Search Results for: ancient

The Poor Man of Nippur – Babylonian language short film

Posted on December 15, 2018 by editor, facilitator, decider

I’m just giddy to present here, in its entirety, The Poor Man of Nippur—a 20-minute short film created by the University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology. It is the first feature produced in the Babylonian language, which has been extinct … Continue reading →

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Txt like an Egyptian

Posted on May 8, 2018 by editor, facilitator, decider

. . In a move sure to be cheered by classicists everywhere, the Unicode Consortium group, they who  guard the emoji gates, have proposed adding more than 2,000 Egyptian hieroglyphs to the approved character sets encoded on new smart phones, … Continue reading →

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Neanderthal art!

Posted on February 23, 2018 by editor, facilitator, decider

Fast on the heels of our discussion late last month with esteemed cave-art expert and paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, we check back in on this fascinating subject, based on ground-breaking revelations. Just published yesterday, new research on cave art in … Continue reading →

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Connecting with an ancient artform

Posted on January 28, 2018 by editor, facilitator, decider

One of the most important unifying threads in art, in any art, is that of connection. It is that momentary removal of time and distance between observer and creator, when they become of one mind. Intent is key here, and … Continue reading →

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The long history of :)

Posted on July 23, 2017 by editor, facilitator, decider

Thanks to the ubiquitous emoji, we’re now communicating more than ever in semiotics, and most specifically with some simple yet telling arrangement of two dots for eyes, and some visceral version of a frown, grimace, or smile. It shouldn’t come … Continue reading →

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Did it come with a data plan?

Posted on January 5, 2016 by editor, facilitator, decider

I want to believe, I really do. But the purported find of this ancient Nokia-esque cuneiform tablet has my BS-meter blaring an alert. Its conspicuous similarity to a twenty-first (or at least, late twentieth) century comm device, albeit with an … Continue reading →

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Babylonian tree-hugger: The lost verses of Gilgamesh

Posted on October 4, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Gilgamesh of Uruk, great king and itinerant seeker, priest of Kullab and bosom-friend of Enkidu, we thought we knew ye. Well, we should have figured. The Epic of Gilgamesh, history’s first great narrative poem and mankind’s inaugural piece of literature, … Continue reading →

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They burned the Temple down (and that’s a good thing)

Posted on March 28, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

A bonfire in Northern Ireland is an event heavy with meaning. In recent times they’ve been as sectarian as most other things in life there: Loyalists tend to hold theirs in July, using them to commemorate the Orange victory and … Continue reading →

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Tattoo new – culling sound from the ink

Posted on October 14, 2014 by editor, facilitator, decider

Staying with the tattoo theme for just a moment longer, the Deconstruction offers the sincerest of hat tips to Muscovite artist Dmitry Morozov (nom d’arte ::vtol::) for creating something brand new with what we’ve just this past week nominated as … Continue reading →

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Nina Paley illuminates the Levant

Posted on August 9, 2014 by editor, facilitator, decider

Artist, activist, filmmaker (and much more) Nina Paley might just have succeeded were corps of cognoscenti and commentators have been left foundering. Their line of inquiry, topical yet perpetual, has been, “Why can’t there be peace in the Middle East?” … Continue reading →

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I culture you: Hop aboard

Posted on November 9, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Humulus lupulus: the hop flower. Fruit of a herbaceous perennial vine, cultivated mainly in northern temperate regions, used extensively as an antibacterial herbal additive. Which is nice. But for my money, hops have one beautiful, noble purpose: they’re what turns … Continue reading →

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Getting to know Francis Bacon

Posted on June 9, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

Opportunities to learn pop up quite unexpectedly. You have to be ready to seize them, to revel in them, and yes, to begin learning from them. Their unpredictability demands that. Take for instance my new-found fascination with the life of … Continue reading →

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Why I love the Kindle

Posted on March 15, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

I’ll start with a defensive-sounding disclaimer: I love me some books. I love me some old school books. By way of evidence (also somewhat defensively) I offer this snap of my recent haul. Long story, but most of these books … Continue reading →

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The biblioclasts

Posted on March 10, 2013 by editor, facilitator, decider

In the scale of assaults that mankind inflicts on mankind, it’s hard to argue that biblioclasty, the torching of libraries, much compares with the worst crimes that all too often occur in times of war, conquest, and oppression. We’re informed … Continue reading →

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Chinese literature in the spotlight

Posted on October 13, 2012 by editor, facilitator, decider

With this week’s announcement of the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the world’s cultural attention has turned to Chinese literature. China has one of the world’s most ancient traditions of written art, yet has been mostly ignored by … Continue reading →

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