video of chain gun in action (training film?)

http://www.wimp.com/chaingun/

(The soundtrack is a little predictable...)

the cutting edge of cellphones

http://www.davesdaily.com/out.php?id=3610&url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7242_1256777,00180021.htm

nuclear blast pics

http://www.batguano.com/nuclear/nucgallery.html

Images, statistics, etc.

Happy Birthday Alice Brock!

http://www.arlo.net/

Well, I've never met Ms. Brock, and I've never eaten at her restaurant. But every Thanksgiving morning I put Arlo Guthrie's song to her on the stereo while Linda prepares that afternoon's feast. It just wouldn't be the same without it. The song (and film) helped Arlo get around the considerable shadow of his father and hopefully it helped Alice sell a few more meals. At any rate, Happy Birthday Alice - watch where you throw your trash...

Razzie Nominations Are In!

http://www.razzies.com/asp/directory/25thNoms.htm

the beach photo

http://www.wimp.com/damn/

kill the zombies

http://www.wimp.com/zombie/

Hamsters control a MIDI Sequencer

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/eceprojectsland/STUDENTPROJ/2002to2003/lil2/

snow sculptures

http://www.themoens.com/Photos/Events/snowSculpture/y2005/main.htm

Amazing stuff!

Wisconsin - The Dairy State

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=2&u=/ap/20050226/ap_on_fe_st/animal_sex

be careful what you ask for...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/26/nyregion/26video.html?ex=1110171600&en=b584545e1f8d9e5a&ei=5070

the short vacation

http://www.moronland.com/video.php?media=Short%20Vacation&cd=1

Satan & the Shoe Store

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/shoesouls.html

Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream...

http://www.tekhna3d.com/demos/kaleido.html

Real Life VS The Internet

http://gprime.net/video.php/reallifevsinternet


BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Seeing Is Not Believing

http://www.zeronews-fr.com/flash/total-immersion.php

The technology is getting quite impressive...

Edward Patten RIP

From Dead End:

Edward Patten, part of the Grammy-winning Gladys Knight &
The Pips, passed away this morning in Detroit. Patten had
suffered a stroke a few days before. He was 66. The group -
comprised of Knight; her brother, Merald "Bubba" Knight; and
their cousins Guest and Patten - recorded for Motown from
1966-1973 and for Buddah Records from 1973-77. They recorded
for CBS until parting ways in 1989. The group, whose hits
included "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "If I Were Your
Woman" and "Midnight Train To Georgia," won four Grammys and
was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Patten was a founder of Crew Records, and was a backup singer
for the label's recording artists.

Happy Birthday Thurston Howell III !

Everyone's fave billionaire, Jim Backus!

http://www.triviatribute.com/jimbackus.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000822/

Occasionally, Backus would end up on the old Merv Griffin show, and was always fun to hear him tell stories there. He was a great raconteur and comedic actor, (he also played James Dean's father in Rebel Without A Cause - not too shabby...).

road kill candy!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=816&e=1&u=/ap/20050225/ap_on_re_us/road_kill_candy

All Things Must Pass...

George Harrison would have been 62 today.

the long nap

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7019473/

Muons

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050223_muon_scanners.html

This sounds fascianting and it'll be interesting to see if the supporting technology can be improved upon. I'd love to see this applied to the Cheops Pyramid and the Sphinx.

Xombie Movie!

http://www.xombie.ca/

Xombie has been an ongoing web-based animation film, and it now looks like it's going to evolve into a theatre release. I've enjoyed it so far and look forward to the flick! More info is available at: http://www.xombified.com/

the space hotel

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,20967,1027551,00.html

Nebraska keeps the home fires burning

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/02/23/local/doc421bba12075d1161263927.txt

The never ending lip synch

http://www.wimp.com/lipsyncs/

Let's see, we now have a classroom of kids lip synching to the dude lip synching to the dude lip synching the song. Clearly, this is only the beginning of a process that will lead to the absorption and destruction of Western Culture.

