tomartin
smile, you're having your privacy invaded part 2
If you would like to email me at my new email address, I can be reached at tom.martin@gmail.com. I should warn you the letter will be scanned by Google for keywords so that I and, I believe, you can be sent ads based on the content of the letter. Our interests will be stored in a database so that a marketing profile about us can be constructed. Isn't that reassuring?
an interesting luther document
This is a transcription of a note written by Luther on his deathbed. I was reminded of it while watching the PBS documentary about him last night. I remembered how moved I was by the humility and beauty of it. "We are beggars", the high praise for Virgil and Cicero - a very touching little document.
"We are beggars: this is true."
questions that must be asked
"When Bob Dylan shows up in a Victoria's Secret commercial, it immediately triggers three questions. The first is: Am I hallucinating? Seriously, I think I'm hallucinating—can you see Bob Dylan, and did you eat the same shrimp I ate? The second is: Why on earth would Bob Dylan do this? And the third, and perhaps most puzzling, is: Why on earth would Victoria's Secret do this?..."
Description of Dylan in the ad:"some sort of death's-head demon, who looks poised to bite into the pretty youth's skull, perhaps to suck on the marrow of her soul and prolong his undead half-life..."
ouch.
writing for the sopranos
Writing for HBO 101:
"Actually, I think it might represent the purest distillation so far of the Sopranos ethos: to relentlessly invert the most sacred principle of TV writing, which is "Do Not Discomfit the Viewer." Making the viewers squirm, as David Chase, Terry's boss, recently suggested, keeps them from going out and buying stuff, which is the point of television..."
kool
This is a slideshow/article about Rem Koolhaus. It has a nice slide and text presentation. The slides are of some other modernist architects. An interesting work shown is a tunnel placed around a train in Chicago that runs directly over - I believe - a library. It's an interesting solution.
yet more leonardo
Go to this site and click on the section on Leonardo Di Vinci. Click on any other section you might want to also. Read Vasari. the notebooks and view the sketches and you're an expert. (well, maybe not.)
"But the greatest of all Andrea's pupils was Lionardo da Vinci, in whom, besides a beauty of person never sufficiently admired and a wonderful grace in all his actions, there was such a power of intellect that whatever he turned his mind to he made himself master of with ease..."
more leonardo
This is the text from his notebooks. Flip through it for a pretty good series of snapshots of his thinking. The best part of the notebooks is the drawings, so you'll have to flip over to the other link (two down) for a more complete picture. And a good essay on Da Vinci is in Vasari's Lives of the Artists.
the difficult question of aesthetics
"One commentator who has delved into the subject is the libertarian writer and speaker Virginia Postrel. In her new book, The Substance of Style, she contemplates the import of the current aesthetic renaissance and pronounces it a cause for celebration. In part, she suggests, the phenomenon has been made possible by technological advances. Beginning in the 1980s, she explains, companies made great strides in their management and manufacturing processes, enabling the production of a more diverse array of goods without raising costs. And globalization has brought a wide assortment of formerly exotic-seeming styles and products into the mainstream....."
This article has an interview/q&a. She is a very interesting person. There is also a link to her website - another good source of info. She has a great blog. (Not as good as mine).
leonardo's notebooks
This is fun! You can digitally flip through Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks.
negus
This is a drink brought to my attention during a game of balderdash. It was the source of a great deal of laughter and appears to be much too complicated to make (at least not worth the trouble). It's nice to know there is a place to go for our cocktail recipes.
see ya friday
I'll be out of town a few days without internet connectivity. I leave you with a thought:
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
- Epictetus
cyberspace art gallery
Again, this is through MIT. It's from a course on Contemporary Art. I frequently look for work by Cy Twombley and they had a great, huge selection of his work including biographical information. I think the potential for viewing art online is just such a great learning opportunity. People can curate art shows using powerpoint and have the entire world of art available to them. They can be set up and scrolled through and commented upon and saved and downloaded and emailed.
yet more fun at mit
I get the MIT OpenCourseWare newsletter which provides a list of new classes. I've been poking around on the new classes and printing articles and lecture notes and reading lists. This is a reading list (it also includes films) for a literature course through the Sloan School of Management. It's a nice list.
the busy elvis
He is referred to as a 'veteran rocker' in this article. That makes me feel old. He is always interesting (a word I overuse):
"Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello is to release a new rock album and his first full orchestral work at the same time.
