Signifying nothing

Happy Halloween! , originally uploaded by Theorris .

In Profession 2005 , a publication of the Modern Language Association, Harvard English professor Louis Menand writes the following in response to an article about string theory that conotates the universe to a bank card: If you say that the meaning of a poem is indeterminate, you are accused of posing a threat to Western values--often by people who never read poetry. But if you say that the universe is like an ATM card, you get the Nobel Prize. How did humanists get painted into a cultural corner such that everything that a social or natural scientist says that is counterintuitive receives public genuflection, but literature professors are expected to do nothing but reaffirm common sense? ("Dangers Within and Without" 10-11) and Faculty members in science and in social science departments tend to regard humanists as reflexively oppositional to what they do and, therefore, as easy to discount. This perception is founded mainly on ignorance. The summaries of the state of id...

Jazz! , originally uploaded by Theorris . Remember last year when we were all excited how the Jazz actually busted out a great opening game and scored over 100? Remember how I predicted they'd definitely breeze through the second round? Well, this is the 2007 Jazz rock prediction post: 1) The Jazz, while they will have a mid-season doldrum, will have the winningnest season since the Stockton/Malone era. 2) They will consistently score over 110 points (last year it was consistently scoring over 100. 3) They will down the Spurs and the Suns consistently. Is this the year? I should be so bold to say, yes. Actually I think they will be in the Western Conference finals again. I don't think I can be so bold as to say they will win it. If they do, however, it will be theres. In the meantime: Jazz 117 (One hundred fucking seventeen!) to Golden States' 96. Yeltsin!

We decorated the old place in hopes that the snowboarding season starts as early as predicted.

Competition , originally uploaded by Theorris .

Huck it, Skeletor! , originally uploaded by Theorris . Wilhelm inmate Catinlap is quite creative and his favorite holiday is Halloween. That adds up to some pretty awesome to the max Halloween decorations. Here we see the plastic skeleton shredding.

The box elder bug, An unlikely commuter, Flutters to the door.

I make a grand, sweeping generalization about Fox 13's broadcasting incompetence of the Boston/Cleveland game tonight over at TWIT : I see the lack of notification on the part of broadcasters as yet another example of the decline of our society into greedy, me-first, ill-mannered priggishness. Stick that in your craw, FAWWWWWWWWWWWWKS* 13 and suck it!** *You must picture John Kleenex saying the FOX 13 bit.) **I need a little old lady to sit on the side of my blog and comment on my posts. On this one, she would be saying "How crass!"

I don't know why I find this so funny and compelling.

I've thought long and hard about this, but I've come to the conclusion that the best film ever is The Third Man . Why, you ask. Why? It was written by Graham Greene, first of all, one of the most interesting and undervalued authors of the 20th century. Seriously, this guy knew what in the hell he was doing and why he was doing it. He was clear-headed enough in his confusing time to understand the clear evil that is rampant self-centeredness. It has the tightest plot development I've ever seen. Its driving sound track played simply on a zither weaves into the movie so well that it becomes a character itself. It presents an ethical/moral dilemma that is complex yet simple in its outcome. The exploration of Harry Lime's crimes (what a rhyme there) is stunning. You could apply it to our current situation in Iraq quite readily. It explores, q.v. above, Americanism in all its naive and horrific glory. The contrast between Holly Martins and Harry Lime creates this weird,...

Egomaniac #2: The Spread , originally uploaded by Theorris . This is my photo. The cover was not mine.

Egomaniac #1: Who? Me? , originally uploaded by Theorris . A photo of mine posted over at flickr was published in a book to be used by the State Department of Economic Development. As you can see the book is pretty slick. Here my giant head has deflated slightly so as not to obscure it. I've been published before, but have never published a photo. I guess, as well, this makes me a professional photographer since they actually paid me for the picture. Goodness.

Utah Stories has a fine analysis of Why was Main Street traded for Malls? While you are there, you can check out US's take on the Sugarhouse problem .

And people mock me when I tell them about my desire to have a robot body: The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food. But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case. The appendix 'acts as a good safe house for bacteria,' said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location _ just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac -- helps support the theory, he said. ( Purpose of appendix believed found - CNN.com )

Witness: Thank god we are finally separated from that elitist cabal of washed-up ne'er do-wells.

Art Brut.

R A D I O H E A D makes a new move in music marketing: you may pay whatever you want to download their new album.

I was chatting with Middlebrow today about the recent/ancient kerfufle about post-modernist thought, and I could tell I was losing him. "Ah oh! Here comes another disconnected rant!" I could hear him say, although he was more than cordial. I persisted, however. The reason that Dawkins doesn't get it is simple: he is misapplying post-modernism to science, much as he complains that post-modernists misapply science in their texts. I felt, however, that I had not properly explained my point and I did feel like some conspiracy theorist after my chat with Middlebrow. I've got a lot to deal with in this thesis, I realize, not the least of which is my ability to lose people in pointless rants, so with that I will attempt to be succinct: Dawkins creates a straw man argument with post-modernism because he is talking about the perception of the world vs. the post-modern notion of texts. Post-modernists talk of texts and only texts. Those texts represent a relationship to...