Silver Jacket

Author: Matthew Hutson

  • Fractals Aren’t Just for Hippies

    GdfractalI was struck today by the similarities between two essays encouraging interdisciplinary science education. These excerpts are both worth the read, but if you’re in a rush, just compare the parts in bold. The first:

    General science education, often an afterthought, needs to be reconsidered, because scientific literacy is more important than ever. It’s not just essential to being a competent citizen who can understand, for example, why hydrogen fuel cannot solve energy shortages, or that a child who swallows a pencil lead will not get lead poisoning. Science is also critical because it is blending with the other realms of human knowledge.

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  • To Sleep, Perchance to Kick Some Ass

    PunchoutSunday’s New York Times Magazine carries an essay by D.T. Max on literary Darwinism, the use of evolutionary psychology to analyze the behavior of characters in literature. Near the end, it takes a moment to ask, "What can the purpose of literature be, assuming it is not just a harmless oddity?" Some possibilities:

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  • Eye of Le Tigre

    LetigreRemember the LeTigre clothing line? Those Izod wannabe’s from the near side of the pond? They’re attempting a comeback [pun intended. pun will become clear later.] but seem to be struggling with their identity. Go to their homepage and scroll through the marketing wankery. It begins: "LeTigre is an American classic…" and ends: "Sported by American icons such as Ronald Reagan, Wilt Chamberlain, Peter North, and LL Cool J, LeTigre is worn today by YOU!"

    An odd collection of characters. Wait, Peter North? Hmmm… let’s Google him. Whoa, Nelly! Um, maybe there is another Peter North, one who is obscured on Google by the popularity of certain recreational bodily functions. So we go to Wikipedia’s Peter North disambiguation page. Well, there’s the first one, and then the only other options are a Canuck and a Limey. Looks like we had the right guy.

    So what does LeTigre want with Peter North? It kind of puts a different spin on their interpretation of iconic Americana, but Wilt and LL "Big Ole Butt" Cool J do indeed seem to fit that picture. With Reagan, it’s more of a linguistic metaphor. With the screwing of the masses, and all of that.

    If you click on the "Contest" link, it takes you to http://www.collegehumor.com/hottestgirl/. So that’s LeTigre’s intended audience: young males, who we know are horndogs. But still, I can’t believe this knowing wink, this most rancid of Easter eggs, really made it past LeTigre’s PR office. Oh well. Ronald Reagan and Peter North. Two great communicators, brought together by style.

    update:
    It all makes sense. It’s been suggested to me that LeTigre isn’t aligning itself with the likes of Izod (and J. Crew and Polo). They just have a slightly preppier take on the American Apparel manifesto: using porn to go after the hipster ironist.

  • Embedded Music Journalism

    FistYesterday I was reading interviews with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and I came across what I think is the most tricky and yet correct and clear sentence by a rockstar in an interview that I have ever seen, containing about four levels of embedded clauses:

    "When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I’d love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie."

    And it’s finished with a flourish of "like."

    I emailed the linguist Mark Liberman at Language Log about it, and he promptly established "the Trent Reznor Prize for Tricky Embedding, to be awarded intermittently." As a sidenote, Mark also commented that "Reznor seems to be a bit confused about where footnotes go." But then, Trent didn’t get where he is today by properly formatting term papers.

    I also read an interview where Trent discusses his participation in Hurricane Katrina benefit concerts this past weekend, and it closes with the understatement of the week:

    "I don’t know that we’re the ultimate feel-good, everything-is-going-to-be-OK band. But hey, we’re doing what we can."

    I wonder if they played Fistfuck.

  • Nun Fun

    NunHalloween is over, but I thought I’d share my favorite Halloween story. It involves my parents, before I was born.

    One year for Halloween, when my dad was in divinity school, he dressed as a priest and my mom dressed as a nun. My mom’s older brother then took them to a Princeton alumni party in Cambridge, but my parents were the only ones in costume. So there were a bunch of guys, standing around in ties and blue blazers, who assumed my parents to be the real thing. My parents proceeded to spend the entire evening in the corner, making out. The young men were scandalized. My uncle was in stitches.

  • An “a-ha” Moment

    Only_clipMTV is finally playing the Nine Inch Nails video for "Only." (It’s been on NIN’s website since July.) And boy is it Mactastic!

    But seriously, do the VMA’s have an award for best use of iTunes and the desktop accessory lineup of Spencer Gifts in a metal/industrial video?

    Imagine "Take on Me", but instead of comic book panels you have one of those pin grid thingies that takes an impression of your hand. (Apparently it’s called a "pinpression." Who knew?) You can hear Trent thinking, "Help! I was at the mall and somehow I got trapped in a pinpression! Let me out! Must! Get! 80’s chick!"

    Shut up. He’s still more goth than you.

    More on the making of the video here and here. (It’s mostly CGI.) The director, David Fincher, is of course known for directing the films Fight Club and Alien3 and the video for Paula Abdul’s "Forever Your Girl."

    And in case you haven’t heard, Fincher and Reznor are currently developing a musical based on Fight Club. So badass.

  • A Tail of Two Sassies

    English_setterAll this talk of disturbed pets reminds me of my family’s second dog, a spritely  English Setter puppy that I named Sassafras, or Sassy for short. Our first dog, an adorable black and white Cocker Spaniel named Katie lived until 15, but she faded slowly, so her death was somewhat of a relief, and I was ready to start fresh.

    Sassy’s name turned out to be quite fitting, as her spirited nature often got the best of her. She’d go from a lapwarmer to a blur, a circular torrent of energy, tearing around the coffee table unprovoked for minutes at a time. Her behavioral quirks just made me love her more, perhaps because I could relate <grin>. Sassy and I were quite a pair.

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  • Don’t bogart the happy pills, human!

    HappydogGiving psychoactive meds to pets has become a pretty common practice, but I never considered whether zoo animals need them too. Apparently they do, as National Geographic documents. I only question one of Nat Geo’s examples:

    "Polar bears are notorious for pacing," explained zoo veterinarian Doug Whiteside. "They wander in the wild for long distances and probably have this internal drive to walk, and zoos can’t provide them with the huge distance."

    Whiteside said Misty significantly reduced her pacing when she was given the drug [Prozac] in 1995. She only had to stay on it for five months to cure the disorder. [emphasis mine]

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  • Open up and say “Derrrrr.”

    DanielIt’s not often that the mere title of a piece of art strikes me enough that I jot it down verbatim on the back of the gallery guide for later examination. Perhaps not ever. Until last week. The photograph bearing the striking title struck me as well, viscerally promoting its dark irony. But of course neither struck me as hard as a more tangible object appears to have struck the subject of the portrait in question.

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  • He Said, She Said

    BombNice to see the boys and girls playing together.

    In a fancy bit of service journalism, Maxim has offered a translation segment intending to broaden the horizons of horny dudes too insecure to open the pages of Cosmo. It goes as such:

    "DIRTY TALK
    BODY LANGUAGE
    Match the correct sexual term to its classy gal mag euphemism. (We can read!)"

    I'll stop there, but suffice it to say I've never heard "internal bliss bomb" around the locker room.

    Ah, what the hell, here they all are, correctly matched:

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