Medieval Party Music, Plus Cyberflanerie: Clive James on Lewis Namier; Ilya Zorn's Typewriter, Bob Lefsetz, Rachel Laudan & Etc

More and extra-wicked-effective email ninjerie... I am whittling down my Outlook Express inbox to the Medieval Music Party Mix:

Because of multiple household and office moves this summer and fall I have gotten so woefully behind with my correspondence that you might wonder how I can proffer advice on managing email (one of the top posts in the 11-year history of this blog). Well, gentle reader, point number 9 of my 10-Point E-Mail Protocol is...

....drumroll....

....boomwackers and bongo drums... 

... enter stage left, monkey in turquoise silk suit, a-banging a garbage can lid... 

....descending from ceiling, forest of gamelan bells... 

... and another... 

...drumroll...

APOLOGIZE.

Works better than a charm! And when it doesn't, well, the world keeps turning, with everybody on it managing as best they can. Somebody wins the lottery, somebody wins the booby prize, and the sun will rise again tomorrow replete with infinite possibilities, except for the dead who have, bless them all, achieved inbox verily zero.



CYBERFLANERIE

Grow new brain cells whilst reading Clive James on Lewis Namier!

Over at my other blog, Maximilian and Carlota, for researchers of Mexico's Second Empire & French Intervention, a post on Konrad Ratz's Correspondencia inédita entre Maximiliano y Carlota.

Life in a Typewriter Shop: The Amazing Story of Ilya Zorn and her Gold Royal Typewriter. (Yes, I have been pulled into the surprisingly charming orbit of the Typosphere...)

Nigeria-Norway fish connection via food historian Rachel Laudan. (As Laudan says, it's nerdy, but I say, Total Yum if you like salted fish and Quintuple Wow Yum if you happen to be fascinated by food history and economic history.)

Bob Lefsetz on the Enimem video. This is important reading about an alligatoresque moment in the swamplands of US culture and politics-- and precisely why it is such a moment-- and it is especially important reading for those (and that would include myself) who would sooner buy a rabid raccoon than download an Eminem tune. Hey, that rhymes! Uh oh. Naughty Muse.

"Casual empiricism suggests"-- I spotted this marvelous pompadour of a phrase over at Marginal Revolution blog, quoting one Todd D. Kendall. "Little gems": Not just a kind of lettuce! As casual empiricism suggests.


P.S. 

I am truly honored that Joseph Hutchinson, Poet Laureate of Colorado, has reviewed my latest Kindle, "Dispatch from the Sister Republic or, Papelito Habla," a longform essay about the Mexican literary landscape written with todo mi corazón. Check it out.


> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.

Cyberflanerie: Cymru and Comanche

What is Writing (Really)? And a New Video with Yours Truly 

Talking About Four Exceedingly Rare Books

Cyberflanerie: Carnyx Edition

Top 21 Surfing Faves: Marginal Revolution, Scott Adams, Holding the Light, Root Simple, Apifera Farm, Book Man's Log, Kevin Kelly, and More

Yes, it is true that most blogs, never better than mediocre, end up abandoned as their authors migrate over to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like. Nonetheless, there are many worthy, richly fascinating, and consistently updated blogs out there, some old, many new. Herewith, I share with you, dear reader, a my top 21 surfing faves as of this month.

CRUNCH-CH-CH-Y ECON & ROARINGLY ECLECTIC WHATNOT

Marginal Revolution



DILBERTERIE AND PERSUASION FILTER-O-RAMA

Scott Adams 
By the way, if at first glance Adams' blog appears pro-Trump, look again, it is not. Over the past months Adams has been analyzing and explaining some of the more esoteric techniques that Trump employs in his speeches and debates and even Tweets. Long before any of the op-ed crew in major media, Adams predicted the rise of Trump. His blog is fascinating reading, and it's worth the trouble to read many of his previous posts. And yes, this is the cartoonist who came up with Dilbert. And no, I am not for Trump. Hey, I live in Mexico.

SOUTH OF THE BORDER, SOMETIMES

Mexico Cooks!

Rachel Laudan

David Lida

Sam Quinones 
> Read my review of his latest book, Dreamland, for Literal Magazine.



TEXAS, HIS TEXAS

The Rambling Boy 
Read or listen to my interview with Lonn Taylor here.



