Monday morning, icy cold

[cleolinda]

So I finished Thunderstruck, the new Erik Larson, and it was very good. I won't say it wasn't as good as The Devil in the White City, because I think the subject matter of that book gave it a transcendent quality--the magical White City that was there, against all odds, against all sense, for less than a year, and then it was gone. The Marconi wireless, in addition to being something that did endure a while, didn't have that single-event quality that the World's Fair did. The story of the Marconi wireless has a beginning but not really an end--it's just there, and then it's either criticized or accepted. So in Thunderstruck, the murder half of the book really is more compelling, whereas I always said that it was a testament to Devil that the saga of building the massive fairgrounds in two years was actually more gripping than the serial killer plotline. (Both are nonfiction, by the way.) Here, the Crippen murder is the compelling storyline, but Larson manages to do something that the World's Fair/Holmes storyline didn't allow: the Marconi wireless actually becomes the means by which Crippen is caught--and Crippen is the means by which the effectiveness Marconi's wireless is finally proven. The two lines come together in a much more satisfying way, whereas Holmes and the Fair mostly seem to exist in proximity to each other, concurrently, but nothing more. More than anything, though, Larson is a consistently vivid storyteller, and I'm to the point where I pretty much buy anything he puts out without even knowing what it's about.


Linkspam:

U.S. strike targets al-Qaida in Somalia.

New Orleans faces a spike in killings.

Wildfire burns 8 mansions in Malibu.

Hawking hopes to go in space in 2009.

Prisoner "probably" ate parts of cellmate.

Van Halen, R.E.M. among Rock hall of fame entrants.

Kylie tops best-dressed list, topples Kate Moss.

Fed-Ex has a single fan, and he is... John Waters.

Batches of new Golden Compass stills: one; two.

judith_s: "Please buy the [25th anniversary DVDs, see link yesterday] of The Last Unicorn from Conlan Press, here to help out Peter Beagle who does need it. I'm not affiliated with the web site, but have been in touch with Peter and Connor about their fight with Granada Media."

cassildra: Forum talking about the legality of what Getty's doing (see yesterday's entry about Getty going after people high and low for using their images).

eofs: Thought this might amuse.

foresthouse: "My sister just told me that she's managed to book Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame) to perform at the Star Island Conference of the Arts that is coming up this summer. It's a week-long conference on an island off of Portsmouth, NH that has 6 workshops in various artistic disciplines as well as evening performances and other activities. It's phenomenal, and I had a fantastic time when I went 2 summers ago. I'm planning to go this summer. I'd love it if you could spread the word about the conference. P.S. Jen's got a childrens' author to do the writing workshop this year - have you ever heard of Elizabeth Levy who wrote Something Queer at the Ballpark? I liked it a lot when I was a kid. :)" At which point I flipped out, because I was obsessed with Levy's Something Queer at the Haunted School when I was about eight years old.

And finally:

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Royal Highness Cleolinda the Insouciant of Leighton in the Bucket Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Comments

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

The Marconi wireless, in addition to being something that did endure,

I haven't read the book, so I'm not sure quite how you mean that, but I wouldn't say the Marconi wireless endured in any general sense. Marconi's version of wireless wasn't really adaptable to voice communications, so it faded out. The radio we have now works differently -- Marconi's devices aren't a direct ancestor, more like a cousin to present day equipment.

The problem with Marconi's method was that, if sound wave were radio waves, it was like trying to transmit a message by clapping your hands. In a modern radio, we usually start with a continuous wave, which is more like the sound of a plucked string, and then we alter that in various ways (the tech term for it is "modulation").

There was actually an intermediate form of voice communication that was only used once in history that tried to simulate voice by doing the equivalent of clapping really fast at varying rates, but as you can imagine, it didn't work very well.

