Saturday 27 December 2014
rat-race
A sufficiently academic study from the University of Geneva demonstrates that while life’s stressors may be an enabling factor when it comes to indulging those things that we seek, as profiled by Boing Boing, that same drive does not yield any increased relish for said awards. It is a bit disheartening and telling that striving on an everyman’s level is equally alienated from the goal, whether or not we invite any middle-man. What do you think? Is this about our own expectations, guilty pleasures and the measure of success, or the motors of progress and productivity?
catagories: ๐จ๐ญ, ๐, ๐ง , labour, philosophy
subway special
Down in the underground, Neat-o-Rama features a brilliant gallery from Russian photographer Andrey Kruglikov capturing beautiful images of the metro stations of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. These stops are surely inviting and reminiscence of when no expense was spared for public convenience. Would that all spaces might be so house-proud. It is an interesting time to reflect on this grand artistry when residents are apparently hording subway tokens as a hedge against the declining rouble.
twenty-five metres squared or this small space
Earlier this summer, the Kingdom of Sweden relaxed zoning and permit regulations in order to promote home- improvement projects and ultimately address the housing shortage. Though this initial retraction applies only to structures less than twenty-five square metres in area and up to four metres in height, there’s been already an incredible creative volume of living spaces eked out within these parameters, celebrated in a picture book, as Quartz features. I think that such codes ought to only be relaxed in small, livable and sustainable increments to foster wonder and inspiration.
catagories: ๐ธ๐ช, environment, lifestyle
Thursday 25 December 2014
pause for station identification
Happy Holidays, and please enjoy while this interpretative dance troupe presents to you their version of the Yule Log!
catagories: holidays and observances
Wednesday 24 December 2014
father frost
Reviewing a list of seasonal gift-bearers, I found it a bit jarring at first to see the list of regional variations on the familiar characters of Santa Claus and Saint Nikolaus to abruptly change to Saint Basil for the Greeks and other lands that follow the Orthodox Church.
All the people of the town, from the richest to the poorest readily complied but when the attackers never materialised, no one was quite sure what they had given, so Basil decreed that the gold coins be baked into sumptuous loaves and given out to all residents, and so was the wealth redistributed. This lucky tradition is observed in Greece and other lands on New Years to this day—the vasilopita, Basil’s pie. Father Frost was also considered secular enough a figure to sneak past the Communist regimes that sought to eradicate religious practises. Saint Basil’s reputation for caring for the poor also stemmed from his marshaling of traditions that formed the self-sufficient monastic orders. Outside the gates of Caesarea, there was a grand campus called the Basiliad, which was a model for later monasteries with a guesthouse, hospital, a hospice and a library. This basic unit of government greatly influenced the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church and the monastic movement took hold in far-flung places like Ireland, helping to preserve learning and the faith with supporting institutions, like the Roman Empire, fell is but one accomplishment among the retinue of Basil’s legacy—plus bring presents.
Tuesday 23 December 2014
frame story or ship of theseus
Already condemned after violating a couple of canon-rules when trying his hand with the latest iteration of the Star Trek universe, a lot of fans have girded themselves for the worst as the producer takes over the helm for the Star Wars franchise—however, as I have discovered, and really just down to the wire as I just finished the engrossing and complex novel that H gave me for Christmas last year—not that it was due to expire or that a sequel is forthcoming, just that I wanted to finish it and the pace quickened as I neared the end—screen-writer JJ Abrams can direct a really fine book and surely deserves some faith.
Co-authored with Doug Dorst, S or the Ship of Theseus is an epistolary novel, a story told through letters, primarily, but with the substantial subtext of the correspondence taking place on the pages and in the margins of a Bildungsroman, beloved and familiar to both of the main characters but grow to appreciate it more as their complimentary notes uncover more details and clues about the possible identity of the mysterious, semi-legendary anarchist author himself. It was a really fun and involved experiment that was quite an undertaking, not only in creating the parallels that stand on their own merits as plotlines but also a very accomplished work in terms of type-setting and book-binding: not only does the novel have the heft, appearance and smell of a much circulated library book, there are also numerous other artefacts tucked between the pages—postcards, newspaper clippings and even a decoder. The layers of action reminded me a little bit of The Never-Ending Story, and while I do not believe that the marginalia detracted from the reader’s imaginations, I also do not feel that every story might benefit from such a telling—though I think it is an interesting projection of the way we maybe read things—unafraid to mentally highlight certain passages for instantaneous research to their conclusion and cite our own footnotes.
Co-authored with Doug Dorst, S or the Ship of Theseus is an epistolary novel, a story told through letters, primarily, but with the substantial subtext of the correspondence taking place on the pages and in the margins of a Bildungsroman, beloved and familiar to both of the main characters but grow to appreciate it more as their complimentary notes uncover more details and clues about the possible identity of the mysterious, semi-legendary anarchist author himself. It was a really fun and involved experiment that was quite an undertaking, not only in creating the parallels that stand on their own merits as plotlines but also a very accomplished work in terms of type-setting and book-binding: not only does the novel have the heft, appearance and smell of a much circulated library book, there are also numerous other artefacts tucked between the pages—postcards, newspaper clippings and even a decoder. The layers of action reminded me a little bit of The Never-Ending Story, and while I do not believe that the marginalia detracted from the reader’s imaginations, I also do not feel that every story might benefit from such a telling—though I think it is an interesting projection of the way we maybe read things—unafraid to mentally highlight certain passages for instantaneous research to their conclusion and cite our own footnotes.
Monday 22 December 2014
la befana or bedknobs and broomsticks
One Italian Christmas time custom is that of La Befana, the good hostess and housekeeper from Umbria. She gave food and shelter to the Three Wisemens from the East on their way to Bethlehem. Grateful and somewhat off track, they invited La Befana to join them on their journey. Busy with housework to make her home ready for the New Year celebrations, however, being either an adherent of or the Sabine goddess herself of the New Year in disguise, called Strenua, she refused their invitation. Later, after her guests had departed and seeing the yonder star, La Befana had a change of heart and rushed to meet the Magi, riding her broomstick westward.
La Befana never managed to catch up and never found the child that they sought, and after all these centuries La Befana flies and searches from Christmas to Epiphany, and delivers gifts to any good child she comes across, hoping it might be the right one—and generally a swat and a garlic to ones that prove contemptible. It is said that La Befana will also sweep the homes of good families, so their house is tidy for the new year.
La Befana never managed to catch up and never found the child that they sought, and after all these centuries La Befana flies and searches from Christmas to Epiphany, and delivers gifts to any good child she comes across, hoping it might be the right one—and generally a swat and a garlic to ones that prove contemptible. It is said that La Befana will also sweep the homes of good families, so their house is tidy for the new year.
catagories: ๐ฎ๐น, holidays and observances, Wikipedia