AMIGAS ARTISTAS

Holding the Light 
Patricia Dubrava, translator, poet, writer

Work-in-Progress 
Leslie Pietrzyk, writer

One 
Sarah Zalan, photographer



ART & ANIMALS

Apifera Farm 
> Read my 2011 post about this blog here.

God of Wednesday



RARE BOOK BIZ

Book Man's Log



DESIGN & ECLECTIC WHATNOT

Swiss Miss 
Her Friday Link Packs are always a treat. The latest included a link to this Japanese shop and this stunning video by Method Design.

Screenshot from this Vimeo video by Method Design.

IMPENDING DOOM OR, LIFE WITH HORSES PROBABLY

James Howard Kunstler 
Rolling preacher-like thunder and, on many an occasion, wackily wicked imagery.

The Archdruid Report 
His sci fi is not my cup of chai, but his skill and prolificacy as an essayist is a wonder.

Club Orlov 
Cranky sailboat doomer, but at times the language kicks samovar, e.g.:

July 19, 2016

"And there are all those who, whenever I publish something that mentions climate change, crawl out of the woodwork and gnash their exoskeletal mandibles at me, to the effect that climate=weather, and it's all a conspiracy theory. They are idiots and deserve a boathook in the eye."

July 5, 2016

"People were summoned to explore the heavens, they were promised universal prosperity, a world without borders, gender equality, and a third gender, and a fourth, and a fifth, and watermelons that taste like raccoons, and raccoons with the hair of mermaids. But people wanted a hug, warm tea, summers in the country, and to spend time with their relatives."

SETH GODIN
www.sethgodin.com

PEP TALK

Seth Godin

TECHNO WOW, WHOA, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!

kk.org 
This is Kevin Kelly, whose latest is The Inevitable: Understanding the Twelve Technological Forces that Will Shape Our Future). Several blogs in there, including Cool Tools.

YUM & FIXIT

Orangette

Root Simple (best roasted tomatoes in the galaxy and solar ovenerie!)



+ + + +

For those of you who might be wondering, my book in-progress on Far West Texas proceeds... ayyy, and having taken a karmically necessary detour to write this book review/ essay (the strangest thing I have ever written), I am still working on Marfa Mondays podcast 21. There will be blood. Of the 19th century. I invite you to listen in to the other 20 Marfa Mondays podcasts anytime here.

Your comments are always welcome.

CLICK HERE.

Writers Blogs (and My Blog):

Eight Conclusions After Eight Years of Blogging

Top 13 Trailers for Movie with Extra-Astral Texiness

Notes on Xavier González, "Moonlight Over the Chisos" 

and a Visit to the Antigua Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City

*

I welcome you to sign up for my free, usually podcast-packed, 

once-in-a-while newsletter

which goes out via mailchimp... maybe... next month.

>> CLICK HERE <<

Cyberflanerie: But-I'm-Still-Recovering-from-the-Whole-Pluto-Thing Edition

Food historian Rachel Laudan says bunk to "Cornish" pasties.

Statisticians say Europe did not go through a "Little Ice Age" (yes, the Thames froze and Britain stopped producing wine and the Greenland colony failed, but myriad are the alternative explanations...)

British archaeologist Frances Pryor says all sorts of dizzifying things about the pre-Roman Britain that once was not an isle, in Home: A Time Traveller's Tales from Britain's Prehistory. I am still absorbing the whole Doggerland thing. Brochs! And the elegance of those Bronze-Age hair and beard-cutting scissors in their wooden case... 

At first glance this sounds real-- anyway, the winner of the Archdruid's "Great Squirrel Chase" contest is hilarious: King Solomon's Miners.

Stay tuned: this week I'm working on the edits to a fascinating interview with Texas historian Lonn Taylor, recorded last month in Fort Davis. Listen in anytime to the 16 other Marfa Mondays podcasts. Bit by bit, I'm also posting the transcripts. The latest is "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Finding Composition in the Landscape."

> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. My newsletter goes out soon; if you'd like to receive it I welcome you to opt in (opt out anytime) here.

