- "Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." — James Joyce
- "Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?" — Ulysses Everett McGill
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Thanks, Puritans!
In August 1649, Cromwell and 12,000 soldiers arrived in Ireland. During the next ten years of bloodshed it is estimated that about a third of the population was either killed or died of starvation. The majority of Roman Catholics who owned … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Heroes: Freddie Mercury
The voice, yes. The voice that could range the octaves with the ease of a slide rule, to soothe or seduce or harrow. But also the form that flung that voice across the stadium, that gave a physique and a … Continue reading
Fuck You, Iliopsoas
The iliopsoas muscle is comprised of two parts. The iliacus and psoas muscles are joined to each other laterally along the psoas tendon. The iliopsoas originates anterior to the transverse processes of the T12 to L5 vertebrae and inserts into … Continue reading
Institutioclasty
The economic factors in newspapers’ decline are well-documented — the collapse of ad revenue and all the industry’s throughly wrongheaded responses to same. But the news business is also wrapped up in a larger story of revulsion and distrust, and … Continue reading
Posted in I wlll rant and you will like it
Tagged government, newspapers, sociology, words i made up
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Wednesday’s Heroes: Lucan
He was a child prodigy. He fomented insurrection. He upstaged the most powerful man in the world. He died at 25, younger than Hendrix, Morrison, or Cobain, the same age as Cliff Burton and Tupac. He had the coolest name … Continue reading
Posted in History, Wednesday's Heroes
Tagged dante, history, lucan, poetry, rome, sandman
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You’re Ghostin’ Us, Doctor Pym
xx xx xx How do you make one of Marvel’s silliest, most melodramatically scripted heroes into a compelling character for your ongoing animated series? You turn him into the goddamn Predator, that’s how.
Fat Orson Welles Changed My Life
xx xx xx xx xx This is how I got to know the man, when I was just a kid: A pudgy shadow trying to sell me an “electronic” game, a screwtop jug of wine, a bag of peas. Or … Continue reading
Wednesday’s Heroes: R. Scott Bakker
If science fiction and fantasy offer a chance to grapple with the fantastic, why do so few authors really take up the gauntlet? It’s easy enough to write a story with world-shattering magic or beyond-lightspeed transport, but it’s far harder … Continue reading
Posted in Wednesday's Heroes
Tagged authors, books, fantasy, neuropath, prince of nothing, r. scott bakker, science fiction
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Trailer: The Movie
The Golden Trailer Awards should be a bigger telecast than the Oscars. At least that way we’d all have seen the same things before the envelopes got opened. Trailers are the real way we conceptualize a film — they’re forward-memories, … Continue reading
Posted in Sometimes I Notice Stuff
Tagged film, iron man, psychology, trailers, tron
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