“This emphasis on the static over the kinetic is not so remarkable in an artist who, after all, began his career in—and remains committed to—the compositional rigors of painting, collage, and sculpture. But to see how it relates to folding space, we must further illuminate this concept of traveling without moving.” A new assessment of David Lynch’s much-maligned Dune.
My friend Jonathan sees “ghosts”. It started when he was in his mid-20s. One day at 3 am he was awakened by the sound of women talking outside his window. He went out and saw three women hanging the laundry. He thought they were his mom and aunts, and wondered why they were hanging out laundry at 3 am. When he got close to them he realized that they were not his mom and aunts. They were wearing old-fashioned clothing, and floating a foot above the ground. He stared at them in shock. They stared back at him, curiously. He ran back to his room.
I like the temporal anomaly explanation for ghosts. Some kind of time warp causes the past and the present to briefly coexist in the same space. To Jonathan, the three women were ghosts from the past; to the women, Jonathan was a ghost from the future. Or maybe those with “the sight” perceive past, present, and future as simultaneous occurrences. Which would make it very difficult for them to keep appointments and meet deadlines.
Jonathan’s “sight” seems to have been passed on to his daughters, who are 12 and 9. He asked them to draw what they saw.
“Call it the LVMH-ization of cooking. Truffles have become a luxury brand, one that connotes a way of life as much as a style of cooking. “Chefs use truffle oil because it’s easy to add a gloss of glamour with it — and because it helps sell dishes,†S. Irene Virbila, chief restaurant critic of The Los Angeles Times, said in an e-mail message.
“Although the scent of a truffle just dug can be one of the most profound gustatory experiences of the Western world, it’s one that not many people in this country have had on truffles’ native soil. Once there were only a few expensive and exclusive restaurants that recreated that experience, which only select customers could afford. Truffle oil has simultaneously democratized and cheapened the truffle experience, creating a knockoff that goes by the same name.” Chef Daniel Patterson in De Gustibus, the NYT forum for opinions and reflections on food.
Apropos of the Antikythera question, another mystery: Why did the Incas, Aztecs, Mayans, and other cool civilizations in the Americas (but one) fail to invent the wheel? Thanks to the Lifetime Underachiever for the link.
Post-9/11, Hollywood movies are required to provide not just entertainment but psychotherapy. It’s okay to cry, look Spidey does it all the time. Peter is eaten up by feelings of revenge and guilt, but he’s still a hero. Harry has father issues, but redeems himself in the end. Marko (Sandman overread: The desert comes to Manhattan) committed crimes, but he was only raising money for his daughter’s medical bills. Eddie was after Peter’s job, but he just wanted to be luvved. And if you want to do an interpretative dance to spite your ex-girlfriend right after she’s made the career movie from Broadway starlet to waitress, go ahead, that doesn’t make you gay.
But Photoshopping/tinkering with a front-page news photo, that’s evil.
Here’s a piece on Sandman and the physics of granular materials.
Tiangge by Uro de la Cruz, originally uploaded by Koosama.
Handbag addiction, celebrity culture, and the Louis Vuitton sakonite.
Emotional Baggage, this weekend in the Hong Kong Standard.
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