We'll be right back after these messages.

Please take some time to look at Albrecht Dürer's "Rhinoceros." It's a woodcut the artist made in 1515. We are mildly curious about the text above the illustration, but that's a distant second to the detail of the rhino's "armor."

Look at:

Really, look at it. And know that it sold at auction in 2013 for $866,500. LOOK AT IT. You can't put a price tag on that. But someone did and now they have it, hanging somewhere, or in storage. But we can see it here, rendered in ones and zeros.

NSFW

As a reward for all the reading we've made you do, here's a video that's rather filthy, but in a very funny way. It's probably best viewed in a non-work environment. Unless you work somewhere that doesn't mind cartoons that suggest trashy European softcore cinema from decades past.


Michel Homm from simon landrein on Vimeo.


You dirty monkey! You watched the whole thing, didn't you? Good. Now read this oral history of the creation of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" video and write a three-page report tonight as homework. Discuss the themes of the piece, alternate perspectives on feminine beauty, and the idea that rhythm has replaced melody in popular song.


[An artful wiggle to the NSFW site This Isn't Happiness and Vulture.]

Six

Tuesday Jan 21, 2014 was The Typing Monkey's sixth anniversary ... or birthday? What do you call the day that marks another year of blogging into the wind? Right. "Pointless." Very good.

[At this point in the conversation, our intern Kim was asked to clock out for the day. "Clock out? I don't even get paid," he said. Kim. Kim, c'mon. -- ed.]

To celebrate, we punish you with links culled from Arts & Letters Daily, our ongoing source of quality journalism, editorials and critical thinking that helps us remember there's more to this technology than bewbs and horror movie trailers.

"We need to talk about TED" by Benjamin Bratton
... in which a man gives a TED talk that points out everything wrong with TED talks. It's like he's saying what we're thinking.

"No, Jane Austen Was Not a Game Theorist" by William Deresiewicz 

... a call to resist and reject the post-Freakonomics/Gladwell trend in literary and art criticism to assert that modern, often trendy, scientific theories and ideas are the real themes and subtexts of many great works of art, history be damned.

"The Paratext's the Thing" by Thomas Doherty

"The irritating distractions have morphed into the main attractions."

Perhaps the thematic thread that connects these editorials is just in our imagination. But  we think they're complementary.

Parkland Spawned a Monster

Aw yiss!




Shameless? Yes. Proud? Damn straight. Even some upstart music blog is pretending like they knew about this.

Nyuk Nyuk

Do a little time travelling with us via the United States Library of Congress.

It's easy to fall down any number of information rabbit-holes there, so allow us to point you in the direction of "The American Variety Stage, 1870 - 1920" collection , then creep a little further into the audio archives and enjoy wax cylinder recordings of some vaudeville routines and songs from the era.

Given these were recorded both for posterity and mass consumption, we can't help but wonder how many blue routines were deemed unfit for preservation. That's our loss.

Sampling Ouroboros

The Typing Monkey un-ironically, well, and sometime fully ironically, grouses about the Web/internet all the time. But as a communication medium, it does many wonderful things.

Case in point: We listened to the song "Loose Booty" by Sly & the Family Stone this morning. Not because we're awesome, but because it was the subject of the most recent Hear This column at the AV Club.

Hear This can be a real treat when it does something like it did with the entry concerning "Loose Booty" -- that being, make the reader aware of a lesser-known song from an otherwise well-known artist. And in this case, it was in service of showing off something else that modern technology has enabled: Finding great music by sample-sourcing.

"Loose Booty" was used as the basis for The Beastie Boys' tune "Shadrach" from their sophomore album, Paul's Boutique, a real piñata of an album for sample-geeks. One read of the liner notes to that could start an expensive crate-digging habit.

We've always called that game "Spot the Sample" but the point is the same: You hear hip-hop music with samples, and you see if you can figure out what the source material for the sample is. Alternately you read the liner notes (or cheat via Who Sampled Who) and go find that music.

The result is, you pride yourself on your vast knowledge, and equally vast music collection, or you discover something new, and enjoy that new find. So shake your cane at those damn kids all you want, a portion of the hip-hop audience will always care enough to seek out the music that inspired or contributed to what they're listening to.

