Newsmap: I'm not going to pretend I can explain it, but it sure looks interesting.
short history of the letter Q -
"During the Old English period, we didn't use Q in English: we wrote, for example, CWICU for 'quick' and CWEN for 'queen' (Old English, like Latin, preferred C for the /k/-sound instead of K). But then the French-speaking Normans conquered England, interrupting the English literary tradition, and, when English once again began to be written after the Conquest, a number of French spelling conventions were introduced, including the business of always writing Q for the /k/-sound when the next letter was U. And we're still stuck with it."
"I wish I could place a chair for you, sister." - Billy the Kid (shackled and chained to the floor) to a visiting nun
gorgeous
Man, I love these linguistics projects; probably would be useful for placing those accents you can never figure out. Unfortunately, the IPA they use is different from the one I learned, but at least it's still mostly comprehensible (phonetics alphabets = fun because you can take them and use them to learn said accents just by reading).
---
Beyond the reach of human range
A drop of hell, a touch of strange...
-Stephen King, The Gunslinger
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They clung to each other, balanced on the edge of the moment of parting, trying to say now, with the pressure of their bodies, everything they might ever want to say to each other. Then they pulled away, and looked at each other through tears.
-George Martin + Lisa Tuttle, Windhaven
Demolition Man is silly, yes. Also very funny - lots of great lines. Sandra Bullock is very hot in an idiotic way. There is the single greatest Schwarzenegger reference, ever, which made me jump up and down in a towel. But there ain't no way that Sylvester Stalone would ever beat Wesley Snipes. Ain't happening.
my interpretation (and a shallow close reading) of Event Horizon, arrived at while explaining the movie to Carolyn while she watched it, over the phone:
The main point is that the doctor who originally designed the ship was in-effect playing God, because he was trying to do something that is generally filed under should-not-be-possible. In accomplishing said act, he made the ship go somewhere it shouldn't have --> connected with him 'playing God' = so they saw God/the incomprhensible, as it were (re: the climax of The Gunslinger; literal translation of "Allahu akbar"). In and of such, through a grand extrapolation of 'humans fear that which they do not understand,' not only does the crew (and subsequent characters in the movie) go loco-in-the-braino, but the inanimate ship is also affected, later making a connection with it's designer to create horror movie fun.
Interestingly, there is also the twisty relationship that the audience has with the movie. Because the story is in effect being narrated by the main characters, they are generally thought to be reliable. But the trick is that as the movie progresses each of them becomes more and more unreliable, which either leads the audience to simply accept their perspectives as the reality of the movie, or try to recognize when they have become unreliable and then read between the lines, as it were, of their hallucinations.
All of that stuff about the nature of how the story is being told also plays into the personification-of-incomprehensibility that the ship has become after encountering it, as the longer the characters interact with it the more they take on its aspect, and thus produce the movie's effectiveness at scaring people.
Well, it's nice to know that totally random people like the Penny Arcade guy have interest in this stuff too. Yay...um...linguistic nerd solidarity?
Whoa! The guy who did Akira is doing a new movie, Steampunk style....teeensy bit of a change in style, but looks somewhat interesting.
In the doctor’s office I hear a piano playing,
and I think of you.
We sit across a candlelit table in a deep blue club,
your eyes a cool hand laid upon my cheek -
our smiles entwined.
We dance through the soft lit shadows,
the piano player smiles and our hips sway gently -
your cheek warm and velvet against mine.
The door opens and the white-coat comes in.
He sits on his plastic metal chair, but won’t look at me.
He looks away anyway, and speaks.
I look away too.
Assent is murmured, and the door closes behind him.
I hear a piano playing, and you hold me in your arms.
Our hips sway gently in the soft lit shadows,
Our eyes closed, your forehead cool and gentle
and laid against mine.
"Let's get married."
"WHAT?"
"We'll go to Boston or Frisco or Toronto or...or Belgium, and get married."
