Can snakes really be charmed by music?
No. The charm has nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the charmer waving a pungi, a reed instrument carved out of a gourd, in the snake’s face. Snakes don’t have external ears and can perceive little more than low-frequency rumbles. But when they see something threatening, they rise up in…
A 7-mile pink rainbow for Kim Jong-il
Ben Masterton-Smith, recipient of the inaugural RIBA Norman Foster Traveling Scholarship in 2007, visited North Korea for a period of architectural and spatial research. One of the many outcomes of that trip was Ben’s diploma project, part of which proposed a farcical realization of a 7-mile rainbow reportedly seen on the occasion of Kim Jong-il‘s…
The Most Disturbing Novel Ever Written About Christmas
Until recently, Patrick Hamilton was a mainstay of “forgotten novelists” lists. Thanks to clamorous support by a distinguished group including J.B. Priestly, Doris Lessing, and Nick Hornby, many of his best books have slipped back into print over the last few years. Thankfully, this includes Hangover Square, perhaps the perfect antidote for the Christmas season.…