Crochet Hypberbolics and the Nubbly Universe
At The Institute for Figuring, Dr. Donna Taimina brings “abstract mathematics into the realm of tactile experience” with her crocheted models of hyperbolic space. (Model galleries are along the sidebar).
I Read Adventure Novels for the Historical Exposition
From a purely critical standpoint, Louis L’Amour’s The Walking Drum is a gruesome mess. It’s a historical novel that constantly hits the reader on the head with blocks of exposition. The hero, Kerbouchard, is not only a nigh-invulnerable fighter, he’s one of the finest scholars of the twelfth […]
Elvis After Life
It’s funny. I knew today was the anniversary of Elvis’ death. I didn’t realize it was the 30th anniversary of Elvis’ long black limousine sliding into the beyond. A good hunk of his afterlife has been in comics. Let us take a moment of silence for the man […]
Frank Miller’s Hot Gates
A feeling’s been gnawing deep inside me for a while. A feeling that maybe Frank Miller’s hypermasculine antiheros and faceless, breast-thrusting women are exactly what they seem, not just sketchy parody. After reading 300, Miller’s 1998 account of the Spartans at Thermopylae, I don’t have any doubt: Miller […]
Winter’s Gone
Sometimes you find something just in time for it to die and the best you can offer is a good death. Once my roommate found a pigeon with a broken neck and brought it home. It spent a night in our bathtub before we took it to wildlife […]
A Pair of Killers
What makes a compelling book tick? Sometimes I find it hard to tell, especially if the story works so well that I don’t even think about the craft involved. A good way to get to know a book, especially for an otherwise quick reader like myself: listen to […]
The Cultural Gutter 