Judy Davis in the Marabar Caves
See also "Resplendent Triviality" in this journal.
Saturday, November 8, 2025
Monday, August 31, 2020
How Deep the Darkness*
Comments Off on How Deep the Darkness*
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
How Deep the Darkness*
Attraction 2: The Digital Rights Management version —
The “Huh?” is from the character Google, at 0:13:07. Click to enlarge.
* See the title phrase in this journal.
Comments Off on How Deep the Darkness*
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
How Deep the Darkness
See Bauhaus remarks on space and Devil's Night Eve.
See also Klein Group and, for the Harvard Graduate
School of Design, an appropriate Calvin Klein label —
Comments Off on How Deep the Darkness
Friday, June 25, 2010
How Deep the Darkness
Art Theorist Rosalind Krauss and The Ninefold Square
Comments Off on How Deep the Darkness
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
“The Prevailing View”
"The prevailing view in a stunned Washington is that
a center that offers a smorgasbord of more than 2,000
events a year — everything from a towering production
of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle to 'Sesame Street:
The Musical' — will now feature more country music …."
— Elisabeth Bumiller in the Feb. 18 online New York Times
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118.
"Grope for Peace." — Daisy Clover.
Comments Off on “The Prevailing View”
Sunday, August 18, 2024
“Like a Kernel”
|
“The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, — Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy, |
From an obituary of Alain Delon, who reportedly died today . . .
|
"He starred in the 1976 French best picture winner, 'Mr. Klein,' as a wartime German art dealer threatened by being mistaken for a Jewish man with the same name." |
See as well Felix Christian Klein in this journal.
And then there is being mistaken for a fictional archaeologist
with the same name.
Comments Off on “Like a Kernel”
Saturday, July 20, 2024
Opera for The Village People . . .
. . . And politics for Bridget —
Click Bridget for the operatic "Nessun Dorma"
at the end of the May 2002 film "The Sum of All Fears."
See also the recent Log24 posts
Not so recent —
Some remarks from the date of the LA premiere
of "The Sum of All Fears," ending with . . .
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118.
Comments Off on Opera for The Village People . . .
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
If It’s Tuesday…
|
“The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, — Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy, |
Comments Off on If It’s Tuesday…
Thursday, October 12, 2023
A Groping
Financial Times today informs us that the new 48-page novel by
Nobel Lit Prize winner Jon Fosse, with title translated as
"A Shining," will be published not on Halloween, as previously
reported here, but instead on the next day, All Hallows. Good.
The novel's original title, in Norwegian, is Kvitleik .
The Web indicates that this means "White Game."
See as well yesterday's post "Void Game." A relevant quote —
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on A Groping
Saturday, August 14, 2021
North of Big Snake
The title refers to a Log24 post of Feb. 8, 2021.
Detail from an image in that post:
By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us." — Arthur Koestler
Related Hollywood remark:
"You've blown communication
…as we've known it… right out of
the water. You know that, don't you?"
— Cliff Robertson in Brainstorm (1983)
Comments Off on North of Big Snake
Ave Atque Vale
Ave
A letter in The Mathematical Intelligencer , January 1988
http://www.log24.com/noindex-pdf/
Cullinane-letter-Artes_Liberales-Intelligencer.pdf —
Vale
A farewell lecture at Yale, April 2013
Kagan's obituary in the online New York Times tonight
says that he died at 89 on August 6, 2021.
The above farewell lecture of Kagan was on Thursday, April 25, 2013.
From this journal on Kagan's "born yesterday" date — April 24, 2013 —
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on Ave Atque Vale
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
For Julie Heng, Harvard Crimson writer
Heng today states clearly the obvious problem with peer review —
“… because reviewers must have a certain level of authority
in the subject, their work is often in direct competition with
what’s presented in these potential publications.”
Thursday, August 21, 2014
NoxFiled under: Uncategorized — m759 @ 1:00 AM ( A sequel to Lux ) “By groping toward the light we are made to realize — Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Robin Williams and the Stages of Math i) shock & denial A related description of the process — “You know how sometimes someone tells you a theorem, — Tom Leinster yesterday at The n-Category Café |
“Why did no one tell me this before?” See The Crimson .
Comments Off on For Julie Heng, Harvard Crimson writer
Thursday, November 12, 2020
Storylines
Related material for comedians —
Thursday, August 21, 2014
NoxFiled under: Uncategorized — m759 @ 1:00 AM ( A sequel to Lux ) “By groping toward the light we are made to realize — Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Robin Williams and the Stages of Math i) shock & denial A related description of the process — “You know how sometimes someone tells you a theorem, — Tom Leinster yesterday at The n-Category Café |
See as well . . .
