WASHINGTON by Cox & Combes

One of my favorite things on the internet...

Gullah: Where did "ya'll" come from?

What follows is a brief report on a lecture about the Gullah. It lacks detail, but it serves as a decent introduction this Creole language.

GULLAH

Jerry Moss is an academy award nominated filmmaker who visited class to discuss the Creole language, Gullah. He began by briefly outlining the circumstances in which the language developed. During British expansion, the territory known as Georgia was colonized by the second and third sons of prominent families. Rice farming was more desirable that cotton, but due to the irrigation needs of the crop, coastal locations were essential. It was difficult and complicated to condition the land, as it had to be dredged manually; therefore, land owners sought specialists from the Rice Coast of Africa. These specialists supervised and directed the slaves working the fields. As a result, Gullah began as the pidgin spoken on rice plantations, which were located along the Eastern Seaboard, from North Florida to North Carolina. It started out of the necessity for efficient communication among landowners and specialists; specialists and laborers.

Two things must be considered when considering the conditions that brought the language into fruition. One must first pay attention to the labor system of most rice plantations that existed. Task systems were incorporated as the desired labor system. Under this mechanism, slaves had free time to spend after their chores were completed. This allowed for many leisure activities that would have encouraged casual communication among the laborers, which were from diverse societies in Africa. Development of a pidgin would have been essential. Also, during the summer, no whites were around at all. In other words, no native English speakers were on the plantations. This brought about a language more influenced by African retention. Lorenzo Turner investigated the Gullah and discovered over 1400 words retained from African languages. There are few remaining English influenced words in use today.

Mr. Moss spoke briefly about the grammar, and I mean really briefly. He stated the language has a word for second person plural, “ya’ll."

Dead Eyes Open: Free Web Zombie Comic

http://deadeyesopen.com/dead-eyes-open-1-cover/

This comic is an introduction to what is great about zombie literature. Like good science fiction, it uses the subject matter to address complex social issues. It helps you step outside of reality to view events more objectively. Enjoy...

Even as I left Florida...

I moved from Jacksonville ten years ago this week. It was only four formative years, but I had a lifetime of experiences. Rarely a day goes by that I don't think of someone I knew or something that happened there. Granted, I lived in Tallacrappy a while before moving to Atlanta, but I think of those months as sort of a decompression chamber.

SIGNAL by Paul Duffield

http://www.spoonbard.com/signal/

This comic by the illustrator of http://www.freakangels.com/ is absolutely beautiful. As the site mentions, it is inspired by SETI and Carl Sagan's COSMOS series.

On a personal note, it parallels the most lucid dream I've ever had:

I was in my late teens, still living with my folks. In the dream, I walk through their kitchen and suddenly realize I am dreaming. To test this, I stand in front of the screen door leading to the front yard. I thrust my arms forward and blow the door of its hinges, sending it flying to land crumpled on the lawn. To go a bit further, I begin doing somersaults across the grass until I reach the drive way. I then look up, take a few steps forward and take flight.

At this point it becomes a balancing act to keep this state of mind. I soon get control, and I find that the harder I tighten my fists, the faster and further I travel. I streak into the farthest reaches of space until I stop in this area of gaseous "caterpillars." I realize I am witnessing the birth of stars in some sort of galactic incubator.

I wake.

Martin Prado Shows His Versatility

One of the most underrated players in the MLB...

The Imagination Age

"Active participants in the Imagination Age are becoming cultural ambassadors by introducing virtual strangers to unfamiliar customs, costumes, traditions, rituals and beliefs, which humanizes foreign cultures, contributes to a sense of belonging to one’s own culture and fosters an interdependent perspective on sharing the riches of all systems. Cultural transformation is a constant process, and the challenges of modernization can threaten identity, which leads to unrest and eventually, if left unchecked, to violent conflict. Under such conditions it is tempting to impose homogeneity, which undermines the highly specific systems that encompass the myriad luminosity of the human experience." - Rita J. King

http://theimaginationage.net/

http://sciencehouse.com/

Modest Mouse Debuts New Song at Issac Brock's House :: Music :: News :: Paste

Modest Mouse Debuts New Song at Issac Brock's House :: Music :: News :: Paste

Sin City Trade Paper Back Lot

Big time eBay comics score:



