#upliftingthings from the internet #3 Find inspiration and separating out the wheat from the chaff for internet amusement, Est. April 2020.
Tag Archives: art
Book Review: The Abundance by Annie Dillard
Creative non-fiction genius and nature writer extraordinaire Annie Dillard has won a Pulitzer Prize for her essay writing. She has a unique, warm and intensely spiritual, even transcendental way of writing that elevates her above most other writers. That’s big praise I know, but this is really great writing. She has the ability to probeContinue reading “Book Review: The Abundance by Annie Dillard”
Ancient word of the day: Nymph
In Greek mythology, the nymphs were tiny and minor goddesses that each presided over a type of landscape feature. Normally something glimmering, glittering and bewitching in nature like waterfalls, streams, mountains, lakes or trees. The name nymphe means bride in Greek and so the tiny and bewitching nymphs represented the brides or maidens of theContinue reading “Ancient word of the day: Nymph”
Infinite attention, infinite regard and the minor deities of the internet
“That’s the dream of replication: infinite attention, infinite regard. The machinery of the internet has made it a democratic possibility, as television never could, since the audience in their living rooms necessarily far outnumbered the people who could be squeezed into the box. Not so with the internet, where anyone with access to a computerContinue reading “Infinite attention, infinite regard and the minor deities of the internet”
The Black Swan Model: the domesticated chicken and what it never expected
Writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls the phenomenon of people being unable to predict the future based on the past the Black Swan principle. This name is inspired by the the 17th Century early explorers. People in Europe had always assumed that all swans were white. Imagine their surprise when they found that black swans thatContinue reading “The Black Swan Model: the domesticated chicken and what it never expected”
Ancient words of the day: Arcadian Idyll
Arcadian Idyll: an idealised vision about rural life, a country paradise. Arcadia was and still is, a mountainous region in Greece. It was populated mainly by shepherds and the sleepy and fluffy flocks of sheep. In reality, rural life in Arcadia was harsh, poor and beholden to the ravages of unpredictable weather. However thatContinue reading “Ancient words of the day: Arcadian Idyll”
Book Review: Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism by Camille Paglia
Contrarian feminist Camille Paglia’s ideas infuriate most feminists. Her ideas are not for the faint-hearted or lilly-livered – she is a sex-positive, pro-abortion transgender woman with a no bullshit, straight-talking style that she combines with playful erudition and poetic pyrotechnics in this book. The New York Times review of her book basically called her aContinue reading “Book Review: Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism by Camille Paglia”
Strange Victorian Journeys Into the Fourth Dimension
The last gasp of Victorian spirituality infused cutting-edge science with old-school mysticism. Theosophy was all the rage; Many weird and and wonderful ideas being developed at the turn of the century around death, ghosts, the fourth dimension filled the Victorians with a palpable sense of possibility.
Every picture tells a story: Submerged into darkness
Every picture tells a story: Into the unknowable
Album Review: Robohands ‘Green’
In case you have been living under a rock, Robohands is a UK jazz musician whose real name is Andy Baxter. His debut album Green which came out in mid-2018 is superb. With almost zero effort to promote the album, Robohands has grown in underground popularity getting over a million views on his album andContinue reading “Album Review: Robohands ‘Green’”
Content Catnip 