Philosophy in Popular Culture #1

  Henry Krasker:

My philosophy?
Metaphysics.
What is Metaphysics?
There’s a long complicated explanation to that question, but to make it simple:
A metaphysician doesn’t believe you’re dead when you die.

-The Dead Talk Back (Merle S. Gould, 1957, Released 1993)
(aka Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode 603)

Webbage: Music To Eat Nibs By

To describe an album  as 'comfort food' might seem to damn it with faint praise, but it seems rather appropriate in the case of Plans. I've recently come to appreciate Ben Gibbard's songwriting, and Plans is a great sounding album, but I wouldn't describe it as 'challenging'. I will, however, say this-- As someone whose tastes tend to gather at the (perhaps not all that opposite) poles of the obviously commercial (70s Gordon Lightfoot) and avant guard (whatever side project Mike Patton is onto these days), I like to think that producing good music of either type should be counted a significant achievement. Having said that, I have no clue as to what metrics would be helpful in deciding what 'good' might be in either case. This clearly requires further thought.

The Case of Columbo (part 1)

Etude in Black (1972)

You can tell a lot about the quality of any given Columbo episode by the way in which the killers meet their fate. One of the central conceits of the show is that the villains are smart. After all, these are folks attempting the ‘perfect murder’. As such, it should eventually dawn on them that the man in the rumpled raincoat has a point behind all his impertinent questions. So if the killer is, after scene after scene of ‘loose ends’ and ‘just one more things’, left utterly dumbstruck that Columbo could have pieced things together, chances are you’re dealing with a stinker. One is prone to yell at the screen “How could you not see this coming! You’re supposed to be a criminal mastermind!” All such audience of rage can be avoided if the killer is like John Cassavetes, and goes to his doom with a wry smile. That simple facial gesture indicates that he’s not all that surprised to have been found out; he did, after all, lose the flower from his lapel. It is this gesture that allows the audience to overlook the weaker aspects of Cassavetes’ performance. So what if the rough and tumble Brooklynite doesn’t make for a particularly believable symphony conductor (or, for that matter, that James Olson is not in the least convincing as a professional trumpet player) - the half smirk, and the clear self-awareness it represents, renders such worries, well, impertinent.

Photo: Spring is here, but I don't believe it.

(Waiting Out Winter; January 2, 2008; Marentette Beach, Leamington, Ontario, Canada)

Odd Footnote #1

In which Noam Chomsky receives support from unexpected places:

This work was supported in part by the U.S. Army (Signal Corps), the U.S. Air Force (Office of Scientific Research, Air Research and Development Command), and the U.S. Navy (Office of Naval Research). It was also supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

--Chomsky, On the Notion 'Rule of Grammar', 1961