It's been quite a while since I last posted anything here--probably because I have no idea whether anyone is actually reading this blog. But hey, if you're reading this right now that's great because it gives purpose to my actions and that's very satisfying.

Anyway, the reason I felt compelled to post something today was that I just became familiar with a contemporary Danish artist whose work I really find very compelling and, as a fan of new art, I feel it's my duty to spread the word whenever I come across something something exciting.

The artist in question is named Peter Callesen and he has done work in a range of areas, from drawings to installations to performance art. The works of his that I find most striking, however, are stunning sculptural objects created by intricately cutting out bits from single sheets of white paper. It's really quite breathtaking when you realized the detail he has accomplished with such modest materials--and the finished works are always conceptually intriguing. Be sure to check out his stuff on his website: http://www.oncotton.co.uk/peter/index.html

London Retiring Its Red Routemaster Buses

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - After half a century, London's red Routemaster buses are rattling into retirement. Thousands of fans said farewell to the hop-on, hop-off buses Thursday, the last full day of regular service for the icon that has been the subject of thousands of tourists' photographs and postcards.

Transport authorities are withdrawing the blunt-nosed double-decker from its last route — the 159 from Marble Arch to Streatham Hill — on Friday. The final Routemaster was leaving central London just after noon, bound south of the river to a bus garage in Brixton.

"My experience of London is diminished by their passing," said Travis Elborough, author of the Routemaster book "The Bus We Loved."

Many Londoners agree. In a poll last month for the city's Evening Standard newspaper, 81 percent opposed scrapping the Routemaster.

But city transport bosses say the venerable vehicle cannot accommodate disabled people and must be replaced by more user-friendly buses. Some of the replacements are doubledecker, but don't allow people to get on or off while the bus is moving.

"We want to provide the most modern, fully accessible safest buses we can," Transport for London spokesman Stephen Webb said. "It's not romantic, but it works."

The bus is not disappearing completely. Sixteen Routemasters, restored to gleaming 1960s glory, will remain on two "heritage routes" that run through central London between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

But its demise as part of everyday London life has triggered an outpouring of nostalgia. The British Broadcasting Corp. is running an evening of TV programs Saturday celebrating the bus. Composer Tom Smail has created "Requiem for the Routemaster," an orchestral piece that evokes the throb of an engine, the tinkle of a bell and the zip of a conductor's ticket machine.

"It's actually more of an 'in memoriam,'" Smail told BBC radio. "So you have the sadness, and you have the joy of being on a bus."

The snub-nosed, open-backed Routemaster entered service in the mid-1950s as a replacement for electric trolley buses. It was the last bus to be designed specifically for London, by engineers who had worked on World War II bombers. Supporters say its light but durable aluminum frame, fuel efficiency and easy-to-repair components make it a classic piece of British design.

Travelers appreciate the conductors who dispense tickets — and offer travel information — once passengers are seated.

By the 1960s, the scarlet bus had become a symbol of vitality in a city reviving after years of postwar austerity. The 1966 Time magazine cover celebrating "Swinging London" featured a Routemaster.

"The Routemaster is a child of austerity, but it comes into its own in the late '50s and early '60s, when London is becoming a much more polychromatic city — the Kodak-color, James Bond, color-supplement London," said Elborough. "It becomes an embodiment of London at that point."

The long-lived bus has been condemned and reprieved in the past.

The first warning sign came in the early 1980s, with the introduction of a bigger, boxier double-decker operated by a driver alone.

In 1996, London transport authorities said the Routemaster would be phased out within five years because modern safety regulations frowned on the hop-on, hop-off platform at the back. Many a Londoner has suffered a twisted ankle, or worse, while making an unauthorized exit between stops.

A potential savior appeared in the person of Ken Livingstone, a populist Cockney who in 2000 became London's first elected mayor. In 2001, Livingstone said that "only some ghastly dehumanized moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster."

During Livingstone's first term, old Routemasters were refurbished, and fans hoped they would stay in service at least until 2016, the deadline for making all buses wheelchair-accessible under
European Union rules.

But in 2003, Routemasters began disappearing, replaced by newer double-deckers or even by single-decked, articulated behemoths known as "bendy buses." Two years ago, there were still 500 Routemasters running in London; after Friday, there will be only the 16 "heritage" vehicles.