Save the car seat, spoil the child

http://www.wimp.com/brats/

Kiss Caroline

http://www.wimp.com/caroline/

(an oldie but a goody)

type those web addresses correctly....

http://www.wimp.com/tech/

She Blinded Me With Science!

http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/ymboa/ymboa.html

A very weird collection of Victorian era "science" experiments including all sorts of dangerous and necromic uses of electricity. THEY tossed me out of the academy for practices such as this. But I'll show them! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Wrath Of God - a plug

http://www.thewrath.com

Many of you have visited Blau Manor, and you know that salsa and chips is a staple here. And our fave salsa comes from Religious Experience Foods of Grand Junction Colorado, (God's Country). Linda and I have even had the pleasure of visiting the bunker on the banks of the Colorado River where the stuff is brewed up in vats by ancient and occult means. The company makes four brands of salsa, (the top of the line "Wrath Of God" is the best), as well as habanero and enchilada sauces. This is wonderful stuff, I hope you'll give 'em a try.

Dr. Strangelove Syndrome!

http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=130225

sad news about Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul &...)

She's apparently dying of leukemia.

for Phil Ochs fans

http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~lapis/covers.html

This is a site that lists most (if not all) the cover versions of Ochs' songs. Pretty impressive.

the infamous rhino-chicken!

http://www.nst.com.my/Gallery/200501073.JPG/view

Harbinger of Halloween - The FrankenSnowman!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/halloween_alley1031/my_photos

neat info on the new Carter submarine

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001397.html

GI's to be issued Dr. Seuss Hats & Attend Raves

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001398.html

Great Moments In Science

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/02/21/drunkremedy.shtml

Fido, Just Say No

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12300929-13762,00.html

Your Own Zen Garden!

http://www.cea2.mdx.ac.uk/lceaSite/gallery/zengarden/index.htm

pictures of walls

http://www.picturesofwalls.com/

some nice pics of graffiti

Bad Koko! Bad!

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=qw1108800902636B241&set_id=1&click_id=29&csect=A%20Step%20Beyond

Obviously, we DID evolve from apes....

when ninnys rule

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/02172005_ent_loonatics.html

How spiritually impoverished the corporate drones at Time/Life/WarnerBrothers/AOL/etc. must be. And how unfortunate for the rest of us that they have the money and power to demonstrate their weeniness in the mass media.

interesting article about Israeli/Palestinian tunnel wars

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001391.html

Be All That You Can Be - Join The Toad Patrol!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4274837.stm

Columbus revisited

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4281269.stm

perhaps they can reintroduce syphilis and small pox to the New World

RIP Hunter Thompson

I can't believe he's gone. Thompson was one of my favorite writers. His book on the '72 Presidential campaign is, underneath the gonzo writing style, a classic on American politics. He was a hater of hypocrisy, ignorance and thuggery. I miss him already. He once wrote:
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow! What a Ride!'"

Thanks for the lift, Hunter.

Factoid from Gullible.info

Operators for Disneyland's "It's a Small World" ride have a higher suicide rate than any other profession.

do you have problems with squirrels?

http://www.moronland.com/video.php?media=Flying%20Squirrels&cd=1

urban photos

http://dsankt.com/photos.php

Some neat photos posted here.

Flea Circus!

http://www.fabuland.de/fleacircus/

The Lampoon takes on Superman

http://www.nationallampoon.com/supermanisadick/

Alert Igor! (that's pronounced I-Gor...)

http://nybb.hs.columbia.edu/pathologist.htm

my Christmas gift list...

http://www.eccentricgenius.ca/frameset.htm

This stuff is SOOOOO Cool!

robot news

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050217_robot_walking.html

Mythos Books - a plug

http://www.mythosbooks.com/

I've been dealing with David Wynn's Mythos Books for years now and find it to be a wonderful source for books on the Cthulhu Mythos, supernatural horror and fantasy. He's just put out a new listing and you can get on an email list for periodic updates.

Bitchin Kitchen show

http://www.parasite.tv/embedvids/embitkit.htm

Art For Art's Sake!

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=7673854&src=eDialog/GetContent§ion=news

Rover Lives! Alert No. 6!

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/technovel_rotundus_050218.html

(Thanks for the link, Nick!)

DON'T PANIC!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/104-6649232-5183916

The trailer to The Hitchhiker's Guide is at this link.

an impressive ad for an Atari game

http://www.how-safe-are-we.com/

Un-fucking-believable - the cutting edge of pet removal

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=422260

I don't even know where to begin on this, and so I won't try.

new Lovecraftian movie

http://www.digitaldesk.it/roadtol/Roadtol.html

Gaming in the Army

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/technology/circuits/17army.html?ex=1109307600&en=13f647d88e1dc295&ei=5070

Martians!

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html

a little article about celebrity wines

http://slate.msn.com/id/2113608/

the search for THE ONE

http://www.googlewhack.com/

the evil alphabet

http://students.washington.edu/skellogg/letters/index.html

This sorta reminds me of Gorey's Gashleycrumb Tinies.

Save Toby!

http://www.savetoby.com/

A brilliantly sadistic and twisted way to extort money!

Yard Haunts

http://www.yardhaunts.com/

Neat stuff! This site lists yard haunts for next Halloween from all over the country!

Chiropractor's mailbox

http://sblom.com/mailbox/mb118.jpg

Mr. Party!

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20708&pt=John%20'Liver-Eating'%20Johnston

I kinda like this guy. I didn't know that eating Crow could be so much fun!

new Springsteen album on the way

www.brucespringsteen.net


It's called Devils & Dust and is due on 4/26. (Thanks for the news, Mathew!).

another article about robots in combat

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/16/technology/16robots.html?ex=1109221200&en=dea58784dfc8c2f8&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

Is this for real?

http://www.nbc4.com/health/4194295/detail.html

Does anyone know if this is true? It seems incredibly bogus to me, sort of on the level of Dungeons & Dragons will lead your children to commit suicide.

Kiwihenge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4264945.stm

The Happy Pill Game

http://www.wimp.com/pill/

neat video of electricity

http://www.wimp.com/electric/

the shuffling penguin game

http://www.unoriginal.co.uk/shufflethepenguin.html

the bathroom attendant

http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/vids/bathroom-attendant.html

neat article on ancient inventions

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=171532005

good article on Elric

http://www.swordandsorcery.org/elric-saga.asp

For all serious fans of Sword & Sorcery literature, this is a very nice evaluation and synopsis of Moorcock's Elric saga.

B5 meets Star Trek?????

http://trekweb.com/articles/2005/02/15/421215b6445e5.shtml

neat trivia site

http://www.gullible.info/

Happy Birthday In Hell!!!

http://www.mich.com/~drhanna/Life_in_Hell.htm

Matt Groening will always be known as the genius behind The Simpson and Futurama. But before that, he was the genius behind one of my fave comic strips: Life In Hell. I got to meet him once, and he was a true gentleman, personalizing his books for Linda with drawings of Binky.

an old college urban legend now used in a commercial

http://www.wimp.com/meanprofessor/

(I remember hearing about this when I was in school...)

a very weird newscast

http://alldumb.com/link.php?id=13351

check out the dude in the background...

offhand, I'd say it's a good advertising idea...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1469&item=5556564346&rd=1

The Gnome Garden That Kills Divers...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cumbria/4263761.stm

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=180623

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005071198,00.html

All of this silly talk of "accidents" clearly is meant to hide the truth about terrifying underwater cannibal gnomes. This is just the beginning....

IM Weirdness

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50423&item=5751320096&rd=1

Mr. Blobby!

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/about/fieldwork/norfanz/psychrol2.htm

Alert Ilya!!!

Fans campaign to stop The Man from U.N.C.L.E. feature film.

According to a report in The Times, fans of the Sixties spy series are
trying to halt production of the film, fearing that it will be
completely unrecognisable from the original.

