Whose Memories Are These?
On the eve of the release of a new DVD edition of Empire of the Sun, J.G. Ballard muses on how strange it can be when Hollywood options your life—or something like it.
Wes Phillips
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Record Labels Threw Away Valuable Content
This almost 10-year-old Billboard article is still timely. The next time a record label whinges about how the major labels are important cultural institutions preserving our musical patrimony, I'm going to email him this. Grrrr.
Graham Greene's Real Spy
Lovely essay on Greene's friendship with a genuine Foreign Office undercover agent. Peter Edmund James Leslie was an ex-Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism, owned shares in a diamond mine, worked as an arms salesman, and served as a Vice-Consul—in others words, he was the very template of a Graham Greene protagonist.
Wasn't This How Stargate Began?
German scholars think they have deciphered the 3600 year-old sky disc of Nebra. I'll believe almost anything, so long as James Spader doesn't smack himself in the forehead and say, "I just remembered—I do speak ancient Egyptian!"
Bagheera Smolders
"Worship me, unworthy wretch!"
15 lb. Cat in a 10 lb. Box
"These things used to be roomier," Huckleberry grouses.
Michael Chabon And The Clock of the Long Now
Need I say more? I think not.
The Jazz Discography Project
This is what the Internets was made for.
Did the Black Death Trigger a Little Ice Age?
I don't know that I completely buy this premise, but the concept that the earth and humanity create a complex interaction feels right. I think that more examples will be necessary to completely convince me (and others). Now that the idea has been broached, I'm sure scientists will be looking for that data.
And You Thought the Audio Glossary Was Strange
Meet the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. Example: Being stung by a Bullhorn acacia ant is "a rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek."