Saturday, November 07, 2009
Blogging hiatus ...
Laura, my tech guru, will be arriving shortly (it is 8:45 a.m.) to escort me further into the 21st century. Chances of much blogging being done today are slight.
The way of tyranny ...
... Leaked text of secret copyright treaty vs. bland bureaucratic press-release describing same.
What exactly is this business about a secret treaty. Hey, Senators, you have to approve any treaty this country signs onto - or we're not signed onto it. That would tend to involve making the text of same a part of the public record.
What exactly is this business about a secret treaty. Hey, Senators, you have to approve any treaty this country signs onto - or we're not signed onto it. That would tend to involve making the text of same a part of the public record.
Thought for the day ...
A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.- Albert Camus, born on this date in 1913
Friday, November 06, 2009
A valid complaint ...
... I think: Same Old Story: Best-Books Lists Snub Women Writers. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day ...
All still lifes are actually paintings of the world on the sixth day of creation, when God and the world were alone together, without man!- Robert Musil, born on this date in 1880
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Vintage journalism ...
... The Death of Newsroom Swagger. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
See also Go West, Old Media.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: Samuel Johnson biographies, 'Endgame', D. H. Lawrence, and more.
Sex and Jealousy
"If you want to write a great comedy make your hero a reflective cuckold who reads a lot." Read more from Howard Jacobson...
Doesn't sound promising ...
... The Prisoner: Then and Now. AMC Remakes a Classic Television Series.
"I'm not sure why this remake is needed at all..." Me either, Paul.
Students vs. administrators ..
... Concerns over change in focus at Fleisher.
Debbie attends Fleisher and has for years. I know a lot of other people who go there as well. There was no advance warning of the changes that have been made - and some person I talked to at an art opening recently said staffers had been told to keep word of the changes to themselves. The fact is, 13 classes had to be canceled for lack of applicants - these are classes that had been free except for the $40 modeling fee, but suddenly cost $200 ($225 if you were not a member of Fleisher). Fleisher isn't just a school; it is a community of people for whom art is a passion, if not a profession. The changes seem to have been made without any consideration being taken of these people. Yet another example of "experts" thinking they know what's best for everybody.
Hmm ...
... Judge rules activist's beliefs on climate change akin to religion.
In today's ruling, Mr Justice Michael Burton decided that: "A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations." Under those regulations it is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the grounds of their religious or philosophical beliefs.
What are we to make of that?
Thought for the day ...
People will turn to you, follow you, support you only as long as they are confident that you are doing your best.- Raymond Loewy, born on this date in 1893
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Stressed out in the womb ...
... The precious Hugo von Hofmannsthal.Actually, this seems to me a perfectly unexceptional view.
... McClatchy sweepingly presents Hofmannsthal as a great humanist in dark times. He even declares – without any supporting exposition – that Der Rosenkavalier (for which Hofmannsthal wrote the libretto) has, thanks to its “similarity to Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro and Wagner’s Meistersinger”, a “rare place among the most humane works of art ever conceived”.
Predicting can be difficult ...
... to say nothing of embarrassing: Promises, Promises.
Not good.
Scientists have been making predictions for as long as there have been scientists. Indeed, without speculating about the future, it would be impossible to make decisions about how best to proceed. But there is reason to believe that promises are becoming more central to the scientific process.
In the jingle jangle morning ...
... they'll come followin' him: Hark! the Heralded Dylan Sings. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In a devastating essay in Spy magazine, back in 1991, Joe Queenan sifted the wreckage and nominated these as Dylan's worst lyrics: "You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy / You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy."
I always thought that was a pretty funny lyric, given that Dylan's real name is Bob Zimmerman.
May the best device win ...
... iPhone as an eBook Reader Threatens Kindle, Says Report. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
No ordinary book ...
... It's a Don's Life: the party. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Publishing the comments as well is quite interesting.
Endgame works ...
... In ‘The Humbling,’ Philip Roth imagines an actor grappling with the waning of his gifts. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
