Thanks do much for this delicious meal! An expat with no plans to gather for a Thanksgiving dinner, I needed this varied and rich offering so much. Delectable and low-cal.
Thanks Brian…love this especially the unexpected nod to Korean cinema. and the healing power of ancient concrete. I worry so much about the death of expertise in our current culture. hard to believe we went to the moon with slide rules and only a few transistors.
Wonderfully interesting as usual. Permit me a simplistic jab about why the Romans made their concrete so well: They cared. Or at least, the prime object was the quality of the work, not the ROI. As for today’s chattering classes, I wish they wouldn’t. PS: Bought the book and looking forward to it!
Does that mean the caring was coerced or that they took what they built seriously? We have neither that level of care nor that level of responsibility today.
Our minds today receive, any given day, a great deal more stimulii from our surroundings, vocations, wanderings, interractions than we would have in, say, 1920 ( ??)
At 'the end of the day' in 1920 we might wish for stimulating, absorbing 'entertainment': a book, radio, movie, cards, conversations: entertainment via mental engagement, primarily.
At 'the end of the day' in the 2020's....saturated by busy lives, exhausted, overstimulated ( ??) we hit the couch for entertainment that excites with visuals, and asks little of us.
(Entertainment by watching, vs entertainmernt by thinking.)
I disagree. Stimuli are not stories. If stimuli are unwanted noise, as you seem to suggest and with which I agree, then stories are signals — much needed signals that balance our moods and values.
Your review of Gladiator II sparked a memory of my own. When my two sons were about 7 and 8 they were fascinated by some of the action characters and wanted to see a then new action movie. I decided to take them and to carefully watch their reaction to be sure I wasn't making a mistake by allowing their youthful minds to be impacted by the violence I was sure would be on the screen. As we left the theater, one of my sons excitedly asked the other, "What's your best part?" Rather than a vivid description of an action scene or two this ended up with them talking about whether the characters in the movie, as portrayed, were believable in terms of how they reacted to each other.
Lest you think I was coming from some well thought out educational theory or 1990's advanced parenting class, I will admit that in taking them to the movie I was reacting to a mistake my spouse and I had made when they were younger. As they got to the age where they could watch TV, we carefully took control over their viewing habits. Sesames Street yes, cartoons, no. Unfortunately, after the first six months in a daycare setting when they were 5 and six, wee had a conversation with the woman who ran the program. When asked how the boys were doing, she had a funny look on her face. Turns out they spent large amounts of time glued to the TV watching cartoons, which fascinated, them rather than engaging with the type of play the other kids were doing. Ordinary play that mostly engaged them at home.
I think Hollywood generally writes scripts for the lowest common denominator of audience. I remember a story told about the original Star Trek series. The suits almost killed it because they thought it was "too cerebral" for the audience. 🙄 I wonder how many potentially great movies and series have been killed over the years by that attitude?
Thank you for the link to Aeon! Something else new and interesting to read!
In college, I had no enthusiasm for Intro to Sociology because the stuff it taught didn’t seem real. Pre-med was real. What you’re saying is, my 20-year-old opinion was right? Likely more nuanced than that.
happy thanksgiving you and yours. thanks this latest food for brain. earlier, you recommended peep show and i luv it. so well written. snappy. real. now, i will find memories of murder and gladiator. thanks again your lovely interesting prose and essays. j.
What I always thought was interesting is that George box married Joan fisher and even “collaborated” with her regarding her biography of her father Ronald.
“In 1959, Box married Joan Fisher, the second of Ronald Fisher's five daughters. In 1978, Joan Fisher Box published a biography of Ronald Fisher, with substantial collaboration with Box.”
Thanks do much for this delicious meal! An expat with no plans to gather for a Thanksgiving dinner, I needed this varied and rich offering so much. Delectable and low-cal.
I loved all these stories. And small things count: you use ‘myriad’ correctly (of course). It so seldom is.
Thanks Brian…love this especially the unexpected nod to Korean cinema. and the healing power of ancient concrete. I worry so much about the death of expertise in our current culture. hard to believe we went to the moon with slide rules and only a few transistors.
