, you awakened. Sometimes you ate roasted chestnuts, sometimes persimmons.

A nice profile of Hirshfield can be found here.

Fabulous Ad

2007-08-05T19:03:00.001-05:00

Antonioni & Bergman

2007-07-31T09:40:00.000-05:00

While I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest parity between the talents of these two towering figures in the history of 20th-century filmmaking, nevertheless there is something fitting in the news that Michaelangelo Antonioni has died just a day after the death of Ingmar Bergman -- in the fact that his death will be obscured by the parade of tributes and retrospectives given in Bergman's honor.

While both of these directors (along with Fellini and Godard) came to symbolize foreign, “art house” cinema for American audiences of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Antonioni’s stature and notoriety paled in comparison to Bergman’s. That’s undoubtedly appropriate. The depth and significance of Bergman’s work are (arguably) second to none in the history of film. Period. But whilst Antonioni’s films were light and accessible by comparison -- no chess-matches with death for this Italian -- they have been, I think, somewhat short-changed.

Dumbfounded by Vanessa Redgrave and the swinging mania of 60s London, it is not difficult to overlook the fundamental questions raised in Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966). At its core, this film is a remarkably deep interrogation of our preconception that perception is essential to the apprehension of reality: as deep a topic as any raised by Bergman. Not that you’d know it from the trailer ...

Likewise, the incandescence of Jack Nicholson’s presence in The Passenger (1975) obscures (as he does in all of his appearances) the light Antonioni is attempting to shed on the dangers of a fluid conception of identity.

These are serious issues worthy of -- dare we say it -- Bergman. And so they were, but so were they also for this Italian auteur, dead at 94, just hours after the Swedish master.

Other Antonioni films of note:

L'avventura (1960)
L'eclisse (1962)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Beyond the Clouds (1995, with Wim Wenders)

A few recent tributes, etc.:

UPDATE: The Guardian picks up the scent.

Die Harry

2007-07-29T10:14:00.000-05:00

Busy days, these, so I can't really justify devoting the time necessary to articulate precisely why I find Harry mania to be as stomach-turning as I do. Fortunately, Ron Charles (senior editor at The Washington Post) has done a marvelous job of it himself, thus relieving me from my duty. (Similarly minded discussions from literary heavyweights A. S. Byatt and Harold Bloom appeared previously.) Charles' insightful discussion begins with the following anecdote:

Harry Potter and the Death of Reading
By Ron Charles
The Washington Post
July 15, 2007

It happened on a dark night, somewhere in the middle of Book IV. For three years, I had dutifully read the "Harry Potter" series to my daughter, my voice growing raspy with the effort, page after page. But lately, whole paragraphs of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" had started to slip by without my hearing a word. I'd snap back to attention and realize the action had moved from Harry's room to Hagrid's house, and I had no idea what was happening.

And that's when my daughter broke the spell: "Do we have to keep reading this?"

That's as priceless as the rest of Charles' analysis is insightful. It reminds me of this fabulous moment from the Simpsons:

In fact, the parodies may be the best thing about the Harry Potter series. Some of the fabulous Mad Magazine titles from this sub-genre:

Harry Plodder and the Kidney Stone
Harry Plodder and the Sorry-Ass Story
Harry Plodder and the Lamest of Sequels
Harry Plodder Has Gotta Retire
Harry Plodder and the Torture of the Fanbase

Simpsonize Me!

2007-07-27T13:48:00.000-05:00

Well, with the new Simpsons Movie opening this weekend, it seems as good a time as any to unveil my Simpsonized self ...

Get yours here!

Richard Rorty (1931–2007)

2007-06-17T16:42:00.000-05:00

In the polite company of analytic philosophers, it is not fashionable to avow an appreciation of Richard Rorty. The man who famously defected from mainstream analytic philosophy in the late 1970s is today widely viewed as intellectually irresponsible: glib, self-serving, unconcerned with rigorous argument.

Rorty has long been a spectre looming over my own intellectual development. I was 18 years old when I enrolled in my first graduate seminar: a term-long discussion of Rorty’s controversial Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (Princeton, 1979). Only later did I come to appreciate that to begin one's study of philosophy with Rorty's work was about as advisable as beginning with Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols. I hadn’t worshipped all of the idols that Rorty was keen to hammer into oblivion -- I hadn’t yet done my due diligence with Plato, Descartes, Kant, et al. -- and I recall having the acute sense that I was skipping straight to the last few pages of a long novel the rest of which I hadn't read.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t felt the betrayal that many philosophers seem to have felt over the years. Or perhaps I just admire the maverick that Rorty was. And he was a maverick. Analytic philosophy is rather short on mavericks. Now that Rorty is gone, Peter Singer is about as close as we get -- especially since Cornel West doesn’t seem to identify as a philosopher anymore.

In any case, I for one will miss his presence.

Stanford University's obituary can be found here.

UPDATE: A wonderful collection of reflections and reminiscences can be found at Slate.com here.

Make Me Fries!

2007-06-05T11:32:00.001-05:00

I used to think that I was alone in struggling to understand Pearl Jam lyrics. It's comforting knowing that I have company ...

Fabulous!

Hallowes’ Ground

2007-05-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

Check out this remarkable tale ... Harry Hallowes, a North London local, has squatted on a 90-ft.-square plot of land on the edge of Hampstead Heath in Highgate for more than twenty years. Following an attempt to evict him from his shack, Hallowes was recently awarded the deed to the land when he claimed “squatter’s rights.”

I'm not sure what's more surprising here: that Hallowes won his case, or that there's actually undeveloped land in Highgate!

More details in today’s Daily Mail, as well as The Times of London and BBC News.

Tonic Update: Ribot to Jail

2007-05-17T20:23:00.000-05:00

In a previous post, I told you that the fabulous Lower East Side club, Tonic, was -- very much against its will -- soon to shut its doors for good. Well, it seems that one of Tonic's most notable regulars wasn’t going to take this lying down ... or standing up. Whatever one doesn't do when one protests. I think he was seated when the police arrived, so I suppose that means he wasn't going to take it lying down or standing up. Whatever. What's important is that our hero wasn't going to take it ... in any position!

Details and interview here:

More A Semiotician Than A Guitarist: Marc Ribot Goes to Jail
By Jesse Jarnow
Jambands.com
May 11, 2007

Marc Ribot went to jail so you could keep rocking. Or listening quietly, dancing, or however you enjoy live music. Though he wasn't dragged from the Tonic stage playing his guitar, the former squatter came awfully close, refusing to leave on April 14th, the day the new tenants took over the lease from experimental music's largest Manhattan home. Ribot and Take It to the Bridge -- an organization he co-founded with musician Rebecca Moore -- are demanding that the city provide a new venue to the Lower East Side avant-garde community that has occupied the neighborhood for a century.

Like many of Ribot's other projects, his musical sit-in also employed Tonic's red velvet curtain as a backdrop. Instead of angular jazz, though, Ribot played the trespasser. "I've always considered myself more a semiotician than a guitarist anyway," the frequent Tom Waits collaborator told JamBands.com in his matter-of-fact Zappa-like deadpan. Point taken. Playing Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness Of You" unamplified, police officers looking on, Ribot and Moore were soon hauled off.

...