Fans see their passing as a missed opportunity to preserve a bit of London's heritage.

"We live in an era where brands are constantly reinvented — new VW Beetles, new Minis, new London cabs," said Elborough. "It's just a shame that we are losing this key piece of London vernacular."

It's an oft quoted truthitude that Shakespeare contributed a large number of new words to the English language. One website I found claims that the bard created as many as 1700 of these neologisms.

And, you know, that's great--believe me, I don't know how I'd get through my days without words like besmirch, madcap, and skim milk. While I think many of the 1700 claimed coinages are probably suspect, I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that my sources (i.e. the OED) indicate that "skim milk" did indeed make its first known print appearance in Henry IV, Part 1 (II.iii.36).

But enough of Shakespeare. I mean, we all love our madcap skim milk, but is it cromulent? And why is it that the great man didn't mention Scotchtoberfest even once during the entire length of Macbeth, the so-called "Scottish play"? While Shakespeare was undoubtably a Double-Bacon Geniusburger of the highest order, a lot of his words just seem craptacular when compared with the groin-grabbingly transcendent contributions made to English language by The Simpsons.

You really need to check the list out yourself. Otherwise you'll never truly understand words like dickety and beginulate, you'll miss out on complex medical terms like assal horizontology and juggler's despair--and nevermind comprehending the subtle nuances of zuh? and meh.

I'm telling you, this is the future of the English language...

Big, Dead, Rotting, Silly Rabbit
By MEREDITH KAHN
Published: November 6, 2005

Just got back from Washington DC where I attended the big annual American Musicological Society conference. Also got a chance to hang out with an old friend (and make some new ones, as well). It was a lot of fun.

Going back to the east coast reminded me how much I miss it. While I certainly appreciate the natural beauty and wonderful climate that we have here in Santa Barbara, I do miss the change of seasons.

Fall has always been my favorite--there's something wonderful about the crispness of it, that slight edge the air has even on warmer days. There's nothing like that here in South California and it was a little bittersweet to be reminded of what I'm missing.

But that's right! I hear you saying.

Well, it turns out that it's not. Cacti is a big fat lie. Look it up if you don't believe me--the OED is on my side. And, it also turns out, equally false are commonly used plurals such as octopi, syllabi, platypi. Imposters! Fakes! All of them!

Personally, I was outraged--simply scandalized!--to learn that all of the deep conversations I've had over the years about cacti, octopi, and platypi (oh my!) have had the taint of bad grammar.

The idea of pluralizing words ending in "-us" with an "-i" comes from Latin, of course. The problem, though, is that this particular switching of suffixes only applies to a fraction of Latin words (those in the 2nd declension)--none of which, to the best of my knowledge, happen to refer to spiny plants, eight-legged sea creatures, or duck-billed wierdos. You can take comfort, however, in the knowledge that radius really does go to radii in its plural. So all of you math nerds are off the hook.

Anyway, apparently this practice of producing (spurious) Latinate plurals of words that really should just get the normal English "-es" is due to hypercorrection, the same phonemenon that causes people to say "blank and I" all of the time, even when it's the object of a sentence (when me should be used). (For example: "The cactus gave the syllabus to the platypus and I.")

Who cares? Only nerds like me apparently. If this actually is interesting to you I highly recommend the wikipedia article on Hypercorrection. While you're at it, check out the fäntästic ärticle ön heavy-metal umlauts.

Gööd tïmes.

Our student union has a Panda Express in the food court. It's not very good food by any measure, but it's still kinda addicting. For some reason I have a habit of stuffing fortunes into my wallet after I eat there.

Now that twasbrillig.org is more than two years old it seemed like a good time to try something new. So I'm starting this weblog as a way to liven up the site a bit--yeah, I know it's been pretty stagnant this past year--and also as a place to provide some occasional updates about what I'm up to at any given time. I'm not sure how often I'll be updating; let's be honest and figure maybe once a month or so at best. But hey, it's better than nothing, right?

So anyway, watch this space.

Ed

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Below is a picture I took a few months ago of Ellwood Beach, which is just down the street from my place. The beach is more than a mile long and completely undeveloped: the ocean's one side and acres of beautiful bluffs and grasslands are on the other. I go running here most nights at sunset--it's hard to believe I actually live in a place that's so beautiful.