words that have a tale to tell
03 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in Life, News, Culture Tags: Dictionary, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, words
Discovered at a used book sale: a vintage copy of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
I’ve often found dictionaries to be interesting reads, especially the older ones, providing multiple definitions, the history and background of words, usages, and cool pictures and illustrations. Brewer’s Dictionary takes this a step further, providing fascinating insights into culture and history through the use to which words and phrases were put.
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is:
…one of the world’s best-loved reference books. First published in 1870, this treasury of ‘words that have a tale to tell has established itself as one of the great reference classics-the first port of call for tens of thousands of terms, phrases and proper names, and a fund of fascinating, unusual and out-of-the-way information.
At the heart of the dictionary lie entries on the meaning and origin of a vast range of words and expressions, from everyday phrases to Latin tags. Alongside these are articles on people and events in mythology and religion, and on folk customs, superstitions and beliefs. Major events and people in history are also treated, as are movements in art and literature, famous literary characters, and key aspects of popular culture, philosophy, geography, science and magic. To complete this rich mix of information, Brewer and his subsequent editors have added an extraordinary and enticing miscellany of general knowledge-lists of patron saints, terms in heraldry, regimental nicknames, public house names, and famous last words.
Take at look at the listings for the common name Tom or Tommy:
Tom, Tommy Short for Thomas: used of the male of certain animals (especially the cat), and generically–like Jack (q.v.)–for a man. It is also a generic name for a little boy. When contrasted, Jack is usually the sharp, shrewd, active fellow, and Tom the honest dullard. No one would think of calling the thick-headed male cat a Jack, nor the pert, dexterous, thieving daw a Tom. The former is almost instinctively called a Tom-cat, and the latter a Jack-daw.
Other usages of Tom:
Great Tom of Lincoln
Great Tom of Oxford
Long Tom
Tom and Jerry
Tomboy
Tom Collins
Tom, Dick, and Harry
Tom Fool
Old Tom is “A specially potent gin. The story goes that a Thomas Norris, employed in Messrs. Hodges’ distillery, opened a gin palace in Great Russell Street, Covent Garden [London], in the late 18th century, and called the gin concocted by Thomas Chamberlain, one of the firm of Hodges, “Old Tom,” in compliment to his former master.”
An online copy is found at Bibliomania
Avian drama
29 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Life, News Tags: birding, birds, oystercatcher, rocky shore
Sunday night after church we watched a pair of American Oystercatchers flying frantically over Stony Brook harbor, desperately trying to divert seagulls from their nest and eggs. The Oystercatcher is a large waterfowl, the size of a chicken. They zoomed overhead, repeatedly dive-bombing the seagulls on the rocky shore.
Other witnesses to the drama: an egret, mergansers, plenty of seagulls, a variety of ducks, and a three-foot long bluefish.
We left before the drama ended.
Frightened by the silence
22 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Culture, MadSilence, Thoughts Tags: silence
I have to agree with Maureen Dowd:
The sounds of silence are a dim recollection now, like mystery, privacy and paying attention to one thing — or one person — at a time. As far back as half-a-century ago, the Swiss philosopher Max Picard warned: “Nothing has changed the nature of man so much as the loss of silence,” once as natural as the sky and air.
Marcel Bullinga, author of Welcome to the Future Cloud—2025 in 100 Predictions, states that the perpetual noise of our busy digital lives can be dangerously distracting, but offers hope for the distracted.
The “Game Generation [of] teens and adults will have lasting problems with focus and attention” and will need assistance in learning the value of silence. “They find distraction while working, distraction while driving, distraction while talking to the neighbours. Parents and teachers will have to invest major time and efforts into solving this issue: silence zones, time-out zones, meditation classes without mobile, lessons in ignoring people. All in all, I think the negative side effects can be healed.”
Have we become frightened by the silence ? What are the implications as more and more people reside in an environment characterized by clamor and noise?
The implications of a significant portion of the population being involved in “continual information exchange” are at best only partially understood. Certainly there has been plenty of discussion on the rise of participatory culture in the music and arts and the wearing away of boundaries between work and home. In the realm of news, acolytes of “continual information exchange” may not buy many newspapers, but some of them may be sources of information critical to understanding day-to-day events. Whether this is a pillar of a new business model for the news media is unknown. On the other hand, does “continual information exchange” create stresses in social norms? Does “continuous partial attention” (to borrow Linda Stone’s phrase) migrate to “serial digital distraction” as people respond to a slew of bits cascading to them?
