Though as the term to eavesdrop has evolved a great day from the notion of a busy-body positioning himself or herself at an advantageous audio-locus (the point just under the eaves of the roof where rain water drops down) by a neighbour’s house in order to overhear happenings inside, to casually listening to the conversation listening to a private conversation to outright espionage, I think that the mentality of the eavesdropper has remained fairly constant, insofar as they want the fragmentary, a little mystery to reconstruct that leaves other explanations out there even though the listen may assert his or her own conclusions. Surveillance that leaves little to the imagination—though thinking one can be implausibly wrong is interesting too—that assumes the mantle of ubiquity is not eavesdropping, and neither is it pleasant or the least bit stimulating to find oneself in a public place that’s been pressed in private service and one’s privy to an unguardedly intimate or strained discussion. I wonder though, if by introducing the element of time and prediction for future behavior and past links, one preserves the allure of the furtive, or whether reputation and risk becomes just something actuarial and algorithmic. What do you think?
Friday 4 September 2015
downspout or rear window
5x5
ivy league, fig leaf: elite university matriculating classes from the 1940s and 1950s were compelled to disrobe and be photographed
streets with no game: homogeneity and monotony is turning urban design into a matter of public health
rock elettronico: 1970s Italo pop hit with gibberish words meant to sound like English
brick and mortar: life-sized Lego building blocks
Thursday 3 September 2015
fife and snare
Europeans first encountered war drum and subsequently adopted the martial accompaniment during the Crusades in the Holy Land, where such batteries of percussion spooked their horses.
Catching up on the fascinating and shameful narrative of the Albigensian Crusade prosecuted in Languedoc (Toulouse) by the Catholic Church against the heretical Cathars that led to the Spanish Inquisition, I learned that one of the earliest well-documented occurrences of a soundtrack, an anthem for battle although probably not creating the same atmosphere as stirring and thunderous leitmotif of some modern war movie nor the ceremonial and regimented noise of a parade, was during this succession of sieges throughout the region. As rear detachment, away from the fighting, monks and priests as well as other roadies that crusading attracted, the choir would belt out rousing choruses of one particular hymn, whose popularity and recognition was already established in France, of Veni Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)—penned, according to tradition, by Pope Innocent III who launched the whole campaign as well. In a bellicose setting, all chanting and rumbling can take on intimidating aspects, but this singing seems really creepy to me.
5x5
dormit in pace: Bob Canada’s Blogworld (always worth the visit) pays tribute to horror mastermind Wes Craven
second features: campy, unrealised filmography of Elvis Presley
internationale: mid-century modern design’s roots in revolutionary Russia
no yoke: US government conspiracy against mayonnaise with no animal products
pity the fool: that time Boy George was a guest star on the A-Team
