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Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed. Please remain perfectly still. What you are about to see is real, the performers are not grinning scarecrows sent here to torture and manipulate you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the twin quasars of rock: They! Might! Be! Giants!
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Jul-26-03
comment posted at 7:39 AM on Jul-28-03

Comics for Grown-Ups
David Hadju discusses Joe Sacco's Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde and Daniel Clowes' Ghost World. I wanted to link the Ghost World movie site but it's currently down. Whether this is permanently or not, I know not. I'll be sad if it's gone--it was so darn cool and so elegantly done.
comment posted at 1:57 PM on Jul-26-03
comment posted at 2:49 PM on Jul-26-03
comment posted at 2:58 PM on Jul-26-03
comment posted at 3:47 PM on Jul-26-03

This is the 58th Anniversary of the Atomic Age. The successful Trinity nuclear test was made July 16, 1945, in which a six-kilogram sphere of plutonium, compressed to supercriticality by explosive lenses, exploded over the New Mexico desert with a force equal to approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The Stafford Memo (original in PDF), dated 58 years ago today, is the declassified official report. Outside the use of the weapon in warfare, the risks to humans were uncertain.
comment posted at 8:00 AM on Jul-21-03
comment posted at 6:29 AM on Jul-22-03

Is high voter turnout due to Jerry Springer's celebrity status a good thing? Jonah Goldberg of the NRO says "Whores should have as much say as nurses, according to a worldview which says nobody can be judged, all citizens are equal, all views valid." Jerry says he's an example of media elitism and that the elitists are "afraid" of real Americans voting in large numbers. Opinions of Springer as a potential Senator aside, the issue of voter turnout is interesting.
comment posted at 11:03 AM on Jul-17-03
comment posted at 11:25 AM on Jul-17-03

spectacular attacks [note: flash]
comment posted at 7:28 AM on Jul-16-03

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!" Who says 'Murricans are insular and self-absorbed?! Okay, everybody, but everybody's wrong. Proof positive? The absolutely last and final word that'll make everybody believe we really do care about their mangy foreign butts? The fact that the Library of Congress has a wonderful site called A World of Books: Annotated Surveys of Noteworthy Books from Around the Globe, devoted to "some of the most important and interesting books published abroad that an American public may have overlooked. The results provide a fascinating insight about other peoples and cultures." It's good times.
comment posted at 8:07 AM on Jul-10-03

If you liked the lyrics on Dylan's last album, you'll probably also like the Japanese gangster novel he lifted some of them from. Verdict: Not guilty, on grounds of prior artistic achievement. (Long article in today's WSJ not linked because the old WSJ free-linkification doesn't work anymore!!?)
comment posted at 12:24 PM on Jul-8-03
comment posted at 2:06 PM on Jul-8-03

Sweatshop-free T-shirts "We are not about "made in USA". We are about American values. We believe in the American dream and want to do more for our customers and employees. We are pro-workers rights— whether in Los Angeles or anywhere in the world. We manufacture in the United States not because we are crazy flag fanatics but because it is the most vibrant T-shirt market in the world and therefore the most efficient place to manufacture our T-shirts." In the middle of one of the worst economic climates in decades, with (actual) unemployment near 9 percent, an American company with the courage to compete against the Global Sweatshop economy. Is Politically-driven consumer markets the future? Or do you really need that Nike logo? Could "Sweatshop-free IT Services" be far behind?
comment posted at 3:11 PM on Jul-4-03

Dinosaur says what? A spokesman for the company that manages the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and other acts said that his clients "would rather not contribute to the demise of the album format." As if the years of filler-crammed CDs (from nearly every band) hadn't killed it off already.
comment posted at 7:47 AM on Jul-3-03

The Group of Seven. Arguably Canada's most important artists, the Group of Seven "popularized the concept of an art founded on the Canadian landscape, gave many Canadians a sense of national identity and enabled them to discover the beauty of their own country." Peruse an art gallery and marvel at the beauty they portrayed. (Mangled quote from the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery) Equally important was Emily Carr. While her style was similar to that of the Group of Seven, her interest in First Nations became her trademark. Some of her paintings.
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Jun-30-03

