April 10, 2012
The Groundlings are an improvisational comedy troupe based in Los Angeles formed by Gary Austin in 1974. It uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from ‘Hamlet’: ‘…to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise.’ The Groundlings School holds new sessions every six weeks with over 300 students per session, with over 2,000 students per year going through the program. The competitive program consists of 4 levels (Basic, Intermediate, Writing Lab and Advanced).
Participants must be successfully advanced from each level by the instructor. After completing the Advanced level, one may be voted into the Sunday Company, which performs every Sunday at 7:30pm. Members of the Main Company are selected from members of the Sunday Company. The Main Company (now capped at no more than 30 members at any time) collectively acts as the organization’s artistic director, democratically making business and creative decisions as a group. Notable alumni include: Adam Carolla, Abby Elliott, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Will Forte, Ana Gasteyer, Kathy Griffin, Rachael Harris, Phil Hartman, Cheryl Hines, Chris Kattan, Lisa Kudrow, Jon Lovitz, Pat Morita, Conan O’Brien, Cheri Oteri, Paul Reubens, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Kristen Wiig.
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April 10, 2012
Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q (standing for Quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch (or later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.
The character actually appears only fleetingly in Ian Fleming’s novels, but comes into his own in the successful Bond film series; he is also mentioned in the continuation novels of John Gardner and Raymond Benson. Q has appeared in 20 of 23 Eon Bond films; all except ‘Live and Let Die,’ ‘Casino Royale,’ and ‘Quantum of Solace.’ The character was also featured in the non-official Bond films ‘Casino Royale’ (1967) and ‘Never Say Never Again.’
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April 9, 2012
‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King, published in 2000, is a memoir of the prolific author’s experiences as a writer, and also serves as a guide book for those who choose to enter the craft. The first section of the book is an Autobiography mainly about King’s early exposure to writing, and his childhood attempts at writing. King talks about his early attempts to get published, and his first novel ‘Carrie.’ He also talks about his fame as a writer, and what it took to get there. This includes his relationship with his wife, the death of his mother and his history of drug and alcohol abuse.
The second section is practical advice on writing, including tips on grammar and ideas about developing plot and character. King himself describes it as a guide for how ‘a competent writer can become a good one.’ This includes his beliefs that a writer should edit out unnecessary details and avoid the use of unnecessary adverbs. He also uses quotes from other books and authors to illustrate his points. The third section is also autobiographical, in which he discusses the 1999 automobile accident in which he was struck by a vehicle while walking down an isolated country road. He describes serious injuries, his painful recovery and his struggle to start writing again.
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April 6, 2012
Clinamen [klyn-ah-mun] is the Latin name Roman philosopher Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs ‘at no fixed place or time’:
‘When atoms move straight down through the void by their own weight, they deflect a bit in space at a quite uncertain time and in uncertain places, just enough that you could say that their motion has changed. But if they were not in the habit of swerving, they would all fall straight down through the depths of the void, like drops of rain, and no collision would occur, nor would any blow be produced among the atoms. In that case, nature would never have produced anything.’
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April 4, 2012
The ‘ghost in the machine‘ is British philosopher Gilbert Ryle’s description of René Descartes’ mind-body dualism. The phrase was introduced in Ryle’s book ‘The Concept of Mind’ (1949) to highlight the perceived absurdity of dualist systems like Descartes’ where mental activity carries on in parallel to physical action, but where their means of interaction are unknown or, at best, speculative.
Arthur Koestler’s wrote ‘The Ghost in the Machine,’ in 1967, focusing on mankind’s movement towards self-destruction, particularly in the nuclear arms arena. The book is particularly critical of B. F. Skinner’s behaviorist theory. One of Koestler’s central concepts is that as the human brain has grown, it has built upon earlier, more primitive brain structures, and that this is the ‘ghost in the machine’ of the title. Koestler’s theory is that at times these structures can overpower higher logical functions, and are responsible for hate, anger and other such destructive impulses.
