Faking It
Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor have written Faking It: the quest for authenticity in popular music, a book that tackles the "pop paradox": the harder popular musicians try to "keep it real," the faker their music becomes.
Wes Phillips
Woo Hoo Houdini!
The Smithsonian has a nifty slideshow on Harry Houdini. It's mostly posters, but the action shots are worth checking out.
Quantum Mechanics Just Got Even Stranger
Is that even possible?
Does Will Friedwald Have the Largest iTunes Library on Earth?
At 200,000 tracks, maybe so—but it only occupies 800GB, so he's using compression. My meager 12,000 track library eats a little over 200GB, using ALC.
Hidden Perils of Opera Singing
Via the OC Register's Tim Magnan. File this under "too much information." Also, keep out of the front rows.
Esquire Wants You to Die
Whether it does or not, you know you're going to. Eskie lists 60 things worth shortening your life for. I must be boring—only about 10 appealed to me, although I did find #s 38 & 39 intriguing.
Better Brel
Les Edelberg writes: "First, wanted to thank you for the Jacques Brel link yesterday. He's always been one of my favorites and I still listen to my original vinyl copy regularly. I think this clip is even more powerful than the one you posted Monday."
We Are Not Amused
Queen Bagheera reigns on my parade.
Are You Experienced?
Hendrix and Huckleberry—heavy party animals!
Heinlein in Hollywood
The Space Review has published an interesting look at Heinlein's collaborations with filmmakers. You've got to love an article that contains lines like this: "To the extent that such an awful piece of filmmaking can actually have a message, Rocketship X-M has a shallow and not terribly original message that nuclear war is bad for children and other living things. The universe is hostile, God hates us, and we’re all doomed. Have a nice day."