Marconi's main achievements were to introduce semi-practical long range wireless communications, and to prove that radio was a viable medium.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Ah--the book didn't really make that clear. What I meant, given what the book led me to believe, was that it surged ahead of the competitors and became the most viable... for a while, at least. Because I don't really know the history of telecommunications, and because I know the British call(ed) radio "wireless" ("I'll bring the wireless"), I assumed that it endured in some form. The comparison was meant to get across that the World's Fair was a single event that wasn't *supposed* to last more than tenth months or so, whereas a scientific development is an open-ended kind of thing, you know? It doesn't have the same poignancy as something you *know* is finite.

[sapphires13.livejournal.com]

WTF, John Waters?!

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

Icy cold? It's about twenty below zero here.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

'Waters is such a fan of K-Fed that he ordered his assistant to go out and get him the wannabe hip-hop star's CD when it came out last year.'

I can picture it:

Waters: You. *snaps fingers* Get me the new K-Fed CD.

Assistant: ...Do what now?

Waters: You heard me. Playing with Fire by Mr. Kevin Federline, and I want the change.

Assistant: ...Okay, this? This is too much. When you said 'Get me the D&C table from the abortion clinic that's closing across town,' I did it. When you said 'Get me the underwear Terri Schiavo was wearing when she died,' God knows it was hard, but I did it. But this? This I cannot do.

Waters: C'mon. It's just a CD. Pretend it's, I dunno, Death Cab for Cutie or whatever it is the kids listen to.

Assistant: NO. I'm the one who has to look in the mirror and know that I exchanged money for the musical stylings of K-Fed. I quit.

Waters: *sigh* Okay, guess I'll have to go on Amazon.com.

[corkdorkdan.livejournal.com]

K-Fed actually has two fans. Donald Trump also thinks he's "fantastic" according to a Larry King interview he did a month or two ago. In the same interview, I believe he said he didn't know what people saw in Angelina Jolie.

I saw that on the Daily Show, and you might be able to find it on YouTube.

[thyroyalmajesty.livejournal.com]

The map-in-lieu-of-address story reminds me of a story Oprah told on her show. A woman in India sent Oprah a letter, but instead of addressing the envelope, she taped a picture of Oprah's face on it. The letter got to her. Of course, Oprah's world-famous, white Peter O'Leary is not. And the drawn map of O'Leary's town is funnier, anyway.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *shivers*

[lady-moriel.livejournal.com]

I can't even decide what's more annoying--the insides of my car windows staying frosted up where they're impossible to scrape off so I can barely see when I'm driving, any wet hair freezing into spikes as soon as I step outside, my hands aching during my commute because the steering wheel's so fricking cold, the seats in my car basically frozen solid, or the fact that I managed to survive considerably nastier weather (especially if you factor in windchill; for instance, it's now -27° up there, but -50° with windchill) in Barrow and didn't whine about it half so much. I have apparently turned into a bit of pansy since moving here.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I see what you mean. The Marconi methods probably lasted about 20 years. I'm pretty sure you're right about why the British use "wireless" as the word for radio, since the general public probably didn't know or care what was happening inside the box, except for radio amateurs, of which there were a lot. There's a pretty direct comparison to bloggers. Those guys eventually became ham radio operators, and they're still around. My dad's a ham, actually, and so is his mother and (before he died) my great grandfather. He had one of those original Marconi-style spark gap transceivers, but it's long since lost. Sigh.
--
OT: Apple just released an iPhone that works with iTunes and has no buttons. It has some kind of special touch screen that's supposed to be very accurate so you can't push the wrong button by accident. Also, Apple seems to have reached some kind of deal with The Beatles, because that's whose music Steve Jobs played on the phone to demonstrate it this morning.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

somehow it makes perfect sense, though. i mean, the man is responsible for ricki lake's career...

OMG GOLDEN COMPASS

[wmetoile.livejournal.com]

I just got this enormous press kit/production art orgy from New Line and it's amazing. I don't know if you've seen any art of the polar bears in their armor, but they look fierce. In all senses of the world. And I suppose it goes without saying, but Daniel Craig = hott. Especially with his snow leopard behind him.

