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Here is a collection of notes to various really, really obscure references and puns and other stuff in the essays that, if either of us had a life, I wouldn't be writing and you wouldn't be reading. -Enjoy! RHB |
| | 1 "every eighteen or so months...": Or perhaps every two years---follow the link to see why. | | | | With the one exception of the schwa in "/hazebrə/" there is, I'm afraid, nothing IPAish about the pronunciations. The slashes are only there as a hint. | | | A comment on the essay title: it has recently (i.e. after I finished everything and posted it and it was too late to change anything) become apparent that the ironic use of the term "bright spark" is solely British and not widely known over here. Over there we might well refer to someone (usually male) who has done something stupid (and could well be a candidate for a Darwin Award) with the expression "Huh! He's a bright spark." (with emphasis on and a possible caesura before 'bright')
The title then sort of makes a bit of sense to a certain degree--more or less.
Here are a few essays that might appeal to the brighter sort of Bright!
The Evolution of the Evolution Cartoon
Don't Believe a Word of This
Unwise Monkeys
| | | Either it's a classic example of how the Fates are out to get at me, or it reveals an unexpected audience for these essays (one with a weird sense of humour, a lot of time on their hands and almost infinite resources) but the very next run after this was broadcast I saw: first a pack of dogs cavorting in the middle of Jupiter and interfering with the traffic (OK there were two dogs, which is a small pack, and one car which had to slow down slightly) and then another pack (this time five or six) of teenagers just chillin' (I hope that was what they were doing) who all said hello to me.
Now how exciting was that run!?!? | | | The title, which should be sung*, is a reference to 'Come fly with me' by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and most famously sung by Frank Sinatra. It starts:
"Come fly with me, let's fly let's fly away/If you can use, some exotic booze/There's a bar in far Bombay/Come fly with me, we'll fly we'll fly away"
Ah! they really had good family values in those days!
*
| | | And I may be succeding even at de-ethnodeficiencizing because I just found this!
| | | | 1 By the way, kids, did you know that gymnasium means 'the place where you get naked to train' (Gk. γυμνάσιον). So if you ever forget your kit... | | | 1Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
She has eyes that folks adore so,
And a torso even more so.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is The Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it, The Wreck of the Hesperus too.
And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!
La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
When her robe is unfurled she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree,
Or Washington crossing The Delaware.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?
Lydia The Tattooed Lady.
When her muscles start relaxin',
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Queen of them all.
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
with a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia!
La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva, but with her pajamas on.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
Here is Grover Whelan unveilin' The Trilon.
Over on the west coast we have Treasure Isle-on.
Here's Nijinsky a-doin' the rhumba.
Here's her social security numba.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
La-la-la...la-la-la.
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclo-pidia.
Oh Lydia The Champ of them all.
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia!
I said Lydia...
(He said Lydia...)
They said Lydia...
We said Lydia, la, la!
Music by Harold Arlen. Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg | | | This essay could just have easily been called "Swords and goats and sheep, Oh my!" but it wasn't.
1 That's RubeGoldbergiform to you Yanks
From the British Artist W. Heath Robinson, the translation being from the American Rube Goldberg
| | | 1 Well, OK, the closest Tube station to the Purcell Room isn't actually Charing Cross, but it is if you like crossing the river. And Embankment used to be called Charing Cross too. So there!
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