IchorFigure Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) So, the other night I thought I'd search for Wikipedia articles that link to Ayn Rand's page and see what turns up. Here's some of the areas which Rand apparently indirectly influenced. Did you know Rand has her own asteroid named after her? Yep. I know there are thousands so perhaps it's not entirely shocking but still kinda cool. According to the article the "10895 Aynrand is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on October 11, 1997 by G. R. Viscome at Rand Observatory". Naturally you'd wonder if the observatory is named after her too or just a coincidence? I'm unable to find out anything else about it however. O.T. Nelson allegedly describes his novel "The Girl Who Owned a City" as "his intent in writing the novel was to translate the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand into terms children could understand." I had never heard of it before so I can't say if it's any good but I'm generally skeptical of the quality of anything produced in the 70's. There are three separate musical groups bearing names inspired by Rand's fiction. Two chosen for their meaning and one which just thought it sounded good. One is a solo singer/songwriter named "Roark" (website / myspace). According to his wiki page: "He chose the name Roark from a favorite novel, Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead," and its protagonist, Howard Roark. "I wanted to take something with meaning, as opposed to just looking through the dictionary for random words." The other is a band of three musicians called "We the Living" (website / myspace) It seems as though the previous incarnation of their band may also have been Rand inspired, which was named "The Profits". Quoting the interview: "Roney was also a student of law and philosophy during his years at the UW. He grew up in Baraboo and spent seven years of his childhood in the Madison Boychoir. His new band, We the Living, are named after the Ayn Rand book and are guided by the idea that people need to stand for something." Edit: the singer has a blog as well. On top of that the band "Collective Soul" apparently took it's name from a line in The Fountainhead, which is "collection of souls" (of course she meant it negatively). Personally, none of their music is my style but I still find it interesting Rand's influence has found it's way into such different areas. Edited May 6, 2009 by IchorFigure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01503 Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 (edited) http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/SatObj.html I found that kind of shocking at first. But then I remembered that LaVeyan Satanism is incredibly polemic towards Christianity, so it made a bit more sense. Edited May 6, 2009 by NickS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hall Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 The "Bioshock" video games are full of warped references to Ayn Rand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skap35 Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 O.T. Nelson allegedly describes his novel "The Girl Who Owned a City" as "his intent in writing the novel was to translate the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand into terms children could understand." I had never heard of it before so I can't say if it's any good but I'm generally skeptical of the quality of anything produced in the 70's. I read that book when I was a kid and liked it. Can't remember what it's about anymore though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L-C Posted May 6, 2009 Report Share Posted May 6, 2009 The "Bioshock" video games are full of warped references to Ayn Rand. Although there are several big misconceptions found in BioShock, one shouldn't dismiss the game entirely because of those. Apart from being a high quality game in general, the city of Rapture and the character Andrew Ryan are captivating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceplayer Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 (edited) Rush's song "Anthem" and album 2112. But that's old hat. Less know is the Simon and Garfunkle line "I've been branded and Ayn Randed a communist because I'm left handed." (Or something like that.) So, the other night I thought I'd search for Wikipedia articles that link to Ayn Rand's page and see what turns up. Here's some of the areas which Rand apparently indirectly influenced. Did you know Rand has her own asteroid named after her? Yep. I know there are thousands so perhaps it's not entirely shocking but still kinda cool. According to the article the "10895 Aynrand is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on October 11, 1997 by G. R. Viscome at Rand Observatory". Naturally you'd wonder if the observatory is named after her too or just a coincidence? I'm unable to find out anything else about it however. O.T. Nelson allegedly describes his novel "The Girl Who Owned a City" as "his intent in writing the novel was to translate the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand into terms children could understand." I had never heard of it before so I can't say if it's any good but I'm generally skeptical of the quality of anything produced in the 70's. There are three separate musical groups bearing names inspired by Rand's fiction. Two chosen for their meaning and one which just thought it sounded good. One is a solo singer/songwriter named "Roark" (website / myspace). According to his wiki page: "He chose the name Roark from a favorite novel, Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead," and its protagonist, Howard Roark. "I wanted to take something with meaning, as opposed to just looking through the dictionary for random words." The other is a band of three musicians called "We the Living" (website / myspace) It seems as though the previous incarnation of their band may also have been Rand inspired, which was named "The Profits". Quoting the interview: "Roney was also a student of law and philosophy during his years at the UW. He grew up in Baraboo and spent seven