Friday Odds & Sods is Very Superstitious

Happy Friday the 13th, faithful readers!  I trust that being the rational, intelligent, sensible people you are, you discount such a holiday as mere superstitious nonsense.  I must admit that I, however, have spent the day avoiding ladders, black cats, and graveyards and making sure that my John the Conqueror root is still fresh.  I'm not superstitious of course, but then one can never be to careful, can one?  In any event, I recommend staying safe, staying warm, and relaxing with this weeks Odds & Sods.

• First off, two articles that venture into the fraught question of the relationship between the artistic creator and his creation: An examination of the nature of artistic authenticity and the commingling of art and politics in Birth of a Nation
• Moving on, two stories proving once again the truth that from the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step, a report from the North Korean International Film Festival and the invention of a soul singer who never sang a note
• And finally, a sad story about the man who helped give birth to cybernetics but eventually ran into the limits of logic, Walter Pitts
• A song that needs no excuse to be posted, but one that is especially appropriate today