Monday, June 01, 2009
And that's what marriage is!
From American Dad: "You laugh at his stupid jokes, he tells you your bad dinner tastes good. That's what marriage is!".
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Evil tearjerker
From "American Dad's" TearJerker episode:
The evil tearjerker, after having failed in his first attempt, lays out his diabolical dreams for the next attempt:
"When I build my next lair, I'm going to do a lot of things differently. More quick sand, more death beams and a bench in the shower, 'coz sometimes I like to sit down".
Sigh... so many things about Family Guy and American Dad are priceless. Some of the most crisp comedic writing since Simpsons!
Monday, October 13, 2008
On social conversation
I found this chance comment by George Soros very interesting: a whole society may be contemplating something profoundly irrational - and you don't realize the absurdity of it all until you step out and question the basic premise!
From an interview on PBS with Bill Moyers:
GEORGE SOROS:Well sometimes we get carried away. I mean, you know, let's say in the Middle Ages, people were religious. And so they had tremendous discussions about how many angels can dance on the eye of a needle. Now, if you believe that angels can dance then that's a legitimate question. And this is exactly what has happened here. You thought that you could slice and dice and engage in this kind of financial engineering. And it became very, very sophisticated and got carried away.
From an interview on PBS with Bill Moyers:
GEORGE SOROS:Well sometimes we get carried away. I mean, you know, let's say in the Middle Ages, people were religious. And so they had tremendous discussions about how many angels can dance on the eye of a needle. Now, if you believe that angels can dance then that's a legitimate question. And this is exactly what has happened here. You thought that you could slice and dice and engage in this kind of financial engineering. And it became very, very sophisticated and got carried away.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Marfan syndrome (and a touching comment!)
Kids often say the most innocent, touching things.
From NPR story on new drug for Marfan syndrome:
(Note: The kid mentioned in the passage here, Blake Althaus, is 5.5 years old).
"After a few years of taking Losartan, Blake is doing well. He runs with the other kids, though not quite as fast. His mom says that one morning he asked if maybe new shoes would help him go faster.
From NPR story on new drug for Marfan syndrome:
(Note: The kid mentioned in the passage here, Blake Althaus, is 5.5 years old).
"After a few years of taking Losartan, Blake is doing well. He runs with the other kids, though not quite as fast. His mom says that one morning he asked if maybe new shoes would help him go faster.
"I ended up crying that whole afternoon while he was at school," Anita says. It was hard, she says, watching him realize he was a little different.
Then when she picked him up from school, she recalls, "he said 'Mom can you take me shopping so I can get new tennis shoes so I can run fast? I'm always the slowest guy.'" Anita told him that Marfan syndrome made his ankles a little loose, so running would be hard. But she also told him he was the best fisherman she had met in her entire life. "I am?" he asked, his face lighting up."
Sunday, October 21, 2007
On Crisis vs Catastrophe
From NYT article on "The Future is Drying UP"
“A crisis is an interesting thing,” he said. In his view, a crisis is a point in a story, a moment in a narrative, that presents an opportunity for characters to think their way through a problem. A catastrophe, on the other hand, is something different: it is one of several possible outcomes that follow from a crisis. “We’re at the point of crisis on the Colorado,” Pulwarty concluded. “And it’s at this point that we decide, O.K., which way are we going to go?”
“A crisis is an interesting thing,” he said. In his view, a crisis is a point in a story, a moment in a narrative, that presents an opportunity for characters to think their way through a problem. A catastrophe, on the other hand, is something different: it is one of several possible outcomes that follow from a crisis. “We’re at the point of crisis on the Colorado,” Pulwarty concluded. “And it’s at this point that we decide, O.K., which way are we going to go?”
Monday, July 16, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Dogs...
From an opinion piece in NYT from Arthur Phillips: A new, utterly beautiful phrase:
"She, equally inspired to leap over danger’s cute and furry head, thought the notion not unfeasible."
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/opinion/10phillips.html)
Quote:
But one memory above all gives that summer its place in my life story, and Edgar sits obediently at its center.
My girlfriend and I read in one of our many training books that dogs are happiest when playing games similar to the tasks they were bred for. Shepherds should herd; retrievers retrieve; hounds track. Dog-obsessed, we committed ourselves to this, lest the little fellow’s development be stunted by shabby parenting. Beagles are purported to be rabbit hunters, so we set to work providing our friend with a chance to self-actualize by honing his lagomorphocidal instincts.
In the rippling heat of a Boston July, we took Edgar to a green suburban meadow. He sat dutifully as we dragged a small canvas cylinder drenched in “rabbit scent” through the tall grass, making an aromatic path, then leaving the toy and a dog biscuit hidden at the trail’s end.