Once a leather-jacketed/spiky-haired young lion of the New York jazz scene, Ribot has transformed into something of a still-restless statesman, now more often seen in a blazer and spectacles. Though he leads a half-dozen projects of his own (including Ceramic Dog, Los Cubanos Postizos, and ongoing collboration with bassist Henry Grimes), plays often with Tom Waits, John Zorn, Medeski Martin and Wood, and others, and has done session work with everybody from Allen Ginsberg to Trey Anastasio, Ribot is still exactly who he was when he started: a Manhattan jazz musician. And, right now, real estate developers are getting in the way of him making a living. Forgive him if he's pissed.

Click here for the rest of the story, including a length interview with the man himself. And his fascinating blog entry from last year concerning the downtown music scene can be found here. Finally, sign the protest here. Go on: sign it!

Re-Run

2007-05-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

You missed Tom on Conan, didn't you? Shame. But what more could I have done? Weren't you paying attention when I told you about it? I can't watch the damn thing for you, you know?

Well, fortunately for you, Youtube comes to your rescue yet again. To wit:

Mothers Day

2007-05-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

So, we celebrate Mothers Day this weekend. The provenance of this "holiday" is somewhat disputed, but I am partial to the following version of its history:

According to local legend, Albion pioneer, Juliet Calhoun Blakeley, stepped up to complete the sermon of the Rev. Myron Daughterty, who was distraught because an anti-temperance group had forced his son and two other temperance advocates to spend the night in a saloon and become publicly drunk. In the pulpit, Blakeley called on other mothers to join her. Blakeley's two sons, both travelling salesmen, were so moved that they vowed to return each year to pay tribute to her and embarked on a campaign to urge their business contacts to do likewise. At their urging, in the early 1880s, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion set aside the second Sunday in May to recognize the special contributions of mothers.

The source of my sympathy for this account is two-fold. First, given the opportunity, my own mother would, no doubt, also welcome the opportunity to express her displeasure at my long evenings in the saloon. (Is 'anti-temperance group' a euphemism for "peer-pressuring teens"?) Second, Blakeley's sermon took place in Albion, Michigan: professed home of Mothers Day, and former hometown of ours.

Happy Mothers Day, mom!

The Queen

2007-05-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

A number of years ago, while a graduate student in Oxford, I had the opportunity to meet the Queen. No, not Queen -- though a conversation with Freddy Mercury probably would've been more interesting. (Who else can cite the oil-and-water duo of Jimi Hendrix and Liza Minnelli as his two favorite performers?!) Meeting HM was definitely cool, and I got some nifty photos of she and me out of it. (Must remember to dig those out at some point.) But one of the details of the whole affair that I remember most vividly was the unsavory positioning and back-biting acquaintances displayed in order to secure one of the select invitations. Something about the little lady in the big hat -- with the even bigger sceptre! -- makes folks nuts ...

So, it's with no small amount of interest that we review the guest list for last night's state dinner at the White House, at which the Queen and Prince Philip were the guests of honor. Check it out here.

No one seems to have seized on it yet, but the cross-section of folks in attendance is quite striking. Until I saw it, I expected that the list would include the predictable "who's who" of the Washington elite. But, while there's no shortage of politicos and cronies, more remarkable is the selection of non-Washington folks. A few examples:

- Marta Domingo (wife of Maestro Placido Domingo)
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck (host of "The View") & Timothy Hasselbeck (professional football player)
- Peyton Manning (professional football player) & Ashley Manning
- John Marion (honorary chairman, Sotheby's North America) & Anne Marion
- James W. Nantz III (CBS sportscaster) & Ann-Lorraine Nantz
- Arnold Palmer (professional golfer) & Kathleen Palmer
- Itzhak Perlman (violinist) & Toby Lynn Perlman
- Rohan De Silva (pianist)

Mind you, I have no objections to any of these people per se. But how exactly are they selected? (I’m reminded of a similarly incredulous tone from years ago.) And what exactly do they represent? Surely not America. Is this a glimpse into Bush’s circle of influence? Is the sports world’s aristocratic family, the Manning’s, tight with the political world’s aristocratic family, the Bush’s? And why would Marta Domingo attend without her tenor husband? And does Domingo’s presence mean that Bush isn’t a Carreras or a Pavarotti man? And do we really want Elisabeth “I believe that life begins at the moment of penetration” Hasselbeck speaking for the American public?! And what the hell is Jim Nantz doing there anyway?!

We need a bi-partisan Senate commission to look into this!

Windows on the World

2007-05-02T09:07:00.000-05:00

For the past year or so, Andrew Sullivan (of The Daily Dish) has invited readers of his blog to submit photographs of the view from their windows. Every day, Sullivan posts some of those photographs, and they are -- almost without exception -- fabulous!

Well, now he’s compiled them (and many that haven’t been posted) into this flash-animation site. His introduction to the site is worth a quick read here.

I highly recommend it. And if you zoom in on Oxford, England, the first photo you’ll see is mine!

Set Your TiVo & Batten the Hatches

2007-04-26T20:19:00.001-05:00

Conan O’Brien will be hosting his late-night show from San Francisco next week, and Anti- confirms that his musical guest on Friday, May 4th will be none other than Tom Waits.

Here is the press release:

Tom Waits Performing On Conan O'Brien
Wednesday April 25, 2007

Tom Waits will be performing on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' on Friday, May 4, taping in San Francisco.

Make sure you tune in!

Conan’s calendar suggests that Snoop Dog will also appear. Now that’s a pairing you don’t see everyday!

While I'm looking forward to Tom's appearance next week, I'm quite certain that it won't surpass this hysterical showing on now-forgotten Fernwood Tonight:

Look Around You

2007-04-25T12:02:00.000-05:00

If you’ve never seen the BBC’s “Look Around You” (2002, 2005), you’re missing out. Here is the first episode (8:46) – “Maths” -- in all its hilarity:

London is the Place for Me

2007-04-21T09:20:00.000-05:00

Life has been extraordinarily hectic recently, hence the quiet. Throughout it all, I've occasionally found myself day-dreaming of London, which in turn put me in mind of the wonderful tune, "London Is The Place For Me," by the "Grandmaster of Calyso," Lord Kitchener (1922-2000).

But when I searched YouTube for some video of Kitch, there was very little to be found. The best footage I uncovered -- in some ways, better than what I went in search for -- was this sixth-former's marvelous stop-motion animation video.

P.S. It turns out that another hero, the great Australian folk singer Paul Kelly, has posted a spin-off on this tune, riffing on the life and times of the enfant terrible of world cricket, Shane Warne. Here's what PK says:

Hi all -

I was watching this year's Sydney Ashes test on TV around the same time as listening to Lord Kitchener's (aka Aldwyn Roberts) great calypso song London Is The Place For Me. The Kitchener tune suggested to me a new set of lyrics based on the adventures of Shane Warne.

My friend, Andy Doherty, filmed the live recording of the song at my place with Sian Prior playing clarinet and Ray Pereira on congas and djembe. Adam Rhodes engineered it in the shed.

Paul Kelly
Feb 2007

Check it out:

The Tristan Project

2007-04-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

It would take quite a lot to dispose me to move to Los Angeles -- or anywhere in California, for that matter -- but more events like this would certainly help. Based on Richard Wagner's extraordinary opera, Tristan und Isolde, The Tristan Project is a collaboration between video artist Bill Viola, Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, and theatre director Peter Sellars.

