Monkey's Marginalia No 10

These are the wagtails, snippets, random thoughts and threads that are too short for their own posts.  

1.  Defenestration occurs on the TV show NCIS last week involving several TVs and a music agent. 

3.  Ambrose Bierce, journalist and author, or Bitter Bierce, as he was dubbed due to his sardonic world view and outspoken criticisms, disappeared under mysterious circumstances as he was following Pancho Villa's army during the Mexican Revolution.   He had joined as an observer after a tour of Civil War battlefields. 

Although Bierce and Samuel Clemens were good friends, Clemens had written the following regarding one of Bierce's short story collections. 

Gentlemen: “Dod Grile” (Mr. Bierce) is a personal friend of mine, & I like him exceedingly — but he knows my opinion of the “Nuggets & Dust,” & so I do not mind exposing it to you. It is the vilest book that exists in print — or very nearly so. If you keep a “reader,” it is charity to believe he never really read that book, but framed his verdict upon hearsay. Bierce has written some admirable things — fugitive pieces — but none of them are among the “Nuggets.” There is humor in Dod Grile, but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders and a vomit. The laugh is too expensive. Ys truly Samuel L. Clemens

As you can see from the letter, Bierce was known to use pseudonyms. Bierce was also the originator of Carcosa, later used by Robert W. Chambers in his collection of short stories, The King in Yellow.  Two of Bierces stories, An Occurrence at Owl Creek and An Inhabitant of Carcosa may provide a clue to the fate of S. and maybe even Straka.  There is a Lost connection, too, as a book of An Occurence at Owl Creek appeared in one episode.  Carcosa is probably based on Carcassone, France whose Latin name was Carcaso.

4.  I did find a contemporary Estonian composer who may be an analog for Ragnar Rummo.  Erkki Sven Tuur composed Whistles and Whispers from Uluru for recorder and string orchestra in 2007.  The work was performed by Genevieve Lacey with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and can be listened to at the link connected to her name.  Uluru is the indigenous name for the natural rock formation that was formerly known as Ayer's Rock in Australia.

5.  There is a Castalia, Iowa (see Mystimus' game changing post here) and Doug Dorst was know to have graduated from the Iowa Writer's Workshop.  I'm sure this one is just a wagtail, but still interesting (to me, the Iowan, anyway).