Damonizing Your Opponent
Comments Off on Storylines
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Crux
This post was suggested by a David Justice weblog post yesterday,
Coincidence and Cosmos. Some related remarks —
“The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning
of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not
typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the
meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,
enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a
haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes
are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.”
— Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us.”
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy,
Random House, 1973, page 118
See as well posts now tagged Crux.
Comments Off on Crux
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Blackboard Jungle Continues.
From a post this morning by Peter J. Cameron
in memory of John Horton Conway —
| ” This happened at a conference somewhere in North America. I was chairing the session at which he was to speak. When I got up to introduce him, his title had not yet been announced, and the stage had a blackboard on an easel. I said something like ‘The next speaker is John Conway, and no doubt he is going to tell us what he will talk about.’ John came onto the stage, went over to the easel, picked up the blackboard, and turned it over. On the other side were revealed five titles of talks. He said, ‘I am going to give one of these talks. I will count down to zero; you are to shout as loudly as you can the number of the talk you want to hear, and the chairman will judge which number is most popular.’ “ |
From Log24 on August 21, 2014 —
Thursday, August 21, 2014
NoxFiled under: Uncategorized — m759 @ 1:00 AM ( A sequel to Lux ) “By groping toward the light we are made to realize — Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Robin Williams and the Stages of Math i) shock & denial A related description of the process — “You know how sometimes someone tells you a theorem, — Tom Leinster yesterday at The n-Category Café |
Comments Off on Blackboard Jungle Continues.
Sunday, September 8, 2019
The Groping (for Stephen King)
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us.”
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on The Groping (for Stephen King)
Friday, June 8, 2018
For Anthony Bourdain
Flashback —
|
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Nox
|
Comments Off on For Anthony Bourdain
Thursday, March 16, 2017
“Bulk Apperception”
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
"Dear boys — We’re going to have some fun, aren’t we?"
— Maeve in "Westworld," Season 1, Episode 6,
after her "bulk apperception" has been upgraded
to the maximum.
"Bulk apperception" is defined in the script as "basically,
overall intelligence." The phrase is apparently unique to "Westworld."
These two words do, however, nearly occur together in
at least one book — Andrew Feffer's The Chicago Pragmatists
and American Progressivism :
Comments Off on “Bulk Apperception”
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Bell de Jour
This journal on Saturday, Dec. 19 —
|
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize how deep the darkness is around us.” — Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy, Random House, 1973, page 118 |
In memory of Madame Claude, who
reportedly died in Nice December 19:
"There were fairies and spirits."
Amen.
Comments Off on Bell de Jour
Monday, October 12, 2015
Ex Tenebris
|
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize how deep the darkness is around us.” — Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy, Random House, 1973, page 118 |
"The Tesseract is where it belongs: out of our reach."
— Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury,
quoted here on Epiphany 2013
Earlier … (See Jan. 27, 2012) …
"And the Führer digs for trinkets in the desert."
Comments Off on Ex Tenebris
Friday, April 24, 2015
Love and Darkness, 2003
The previous post mentions an Amos Oz
novel, A Tale of Love and Darkness
(Sipour Al Ahava Vehoshekh, סיפור על אהבה וחושך),
apparently first published in Hebrew in 2002.
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us.”
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on Love and Darkness, 2003
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Nox
( A sequel to Lux )
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us.”
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Robin Williams and the Stages of Math
i) shock & denial
ii) anger
iii) bargaining
iv) depression
v) acceptance
A related description of the process —
“You know how sometimes someone tells you a theorem,
and it’s obviously false, and you reach for one of the many
easy counterexamples only to realize that it’s not a
counterexample after all, then you reach for another one
and another one and find that they fail too, and you begin
to concede the possibility that the theorem might not
actually be false after all, and you feel your world start to
shift on its axis, and you think to yourself: ‘Why did no one
tell me this before?’ “
— Tom Leinster yesterday at The n-Category Café
Comments Off on Nox
Friday, July 25, 2014
Magic in the Moonshine
“The yarns of seamen have a direct simplicity, the whole meaning
of which lies within the shell of a cracked nut. But Marlow was not
typical (if his propensity to spin yarns be excepted), and to him the
meaning of an episode was not inside like a kernel but outside,
enveloping the tale which brought it out only as a glow brings out a
haze, in the likeness of one of these misty halos that sometimes
are made visible by the spectral illumination of moonshine.”
— Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness
“By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us.”
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy,
Random House, 1973, page 118
“Spectral evidence is a form of evidence
based upon dreams and visions.” —Wikipedia
See also Moonshine (May 15, 2014) and, from the date of the above
New York Times item, two posts tagged Wunderkammer .
