Sunday, 25 July 2010

Thirst Quenching

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.
— Carl Sagan 'The Demon-Haunted World'

Saturday, 24 July 2010

Myth

… whenever a myth has been taken literally its sense has been perverted; but also, reciprocally, … whenever it has been dismissed as a mere priestly fraud or sign of inferior intelligence, truth has slipped out the other door.
— Joseph Campbell

Friday, 23 July 2010

Warning Girls Through Metaphor

The folk tale 'Pinocchio' can be read as allegorical for the inverse correlation of male truthfulness with male sexual arousal.

Monday, 19 July 2010

Shock The Monkey

All bridges burning behind me,
all safety beyond reach ...
the monkey feels his chains out blindly,
only to find himself released.
— Peter Hammill 'La Rossa'

Sunday, 18 July 2010

The Criminal Mind

Frank Sinatra's favourite Lennon & McCartney song was 'Something' by George Harrison.

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Spin

Well, that's like hypnotising chickens.
— Iggy Pop 'Lust For Life'

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

The Dispossessed

We carry in our hearts the true country
And that cannot be stolen
We follow in the steps of our ancestry
And that cannot be broken
— Midnight Oil 'Dead Heart'

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Sense Of Place


And I was green, greener than the hill
Where flowers grew and sun shone still
Now I’m darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be
— Nick Drake 'Place To Be'

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Disappearing Nuances

Envy: wanting what someone else has
Jealousy: not wanting someone else to have what you have

Alternate: every other one
Alternative: another

Sects Anagram


Wednesday, 7 July 2010

L'Étranger

Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
— Ambrose Bierce

Boofheadism

When do jingoism and patriotism tip over into boofheaded nationalism, elitism, or worse, racism?
— Doug Anderson

Town Planning

Rome wasn't built in a day — it just looks that way.
— Doug Anderson

Football

A competition involving the attempt to score/fertilise goals/eggs with a ball/sperm propelled by humans.

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Admirror

Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.
— Ambrose Bierce

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

Acquaintance. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to.
— Ambrose Bierce

Mixed Metaphunction

Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
— Ambrose Bierce

Semiotics Anagram


A Gender Not Hidden

Every man for himself.
— Laurie Anderson 'Big Science'

He said: Isn't it. Isn't it just like a woman?
She said: It takes. It takes one. It takes on to. It takes one to know one.
He said: Isn't it just like a woman?
She said: She said it. She said it to no. She said it to no one.
— Laurie Anderson 'It Tango'

Monday, 5 July 2010

The Discovery Of North America

1492. As children we were taught to memorise this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.
— Kurt Vonnegut

Economics Anagram


Sunday, 4 July 2010

The Three Arse

"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied; "and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."
— Lewis Carroll 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

Otherwisdom

Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.
— Lewis Carroll 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

Sound Sense

Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.
— Lewis Carroll 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

Might Just As Well

"Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
"I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least — at least I mean what I say — that's the same thing, you know."
"Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"
"You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"
"You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same thing as 'I sleep when I breathe'!"
— Lewis Carroll 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

Mot Riddle

Why is a raven like a writing-desk?
 — Lewis Carroll 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

(Because Poe wrote on both.)

Saturday, 3 July 2010

Beeing And Bisectedness

Half a bee, philosophically,
Must, ipso facto, half not be.
But half the bee has got to be
Vis a vis, its entity. D'you see?

But can a bee be said to be
Or not to be an entire bee
When half the bee is not a bee
Due to some ancient injury?

Is this wretched demi-bee,
Half-asleep upon my knee,
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric the half a bee!

I love this hive, employee-ee,
Bisected accidentally,
One summer afternoon by me,
I love him carnally.

— Monty Python 'Eric The Half A Bee'

How Academia Works

Brian: Are you the Judæan People's Front?
Reg: Fuck off!
Brian: What?
Reg: Judæan People's Front! We're the People's Front of Judæa! Judæan People's Front … cor!
Francis: Wankers!
Brian: Can I join your group?
Reg: No. Piss off!
Brian: I didn't want to sell this stuff. It's only a job. I hate the Romans as much as anybody.
PFJ: Sssh, ssssh, sssh, sssh, ssssh
Judith: Are you sure?
Brian: Oh. Dead sure ... I hate the Romans already!
Reg: Listen. If you really wanted to join the PFJ, you'd have to really hate the Romans.
Brian: I do!
Reg: Oh yeah? How much?
Brian: A lot!
Reg: Right. You're in. Listen. The only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judæan People's Front.
PFJ: Yeah
Judith: Splitters!
Francis: And the Judæan Popular People's Front.
PFJ: Oh yeah. Splitters!
Loretta: And the People's Front of Judæa.
PFJ: Splitters!
Reg: What?
Loretta: The People's Front of Judæa. Splitters!
Reg: We're the People's Front of Judæa!
Loretta: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg: People's Front!
Francis: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg: He's over there.