Brain Science Podcast by Ginger Campbell, MD
May 30, 2009
If you have a brain, this is the podcast for you.
The Brain Science Podcast by Ginger Campbell, MD is a wonderful example of what a podcast can be. Begun in 2006 and going into its third year, this is a great introduction to neuroscience. I can’t imagine anyone not finding this material fascinating. I just discovered it, so I’m happily wading through all 57 episodes, most of them a hour long.
Dr. Campbell is an experienced emergency physician with a long-standing interest in mind-body medicine, the brain, and consciousness. In this podcast she shares recent discoveries from the world of neuroscience in a way that people of all backgrounds can enjoy. — from her web site
For example, Episode 21 which discusses Body Maps with Sandra Blakeslee, author of The Body Has a Mind of its Own: How body maps in your brain help you do (almost) everything better is an especially interesting one. It explains how the function of the parietal lobe in the brain may be responsible for people’s belief in the effectiveness of so-called ‘energy’ treatments like Reiki and Therapeutic Touch.
Zombie-Alert for Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, May 31st
May 18, 2009
This just in — the Centers for Deceased Control & Prevention has announced a Z-Alert for Brooklyn, NY on Sunday, May 31st.
Photo from drivenbyboredom.com. NOTE: Not all photos on Drivenbyboredom.com are SFW.
Recently analyzed data suggest that the outbreak will begin at The Charleston, located at 174 Bedford Avenue, between North 7th and 8th Streets in Williamsburg.
“We have information that leads us to believe there will be a Zombie infestation somewhere in Brooklyn that afternoon, specifically mid-afternoon around 2:00 p.m.,” said Amber MacArthur, spokesperson for the CDC.
The CDC is making a special request to the 3D community: all NYC-area stereo photographers and videographers are being asked to document the activities of the Zombie horde and make these images available for later study.
“Of course, we’d like to be on the scene ourselves,” said Ms. MacArthur, “but our resources are stretched rather thin right now, as you might imagine. We feel that examining the 3D images will be almost as good as being there.”
Citizens are urged to approach Zombies with caution, although due to their slow, shambling gait it is believed that most active New Yorkers will be able to outdistance the undead, should that become necessary.
As a precaution the CDC recommends that you wash your hands thoroughly (a minimum of 20 seconds or so) should you have any contact with a Zombie, to avoid spreading the contagion.
“Preparing people for emerging health threats is one of CDC’s overarching goals,” MacArthur explained. “We handle everything from bio-terrorism to pandemics, so it was obvious that we needed to bring our expertise to bear on the emerging Zombie problem.”
FOR UPDATED INFORMATION, GO TO www.nyczombiecrawl.com
Zombie Novel as a Work of Art? Tony Burgess’ “Pontypool Changes Everything”
May 13, 2009
When I hear the word culture. . .I reach for my gun.* So perhaps I’m not the ideal critic to proclaim a Zombie novel as a work of art. But I will say that Tony Burgess’ Pontypool Changes Everything is a ripping yarn, a great read and feels more like an indie-art novel than your typical Zombie thriller. Click on image for larger size.
A film version is due out this year, but it’s hard for me to imagine how any 2 hour movie could capture more than a fragment of what goes on in these densely packed 280 pages. I literally could not put this book down — it arrived on a Saturday afternoon and within 24 hours I finished it. It grabbed me from the first page and would not let go.
I’m going to excerpt a paragraph from the middle of the book as I think this will give you a sense of the quality of Burgess’ prose. It’s damning with faint praise to say that this is the best Zombie novel ever written. This is just a great novel, period.
In this little patch of land, a sort of smudge at the edge of a new drawing, a doomed population of wildlife was living out its final generation in manic friendlessness. Snakes copulated on the drying scalp of the terrain. A fox scrambled back and forth along an unearthed concrete conduit. A million mites lived on the rust from a single bard of wire. At night their eyes shone and their microscopic faces vibrated with insanity. Migrating birds that had made this a rest spot for hundreds of years now sensed that something was terribly wrong. They lit on the backs of barrels in the fat brown river, and when their young looked hungrily at a suicided worm or a grinning minnow, they clicked their beaks, sadly, “No.” At night a faint popping sound could be heard up and down the river, as weak heart valves in the young owl population strained to sustain life until morning.
________________________________________________
*“When I hear the word culture. . .I reach for my gun” is a phrase associated with the Nazi leadership in WWII. It’s adapted from a play written in 1933 by Hanns Johst, a pro-Nazi writer and member of the Waffen SS. The play, Schlageter, a biography of the proto-Nazi martyr Albert Leo Schlageter was first performed on Hitler’s birthday to celebrate his election.
The line is actually, “When I hear the word culture. . .I release the safety on my Browning!”
This is a reference to the Browning Hi-Power Automatic Pistol, preferred by some Germans over the native Luger (the Browning held 13 shots, the Luger just 8).