Related material: From the Spectrum program of the Mathematical
Association of America, some non-spectral evidence.
Comments Off on Magic in the Moonshine
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Art Wars for Odin’s Day
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy , Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on Art Wars for Odin’s Day
Friday, May 25, 2012
Desert of the Real
Comments Off on Desert of the Real
Monday, May 30, 2011
Darkness at Noon
A Meditation on the NY Lottery of May 29
Yesterday's NY Lottery— Midday 981, Evening 275.
As noted in yesterday morning's linked-to post,
The Shining of May 29…
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy ,
Random House, 1973, page 118
One interpretation of the mystic numbers revealed by the Lottery yesterday—
981 as the final page* of David Foster Wallace's famed novel Infinite Jest …
275 as a page in Wallace's non-fiction book about infinity Everything and More …
Gregory Chaitin points out that this is nonsense …
As noted elsewhere in this journal, I have a different concept of "math's absolute
Prince of Darkness"— and, indeed, of a "quest for Omega." (See posts of May 2010.)
Yesterday's numbers indicate a different struggle between darkness and light—
Light —
Darkness —
* From infinitesummer.org/archives/168 — "A note about editions:
As it turns out, all (physical) editions of Infinite Jest have 981 pages:
the one from 1996, the one from 2004, the paperback, the hardcover, etc.
A big thank you to the men and women in the publishing industry who
were kind and/or lazy enough to keep things consistent."
Comments Off on Darkness at Noon
Friday, December 10, 2010
Cruel Star, Part II
Symmetry, Duality, and Cinema
— Title of a Paris conference held June 17, 2010
From that conference, Edward Frenkel on symmetry and duality—
"Symmetry plays an important role in geometry, number theory, and quantum physics. I will discuss the links between these areas from the vantage point of the Langlands Program. In this context 'duality' means that the same theory, or category, may be described in two radically different ways. This leads to many surprising consequences."
Related material —
See also "Black Swan" in this journal, Ingmar Bergman's production of Yukio Mishima's "Madame de Sade," and Duality and Symmetry, 2001.
This journal on the date of the Paris conference
had a post, "Nighttown," with some remarks about
the duality of darkness and light. Its conclusion—
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on Cruel Star, Part II
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Mathematics and Narrative, continued
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy,
Random House, 1973, page 118
A 1973 review of Koestler's book—
"Koestler's 'call girls,' summoned here and there
by this university and that foundation
to perform their expert tricks, are the butts
of some chilling satire."
Examples of Light—
Felix Christian Klein (1849- June 22, 1925) and Évariste Galois (1811-1832)
Klein on Galois—
"… in France just about 1830 a new star of undreamt-of brilliance— or rather a meteor, soon to be extinguished— lighted the sky of pure mathematics: Évariste Galois."
— Felix Klein, Development of Mathematics in the 19th Century, translated by Michael Ackerman. Brookline, Mass., Math Sci Press, 1979. Page 80.
"… um 1830 herum in Frankreich als ein neuer Stern von ungeahntem Glanze am Himmel der reinen Mathematik aufleuchtet, um freilich, einem Meteor gleich, sehr bald zu verlöschen: Évariste Galois."
— Felix Klein, Vorlesungen Über Die Entwicklung Der Mathematick Im 19. Jahrhundert. New York, Chelsea Publishing Co., 1967. (Vol. I, originally published in Berlin in 1926.) Page 88.
Examples of Darkness—
Martin Gardner on Galois—
"Galois was a thoroughly obnoxious nerd,
suffering from what today would be called
a 'personality disorder.' His anger was
paranoid and unremitting."
Gardner was reviewing a recent book about Galois by one Amir Alexander.
Alexander himself has written some reviews relevant to the Koestler book above.
See Alexander on—
The 2005 Mykonos conference on Mathematics and Narrative
A series of workshops at Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation between 2003 and 2006. "The meetings brought together professional mathematicians (and other mathematical scientists) with authors, poets, artists, playwrights, and film-makers to work together on mathematically-inspired literary works."
Comments Off on Mathematics and Narrative, continued
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Nighttown
Continued from yesterday evening's "Long Day's Journey into Nighttown"—
A detail from that post—
Related material from Nighttown—
The Sebastian Horsley Guide to Whoring—
Horsley, the author of Dandy in the Underworld, was
found dead this morning of a suspected heroin overdose.
"By groping toward the light we are made to realize
how deep the darkness is around us."
— Arthur Koestler, The Call Girls: A Tragi-Comedy,
Random House, 1973, page 118
Comments Off on Nighttown