“Ready, boy? Get that rabbit!” I urged the stationary beagle, a small Ferdinand the Bull. “Kill the wabbit!”
I tapped his rear, and, as if I could almost hear him say, “I would prefer not to,” he stood up, put his nose to the ground, and walked off, in precisely the opposite direction of the imaginary bunny’s escape.
Edgar sat down again, some 20 feet away, where, I swear, an actual rabbit — aroused to lunacy by the field steaming with eau de lapin — leapt directly over him.
The beauty and strangeness of the sight — reckless prey taunting sleepy predator — led me to the most reckless moment of my life, and I suggested to my girlfriend that she might consider marrying me. She, equally inspired to leap over danger’s cute and furry head, thought the notion not unfeasible.
"She, equally inspired to leap over danger’s cute and furry head, thought the notion not unfeasible."
(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/opinion/10phillips.html)
Quote:
But one memory above all gives that summer its place in my life story, and Edgar sits obediently at its center.
My girlfriend and I read in one of our many training books that dogs are happiest when playing games similar to the tasks they were bred for. Shepherds should herd; retrievers retrieve; hounds track. Dog-obsessed, we committed ourselves to this, lest the little fellow’s development be stunted by shabby parenting. Beagles are purported to be rabbit hunters, so we set to work providing our friend with a chance to self-actualize by honing his lagomorphocidal instincts.
In the rippling heat of a Boston July, we took Edgar to a green suburban meadow. He sat dutifully as we dragged a small canvas cylinder drenched in “rabbit scent” through the tall grass, making an aromatic path, then leaving the toy and a dog biscuit hidden at the trail’s end.
“Ready, boy? Get that rabbit!” I urged the stationary beagle, a small Ferdinand the Bull. “Kill the wabbit!”
I tapped his rear, and, as if I could almost hear him say, “I would prefer not to,” he stood up, put his nose to the ground, and walked off, in precisely the opposite direction of the imaginary bunny’s escape.
Edgar sat down again, some 20 feet away, where, I swear, an actual rabbit — aroused to lunacy by the field steaming with eau de lapin — leapt directly over him.
The beauty and strangeness of the sight — reckless prey taunting sleepy predator — led me to the most reckless moment of my life, and I suggested to my girlfriend that she might consider marrying me. She, equally inspired to leap over danger’s cute and furry head, thought the notion not unfeasible.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Grin when you see cute
From NYT:
"Even as they say a cute tooth has rational roots, scientists admit they are just beginning to map its subtleties and source. New studies suggest that cute images stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain aroused by sex, a good meal or psychoactive drugs like cocaine, which could explain why everybody in the panda house wore a big grin."
"Even as they say a cute tooth has rational roots, scientists admit they are just beginning to map its subtleties and source. New studies suggest that cute images stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain aroused by sex, a good meal or psychoactive drugs like cocaine, which could explain why everybody in the panda house wore a big grin."
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Harold Pinter, on literary creation
From the nobel prize acceptance speech of Harold Pinter:
"Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me."
"So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time."
"Most of the plays are engendered by a line, a word or an image. The given word is often shortly followed by the image. I shall give two examples of two lines which came right out of the blue into my head, followed by an image, followed by me."
"So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time."
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
More from Christo
Eye-level:
You describe the actual installation of your projects as the “hardware” part of your work, the preparation being the “software.” The “hardware” part of your work is very ephemeral. How does the relatively brief duration of your work, from the time it is installeduntil it is removed, affect its impact?
Jeanne-Claude:
It greatly affects the impact because the temporary character of our works, our large scale works, is an aesthetic decision on our part. Throughout the millenniums, for 5000 years, artists of the past have tried to input into their works of art a variety of different qualities. They have used different materials, marble, stone, bronze, wood, paint. They have created abstract images, figurative images, religious images, profane. They have tried to do bigger, smaller, a lot of different qualities. But there is one quality they have never used, and that is the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for what does not last. For instance, we have love and tenderness for childhood because we know it will not last. We have love and tenderness for our own life because we know it will not last. That quality of love and tenderness, we wish to donate it, endow our work with it as an additional aesthetic quality. The fact that the work does not remain creates an urgency to see it. For instance, if someone were to tell you, “Oh, look on the right, there is a rainbow.” You will never answer, “I will look at it tomorrow.”
You describe the actual installation of your projects as the “hardware” part of your work, the preparation being the “software.” The “hardware” part of your work is very ephemeral. How does the relatively brief duration of your work, from the time it is installeduntil it is removed, affect its impact?