Are you Schizophrenic? If Not, Then Why Do All Your Friends Say You Are? The Hollow Mask Illusion
April 23, 2009
A standard plastic Halloween mask of Charlie Chaplin [click for larger image, above] is rotated on a short pole. When the inside, or back of the mask comes into view, you should be seeing a sunken-in face, the opposite of the front view, the reverse of normal.
But the face recognition module that you have in your brain is so strong that it immediately re-interprets the features into a normal-looking face, a positive image. Here’s a clear example of the top-down processing over-ruling the input.
See the video, here courtesy of Britain’s Your Amazing Brain.org.
Apparently though, if you are ill with schizophrenia or on certain drugs, (cannabis, for example) this part of the brain malfunctions and you don’t perceive this illusion. You see, correctly in this instance, the reverse of a normal face with a nose sinking inward.
So if you can’t see the Hollow Mask Illusion, you’re probably a crazy schizo! Hah! Either that, or you’ve got yourself some righteous weed, dude.
Firesign Theatre – 40th Anniversary of Nick Danger
April 23, 2009
The Monterey County Herald has a nice piece on the Firesign Theatre’s 40th Anniverssary of Nick Danger, here.
I’ve always loved those 4 or 5 crazy guys. We go way back, to the 1960s even. I used to smoke catnip, listen to them and pretend I was in college.
You can celebrate with their newest collection, Firesign Theatre’s Box of Danger: The Complete Nick Danger Casebook, available from several online retailers. Yes, friends, if you were to go into a record store and ask for them, they would think you were crazy.
Rest assured, dear friends, Nick Danger lives on in stereo hi-fi.
Moving Murals on public walls by Rufus B. Seder
April 23, 2009
Rufus B. Seder has made books (Gallop and Swing) and greeting cards move, but he should be best known for his large scale moving wall murals.
- For a short CNN video, go here.
- For a detailed explanation of the Lifetiles process, go here to the Eye Think, Inc. website.
- For a great collection of short videos on individual public installations, here.
BigDog Quadraped Robot
April 23, 2009
Boston Dynamics has created the prototype for a military robot, the BigDog, revisiting the old concept of two legs good, four legs better. Check out a pretty cool video here and the Boston Dynamic site here.
Nixon’s Unused Speech: If Neil Armstrong Died on the Moon — Rest in Peace
April 20, 2009
From Watergate.info: In July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The following speech, revealed in 1999, was prepared by Nixon’s then speechwriter, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts on the moon:
Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
Presidents come and presidents go; you only get one Nixon in your life.
For me, there will only ever be a single President in that network of neurons holding the template for all Presidents and that is Richard Milhous Nixon, American. He embodied all the contradictions of the office and his own obsessive personality in a time of great national crisis. he brought the word “Shakespearean” into casual use when discussing the arch of his 1 and 1/2 terms of office.
If you are too young to have had direct experience of Nixon, you may wonder who is this Angry Irishman with the jowls and eternal 5 o’clock shadow? What does Nixon have to do with everyday life, today? 
I’d direct you to Rick Perlstein’s outstanding Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America for the answers to those questions. Relive the thrilling days of yesteryear when “there was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air” in the Amerikkka of 1969.
Then rent the real Frost/Nixon Interviews from 1977 (available through Netflix) and see what Ron Howard’s mega-hit movie was really about.
The Art of the Zombie Walk
April 18, 2009
Scroll down below for some thoughts and information about Zombie Walks. Here, a collection of posters announcing Zombie Walks held across the nation and abroad.
Pretty impressive for a recent ‘underground’ phenomenon.
I especially like the range of approaches shown here. You can see how this act of street theater can be pitched to all slices of the target audience: Shaun of the Dead fans, the Romero Purists, the Resident Evil T-virus bio-plague Umbrella Company conspiracy franchise, the Robert Kirkman Walking Dead comic book zombie apocalypse, the not-dead-so-technically-not-zombies-rage-virus unfortunates in the 28 Days and Weeks mythos.
Zombies—and the people who love them and wanna be just like them— seem to be everywhere these days. One of the reasons may be that the contemporary zombie fan has more and better zombie-related entertainment — in more formats — than ever before.
Comic books: The Walking Dead, just past its 5 year mark and issue number 60, by creator & writer Robert Kirkman, art by Charlie Adlard.
Video Games & Films: Resident Evil, three films starring the luscious Milla Jovovich; the video game has just released its 5th edition. Plus, a mention must be made of Aspyr’s Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (2005) and its kick-ass soundtrack album. The soundtrack to this video game is one you won’t be a shamed to own, I swear!
It features an eclectic range of 50s and 60s covers like Oranger’s eerie electronica version of Mr. Sandman, Ben Kweller’s Lollipop, Death Cab for Cutie’s Earth Angel, Clem Snide’s Tears on My Pillow, an explosive take on Shaking All Over by Rose Hill Drive, the Ravonette’s My Boyfriend’s Back, a mechanical pop-clock work stroll through All I Have to Do is Dream (filled with discordant sound effects) by the Dandy Warhols and the one original cut by Phantom Planet, The Living Dead:
It’s no use
Go run and hide
You can’t escape this
Sea of sunken eyes
You know
We got the look
We got the push
We got the pull
Now
Who do you think
Is gonna rise when
Hell is full?