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

*gigglesnort*

Re: OMG GOLDEN COMPASS

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I've seen very rough art of the polar bears, but nothing on the snow leopard!

Re: OMG GOLDEN COMPASS

[wmetoile.livejournal.com]

I'll have to figure out if I can scan this giant sucker.

[lilgoala.livejournal.com]

And meanwhile, at least 2 Christmas cards per year for the last 3 years always arrive in our mailbox previously opened. And not accidentally torn, either, someone is deliberately poking his or her finger under the flap and ripping it open.

tekkie geek linkspam for you

[jennnk.livejournal.com]

Apple rolled out the iPhone at the MacWorld conference today. Pictures here: http://www.engadget.com/photos/first-iphone-pics/

and Steve Jobs talks about it here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/ (scroll down a bit)

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

I am glad for REM. They are one of the few great bands that deserve their fame these days.

[lenamoster.livejournal.com]

Since you link to a lot of information that people wouldn't get otherwise, I thought you might like to link to this: http://chocodance.livejournal.com/26296.html?mode
It's about an 18-ear-old Iranian girl sentenced to death for murder - she was defending herself and her niece from rapists. Clicking the link takes you to a more thorough description of what's going on, as well as another link to a petition calling for a retrial.

[agatha-mandrake.livejournal.com]

Wildfire burns 8 mansions in Malibu

Oh. No. Such. A tragedy.

I'm afraid I really can't muster too much sympathy. You build your house in a firebelt, eventually it's going to burn down.

(And I will now plug one of my favourite books: Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster, by Mike Davis. It's about Southern California's willful ignorance of its environment, and the ramifications thereof. Chapter 3 is "The Case for Letting Malibu Burn".)

[pinstripe-bindi.livejournal.com]

I got Thunderstruck for Christmas and am about 80 pages in. I'm impatient for Crippen to just off his wife already--although, after my experience with American Psycho maybe I shouldn't pray so hard for blood and mayhem. I spent the first half of that book going "Come ooooon, all this stuff about coke and Gucci is boring, kill someone already!" and the second half going "AAAAAH I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST READ NOT ENOUGH BRAIN BLEACH IN THE WORLD"

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

In a similar fashion, I spent half the book getting antsy for Crippen to kill someone, and then when... evidence was found, it was like "JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE HELL."

[lucky-guess.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Elizabeth Levy's books too -- I think we had 'Something Queer is Going On,' the first one, and the one with the lemonade and the fish, and the dog show one. Fabulous fun.

And John Waters is doing a tv show? My roomate and I are looking forward to it. We're big fans.

[laughing-cities.livejournal.com]

i loved Devil in the White City! i've been meaning to pick up Thunderstruck. the story line does sound interesing, do you recommend it?

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

GO HAWKING!

What wonderful Golden Compass stills. I only read the books a few weeks ago (well, I read the first one in sixth grade but remembered absolutely nothing of the plot), and I'm so excited about this movie. Lee Scoresby looks perfect.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Definitely. If you're not very scientifically minded (I'm not), you'll have to be patient through some of the Marconi chapters, but other than that, it's great.

[judith-s.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reposting that link to Conlan Media. I have been trying to help Peter Beagle find a forensic accountant that might do pro bono work. So far found one person who has done some work with them.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

What exactly happened in the first place?

[judith-s.livejournal.com]

The short version is that he had a profit deal with Grenada Media for the animated movie, where he would get a percentage of the gross profit, and the same for collateral sales (i.e. figurines, etc.) Grenada claimed/claims that the movie never made a profit, but has refused to let him inspect the books. They have also repeatedly changed the amount that the movie cost. Peter Beagle has no money, and hasn't been able to find a lawyer with a forensic accountant on staff who would be willing to take the case on a pro bono or percentage basis.