The art of video games
21 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Art, Culture, Life, News Tags: museum, Pac-Man, video game, videogames
'Pac-Man' at the Smithsonian Namco Bandai Games Inc.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington is showcasing more than 80 videogames in “The Art of Video Games.”
As reported in The Wall Street Journal:
The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington will showcase more than 80 videogames in “The Art of Video Games,” one of the first major shows to explore the artistic power of the medium. Games—from 1970s “Space Invaders” to recent offerings like “Flower” in 2009—are featured for their visuals, narratives and music, as well as their reflection of world events and popular culture.
The show, which will travel to 10 other U.S. venues, includes still images, video, playable games and a piece called “Gamers”—clips of players talking to the screen or reacting with emotion. In a nod to the interactive nature of the medium, voters from 175 countries cast 3.7 million ballots to narrow down the selection of games, which are grouped by themes such as action and tactics. The show is meant for a general audience and attempts to avoid violence and gore.
Artistically powerful certainly, many of these early games have achieved iconic status in the global visual culture. And their popularity continues to grow.
Currently 183 million Americans play – 25 percent over age 50. What’s behind the fascination? The games have become more realistic, more engaging, more hypnotic…a siren song luring us into alternate realities that are infinitely more attractive than our mundane lives.
Yale professor Paul Bloom, author of “How Pleasure Works,” points out that Americans find many products of the imagination – games, movies, TV – more interesting than real life.
A powerful art form indeed, one that combines the art of the illustrator with the art of the storyteller, transporting the player to an alternate universe.
Half a billion stars, galaxies and more
18 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Art, Life, News Tags: NASA, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
In visible light, the star-forming cloud catalogued as NGC 281 in the constellation of Cassiopeia appears to be chomping through the cosmos, earning it the nickname the “Pacman” nebula after the famous Pac-Man video game of the 1980s. However, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, observed the nebula in infrared light revealing a different view.
NASA unveiled a new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky showing more than a half billion stars, galaxies and other objects captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. Incredible images!
For a collection of WISE images visit here
An introduction and quick guide to accessing the WISE all-sky archive for astronomers is found here
This post makes use of data products from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which is a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
L’Odyssee de Cartier
13 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in Advertising, Life, News Tags: Cartier, jewelry
Have you seen the latest television commercial from French jeweler Cartier? View it at the Cartier Facebook page or at Adweek. I watched the ad, which is laden with fantastical images, with mouth open as it ran one, two and finally over three minutes in length, following the Cartier leopard as it comes to life, travels ’round the world, dances with a Chinese dragon, and finally comes to rest on the wrist and under the caress of a beautiful woman. What an odyssey! There’s a sleigh ride and the Taj Mahal and a Wright Brothers airplane. And jewels.
According to Adweek:
The French jeweler is out with a fantastical new long-form ad that reimagines the brand’s 165-year history as a diamond jungle cat’s adventures through space and time. Created by Marcel Agency and directed by A-list commercial director Bruno Aveillan, the three-and-a-half minute spot is gorgeously shot—an absurd little treasure that, like most fashion spots, is long on style and short on substance. It opens on the brand’s flagship Rue de la Paix storefront, where a bejeweled feline statuette comes to life before embarking on a journey to the ends of the Earth. The trip takes her past a snowy Russian tsarina flashing a Cartier diamond, across the Great Wall—which we learn is actually the back of mystical serpent—and through the Taj Mahal, bursting with other Cartier-crafted flora and fauna and located atop an oversized mammal.
Ultimately, a Cartier-watch-wearing pilot whisks our heroine away on the nose of a Wright-era flying machine, carrying her back to present-day Paris, where she is apparently reunited with a character the brand calls “The Lady in the Mansion,” played by model Shalom Harlow, who clues us in to the fact that the panther sheds diamonds, too.
Will this house sell?
10 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Japan, Life, News, Travel Tags: house for sale, Kanazawa
What a surprise and pleasure to discover the image of this Japanese home in the pages of The Wall Street Journal! Located in Kanazawa’s Teramachi district, I’ve walked and cycled past this property dozens of times when living in Kanazawa. The feeling of homesickness is strong as I view the picture of this traditional Japanese-style home surrounded by beautiful gardens. The gardens were built around the end of the Meiji period, between 1868 and 1912.