Films: Dawn of the Dead (re-make in 2004 by Zach Snyder); Shaun of the Dead (the classic rom-zom-com from 2004); Land of the Dead (2005) and Diary of the Dead (2007) both from George Romero, Fido (2006) a charming, little seen comedy with Billy Connelly as a domesticated zombie and Carrie-Ann Moss as the mom of the family who owns him.
Books: Until very recently this field was owned by Max Brook with his The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, coming to the big screen in 2010, directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, Monster’s Ball) with a screenplay by J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Clint Eastwood’s Changeling, 2008).
There is surprising competition from Jane Austen and her new collaborator Seth Grahame-Smith with their best-selling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Grahame-Smith has signed a deal for two more period horror humor pieces in a deal that could be worth as much as $575,000. Next up: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
If you’re not familiar with the term, a Zombie Walk is an organized event where people gather to roam a section of a city dressed as and behaving like Zombies.
It’s a public celebration of the rising popularity of the Zombie amongst today’s thrill crazed youth.
I blame Television and Neglectful Parenting for this.
Constant text-messaging and also the Interwebs and Twitter have left today’s thrill crazed youth particularly susceptible to the Walking Sickness, it seems.
Some Zombie Walks are more like pub crawls in tattered costume; others are organized enough that they have ‘victims’ pretending to be ordinary citizens along their route. The taking of a ‘random’ passerby, mobbing them with a small horde of Zombie-enactors and having them emerge with clothes torn, bloodied and now staggering to join the Slackjaw side must provoke at least a few anxious looks.
Zombie Walks take place through out the year, though, of course, Fall is the most active season in America given the association with the coming of Winter and traditional Halloween celebrations.
A television program airing weekly in Pittsburg, PA called The It’s Alive Show has been organizing World Zombie Days, at which participants arrive in Zombie regalia with canned goods and non-perishable food items to donate to local food banks. World Zombie Day 2009 will take place on Sunday, October 11. World Zombie Day 2008, held on October 26, had close to 50 cities participating with more than 7,500 zombies shambling along with dead eyes and a hunger for. . .brains!
In Pittsburgh they hold their Zombie Fest at the Monroeville Mall, the site where George Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead (with its nun zombies, cheerleader zombies and football helmeted zombies) was filmed in 1977. 1,341 people participated in 2008 and they are awaiting Guinness certification as an official world record.
But later that month on October 30, Grand Rapids, Michigan experienced a record-breaking Zombie outbreak with an official tally of 3,370 participants. Over three thousand people in one place, getting their slack jaw zombie groove on. And friends, they might think it’s a movement. Source.
For info on the New York City Zombie Crawl, whose motto is “When there’s no more Booze in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth,” go here.
Get your official NYC Zombie Crawl T-shirt, designed by E. J. Matos here. Click on image for larger size.
Just so long as no one starts discussing implementation of the Redeker Plan.
At some point in the coming zombie apocalypse it becomes clear that only a portion of the civilian population can be saved. What to do?
Pull back your armed forces and that portion of the population that posesses the vital skills society will need for rebuilding. Retreat to a location that can be fortified and has natural obstacles to recommend it; mountains, rivers, deep gorges and canyons, islands.
The remaining refugees, the bulk of the population, are to be herded into special isolated zones. They must be kept alive, well defended and even resupplied, if possible. You see, these survivors are deliberately left behind to slow and absorb the flow of zombie hordes trailing the armies’ withdrawal into ‘safe zones.’ Grim stuff, this zombie renaissance.
Ha, ha! How silly it all is—there’s no such thing as zombies. Still, the Redeker Plan gives me the creeps (from Brook’s World War Z).
A pattern is emerging.
First, a few small isolated incidents. Then larger and larger occurences, expanding geometrically.
Soon these will grow to form a chain of outbreaks until
no one,
anywhere,
is safe!
Aldous Huxley video interview by Mike Wallace, 5/18/58
April 7, 2009
Thanks to the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, there’s a wonderful segment from the ABC program The Mike Wallace Interview featuring Aldous Huxley speaking on May 18, 1958.
Regular visitors to this site know that, in my opinion, the two greatest writers of the past century were Aldous Huxley and A.J. Liebling. So far I’ve yet to discover any audio or video featuring Liebling (if any exists I invite my readers to share that with us all). But there are a few recorded lectures and programs like this one that give you a sense of Huxley as a personlaity and a speaker.
Click on the image above or here to view this piece of television history. Topics covered include over-population, birth control, drugs, television, advertising, the rise of ever more efficient bureaucracies and threats to human freedom.