Archive for October, 2011

Friedrich Kittler (1943-2011)

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on 28 October 2011 by delclem

Obituary for the imspiringly controversial German ex-hippie
and cultural theorist who was called “the Derrida of the media age”,
by Stuart Jeffries (c) The Guardian, 2011

“Vanished Kingdoms”

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on 25 October 2011 by delclem

Norman Davies´s History of Half-Forgotten Europe
(Allen Lane, RRP£30, 848 pg). Review (c) FT, 2011

Bird brain or canard?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on 24 October 2011 by delclem

“Birds with smaller brains, such as the goldfinch (above) have not been able to cope with the changes unleashed by the demise of Communism in eastern Europe, scientists found.” Article (c) The Telegraph, 2011

Popstar or Classic?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on 22 October 2011 by delclem

“When you think of rock n’ roll, Franz Liszt might not be the first name that comes to mind. But the classical pianist, born 200 years ago today, was in many ways the first rock star of all time.” Article (c) NPR, 2011

“River water music for diehards”

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on 20 October 2011 by delclem

The Story of Dragoljub Milanović: a true Handke indeed.

“This is not a sermon, but (…) a story. A story to tell, if necessary, to a woodpile or an empty snail shell or even to myself alone, by the way not for the first time –”*

Peter Handke’s narrator, the self-appointed chronicler of Dragoljub Milanović’ Story, suffers from a strangely missionary pessimism that leads him to formulate unbearably beautiful sentences like the one quoted. And if no one listens to him, he is just going to talk to his “shoelace”, the “nutcracker”, or even a “worn-out doormat.”

‘Talk to the hand,” evil tongues of Americanized origin probably would tell him, but in Continue reading

Milena Mrazović(-Preindlsberger), 1863-1927

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on 18 October 2011 by delclem

The First Female Newspaper Editor & Publisher of Sarajevo

This paper is a biographical sketch on the first woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina ever to take the position of the chief editor, publisher and owner of a newspaper. This Croatian-born writer, and journalist was in charge of the newspaper Bosnische Post (published in the German language, 1884-1918) between 1889 to 1896.”

Reblogged from Tinnitus of Books 2010

Meta-Maus

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on 10 October 2011 by delclem

“When cartoonist Art Spiegelman published his epic Holocaust graphic novel, Maus, 25 years ago, a lot changed. He received a special Pulitzer Prize and became a contributor and cover artist for the New Yorker.

Maus blends the stories of Spiegelman’s trying relationship with his father and a horrifying tale of Auschwitz, as seen through his father’s eyes. Spiegelman drew the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats. But Maus has continued to haunt him.

MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus is the story behind Spiegelman’s signature work, complete with interviews, answers to many persistent questions and examples of his early drawings.”

>> SOUND FILE & ARTICLE (c) npr, 2011

Oktoberfest “results”

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , on 7 October 2011 by delclem

“In the past 17 days, people visiting Munich’s Oktoberfest drank a record 7.5 million liters of beer — around 1.98 million U.S. gallons. That figure is made more striking if one notes that the festival, which ended Monday, hosted some 6.9 million visitors this year — or 200,000 people short of a record turnout.” > READ FULL ARTICLE
(c) npr, 2011

> official Oktoberfest website

> unofficial Oktoberfest website (parental warning: gross!)

Brian Ó Nualláin aka. Flann O’Brien

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on 5 October 2011 by delclem

Quite a lot of good articles on the playful writer & columnist
who was born 100 years ago – he’s probably one of the
most “Central European” Irish authors after Joyce…

(c) THE IRISH TIMES, 2011

Paris, 1940-44: “one big romp”?

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , on 4 October 2011 by delclem

“A new book which suggests that the German occupation of France encouraged the sexual liberation of women has shocked a country still struggling to come to terms with its troubled history of collaboration with the Nazis.” >> READ MORE
(c) Patrick Buisson & The Sunday Times, 2008/2011