Miscellanea

[undyingking]

• "It was only when he did not get up to take a bow that anyone realised something had gone wrong."
  This is the sort of story that if you put it in a murder mystery game, it would be dismissed as too absurd. Well done, Mr Hoevels, especially for coming back on the following night.

• "Another stage-property that he pulled out of his box pretty frequently

Comments

[karohemd]

The first one is quite absurd and excellent (not for the actor involved, obviously).

The best thing about the teddy skull is that it has ears. :oD

I actually hadn't heard of the Voynich manuscript. How wonderful! Even if it's an elborate hoax, it's awesome.

[undyingking]

Mm, I was wondering about the ears! I guess they would have just looked like generic animal skulls without; bears' ears are pretty characteristic.

[theoclarke]

I agree that the point would be lost without the ears. Making 'accurate' felt skulls would be too subtle without textual exposition that would undermine the effect.

[hatmandu]

Just in case you haven't seen this Voynich site (using genetic algorithms to analyse it): http://pcbunn.cacr.caltech.edu/Voynich/default.htm

[undyingking]

That's pretty good! A bit dry for my purposes, but all grist to the mill.

[hatmandu]

A bit dry

Well, indeed. A while back I had the idea of writing a nocel using all the Voynich images exactly as they are, but with readable text of course - possibly even with the crazy formal constraint of each word being the same length as the original. Hm, not a job for while we have a baby, methinks...

[undyingking]

In a few years he'll be able to help you.

[ar_gemlad]

Ooh, someone I helped with a TV interview at the museum has done work on the Voynich MS. Don't know anything about it, but his website is http://www.nickpelling.com/

[undyingking]

Aha, yes, I know of him. He wrote a book on it, which I haven't read but it looked like a nice summary.

[mr_malk]

Wow. Now that's criticism. I have never read Deerslayer, (nor am I likely to) but that is a serious flaying. I don't know if Twain was as harsh in normal circumstances, but I would pity anyone who got on the wrong end of that pen.

"It was only when he did not get up to take a bow that anyone realised something had gone wrong."

Haha! We used that in the Baroque Picture Horror Show at 1897! Aubrey Beardsley got murdered by the actress playing Dorian Gray, (when his character, Basil Hallward was meant to be being murdered). We dragged him off-stage and only realised he wasn't hamming when he missed his curtain call!

(There was a certain amount of suspended disbelief at work here I admit, as neither I (Oscar Wilde) nor the murderess wished for the play to be cut short, just because one of the actors had been murdered).

[undyingking]

Excellent, life imitating art in such a way always nice to see.

I get the impression Twain partly earned his readership, living and reputation by piling in pretty vigorously when he saw a suitable target. I suspect he would have been a blogger today. He didn't dent Cooper's popularity significantly, but I don't suppose that was the point.

Slashed throat

[theoclarke]

This is the premise of the second Inspector Barnaby novel Death of a Hollow Man. It was later adapted for an episode of the television series Midsomer Murders.

Re: Slashed throat

[undyingking]

Hmm, so all we have to do is get the list of subscribers to whatever obscure cable channel broadcasts that show in Austria, and we've done half the Viennese police's work for them.