Creative commons
thescian | July 15, 2009Rock musician Andrew W.K's take on Bach at NPR. For a blissful ten minutes, listen to the linked 'Bandenburg Concerto No.5: Allergro'. You would know that Bach was a deeply religious man. Reminds me of what Harold Bloom said of genius*, (I paraphrase): Genius is not bound by culture or religion.
*You may want to pick up the book, 'Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds'. The book is a tough read and Bloom is nauseating at times, but as G H Hardy said, great things are not done by humble men.
emjohnson | July 12, 2009Picnic. Rob Sheridan / Creative Commons
In the second of my 226,000 part series (as yet unnamed) in which I help promote my favorite photographs and artwork bearing a Creative Commons attribution license, I would like to introduce my readers to the amazing work of Rob Sheridan. Picnic is his latest piece, in honor of the Fourth of July, and I think everyone will agree it's as twisted as it is hilarious. I encourage everyone to check out his entire collection of work at his Flickr account and at his Sketchblog: Rob-Sheridan.com.
thescian | July 8, 2009Never thought about the cover page of a book as much as I am doing now. With the upcoming TheScian Stories book, all things bookish has become an obsession. Yesterday evening, wife was plugging away at the numerous things that need to be arranged before publishing a book and she had covered the table with the covers of various SF books (Neuromancer, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, The Dispossessed, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, and more). I noticed a theme in all the covers (except Neuromancer): diffused backlight as if a star was lurking behind. This thematic convergence, I…
thescian | July 6, 2009Essay at NY Times by Anand Giridhardas. Nuanced and well written. You can read more at his blog.
emjohnson | July 5, 2009Bonobos (Pan paniscus) at Frankfurt Zoo, Germany. Joachim S. Müller / Creative Commons
emjohnson | July 1, 2009
Image: Auzigog / Creative Commons
Each week I plan to highlight a Creative Commons photographer whose work I think should reach a larger audience. This week I chose Jeremy Blanchard's self-portrait of what reading Ishmael was like the first time. Having had a similar experience myself I completely understand and I think his photograph captures this perfectly.
To see more of his work, check out his Flickr page here. For those of you who haven't yet been introduced to Ishmael I encourage you to do so. To whet your appetite allow me to offer the following:
Ishmael selected a fresh…
thescian | June 21, 2009This year's contest announcement is up at TheScian.com. Get going. There are three prizes and a book deal up for grabs.
With the selected stories of this year, we'll have a fantastic collection of stories for our first book. Four years in the making! Thanks to all the participants and readers.
While you are tender with good intentions, can I snag you for a little survey so we know what's in store for TheScian Stories Book? Click here to take it (opens in a pop-up window) or use the direct link.
thescian | June 21, 2009With my daughter at a nearby park. To fatherhood, to memories. Warm wishes from one father to others.
thescian | June 17, 2009I am sitting at the window seat of the Alitalia flight. It is flying over the Italian alps near Milan, few minutes away from landing. The sun is setting behind the alps creating a vast dynamic art that sweeps slowly across as the aircraft moves over the mountains; a small house besides a stream in the valley beneath, clouds resting halfway up the mountains. And, this is just in the tiny bit of earth and sky that I happened to pass through. Spectacular, sublime, artistic beyond human comprehension.
What is Art? Can art be for itself, without a context, without a witness? Universe as an…
thescian | June 3, 2009Racists, Nazi-sympathisers. It's a typical example of how, if you let them, the ugly-at-heart would try to twist democratic processes to grab power. Stop them.
Here's view under the hood.
thescian | May 29, 2009Warning: Artsy-fartsy post.
Read this article on Francis Bacon, a unique artist. His painting of the head in a cube (that's Pope X) kept me disturbed for many days and nights. Later in life, Bacon hated having painted this, saying it was a mistake to engage with Velázquez's original. That could be true within the context of artistic skill. However, it is useless denying the fundamental need for a young artist to re-examine the past, particularly when it could be potentially shocking. Artists love to shock and parody other artists. Taking the head of an authority figure--who is more…
thescian | May 16, 2009Watched this delightful interview by Gabby Logan with Agassi and Graf, two of my favorite tennis players when I was young. It was more than just two former professional tennis players talking. Very smart and very self-aware. I've grown fond of this couple even more now.
The greatest sports piece ever written. Foster Wallace on Federer. Reading it again. Poignant when you know that David Foster Wallace was a child prodigy who played tennis really well before taking up writing, and then dying. Sad, sad, sad.
The second best sports writing, written in 1960 by John Updike on Ted Williams, the…
thescian | May 15, 2009One of the occasional political posts. You're probably full of this news already, if you live in the UK. It on the TV for 24 hrs. Anyway, let me unload before my head explodes.
The motherload.
There's an article in guardian that's worth a read to understand how deeply fucked-up many MPs heads are. The political class loves public data - to protect the public, of course - but, oh no, MPs expenses are private. WTF.
A few days back Stephen Fry offered his opinion that everyone fudges their expenses: we should move on, there are bigger things at stake to get hung up on small fry (unintended pun…
thescian | May 12, 2009Dubliners, naturally. Counterparts is as simple and as powerful as it gets. The story leads us to these lines:
The boy uttered a squeal of pain as the stick cut his thigh. He clasped his hands together in the air and his voice shook with fright.
"O, pa!" he cried. "Don't beat me, pa! And I'll... I'll say a Hail Mary for you.... I'll say a Hail Mary for you, pa, if you don't beat me.... I'll say a Hail Mary...."
Everytime one reads it, the utter blindness of everyday life and the attendant cruelty looms larger and larger before one's eyes.
thescian | April 21, 2009World Digital Library, the UN project to provide digital access to cultural heritage of our world. The search interface is quite interesting. Give it a go.
Susan Boyle. For a few minutes, I forgot my distaste for gawdy talent shows and delighted in Possibilities. The unlikely and heart-warming realization of a middle aged woman's dream.
thescian | April 20, 2009The accomplished author died a few days ago at 78. This, at Guardian:[As a] science fiction author [he] "wasn't interested in the far future, spaceships and all that", he explained; rather he was interested in "the evolving world, the world of hidden persuaders, of the communications landscape developing, of mass tourism, of the vast conformist suburbs dominated by television - that was a form of science fiction, and it was already here".
Ballard was the first author who brought the vision of bleakness and dystopia into my teenage life.