Dreamways

In his essay about American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982) ("Blows Against the Empire,“ The New Yorker, 20 Aug 07), Adam Gopnik explores the life and writings of this "genre-hack-to-hidden-genius“ writer, perhaps best know for providing the adaptation source for Ridley Scott’s classic movie „Blade Runner.“

In her review, „A Lawyer Who Hears New Ways to Argue“ (The New York Times, 31 Jan 08), Ginia Bellafonte writes about a surprising dreamful aspect of a brand new TV show, "Eli Stone.“ The title character is an attorney who has isolated himself, living, it seems, a stereoptypically ruthless and high-powered life.  read more »

Animals often figure prominently in sleep dreams, as well as in sleep nightmares. They can play significant roles in our waking lives, too, as in this news article, featuring a certain animal playing a sadly disturbing role in a waking nightmare. The news article, "Sturdy Sea Lion Under Growing threat from Acidic Algae“ by Henry Fountain (The New York Times, 27 Nov 07) describes a true nightmare. "The California sea lion is a robust species, but in the past decade marine biologists have recognized domoic acid poisoning as a growing threat to its health.  read more »

In an essay entitled "Blows Against the Empire“ (The New Yorker, 20 Aug 07), Adam Gopnik explores the life and writings of American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982) who is perhaps best known for having provided the adaptation source for Ridley Scott’s classic movie of dystopia, Blade Runner. While this movie can be seen as a dark and disturbing visionary dream, and as such, an influential cultural voice, the essay looks, among other things, at how Dick’s life was impacted by a moment of vision.

We are in a dark bedroom in this installment of the comic strip “Opus” (Berkeley Breathed, Sunday, 04 Nov 07). We see Opus the penguin in profile, asleep in his bed, his red necktie hanging from the bed post. On the bed, resting on Opus's feet is a white-with-brown-markings pooch. The caption reads: “You read it here first in the serious, trusted newspaper: OUR SNEAKY DOGS WANT THE PLANET BACK FOR THEMSELVES. For generations, they’ve secretly inspired our most inexplicable, lamebrained, self-destructve paths.”

"A reader related this story: While driving to work one day, she heard her Aunt Clara, who’d been dead for twenty-five years, tell her to hit the brakes. A moment later, a truck ran a stoplight and barreled through the intersection she’d been approaching. She pulled over to the side of the road, shaken and amazed. To her aunt, she said, 'Talk to me.‘ Her aunt replied, 'I’m not here for your distraction.‘“ (The Sun magazine, Oct 07, pg. 47)

"After six days I could not bear to hear any more from Eli. Each day of snow seemed endless, trapped with a sulking boy. Eli paced, muttered, slept, and also ate my cupboard completely bare, down to the last potato, and emptied the little bundle he brought, too, which would have lasted me the whole evil month. We went two days without anything but grease and crumbs of bread. On the seventh day I handed him his gun. He looked at it in surprise, but finally went north.

"No one doubts that animal prosthetics are doing plenty of good, but is it possible to go too far? Well, there’s always the matter of the dog testicles. Researcher Gregg Miller mortgaged his home to help fund his invention of an unlikely prosthesis that he calls 'neuticles.' The goal was not to restore the dogs' breeding abilities – that’s clearly impossible – but rather their 'self-esteem.' No word yet from the patients on whether the surgery worked.  read more »