Which brings us to this:


If you haven't already seen this, or haven't already pressed play, it's a terrific and infectiously fun breakdown of another Paul's Boutique cut, "Shake Your Rump." One song, many samples, all of them neatly pointed out for you by a man who took the time to make this because he wants to turn you on to more good music.

And we wouldn't have seen this without a quick scan of the comments on the Hear This column, where a link to this video was posted by both Quirinus and D_Boons_Ghost, two people we'll likely never meet.

Let's crowd-source world peace, man.

Show Folk

Lovers of art and art history who don't have a lot of money are probably familiar with Taschen publishing. The mostly photo, but also fine art and design books put out by Taschen can class up your library and give your eyeballs a little vacation when you want to look at pretty pictures.

Thanks to Flavorwire, we discovered a Taschen book that will soon join the Typing Monkey library:  The Circus Book: 1870-1950. Flavorwire republished some of the photos a couple years ago, so in honor of National Clown Week (Aug 3, 2013 is officially National Clown Day), we link to those galleries.

One is "Rare Color Photos of Circus Showgirls of the ’40s and ’50s" the other is "Incredible Vintage Circus Photos of the '40s and '50s."

They're brief, fun looks at the romance and greasy glamor of human circus performers. Here's a sneak preview to entice you:

Circus people, 1955; courtesy Taschen; via Flavorwire

"Somebody would come looking for the Death master tapes"

This looks like a fun ride, in the classic story arc of "band more influential than famous gets rediscovered by a world finally ready for their music."



A Band Called Death is available now via various on-demand and download services, but it's also coming to various big screens.

We'd have made plans to see this movie anyway, but thanks to the crate-digging work of Rich at The Day After the Sabbath, we knew a bit about this band and can't wait to learn more.

Reading About Reading: Demoniacs and Things Under the Bed

Josephine Livingstone's "When Nuns Puked Nails" reviews the book The Devil Within by Brian Levack. The book examines the phenomenon of demonic possession, concentrating on the act's heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries. Her review was published on Prospect magazine's blog.

Livingstone manages to get in a little more literary critique into a book review than most of us are used to, thanks to Prospect allowing for more muscular writing than mainstream media makes room for these days.

Not having read Devil Within, we have no basis for debate with Livingstone, but it's clear she enjoyed the book and her review makes us want to read it. Especially this portion of her review:
"Popular apocalyptic thought—the strong suspicion that the final battle between good and evil was under way—made possession seem reasonable, even expected. The devil (or his attendant demons) taking control of your body was like the forces of evil saving seats at the cinema by putting coats on them."

And she points out that much of the Catholic procedure of exorcism at that time followed what amounted to a script, with even the possessed (usually a woman) knowing their role in the event.

On a similar topic, Peter Stanford reviewed Medusa's Gaze and Vampire's Bite: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan, for The Telegraph. Stanford never uses the term "fortean" but he's nearly there regarding his admiration for Kaplan's approach to answering the question: Why do we want to believe in monsters?

Kaplan, at least per Stanford, doesn't pass judgment on any of the believers, nor does he insist that the psychological or scientific "answers" are the only truth. If that's not in the spirit of Charles Fort, then let's fold up the internets and go home.

Kaplan's book shot to number one with a silver bullet on The Typing Monkey's reading list.

Journey Round His Skull

Will Schofield's astounding art blog 50 Watts will eat up all your spare time. You have been warned.

[Selection from the gallery "Children's Books in Poland: The 1960s." The '70s collection is every bit as good.]

Three Words: Black Death Pit

Just in case the news item didn't make it across your desk -- and really, if you're coming to The Typing Monkey for news, we're sorry -- an excavation crew working on a Crossrail project in Londond, unearthed a mass grave believed to date back to the early days of the Black Death plauge.

The BBC has all the details. It's another incredible find in an area that's seen a fair amount of archaelogical surprises in recent years. Read about it at the BBC site. Then register your Bandcamp, Facebook and domain name "Black Death Pit" right now and get started on that doom-metal band you've been fantasizing about starting.

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 6]

Enjoy this final installment of our award-winning series.


Dell O'Dell aka Nell Odella Newton
(Oct 2, 1897 - Feb 5, 1962)
Birthplace:  Lemonweir, Wisconsin
Profession-changing contribution:  Dell O'Dell was one of the first female stage magicians. She was certainly the first to reach her level of fame. At the height of her career, during the 1940s, she travelled North America in an RV and caravan of various animals, playing as many as 300 shows a year. Her stage show was a crowd-pleasing combination of illusions, animal tricks and comedy.
Fun fact: O'Dell had the first televised magic show, when Los Angeles station KTLA broadcast "The Dell O'Dell Show" in 1951, beating Mark Wilson's TV debut by four years.
Bonus fun fact:  It's alleged that O'Dell could work a nightclub full of horny sailors as easily as she could play to a room full of kids at a children's hospital. Her gift? The woman could swear like a demon, and wasn't afraid to work blue.

Editor's note:  O'Dell's story really is incredible -- one of those "does it all" tales of early 20th century entertainment. The website that bears her name has a two-page, exhaustive (and kind of exhausting, design-wise, but that's a trifle) history of O'Dell's inspiring career. And if you make it to the end of her story, halfway down page two is a great gallery of other women of magic.

Black and White In Color

One of the most wonderful aspects of the Web is that reading (or listening to, or watching) things you know, or are at least have intention to know, can take on some of the traits of conversation with friends who are smarter than you.

Perhaps you're reading posts from comic book writer Kurt Busiek and in a matter of seconds, find yourself staring at amazing photos by Gordon Parks, on a terrific art blog called Messy Nessy Chic.

Specifically, Messy Nessy was highlighting a series of incredible color photographs from Parks, a frequent contributor to the pages of Life, that were discovered after Parks died. Parks shot in black and white most of the time, but he opted to document the "softer" side of life in a segregated United States in bold color.

Softer, we say, because, as Nessy notes, most of us are accustomed to pictures of the Civil Rights era, and the years leading up to it, depicting violence or clear indications of a nation about to boil over.

These shots instead show an almost mundane, yet still massively loaded, everyday-ness of living in a world of denial.

Check out the Parks page on Messy Nessy, then dig around the rest of her site. Who knows where you'll end up.

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 5]

Collect 'em all!

Reginald Scot
(c.1538 – 9 Oct 1599)
Birthplace:  England (specific location undocumented)
Profession-changing contribution:  Scot was not a magician or illusionist. An educated man of the upper-class, he published a book The Discoverie of Witchcraft, in 1584, that challenged the belief in witchcraft.
A portion of the text details how some acts of conjuring performed in public were actually illusions using mechanical devices and other simple deceptions. It's now considered the first (unintentional) instruction manual for illusionists.
Scot's accusation that the Roman Catholic church was to blame for the punishment of "witches" and witch-hunt culture in general, did not go over well with authorities. When James I rose to power, copies of the book were burned.
Fun fact:  Scot also wrote the first instructional volume about hops cultivation, Perfect Platform of a Hop-garden.
Bonus fun fact:  The full title of Scot's witchcraft-debunking text is, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the Lewde dealing of Witches and Witchmongers is notablie detected, in sixteen books … whereunto is added a Treatise upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and Devils.

Editor's note: We couldn't find a suitable image of the cover of Mr. Scot's book, and there are no portraits of Scot available. However, you can read excerpts from Discoverie of Witchcraft here and here.

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 4]

Collect 'em all!

Douglas James "Doug" Henning


(May 3, 1947 - Feb 7, 2000)
Birthplace:  Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Profession-changing contribution: Henning's massive popularity (Tony-winning Broadway show, Emmy-nominated television specials) during the 1970s re-popularized magic as a form of entertainment. Part of Henning's appeal was that he eschewed the top-hat look, instead wearing t-shirts and bell-bottom pants, with long hair and an attitude of wonder about his own tricks.
Fun fact:  In 1987, Henning quit magic to study Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and even ran for political office in the UK and his native Canada, as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, a group founded on the faith's prinicples.
Bonus fun fact: Should you have the opportunity to visit The Magic Castle in Los Angeles and need to order a vegan meal, ask for the "Doug Henning."

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 3]

Collect 'em all!