Following the success of its premiere in Los Angeles and the subsequent staging of the complete Tristan and Isolde in Paris during the 2004/05 season, the Philharmonic's Tristan Project returns in April before its East Coast premiere in New York City. The cast for the Tristan Project in both Los Angeles and New York features soprano Christine Brewer as Isolde, tenor Alan Woodrow as Tristan, and bass John Relyea as Marke, and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter debuts as Brangäne.

The creative team of Esa-Pekka Salonen, video artist Bill Viola, and director Peter Sellars collaborate again to present Tristan and Isolde: the complete opera in two full evenings, and performances over three evenings with one act per night, each paired with a different work by Debussy, who was heavily influenced by Wagner's work. Viola's video images, which offer literal, metaphorical, and spiritual complements to one of mythology's most famous and tragic love stories, are again projected on specially designed screens during the performances.

From all that I've read, seen, and heard, this project is extraordinary. More information and images can be found here.

Gender Genies

2007-04-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

I recently had an article accepted by an academic journal. When I showed one of the referee reports to my wife, she suggested that the reviewer was clearly male. When I asked her why she thought so, she said that it was the confidence of the referee's tone that gave him away. Her thought wasn't that women aren't confident, but only that a male voice can seem more empowered by language -- more able to assert himself through words. I didn’t believe her at the time, but perhaps -- as usual -- I should have ...

The very next day, this discussion commenced over at Thoughts, Arguments, and Rants. It concerns this proposal made by Ross Cameron (Philosophy, Leeds):

As I understand it, women are under-represented in the major journals (I mean, even given their under-representation in the profession - that is, woman are even more under-represented in the journals than you’d expect them to be, given how many women there are in the profession). Why is this? Well, we’d need a study on this, but the following seems likely to me. Since women are under-represented in the profession it is very likely, for every paper sent to a journal, that it will be refereed by a man. Men and women vary in their styles of writing and arguing. So while when a man submits a paper it is likely that it will be reviewed by someone who writes and argues in a broadly similar style, with women this is very unlikely. Hence, women face a disadvantage in trying to get papers published.

Okay - it’s hardly likely to be that simple. But I bet there’s something to this. And if there’s some truth to this then there’s a good case to be made, it seems to me, for journals implementing the rule that papers by women should, other things being equal, be reviewed by women. (The ‘other things’ packs in a lot, because it seems far more important that papers be reviewed by experts in the subject.) Is there a good reason why this shouldn’t happen?

The comments in this thread have been interesting. Worth noting is that Sally Haslanger (Philosophy, MIT) will be presenting some noteworthy results on the subject later this month at the Central Division of the APA. (According to this comment, Haslanger’s investigation reveals the disturbing result that “the percentage of papers by women in the top journals falls far short of the percentage of women at the top 20 research universities.”)

Also noteworthy is the so-called “Gender Genie” -- a website that purports to be able to determine the gender of any text’s author. (The site is based on an algorithm developed by academics at Bar-Ilan University and Illinois Institute of Technology.) I’m inclined to regard with some suspicion the presuppositions of such an endeavor, and this comment on TAR suggests that its results might not always be accurate.

Still, if Haslanger is right -- and assuming that submissions really are blind-reviewed (lest more sinister prejudices be at work here) -- perhaps the Gender Genies -- both the website and my wife! -- focus our attention on an issue worthy of further consideration.

Waits in Buenos Aires

2007-04-10T12:45:00.000-05:00

Tom Waits attended the Festival Bafici in Buenos Aires this past weekend. Apparently, he performed "You Can Never Hold Back Spring" (from the recent Roberto Benigni film, La Tigre E La Neve) as well as the crowd-favorite "Tom Traubert's Blues." Lousy recordings of these performances can be found via a quick search on YouTube.

The following clip isn't all that swell either, but, if you can make it out, the story of fronting for Frank Zappa is worth a listen:

Incidentally, if you've never seen the wonderfully stylized opening to La Tigre E La Neve, in which Waits performs "You Can Never Hold Back Spring," check it out:

I love the clarinetest sitting in the wheelchair with the rainbow blanket over his legs: classic.

Tonic

2007-04-06T09:24:00.000-05:00

A sad day for New York City’s avant garde music scene ... The lower east side club, Tonic, has announced that it will close its doors for good next Friday night (Friday the 13th).

A regular venue for such folks as Marc Ribot, John Zorn, John Medeski, Arto Lindsay, Yo La Tengo, and many others, this is -- was -- my favorite club in the city. For the past decade, its existence -- coupled with the Knitting Factory -- proved that lower Manhattan could support not one, but two downtown musical venues featuring music that pushed the envelope seven nights a week.

Recent highlights include John Zorn’s 50th-birthday celebration, which featured a month-long series of performances at Tonic, as well as the live recording of the Medeski, Martin, and Wood album, Tonic (2000).

And one of the best shows I've ever attended was at Tonic in 2001, where I heard the extraordinarily elusive but marvelous Belgian singer, Catherine Jauniaux, accompanied by Marc Ribot. Jauniaux's young son spent the entire evening crawling around under the piano, while his mother and Ribot made extraordinary sounds together: just the kind magical night one could only find at Tonic.

This club will be dearly missed.

From the press release:

After more than 9 years as a home for avant-garde, creative, and experimental music, Tonic will reluctantly close its doors on Friday, April 13th, 2007. We simply can no longer afford the rent and all of the other costs associated with doing business on the Lower East Side.

The neighborhood around us has been increasingly consumed by "luxury condominiums", boutique hotels and glass towers, all making the value of our salvaged space worth more then our business could ever realistically support. We have also been repeatedly harassed by the city's Quality of Life Task Force which resulted in the debilitating closing of the ))sub((tonic lounge in January. Coincidentally, this campaign began as our immediate neighbor, the Blue Condominium building - a symbol of the new Lower East Side - prepared to open its doors.

As a business, we take responsibility for mistakes made along the way. If profit had been our chief motivation we could have changed our programming to something more mainstream and financially lucrative. Instead we were more committed to a certain type of music and loyal to the community that supported us. As a result, we've always just survived but never really prospered. It is, however, unfortunate that it is so difficult for small businesses to operate in this city and that a chain store that can afford a high rent is more desirable than a place like Tonic that has a different kind of value.

Keith Richards Snorts "His Father"

2007-04-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father’s ashes mixed with cocaine.

“The strangest thing I’ve tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father,” Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

“He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn’t have cared,” he said. “... It went down pretty well, and I’m still alive.”

Richards’ father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock’s legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

“I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it’s a way of life,” he was quoted as saying. “I’ve no pretensions about immortality,” he added. “I’m the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

“I was No. 1 on the `who’s likely to die’ list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list,” Richards said.

Now I ask you: who moved up to take Richards' place on that list?! Must've been the guy who didn't wait for his father to kick it before grinding him up and snorting him ...

Obama's Strong Showing

2007-04-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

On the one hand, one laments the political reality that candidates for office raise these kinds of sums (25 million dollars?!), not to mention a media that proclaims as "frontrunner" the individual who scores the most donated cash.

On the other hand, it’s hard not to be impressed by Obama’s success. Could it be -- and here the 100,000 donors vs. 50,000 donors comparison is more germane than the $26M vs. $25M -- that Obama really is attracting a wider swath of the American public than Clinton?

