Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane

"Man disguised as tree robs bank"

I've never trusted those panda bears

Panda Prison Break - Watch more free videos

Listening to the World - American Samoa

Pardon me if I don't have this entirely correct, but it's a bit more complicated than I was first expecting.

American Samoa is an "American unincorporated unorganized territory." "Unincorporated" means "not under the jurisdiction of a particular American State." "Unorganized" means that the territory's government is not established or overseen by the US, even though it is a US territory.

American Samoa is the only unincorporated unorganized territory that has a civilian population -- all the rest are either home to military bases or completely uninhabited. I had presumed that there would be a military base there. I was wrong, there were bases there in World War Two, but they have now been abandoned.

But the important question remains -- just what is the quality of their "Hit Music Radio?"

Well, it sounds just like American radio, except for the occasional advertisement in Samoan.

Here you go, have a listen.

Buying the New Yorker 1976 - page 17

Edward Marshall Boehm was a sculptor who specialized in porcelain flowers and animals. For the curious, you can learn more here:

Early in 1953, President and Mrs. Eisenhower recognized the art and began to utilize it for gifts to visiting Heads of State, culminating in the sculpture "Prince Philip on His Polo Pony" presented to the Queen and Prince when they visited the United States in 1957. Every American President since has commissioned Boehm for gifts to visiting dignitaries.

in 1959, His Late Holiness Pope John XXIII was presented with several pieces for The Vatican Museum, including the sculpture "Cerulean Warblers with Wild Roses." On viewing it for the first time, he exclaimed, "One hesitates to go too close for fear the birds might fly away."

There you have it.

Interestingly, while there is a great deal of attention paid to Boehm's amazing skill, the fact that his death in 1969 seems to have had no impact on the output. One speculates that his actual innovation lies somewhere in the process.

In any event, if you were around in 1976, you could have stopped by Brielle China and picked up some nice little figurines or perhaps a commemorative plate. Today, I'm pretty sure they are out of business. I see a decent amount of Boehm on eBay though.

Great moments in improbable musical collaborations

Al Stewart and Tori Amos, Royal Festival Hall, 1991.

The story behind this clip is that the person scheduled to play piano had to cancel at the last minute, so Stewart called Amos in to do it (They knew each other as she sang back-up on one of his albums a few years earlier). Problematically, Amos had been having Visa/Passport issues (She had just been given an advance for her next album, and was staying in London to write songs, but didn't have clearance to perform). So Stewart decided that the best way around this was to make up a new identity for her - one that, judging from the clip, she really wasn't expecting.

I love it when something like this happens

Soko did this song which was passed along from blog to mailing list to blog (those that pay attention to my Shared Google Reader Posts might have seen it go by):



I love the reaction to this live set where everybody in the audience knows the song.

God's fingerprints

Brother Ali.

Stick with it until 2:30 till the end. That's when the magic happens. Trust me.