THE FILM SHOWS YOU how they UN_FOLD .

LAW AND ORDER FANS can fill up on the one episode where absolutely nothing happens and the tedium overwhelms the whole cast: "Law & Order: Artistic Intent"--Shanan Kurtz and Gareth Long

[Needs Quicktime]

What is the sound
of one ear flapping?

FROM: The Revealer: The First Noble Truth of Charlie Brown

Revealing religion in pop culture requires looking beyond the artist's intentions, to the swirl of cultural influences in which he or she worked and the whirlwind of cultural influences in which we receive the fruits of the artist's labor -- the pop culture blizzard in which the zazen of a silent beagle offers some kind of serenity, if not redemption.

A FASCINATING EXHIBITION of Wall Street Journal Portraits (called 'HedCuts') of Executives gives us this tidy graphic history of Steve Jobs styles. Conclusion. He's a man of whatever era he finds himself in.

A mere twenty-one years of age when he cofounded Apple Computer with Stephen Wozniak in 1976, Steve Jobs has matured over the past quarter century into a seasoned businessman. In 1985, Jobs left Apple, going on to found a new company, Next, Inc., which focused on educational applications. The company was later sold to Apple in 1996, when Jobs returned to guide Apple back to profitability. A series of three hedcuts reflect the evolution of the entrepreneur's style -- shorter hairstyles, the addition of glasses, and more casual clothing.

'Da Vinci' author: I left out even more

Dan Brown said that when he wrote the best seller that dissects the origins of Jesus Christ and disputes long-held beliefs about Catholicism, he considered including material alleging that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion.

While speaking at a benefit Tuesday for a New Hampshire writers' group, Brown said the theory is backed by a number of "very credible sources," but that he ultimately decided it was too flimsy.[snip]

Since the book was published in March 2003, liberal and conservative writers have cited numerous errors. A key assertion in "The Da Vinci Code" -- that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that sinister Christians suppressed information about it -- comes from a 1982 book titled "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," which a New York Times reviewer called "rank nonsense."

Brown said he is grateful his book is generating so much debate. He said apathy is a constant threat to the study of the uncomfortable relationship between science and religion.

[emphasis addred] Translation: "Of course I know it's rank nonsense you dolts, but you should see the royalty checks!"

George In Carbonite? Don't bet on it.

CHRISTOPHER BAHN ASKS Can Star Wars: Episode III be saved? He's not hopeful unless this unlikely scenario comes to pass:

Considering that most of the worst ideas in the last two films came from Lucas himself, he might start by handing over the reins to another filmmaker.

It might be difficult to convince Lucas to go along with it, but if necessary Lucas could probably be tricked by telling him that Joseph Campbell is waiting with a documentary crew to massage Lucas' ego by interviewing him about his wonderful mythic imagination. When Lucas shows up, knock him out, encase him in a block of frozen carbonite and put him out of the way somewhere until the movie is out in theaters.

If Lucas lived on Planet Earth, this might come to pass. But since Lucas lives on LucasWorld where never is heard a disparaging word, the odds against it approach infinity.

ONE REASON MODERN MUSIC may not survive modernity is summed up in this stunning composition:Symphony #2 For Dot Matrix Printers,

Artist: The User
Label: Asphodel
Genre: Electronic: Experimental

It is exactly what it sounds like, a musical composition in which the only 'instruments' are printers, mic'd to amplify the whirring of carriages and the banging of type.

And no, you can't dance to it ....

The QuitSmoking Towers as we can admire them in the Kuala Lampur's skyline, took over 3 years of hard work (due to its very complex structure) and harsh legal battles against the Tobacco Lobbies that tried to stop the project.
Due to the outstanding success of their towers, the DesignForPeople Studio responsable of the project was recently commissioned to raise a "NoJunkFood" shopping center in Hong Kong...
--- Worth1000

Not Big Caslon, but rather Very Big Caslon: those of you strolling through midtown Manhattan may want to stop and visit the largest font of type I've ever seen -- maybe the largest in the world -- located in the lobby of the Time Warner building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas.

The 13 x 6 1/2 foot sculpture, a showing of William Caslon's eponymous 471, was originally commissioned by Time magazine. -- From Typographica : Very Big Caslon

An excerpt from Robert Hilburn's extensive and fascinating interview with Bob Dylan:

Dylan leans over and picks up the acoustic guitar.

