The Official Site of Grant Miller. (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
The Justice Department recently proposed moving 100 alleged terrorists from Guantánamo Bay to a vacant prison in Northwest Illinois when the controversial detention facility closes in 2010. As a lifelong Illinoisian , I'd like to welcome these alleged terrorists and jihadists to my home state. I hope your stay is pleasant - though not too pleasant - and provides you with memories to share with...
The Untrusted (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
In 1820, an 80 ton sperm whale attacked the Nantucket-based whaling ship, Essex , an event that inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick . The Nuremberg Trials began in 1945. Brenda and Phil got married in 1947. Francisco Franco died in 1975. He's still dead . And a fire in Windsor Castle caused £50 million in damage. Born today: Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940), Alistair Cooke (1908-2004), Nadine...
Flavorpill San Francisco Events (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
Sep 22 – Dec 12 Tuesdays (11am–7pm) Wednesdays (11am–6pm) Thursdays (11am–7pm) Fridays–Saturdays (11am–6pm) @ California College of the Arts Reception : Tues., Sept. 22, 6:30–8:30 p.m. An eclectic group of 32 international artists, including Damián Ortega, Angela Bulloch, Paulina Olowska, and Richard Serra, working across multiple media, from sculpture...
The Driftwood Singers Present (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Today I am reminded of the famous Herman Melville quote: " To produce a mighty blog, you must choose a mighty theme ." Done and done. I didn't get on the bus until it was down the road a ways, but I'm enjoying the ride. Thanks, boys. Part One Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let's get down to brass tacks. Every so often I like to perform a test on myself (no, not that kind, silly!)....
At Home With Books (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading . These are my finds for the week. (All product descriptions are taken from Amazon.com or the publisher's website.) Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen - Found via an email from a publicist. Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses...
Wild Horses Of Fire (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
Performa09--Week 1: Arto Lindsay's SOMEWHERE I READ , Guy Ben-Ner's Drop the Monkey and talk with Jon Kessler, Dexter Sinister's First/Last Newspaper and film showing of David Loeb Weiss's Farewell, Etaion Shrdlu , Tacita Dean's Craneway Event On Sunday, November 1st I went to Times Square where Guy Ben-Ner's Performa commissioned video, Drop the Monkey (2009), was being shown on one of the bright...
Bouphonia (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
Some "professor" has apparently been conducting "research" into sex toys, which just goes to show you how far academe has strayed from the path of Truth and Beauty. Instead of introducing new generations to cultural treasures like Plato's Phaedrus , Diderot's Les Bijoux Indiscrets , Swinburne's Whippingham Papers , and the Earl of Rochester's Signior Dildo, modern academics either...
The Economist (Free subscription) | 11/09/2009
Better an offshore wind farm than an underwater Nantucket THE first time I read that rich people in Cape Cod were organising to block the Cape Wind offshore wind-farm project because it would spoil their view, I thought it was a joke. The appreciation of a beautiful and unspoiled view is supposed to entail an appreciation of nature; wind power is the most sympathetic possible instantiation of such...
Just One More Page... (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
This month Wendy supplied us with a list of first lines and asks which books we’ve read and which would make it to our tbr list on the basis of the first line. Bold = the books I’ve read Pink = tbr pile 1. Call me Ishmael. Herman Melville, Moby-Dick 2. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Jane Austen, Pride...
Matrixsynth (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
YouTube via potterpaint2000. Folktek on Ebay "an improv featuring the usual suspects...processed deviant Folktek masterpieces...and my voice! Thank you Herman Melville!!!"
Light reading (Free subscription) | 10/31/2009
Internet-prompted reading crisis spurs CAAF to devote the month of November to reading nothing but Herman Melville .
About Last Night (Free subscription) | 10/30/2009
Goodness gracious, the dithering I've done since I wrote here that I'd only be reading Herman Melville in November. Melville's...
Scholars and Rogues (Free subscription) | 10/29/2009
Got zombies on the brain? Well, it’s better than having them eat your brain, so that’s a plus. Zombies are a hot pop-cultural property these days. Woody Harrelson’s buddy movie Zombieland has been eating up theaters. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies brought Jane Austen back from the dead to become one of the year’s publishing phenoms. Marvel Comics is now on their umpteeth...
Open a Bookshop, what could possibly go wrong? (Free subscription) | 10/29/2009
Todays, guest blogger, telling us all about her favourite 5 books of all time (in no particular order) is the brilliant Jayne Joso, author of the the rather superb novel Soothing Music For Stray Cats . A modern day tale based firmly in London, it follows narrator Mark as he comes to terms with his life following the death of an old school friend. It's sad, funny and ultimately life affirming. Hurrah...
UniqueDaily.com (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
“They are creatures of the deep immortalized in fictional bestsellers like Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick and Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But these ultra-rare images of a colossal sperm whale feeding on a giant squid are the real thing. The captivating pictures show adult sperm whales feasting on a rare giant squid. [...]
Videos