The humble bao, a staple of the Chinese diet, has proven to be an irresistible source of inspiration for two prominent authors, Lu Xun and Eileen Chang.  Both authors, although writing in different eras and advocating opposing views on the issue of China’s modernization, maintain the symbolism of the bao as a representation of the essential nature of the Chinese people.  Stripped of its seasonings and condiments, the glutinous exterior of the pastry acts as a canvas for the transitory social and political movements of China’s early modern history.  However, like the bun’s filling, the essential qualities of the Chinese identity--namely, Confucian values--remain hidden inside, resisting modernity.  Read Bazoi:  the Steamed Bun in Chinese Literature at https://breadthroughhistory.com/2017/02/04/baozi-the-steamed-bun-in-chinese-literature/

Ultimate was developed in 1968 by a group of students at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its athletic requirements, it is unlike most sports due to its focus on self-officiating, even at the highest levels of competition.  This concept, called Spirit of the Game, is integrated into the basic philosophy of the sport, written into the rules, and practiced at all levels of the game from local leagues to the World Games.  Combining the non-stop movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football, a game of ultimate is played by two teams with a flying disc on a field with end zones, similar to football.  The object of the game is to score by catching a pass in the opponent’s end zone.  A player must stop running while in possession of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any of the other receivers on the field.  Ultimate is a transition game in which players move quickly from offense to defense on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception, a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than ten seconds.  Ultimate is governed by Spirit of the Game™, a tradition of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the players rather than referees.  Ultimate is played in more than 80 countries by an estimated 7 million of men and women, girls and boys.  The international governing body, WFDF, represents 59 member associations in 56 countries.  https://www.usaultimate.org/about/

Ultimate, originally known as ultimate frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played by players with a flying disc (frisbee).  The term frisbee, often used to generically describe all flying discs, is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company, and thus, though still extremely common in casual usage, the sport is not officially called "ultimate frisbee".  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)

In 1957, Wham-O, still a fledgling company, took the idea of Australian bamboo "exercise hoops" and manufactured them with Marlex.  The new Hula Hoop was born (the name "hula hoop" has been used since the 18th century).  Knerr and Melin had created the biggest fad to date.  Twenty-five million were sold in less than four months, and in two years sales reached more than 100 million units.  By the end of 1959, after US$45 million in profits (US$346M adjusted for inflation to 2012), the fad slowly was dying out.  Shortly after, they had success again with the Frisbee.  In 1955, Fred Morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc which he called the "Pluto Platter Putt-Putt".  He sold the design to Wham-O in 1957 and the design was modified, the product renamed "Frisbee," and sales took off in 1959.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wham-O

On a damp and rainy Sunday in October of 1935, Munro Leaf sat down to write a story.  He had been eager to work with his friend--the illustrator Robert Lawson--for some time and so he decided to pen a book which he felt might suit the illustrator’s skills.  Lawson was a master at drawing animals but horses, dogs, cats, rabbits and mice had all been done a thousand times already.  Leaf wanted something new and decided that his story should be about a bull.  What he created was called The Story of Ferdinand.  It was a simple but amusing tale of a peaceful Spanish bull who had no interest in bullfighting.  In no time at all their picturebook was being labelled as subversive and it was stirring up all kinds of international controversy.  Banned in Spain, burnt by Hitler and continuously dissected and deconstructed, The Story of Ferdinand remains, to this day, a fascinating example of the power of picturebooks.  Despite the tendency for people to read a political message in the story Munro Leaf always maintained that its only agenda was to entertain.  “It was propaganda all right,” he's quoted as saying, “but propaganda for laughter only.”  In 1938 it outsold Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and it went on to become the number one bestseller in the US that year.  Today it has been translated into more than sixty languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide.  Ferdinand had--and continues to have--many famous admirers.  People like H.G. Wells, Gandhi and Ernest Hemingway all supported the book; while musician Elliott Smith sported a tattoo of the peaceful bull upon his arm.  One year a giant Ferdinand floated down New York's Sixth Avenue as part of the Macy's Day Parade.  On another occasion, the bull's story was turned into a song by the jazz duo Slim & Slam.  Even Disney got involved, creating an animated adaptation of the story in 1938.  Read much more and see illustrations at http://illustrationchronicles.com/A-Subversive-Bull-Robert-Lawson-and-The-Story-of-Ferdinand

See the original Ferdinand, a short film that won an 1938 Academy Award (an Oscar) for Best Animated Short Movie, then called "Best Short Subject (Cartoons)".  It was produced by Walt Disney and brought into cinemas on November 25th, 1938.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN62cxSs5Q8

7:55

December 12, 2017  'Ferdinand' The Peaceful Bull Gets His First Full-Length Film  Now, the peaceful bull who prefers sniffing flowers to bullfighting is getting an update from 20th Century Fox.  And that bull has been on quite a journey to get here.  John Cena, the actor who voices Ferdinand in the new movie, recently read the original story to hundreds of DC public school kids at the Library of Congress. On a table next to him were two early editions of the book from the library's collection.  One was from 1938, the other from 1936.  Munro Leaf died in 1976.  He wrote other books, but none that had the global success of Ferdinand.  His son, Andy Leaf, says his father was amused by all of the different interpretations.  "He was very smart that way.  He just let people interpret it as they wished."  In the end, Ferdinand stays true to himself, sitting under his favorite cork tree, smelling the flowers quietly.  Ferdinand, the movie version, comes out later this week, but the book will likely be around forever.  Elizabeth Blair  Read more at https://www.npr.org/2017/12/12/570093107/20th-century-fox-updates-ferdinand-the-peacefull-bull

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on December 13 announced the 2017 selections to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.  Selected for their cultural, historic and/or aesthetic importance, these 25 motion pictures range from an early film of the New York subway in 1905 and the musical biopic “La Bamba” to the holiday action thriller “Die Hard” and “The Goonies,” the adventure tale of a band of misfits.  “The selection of a film to the National Film Registry recognizes its importance to American cinema and the nation’s cultural and historical heritage,” Hayden said.  Spanning the period 1905 to 2000, the films named to this year’s registry include Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation, shorts and independent and home movies.  The 2017 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 725, which is a small fraction of the Library’s vast moving-image collection of 1.3 million items.  Read more and see the list at https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-17-178/

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2017 is the noun  youthquake, defined as ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people’.  The data collated by our editors shows a fivefold increase in usage of youthquake in 2017 compared to 2016, the word having first struck in a big way in June with the UK’s general election at its epicentre.  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2017

On December 15, 2017, America Online Instant Messenger, better known by its acronym, AIM, went dark after more than two decades of faithful service.  Those of us who came of age in the 1990s and early 2000s fondly remember the halcyon days of chat rooms, lolspeak, and away messages.  We know that, while some of the Ars audience were 1337 sysops on IRC channels, for a lot of us, AIM was the primary way to connect with our friends online across town and around the globe.  Cyrus Farivar  https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/12/aol-instant-messenger-is-no-more-but-the-memories-will-last-forever/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1812  December 15, 2017   The Swedish trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg was planning a compact disc of American trombone concertos, but he needed a piece to fill out his disc.  While in Las Vegas, Lindberg heard the premiere of a new orchestral work by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas, and was very impressed.  “I asked if by chance she’d written a trombone concerto,” recalled Lindberg, “or if she had any suggestions for a suitable piece for the CD.”  Thomas, for her part, was equally impressed by Lindberg’s playing.  “I’ll write you a piece!” was the reply, and the result, a trombone concerto entitled “Meditation” was finished in the fall of 1995.  The first performance of “Meditation” took place during Lindberg’s recording sessions in Wales with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Grant Llewellyn.  Those sessions were wrapped up on December 15, 1995, and the compact disc released the following year.  Composers Datebook   Word of the Day  greensand  noun   A greenish sandstone containing glauconite.  Wiktionary