How we roll Christmas

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The season may be officially over, but that doesn’t mean the party has to stop. As you can see, Don Quixote is the strong, silent type, but he’s enjoying the vibe. Clink!

One Mouse, Two Cups?

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On January 1, 2019, original works from 1923 will move into the public domain. This batch will be the first new public domain works in over 20 years. Mickey Mouse was born via Steamboat Willie in 1928. That means that, barring further Disney intervention, in 2024, the Mouse can become…anything. I, for one, am keen … Read more

Passing the buck

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Shame is now both global and permanent, to a degree ­unprecedented in human history. No more moving to the next town to escape your bad name. However far you go and however long you wait, your disgrace is only ever a Google search away. Getting a humiliating story into the papers used to require convincing … Read more

Hope me, Agatha.

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The elements of Christie’s fiction are all already in place: a country house, a finite list of suspects, the outsider detective intruding into a place of order and hierarchy that has been disrupted by a crime. The world of Christie’s books is something like the ‘imaginary’ as described by Cornelius Castoriadis, a mental representation in … Read more

Interest index

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Create a list of everything you’re interested in, ever, here. All of it. Sea mammals Global politics Linguistics Micro-timing and latency adjustment Evolution as a heuristic for other things Cultural influence on story-telling See also, folk stories Crimes and how they’re solved Religion Mythology

Disturbing for all the right reasons

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It may surprise some Catholics to learn just how literally the modern Church interprets Satan and his army of demons. While many people today understand the devil as a metaphor for sin, temptation, and unresolvable evil in the world, the pope consistently repudiates such allegorical readings. In sermons, interviews, and occasionally in tweets, Pope Francis … Read more

A Mass of Socks and Humanity

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I spent the day yesterday driving through the early snow to Northfield, Vermont to get a deal on superior socks. Jessamyn from Metafilter told me that the Cabot factory sale is where all of Vermont gets its socks. She doesn’t seem like the type to be fucking with me, so I’ve a trip to the … Read more

Calm down, Ezra.

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Ezra forced himself to go to the temple, but he could not go through with the ritual. Despairing, he rent his garments and his coat, threw himself onto the ground, and cried out in agony. Finally, he uttered a prayer that was also an accusation against the people of the land, as he had come … Read more

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