"Is this a proposal, or some kind of post-modern intimacy avoidance strategy?"
"Both. Rather clever of me, you have to admit."
-from Dykes to Watch out For
Despite it being random Japanese flash, I think one could look at this as an interesting take on how aural and written components of language can be connected.
If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are. – Zen saying
+both by Charles de Lint
The best artists know what to leave out. They know how much of the support should show through as the pigment is applied, what details aren’t necessary. They suggest, and let the viewer fill in whatever is needed to make the communication complete. They aren’t afraid to work with a smaller palette, to delete excess verbiage or to place rests on the musical staff, for they know that almost every creative endeavor can be improved with a certain measure of understatement. For isn’t it the silence between notes that often gives music its resonance? What lies between the lines of the poem or story, the dialogue the actor doesn’t speak, the pauses between the dancer’s steps? The spaces can be just as important as what’s distinctly portrayed. – Dream Harder, Dream True
A long time ago a bunch of people reached a general consensus as to what’s real and what’s not and most of us have been going along with it ever since. – Where Desert Spirits Crowd the Night
"Get your traditional Japanese three-stringed guitar-on! Fun for about 30 seconds *(hours if you're stoned)."
“Don’t worry about what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do that. Because what the world needs are people who come alive.” Howard Thurman
(paraphrased/summarized from Scientific American, April 04)
Further into the idea that one's language shapes one's perception of reality, there is the subject of colors. The way different languages name cultures is possibly one of the only areas where there seems to be a relative universality to naming. More industrial cultures often have more names for colors than more primitive colors, but they are generally sorted into very similar patterns. Some languages have only two or three terms - one for black/blue/green and "cool" colors, one for red/yellow and "warm" colors, and one for white or "light" colors. If there is a fourth they often split blue/green from the cool colors. English has eleven terms, which are generally similar, if not identical, to most other languages associated with similar technological levels: black, white, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, pink, orange, purple, and gray. These are the most basic: colors like 'blue-green' or colors associtated with specific things like 'emerald' or 'salmon' are not included.
Interestingly this could be interpreted to say that one can assume that humans generally percieve color in the same fashion, if not at least similarly. Thus, what I say is 'red' is probably also percieved by, say, Bob as 'red,' as opposed to Bob seeing what I say is 'red' as 'violet-magenta.'
Also interestingly as a converse tangent are the way different languages deal with space. Some languages do not have words for subjective directions such as 'left' or 'right,' but only absolute directions such as 'north' and 'west.' Speakers of such would thus say something like, "You have something on your cheek....no, your south cheek."
"Just now as I watched the ever-changing beauty, I saw a cloud pass over the earth on long grey [sic] stilts of rain. And then as I looked I saw its shape and knew that over the pueblo moved the Thunder Bird. With wings outspread he slowly passed, broad tail sweeping the thirsty earth. Down from his breast fell feathers of rain and out from his heart the lightning flashed its message to the people that the gods never forget. Thnuder roared from his long black beak and all earth sounds were hushed. He has gone, leaving only his mark on the land, but I still see his broad wings stretched, and the white rain-feathers dropping from his breast. And any fear, lingering from those childhood days when I, unafraid, was made to fear lightning, has gone. Did it not come from his heart? If it should seek me out or find me wandering in its path, would it not take me back with it? I should not mind going so much if I could look down on beauty like earth's today." - Edith Warner, September 1929
"From my window I can see a storm coming down from the mountains. The white mist spills over the arm of the mountain. I can hear the heavy rain beating across the canyon. Thunder rolls in antiphonal effect from peak to peak. The wind surges down from the mountains, spills into the canyons, wells up with an added strength against the house. The green curtans flatten themselves against the window as if they were hunted things. After all this frenzy of preparation at last only a few silly drops spill onto the roof of the garage. Was the storm only a pretense? No, the mist I thought was thinning has gathered again. It is marching nearer like the gray shadow of an army. A swift flame leaps across it and crashes into thunder. Now the rain wrestles with the wind for mastery in the tree tops. It pours down from the clouds like a river. How strange the trees look, like ghosts caught in a gray curtain. The rain is all between and among them. It is a world of the newly dead groping in a purgatory without color. Humans creep now beneath what little shelter they can, and whisper and touch cold hang to hand till the storm is past. They dare not be caught when the rain gods march." - Peggy Church, August 1929
Spain's sudden change might be a good one for the country as an individual nation, but that's still only a 'might' and definitely isn't good for the global community. It's like when Hitler was appeased before WWII. While they may have obtained relief from Al Qaeda, they are just letting the Basque terrorists that are indiginous know that if they kill enough people they can get what they want. Similarly, Al Qaeda has gotten a boost by setting out to do a mission having its goal fully accomplished; I'm sorry that all those people in Spain died, but I'm also sorry about the response to it.
