November 7, 2012
Pablo Ferro (b. 1935) is a graphic designer and film titles designer. Born in Cuba, he was raised on a remote farm before emigrating to New York with his family as a teenager. Ferro taught himself animation from a book by Preston Blair.
Ferro worked on films as diverse as Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr. Strangelove’ to the split-screen montage of the original ‘The Thomas Crown Affair.’ He was a pioneer of quick-cut editing, multiple screen images (the first in film and television in 1963). Ferro’s visual style has influenced many in film, television, animation, commercials, novels and children’s books.
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November 7, 2012
Stop Making Sense (1984) is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album ‘Speaking in Tongues.’ The movie is notable for being the first made entirely using digital audio techniques. The band raised the budget of $1.2 million themselves.
The title comes from the lyrics of the song ‘Girlfriend Is Better’: ‘As we get older and stop making sense…’ The movie begins with the opening credits, using a style similar to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’ (the movie trailer also makes references to ‘Dr. Strangelove’). Title designer Pablo Ferro was responsible for both title sequences.
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November 7, 2012
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American New Wave band Talking Heads, released in 1980. It was recorded at locations in the Bahamas and the United States and was produced by the quartet’s long-time collaborator Brian Eno. Two singles were released from the album: ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and ‘Houses in Motion’ as well as promotional single ‘Crosseyed and Painless.’
The members of Talking Heads wanted to make an album that dispelled notions of frontman and chief lyricist David Byrne leading a back-up band. They decided to experiment with African polyrhythms and, with Eno, recorded the instrumental tracks as a series of samples and loops, a novel idea at the time.
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November 7, 2012
A hyperforeignism is a non-standard language form resulting from an unsuccessful attempt to apply the rules of a foreign language to a loan word (for example, the application of the rules of one language to a word borrowed from another) or, occasionally, a word believed to be a loan word.
The result reflects ‘neither the… rules of English nor those of the language from which the word in question comes.’
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November 7, 2012
The gay lisp is a stereotypical manner of speech associated with gay males, particularly in English-speaking countries, that involves their pronunciation of sibilant consonants (fricatives, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together) and sometimes others verbal features.
The phenomenon of the ‘gay lisp’ and its study are poorly understood, similar to other secondary external attributes or verbal and non-verbal mannerisms of both gay and straight people. These attributes have proven difficult to define and quantify but seem somewhat independent of other variables in the phonology of the English language, such as accent and register.
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November 7, 2012
A fricative [frik-uh-tiv] is a consonant that is made when you squeeze air through a small hole or gap in your mouth. For example, the gaps in between your teeth can make fricative consonants. When the gaps in the teeth are used, these fricatives are called sibilants (e.g. ‘voiceless coronal sibilant,’ as in ‘sip’; ‘voiced coronal sibilant,’ as in ‘zip’). There are also non-sibilant fricatives (e.g. ‘voiceless labiodental fricative,’ as in ‘fine’; ‘voiced dental fricative,’ as in ‘that’).
A small number of languages including Navajo and Welsh have lateral fricatives (consonants, in which the airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth). Many languages also have pseudo-fricatives (unvoiced vowels, e.g. ‘voiceless glottal transition,’ as in ‘hat’).
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November 6, 2012
There are numerous fallacious ideas and beliefs about the origins (or etymologies) of common English words. The word ‘fuck’ did not originate in Christianized Anglo-Saxon England as an acronym of ‘Fornication Under Consent of King’; nor did it originate as an acronym of ‘For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,’ either as a sign posted above adulterers in the stocks, or as a criminal charge against members of the British Armed Forces; nor did it originate during the 15th-century Battle of Agincourt as a corruption of ‘pluck yew’ (an idiom falsely attributed to the English for drawing a longbow).
Modern English was not spoken until the 16th century, and words such as ‘fornication’ and ‘consent’ did not exist in any form in English until the influence of Anglo-Norman in the late 12th century. The earliest recorded use of ‘fuck’ in English comes from c. 1475, in the poem ‘Flen flyys,’ where it is spelled ‘fuccant’ (conjugated as if a Latin verb meaning ‘they fuck’). It is of Proto-Germanic origin, and is related to Dutch ‘fokken’ and Norwegian ‘fukka.’
