an assortment of tastes

Or, things I've been looking at recently (and previously):

1. I'm trying to make my mind a bit more supple again. So, lots of reading at the moment. Right now, one of the books I'm reading is Things That Talk, edited by the incomparable Lorraine Datson. It's a volume dedicated to the way "things" and "objects" become charged with meaning, how they are inculcated with and announce their meanings, and several historians' endeavors to unpacking objects layered with dense cultural/historical significance. One of the essays in the book, which I haven't gotten to quite yet, is all about the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, officially called the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, and how they were received (and I believe frowned upon) by the scientific community. The first academic ideas that might come to mind when I think about them are mimicry and 'faking it'-- or maybe even idolatry -- and the the object(ionable) attempt to stop time.

But before I take a turn for the wholly incoherent, I might as well admit that what makes the glass flowers resonate for me is that they made me understand, for the first time, that it wasn't just girls who appreciated delicate beauty. I was 9 years old and at the height of my hatred for pizza when we went to visit the HNHM, at the insistence of my uncle, whom I'd always thought of as a dutiful, quiet man who enjoyed fishing and the occasional beer. My mom and I seemed to be simply tagging along. As we walked among the Echeveria, I would go quickly from object to object, but my uncle would summon me over to peer down into the vitrines. At each display case, his eyes were intent and his face wrinkled with appreciation. It was rare that I saw someone so engaged, and that was, in and of itself, something to behold. The flowers instantly become auratic, lustrous with the ability to transfix. I wondered who else they had changed, or who else they had helped see differently, if only for a few moments.

2. This, of course, made me start thinking of the greatness that is the Museum of Jurassic Technology, which has a similar feel as the glass flowers exhibit, plus an added creepiness due to low-lighting and "Tell the Bees." Thus, the next book on the list is Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder.

3. And the title of the book made me start wondering if there are any blogs that are veritable "cabinets of curiosities"...?

4. Lastly, for more profane amusement: I found, by looking at Google News ealier this morning, Kurt Loder's entirely ineffectual review of "Basic Instict 2: Risk Addiction." If only Loder had found a way to make a slick, literary transition between Sharon Stone's hoo-hoo and what he describes as Daniel Johnston's "adenoidal voice", I would nominate him for a Pulitzer. Also, to quench any curiosity (and blind you from thinking about my question of blogs that are cabinets of curiosities), here is the super-smutty trailer for BI2 that was (oops!) released a couple of months back. It showcases Stone's boobies in all their raisin-smuggling glory. I still can't believe this exists!