POP OCCULTURE: HIGH WEIRDNESS IN THE ARTS

From the almost biological rhythms of shamanic drumming to the atonal polychromatic formalism of 20th century “musique concrete”, the philosophies and belief systems that have inspired creators to express themselves through the manipulation of air molecules via sound waves have been anything but pedestrian. In his excellent 2004 overview, The Occult and Music, Gary Gomes covers the gamut, from the world music tradition stretching all the way back to the Ancient Greeks, to the sacred theology that informed early liturgical music, to the more esoteric philosophies that have inspired composers of “serious” as well as popular music, up to and including the so-called “demoniac” influence on such rockers as the Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath, it’s all here, in one easy-to-digest starting place. An excellent primer for those eager to explore this infinitely rich topic of research.

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Fans of Umberto Eco have reason to celebrate, as the celebrated Italian novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary critic, and list-lover … “revisits the mesmerism of the metaphorical and the symbolic in The Book of Legendary Lands, an illustrated voyage into history’s greatest imaginary places, with all their fanciful inhabitants and odd customs, on scales as large as the mythic continent Atlantis and as small as the fictional location of Sherlock Holmes’s apartment.” This gorgeously illustrated tome will make a perfect gift for the bibliophile in your life. Check it out online, or at your local library, where the waiting list is sure to be long on this one. Enjoy!

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When he isn’t dreaming up incredibly odd “experimental” hotel environments (Jupiter Room, anyone?), designer Ai Hasegawa seems intrigued by the possibility that human beings will one day carry dolphin fetuses to term, deliver them in special birthing pools… then cook and eat them. Hey, what with the Malthusian alarm about population growth outpacing global food production capacity, will such modest proposals remain out of rhetorical bounds for much longer? We here at UselessEaterBlog certainly hope so. Incredibly strange video, below.

I Wanna Deliver a ... from aikiaiki on Vimeo.