Obama fundraising rivals Clinton
Chicago Tribune
April 4, 2007

Sen. Barack Obama raised at least $25 million dollars during the first quarter for his presidential campaign, a total surprisingly close to the $26 million collected by his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Overall, Obama received contributions from more than 100,000 individuals, his campaign said. Clinton received donations from about 50,000 people, while Edwards took in money from about 37,000 donors.

Am I Bovvered?!

2007-03-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

Not sure how this skit (from this year’s Comic Relief in the UK) will play to an American ear, but even if you don’t catch all of the references, seeing Tony Blair taking the piss out of Catherine Tate is priceless!

Joel Brodsky

2007-03-23T10:12:00.000-05:00

Joel Brodsky died of a heart attack earlier this month, I’ve just learned. He was 67 years old.

Brodsky’s is not likely to be a familiar name, but his work will be. In addition to arguably the most famous image of The Doors’ Jim Morrison (left), he composed the cover image for Tom Waits’ 1976 album, Small Change (below).

Obituaries can be found on the San Francisco Art Exchange site, as well as in The Independent and The Washington Post. The latter is particularly recommended. Among its gems:

Photographer Joel Brodsky; Shot Album Cover Photos
The Washington Post
March 18, 2007
By Matt Schudel

Featured on the cover of the 1985 "The Best of the Doors" album, the black-and-white image depicts the messianic, sensitive and dangerous qualities that made Morrison such an important musical figure of his time.

Mr. Brodsky described the session in a 1981 interview. The 23-year-old Morrison, he said, was "totally plastered . . . so drunk he was stumbling into the lights."

Still, he projected an edgy charisma that Mr. Brodsky was able to capture on film. "You know, Morrison never really looked that way again, and those pictures have become a big part of the Doors' legend," Mr. Brodsky said. "I think I got him at his peak."

***

In 1971, Mr. Brodsky photographed soul musician [Isaac] Hayes in sunglasses and a striped robe for his "Black Moses" album. The cover unfolded in the shape of a cross to a size of 3 feet by 4 feet, which is believed to be the largest album cover ever made.

***

Mr. Brodsky was a meticulous craftsman, spending hours setting up lights, scenery and cameras. Even when his photographs looked like casual snapshots, such as the squalid backstage dressing room depicted on Tom Waits's "Small Change" (1976), they were always carefully composed.

"What Annie Leibovitz and David LaChapelle ended up doing, Joel was doing 30 years ago," said gallery owner Chris Murray, who gave Mr. Brodsky his first exhibition at Washington's Govinda Gallery in 2001. "Joel's work was a precursor to the illustrated concept album, and he's definitely a precursor to hip-hop."

Here’s some footage of Brodsky discussing his work:

It’s “1984” All Over Again ... in 2008

2007-03-22T18:36:00.001-05:00

Say what you will about this mash up of arguably the greatest television advertisement of all time -- "1984," directed by Ridley Scott, and first aired during Super Bowl XVIII -- not only is it clever (one of those “No one thought of this before now?!” things), but it also heralds a new movement in political campaigns: one in which individual, private supporters create and disseminate advertisements of and on their own, one in which candidates are not entirely in control of their message. Whether this is something to be celebrated or lamented remains to be seen (probably a bit of both), but the role of user-generated content certainly represents one more reason why the 2008 presidential election will be unlike anything we’ve seen before.

All work and no play makes Jack quite fun actually

2007-03-19T07:36:00.000-05:00

Ever feel duped by a movie trailer? I could just about retire on the money spent on “promising” films that turned out to be utter shite.

With this in mind, witness a hysterical testament to the powers of packaging:

If The Shining can be re-cut into a romantic comedy, can any trailer be trusted?

We'll All Be Safe from Satan

2007-03-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

From the "You just can't make this stuff up" file comes news that the Vatican -- the Vatican -- approves of Tom Waits.

That's Tom "I left my Bible by the side of the road" Waits.

Tom "I don't go to Church on Sunday" Waits.

Tom "I feel like a preacher waving a gun around" Waits.

Tom ... well, you get the idea.

Here's an excerpt (but do read the entire, brief article):

Drugs, alcohol and sex: why the Jesuits like Tom Waits
The Times of London
March 17, 2007

Barely a week after Pope Benedict XVI disclosed his dislike for the “prophets of pop” and Bob Dylan in particular, the Jesuits in Rome have embraced Waits as a Christian role model.

The latest issue of Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal, the contents of which are subject to Vatican approval, says that Waits represents “the marginalised and misunderstood.”

True, but incredible!

I can't resist posting this, my favorite performance from the still-yet-to-be-released-on-DVD Big Time (1988).

Why Aren't Humans Furry?

2007-03-15T08:51:00.000-05:00

A fascinating proposal -- viz., that Stone-Age mothers may have regarded furry babies as unattractive and thus abandoned them, in order to devote the community's limited resources to nurturing and rearing hairless (or less hairy?) babies deemed to be attractive -- was recently offered up by the distinguished developmental psychologist, Judith Rich Harris. Harris' conjecture has received quite a bit of attention this week, after being awarded the 2006 David Horrobin Prize for Medical Theory on Tuesday. Here is the press release.

While I have no trouble accepting the suggestion that parental selection may have been a non-trivial factor in the evolutionary development of our species, I find rather incredible the suggestion that the basis of such selection can be put down to attractiveness. I'm also rather reluctant to concede this "just so" story:

Harris suggests that Neanderthals must have been furry in order to survive the Ice Age. Our species would have seen them as "animals" and potential prey. Harris’ hypothesis continues that Neanderthals went extinct because human ancestors ate them.

Then again, I haven't read Harris's work yet, so it's important to try to keep an open mind. To that end, I'm likely to pick up her No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality (Norton 2006) just as soon as the budget allows (Amazon link).

Incidentally, Harris herself has led a wholly unconventional career, as this brief bio confirms. Since the 1970s, she has suffered from a chronic autoimmune disorder -- a combination of lupus and systemic sclerosis -- that has left her physically incapacitated. As far as I can tell, all of her work has been done while bedridden.

Robot Ethics?!

2007-03-09T10:11:00.000-06:00

In his ground-breaking 1950 Mind article, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Alan Turing made the following famous prediction:

I believe that in about fifty years’ time, it will be possible to programme computers ... to make them play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than 70 percent chance of making the right identification after five minutes of questioning (p. 442).

(Aside: a nice article, entitled “Turing Test: 50 Years Later” can be found here [pdf].)

When I taught the "imitation game" -- more commonly known today as the Turing Test -- in my intro seminar last week, we all smirked a bit at Turing’s over-confidence. Not only has no machine passed the test to date, nothing has even come close. In fact, even the Loebner Prize -- an annual competition in which machines attempt to pass the Turing Test -- is awarded to those machines which fail least badly (i.e. to those machines which are diagnosed as non-human least quickly).

So today’s news from the BBC comes as something of a surprise.

The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotics
BBC News – Technology
Friday, 9 March 2007

Scientists are already beginning to think seriously about the new ethical problems posed by current developments in robotics.

This week, experts in South Korea said they were drawing up an ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa. And, a group of leading roboticists called the European Robotics Network (Euron) has even started lobbying governments for legislation.

As these robots become more intelligent, it will become harder to decide who is responsible if they injure someone. Is the designer to blame, or the user, or the robot itself?