Paul Anka was born in Ottawa. Guy Lombardo hailed from London, Ontario. Believe it or not, but the Auld Lang Syne that we sing at New Year's was popularized by him. Neil Young was born in Toronto and sang (sometimes) about Canada. Oscar Peterson is from Montreal. Canadiana Suite, 1964. How have these amazing Canadian musicians affected your life, if at all? Are there other Canadian musicians that the world should know about, but for some reason does not (like the Tragically Hip, or Holly Cole, say)?
comment posted at 7:42 AM on Jun-29-03

How Not To Be A Summer Law Clerk, Or: the guy who sent the incredibly stupid and self-incriminating e-mail to all the associates in his firm. (I find this especially amusing since I am writing this from the law firm where I am a summer clerk. Now I'll probably get busted too!)
comment posted at 1:27 PM on Jun-27-03

The Windshield Killer: Chante Mallard's Timeline of Shame details what this woman did on the evening leading up to her high speed hit and attempted run when she was on drugs, had been drinking and hit a 37 year old homeless man named Gregory Biggs on the highway. After he lodged in her windshield, she tried to pull him out but couldn't. Instead she drove home, parked the car in the garage and let him bleed to death over the next two hours. Why didn't she call the police or a doctor? She was too scared (read that, too wasted). Instead she had her boyfriend and cousin come and dump the body in a nearby park. Today she was found guilty in 50 minutes by the jury.
comment posted at 6:54 AM on Jun-27-03

Back when beer was good. "The stubby beer bottle was used by the Canadian breweries between 1961 and 1986, replacing the old long neck beer bottle. The stubby was a very sturdy bottle and could be refilled numerous times. In 1983 Carling O'Keefe Breweries began bottling Miller in a US style private mould bottle and soon after the other breweries also switched over to their own private mould bottles. Most of these bottles were then discontinued after a few years because of the cost and replaced with a common long neck beer bottle, but the stubby was abandoned."
comment posted at 12:00 PM on Jun-26-03

Today marks one hundred years since the birth of George Orwell. He may have died in 1950, just after finishing his master work, but he has remained culturally relevant ever since, and never more so than during the past two years.
comment posted at 2:03 PM on Jun-25-03

The Godless Celebrity: As a list, it seems no better or worse than the God-fearing crowd. But the world needs atheists, if only for keeping - or trying to keep - the believers from ripping each other's heads off in the name of the various exclusivist true faiths. As Woody Allen said, it's scary that there are so many groups who are convinced they have a direct line to God. I wonder how many religious people respect and believe in the usefulness, political and intellectual, of the atheist. [Via Bifurcated Rivets]
comment posted at 9:58 AM on Jun-23-03
comment posted at 10:28 AM on Jun-23-03
comment posted at 12:02 PM on Jun-23-03

Michiko Kukatani goes whacky! (NYT Reg Required) Maybe all the craziness at the NYT is taking its toll, but everyone's favorite high-brow book bully reviews Candace Bushnell's (Sex and The City chick's) new book as a letter from...Elle Woods?!
comment posted at 12:20 PM on Jun-19-03

Long Live The Underdog! One of the few things my father taught me - and followed to his dying day - was to "always support the underdogs. They may not be right, but they have the same right to be wrong as we do." Or more, as John Stuart Mill would argue and a certain Walthamstow group of anarchists would agree. Underdog Online - the outsider's in site - celebrates the underdog and the outsider in a healthily frivolous and assertive way - from gay men and the Internet and The Smiths's cover art to the suggestion of a beer dinner for June 21 and a quirky report on how lawyers experience murder trials. Long live the underdog, indeed!
comment posted at 8:52 AM on Jun-19-03
comment posted at 12:23 PM on Jun-19-03

Did you miss Paddy Dignam's wake? Ah well, there's still time to celebrate Bloomsday -- if you're in Dublin, you can (among many other delights) take a stroll across the newly-opened James Joyce Bridge. Or, if you have a spare $60,000, you could even buy your very own Ulysses first edition. As for me, I'll be hoisting a crystal cup full of the foaming ebon ale which the noble twin brothers Bungiveagh and Bungardilaun brew ever in their divine alevats, cunning as the sons of deathless Leda. (And as for Paddy? -- Dead! says Alf. He's no more dead than you are. -- Maybe so, says Joe. They took the liberty of burying him this morning anyhow.)
comment posted at 2:23 PM on Jun-17-03
comment posted at 9:01 AM on Jun-18-03
comment posted at 9:08 AM on Jun-18-03

The history of the salt mine under the city of Detroit. Mined until 1983.
comment posted at 9:22 AM on Jun-13-03

The Pale Horse Percentage. The demise of civilization has been predicted since it began, but the odds of keeping Planet Earth alive and well are getting worse amid a breakneck pace of scientific advances, according to Martin Rees, Britain's honorary astronomer royal. Rees calculates that the odds of an apocalyptic disaster striking Earth have risen to about 50 percent from 20 percent a hundred years ago.
comment posted at 8:06 AM on Jun-9-03

Hoorah! Fairy Congress '03 is almost upon us. With the admiral goal of Promoting Quality Human & Fairy Relations and special guest Dotty Maclean of Findhorn Community fame who apparently has done more than any other person in the 20th century to popularize the idea that humans can communicate with devas, in attendance you'd be crazy to miss it. Sure looks like fun...
comment posted at 7:17 AM on Jun-1-03

3-D Maps of Nearby Space "The first detailed map of space within about 1,000 light years of Earth places the solar system in the middle of a large hole that pierces the plane of the galaxy...The new map, produced by University of California, Berkeley, and French astronomers, alters the reigning view of the solar neighborhood." (one view|another view|links to bigger images)
comment posted at 1:44 PM on May-30-03

When Most Of The Reviews (And Indeed Books) Are Long Since Forgotten, David Levine's extraordinary portraits of the public figures and obsessions of the last 40 years will stand as a lasting impression of our literary and political lions, masters, avatars and bugbears. The generous and ever essential New York Review of Books offers us a complete and fully searchable gallery of the great caricaturist's work since its first issue hit the stands back in 1963 - almost 2,000 cartoons in all. It's fascinating to trace the sequence and evolution of Levine's drawings through the years of particular figures: Nabokov and Beckett, for instance.
comment posted at 1:29 PM on May-29-03

The Unforgettable Gertrude Stein: A charming miscellany of first encounters with the fascinating writer and personality, compiled by Dana Cook. [From The New Yorker's excellent web guide to Gertrude Stein .]
comment posted at 2:11 PM on May-28-03

BodyBurden: the pollution in people. "Researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 91 industrial compounds, pollutants, and other chemicals in the blood and urine of nine volunteers, with a total of 167 chemicals found in the group. Like most of us, the people tested do not work with chemicals on the job and do not live near an industrial facility. Scientists refer to this contamination as a person’s body burden. Of the 167 chemicals found, 76 cause cancer in humans or animals, 94 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 79 cause birth defects or abnormal development. The dangers of exposure to these chemicals in combination has never been studied." This was also the subject of a PBS program by Bill Moyers, Trade Secrets. Moyers himself was found to have 84 chemicals in his blood and urine. [Via This Modern World.]
comment posted at 7:33 AM on May-27-03

"It's not often that a painting you can stick in your briefcase sells for $200,000." A recently discovered long-lost Tom Thomson painting was sold at auction for far more than it was estimated to fetch. Sure, the price tag pales in comparison to the most expensive painting ever, but it's nothing to sneeze at. Are these auction prices calculated, or just some random numbers that they pluck out of the air? How should the value of a piece of art be determined?
comment posted at 10:15 AM on May-16-03

America's psychosis
From The Daily Times of Pakistan:
It is hard to explain to the rest of the world what is happening in the American mind right now because the people in the US are being ruled by their mental health system. Their consciences do not operate according to moral standards, or religious beliefs. They do things because of the diagnoses they have received from their psychiatrists.

Americans think that they already know everything there is to know, and the rest of the world wants to destroy them with their own knowledge. So they hide in their houses, in front of the TV sets, taking pills at scheduled times. Their psychiatrists say that they are doing the right thing, and life is so serious, they’d better not ask any questions.
comment posted at 10:32 AM on May-13-03

E3 is this week - This week, geeks, gamers, booth babes, and movie execs gather in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, the premier video gaming industry convention. As the LA Times reports, video gaming is a US$10 billion a year industry, pulling in more money than movie theater box offices. A US$25 billion global industry, video gaming is shaping culture around the world.

