After some early morning work in Mitchell Memorial Library at MSU, I headed home to complete yardwork delayed by the almost non-stop rains we had for much of last week. Finally the ground is firm enough to mow my grass. After a lunch of red beans and rice and some leftover garlic mashed potatoes with hombrewed iced sun tea (Peppermint Lemon Earl Grey), I headed to Starkville Public Library for Clyde V. Williams' discussion of Mississippi's own Dana Andrews' role in Otto Preminger's 1944 noir classic Laura.
Not quite sure what tonight will bring, although I assume it will involve Ted, Barney, and their pals . . .
COR-REC-TION[Intoned In My Best Adenoidal Drone]
The show was a re-run, and besides I was attending this lecture by a very smart man.
High Concept Costume of the Day:
Stanley Kowalski
Bud Man . . . Red Sox Fan!
Coda 10/30/07
Well the Pinker talk was a fantastic success, at least in terms of attendance. People spilling into the aisles; it's a good thing the Fire Marshall wasn't around. Given the number of kids getting IDs electronically scanned after the lecture, I suspect some extra credit bribery was involved (probably explicit rather than the supposedly superior implicit kind discussed by Pinker). Still better that than the half empty auditoria which have met many a speaker at MSU back in the day. I would say the Faculty turn-out beyond invited dignitaries and dinner guests was sparse, a testament to the intellectual curiosity of the faculty in general! The talk itself was only so so. Fun and, when he gave examples off script, quite fascinating, but a demonstration of what Ian Parker in The New Yorker famously complained about PowerPoint presentations: their absolute cookie cutter structure. By the end of the talk, we had heard all of his poitns in identical language at least three times. A bit much methinks!
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