Jeanne-Claude:
It greatly affects the impact because the temporary character of our works, our large scale works, is an aesthetic decision on our part. Throughout the millenniums, for 5000 years, artists of the past have tried to input into their works of art a variety of different qualities. They have used different materials, marble, stone, bronze, wood, paint. They have created abstract images, figurative images, religious images, profane. They have tried to do bigger, smaller, a lot of different qualities. But there is one quality they have never used, and that is the quality of love and tenderness that we human beings have for what does not last. For instance, we have love and tenderness for childhood because we know it will not last. We have love and tenderness for our own life because we know it will not last. That quality of love and tenderness, we wish to donate it, endow our work with it as an additional aesthetic quality. The fact that the work does not remain creates an urgency to see it. For instance, if someone were to tell you, “Oh, look on the right, there is a rainbow.” You will never answer, “I will look at it tomorrow.”
Christo on work of art
Interviewer:
What do you want to provoke in people who view your work?
Jeanne-Claude:
You see, what is it that we do? We want to create works of art of joy and beauty, which we will build because we believe it will be beautiful. The only way to see it is to build it. Like every artist, every true artist, we create them for us.
Christo:
Every true artist does the same. We create those works for ourselves and our friends, and if the public enjoys it, that is only a bonus but that is not created for the public.
From interview of Christo and Jeanne-Claude
What do you want to provoke in people who view your work?
Jeanne-Claude:
You see, what is it that we do? We want to create works of art of joy and beauty, which we will build because we believe it will be beautiful. The only way to see it is to build it. Like every artist, every true artist, we create them for us.
Christo:
Every true artist does the same. We create those works for ourselves and our friends, and if the public enjoys it, that is only a bonus but that is not created for the public.
From interview of Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Worth not repeating
Here is one ignoble award (for "scientific achievements" that "should
not be repeated").
MEDICINE, 1994
This prize is awarded in two parts. First, to Patient X, formerly
of the US Marine Corps, valiant victim of a venomous bite from his
pet rattlesnake, for his determined use of electroshock therapy --
at his own insistence, automobile sparkplug wires were attached to
his lip, and the car engine revved to 3000 rpm for five minutes.
Second, to Dr. Richard C. Dart of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center
and Dr. Richard A. Gustafson of The University of Arizona Health
Sciences Center, for their well-grounded medical report: "Failure
of Electric Shock Treatment for Rattlesnake Envenomation."
[Published in "Annals of Emergency Medicine," vol. 20, no. 6, June
1991, pp. 659-61.]
not be repeated").
MEDICINE, 1994
This prize is awarded in two parts. First, to Patient X, formerly
of the US Marine Corps, valiant victim of a venomous bite from his
pet rattlesnake, for his determined use of electroshock therapy --
at his own insistence, automobile sparkplug wires were attached to
his lip, and the car engine revved to 3000 rpm for five minutes.
Second, to Dr. Richard C. Dart of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center
and Dr. Richard A. Gustafson of The University of Arizona Health
Sciences Center, for their well-grounded medical report: "Failure
of Electric Shock Treatment for Rattlesnake Envenomation."
[Published in "Annals of Emergency Medicine," vol. 20, no. 6, June
1991, pp. 659-61.]
Funny runners
(From an email, don't know the original source):
The best of the best
(Incident described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird)
"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Glocuestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, They used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing and equally inept runner; "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!". Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of YES, NO, eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and inform the bloody scorers!".
The best of the best
(Incident described in "From the Pavilion End" by Harold "Dickie" Bird)
"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Glocuestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, They used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing and equally inept runner; "When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!". Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of YES, NO, eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you buggers is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and inform the bloody scorers!".
Apples and oranges
First, the statement that something is like comparing apples and oranges is a kind of analogy itself
Friday, May 21, 2004
The NYT interview
(From the interview of Hanif Kureishi in NYT)
It's rare to find sex in the movies actually sexy. Do you find it compelling?
When I was a young man, there was no sex in movies. You had to see ''Last Tango in Paris'' to see sex, and it was thrilling and confusing and psychological. Now, of course, there's too much sex. What I'm interested in is minds. With sex, you are vulnerable and crazed and disrupted. That is interesting, and you can't get that in porno films. And it's always wonderful to see people kissing. A kiss remains intimate in the movies.
It's rare to find sex in the movies actually sexy. Do you find it compelling?
When I was a young man, there was no sex in movies. You had to see ''Last Tango in Paris'' to see sex, and it was thrilling and confusing and psychological. Now, of course, there's too much sex. What I'm interested in is minds. With sex, you are vulnerable and crazed and disrupted. That is interesting, and you can't get that in porno films. And it's always wonderful to see people kissing. A kiss remains intimate in the movies.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
My first blog post, ever!
It seems like a big step somehow. Its like I'm naked and everyone is watching me!
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