Pretty Words
Erin McKean recently wrote an article for the Boston Globe about the new Pictorial Webster’s, which features over 12,000 engravings set and printed by hand from the 1859 edition of the Merriam-Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language. Its a lovely book. If the cheapest edition weren’t $2600, I’d want one for myself.
Incidentally, Ms. McKean […]
The Cost
One of the saddest things about the Iraq war is that the destruction of an ancient culture isn’t even tabulated in the cost. An article in today’s New York Times, A Fabled Iraqi Instrument Thrives in Exile, discusses the suppression of secular oud music in Baghdad. There are other places where Arabic music continues to […]
Take off the Steam Skis. Step Away from the Clockwork Shark.
We’re currently witnessing the peak of steampunk’s cultural relevance. From here, it will be a long, downhill slide.
On the surface, things seem to be booming for the young subculture, with artisans like Jake von Slatt, Datamancer, and Kinetic Steam Works; web comics like Girl Genius and Freak Angels; online zine Steampunk Magazine; podcast Steampunk […]
The Red Mage
The trouble with trying to practice too many things at once is that some projects suffer from neglect. This blog has been one of those projects.
Ironically, I actually got down to the business of writing two new entries on the train last weekend but returned home to find that my neighbors have gotten wise to […]
What This Is
This won’t be a personal journal, because we both ought to do something better with our time than gratify my vanity. Instead, it will be a journal of the many things I’d like to learn.
Like many of you, I’d like to be a more articulate speaker, better in the kitchen/bar, more culturally informed, and imbued […]