Cyberflanerie: PEN San Miguel, Rachel Laudan, Russia, Stephen Woodman, Textured Chocolates, Barbara Hero

My January 13, 2015 talk for PEN San Miguel in Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, about my new book, Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution, is now a podcast. >>Listen in here.<<

MORE HISTORY

Food historian Rachel Laudan Takes on Tiny Bubbles

Russia Before the Revolution (in Color)


MORE MEXICO

Stephen Woodman's Mexican Labyrinth: Temazcal Adventure

TEENAGERS & THE YOUNG AT HEART

A Teenager's take on social media
(My reaction: eew. Yes, I have FB, twitter, this blog, a website, a youtube channel and podcast, all in service of and/or as platform for my writing which is, entirely intentionally, public. But the idea of living my personal life so intensely mediated by "social media" just curls my toes. Yeah, I'm old. The thing is, not every innovation is better or for the wise. In my generation, for example, television watching vacuumed up hours, weeks, months, years.... I mean, I don't think that on my death bed I will I celebrate having watched reruns of "Batman"... And cigarette smoking was the fashion, until it wasn't. I remember pet rocks, too. A lot of stupid crap. Well, but most people do what most people do.)

The Hands of Georgia O'Keeffe


TED TALK DU JOUR

Ruth Chang's TED Talk on Hard Choices
(Note to college applicants: this is a must see.)

NEAT BUT KINDA MYSTERIOUS STUFF

Textured Chocolates

Submarine Sandwich

Barbara Hero's Pythagorean Lambdoma Harmonic Keyboard

>>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.

Cyberflanerie: Entertaining Edition

Beeville Memories An entertaining bit of history by resident Yvonne Hastings on the website for the town of Beeville, Texas. If I were teaching a writing workshop this fall (but I'm not), I would use this as a splendid example of the use of vivid detail.  Seriously, great storytelling.

The Mexican Kitchen's Islamic Connections by Rachel Laudan. Read this aloud to a Mexican. There will be huffing and puffing. 

Entertain the kiddies with these nifty projects.

The Secret of the Top Five: Seth Godin says tables of 10 don't work, but five people at a table for 4 do. Yep. I say, the worst, the absolute yawningly horrible, are those long narrow banquet tables. Especially if you're sitting next to people who must, even as the salad arrives, remain glued to their Blackberries (I call them "the leashed people").

COMMENTS

Cyberflanerie: Yum Yum Edition (Rachel Laudan, Tina Roth Eisenberg, Oasis Camel Dairy, Printed Sugar, Terry Wahl)

My amiga the food historian Rachel Laudan has a new book coming out-- it's available for preorders now-- which will make not only fascinating reading but the perfect holiday present for anyone interested in food and/ or history-- and who isn't?! She just posted on her blog with all the relevant links plus advice from Yours Truly (which I need to take) on book promotion qua donut promotion.

P.S. The Rambling Epicure interviews Rachel Laudan

Happy Monday podcast interviews Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka "Swiss Miss"

Print your sugar (really)

Dairy Owners Promote Camel Milk Benefits
By Sue Manning July 16, 2010

Oasis Camel Dairy
I pronounce their camel milk soap totally fab.

Is Haggis the Next Kimchee? Getting to Know (and Love) the Scottish Lung Dish
(William Bostwick in Food Republic)

Pug Puppy Fix Du Jour
(I don't mean "fix" in that way... I mean, better than Prozac!)

Dr Terry Wahl's TEDxIowaCity talk

>Comments?

Blogs Noted: Mexico Today, Art Predator, Zocalo de Mexican Folk Art, Rachel Laudan, Mexico Cooks!, Cowgirl Yoga, Baker Kline, Page 69 Test

Mexico Today
News summary in English (mostly).
Rachel Laudan
Food witer extraordinaire based in Mexico.
Zocalo de Mexican Folk Art
Like the title says...
Mexico Cooks!
A culinary travelogue and gorgeous photos.
Cowgirl Yoga
Inspiring (but yoga in cowboy boots?)
Art Predator
I don't need to go to Burning Man, thanks, I'll just read all about it here.
Christina Baker Kline's A Writing Life
A novelist's take-- and her colleagues's.
The Page 69 Test
Wacky book promo confirming the holographic nature of the universe.
More anon.

Blogs Noted

Real Delia (Delia Lloyd)
David Holzel
Rachel Laudan: A Historian's Take on Food and Politics
Chasing Ray (Colleen Mondor)
Bernie's E-Zine
Great New Books That Are a Must Read
Mexico Bob
The Things She Thinks About (Deborah Batterman)