"Sometimes the light makes each range stand out, casting sharp shadows on the ones behind. Occasionally when the air is very clear, there is a strange and breath-taking shining light on the green aspen leaves. At evening the twilight may run quickly from the valley, shrouding almost at once the highest peaks. Or mauve and rose move slowly upward, turning to blood-red on the snow above. One morning they may be purple cardboard mountains sharpcut against the sky. On another they will have withdrawn into themselves. Sometimes I have watched ghost mountains with substance only in their dark outline. It seems then as if the mountains had gone down into their very roots, leaving an empty frame." - Edith Warner quoted in The House at Otowi Bridge
I think this is really interesting, but it's too bad it isn't bigger, as (like the article points out) they'll probably start arguing over whether it's really a planet. Ah well. Hopefully it being on the orbital plane in some kosher way will shake things up, eh?
Also interesting, the CIA Factbook seems fun to browse through or to save when countries pop up in the news - yay for human geography.
Isaac Asimov.......John Woo style.
Hey, it has the guy from Donnie Darko! Now it's ten times as disturbing!
(from harangue by literary theory prof)
If you want to change the world, you have to know the way the world works. One might ask what the purpose of literary theory is, and some large part of it is to 'lay bare the device' - to understand and make clear what makes literature what it is. As intangible as that sounds, many have put their lives on the line for the theory they had created, and died for it. Why were the Soviets afraid of the Russian Formalist's new theories - why were they all disappeared or executed? Because they were not only able to lay bare the device of literature - with their theory and through the literature they could lay bare the device of culture. Literary theory is the essence of revolution in some ways, as it is one of the few ways of advancing society that does not just serve the established hierarchies of class and society, but is instead constantly battling itself in culture wars against those within its own ranks who would hold it back to progress forward. As more people understand that forwardly progressing theory (on whatever level) or are affected by it the paradigm of a country's unconscious can change. And hopefully the forward progression of that theory can be maintained in the face of those in favor of stagnancy.
So if one's language acts as a medium for the way one percieves reality, does that mean that way back when in cultures of pre-history (ie, cultures that only had words of monosyllables or languages without vowels) did they really look at the world differently? I mean, there's culture-being-different, like Egyptians being entirely centered around death, but were they also different from modern society in other ways that aren't so tangible or easily grasped?
I suppose the actual webcomic portion of this is nigh defunct, but the author still threw up a fun little bit (top of this page) about getting acclimated to the USA after a move from Singapore.
Well, not that the novels were amazing or what, but sadly the Aliens vs Predator movie still looks a bit rough around the edges. Here's some crossed fingers for improvement...
