Author Archives: Anton

number nerdery

The expansion of the universe manifests in odd ways. From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979): . . . two to the power of two hundred and seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and nine [276709 = 17·41·397] to one against. By a … Continue reading

Posted in general | 2 Comments

unAmerican

Movielens invites you to rate movies you’ve seen and offers recommendations according to your ratings. To my amusement, most of the top fifteen titles suggested to me are foreign: six Japanese (all by Miyazaki), four Chinese and one German.

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gravitas

I called a locksmith today and he said he recognized my voice’s “heavy tone” from a previous job. I wonder whether that’s a translation of a Chinese idiom. Perhaps my voice was gravelly, as it sometimes is in the early … Continue reading

Posted in language, me!me!me!, music+verse | 1 Comment

“I am damn unsatisfied . . .”

Novel digital effects (interesting though somewhat crude by current standards) and slapstick mitigate the pointlessness of Kung Fu Hustle but detract from the fight scenes. Would I like it better if I understood the language?

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stupid puns come to mind

Come Monday, I’ll be working in Menlo Park. How should I spend the early evening before braving the bridge?

Posted in California, me!me!me! | Leave a comment

Russia in three passes

A few years ago we thrilled to an exhibit by the Library of Congress of color photographs of Russian life made in 1909–15. Now I learn that the images shown there are a small fraction of the Prokudin-Gorskii plates, most … Continue reading

Posted in eye-candy, history | 1 Comment

jargon often travels poorly

Ken MacLeod‘s recent novel Newton’s Wake (whose title I’m not sure I understand) has a character say: What we do is you tell us some more about Eurydice and its beautiful people, and then you get tired and emotional, and … Continue reading

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