Editor's note: Due to the rousing success of the "Sexy Astronomers of History" series in September 2012, The Typing Monkey has followed Hollywood's lead by offering a sequel nobody asked for. Enjoy.


Alexander Hermann aka Hermann the Great
(Feb 10, 1844 - Dec 17, 1896)

Birthplace: Paris Profession-changing contribution:  Herrmann capitalized on his Mephistophelian appearance and openly comedic performance to build his following. His performances were as much about the humor as they were about his illusions, sleight-of-hand tricks and road-tested magic. As a result, he was a favorite of the American public at the height of the Victorian era.
Fun fact: Herrmann was the youngest of 16 children. His father, Samuel, was a physician who dabbled in magic performance. The eldest son, Compars (aka Carl), became a famous magician in Europe and, upon seeing Alexander's natural skill "kidnapped" his 8-year-old brother, taking him on tour with him throughout Russia, while the family fretted back in France. The brothers performed as a duo for many years before Alex went solo.

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 2]

Collect 'em all!

Harry Blackstone Sr. aka The Great Blackstone (born Harry Bouton)
(Sep 27, 1885 - Nov 16, 1965)
Birthplace:  Chicago
Profession-changing contribution:  The first (or at least best-known) multi-media star of magic. At the height of his career as a stage illusionist, Blackstone was also the star of a comic book, and the inspiration for the radio mystery-drama Blackstone, the Magic Detective.
Fun fact:  Blackstone usually performed without talking, while the theater orchestra or pipe organ played carefully selected tunes to accompany his illusions.

Notable Illusionists of History [No. 1]

Collect 'em all!

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin
(Dec 6, 1805 – June 13, 1871)
Birthplace: Blois, France
Profession-changing contribution:  Considered the father of modern magic, Robert-Houdin was one of the first illusionists to work in a theater rather than set up in a marketplace or at a fair. And he wore formal wear -- what we now think of as the classic magician's attire -- to distinguish himself from other magicians. He also helped quell a potential rebellion of the Arabs in Algeria, who were being riled into action by local shamen. Napoleon III sent Robert-Houdin to Algeria in 1856 to out-perform the shamen, which he did.
Fun fact:  After a failed attempt to learn law, Robert-Houdin became a watchmaking apprentice to follow in his father's footsteps. A bookseller, thinking he was giving Robert-Houdin two books on clock making accidentally gave him two volumes about magic, called Scientific Amusements. Poof! (You get the idea.)

The Spanish Inquisition-ers Must Have Really Been Bored

In a serendipitous bit of Web surfing -- where intent and chance run wild in the brain -- we've been reading a bit about the Basque witch trials of the early 17th century. The Wikipedia article is a fine a place as any to start, and should the subject stimulate your brain, there's more to read on the Web and in print.

The Basque witch hunt was the largest of any perpetrated by the Spanish Inquisition, with estimates of nearly 7,000 people in Basque Country investigated, accused and/or tried.

And as is often the case, minorities were targeted for persecution. Women were the primary victims, as midwives and herbalists, steeped in the non-Christian [and totally compelling -- ed.] folklore of the region, faced accusations. But plenty of men and children were charged as well, including Conversos, descendants of the Jews and Moors who had converted to Christianity.

It ended as quickly as it started, but not without a body count.

Though not directly inspired by the Basque witch trials, the late 18th century painting "Witches' Sabbath" by Francisco Goya, intentionally recalls medieval and early Renaissance beliefs in what went on during a black sabbath:

You'll pardon our modern eyes for thinking that with the exception of the creepy skeleton baby, this looks like "Awesome Storytime With Uncle Goat" and not some heinous gathering of ill intent.

***

Bonus witchcraft-y weirdness!

Major Thomas Weir, a 17th century Scottish soldier who, at 70, suddenly claimed not only to be a warlock, but to have engaged in all manner of taboo acts with his sister Jean. All of this flew in the face of their very public life as devout Christians. As their confessions continued, the claims grew even stranger, and both were executed, despite any compelling evidence beyond their claims.

A BBC documentary made in 2007 examines the likelihood that Maj. Weir was largely the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Movie Time!

Surely you have a three minutes to spare for some George Melies magic circa 1896?



Watch more like these at Silent Film House's Youtube channel.