Been looking more into the innate human ability of mimesis, or mimicry. The whole idea about how the verb “to ape” means the same thing as “to mimic” also really got me thinking. Namely, I realized that the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” applies directly to this (MSMD). This seems to be used most commonly […]

Speaking of presidential assassination attempts, I just heard about this new game called JFK Reloaded that sounds pretty cool. Actually, it’s rather less cool than I imagined, but then I have a pretty wild imagination. Anyway, it’s put out today because today is the 41st anniversary of the assassination of JFK in Dealey Plaza.
The game’s […]

Did anybody hear about this jet that crashed on the way to pick up George Bush, Sr? All three people in the crew were killed. The plane was going to take him to Ecuador. The reason for the crash is not yet known, although it has been attributed mostly to “fog” and “poor visibility” in […]

I often find articles about religion and the paranormal written by skeptics to be really irritating. But I actually found a very good one for a change, called Why Beliefs Don’t Die (on the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal site).
The article talks about why it’s so difficult for people to […]

Just reading about theories on the origins of theatre, and apparently Aristotle said that he believed “mimesis” was an innate ability of humans. Mimesy is basically imitation or mimicry. They don’t point out here though that one of the alternate and more archaic uses of the word “ape” means exactly that same thing: mimicry. So, […]

I like this quote which I found as the opener to a paper called “Ritual and the Symbolic Function: A Summary of Biogenetic Structural Theory“. The quote itself, however, is attributed to Victor Turner’s, From Ritual to Theatre:
I like to think of ritual essentially as performance, enactment, not primarily as rules or rubrics. The rules […]

The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible is one of the more entertaining Bible finds which I have made lately. From their about page:
The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible attempts to remedy this imbalance. It includes the entire text of the King James Version of the Bible, but without the pro-Bible propaganda. Instead, passages are highlighted that are an embarrassment […]

I’m getting too tired to be productive anymore tonight, but I still have a couple things I want to research some more. They mostly relate to the historical development of drama. Specifically, I want to look more into the inter-twining of religion and the dramatic arts throughout history.
I read a few things earlier talking […]

I always hear people use the phrase “living vicariously” but I never really thought about what it meant until recently. Apparently, it comes from the word “vicar” which goes back to the Roman Catholic church. A vicar was a “priest who acts for or represents another, often higher-ranking member of the clergy.” Usually, the way […]