Their concerns were prompted after an interview with the director
linked to the project, Matthew Vaughan, was printed in Variety. In it he
claimed, "The name is the only thing that's staying".

"I've always wanted to make a spy movie, and our idea is like nothing
you've ever seen before," he added. "The studio is giving us a lot of
freedom to break the rules."

The comment has prompted over 3,000 fans to ask underlying copyright
owner Lindsay Dunlop to insist Vaughan be dropped.

Dunlop has promised to watch developments with interest. "The producer,
Norman Felton, gave all the underlying rights to me. We need to pay
proper homage."

Thanks to BBC Online.

Let's Do The Timewarp Again (Like We Did Last Summer...)

Rocky Horror is back in Northern Virginia on Saturday nights. Don't Dream It, Be IT!

http://rocky.pigswithfur.com/

http://www.towson.edu/~jbaker/slct/

college courses

http://students.washington.edu/enema/articles/emfbo/courses.htm

BEWARE THE INVADERS FROM ZOGG!!!

http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/zogg/zogg1.html

It may be too late...

Love At Second Bite

http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/article/11020502.php

Happy Birthday Bobby "Boris" Pickett!!!

Composer & Performer of the National Anthem of Halloween - The Monster Mash!!!

robot warfare article

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050207/full/050207-7.html

spelling is important

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050210/ap_on_fe_st/bank_robber_arrested&e=5

an interesting article about the Melungeons

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13931579&BRD=1613&PAG=461&dept_id=159368&rfi=6

return to sender...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4254265.stm

Revenge of the Sci-Fi Authors

http://journals.aol.com/johnmscalzi/bytheway/entries/3500

Urban Legends video

http://www.wimp.com/urban/

the Bud commercial

http://www.wimp.com/jumping/

Paintball Atrocity

http://www.getoffmynuts.com/index.php?p=view&id=24&t=1

Hubba Hubba!!!

http://modifiedliving.com/Amish/erotica.htm

I'm going to Hell...

Monty Python's Black Knight Plush for sale

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TYVMP009

Ventriloquist Museum

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/KYFTMventhaven.html

Very strange...

Oh show us the way to the next birthday cake...

http://www.dulwich.org.uk/drama/resources/BERTHOLT%20BRECHT.htm

Happy Birthday Bertholt Brecht!

Happy Birthday Lon Chaney, Jr.!

http://www.lonchaney.com/

Lord knows he was in a lot of bad movies. But he will always be THE Wolfman.

Garden Tricks

http://www.mrandmrswheatley.co.uk/gardentricks.html

get the world's longest alphabetical email address...

http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com/

a mapping out of soft drink names

http://www.popvssoda.com/countystats/total-county.html

Someone has a LOT of time on their hands...

I majored in Springsteen

With a minor in Southside Johnny...


http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050208/ENT/502080350/1031/LIFE

The World Turned Upside Down

It was on this date in 1964 that the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. I happened to miss the performance that night. I was happily watching what was to be my favorite Disney flick - The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, starring Patrick McGoohan, (a choice I've not regretted - it really is a cool movie!). All I know is that the next day in school there was only one topic of conversation - those Lads. The girls in particular were in deep debate as to which one of them was cuter, while the guys tried to figure out where to get those neat boots. Within days we seemed inundated with Beatles paraphernalia - notebooks, collectors cards, etc. And for the next ten years there would be arguments between boys and their parents on going to the barbershop, (I still bare the emotional scars of having too short a haircut and not being allowed to purchase a nehru jacket...). Those of you who were around know it was much more exciting and profound a change than I can describe.
I was watching the DVD of that show and the Beatles first trip to America ((Thanks for the DVD Pete!)), and would recommend it to anyone else. It does help to convey the cultural tectonics going on. The whole thing is shot in black and white - but the Beatles almost seem to be in color while everyone around them are in shades of gray. They're exhuberant and young and witty and vibrant. The reporters, cameramen and flaks surrounding them are all old dour looking men that look like refugees from a politburo meeting (weren't there any media types under the age of 45 back then?). A kid couldn't help but be excited by that band - how dull and lifeless everything and everyone else looked compared to them and their music. Sullivan's staff helped too, in a rather subtle way. Look at the stage setup for their performance. It may be the single best presentation of an act in the history of pop. A series of large arrows all pointing towards the band. It was brilliant stagecraft, as if everything pointed towards this one spot and time. THIS was the center of the universe. And indeed, it was.