years of his childhood in the Madison Boychoir. His new band, We the Living, are named after the Ayn Rand book and are guided by the idea that people need to stand for something." Edit: the singer has a blog as well. On top of that the band "Collective Soul" apparently took it's name from a line in The Fountainhead, which is "collection of souls" (of course she meant it negatively). Personally, none of their music is my style but I still find it interesting Rand's influence has found it's way into such different areas. Edited May 7, 2009 by spaceplayer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinity Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 I don't remember much about it but the book "Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy" features Ayn Rand's head in a lantern of some kind. Very strange book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 (edited) The line if from "A Simple Desultory Phillipic" fronm PARSELY, SAGE ROSEMARY AND THYME and is "I bee Rolling Stoned and Beatled til I'm blind. I been Ayn Randed and nearly branded a Communist cause I'm left-handed. That's the hand to use. Well, Never Mind" from 1966-7 EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...n+and+garfunkel A band out of the Boston area in teh 1990 timeframe called Atlas Shrugged Edited May 7, 2009 by Space Patroller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus98876 Posted May 7, 2009 Report Share Posted May 7, 2009 Apparently the Rand Observatory IS named after her. Here you can find info on 'her" asteroid, and the claim that the person who built the observatory as a tribute to her. One G. R. Viscome apparently...who seems to be pretty unknown, at least according to Google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IchorFigure Posted May 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Apparently the Rand Observatory IS named after her. Here you can find info on 'her" asteroid, and the claim that the person who built the observatory as a tribute to her. One G. R. Viscome apparently...who seems to be pretty unknown, at least according to Google. Ha! Wow that's cool, good find. Here's a notable actress I found through the wiki links who cites being highly influenced by Rand. According to her page, Amber Heard is quoted as saying "After the death of her friend, Heard met her first serious boyfriend, who introduced her to the writings of Russian-born atheist Ayn Rand. "I've read all of her books," says Heard. "Ever since then, I have been obsessed with her ideals. All I've ever needed is myself." One other thing, which is a reminder. The new episode of the Simpsons which parodies the Fountainhead will be on this sunday I believe. The Simpsons has snubbed Rand in the past so I'm curious how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 (edited) Apparently the Rand Observatory IS named after her. Here you can find info on 'her" asteroid, and the claim that the person who built the observatory as a tribute to her. One G. R. Viscome apparently...who seems to be pretty unknown, at least according to Google. That is waa-a-ay outtasite I wonder If I can integrate that with Space Patrol? Warren Chaney (Director at SMALLVILLE and a huge SP fan) will kill me: He knows a bit about Rand but thinks she has an "Existentialist" attitude c1998 I saw a rerun of JEOPARDY in which the members of a book club, the name of which I forget, were asked to name the book that had the most influence on them and the answer was THE FOUNTAINHEAD Of course there are many perosons who take from Rand only what they want, I've known a couple who think that Rand was advocating "if you want it just take it" hedonism devoid of any rationality. This shows up in DIRTY DANCING Edited May 8, 2009 by Space Patroller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0918 Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 (edited) Here is Viscome's email as of 2002, if you want to ask him about his interest in Rand: [email protected] (found on newsgroup). -- Sent him an email. No bounceback yet... Edited May 8, 2009 by brian0918 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Patroller Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 There's also this It falls in two categories but since I don't wish to cross-post, I'll just give you the address http://forum.ObjectivismOnline.com/index.p...mp;#entry216695 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IchorFigure Posted May 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 If anyone missed this Sunday's episode of the Simpsons you can watch it free online here on Hulu. The Fountainhead parody is the last segment of 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miseleigh Posted May 11, 2009 Report Share Posted May 11, 2009 I really liked 'the girl who owned a city' when I was younger. A virus runs through the population that kills everyone over 15(ish), and for a while the kids riot and form gangs until one girl finds a fortress-like city and recruits other good kids who can be productive. They even get the power running again. I don't remember much more than that, but as I recall it had some good messages regarding productivity, self-defense, and rationality, among others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IchorFigure Posted May 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 I really liked 'the girl who owned a city' when I was younger. A virus runs through the population that kills everyone over 15(ish), and for a while the kids riot and form gangs until one girl finds a fortress-like city and recruits other good kids who can be productive. They even get the power running again. I don't remember much more than that, but as I recall it had some good messages regarding productivity, self-defense, and rationality, among others. Maybe I should check it out someday. Here's a website I stumbled across today for a company called Ellist Wyatt Interactive. It's not exactly pop culture but I liked the Art Deco flash banner too much to not comment on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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