Everybody knows the saying, “men are from Mars; women are from Venus.” Well, some scientists now believe we might all be from Mars. (Sorry, Venus.)
Martians Among Us
Weltsday
Here's a Rob MacDonald poem about a spelling bee contestant struggling with the word weltschmerz to get you through your Wednesday.
On Board The Pequod
Recommended reading: Ben Shattuck spends a night and a day aboard a New England whaling ship in an attempt to better understand Ishmael's (and Melville's) experiences, and combines Moby-Dick excerpts with his own accounts of life onboard in a piece for The Atlantic.
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A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke’s science fiction is becoming reality. In 2014, a few strands of the late author's hair will travel on the first solar-powered spacecraft, which is named after his story, “Sunjammer.”
Producing The Counselor
When The Counselor (trailer here) opens in theaters this month, the occasion will mark a career milestone for Cormac McCarthy. The 80-year-old novelist has been writing original screenplays since the 1970s, but only one of them – a made-for-TV movie called The Gardener’s Son – was produced before this latest effort. Over at The Wall Street Journal, Alexandra Alter takes a look at the author’s involvement in the production of The Counselor, as well as its reception by several film industry insiders and devout McCarthy fans. ("McCarthy writing a sex scene is maybe not a great idea," one of them says.)
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George Carlin, tireless student of language
The Atlantic on George Carlin's seven dirty words as they turn 40 years old. You can watch a 1978 performance on YouTube, if you've never heard the routine. Maybe put the headphones on, though, as the language is, as you might expect, deliciously filthy, so yeah, NSFW.
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Typesetting in the Digital Age
From Abu Dhabi's The National, an interesting piece on the challenges of typesetting and book design on digital platforms: "With the coming of ebooks, this invisible craft must be reinvented if it is not to disappear."
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Like a Prayer
Thirty years after its initial publication, Don DeLillo’s White Noise is still every bit the hilarious, uncannily prescient classic that everyone believed it was. White nailed the whole “America poisoned by reality and the humming glow of computer screens” angle better than almost anyone. For more DeLillo, here’s what its like to re-read White Noise.
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