“Culture is the rule, and art is the exception […] The rule is to want the death of the exception.” Bam!
WORK
“In a sense, fear is the daughter of God, redeemed on Good Friday. She is not beautiful, mocked, cursed or disowned by all. But don’t be mistaken, she watches over all mortal agony, she intercedes for mankind; for there is a rule and an exception. Culture is the rule, and art is the exception. Everybody speaks the rule; cigarette, computer, t-shirt, television, tourism, war. Nobody speaks the exception. It isn’t spoken, it is written; Flaubert, Dostoyevsky. It is composed; Gershwin, Mozart. It is painted; Cézanne, Vermeer. It is filmed; Antonioni, Vigo. Or it is lived, then it is the art of living; Srebrenica, Mostar, Sarajevo. The rule is to want the death of the exception. So the rule for cultural Europe is to organize the death of the art of living, which still flourishes.”
—Jean Luc Godard
—from Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo
WORD(S)
xystus /ZIS-təs/. noun. For ancient Greeks, a covered portico used for exercise. For ancient Romans, an open colonnade with trees designed for recreation and conversation. Also a Latinized form of the Roman name Sixtus. From Greek xystos (scraped, polished).
“Mentioned by Josephus as a place in Jerusalem surrounded by porticoes and used by gymnasts and for public assemblies; it was designed by Herod the Great.” (Oxford Dictionary of the Bible)
“Philosophers who aired their elegant doubts in the shady xystus.” (Frederic William Farrar)
“…she is standing on the Xystus with Agrippa, entreating the people not to injure themselves by resistance.” (George Eliot)
“…there were gates on that side above the Xystus, and a bridge that connected the upper city to the Temple. This bridge it was that lay between the tyrants and Caesar, and parted them…” (from The Great Events by Famous Historians)
WEB
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“Molaison’s testable intelligence remained normal; his basic personality seemed unchanged; and he could remember quite a lot of his past, but he was no longer able to form new memories. […] He could read the same magazine day after day without showing any sign that he had encountered it before. H.M. had become a stunningly pure case of anterograde amnesia.” » The Man Who Forgot Everything [Thanks, Reader C.]
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The deepest history (yet) of the Irony Mark (¡) (bonus, from the comments section, “why not use the analogous Spanish character ‘¿’ to indicate, say a rhetorical question¿”)
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An eery and delightful podcast, “Limetown follows journalist Lia Haddock as she investigates the infamous disappearance of a doomed research facility.” → Limetown Stories
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Don’t be put off by the title…some fascinating explorations here » Q’s perpetual and amazing quest for an algorithmic typography
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Today in 1930, French New Wave director, screenwriter and film critic Jean-Luc Godard is born in Paris. A revolutionary who seemed intent on breaking every rule, always to great effect, and who worked with disdain for the idea of “high” vs. “low” cinema, Godard is one of the most influential and stylish filmmakers ever. I have yet to go wrong with any of his films, but if you haven’t seen them yet Godard’s films from the 60s are must-sees, particularly Breathless (1960), Contempt (1963) and Alphaville (1965). Related reading: Jean-Luc Godard pronounces film dead.
WATCH/WITNESS
![A bizarre underwater icicle (brinicle) [click to view]](https://buttondown-attachments.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/71653f61-9b52-4265-b02e-7df5405fa72d.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJEXF6S6TCOKT7N3Q&Signature=x4plg5eLyapvNby5BBX%2BDkvQ9%2Bc%3D&Expires=1707568959)
Video: “Where the so-called ‘brinicle’ met the sea bed, a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish. ¶ The unusual phenomenon was filmed for the first time by cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson…”
REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES
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Reader B. has some nature sounds for the Clamor: “…if you want the sound of the woods, how about this one? ► Francisco López — Wind [Patagonia]”
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Reader A. sets me straight: “…the ‘first narrative film’? Not so fast, my friend. Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon is very certainly narrative, and dates from 1902. ¶ First narrative film in North America, maybe? ¶ More on Méliès, worthy of the Clamor, imho: Early hand-painted colors in a 1900 (narrative!) film, ► Georges Méliès: Jeanne d’Arc, and an eternal fan favorite, ► A Trip to the Moon - Viaje a la Luna - Le Voyage dans la lune - Georges Méliès 1902”
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