Sin City

Dame to Kill for

Big Fate Kill

That Yellow Bastard (Hard Cover)

Booze Broads and Bullets

Hell and Back

Family Values

Low final bid + groupon = $13.14 TOTAL

Danger Mouse and Friends

Danger Mouse collaborations are currently my preferred listening material:

"Modern Guilt" w/ Beck

"Broken Bells" w/ James Mercer

Dark Night of the Soul w/ Sparklehorse and assorted awesome folk.

He puts his thumbprint on everything, and it all has a unique flavor. I can't wait for "Rome" to come out next month, with Danielle Luppi, Jack White and Norah Jones.

Where In Mongolia Is The Tomb Of Ghengis Khan?

From your recliner, tag satellite photos of Northern Mongolia in the search of the most prolific procreator of all time. I can't think of a better was to "waste" time. What are you going to do; watch another television show?

http://exploration.nationalgeographic.com/mongolia/

PRECISION

PRECISION

This is one of the MANY interesting things I routinely pick up from the social networking of Warren Ellis.

THE TEMPLE MOUNT: The Most Significant Piece of Real Estate in Monotheistic Culture

Though a bit confusing, this article gives a great synopsis of the most significant piece of real estate in monotheistic culture. I do not recommend paying much attention to the archaeologist's opinions regarding the site, as the material was not found in situ. Once the items are out of context, a serious scholar can not reliable interpret the data.

What is Beneath the Temple Mount?

MGMT - Kids and Flash Delirium

KIDS



FLASH DELIRIUM



I love MGMT videos as much as their songs. These are especially awesome/innovative/twisted/etc.

Whoever Brought Me Here, Will Have To Take Me Home

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

- RUMI (Translated by Coleman Barks)

Trent Reznor won an Oscar...?

...And it made me think of my favorite "industrial" band, Pitchshifter. Instead of simple, dismal notions of depravity over drum machines and samples, Pitchshifter came with well-crafted anti-establishment counter propaganda and British brand paranoia... and subliminal messages. Which as far as I can tell, compelled listerners to eat cold cuts.


(Sorry, no videos of my favorites on Youtube.)

RIVAL SCHOOLS - Wring It Out

Walter Schreifels has been writing this kind of song for more than 20 years. There's nothing new and innovative here, but that doesn't mean I am able to get it out of my head. See also, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand:

FULL DARK, NO STARS

Just finished this King novel. Read it in under a week, in fact. Not much of an accomplishment in prior years, but with a wife who works nights and two children, I'd say its pdq.

Four great page burning stories that do what Mr. King does best: The pages melt away, and you are immersed in his world. I don't know how he does it. I try to pay attention to his technique, but instead I get lost in the story. Which is why I remain a "Constant Reader."

He did use some of his old tricks in these stories. No one pissed themselves, but two characters clenched their fists painfully tight. None to the point of bleeding, like in many of his stories. And shockingly, there was only one "Ayuh," though three of the tales were set in Maine.

Despite twenty years of reading his material, I have many books left to consume. No doubt, Absent Reader, I will get to them all.

INVICTUS

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley


Finally watched "Invictus" last night. Difficult to imagine the horrors experienced by Mandela and his family, and the compassion born after his strife is something we should all seek.

CLINIC: Why do I like this band so much?

I have posted about this U.K. band in the past, but I've been listening to them a lot lately. Specifically this song, and the entire album, Winchester Cathedral:



It's been 9 years since Paige and I moved to Atlanta, and Clinic was the first show we saw here. It was out in East Atlanta, at a club called the Echo Lounge. We had never even heard their music. I had read about them in Spin and noticed they were in town that week. "Walking with Thee" had just been released, so they primarily played these songs:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B00005YX3X/ref=pd_krex_dp_001_001?ie=UTF8&track=001&disc=001
From then on, I was hooked.