Approaches primate shyly

Posted on February 8, 2004 by acb

In about a month I am doing a couple of talks at the Bath literary festival (memo to self: write some material). One of them is about — I suppose — feminist interpretations of hominid evolution. In any case, it has Elaine Morgan and Alison Jolly talking, and me refereeing. It cannot go worse than the last literary festival I did, at Hay on Wye, where I completely failed to control Tony Benn. After that session, I went off and caught trout in the Wye until I felt better. Rereading Jolly’s book, which I reviewed when it came out, and remembered with admiration and affection, I came across a nasty shock. She uses “meme” with a straight face. Oh dear. Still, there is much else to talk about.

Posted in Blather | Comments Off on Approaches primate shyly

Gloating

Posted on February 8, 2004 by acb

Posterity shall ne’er survey
A nobler sight than this.
Here lies the grave of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.

Michael Lind, in the Nation, has taken Byron’s exhortation to heart. Admittedly, the neocons had nothing in common with Lord Castlereagh, except a concern with foreign policy. But their hopes, their lies, their fears, are all buried now, and his measured, thorough drenching is a magnificent work of political analysis and invective, worthy of Conor Cruise O’Brien at his finest.

Posted in War | 1 Comment

blabeshif

Posted on February 2, 2004 by acb

It is cruel and old-fashioned to laugh at machine translations. But whoever decided that their web site on florence could be translated more profitably by Google than by a professional human being deserves to be mocked.

without further ado: Who has not never felt one “bistick to the fiorentina”?

Who has not never felt to speak about ” ribollita “, of the ” baby food to the tomato “, of ” lampredotto “, ” trippa “, the ” fagioli to the uccelletto “, ” cacciucco “, ” cake from siena “, ” fagioli to the uccelletto “… They are the many typical plates that come more in a generalized manner cooked to Florence and in Tuscany from by now tantissimi years..

Posted in Travel notes | Comments Off on blabeshif

My marmoset, my muse

Posted on February 2, 2004 by acb

A rather mournful brain scientist said to me once that “The problem is that if you go looking for something in the brain then you are likely to find it.” IN this spirit I am delighted to discover that marmosets think harder when they’re horny. This important research shows that when you put marmosets in an MRI scanner, and wave essences of ovulating females under their noses, the lights go on all over the brain, and not just in the areas associated with sexual arousal. For some reason, this strikes me as the reductio ad absurdum of the whole project. “Look,. this is a picture of a marmoset’s wondering how to get laid!” you say, and are left wondering who or what has missed which point.

Posted in Science without worms | Comments Off on My marmoset, my muse

itchy and scratchy

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

This is just incredibly tasteless and not in the least bit funny. However, since none of my readers will ever have experienced anything remotely similar, and this applies especially to the clerical ones, I thought I should link to it

Posted in Blather | Comments Off on itchy and scratchy

obscure injoke

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

The last really big row I saw on the Well before I left was caused by a pompous imperialist American called Richard Bennett who also signed on his wife, [emendation: she was signed on before him] and used her account to spy on the women-only conferences in order to collect ammunition against his political opponents. I cannot begin to describe the hysterical meltdown this caused. After he was thrown off, he started his own blog, and I was delighted to come across a quote from it today “unbalanced people, fanatical followers, extremists, and wackos. In my experience with Internet-enabled activism, these are the kind of people most attracted to online chat and email wars”

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

good sex in films

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

I finally went to see Lost in Translation today, and the scene where he wakes up next to the cocktail pianist is one of the funniest, saddest, and best-acted things I have ever seen on screen. No nudity; no writhing; all done with one man’s face and a woman, off-camera, singing Maria Muldaur in the bathroom.

Posted in Blather | Comments Off on good sex in films

Ad script for the RIAA

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

Was Satan the father of file-sharing? Listen to his own words on apple-sharing. Then decide.

‘O fruit divine, Sweet of thyself, but much more sweet thus cropt,
Forbidd’n here, it seems, as onely fit
For Gods, yet able to make Gods of Men:
And why not Gods of Men, since good, the more
Communicated, more abundant growes,
The author not impair’d, but honourd more?
Posted in God | Comments Off on Ad script for the RIAA

Fire

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

By the standards of the middle classes we are not rich at all but it is astonishing how well free trade lets us live. Last night I ate a plate of mussels for supper, and then some bread and cheese with a half bottle of Gevrey Chambertin, picked up in Totnes. Then I set a fire in the living room, put some Liszt on the CD player,and sat for a long time listening and watching with a small glass of brandy. When the music had finished and the fire was moribund I read a little from a second-hand Milton (a nicely bound book that had been a fifth-form prize for sight-reading at a girls’ school in 1935).

I can’t see how any amount of money could have improved this experience.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 1 Comment

Memo to Downing Street

Posted on February 1, 2004 by acb

“Unfounded allegation” is two words, not one. Andrew Gilligan’s allegations were false. They were not unfounded.

Posted in War | Comments Off on Memo to Downing Street