anthropodermic bibliopegy

For those of you not in the know:

Anthropo=human
Dermic=skin
Biblio=book
Pegy=binding/fastening

Thank goodness for Harvard Law students with too much time on their hands. This is fascinating. Something to add to my birthday wish list!

My favorite anecdote is maybe

In My Life with Paper, master book designer Dard Hunter tells of being hired by a young widow to bind a volume of letters dedicated to her late husband in his skin. Hunter later learns that the widow has remarried and wonders whether her second husband sees himself as volume two. Hunter concludes, "Let us hope that this was strictly a limited edition."

A nod to the always-eclectic Kircher Society for pointing me in this fascinating direction.

300 thoughts

Not a haiku. But somewhat poetically:

They said "Gladiator" was awful, and I said, "I don't know, I kind of liked it. It could be far worse anyway..."

And then came "Troy." And they said "Wow. THAT was awful, and oh, 'Gladiator' doesn't seem so bad now. And I said, "I don't know, I kind of liked it. It could be worse, anyway..."

And now comes "300." And they say "Holy crap, it makes 'Troy' look good." And I say "It was truly awful, but I am certain in a year or two, something worse will come along."

my week of culture

I take some pride in thinking of myself as a rather cultured guy. But for whatever reason this week was an unusually broad swath of highs and (and a low).

• Tuesday: Edward Scissorhands, the ballet, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
• Wednesday: Reception for the centennial exhibit at the Japan Society, Chinese and Japanese Zen portraiture
• Thursday: Pirates of Penzance at CityOpera
• Friday: *Ahem* "300," the Frank Miller comic-turned-movie
• Saturday: The incomparable Tallis Scholars at Riverside Church

I think perhaps what's most remarkable about that roster of events is they really, really don't have much of anything in common. I'm nothing if not eclectic.