11:00am
"Grisly, facile, dim and objectionable.." Morgan Spurlock's spoof hunt for Osama Bin Laden sounds so inept it might almost be worth seeing. However, I still think I'll wait for the DVD. Tim Robbins' latest, on the other hand, could be a perfect night-out. You see, the reason I left London was that I'd spent a year living next door to a neighbour who played loud music for hours on end. If only I'd had the caped crusader's phone number:
David Owen, a middle-aged lawyer... has already gained a Gotham-wide reputation as "the Rectifier," a mysterious hoodie-wearing figure who prowls the city with a tool belt, destroying all sources of needless racket... and leaving behind a telltale sticker as his calling card. In a series of oddly staggered flashbacks, we see the bookish David transform into the righteous Rectifier. Driven half-insane (and nearly impotent) by the constant bleating of car alarms outside his window, he breaks a car window one night and discovers his life's calling: to smash the shit out of anything that goes "beep" in the night.
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10:36am
An investigation into class, Eton and the British political system, together with a brief guide to Bullingdonia. Michael Gove adds some perspective on the failings of the state education system. Btw, is there a mystery behind the withdrawal of that notorious group photo? Perhaps, perhaps not.
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10:25am
The FT's John Gapper has a few doubts about the New Yorker man's latest piece, devoted to Nathan Myhrvold's company, Intellectual Ventures:
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and an investor in IV, is quoted in the piece about one of IV’s notions: "They also came up with this idea to stop hurricanes. Basically, the waves in the ocean have energy, and you use that to lower the temperature differential. I’m not saying it necessarily is going to work. But it’s just an example of something where you go, Wow."
Wow indeed. But if it does not actually work, then I would suggest that it does not count as an invention. Even I can come up with big ideas that don’t work. I might even be able to patent a few. My point is that research and development are usually referred to in one phrase because one is useless without the other. Mr Mhryvold is tilting the playing field hugely in his direction (with Gladwell’s approval) by ignoring the development part. That is when the wheat is sorted from the chaff.
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9:58am
It all began in earnest with João Gilberto's hit record, "Chega de Saudade", a song which has become an alternative national anthem. (You can Gilberto's recording here.) Millions of people beyond Brazil's borders discovered the music a few years later when Gilberto teamed up with Stan Getz. As for modern treatments of the bossa sound, it's worth trying to find a copy of "A Bossa de Caetano". This clip of Gal Costa performing "Chega" is seductive too, and it also includes a translation. A pity she's not appearing at the Barbican's anniversary concert later this month, but Dori Caymmi, João Donato and Celso Fonseca are all on the bill.
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5:47pm
Prospect Magazine's First Drafts blog reports on a Chatham House talk given by veteran number-cruncher John Zogby. He believes centrist politics are making a comeback in America, but, like a lot of people, he's still in the dark about certain matters: In fact, he can be very blunt about the limits of his knowledge. “I have no idea who Hillary Clinton is—and I’ve told her this twice,” he admitted. “Her face changes with the wind.”
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