This property in Kanazawa boasts an immaculate Japanese garden that was born by a fusion of modern technology and natural masterpieces including the beautiful Io Mountain range and the flowing Sai River of Ishikawa Prefecture. This invaluable garden was created by Jihei Ogawa (a.k.a. Ueji), one of Japan’s most important grand masters of garden design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, best known for works such as Chinzanso and Furukawa gardens in Tokyo, and Hekiunso and Murinan gardens in Kyoto. In 2004, this garden was appointed a Cultural Asset by the City, which became the first garden in Kanazawa made after the Meiji period to receive this honor.
Within the garden grounds lies lava rocks from Mount Fuji and a grand 5.5 meter waterfall, that flows through two more small waterfalls and mountain streams, finally ending in a pond where Koi carp are playfully swimming. The clearness and gentle flow of the water and the moss covered rocks that resemble soft velvet; there is so much visual stimulation that leaves an ever-lasting impression.
At first glance, this grand residence looks as though it is only surrounded by nature, but also there are Taisho period, state-of-the-art construction technology in the portions that are not visible – for example in the concrete construction method for the modeling of the waterfalls. The residence itself is built with Hinoki wood from the Kiso forest and Jindai Cedar woord, thus, considered extremely precious by expert craftsmen, and has been appointed as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property. Inside the beautiful Japanese style home exists spaces of rich color utilizing ultramarine blue and deep forest green, which create brilliant contrasts with the natural and serene landscape.
The house is listed with Sotheby’s International Reality for JPY800 million.
Will this house sell? Certainly it will if I have anything to do with it. I’d love to own this property in Kanazawa. Friends, family and former JET ALTs, can we pool our funds?
Sheltered place of potential
05 Mar 2012 2 Comments
in Books, Library, Literature, News, Reading Tags: conceptual art
Interesting concept. On the streets of New York City, architect John Locke (not the English philosopher) has re-purposed phone booths into communal libraries or book drops, installing bookshelves within the structures filled with books for residents to take, borrow, or exchange.
According to Locke:
As a book lover, books are something I enjoy sharing with friends or neighbors, the question was just to find the right delivery method, and once I looked at how the kiosks are structured, it seemed pretty simple to attach a shelving system to create a mini community library, and try to make a sheltered place of potential, somewhere to come together and share a good book with your neighbors.
Via designboom
For more from MadSilence on books & libraries
Tohoku earthquake anniversary
01 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Japan, Life, News Tags: earthquake, Tohoku
We find it difficult to grasp that a year has passed since the Tohoku earthquake devastated portions of Japan. A difficult anniversary. Almost a year after the tsunami, many survivors are still struggling to recover.
There are two sayings in Japan for when bad things happen: shikata ga nai, an idiom that means “it can’t be helped”; and gambaru, a verb translated as “to persevere against adversity.” When life doesn’t go your way — a job loss, illness or a romantic failure — your friend is likely to say, “Sho ga nai” (a variation of shikata ga nai), it’s out of your control. If you need a boost before an exam or when your favorite team is losing, you hear “gambatte,” you can do it. The Japanese rely on the same aphorisms to cover much more disastrous events.
Reconstruction has been complicated by disagreements over whether villages should be rebuilt as they were or, in some cases, abandoned or consolidated with others. Japan is still striving to help the thousands of pets that were abandoned after residents were forced to quickly evacuate areas around the Fukushima plant.
In New York City, the Japan Society is preparing for a month-long suite of events to mark the one-year anniversary of the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeast coast. Under the title “One Year Later: Commemorating the One-Year Anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake & Tsunami” a number of ceremonies, lectures, interactive events and film screenings are planned. The Consulate General of Japan in New York will be cooperating with a number of these events.
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” is a documentary film that looks at the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese disaster that emphasizes the way “beauty and terror always exist in nature.”
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan’s recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. A stunning visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. Directed by Academy Award Nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker (Waste Land), featuring photography by Aaron Phillips and music by Moby.
But life goes on, and as the cherry trees open we all hope and pray for safety and help for the people of Tohoku: A Month After the Tohoku earthquake
Sticking to it
27 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Art, News, Street art Tags: duct tape, Max Zorn, tape, tape art
We’ve previously featured examples of tape art on MadSilence: it’s appeal is perennial. There’s a certain magic that transforms common monochromatic tape into ephemeral works of art. And while it appears simple enough to wield we suspect the artist who uses tape as his or her medium requires a large dose of creative imagination and artstic vision to get the job done…and strength of arm.
The art of tape continues to capture our interest even as new works appear. There’s a certain stick-to-ittiveness to the art form. Ugh!
The Huffington Post recently showcased tape art created by artist Max Zorn.
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