More intelligent? The moral of the Loebner Prize is that they’re not intelligent in the first place ... at all!

Not yet anyway ...

Utopias

2007-03-08T10:04:00.000-06:00

CNN reports on the Boston Beer Company’s latest beer, Utopias:

A Taste of Utopia: The Ultimate Beer
CNN.com
February 14, 2006

"It is not only the strongest and most expensive beer in the world," explains Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer Magazine, "More important, it challenges our understanding of what beer is.

On the one hand, my suspicion is that this brew -- which was recently released -- wouldn’t be receiving nearly so much attention were it not made by the deep-pocketed makers of Samuel Adams. On the other hand, one can’t be ungrateful when a mainstream brewer invests in higher-quality tipple. Cheers!

Bird Brain

2007-03-07T08:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I taught Colin Allen's "Star Witness" -- a wonderful dramatization of the panoply of philosophical issues surrounding the topic of nonhuman-animal cognition. To warm students up to the possibility of a parrot testifying in a criminal proceeding (!), I showed them this clip from the PBS show, Scientific American Frontiers (featuring Alan Alda).

Once you witness the kind of work the Dr. Irene Pepperberg does with her African Grey Parrot, Alex, you'll never regard 'bird brain' as an insult again.

A useful introduction to Pepperberg's work can be found here. Alex's Wikipedia page (of course he has one!) can be found here, and The Alex Foundation can be found here.

Jean Baudrillard

2007-03-07T07:46:00.000-06:00

Jean Baudrillard died in Paris yesterday. He was 77.

Jean Baudrillard, 77, Critic and Theorist of Hyperreality, Dies
The New York Times
March 7, 2007

One of his better known theories postulates that we live in a world where simulated feelings and experiences have replaced the real thing. This seductive “hyperreality,” where shopping malls, amusement parks and mass-produced images from the news, television shows and films dominate, is drained of authenticity and meaning. Since illusion reigns, he counseled people to give up the search for reality.

“All of our values are simulated,” he told The New York Times in 2005. “What is freedom? We have a choice between buying one car or buying another car? It’s a simulation of freedom.”

This idea was picked up by the American filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski, who included subtle references to Mr. Baudrillard in their “Matrix” trilogy. In the first movie of the series, “The Matrix” (1999), the computer hacker hero Neo opens Mr. Baudrillard’s book “Simulacra and Simulation,” which turns out to be only a simulation of a book, hollowed out to hold computer disks. Mr. Baudrillard later told The Times that the movie references to his work “stemmed mostly from misunderstandings.”

I couldn't call myself a fan, as what I know of Baudrillard is largely drawn from second-hand accounts -- though I did once spend an afternoon with Simulacra and Simulation many years ago, while an undergrad. And even though I regularly teach parts of The Matrix in introductory philosophy classes (less for its allusions to Baudrillard, and principally for its evocative depiction of thought experiments initially introduced in Descartes's First Meditation), still, I am disposed to regard as prima facie plausible the charges of intellectual irresponsibility raised by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont in their Impostures Intellectuelles (1997).

Additional obituaries: Le Monde, The Guardian, and the International Herald Tribune.

Obama's Foresight

2007-02-27T08:51:00.000-06:00

I’m not one of those who believes that a candidates's decision to support the war (or not) in 2002 should matter most in a 2008 election. (I suppose, on this point, I’m sympathetic with Hillary Clinton -- though, no doubt, her position is born of political necessity, rather than principle.) Neverthless, Barack Obama’s greatest asset in the Democratic primary (specifically) could turn out to be the steadfastness of his anti-war stance.

Witness, for instance, this incredibly prescient performance from November of 2002:

What's impressive about this is not that Obama's 2002 position is popular today. (The political winds could've blown in any number of directions -- none of which could've been predicted more than four years ago.) Rather, what's impressive is the acumen he displays: the ability to identify and assess the salient features of a complex situation, and to make the correct judgment on the basis of that assessment. That's the sort of mind that deserves our votes.

Joyce "the Imposter" Hatto

2007-02-26T10:39:00.000-06:00

I’ve been meaning to write about Joyce Hatto — aka “the greatest living pianist that almost no one has heard of” — for the past week, but now that the New York Times has published an article, all I need to do is to provide the link ... here.

Shoot the Piano Player
The New York Times
February 26, 2007

Intriguingly, she gave to the music a developed although oddly malleable personality. She could do Schubert in one style, and then Prokofiev almost as though she was a new person playing a different piano — an astonishing, chameleon-like artistic ability. … [T]he entire Joyce Hatto oeuvre recorded after 1989 appears to be stolen from the CDs of other pianists. It is a scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music.

Ha!

Incidentally, this article was written by Denis Dutton, a philosopher who teaches at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and whose personal website is well worth a visit anyway. (You might’ve noticed the link to his site under the “Miscellany” category to the right.)

Oxford Philosophy

2007-02-26T10:15:00.000-06:00

Prompted by an overview of the situation authored by former Oxford lecturer Michael Rosen, a candid discussion of how one might go about (or not, as it may be) getting a philosophy job in Oxford is underway on Brian Leiter's site here.

In keeping with the spirit of Ralph's comments, it's my impression and experience that outsiders stand a better chance than they used to do, but also that reputation for past cronyism is neither undeserved, nor easily shaken.

Guest of Cindy Sherman

2007-02-24T09:03:00.000-06:00

This is a trailer for a feature-length documentary, Guest of Cindy Sherman, apparently due to be shown on the Sundance Channel (or at the Sundance Film Festival?) in 2008. Looks fascinating, if also somewhat tabloidish. Be sure to watch the whole thing; the other shoe doesn't drop until 2/3 of the way through the spot.

Pina

2007-02-23T08:59:00.000-06:00

Stumbled upon this clip from Almodóvar's Habla con ella and was immediately reminded of the life-changing performance by Pina Bausch that I saw at Sadler's Wells in London a few years back. Undoubtedly one of the greatest artists in any form working today.

The clip features an excerpt from Bausch's Masurca Fogo, which she continues to reprise at Tanztheater Wuppertal. Staggering.

Pan’s Labrynth

2007-02-21T13:28:00.000-06:00

Whether it’s more embarrassing not to have seen Pan’s Labrynth until a couple of weeks ago or not to have written about it until now I’m not sure, but there you have it: I managed both feats.

In short: brilliant film. Most interesting to me was how director Guillermo del Toro manages to avoid the magical realism that one might’ve expected. The project is more subtle than that. Unlike in standard magical realist fare, the status of the fantastical realm is left purposely ambiguous in the film. It’s unclear whether what we see is real or merely the projection of a child’s imagination. And it’s in that ambiguity that the film really thrives.

I’ve long since grown weary of Terry Gross, but in spite of herself, this interview with del Toro is captivating. Particularly moving, I thought, was his notion of monsters as surrogates for deities: lovely idea.

A battery of reviews may be found, as always, at Rotten Tomatoes. An unscripted exchange between del Toro and the leading actress, Ivana Baquero, can be found here. And lastly, here’s the trailer:

Escher ... in Legos

2007-02-21T12:57:00.000-06:00

An endeavor as goofy as it is pathetic ... Be sure not to miss out on Mr. Lipson's FAQs here.

Day of Reckoning

2007-02-21T12:52:00.000-06:00

For we citizens of Buckeye Nation, this says it all.

