From Bill Murray to Thomas Kuhn

A friend of mine, who's been working for Jim Jarmusch, points to some newly-released photos of the current project, Broken Flowers. It comes out in August and stars Bill Murray, Julie Delpy, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton, and Chloë Sevigny. I'd love to hear more, Tom (hint, hint)!

Patricia Storms does it again! In the second installment of "Art Imitating Lit," she takes on the story that won't die...

Over at 400 Windmills, I toss out a couple thoughts that include Cardenio, Shakespeare, Thursday Next, George Herbert, Mark Z. Danielewski, and Echo.

In the "I-meant-to-link-to-this-ages-ago" department, The Complete Review takes on Steve Fuller's Kuhn vs. Popper: The Struggle for the Soul of Science (to the wishlist forthwith!):

Popper and Kuhn had very different views on science. Among other things, as Fuller puts it: Popper "held that science was much too important to be left to scientific discretion", while: "Kuhnian normal science was a politically primitive social formation that combined qualities of the Mafia, a royal dynasty and a religious order." Fuller stresses how conservative Kuhn's views are (and suggests why this is) -- noting also how The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is now read very differently than it was originally.

Fuller also suggests why Popper's thought has been less successful in establishing itself -- including because of Popper's dialectical approach ("his deductivism was anti-inductivism, his liberalism anti-authoritarianism, his individualism anti-holism"), as well as the fact that followers tend to focus on certain aspects of his work, rather than the whole.

Fuller is much more sympathetic to Popper's work, and the book usefully covers a broad range of it, suggesting its value (and some of the difficulties with it). Kuhn, on the other hand troubles him deeply, and he goes so far as to compare Kuhn's willingness "not to question the larger context" with Heidegger's attitude towards Nazism.

Yowza.

In the personal department, I've finished proofreading my sister's writing thesis, which is altogether lovely. (It's good that creative brilliance splattered some of us!) She graduates from Emerson (with a double BFA, no less) in two weeks. Alas, typical passport and financial issues are preventing my inclusion in the family's radiant reunion. If this blog becomes morose at some point soon, at least you'll know why.

Meanwhile, Quixote calls...

P.S. Hotmail has been behaving v e r y strangely--I haven't been able to to check my email in the past four days. If you've tried to make contact regarding the book quest and have yet to hear from me, this is why. Hopefully the cyber-powers-that-be will whip it into shape soon!