I gather that since the one accountant they have had look at it said "yes, you have a realistic case" they're now in negotiation for a settlement with Grenada. Hopefully it'll come to something.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

God, the "we didn't make a profit" gambit is so common with studios. I believe New Line even tried to lay that one on Peter Jackson re: Fellowship of the Ring, and if I recall correctly, they're still in court over the profit percentage they owe him. It's really, really crappy of them to pull this on a writer, though, because God knows writers make the least money, as far as major players go. I'll definitely mention this in the next entry.

Mary Pickford!

[purpleivey.livejournal.com]

I used to have that picture as an icon, only it wasn't a closeup like that.

Also, I totally misread "topples Kate Moss" as "topless Kate Moss" and was thinking she'd shown up topless somewhere... Kinda seems like something she'd do though...

[gwei-mui.livejournal.com]

That book sounds like it would go well with Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Mark Reisner. Same sort of idea, but focusing specifically on water resources, why people shouldn't really be living there in the first place, and how cities like LA managed to water themselves at all.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

Ironically enough, even though I alone on the earth had no desire to read HDM, I just got assigned them in my Adolescent Lit class. =)

Also on the YA front, did anyone else notice that the new sponsored comm on the front page is for a movie of Blood and Chocolate? OH MY GOD this had better not suck. I didn't read that book til I was twenty and I still adored it.

[jjrogueangel.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to say thank you for such positive reviews of The Illusionist. I ended up buying it yesterday and it was beautiful.

[velvet4269.livejournal.com]

The Malibu fires in 1994 managed to get part of Pepperdine, but only the hillsides. I remember most people on campus being more afraid of the rocket fuel tanks at JPL (pretty much, directly behind the campus) catching fire than the campus itself burning. A friend of mine at the time was working the guard booth when the flames started lapping at the hillside right across the stretch of road from him.

At some point, I'll have to steal my scanner back, and locate the 2 pictures I took from my dorm patio. They look like a sunset in a gorgeous, stormy sky - except for the fact that it was noon when I took the pictures, and the "storm clouds" were indeed clouds of smoke. I ended up evacuating with my suite mates, rather than staying on campus (one of the girls had asthma something fierce. She'd already killed off one inhaler, and was working her way through a second; to stay would have killed her), and all 6 of us were put up in a motel by Alex Trebec (at the bidding of his wife, my then-roommate's sister).

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Kidman is looking a bit Bond girl in the gold lame. And where be the polar bears?

[obigrrl.livejournal.com]

a possible movie sequel? art imitates life? hmmmm.... (http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou070110_mh_scorpion.279b1ace.html)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yay! It was one of those movies that had such a small release that I was afraid people wouldn't see it, you know? And like I said the first time I saw it, I know it's not flawless or anything, but it really is such a beautiful movie, you know?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that none of the CGI characters--the animals--will show up in publicity shots until far later in the year.

[agatha-mandrake.livejournal.com]

That sounds really interesting. I was in Vegas in 2002, and I spent the week wandering around, wondering why the hell there was a city in the middle of a desert (although the Venetian is really nice). I will have to check that book out.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I just read Devil in the White City and found it fascinating (& also horrifying, eep). My bf and I were just talking about whether we should check out Thunderstruck.

P.S. Leighton in the Bucket? That's awesome.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I didn't hear about it at ALL except through you, but as soon as I saw it in the store (never would have noticed it without the mention), I was like OMG magic and Edward Norton - I MUST HAVE THIS!!! So now I'm going to get it. I can't wait!

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

P.S. Whenever I comment on your journal or open an lj-cut here or anything like that, it takes a looooong time to load and seems to slow down all the IE windows. This doesn't happen for any other LJ, I wondered if maybe it was b/c you have so many visitors... I don't know, has anyone else mentioned something like that to you?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Huh, I have no idea. Have you tried clearing your cache (which is my standard answer for everything)?

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

By cache do you mean temporary files and cookies and things? Hm, I could try that.