The Best Writers Don't Always Speak

An active interest of mine is the behind-the-scenes of writers and composers. I like learning about their quotidian mannerisms and experiences. Hence, what I read today on the Times did indeed tickle my fancy.
Excellent article by Arthur Krystal!
"...when the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt told a friend, a Parisian doctor, that he wanted to meet a certifiable lunatic, he was invited to the doctor’s home for supper. A few days later, Humboldt found himself placed at the dinner table between two men. One was polite, somewhat reserved, and didn’t go in for small talk. The other, dressed in ill-matched clothes, chattered away on every subject under the sun, gesticulating wildly, while making horrible faces. When the meal was over, Humboldt turned to his host. “I like your lunatic,” he whispered, indicating the talkative man. The host frowned. “But it’s the other one who’s the lunatic. The man you’re pointing to is Monsieur Honoré de Balzac.”

Read it all here.

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What's the Matter with Cultural Studies?

Michael Bérubé's article on The Chronicle asks some good questions about Cultural Studies, the scholars trained in it, and the state of the overall discipline.

A bit says:

"Cultural studies has taught us—or has tried to teach us—that you don't know the meaning of a mass-cultural artifact until you find out what those masses of people actually do with it. The Internet may be dominated by commercial interests, but the liberal/left blogosphere appeared out of nowhere, largely as the result of the "netroots" work of ordinary men and women with nothing more than laptops, modems, and a desire to offer an alternative to cable news. After my talk, someone asked me, "But isn't that really more a question for sociology?" To which I replied, "Well, the questions of sociology shouldn't be considered alien territory for cultural studies." The situation is even bleaker if you ask about cultural studies' impact on psychology, economics, political science, or international relations, because you might as well be asking about the carbon footprint of unicorns."


Read more here.

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New Study on Overconfidence.

Fascinating bit.
"The puzzle about overconfidence is its ubiquity. Many studies have shown that most people have an exaggerated sense of their own capabilities, an illusion of control over events and an invulnerability to risk. Most people, for example, believe they are above average drivers, a statistical impossibility. We are all overconfident in one way or another."

More here.

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Excellent New Podcast on the Politics of Friendship

I highly recommend this new podcast that comes to us from This American Life. Some friendships/relationships cause one to have high blood pressure, say the studies and the premise of this piece.
You know how on reality TV shows contestants say "I'm not here to make friends"? Odd notion, right? Well, there's a new interesting bit/study on this very topic that I'm recommending here.
Also, if you'd like to know more about the social/historical context of the word "frenemy," check this same podcast out. Apparently, the first time the word frenemy appeared was back in the 50's.

If you'd like to pursue all of the above-mentioned topics further, listen to the podcast.

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A Spoof on Madonna, SNL-style

SNL news updates, Madonna's satire, Carter and Steele.
And I don't get Tyler Perry's appeal either.

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Google Scans 2 Million Out-of-Copyright Books

Amazing!

"Two million out-of-copyright books that have been scanned by Google could come back into limited printed form after the search giant signed a deal with On Demand Books, the company that makes the Espresso Book Machine - a custom book printer able to produce a bound one-off 300-page paperback, with a full-colour cover, in about five minutes."
More here.

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Tip of the hat ti MR for the pointer.

Clip of the Week

I enjoyed this all sorts of things. Colbert's in rare form here.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sport Report - U.S. Open & NFL Wheel of Scandal
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

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Fake Merchandize and Cheating?

If you are what you buy and what you buy is fake then are you more likely to cheat than those who only buy authentic goods?

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational addresses it here:



Tip of the hat to MR for the pointer

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The Flaming Lips

I like the Flaming Lips.
I especially like their "Do You Realize?" track from 2002 even though I remember satirizing it a bit when it came out. One kids those one likes, I suppose. "Do You Realize?" was named the official rock song of Oklahoma this year. The FLips are now on their album-promoting tour and if they're coming to your neck of the woods, I recommend the show.
Also, you may listen to their new album Embryonic on colbernation.com which will be available till next Monday.
Watch this rather funny exchange between Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and Stephen Colbert.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Wayne Coyne
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

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Talent Worth More Than, say, a Paragraph?

This morning as I was going through my routine of news-reading, email-checking, and news commentary-hearing/listening via MSNBC's Morning Joe, I was pleased to hear the music of Postal Service play as the show went into commercial. "Cool," I thought. Morning Joe aired from Seattle today and I thought it apropos that it pay some lip service to Seattle talent. When the show resumed, Joe Scarborough mentioned Death Cab for Cutie as well as the other equally impressive Ben Gibbard band, Postal Service which made sense since they were in Seattle.

I don't really get my news from cable shows as I'd rather read it myself first thing in the morning but if I could privilege a political commentary show at all, I'd go with Morning Joe since they manage to fuse political, social, and pop culture references without much effort and the hosts don't produce too many artificial laughters/chuckles which would eventually result in a rather successful suppression of my desire for high-protein breakfast. It doesn't feel like they're placing products as much as it feels like a tip of the hat to place-specific talent. So, Joe, here's a tip of my hat.

If I truly believe in a product or piece of art, I make it a point to give it as much textual space as I can. I'm going to mention Muse again as they just released their last album. As I've already mentioned, their fifth studio album, The Resistance, is beyond good. It's all-sorts-of-things ahead of so many other acts that get so much attention. I did a search on the NY Times today to see if they had reviewed it as well. I figured, if the Times reviews such absurdities as Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City....

The Times does mention Muse's new album even though it was a mere paragraph and comparing it to the other paragraphs reserved for such artists as Nelly Furtado and New Boyz, it looked like it was put on a rather unnecessary diet. Is it really that hard to talk about talent these days? Here's the paragraph:

"MUSE This neo-progressive British band gets better whenever it expands its ambitions, and for its fifth album, “The Resistance,” it is going all out: bombastic rock symphonics, dystopian electronic boogies, Chopin quotations, visions of pan-Eurasian political unification."

You can read the other paragraphs featured in the same piece here.

Solid paragraph, Times, it's just that if you're now employing economy of speech why not reserve it for reality TV reviews? Just an idea.

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