Costello, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on Cold Mountain, will record classical work Il Sogno with the London Symphony Orchestra.
The musician is currently working on the rock release in Memphis, Tennessee. "
rubicks cube
This is a download from Techtv's Screensavers. It's an application that solves rubick's cubes. You put in the position of your cube and it gives exact instructions on how to solve it. It's amazing. It also gives instructions for other patterns. (Is "solves" the right word to use?)
see ya later, leo
I love this guy. Here's the story of why he's not on TechTV anymore from him. Hope he pops up on tv again soon.
bob dylan and victoria's secret (the cd)
This whole thing doesn't bother me one bit. I love the song. I think the commercial is beautiful. I'm glad to see Dylan on television. (By the way it's $10 but if you buy something else it's free.) The whole rock stars selling out by doing advertising argument is bankrupt. Enjoy Bob. Enjoy the music. Enjoy the lingerie.
The cd song list:
1/ she belongs to me
2/ don't think twice, it's alright
3/ to ramona
4/ boots of spanish leather
5/ it's all over now, baby blue
6/ love sick (remix)
7/ make you feel my love
8/ things have changed
9/ sugar baby
How fun is that? And by the way, on the inside sleeve there is a photo of Dylan in his new concert manifestation, standing over an electronic keyboard.
method men (and women)
I attended a showing of this film festival. There were 5 films shown. One was very nicely done (La Torcedura). One was very funny (Pol Pot's Birthday). One wasn't very good.
La Torcedura starred Fez from That 70's Show and had a cameo from Vim Venders, but other than that, there were no big name stars. It was fun. The films run through tomorrow.
mario vargas llosa on spain
I enjoyed his novels and liked this article about Spain:
"Mario Vargas Llosa has always loved Spain's capital, and, after the bombs, he hopes the country's new government can prevent further damage to the city's free spirit."
bob dylan and victoria's secret
I am listening to the newly released bootleg series album and enjoying it immensely and I was remembering that, in a sort of dreamlike state the other night, I thought I saw Dylan in a Victoria's Secret Ad. I did. Looking up a few articles on this I found this interesting:
"Dylan (who will do three shows at the Tabernacle in Atlanta April 12-14) was unavailable for comment. But at a press conference way back in 1965, he was asked if he would ever sell out to commercial interests, and reportedly deadpanned, "Women's undergarments."
what is a nerd?
Nerd nation, from TechTV provides a list of top ten nerd movies. I don't know what a nerd is. ..............Okay, I think I am one.
greeting from the avant garde at mit
This is a very nicely designed course. It discusses some interesting art, music, film and literature from the 20th Century. The lecture notes are gorgeous. They are all about 3 pages with hyperlinks. This happens to cover Tristan Tzara's dadaist manifesto - fitting in with our crazy manifesto theme.
like a rolling stone
I thought this quote was fascinating especially the Richards' quote:
"A new biography follows the life of IAN STEWART, one of the
original members of the ROLLING STONES, who despite leaving the
band as an official member in 1963, remained the Stones' pianist,
road manager and blues conscience until his death in 1985. "It was
basically his band," guitarist KEITH RICHARDS told Rolling Stone.
In addition to tales from Stewart's life in music, "Stu" (available
through out-take.co.uk) includes some of his mid-Sixties
photographs of the Stones."
a 42 hour lecture
Buckminster Fuller's 42 hour lecture on "everything he knows." He was preposterous. He wrote a book of poems based on the Lord's Prayer, which he recited every night. An interesting man - I guess this would go with my theme of manifestos.