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April 4, 2012
Ordinary language philosophy came out of followers of the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein at the University of Oxford, and was most popular between 1930 and 1970. It is a philosophical school that approaches traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting what words actually mean in everyday use.
This approach typically involves eschewing philosophical ‘theories’ in favor of close attention to the details of the use of everyday, ‘ordinary’ language. Sometimes called ‘Oxford philosophy,’ it is generally associated with the work of a number of mid-century Oxford professors: mainly J.L. Austin, but also Gilbert Ryle, H.L.A. Hart, and Peter Strawson. The later Ludwig Wittgenstein is ordinary language philosophy’s most celebrated proponent outside the Oxford circle. Second generation figures include Stanley Cavell and John Searle.
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April 3, 2012
In linguistics, an idiolect [id-ee-uh-lekt] is a variety of a language unique to one individual person. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection (the individual’s lexicon), grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual’s language production is in some sense unique.
Linguists disagree about exactly what is shared, in terms of the underlying knowledge of the language, among speakers of the same language or dialect. According to this view, a language is an ‘ensemble of idiolects… rather than an entity per se.’
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April 3, 2012
Estuary English is a dialect of English widely spoken in South East England, especially along the River Thames and its estuary. Phonetician John C. Wells defines Estuary English as ‘Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England.’
Some people adopt the accent as a means of ‘blending in,’ appearing to be more working class, or in an attempt to appear to be ‘a common man’ – sometimes this affectation of the accent is derisively referred to as ‘Mockney.’ A move away from traditional Received Pronunciation accents is almost universal among middle class young people.
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April 3, 2012
Mockney (a portmanteau of ‘mock’ and ‘Cockney’) is an affected accent and form of speech in imitation of Cockney or working class London speech, or a person with such an accent. A stereotypical Mockney comes from a middle or upper-middle class background in England’s Home Counties (the counties encircling London).
Mockney is distinct from Estuary English by being the deliberate affectation of the working-class London (Cockney) accent. A person speaking with a Mockney accent might adopt Cockney pronunciation but retain standard grammatical forms where the Cockney would use non-standard forms (e.g. negative concord / double negative). The first published use of the word according to the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1989.
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April 3, 2012
U and non-U English usage, with U standing for upper class, and non-U representing the aspiring middle classes, were part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in 1950s Britain and New England. The debate did not concern itself with the speech of the working classes, which in many instances used the same words as the upper class.
For this reason, the vocabulary list can often appear quite counter-intuitive: the middle class prefers ‘fancy’ or fashionable words (even neologisms), often euphemisms, in an attempt to make themselves sound more refined, while the upper class in many cases sticks to the same plain and traditional words that the working classes also use, as they have no need to make themselves sound more refined, conscious of their status.
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April 2, 2012
The Orange Catholic Bible (abbreviated to O. C. Bible or OCB) is a fictional book from the ‘Dune’ universe created by Frank Herbert. Created in the wake of the crusade against thinking machines known as the Butlerian Jihad, the Orange Catholic Bible is the key religious text in the Dune universe and is described thus in the glossary of the 1965 novel:
‘ORANGE CATHOLIC BIBLE: the ‘Accumulated Book,’ the religious text produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators. It contains elements of most ancient religions, including the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism, and Buddislamic traditions. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: ‘Thou shalt not disfigure the soul,’ followed by ‘Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.’
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April 2, 2012
Syncretism [sing-kri-tiz-uhm] is the combining of different (often contradictory) beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism may involve the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture (known as eclecticism) as well as politics (syncretic politics).
The word entered the English language in 1618; it derives from Latin ‘syncretismus,’ drawing on Greek (‘synkretismos’), meaning ‘Cretan federation.’ The Greek word occurs in Plutarch’s (1st century) essay on ‘Fraternal Love’ in his ‘Moralia.’ He cites the example of the Cretans, who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dangers. ‘And that is their so-called Syncretism.’
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