Hollywood

This is how it works.

The Literal and the Littoral

The latter being, literally, the seashore rather than the threshold. But one uses it for doorways, too. Let's not confuse the matter by bringing in litotes (meiosis by understatement). Litos means plain, after all. Litotes, simplicity.
I've made this distinction in regard to one of the great fantasy sequences, Durrell's Alexandria Quartet before. But I'm going to write a lot more about it in the next few days. Those of you who haven't armed yourself with a copy of The City & the City, duck.
It won't be about that, but it's made me reread all kinds of things.

Space Opera

Here are the covers of Gollancz's selection of classic space operas. But can space opera be space opera without a spaceship on the cover?

Happy Square Root Day, maths geeks!

Today is Square Root Day, being the 3rd of the 3rd '09. The next one is on the 4th of the 4th '16. But there's more excitement just around the corner. Pi Day on the 14th of this month.

Happy Birthday, Jackson

One of the worst things to happen to art, unless you like the pictures. The pictures made between, let's say, 1948 and 1952, of course, because no one in his right mind could like any of the others.
One view is that they're wallpaper. But almost everyone agrees agreeable wallpaper; more, brilliant wallpaper. You can't stand (as one used to in the old Tate, for example) in a room with nine Lee Krasners, three Jackson Pollocks, two Barnett Newmans and a Clyfford Still without saying: "That's rubbish, so's that, and that, and that, that's interesting, that's beautiful, that's crap, &c, &c."
The ones you thought were of some interest were the Newmans, the ones you thought beautiful were the Pollocks and the Still. It didn't mean you thought they were art, or great, or important. But they looked nice.
I love the pictures from that period, particularly Blue Poles and Lavender Mist, but I don't know why. He made them like this.

Pohl blogs

At the age of 89, Frederik Pohl has begun a blog.

Jinx

I don't believe in jinxes. But nor do I believe in tempting fate. Boing Boing posted this yesterday. Today a plane crashed into the Hudson.