So many interesting nuggets, Brian! I especially like the concrete and the microbiome stories.
Footnote #2: 😂
Fascinating stuff. Footnote 2 made my Thanksgiving a little bit of self-healing happy.
Wonderfully interesting as usual. Permit me a simplistic jab about why the Romans made their concrete so well: They cared. Or at least, the prime object was the quality of the work, not the ROI. As for today’s chattering classes, I wish they wouldn’t. PS: Bought the book and looking forward to it!
I read somewhere that the Romans used to stand the foreman under a newly built arch, when they removed the supports. That would make you care!
Does that mean the caring was coerced or that they took what they built seriously? We have neither that level of care nor that level of responsibility today.
scripts and dialogue and stories matter less
Our minds today receive, any given day, a great deal more stimulii from our surroundings, vocations, wanderings, interractions than we would have in, say, 1920 ( ??)
At 'the end of the day' in 1920 we might wish for stimulating, absorbing 'entertainment': a book, radio, movie, cards, conversations: entertainment via mental engagement, primarily.
At 'the end of the day' in the 2020's....saturated by busy lives, exhausted, overstimulated ( ??) we hit the couch for entertainment that excites with visuals, and asks little of us.
(Entertainment by watching, vs entertainmernt by thinking.)
Yes I can see your point, but how dystopian is that?
And on top of that I see now that I misspelled 'entertainment'
Dystopian, and a bad speller
( 'misspelled'-- Canadian, vs 'misspelt' Brit pref.)
I disagree. Stimuli are not stories. If stimuli are unwanted noise, as you seem to suggest and with which I agree, then stories are signals — much needed signals that balance our moods and values.
Your review of Gladiator II sparked a memory of my own. When my two sons were about 7 and 8 they were fascinated by some of the action characters and wanted to see a then new action movie. I decided to take them and to carefully watch their reaction to be sure I wasn't making a mistake by allowing their youthful minds to be impacted by the violence I was sure would be on the screen. As we left the theater, one of my sons excitedly asked the other, "What's your best part?" Rather than a vivid description of an action scene or two this ended up with them talking about whether the characters in the movie, as portrayed, were believable in terms of how they reacted to each other.
Lest you think I was coming from some well thought out educational theory or 1990's advanced parenting class, I will admit that in taking them to the movie I was reacting to a mistake my spouse and I had made when they were younger. As they got to the age where they could watch TV, we carefully took control over their viewing habits. Sesames Street yes, cartoons, no. Unfortunately, after the first six months in a daycare setting when they were 5 and six, wee had a conversation with the woman who ran the program. When asked how the boys were doing, she had a funny look on her face. Turns out they spent large amounts of time glued to the TV watching cartoons, which fascinated, them rather than engaging with the type of play the other kids were doing. Ordinary play that mostly engaged them at home.
I think Hollywood generally writes scripts for the lowest common denominator of audience. I remember a story told about the original Star Trek series. The suits almost killed it because they thought it was "too cerebral" for the audience. 🙄 I wonder how many potentially great movies and series have been killed over the years by that attitude?
Thank you for the link to Aeon! Something else new and interesting to read!
In college, I had no enthusiasm for Intro to Sociology because the stuff it taught didn’t seem real. Pre-med was real. What you’re saying is, my 20-year-old opinion was right? Likely more nuanced than that.
One quibble: “The Avengers” has a host of conflicted characters, they just happen to have superpowers.
hi brian:
happy thanksgiving you and yours. thanks this latest food for brain. earlier, you recommended peep show and i luv it. so well written. snappy. real. now, i will find memories of murder and gladiator. thanks again your lovely interesting prose and essays. j.
What I always thought was interesting is that George box married Joan fisher and even “collaborated” with her regarding her biography of her father Ronald.
I didn’t know that!
From Wikipedia:
“In 1959, Box married Joan Fisher, the second of Ronald Fisher's five daughters. In 1978, Joan Fisher Box published a biography of Ronald Fisher, with substantial collaboration with Box.”
https://a.co/d/bJb4HsV
(Cover of fisher’s biography: notice the author name: Joan fisher box)