Coldewey's Curiosities

My longest article so far. Google as Rome in their road-building...

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:22:00 -0800

My longest article so far. Google as Rome in their road-building and empire-founding days.

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Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:46:56 -0800

I have my differences with Vincent Laforet, but that’s a...

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:37:55 -0800

I have my differences with Vincent Laforet, but that’s a hell of a shot.

"In short, they were gambling on their luck, and luck is not to be coerced."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:11:37 -0800

“In short, they were gambling on their luck, and luck is not to be coerced.”

- Albert Camus, The Plague

Dump - On The Right Track NowPlea for Happiness This record was...

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:20:22 -0800

Dump - On The Right Track Now
Plea for Happiness

This record was pretty spotty, in my opinion, but it was also home to a few gems. This is one of them; “Made for it” and “My head in your hands” were the others. I still listen to them years later (one was even in a Ben Stiller short).

"A duty few men are fit for, but you were born for."

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:38:29 -0800

“A duty few men are fit for, but you were born for.”

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Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:05:07 -0800

"She who sinks under real disappointment lacks philosophy; but she who sinks under a fancied one..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:09:21 -0800

“She who sinks under real disappointment lacks philosophy; but she who sinks under a fancied one lacks purpose.”

- Reveries of a Bachelor

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Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:56:59 -0800

Lupine Howl - SometimesThe Carnivorous Lunar Activities of...

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:10:04 -0800

Lupine Howl - Sometimes
The Carnivorous Lunar Activities of Lupine Howl

I never listened much to the rest of this album, but “Sometimes” is one of the few one-off tracks I still regularly listen to that I got during my great college music expansion period. I love the lines “The universal gift must always be returned/and everything can be unlearned.” It’s long but broken into three parts, which helps the pacing.

"There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its fruit? If the green-grocer had such a thing..."

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:52:40 -0800

“There, Watson! What do you think of pure reason and its fruit? If the green-grocer had such a thing as a laurel wreath, I should send Billy round for it.”

- Sherlock Holmes

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Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:29:51 -0800

"And then the various forms He cast Gross organs first and finer last; No one at once evolved, but..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:29:56 -0800

“And then the various forms He cast
Gross organs first and finer last;
No one at once evolved, but all
By even touches grew and small
Degrees advanced, till, shade by shade,
To match all living things He’d made
Females, complete in all their parts
Except (His clay gave out) their hearts.
“No matter,” Satan cried; “with speed
I’ll fetch the very hearts they need”—
So flew away and soon brought back
The number needed, in a sack.
That night Earth rang with sounds of strife—
Ten million males had each a wife;
That night sweet Peace her pinions spread
O’er Hell — ten million devils dead!”

- G.J.

My Education - “Snake in the Grass”Italian You have...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:10:55 -0800

My Education - “Snake in the Grass”
Italian

You have to listen to this one all the way through. It sneaks up on you and the payoff is at the end. These guys have a great ear. I’m getting to know their other albums; they’re shockingly little-known as far as I can tell. If you see this, guys, come to Seattle and play with Kinski.

1934 ASCII art.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:00:00 -0800

1934 ASCII art.

Seen at the ferry landing on Orcas Island.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:10:26 -0800

Seen at the ferry landing on Orcas Island.

Dickens’s manuscript for A Christmas Carol. He strikes...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:00:00 -0800

Dickens’s manuscript for A Christmas Carol. He strikes things out with curly-cues!

Some choice excerpts from The Elements of Style's common misuses

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:12:52 -0800

Each and every one. Pitchman’s jargon. Avoid, except in dialogue.

Enormity. Use only in the sense of “monstrous wickedness.” Misleading, if not wrong, when used to express bigness.

Flammable. An oddity, chiefly useful in saving lives. The common word meaning “combustible” is inflammable. But some people are thrown off by the in- and think inflammable means “not combustible.” For this reason, trucks carrying gasoline or explosives are now marked FLAMMABLE. Unless you are operating such a truck and hence are concerned with the safety of children and illiterates, use inflammable.

In the last analysis. A bankrupt expression.

Lay. A transitive verb. Except in slang (“Let it lay”), do not misuse it for the intransitive verb lie. The hen, or the play, lays an egg; the llama lies down. The playwright went home and lay down.

Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means “sickening to contemplate”; the second means “sick at the stomach.” Do not, therefore, say, “I feel nauseous,” unless you are sure you have that effect on others.

Noun used as verb. Many nouns have lately been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are suspect.

People. The word people is best not used with words of number, in place of persons. If of “six people” five went away, how many people would be left? Answer: one people.

Prestigious. Often an adjective of last resort. It’s in the dictionary, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it.

Respective. Respectively. These words may usually be omitted with advantage.

The truth is… The fact is… A bad beginning for a sentence. If you feel you are possessed of the truth, or of the fact, simply state it. Do not give it advance billing.

Transpire. Not to be used in the sense of “happen,” “come to pass.” Many writers so use it (usually when groping toward imagined elegance), but their usage finds little support in the Latin “breathe across or through.” It is correct, however, in the sense of “become known.” “Eventually the grim account of his villainy transpired” (literally, leaked through or out).

-wise. Not to be used indiscriminately as a pseudosuffix: taxwise, pricewise, marriagewise, prosewise, saltwater taffywise. The sober writer will abstain from the use of this wild additive.

Oh dear, Hitchens really builds up a head of steam in this one....

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:32:35 -0800

Oh dear, Hitchens really builds up a head of steam in this one. It starts out tame in the first part (above), but by the end he’s asking for a direct apology from the man on stage for being complicit in the deaths of millions by AIDS in Africa, and calling the clergy “a clutch of hysterical, cynical virgins.”

Here’s part two.

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Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:20:39 -0800