RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase

From: Vincent Campbell (v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk)
Date: Fri Mar 16 2001 - 13:29:03 GMT

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    From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk>
    To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
    Subject: RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase
    Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 13:29:03 -0000
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    There's another link between Manhunter and the later Lecter films- Hannibal
    is played by a British actor (a scotsman who's name escapes me, literally as
    I write), who plays him, as does welshman hopkins with an english accent.

    I haven't see the new film yet- but I have read the novel- but beware
    spoiling it for others!

    Vincent

    > ----------
    > From: Scott Chase
    > Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 1:05 am
    > To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > Subject: RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > >From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
    > >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > >To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
    > >Subject: RE: Toggling nature's auto-erase
    > >Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 09:23:30 -0500
    > >
    > >On 03/14/01 05:40, Vincent Campbell said this-
    > >
    > > >From a memetics point of view, this whole area is very interesting. Do
    > > >memes work because they are attuned to the range of sensory inputs that
    >
    > >our
    > > >filtering mechanisms allow into normal consciousness? Is that why when
    > a
    > > >colleague of mine kept singing a snippet of 'quando, quando, quando' ,
    > >and I
    > > >then had it banging around my head for days? (If you know it,
    > apologies,
    > >as
    > > >I bet it'll be going round your head later today.)
    > >
    > >One has to know the tune, firstly, or hear it. "Quando, quando, quando"
    > >is totally unreferenced in my head, and so, no, it entered and left with
    > >dispatch. On the other hand, I've been carrying around, intentionally,
    > >the little tune that Jan Hammer wrote for the humorous portions of the
    > >Miami Vice episode called 'Phil the Shill', which was on TNN last night.
    > >Before that, I was intentionally wandering around with Bill Frisell's
    > >'What Do We Do' between my virtual ears.
    > >
    > >Why? Because I like 'em.
    > >
    > >Memes do seem to work as filters, and I'm beginning to see them as only
    > >this- immediate indexers of perceptions. There is something about the
    > >ideas of surrealism that have always attracted me in this regard -
    > >
    > >"(Surrealism) declares that it is able, by its own means, to uproot
    > >thought from an increasingly cruel state of thralldom, to steer it back
    > >onto the path of total comprehension, return it to its original purity."
    > >- Andre Breton
    > >
    > >- to the point of which I have declared, manifesto-like, "To a life
    > >without memes!" which, to me, is a utopian and ideal state, as I have
    > >increasingly begun to see memetic processes as artificial and
    > >manipulistic, as I have certainly seen the motivations of those who
    > >profess to be 'memetic engineers' as faintly if at all divorced from
    > >propagandists.
    > >
    > >The idea needs to come first. If one puts spin on it and calls that spin
    > >'memetic engineering', the idea is lost. It is up to religions and laws
    > >to so something ethically useful with it at that point....
    > >
    > >"Let us not mince words: the marvelous is always beautiful. Anything
    > >marvelous is beautiful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful."
    > >Andre Breton, 1924
    > >
    > >If memetics has anything to do with distorting the beautiful, it is
    > false.
    > >
    > >
    > First things first, thanx for pointing out that Vice is on TNN. It's on
    > right now. I was a Vice-addict and now I'm back off the wagon to recovery.
    >
    > Second, would the rampant propogation of cheap Armani knock-off jackets
    > with
    > obligatory t-shirts and dress shoes with no socks back in the eighties
    > qualify as a memetic epidemic? Would Michael Mann be a pioneer in memetic
    > engineeering? Well, most Vice-heads probably couldn't afford the white
    > Ferrari Testarossa, but may have opted for the Daytona Spyder kit car
    > based
    > on a Corvette chassis (which IIRC Ferrari forced the show to do away with
    > in
    > a very explosive scene involving a handheld rocket launcher).
    > If anyone saw Adam Sandler's movie "The Wedding Singer", wasn't there
    > somebody in that film who tried to dress like Sonny Crockett/Burnett? IMO,
    >
    > even the "Nash Bridges" show tries to play towards "Miami Vice" a little.
    >
    > The musical score for Vice probably added to its appeal. IIRC there were a
    >
    > couple soundtracks available including Ian Hammer's stuff and then current
    >
    > popular music. The Miami skyline didn't hurt either. I can't recall
    > whether
    > Coconut Grove made any cameo appearances.
    >
    > As an aside, I think it was Michael Mann who did the first movie with
    > Hannibal Lector (called "Manhunter"). I saw this back when it was released
    >
    > in he mid-80's, but didn't realize the connection with "Silence of the
    > Lambs" until fairly recently. The latest "Hannibal" movie is quite
    > disturbing, especially where Ray Liotta tries some new cuisine at his own
    > expense. Hopefully these Lecter flicks don't have any deleterious memetic
    > impact on modern culture.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > _________________________________________________________________
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    >
    > ===============================================================
    > This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
    > Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
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    > see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
    >

    ===============================================================
    This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
    Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
    For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
    see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit



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