Bbenzon

Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. Intellectually, I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
MY BLOGS
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New Savanna
http://new-savanna.blogspot.com/
Humankind got its start on the African savannas some hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years ago. At various times in our cultural history we’ve moved to distinctly new cultural ground, as it were. And so we are moving now, and have been for the past half century. This blog is how I see that move. I'm broadly interested in culture and the brain. Within that compass, anything could show up here. Literature and films (including animation), certainly, music as well, and graffiti. But, other things may show up as well. It's a blog, don't you know, it moves.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 6824 )
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Little Known Fact: Santa's Reindeer Are All Female
From Language Log, of all places:According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female deer grow antlers in the summer each year,... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Do Literary Texts Count as Strong Evidence About the Human Mind?
Once again, I'm reposting this. My concern, as before, is with taking literary texts seriously, as primary evidence. Just how do we do that? Read more
Posted on 24 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
The Monster Plot in Gojira and the Trolley Problem
The Trolley Problem is a peculiar thought experiment that philosophers have invented to explore certain aspects of moral reasoning. Read more
Posted on 23 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Reeds, Focal Plane, Foto
I love shots like this:The visual material is simple, a bunch of reeds, all running more or less vertically. What I like to do is play around with the focal... Read more
Posted on 22 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
If Reality is Social, Then Where's Reality?
From a NYTimes article about an online game, Clash of the Clans, and a young man who was once the best in the world, George Yao:To those of us raised in the... Read more
Posted on 22 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Some Informal Thoughts About Romance, Monsters, and Myth Logic in Gojira
This is a long note I sent to my friend and colleague, Tim Perper, who brough Gojira to my attention a few years ago.* * * * *I’ve now been thinking through... Read more
Posted on 21 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Intersection of the Worlds Realized in Two Media
This is a slightly off-angle photograph of a painting I did in the summer of 1981:When I started it I had a simple formal problem in mind, to do a painting... Read more
Posted on 21 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Warhol Variations 2
There's an obvious similarity between these images and the earlier Warhol Variations I'd posted. They are derived from the same source material. Read more
Posted on 20 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ring Form Opportunity No. 4: Gojira is a Ring
I have now all but decided that Gojira is a ring form text. It took a bit of work to sort through the film once again, but I spotted a temporal anomaly, as in... Read more
Posted on 19 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Can't We All Get Along?
Eileen Joy has made a plea for more generosity in (academic) conversations: This is Not My (or, Our) Time, so Please Take Ecstasy With Me: The Necessity of... Read more
Posted on 19 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Communication, Coupling, and Criticism
All too often literary interaction between author and reader is thought of as the author sending a message to or conveying information to the reader. Of course... Read more
Posted on 18 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Frye on Comedy and Tragedy
First some notes on my encounter with Frye, and then some passages from the Anatomy on comedy and tragedy.* * * * *I believe that I have read through Northrup... Read more
Posted on 18 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ring Form, A Computational Approach
When I first discovered the structure of “Kubla Khan” I immediately began thinking in computational terms. Here’s the grouping structure for the first 36 lines... Read more
Posted on 17 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Photo Ontology 2
Five photos, each distinctly different from the others, together they suggest a world. Read more
Posted on 17 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Preview: Ring Form Opportunity No. 4: Gojira
Prompted by David Bordwell’s comment about King Kong being a candidate for ring form, I’ve decided to look into Gojira, the 1954 Japanese film that we... Read more
Posted on 17 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Cece’s Drum Lesson: Differentiated Control
This is a follow-up to Cece’s Jam. It’s about her drum lesson, that part that I saw when we re-entered the studio. Mitch was teaching her a basic drum beat. Read more
Posted on 16 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Ring Form Opportunity No. 3: Shakespeare
One book I discovered in Peterson’s “Measure and Symmetry in Literature” (PMLA, 91, 3, 1976, 367-375) in Mark Rose, Shakespearean Design (Harvard 1972). From... Read more
Posted on 16 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Two Problems for the Human Sciences, and Two Metaphors
My first post for 3 Quarks Daily is out (same title as this post). The post started out as a defense of the humanities, and I suppose it still is that. Read more
Posted on 16 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY -
Portrait of the Photographer as a Ghost in the World
Posted on 15 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY
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10 Influential Books
The "10 Influential Books" meme seems to be making the rounds again. I originally published this back in March of 2010. Here it is again, without revisions. Read more
Posted on 15 December 2013 CULTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SOCIETY