Th Grat Gadsby

If youth, throughout all history, had had a champion to stand up for it; to show a doubting world that a child can think; and, possibly, do it practically; you wouldn’t constantly run across folks today who claim that “a child don’t know anything.� A child’s brain starts functioning at birth; and has, amongst its many infant convolutions, thousands of dormant atoms, into which God has put a mystic possibility for noticing an adult’s act, and figuring out its purport.

-Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby

Remember how you always thought E was an important letter, besides being the opening gambit for most hangmen and hangwomen? Hangpeople? People who play hangman. E’s considerable prevolance in the English language has elevated it to a position of esteem, often considered first among vowels. Enter Gadsby. In an attempt to deflate its ego (or perhaps in a subliminal anti-drugs stance), this 50,000 word story does not use a single E. Although undoubtedly done as much “because he could” as “to prove it could be done”, it does highlight some interesting linguistic peculiarities and since it is all properly written, it holds good examples of complex sentence construction while avoiding ambiguity.

The band who played at Jehan’s birthday at the beginning of the month now have a website where you can listen to two of their songs, including a great cover of Black Magic Woman. So go check out Funkin’ With The Lights On. Don’t be shy, I already told them you’re coming.

Something tells me that ie7.com has not been developed exactly as Microsoft might have envisioned. Whilst I disagree with such cybersquatting on principle, to claim that it is anything less than hilarious would be specious at best. Unaffiliated with either corporation, a WHOIS search reveals that it was actually registered by a Brit who decided to do something far sneakier than merely attempt to sell it to Microsoft.

Lastly, the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest has leaked but has yet to be released officially anywhere, which is odd because it certainly looks complete and very polished. In the meantime WWTDD has given it a home. My only complaint would be a slightly excessive slant towards the supernatural, though I’ll never turn down a good Kraken!