Are video games ready to join movies and music as mainstream art forms with game developers reaching celebrity status?
comment posted at 10:23 AM on May-12-03

Is your local library in dire need of books? (link from Jackie) As budgets for books get slashed, libraries around the country are in real trouble. When long time web diarist Pamela Ribon heard about the situation at Oakland library, she took action, by sending them a book, and by publicizing their dilemma on her webpage. 2 weeks and 300 books later, Pamie's readers have done an outstanding job in helping out this library. She has also posted letters she received from the library staff. How is your local library doing in the face of budget cuts?
comment posted at 1:37 PM on May-12-03

BOOM! High resolution pictures of US atomic bomb tests. More photos. Nuclear wallpapers. Some history and movies. Rapatronic (a very fast camera) images (and more, from an old mefi post). For more information about these and other weapons of mass destruction visit the Trinity Atomic Web Site (don't miss the High Energy Weapons Archive hosted there) and the Federation of American Scientists' WMD resources page.
comment posted at 10:29 AM on May-12-03

The 25 greatest comic-book covers of all time, based on impact, readability, uniqueness/subject, and drawing/presentation. And the 12 dumbest. [via xBlog]
comment posted at 12:14 PM on May-9-03

Bookfinder has added an interesting new service: a report on the most requested out of print books, based on searches submitted to them between July and December 2002. Will publishers take note?
comment posted at 2:23 PM on Apr-30-03

A Profile of Adolf Wolfli : "Adolf Wolfli, a Swiss madman, born in 1864, who spent the last thirty-five of his sixty-six years in a psychiatric hospital, is among the greatest of outsider artists. Indeed, he could serve as Exhibit A in a study of the outsider phenomenon: cases of wild, solipsistic genius that challenge the values of formal training and cultural initiation, not to mention sanity, in significant art. ... [His]large, incredibly dense drawings combine religion, sex, language, music, geography, economics, and other aspects of the artist’s fantasy empire, which, for him, was more or less the universe. ... Especially in his earliest surviving pictures -- from 1904 to 1907, after the staff at the Waldau Mental Asylum stopped regarding his work as 'stupid stuff' -- he emerges as, among other things, a master of graphic design with an exceptional talent for tonality."

You can see reproductions of sixteen of his works here. I looked around for more examples of his work online, but found little beyond this diminutive Artcyclopedia entry. (Thanks to Robot Wisdom for the first two links.)
comment posted at 9:24 AM on Apr-30-03
comment posted at 1:51 PM on Apr-30-03

Should the Beatles have released the White Album as a single album? The Beatles producer, George Martin, thought so. Other music critics have come up with their own single-album versions. And now there's an applet where you can make your own version of the abridged White Album.
comment posted at 12:23 PM on Apr-22-03

Battle of the "Gypsy"s. There was Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Bette Midler. There was even the possibility of Barbra Streisand as Madonna's mother. And now comes Bernadette Peters in the Sam Mendes production of the show theater guru Frank Rich called his favorite musical. This surely begs the question: who's the swellest, greatest, world-on-a-platiest Mama Rose ever? And who are your top five desert island Mama Roses? (Note: participation weighs significantly on your sexuality...contribute at your own risk.)
comment posted at 9:37 AM on Apr-22-03

Why Isn't Evelyn Waugh The Most Popular Great Writer On Earth? It's his centenary this year and it's time to ask why such an irrefutably superb prose stylist - after Samuel Beckett, I rate him last century's funniest and most perceptive tragicomic writer, the best since Dr. Johnson - is still not as widely known and loved as his work deserves? Is it because he was so utterly reactionary and misanthropic, as brought out by this adorable BBC interview? After all, other far more reactionary writers, such as Ezra Pound, Fernando Pessoa, Gottfried Benn, Georg Trakl, T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Allan Tate or Philip Larkin are, arguably, more widely read today than Waugh is. Which brings me to my question: are poets forgiven their ideological trespasses far more than is the case with novelists and essayists? Why? Isn't this one of the most unfortunate - and unfair! - consequences of today's outrageously politically correct culture? I fear so. And hate so, too! [A little more on Evelyn Waugh inside... ]
comment posted at 9:10 AM on Apr-21-03