- “What killed Mozart?” isn’t the interesting question. The interesting question is: why are there so many wildly different theories about what killed Mozart? [via]
- 10 cool converted bookstores [via]
- Chinese archaeologists unearth 2,400-year-old ‘soup’. Undoubtedly, it tastes like chicken. [via]
- The woman without fear [via]
- And finally, Google’s Zeitgeist 2010. I think the top rank for “chatroulette” reveals just how quickly the zeitgeist can shift. When’s the last time you heard anything about this internet phenomenon? [via]
various
Tuesday various
- Lots of people are pointing out why retroactively censoring Huckleberry Finn is a bad idea, but I think I like what Gerry Canavan says most:
If we’re going to retroactively censor Mark Twain, I’d say “slave†seems significantly more offensive to me than “n*gger†insofar as it accedes to the noxious proposition that some people can be slaves in the first place. People can be enslaved, of course—but no person is a slave. In my own rare writing and teaching on slavery I try to favor “so-called slave†and “enslaved person†in a quiet effort to highlight that slavery is not an essence but a structure of violent domination.
It’s not the fact that we’re still having this conversation that bothers me — we should have continued and open discussions about race — it’s that we’re still faced with people who think not discussing it, pretending the words we don’t like don’t exist, is the right way to go.
- In happier news, Nel Gaiman and Amanda Palmer are married. As Patton Oswalt writes:
Marriage of @amandapalmer and @neilhimself confirmed. Like the Hatfield/Coy War, the Nerd/Goth schism is laid to rest — by love!
- And in other amusing, geeky wedding news, Doctor Who‘s David Tennant is engaged to one-time co-star Georgia Moffett. As Peter David amusingly notes:
The Tenth Doctor is going to be marrying his own daughter who also happens to be the daughter of the Fifth Doctor and Trillian from the TV version of “Hitchhiker.â€
Most meta engagement EV-er.
- Speaking of Doctor Who, these one-of-a-kind nesting dolls may very well be the coolest thing ever. [via]
- And finally, Udo Kier…honestly, in interview, the man comes across like he’s playing an Udo Kier character — erudite, macabre, and often delightfully unhinged:
I cannot answer you, because it’s totally unknown to me what you just asked me, and also very boring.
Monday various
- Caitlin R. Kiernan on coincidence:
Coincidence is a constantly occurring phenomenon with a bad rap. Lots of people treat it’s like a dirty word, or something rationalists invoke simply to dispel so-called supernatural events. And yet, an almost infinite number of events coincide during any every nanosecond of the cosmos’ existence. We only get freaked out and belligerent over the one’s we notice, the ones we need (for whatever reason) to invest with some special significance. Co-occurrence should not be taken for correlation any more than correlation should be mistaken for causation.
- Theodora Goss raises an interesting question — namely, does fantasy writing, with its made-up languages and grammars, present unique challenges for copyeditors?
- Peter David on why Aquaman is actually cool.
- David Forbes re-examines Frank Herbert’s Dune. It’s fascinating, not least of all for its glimpse at the original edition’s semi-ridiculous back cover copy:
A page of medieval history? Not quite. Duke Leto Atreides is moving from a planet, which he owns, to another planet, which he has been given in exchange. The Emperor, Shaddam IV, is Emperor of the known Universe, not a country. And Duke Leto’s son, Paul, is not a normal noble heir. In fact, he is so little normal in any way that he happens to be possible key to all human rule, power and indeed knowledge! [via]
- And finally, a fascinating look at Yogi Bear — and there’s a phrase I never thought I’d write — as District 9:
Yogi Bear is not a kids’ movie. It is a bleak futurist parable about humanity’s inability to accept a non-human sapience. It is also about a bear who wears a hat. [via]
Although you have to admit, with all the weird news of Arkansas recently, it’s tempting to look for correlations and common causes.
Wednesday various
- Roger Ebert on the MPAA’s rating system. [via]
- A 21st-century Moby Dick isn’t the single worst idea I’ve ever heard… At least, that’s what I thought before I saw the trailer. At least Barry Bostwick seems to be having fun. [via]
- Teller on why Harry Houdini mattered. [via]
- Understanding Pac-Man Ghost Behavior [via]
- And finally, Carrot Track, a cute little game from Orisinal. [via]
Tuesday various
- No more Caps Lock? FAREWELL, OLD FRIEND. [via]
- I bet you didn’t know Inception and Sex & the City 2 are essentially the same movie, did you?
- The day Niagara Falls ran dry. [via]
- One man was responsible for one-third of the world’s spam. Then again, I haven’t actually noticed a drop-off in my own spam since his arrest. [via]
- And finally, the bar for wedding proposals has been lifted: