Jacques Barzun in Time

This 1956 cover story was mentioned in Arthur Krystal's recent New Yorker profile of Barzun. Krystal's piece is way better.

Richard K. Betts in Foreign Affairs

How compelling it would be to imagine this is what Donald Rumsfeld once meant by a "smart, lean" and efficient U.S. military. The facts, however, show he didn't mean this at all.

H.L. Mencken on Lincoln's atheism

I thought this was a particularly extraordinary take on Abraham Lincoln - even for H.L. Mencken, who built a legacy on such 'contrarian positions.' I'll be absolutely clear about this: I am a big admirer of both Mssrs Lincoln and Mencken, so to see the two mix with such a satisfying result is a real treat.

Louis Goddard on Amis's 'Dead Babies'

I've been meaning to link to this great review Louis Goddard wrote for Flak a few weeks ago. Finally, the strength of my wi-fi connection and openness of schedule collude to make it happen.

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop

For over a year I've been craving music made by electronic means which doesn't fit into the "electronica" (Varese->Kraftwerk->Bambaataa->Phuture->etc) lineage. Something not reliant on pseudo-futurism. Something which sounds like it was made with hands but put out of reach of our imagination's tendency to picture musicians when listening to music. This is partly why the Books have gotten a lot of play in my apartment this year. But I recently saw this documentary on the BBC Radiophonic Workshop which did the trick. My favorite thing about this film is that it tells a story of electronic music (musique concrete, to be specific) which climaxes in the late '60's and falls with the rise in popularity of the Moog synthesizer. Imagine that: the Moog 'killing' electronic music (or a certain tradition of)! Now we're surveying the landscape! Ladies and gentleman ... let us proceed from here!

Peter Sis recommends Saul Steinberg

This interview with Peter Sis, the extraordinary illustrator, makes glowing mention of the late Saul Steinberg. The New Yorker, where Steinberg gained his reputation from the 1940's on, hosts a large online gallery of his covers.

Emilogue gets an agenda

I've been on hiatus with this blog as the pace of my activity picked up around the beginning of the summer. After a few weeks of deepening confusion of priorities, including two false starts at new articles, it re-occured to me what this blog was set up to do in the first place and what its user (I/me) has recently been lacking. Emilogue helps me sort out pieces of information or ideas which attract my attention before I seriously consider them as subjects to take on for potential articles. I want to extend this use to take on subjects in micro form that I'm sure I won't have the actual time or inclination to follow through with outside a hundred word or so blurb. So there it is - Emilogue has an agenda.

Chris Marker's Second Century

Today Flak Magazine publishes a piece I put together on Chris Marker. The article was edited by Mr. Sean Weitner, the longtime Flak film and games editor. Here's Mr. Weitner's awesome look at Spielberg film endings. You can find the Marker piece here.

The Clumsy Globalist

Today Flak Magazine publishes my piece on Ryszard Kapuscinski. Once again, the editor was Louis Goddard who does a great job here; as he did on the Reagan piece last month. Here's a piece Louis recently wrote for the Morning News.

Record-Head no. 7

The record in my head is . . .


'Blame it on Disco', a track from Cristina's album Doll in the Box released by the immortal ZE Records in 01979.

In the Washington Post

Bob Woodward writes this overview of the Bush administration's conflicting statements to the Iraq Study Group last autumn.


"The government is unable to govern." Interesting insight.

China Development Brief in danger

Beijing authorities have ordered the essential NGO to shutdown. Read the editor's letter for a run-down.

Ryszard Kapuscinski on Charlie Rose

The recently passed Polish journalist's two appearances on the PBS talk show in 02000 and 02001.

China's Green numbers scandal at the World Bank

The story was broken by the Financial Times.



Before the China-bashing begins, however, be reminded of the US's own manipulation of information in official Green reports.

Even without the figures published in FT, the report is rather damning.

Shi Guorui's photography

An image of Shanghai, captured through a hotel room the Beijing artist converted into a camera obscura (02004).

Record-Head no. 6

The record in my head is . . .



"Move On" a track from David Bowie's 01979 LP, Lodger.








Featuring a backwards tape-loop from Bowie's own recording of "All the Young Dudes" and a Cyprus place-name-check.

Margaret Sullavan in Bright Lights

I was delighted to find this brilliant piece in Bright Lights Film Journal on one of my favorite actors, Margaret Sullavan. Sullavan's most famous role is as the romantic opposite to James Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (01940, remade in 01998 as You've Got Mail). Other notable Sullavan performances - Little Man, What Now? (01934) and The Good Fairy (01935). Though I've never seen a Sullavan film that didn't quickly take a prominent place in my imagination.

The writer of the perceptive piece is Dan Callahan.

Death on television in Germany

EosTV, a new 24-hour channel in Germany will devote its airtime to death and mourning. From der Spiegel.









Death with woodcut in England

The first flat disc audio record

From a website collecting information about SelectaVision VideoDiscs, a dead media format introduced by RCA in the early '80's to compete with Laserdiscs.



The scribbled note reads, 'This phonogram was made Nov 8th 01881 -S.T. (Sumner Tainter).'

From Gaza, with Love

Dr. Mona El-Farra, a Palestinian physician and Human Rights activist, maintains this blog. Though El-Farra has been in the States fulfilling public speaking obligations, she just posted her first entry since last week's bloody takeover by Hamas.