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Intellectual House o' Pancakes Webdiary

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2009-02-18 - 11:36 a.m.

"...When did you realize you had made it in the bass fishing industry?..."


Maybe I'm just a sucker for the Onion and all its related brands, but I do think their new Decider listing page is pretty cool. It is more fluid and navigable than the Voice (although New York Press has gotten better lately) and less obsessed with crappy bands than Oh My Rockness.


One of the best museum experiences I had in Rome was seeing the Etruscan collection at Villa Giulia. There are a lot of gaps in our current knowledge about the Etruscans, and their art and artifacts are significantly different from either the Greeks' or Romans', so there is a pervading sense of mystery and intrigue and deep loss at the heart of every display.

I am reliving this wonderment by reading D. H. Lawrence's long travel essay "Etruscan Places," which you can find in this longer collection of his Italy-related pieces.

I've never loved his novels (although I read them so long ago that I think I may have to give him another chance), but his travel writing is fantastic. It is very personal, funny, informal, and yet he gets properly het-up about art history, phallic symbols, and the powerful effect of spending time with the vivid but long-dead Etruscans in the dreary reality of fascist-era ('20s) Italy.


What is your virtual age and life expectancy?

thoughts? (10 comments so far)

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