Happy Birthday Carol King!

http://www.caroleking.com/index2.php

I know I've said it before, but will do so again: if Carol had ONLY written "Up On The Roof", I'd still consider her one of this country's best songwriters. The fact that she's written dozens more great tunes makes her a national treasure. She has influenced and inspired dozens of artists. She mixes sadness, sophistication and tenderness in perfect balance. (Only Barbara Lewis is comparable to her). No higher complement can be paid than the fact that my boy Springsteen tips his hat to her in his signature song, Born To Run; (Listen to the very beginning of the song, when there's a fierce drum attack followed quickly by a wave of horns - then listen to the begining of Little Eva singing "Locomotion").

Frozen Dead Guy Days are only a month away!

http://www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/index.html

the perils of cyber love

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050206/323/fbwhs.html

If you like The Jam (the music group), and hate the London Underground workers...

http://www.backingblair.co.uk/london%5Funderground/

Babies & the 1812 Overture!

http://www.wimp.com/babiesvomit/

The cutting edge of fast food competition

http://www.wimp.com/subway/

Another bit of WWII trivia revealed! (if it's true...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-goering7feb07,0,7916046.story?coll=la-home-headlines

I'm glad this guy's story is out. Of course, he should be shot for treason. Goering's suicide created immense problems between the Americans and the Russians and was a real black eye for us at the time.

The Museum of Bad Album Covers

http://www.zonicweb.net/badalbmcvrs/

There's some wonderful stuff here.

Interesting footnotes to WWII history

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4235463.stm

It solves so many of life's problems!

http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/

Happy Birthday Adam Weishaupt!

Founder of the Bavarian Illuminati, and instigator of a million conspiracy theories.

Happy Birthday Patrick MacNee (aka John Steed)!!!

Linda and I were just watching an episode of the Avengers last night. What a fantastic show! And it didn't even need a plot. Who cares? Just watching Steed and Mrs. Peel interact was all that was needed for an entertaining evening. To my mind, there are three great film couples - Nick and Nora Charles, Bogey and Bacall, and Steed and Mrs. Peel.

http://patrickmacnee.com/

http://theavengers.tv/forever/

World Fantasy Convention in Wisconsin this year

http://www.worldfantasy.org/2005/

upcoming horror convention in Maryland

http://www.horrorfindweekend.com/state/maryland/

upcoming horror convention in Pennsylvania

http://www.creepshow.org/

Happy Birthday John Carradine!

http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/johncarradine.html

Carradine has probably starred in more psychotronic films than anyone else. Let's face it, a lot of 'em weren't all that interesting. But Carradine always was, and he was present in several important movies in the genre (House of Frankenstein, The Night Strangler, The Mummy's Ghost, The Bride of Frankenstein, & The Invisible Man's Revenge), as well as many mainstream films like Stagecoach. He had a great voice and polished style.

Happy Birthday H. R. Giger!

http://www.hrgiger.com/

Master of Techo-Hell Art & Seductive nightmares. The Bosch of our times...

a new collection of Robert Bloch stories!

http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SP&Product_Code=bloch4

Interesting dolphin behavior

http://www.earthtrust.org/delrings.html

a nice source for American folk music

http://www.rediscovermusic.com/index.html

Oolong the Balancing Bunny

http://www.syberpunk.com/cgi-bin/index.pl?page=oolong

Very cute! (Thanks for the link Mathew!)

you should never post your picture on the internet

http://www.jadeit.com.au/jcsworld/war3.html

Stupid Client Quotes

http://www.clientcopia.com/index.php

create your own computer error message!

http://atom.smasher.org/error/

I Love This!!!

http://crapshoot.tv/sd2.html

How to keep track of that idiot.