Drink Me

2007-02-16T11:09:00.001-06:00

For years, I’ve been gathering evidence in support of my pet hypothesis that most great things are originated by native Ohioans ... who then flee the “Heart Of It All” as soon as humanly possible. Just about any other pasture will do, history tells us: green, desolate, metropolitan, even lunar.

Natives (of which I am not one, though I did live there for quite some time) can hardly escape this sad fact, surrounded as they are by the ubiquitous ‘Birthplace of Aviation’ motto found on Ohio license plates and Ohio quarters: a reminder that, while the Wright Brothers were from Dayton, when it came time for the big day, they promptly split to windswept Kill Devil Hills near Kitty Hawk, NC. (Carolina plates proudly proclaim: ‘First in Flight’.) What I haven’t decided yet is whether all this speaks well or ill of the great state: well, that so many ingenious and industrious minds have been born there; or ill, that virtually all of them catch the first thing smokin’ outta town.

Anyway. All that by way of wholly unnecessary preamble to the duo Drink Me, which I discovered just over a year ago. Wynne Evans and Mark Amft met while roommates at Oberlin College in ... well, you know where. The hip among you will be unimpressed by my new-found devotion to a band that's been broken up for nearly two decades; but better late than never. Drink Me found fame in the late 80s and early 90s while opening for They Might Be Giants. I wasn’t a fan of the latter then, and I’m not a fan now. Nor even am I sure whether Drink Me appeals principally because of its musical offering -- deceptive, sweet, melancholy, not unsophisticated -- or instead because of its somewhat tragic fate. (I first learned of the group via the periodic NPR series known as “Dust Bin Bands”: worth a listen here.) Certainly, the band’s appeal is not due to its name, which is, frankly, awful. But despite that, their music is captivating: thoroughly eerie at points, and yet surprisingly resonant throughout.

Alas, they really have been cast to the dust bin. After only two albums, Mark Amft has dropped off the face of the world, and even Amazon can’t seem to dig up a copy of their eponymously named first disk. So I treasure my copy ... and heartily recommend that you try to pick up one of your own.

Eleni Mandell

2007-02-16T10:46:00.000-06:00

And while I’m at it -- at, that is, stumping for softer additions to your musical library -- might I also recommend a newer selection?

Despite not being from Ohio, Eleni Mandell is, as far as I can tell, a genuinely talented songwriter. It helps if you're chummy with Chuck E. Weiss, and can claim Bukowski, Dylan, and Waits as influences. Like Drink Me in perhaps no other respect, nevertheless, her writing is similarly subtle -- which, unlike how that word seems to be used by the critics, does not mean boring or plain. It’s not likely to knock your socks off, but it’s … alluring.

Find her at home here; find her on My Space here. Find her in a clever video here:

Obama for President

2007-02-12T10:40:00.000-06:00

Okay, I have to admit it: slowly but surely, I'm becoming an Obama believer.

Like everyone else, I have no idea how it'll all pan out. And my support today -- more than 18 months from the actual election, after all! -- is defeasible: he could do something stupid on the campaign trail, he could adopt a stance on an important issue (domestic or international) that deviates sharply from my own, etc. But I like this guy: I like how his mind works; I appreciate what distinguishes him from mainstream politicians; I'm struck by his humility; and I find myself optimistic about the shift in the perception of this country that, I'm coming to think, he alone could effect (contrast Clinton, Edwards, even Gore). And regarding that last point, I'm not persuaded -- as so many seem to be -- that a candidate's experience matters more than his or her personality. I'm not saying that it doesn't matter; I'm saying that I'm not sure that it matters more. The days of a president calling the shots alone are long past: presidents (like most politicians) determine policy by committee, and one wants a president who surrounds himself with the right people (whoever they are). These days, one's demeanor and good sense may matter most in determining the policy that one gets, because of the role those qualities play in determining who is chosen for the positions of VP, the cabinet, chief of staff, and so on.

I am, of course, under no illusions that Obama is a politician. And my suspicion of that breed remains strong. But as "lesser evils" go, Obama promises to introduce a welcome breath of fresh air. If you don't believe me, watch last night's 60 Minutes interview (including his wife, whose display of fortitude and intelligence was impressive) here.

In the meantime, here's the famous speech that launched his national career:

The second part is here.

Philosophy from the Cradle

2007-02-09T14:03:00.000-06:00

In my experience, the Scots are typically a step (or several) ahead on most matters of importance. More grist for the mill from the BBC:

Nursery Pupils Taught Philosophy
BBC News
5 February 2007

Children as young as four are being taught philosophy in nursery, BBC Scotland has learned. The Clackmannanshire Council initiative is believed to be the first run by a local authority in Britain. New research from Dundee University suggests learning philosophy raises children's IQ by up to 6.5 points and improves their emotional intelligence.

The Great Questions Scatter Like Roaches

2007-02-07T08:26:00.001-06:00

Busy week, this: teaching, deadlines, presentations ... oh my. So until I find the time to post something more substantive, enjoy this (apt) comic, which I recently encountered. (Click the image for a bigger view.)

Prince

2007-02-05T08:04:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure that I've never seen a Super Bowl halftime show that I liked. Last night was different. However dubious a distinction this might otherwise seem, the artist presently known as 'Prince' has now set the standard for halftime shows. The marching band was a stroke of genius, the set-list terrific, and the unapologetic rock-star energy just outstanding.

Here it is:

Here's the New York Times review, rightly laudatory:

A Non-Controversial Prince, Just Like the N.F.L. Likes Him
The New York Times
February 5, 2007

A brief concert in the middle of the Super Bowl, on a temporary stage, designed to thrill a captive audience with nothing in common except a love of sport or spectacle, or both. How could that ever be a good idea? Then, just when it seemed time to give up on that quaint ritual known as the halftime show, along comes Prince.

His performance last night at Super Bowl XLI will surely go down as one of the most thrilling halftime shows ever; certainly the most unpredictable, and perhaps the best. “Dearly beloved,” he whispered, intoning the famous first words of “Let’s Go Crazy.”

What followed was a dizzying demonstration. He navigated a smooth course through a jumbled-up set built from bits and pieces, hits and covers. “Let’s Go Crazy” ended with an ad-libbed call-and-response, after which Prince was joined by a marching band.

Soon came “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. That gave way to a piece of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” which melted into “Best of You,” the 2005 hit by the Foo Fighters. He ended the medley by modifying a favorite line from the Foo Fighters’ song: “I’ve got another confession, my friend/I ain’t no fool.”

Somehow, it all made sense, or maybe it made something better than sense. The heavy rain made the smoke and lights seem mysterious, instead of merely ridiculous. And there was a sneaky thrill in watching Prince steal the field from guys three times his size, if only for a few moments.

At one Super Bowl gathering, at least, Prince’s extravagant guitar solos, seductive facial expressions and strutting stage manner made boozy viewers whoop and wonder in equal measure. Who knew a Super Bowl halftime show could be this delirious?

No doubt National Football League officials were pretty pleased, too. They know that the halftime show is still haunted by the specter of 2004, when Justin Timberlake enlivened an otherwise unmemorable show by baring Janet Jackson’s breast. Somehow, Timberlake’s role has been largely forgotten, but Jackson’s career has still not recovered. And compared with the controversial Jackson, Prince must seem like a pretty safe bet.