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November 6, 2012
The Parthian [pahr-thee-uhn] shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians (an ancient Iranian empire). Their archers mounted on light horse, while retreating at a full gallop, would turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy. The maneuver required superb equestrian skills, since the rider’s hands were occupied by his bow. As the stirrup had not been invented yet, the rider relied solely on pressure from his legs to guide his horse. The tactic was first employed by Eurasian nomads, including the Scythians, Huns, Turks, Magyars, and Mongols, before spreading to armies away from the Eurasian steppe, such as the Sassanid clibanariis and cataphract.
The Parthians famously used it to defeat the Roman general Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae. The phrase ‘parting shot’ has its origins from the Parthian shot. The first recorded usage was by John McCleod, surgeon on board the HMS Alceste contained in: ‘A narrative of a Voyage to the Yellow Sea’ (1818). The two phrases have rather similar phonetic soundings but are actually separately derived at different times. Although the Parthian archers of old have been famous for their shooting, the term ‘parthian shot’ was recorded for the first time in 1832 by Captain Mundy, ADC to Lord Combermere on a hunting trip in India.
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November 6, 2012
‘Poison pill’ is sometimes used more broadly to describe other types of takeover defenses that involve the target taking some action.
Although the broad category of takeover defenses (more commonly known as ‘shark repellents‘) includes the traditional shareholder rights plan poison pill. Other anti-takeover protections include: Limitations on the ability to call special meetings or take action by written consent; Supermajority vote requirements to approve mergers; and Supermajority vote requirements to remove directors.
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November 6, 2012
A wedge issue is a social issue, often of a divisive or controversial nature, which splits apart a population or political group. Wedge issues can be advertised or publicly aired in an attempt to weaken the unity of a population; with the goal of enticing polarized individuals to give support to an opponent. The use of wedge issues gives rise to wedge politics. Wedge issues are also known as ‘hot button’ or ‘third rail’ issues.
Political campaigns use wedge issues to exploit tension within a targeted population. A wedge issue may often be a point of internal dissent within an opposing party, which that party attempts to suppress or ignore discussing because it divides ‘the base.’ Typically, wedge issues have a cultural or populist theme, relating to matters such as crime, national security, sexuality (e.g. gay marriage), or race. A party may introduce a wedge issue to an opposing population, while aligning itself with the dissenting faction of the opposition.
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November 5, 2012
A shareholder rights plan, colloquially known as a ‘poison pill,’ is a type of defensive tactic used by a corporation’s board of directors against a takeover. There are a number of such tactics, referred to as ‘shark repellents’ generally. In the field of mergers and acquisitions, shareholder rights plans were devised in the early 1980s as a way for directors to prevent takeover bidders from negotiating a price for sale of shares directly with shareholders, and instead forcing the bidder to negotiate with the board.
Shareholder rights plans are unlawful without shareholder approval in many jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, frowned upon in others such as throughout the European Union, and lawful if used ‘proportionately’ in others, including Delaware in the United States. They are controversial because they hinder an active market for corporate control. Further, giving directors the power to deter takeovers puts directors in a position to enrich themselves, as they may effectively ask to be compensated for the price of consenting to a takeover.
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November 5, 2012
Hot or Not was a rating site that allowed users to rate the attractiveness of photos submitted voluntarily by others. The site offers a matchmaking engine called ‘Meet Me’ and an extended profile feature called ‘Hotlists.’ It is owned by Badoo Trading Limited (a dating-focused social discovery website, founded in 2006 by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev), and was previously owned by Avid Life Media (who owns a dating web site named ‘Ashley Madison’ that is geared toward married individuals looking for an additional relationship).
‘Hot or Not’ was a significant influence on the people who went on to create the social media sites Facebook and YouTube. The site was founded in 2000 by James Hong and Jim Young, two friends and Silicon Valley-based engineers. Both graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in electrical engineering, with Young pursuing a Ph.D at the time.
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