Yesterday's New York Times had a review of Robert Wyatt's new Comicopera by Ben Ratliff that observed that it included "Brian Eno doing whatever it is that Brian Eno does." That sums up Squelchy's role about as well as it can be done.
Louis Armstrong's last LP was contemporary country music, He was asked if he was making a statement by recording what was then considered white, working class music. Silly question—Armstrong recorded with Jimmie Rodgers, after all.
Yes, all of us chattering classes spent the weekend, um, chattering about Radiohead's shocker, but this article in The Telegraph may be the best I've seen. Its yearly sales breakdown and record company revenues charts provide some historical context.
My admiration or Terry Pratchett is no secret, but to the uninitiated, an ouvre approaching 50 books must seem intimidating—not to mention indicative of a less-than-stellar consistency.
Make mine music: "Music training, with its pervasive effects on the nervous system's ability to process sight and sound, may be more important for enhancing verbal communication skills than learning phonics."
It's time for a new round of "Shakespeare debunking," arguing that the son of an illiterate laborer could never have written works so full of science, history, legal shenanigans, and aristocratic mores—that it must have been a cabal, one that included at least a few nobles.
I'm a sucker for blimps, so I dream of a day when our skies are filled by them. Air & Space looks at the technological challenges and possibilities of that eventuality.
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy gives us a fascinating overview of Islam's long and variable engagement with science. "The question I want to pose—perhaps as much to myself as to anyone else—is this: With well over a billion Muslims and extensive material resources, why is the Islamic world disengaged from science and the process of creating new knowledge?"