Would that last statement have made any sense at all 20 years ago? In 1987, Jackson was best known as Michael’s effervescent younger sister, and Prince was perhaps the most polarizing pop star in the country; the sexually frank lyrics of his “Darling Nikki” had helped spark a national debate about explicit lyrics.

Yesterday’s command performance was yet more proof that Prince has made that familiar journey from pariah to American treasure. He has a catalog of hits that everybody seems to love (even the players, who normally take little interest in the halftime show, were quoted praising Prince), and he sings and plays and moves as well as he ever did.

Best of all, he does not carry himself as a pop-star emeritus. Did you see his face during the first verse of “Purple Rain,” when he tossed his bandana into the crowd? He looked as if he were getting away with something.

Helvetica

2007-02-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

It’s difficult to imagine a feature length film about a font, but if any typeface is worth it, surely it’s Helvetica.

So, oddly enough, this documentary looks quite compelling:

Mind you, none of this is likely to dissuade me from my Times New Roman ways ...

Cold War Kids

2007-02-02T11:15:00.000-06:00

I’m proud to report that, for once, I was ahead of the curve. Somehow I stumbled upon the Cold War Kids five or six months back. (Here’s the proof.) Quite a bit more interesting than your usual chicken Caesar salad, they're something like a cross between Gomez and the Whitlams, with a lead singer, Nate Willett, who sounds rather like the guy from Starsailor. Anyway, I was pleased to see this feature in today’s Guardian:

Band on the Run
Friday February 2, 2007
The Guardian

Cold War Kids seem like nice, God-fearing chaps who would rather save their money than go out boozing. But when it comes to their songs, all hell breaks loose.

“The band confess a love of Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground and Billie Holiday …” Good taste. Anyway, here’s their video for a “Hang Me Up To Dry”:

Happy Birthday, Virtuosos!

2007-02-02T11:00:00.000-06:00

NPR reported this morning something (one more thing!) I hadn’t known: that violinist virtuosos Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz were born on the same day -- today, 2 February ... in 1875 and 1901, respectively. Lots of info and pictures can be found here. But in celebration, let’s just watch Heifetz in action (alas, I couldn’t locate any footage of Kreisler):

Delightful! And here’s a quaint little documentary spot on Heifetz:

A Googol ... At Least!

2007-02-02T10:56:00.000-06:00

From MIT’s The Tech -- "the world's first newspaper on the web" -- comes a report of a battle between two philosophers -- Princeton’s Adam Elga and MIT’s Augustin Rayo -- to “inscribe the largest finite number ever to be written on an ordinary-sized chalkboard”. Worth a read here.

Rafe Esquith

2007-01-30T20:34:00.000-06:00

Others, I'm sure, heard about Rafe Esquith long before I did. Judging from his awards and honors -- including a National Medal of Arts, a $100,000 Use Your Life Award from Oprah, and, oh yeah, an OBE (albeit honorary) -- you might even be tired of hearing about him by now. But, because I've just discovered him, you'll just have to pardon my exuberance ...

In the past couple of weeks I've heard him give two NPR interviews. The first (here) is relatively brief. The second is an hour long edition of Dick Gordon's The Story (here). The recent spate of publicity is due to his new book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire: The Method and Madness Inside Room 56, which he's currently promoting (and which I immediately ran out and bought for my wife, as soon as I heard these interviews) -- not that that any of that keeps him from his regular teaching duties at Hobart Elementary School in inner-city Los Angeles.

In fact, 'Hobart' might sound familiar to PBS viewers. A few years ago, Academy Award-nominated director Mel Stuart made a documentary about Esquith entitled The Hobart Shakespeareans. (Yes, the same Mel Stuart who directed the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder!) I imagine that's where most folks heard of him ... Acutally, let's be honest: most people probably heard about him via that would-be mouthpiece of American culture, known as Oprah. But that's a tirade for another day.

For now, you can catch a glimpse -- just a glimpse -- of the man's extraordinary work in this trailer for The Hobart Shakespeareans here:

Another Knockout

2007-01-29T07:31:00.000-06:00

Waits triumphs over The Man again. This must be the first time anyone has ever confused Waits with Brahms!

LOS ANGELES Jan 27, 2007 (AP) — Grammy Award-winning singer Tom Waits has settled a lawsuit in which he claimed an automaker and an ad agency violated his rights by imitating him in TV commercials, his lawyer said.

The lawsuit was resolved "recently" in a state court in Frankfurt, Germany, but the settlement required other details be kept confidential, attorney Kevin Marks said Friday. Waits will donate the "net settlement proceeds" to charity, Marks said.

"I'm glad to be out of the car sales business once and for all," Waits said in a statement issued on Thursday.

The gravel-voiced singer sued Adam Opel AG, which is part of General Motors Corp., and the advertising firm McCann Erickson in 2005 on grounds that his personality rights had been violated.

Waits, who has a policy of not doing commercials, claimed that a singer imitating his voice and style appeared on the soundtrack for Opel ads that aired in Scandinavia after he turned down several offers to do the commercials.

Opel said the music was a Brahms composition and wasn't intended to mimic Waits. The ad music was later changed. [Continued here.]

Incidentally, Waits did do a commercial once ... a long time ago. The commercial was for a new Purina dog food called (appropriately enough) Butcher's Blend. Here it is:

As usual, all of the details concerning this bit of Waits trivia can be found here, at the Tom Waits Library.

The Language of Autism

2007-01-25T13:59:00.000-06:00

A woman with autism, first, performs her own language, and then discusses discrimination (in our language). Remarkable!

Behind the Curve

2007-01-25T13:26:00.000-06:00

In the UK, a debate is underway concerning only whether Catholic adoption agencies should be granted an exemption from last year's Equality Act, which made it illegal to discriminate against homosexuals in the provision of goods and services. In fact, as of this afternoon, it looks as though the exception won't be granted:

Blair: I Have Always Backed Gay Adoption
The Guardian
January 25, 2007

An interesting turn of events, given that Tony Blair has long been reputed to be a "closeted" Catholic.

Incredibly, the American debate centers on whether gay couples should be allowed to raise children at all. Our own Vice President, when asked yesterday about his own gay daughter's pregnancy, refused comment on the issue:

Who's Free?

2007-01-21T18:06:00.000-06:00

A wonderful discussion of the problem of free will a few weeks ago in -- where else? -- the New York Times:

Free Will: Now You Have It, Now You Don’t
The New York Times
January 2, 2007

" ... physicists, neuroscientists and computer scientists have joined the heirs of Plato and Aristotle in arguing about what free will is, whether we have it, and if not, why we ever thought we did in the first place."

The popular discussion there reminds me of this scene in Richard Linklater’s Waking Life in which University of Texas philosopher, David Sosa, ably introduces the problem like this:

Immaculate Confection

2007-01-21T08:10:00.002-06:00

If only religion worked like this -- a confection in the mouth, some confetti in the air -- I'd be spending Sundays like today in the pews rather than in front of a screen ...

