Ars Gratia Artis
Huckleberry auditions for the role of MGM logo cat.
Wes Phillips
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No Kibble In My Bowl?
"No crunchy goodness," grouses Bagheera. "Truly, you are dead to me."
11 Days Left
Just a reminder that there are only 11 days left until <A HREF="http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html">Talk Like a Pirate Day</A>.
Let's Turn It on its Head!
Maps with South on the top. Antipodal revenge?
Don't Necessarily Blame Your Folks
Portly? Could be your genes. Beautiful? You may be a genetic lottery winner. Your personality, though, that's probably 80% your fault.
Oh Snap!
Frederick Crews' <I>Follies of the Wise</I> puts the boot to Freud, creationism, and "peacemaking scientists" who attempt to reconcile science with "improbable claims that are in principle empirically testable."
Christgau's Rock of Ages
What a shock, a hard-hitting <I>Slate</i> article—on Robert Christgau's firing, no less. Jody Rosen's appreciation of Christgau is spot on: When he's good, he's brilliant, but he does have some seemingly inconsistent blind spots.
More Synaesthesia
Did Kandinsky <I>hear</I> his paintings?
Writing Hacks
Scott Berkun has written a nice essay on writing—or more specifically, on overcoming writer's block. He leaves out the one that usually works for me: Work for an editor you don't want to disappoint. Of course, spending the money before you get the check works, too—although apparently not for everyone.
It Would Probably Be Cheaper to Just Staff the Stores
<I>Business Week</I> writes about the increasingly sophisticated measures stores are using to prevent shoplifting. Okay, but when I was in retail and I took inventory control classes, the experts said the most effective anti-shoplifting measure was the phrase, "Can I help you?"