Feng Shui Underpants

http://www.madghoul.com/ghoul/InsaneRapture/lunacy/unlife/wardoffevilwithfengshuiunderpants.html

Triumph the Insult Dog VS Simon from American Idol

http://www.ryoni.com/news/124/ARTICLE/1199/2005-02-02.html

Osama Toast

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5555050840&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

The Necronomicon string quartet!

MUSIC REVIEW
Atmosphere at Zorn tribute is decidedly cool
By Richard Dyer
[Boston] Globe Staff
February 1, 2005

New York avant-gardist John Zorn sat down for his portrait
Sunday afternoon in the Gardner Museum, but no 90-minute
period of conversation and music could display the many
facets of this protean musical personality who has
documented his work on more than 250 CDs. Composer, jazz
saxophonist, musical game maker, Zorn is a figure whose
interests range from Webern and Varese to Carl Stalling
(composer for Bugs Bunny cartoons), from Stravinsky to
hard-core death metal, and his music reflects that diversity
of interest.

The event, produced in collaboration with the Miller Theatre
at Columbia University, launched a new series designed to
attract a young and hip audience to the museum, and
reportedly did so on Saturday night. The repeat performance
Sunday afternoon played to about one-third capacity -- and
since this was a Zorn event, it wasn't a repeat. Instead of
the piano trio "Amour Fou" from 1999, some of the musicians
wanted to play Zorn's "Walpurgisnacht" for string trio, so
they did.

George Steel from the Miller Theatre hosted the concert and
brought Zorn onstage for a preperformance chat. The composer
appeared in camouflage pants topped by a maroon athletic
jersey over an orange T-shirt. One didn't envy Steel's
efforts to pin Zorn down, and in fact he failed abjectly to
do so. On Saturday night Zorn reportedly delivered a
foul-mouthed rant; on Sunday, chastened, he hardly said
anything beyond mentioning that "Walpurgisnacht" contains
the same number of bars as the string trio by Anton von
Webern and indicating that the last piece on the program,
"Necronomicon," is for string quartet. Steel said Zorn has
produced four previous works in this genre.

Information and basic helpfulness were in short supply both
in the conversation and in the program notes, which devoted
three pages to biographies of the performers, without a word
about the music. So the whole introductory chat gave off an
uncomfortable in-group feel, exactly the opposite of the
welcoming atmosphere it was designed to create; the attitude
seemed to be, "Everyone is here because we are all so cool."

The music on the program was in fact pretty cool, and the
performers were sensational. New England Conservatory
pianist Stephen Drury, producer of many local Zorn events,
played "Le Momo" with a leading New York new-music
violinist, Jennifer Choi; they have recorded this piece and
play it with fiery authority. Liner notes will tell you this
work is "a ritual of exorcism and possession," and you can
read elsewhere that "Le Momo" was the term the French
absurdist playwright and poet Antonin Artaud gave to his
disordered body after repeated shock therapy. At the Gardner
we were on our own.

Choi, violist Richard O'Neill, and cellist Fred Sherry
played "Walpurgisnacht," a depiction of the "Witches'
Sabbath" familiar from the Faust legend and its musical
treatments. The three of them were joined by violinist Jesse
Mills for the string quartet, which deals with a magus,
conjurations, and demonology. All three works demand
high-tension virtuosity and shuttle schizophrenically
between avant-garde, nontonal extravagance and almost
hypnotically tonal sweetness.

The context in which we hear music determines some of our
response. One wondered what the reaction to this music would
have been if it had been composed by a senior composer with
impressive academic credentials, as it easily could have
been (and, after all, Zorn is 51 by now), and if the titles
had been "Chronometry and Chaocity" or "Asynchronicity VI."
But if that had been the case, this audience probably
wouldn't have been there to hear it.

for all you Darth Vader fans

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=JK59082

Found it!

http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,66487,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

the cutting edge of fast food

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6961

RIP Dean Wormer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62220-2005Feb3.html

John Vernon had a great voice and great timing. John Belushi gets a lot of deserved credit for Animal House, but Vernon was just as important, in my opinion. He had to balance Belushi and all these young talented actors (hungry for success), and he did so marvelously. The guy was a pro, and will be missed.

Happy Birthday Emperor Norton I !!!

The only Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico, California Icon, Discordian Saint, and a personal fave of mine! (some biographies place his birthday as 2/4, others as 2/14).

http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/nort.html

http://www.knauer.org/mike/discordia/norton.php

http://www.emperornorton.net/

a mother's love...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4159523/detail.html

the cutting edge of outsourcing

http://www.kirotv.com/irresistible/4141075/detail.html

a new Cthulhu online fanzine - The Dunwich Herald

http://home.comcast.net/~esox99/index.html

Pretty weak, hopefully it'll get better.

new Yellow Sign dice bag from Chaosium

http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=574

goldfish shots

http://www.wftv.com/food/4155685/detail.html

Sign Me Up!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050202/ap_on_re_us/nude_juice_bar_1

You just gotta love a group named Citizens Against Nude Juicebars & Pornography. Many a night have I been unable to sleep, nervously pondering the threat of Nude Juicebars, particularly in that cradle of civilization, Salem, South Dakota. Thank goodness for the C.A.N.J. & P., Can the Pure Prairie League be far behind?

new church products

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=607015

the cutting edge of alcoholism

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3021400

Unbelievable.

Happy Birthday Norman Rockwell!

http://www.nrm.org/

Some of you might be surprised to hear that I really love Rockwell illustrations - well, it's true. Yes, some of them are corny to the point of being physically painful, but I would go so far as to say that an appreciation of Rockwell is essential to understanding mid 20th century America. In some ways his art is parallel with my boy Bruce Springsteen. The romanticization of everyday events is central to both. His art may not illustrate the way my parents' generation WAS, but it certainly illustrates to a great degree how they viewed themselves. More than a couple of his paintings I can readily identify with stories my folks told me of growing up. He also did a few of returning soldiers that I consider to be brilliant. There's one of a soldier who has clearly just returned from war, sitting in the kitchen with his mother quietly peeling potatoes that is almost religious in its affect. I can hear some of you snorting with derision, so I'll stop now, but I really do think this guy conveys the sense of his times so well.

Bye Bye Miss American Pie...

Today is the anniversary of the deaths of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper...


http://www.rareexception.com/Garden/American.php

http://www.buddyholly.com/bh/index.html

http://www.hotshotdigital.com/tribute/RitchieValens.html

http://www.officialbigbopper.com/

The Cutting Edge of Tourism

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3600013

Monty Python's Bunny Explained

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~julie/buns/siberian.html

Lurid refrigerator magnets

http://www.luridfridge.com/

Great stuff!!!

ALWAYS Keep The Safety On...

http://daemlich.net/5088

wooden computers

http://www.anatoliancn.com/

http://www.woodcontour.com/index.php

weirdness from Japan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/2334893.stm

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!

Happy Birthday to Bill Mumy! What a great life that kid had - you've got a cool robot on one side and Angela Cartwright on the other.

Happy Birthday Terry Jones!

http://www.terry-jones.net/


http://www.fortunecity.com/bennyhills/jones/724/

Speling at the Washintun Poste

This statement was on their website this morning:

"Gregg Allman has a premier bluesman's risumi: He lost a brother and band mate to violent death. He's battled addictions and the law. He married Cher."


I like to think that Allman has taken up the obscure and ancient Japanese art of "Risumi". It involves using delicate origami figures to create beautiful paper cuts on one's torso. Hopefully, the Post will feature articles displaying this craft soon.