-not to sound pretentious, but....oh...heh, yeah, I suppose it's a bit late for that, neh? anyhoo-
"People living at the seashore grow so accustomed to the murmur of the waves that they never hear it. By the same token, we scarcely ever hear the words which we utter...we look at each other, but we do not see each other anymore. Our perception of the world has withered away, what has remained is mere recognition..." - Viktor Sklovskij (Slovsky)
"An image not on canvas is merely an image, a figure of speech; poetic images are metaphors, tropes, inward forms. Psychologists did poetics a great disservice, when they interpreted inward form as primarily a visual image...a visual image hinders poetic perception...to strain oneself toward the visual perception of Puskin's 'monument built not with human hands' (nerukotvornyj) or of his 'flaming word,' indeed, of any image, any symbol, the forms of which are not visual, but fictitious, is to strain oneself toward the misunderstanding and misperception of poetic speech." - Gustav Spet
"Immortel - (le film, beyotch)".....only the French would have put an end-line like this trailer has
While driving home I was listening to a firmly etheral piano piece by Chopin on the radio, and an odd trick happened with my vision. Oftentimes I'll notice a slope in the road that I had forgotten on Broadway or Speedway, or see stars where I hadn't, but this time was a bit different. For a while I was more conscious of depth; it was as if I was wearing 3-d glasses, but with an extra dimension layered upon what my normal vision is. Instead of seeing the fact that a tree was in front of a street lamp, I was conscious of the distance between them. Altered consciousness, good times.
Okay...revised estimate of The Punisher is that it might kick ass, rather than wince-inspiring.
"Unless we develop flexibility of mind, we cannot grasp what is true for each student in each situation--or, for that matter, for ourselves. However, just as flexibility of the body can go too far, resulting in a loss of control or even injury, the mind can also become so flexible and open that it is unable to discern relevant truth or convey it with conviction. We can find ourselves trapped in a world where everything is relative, all options are valid, and decisions are nearly impossible.
Just as we strive to balance flexibility and strength in the body, so must we strive to balance a flexible mind with the strength to discern. As we learn different truths, we must be able to discern between them and clearly discriminate whether an alleged truth is appropriate for our own practice or for our students. This is strength of mind." - Aadil Palkhivala
"Writing, when properly managed, is but a different name for conversation: As no one, who knows what he is about in good company, would venture to talk at all; - so no author, who understands the just boundaries of decorum and good breeding, would presume to think all: The truest respect which you can pay to the reader's understanding, is to halve this matter amicably, and leave him something to imagine, in his turn, as well as yourself." - Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy
on Southwest weather:
"There were hardships and glories in the weather - sometimes came storms which seemed as wide as a continent, the airy equivalent of the desert reaches in size; and then the riders took shelter beside their horses. Again, there were storms of light itself, breaking through clouds above mountains, and standing rays of gold air against distant blue, and trailing far veils of rain which often never reached the ground but seemed to become part of the very light itself; and infinity, perhaps eternity, had an image." - Paul Horgan, Lamy of Santa Fe
Problem:solution.
Right before my black belt test, Trey did this beautiful takedown where my arm was locked behind my back in a chicken-wing, and I mashed my shoulder tendons over the joint (just like the throw is designed to do, not-ironically). So ever since then it clicks when I roll it a certain way, sometimes painfully.
~cool.....Shihan Linebarger's wife tried popping my neck back into place to line up my shoulder joint, which works for a while, but is only somewhat doable by myself, not to mention dangerous.
~warm......shoulder-specific exercises like shootfighter pushups or cherry-pickers also work for a while, but sometimes just make it worse
~warmer.....stretching with yoga like behind-back-prayer hands or eagle pose also helps for a while, but then it can tighten back up again
*disco! Old 'Shaolin chi kung' exercises in a book Wyatt bought me. They may or may not actually be chi kung, but basically just holding my arms out in positions that hit every deltoid while doing 10-50 deep breaths and flexing in the appropriate rhythm does it. The way it seems to me, it's like yoga wherein you're stretching and taking deep breaths, thus getting oxygenated blood to the point under strain, but instead of going for relaxing and lengthening, it's like you're massaging the muscles from the inside (because they're being flexed instead of stretched). Next test: does it work for hips?
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