The Wife Strikes Again

2007-01-19T08:35:00.000-06:00

Caroline won another race last weekend -- this time, the (wonderful!) 2nd Annual Little River Trail Run. Along the way, she managed to set a new course record (1:07:20) for the technically demanding 9-mile stretch. Good friend and fellow Fleet Feet team member, Sarah Hallenbeck, finished just behind Caroline in second place. Congratulations to them both! An excerpt from the Race Director's Report:

Equally amazing were the top three women, Caroline Blatti, Sarah Hallenbeck, and Allison Peters. The women's course record was 1:07:35. After the men's results, all bets were off as to how quickly the first woman would come out of the woods. I heard someone yell, "there she is!" It was Caroline, making the loop around the field and breaking the course record by 15 seconds, finishing in a blistering 1:07:20. Sarah was just a minute behind her at 1:08:22, with Allison finishing third in 1:11 flat. A fast day, indeed.

The Chapel Hill News covered the race in a lengthy article here.

Online Conference in Aesthetics

2007-01-18T13:59:00.000-06:00

This celebration of the 25th anniversary of Arthur Danto's groundbreaking, The Transfiguration of the Commonplace promises to be a wonderful online conference. Discussions will kick off next Monday, January 22.

Additional details here:

Most recent discussions of Danto's work have focused either on his art criticism or his historical claims about the end of art. This conference aims to focus instead on topics raised by Danto’s earlier work. Papers might take several approaches, including:

1. Critical discussion of Danto's arguments in Transfiguration.
2. Comparisons of Danto's philosophy of art to that of others, whether within or outside the analytic or Western traditions.
3. Explorations of questions raised or left open by Danto’s book.
4. Specific discussions of the Transfiguration’s continued relevance within aesthetics or its application to particular arts (painting, music, literature, dance, etc.).

The conference, to be presented online in January 2007, will feature papers from scholars in philosophy, art history, and other fields impacted by Danto’s work. Keynote papers will be offered by Richard Shusterman (Philosophy, Florida Atlantic) and David Carrier (Art History, Case Western). Professor Danto will close the conference with a response to the papers presented.

The program can be found here.

Tom Waits for No One

2007-01-18T13:16:00.000-06:00

It's remarkable what discoveries the internet affords the avid fan. To wit, this entry in the Tom Waits Library:

Since the late 1970's, the undercurrent buzz of an obscure animated rock video entitled, "Tom Waits For No One", has been circulating amongst the worldwide hardcore aficionados of Tom Waits. Rumors have been fueled only by occasional and rare photographs; perhaps these are stills from the video itself, or perhaps images taken from the animation cels. The intriguing source of the photos has been a baffling chase for more than twenty years. Who made it, what was it about, where did it originate geographically, why hasn't it been available to the public, and how was it made, all the basic questions, have been nothing short of a discouraging riddle. The 5 1/2 minute animated short is an erotic visual featuring Waits crooning "The One That Got Away" to a sultry long-haired stripper on a desolate boulevard of broken hearts.

At long last we got in touch with the director of this beautiful and technologically groundbreaking video, John Lamb. Through email conversations John has finally come forth with the history behind this video and graciously clarified the mystery. He explains how he came to make it, the persons involved with the making of it, the creative process of Rotoscoping, why the video dived into a black hole, Tom Waits' involvement, and delectable anecdotes on working with Waits.

This really is remarkable work. In fact, as you'll learn from the interview with John Lamb here, the "Video Animation System for testing motion picture animation sequences" that Lamb invented in 1976 (with the help of his business partner, Bruce Lyon) earned the two an Academy Award in the category of Scientific and Technical Achievement (1980). So here, at long last, is the video itself:

Springfield, IL ... Sound Familiar?

2007-01-17T09:07:00.001-06:00

I haven't yet seen anyone comparing Obama to Abraham Lincoln (he's from Illinois, he's spent only a few years in the Senate, he's a charismatic speaker apparently above the fray, etc.), but I'm sure such comparisons are forthcoming ... and will be welcomed by those in the Obama camp.

Obama Starts ’08 Bid
The New York Times
January 16, 2007

Two years after arriving in Washington, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois made clear on Tuesday his intention to enter the Democratic presidential race, creating an exploratory committee while preparing to open a full-fledged campaign next month to become the nation’s first black president. ... Obama said he would formally declare his intention to run on Feb. 10 in Springfield, Ill.

Here's Obama's announcement in full:

Just Another Night at the Volksbühne

2007-01-16T16:42:00.000-06:00

I miss Berlin ...

Outrageousness, Herr Director, Is a Tough Act to Follow
The New York Times
January 14, 2007

Under [Castorf's] direction, actors ignored huge portions of the classical texts they performed, stripped naked, screamed their lines for the duration of five-hour productions, got drunk onstage, dropped out of character, conducted private fights, tossed paint at their public, saw a third of the audience walk out as they spoke two lines at an excruciatingly slow pace, may or may not have induced a theatergoer to drink urine, threw potato salad, immersed themselves in water, recited newspaper reports of Hitler’s last peacetime birthday party, told bad jokes, called the audience East German sellouts and appeared to but did not kill a mouse. After their first season the prestigious magazine Theaterheute (Theater Today) named the Volksbühne Theater of the Year.

Bunny

2007-01-16T15:59:00.000-06:00

This is a charming -- if possibly disturbing -- short from Blue Sky Studios. It won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, and it features music by Waits ("Bend Down the Branches," recently released on Orphans).

Is the recommendation supposed to be that the elderly should put their heads in the oven if they wish to become reunited with their dead spouses? Hmmmm.

Beware the Bassist

2007-01-15T14:02:00.001-06:00

A vintage recording of Reg Kehoe and His Marimba Queens ... with updated bass solo.

That guy should be chained up somewhere!

Organ Donation Petition

2007-01-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

Under current UK law, your organs may be used for transplants (after your death) only if you explicitly “opt-in” to the system by adding your name to the NHS Organ Donor Register. Too few do so: the NHS has a critical need for far more organs than this system provides.

The link below is to an e-petition lobbying the government to change the system from “opt-in” to “opt-out”, so that organs in dead adult bodies would be automatically available for transplant unless the deceased had explicitly registered his/her dissent (or his/her family does so post-mortem).

A move by Evan Harris (Lib Dem. MP) to amend the Human Tissue Bill to his effect was defeated in parliament in 2004, but the issue is unlikely to go away. (Austria and Spain already have an opt-out system. Demand for organs in the UK continues far to exceed supply, etc.)

If you agree that the system should be changed, and you're a UK resident, please sign the petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Organ-Donation

Jazz in the Shadows

2007-01-15T10:56:00.000-06:00

Two jazz musicians who spent much of their respective careers in the shadows died this weekend: saxophonist, Michael Brecker, and pianist, Alice Coltrane. The shadow cast over Brecker depended on the session—notwisthstanding his solo-work, Brecker spent much of his life in the studio, in support of everyone from Aerosmith to Zappa—while the shadow cast over Coltrane was, of course, her husband's.

Listen to Alice Coltrane here.

Listen to Michael Brecker here.

Beethoven, Philly Style

2007-01-15T10:01:00.000-06:00

Did you know that, on this National Public Radio page, one can hear (for free!) recent Philadelphia Orchestra performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies? I didn't.

"The Philadelphia Orchestra performs all nine of Beethoven's symphonies as part of a season-long tribute. Conductor Christoph Eschenbach's goal is to remove Beethoven from 'the classical box' to show his 'revolutionary and visionary' side. The orchestra's virtuosity is on display throughout."

That solves the problem of determining the soundtrack for today's work ...