"Well, you have to understand that I'm not a melodist," he says. "My songs are either based on old Protestant hymns or Carter family songs or variations of the blues form.

"What happens is, I'll take a song I know and simply start playing it in my head. That's the way I meditate. A lot of people will look at a crack on the wall and meditate, or count sheep or angels or money or something, and it's a proven fact that it'll help them relax. I don't meditate on any of that stuff. I meditate on a song.

"I'll be playing Bob Nolan's 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds,' for instance, in my head constantly %u2014 while I'm driving a car or talking to a person or sitting around or whatever. People will think they are talking to me and I'm talking back, but I'm not. I'm listening to the song in my head. At a certain point, some of the words will change and I'll start writing a song."

He's slowly strumming the guitar, but it's hard to pick out the tune.

"I wrote 'Blowin' in the Wind' in 10 minutes, just put words to an old spiritual, probably something I learned from Carter Family records. That's the folk music tradition. You use what's been handed down. 'The Times They Are A-Changin' is probably from an old Scottish folk song."

Pointer thanks to Outer Life which, strangely, "resisted Bob Dylan for a long time."

"The eccentric photographer known as Disfarmer (1884-1959) seemed to be a man determined to shroud himself in mystery. Born Mike Meyers, the sixth of seven children in a German immigrant family, Disfarmer rejected the Arkansas farming world and the family in which he was raised.

"He even claimed at one point in his life that a tornado had lifted him up from places unknown and deposited him into the Meyers family. "

-- Disfarmer, Heber Springs Arkansas photographer

The sharp-eyed Mike Snider of the pleasingly titled: Mike Snider's Formal Blog and Sonnetarium notes: "I Don't Like Many Pantoums but I do like this one by Martha Grimes (yes, that Martha Grimes) from her Send Bygraves."

I agree. The pantoum is a form rarely used and seldom successful. What pantoum's usually breed is a lot of new-age pap such as: "The pantoum seems particularly suited to us writing in America at the end of the twentieth century. Its repetition and circular quality give it a mystical chant like feeling. Its cut-up lines break down linear thought. The form is both ancient and fresh. Once you embark on it, it will be a poetic path you will want to take again and again." -- Miriam Sagan

It's a pleasure to see a saner path sustained in Grimes'

MURDERPANTOUM

Down the wrong paths to the wrong answers lie
Clues that are planted to mislead the eye.
On Spectre Hill, a coach is passing by.
It will stop in your courtyard presently.

Clues that are planted to mislead the eye:
The gun, the knife, the bloodstain on the floor.
It will stop in your courtyard presently,
The driver will step down and try the door.

The gun, the knife, the bloodstain on the floor,
They are not what they seem to be at first.
The driver will step down and try the door.
As in an ending cleverly reversed,

They are not what they seem to be at first.
In silence sometimes lies the only hope.
As in an ending cleverly reversed,
Beware. Be Still. Be Patient. Let him grope.

In silence sometimes lies the only hope.
Some say there is an answer in the sky.
Beware. Be Still. Be Patient. Let him grope
Down the wrong paths to the wrong answers. Lie.

by William Louis-Dreyfus

It's Early Spring. The sheep will have their young.
The flock then fills with lambs a few weeks old,
Anonymous dots until each mother's call
Brings each lamb back to get its feeding done.

The ewes call out, and by each mother's sound,
Repeated like an echo round the field,
They and the lambs, wherever is the need,
Each by their own are by that calling found.

If you keep sheep and mean to do it well,
You'll try to sell the lambs for Easter night
And get your price and give the flock its blend.

The ewes remaining in the flock don't know
Their lambs are gone and keep on calling out
For three full days; and then the calling ends

-- New Criterion

Photo by Rob T at pbase.com

4 hands of 3 generations.

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• 9 Seats by 9 Designers That All Fit in a Fed-Ex Box.
• "Framed"-- Lost Law & Order Short
• The Zazen of Peanuts
• Different Jobs Over the Decades
• Rank Nonsense Rulez, OK?
• Saving Star Wars
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• The 10-Minute Anthem That Changed the World
• Disfarmer
• A Rare Poetic Form in Rare Form
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