Simon Singh
I was given a book as a youngster called ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem‘ and ever since have kept an eye (or two) on the writing of Simon Singh. He loves all things mathematical and has a canny way of making it understandable and relative to his readers. For instance, did you know that if you take any river on the planet, measure the distance from the spring to the sea ‘as the crow flies’, and measure the distance from the spring to the sea following it’s various turns and meanders, the ratio between the two distances is always 3.14 to 1 – or ‘pie’. It gives me something to talk about in the pub.
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Also by SIMPLE KID
British Film Institute live appearances
When I first moved to London and didn’t know a soul, I joined up with the British Film Institute [BFI] and started going to the talks they put on. When I went to see Gene Wilder speak, all the know-alls in the audience kept asking questions, not to find out anything, but just to show off to the room how much they knew about film making. He got annoyed. Genius boy genius.
Back in 2006 I had the dubious fortune to search for about three hours in the London rain, trying to find the tiny venue in which I had heard an amazing Theremin orchestra was supposed to be playing. Well, it was a ‘Matryomin orchestra’ actually [a Matryomin is a Theremin, shaped like a Russian doll] and it was so worth the wait. When I see stuff like this I feel deeply ashamed to still be plucking the ubiquitous six string instrument called the ‘guitar’, like some sort of Cro-Magnon man. Next album, I resolve to dump it and get more like these crazy cats!
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Although not new on the scene by any means, I still think Lightning Bolt is way ahead of the game. They’ve reduced music to its basics and invented a mathematical metal which makes everyone else look wimpy. Although you won’t be hearing them on the radio, go see them live and you’ll be queuing round the block with the kids to get in.
See a song from the Lightning Bolt live set and listen to their song, Saint Jacques.
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deb said | 24 September, 2007
Please tell me you are kidding about this river thing. No, I know you aren’t kidding but now I am going to have to dig up the back yard and build my own river to measure and prove it.
Does he say if it has to be a natural source of water? Off to find the book…….