Saturday, January 29, 2011
Thought for the day ...
One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved.- Romain Rolland, born on this date in 1866
Friday, January 28, 2011
Seeking manuscripts ...
... the Journal of Universal Rejection. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
After submitting your work, the decision process varies. Often the Editor-in-Chief will reject your work out-of-hand, without even reading it! However, he might read it. Probably he'll skim. At other times your manuscript may be sent to anonymous referees. Unless they are the Editor-in-Chief's wife or graduate school buddies, it is unlikely that the referees will even understand what is going on. Rejection will follow as swiftly as a bird dropping from a great height after being struck by a stone. At other times, rejection may languish like your email buried in the Editor-in-Chief's inbox. But it will come, swift or slow, as surely as death. Rejection.
Inaginary meeting ...
... To Believe, or Not to Believe? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Such plays often lack dramatic momentum, but this one is tautened by its shrewdly calculated setting. The date is Sept. 3, 1939. Not long after Lewis arrives, Freud switches on the radio to hear Neville Chamberlain announcing that a state of war exists between England and Germany—and the air-raid sirens start to wail.
Any which way and back ...
... Data interpreted both ways.
Looked at strictly from the angle of discourse, the parallels are striking.
"It will be more hot, more cold, more wet and more dry..."
Looked at strictly from the angle of discourse, the parallels are striking.
Massive but informative ...
... Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
Something of a preview here: NYT Editor Unloads on 'Arrogant,' 'Manipulative' Julian Assange. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Lee also sends along this: WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables. (See the comments for Lee's comment of Bill Keller, for which there is much justification. If not for Lee, by the way, I would also almost certainly not have linked to much, if any of this.)
Oh, and Keller has another critic.
Something of a preview here: NYT Editor Unloads on 'Arrogant,' 'Manipulative' Julian Assange. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Lee also sends along this: WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables. (See the comments for Lee's comment of Bill Keller, for which there is much justification. If not for Lee, by the way, I would also almost certainly not have linked to much, if any of this.)
Oh, and Keller has another critic.
Thought for the day ...
Sit down and put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.- Colette, born on this date in 1873
Thursday, January 27, 2011
What think you?
... Thoughts on libraries and a cultivated sense of curiosity. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I was never myself much into any sort of programmed learning. I understood I had to learn grammar and usage, study Latin and German (when the time came), read what was assigned, etc. But beyond that, I preferred to investigate things on my own ... and then consult with a teacher I trusted -- Miss Parkinson in the fourth grade, Mother Holmes in the sixth, Mr. De Christopher or Father Travers or Father Wagner in high school, to name just a few -- about what I had come up with. Effective education, it seems to me, is a strange mix of the formal and the spontaneous, and the problem with all of the recent lamentations is that it seems they want to formalize the whole process. (As for the teaching to take tests, well that just isn't education, period, and any teacher who does that isn't really a teacher. But there are a lot of people in the teaching business who don't belong there.)
Sounds great ...
... Orson Welles's unseen masterpiece set for release. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
On sort of a related note, Debbie and I last night watched The Life of Emile Zola starring Paul Muni, which won the academy award for best picture in 1937. It is further proof that movies are not better than ever. Muni, an actor of genius, made only 25 films, but was nominated for best actor in six of them (including Zola). He won for The Story of Louis Pasteur, which was released the year before Zola. In one of his essays, Henry Miller tells of being in a movie theater in Paris when Juarez, also starring Muni, opened. Miller says that when the movie was over, the entire audience, as if on cue, stood and gave it a standing ovation.
Blogging at its best ...
... Updated and corrected: Nuggets of nonsense from Norway. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Translation: Rose is idealistic about freedom of expression, and believes in the civilizing effect of free debate, in which no person has a right to any special protection in open democracies, and appeals to the example of the USA, which only places restrictions on incitements to violence. In the book he pays little attention to the fact that almost no American media have republished the Jyllands-Posten's cartoons, something which amounts, for all practical purposes, to precisely the same self-censorship he started out to challenge.
I know of two papers that published one or more of the cartoons -- The Inquirer and the Trenton Times. That no other papers did is merely testimony to the selective pusillanimity of contemporary American official journalism, the sanctimony of which is matched only by its hypocrisy. No problem printing or defending slurs on Christians -- especially by "artists." Unlike some Muslims (please note the "some"), Christians are unlikely to respond to such slurs in a homicidal manner.
Cri de coeur ...
... Sorry.
The battle between self-identified conservatives and progressives in the 1980s seems increasingly like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. While humanists were busy arguing amongst themselves, American college students and their families were turning in ever-increasing numbers away from the humanities and toward seemingly more pragmatic, more vocational concerns.
And who can really blame them? If humanists themselves could not even agree on the basic value, structure, and content of a liberal arts education — if some saw the tradition of Western civilization as one of oppression and tyranny, while others defended and validated it; if some argued that a humanistic education ought to be devoted to the voices of those previously excluded from "civilized" discussion, such as people of color and women, while others argued that such changes constituted a betrayal of the liberal arts — is it any wonder that students and their families began turning away from the humanities?
Latest anonymous identified ...
... maybe: O, Mark Salter!! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
"Confirmed by sources" doesn't entirely work for me.
"Confirmed by sources" doesn't entirely work for me.
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: 'Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets’, The Cairo Geniza, Lord Mansfield, and more!
"Quite a marvel" ...
... Nonfiction: Nabokov Theory on Butterfly Evolution Is Vindicated. (Hat tips, Lee Lowe and Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day ...
Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it down afterwards.- Lewis Carroll, born on this date in 1832
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
For your calendar ...
... if you're out that way: Fisher Poets Gathering.
I can't take a position on this myself, because I just don't know the details, but I'm inclined to think the fishermen know whereof they speak.
I can't take a position on this myself, because I just don't know the details, but I'm inclined to think the fishermen know whereof they speak.
A fine story ...
... by my friend Lee Lowe: Watershed. I've read this a couple of times. Liked it even better the second time.
The first time he understood about water, he was five years old. When the bath began to overflow, he’d panicked and run downstairs, crying out for help. By the time Sal remembered about the mains, the water had reached the landing and the carpeting was squishy underfoot and he was hiding at the back of the wardrobe. But without a door to a snowy wood he got a good taste of her hand.
Using Twitter ...
... Tweeting Fragile.
“The experience Tweeting Fragile has been great- I have reached people in far-flung parts of the world that I never would have connected with any other way. I don't think Twitter is the ideal way to read Fragile, or any other book, but it is a way to get a taste of it and experience a bit of the book each day."
Art and laughter ...
... A Lesson in Art Criticism, among Other Things.
I feel the same way about the solemnity of classical music concerts. More people might attend them if they could tap their toes and sway. But no, they have to sit as though listening to a sermon.
I feel the same way about the solemnity of classical music concerts. More people might attend them if they could tap their toes and sway. But no, they have to sit as though listening to a sermon.
Thought for the day ...
When the soul drifts uncertainly between life and the dream, between the mind's disorder and the return to cool reflection, it is in religious thought that we should seek consolation.
- Gerard de Nerval, who died on this date in 1855
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The instability of fashion ...
... Zero History: William Gibson's anatomy of cool.
The coolest guy I know is Elmore Leonard, and I doubt if he has ever spent a nanosecond of his life thinking about it.
One of the problems of "cool" in the fashion world today is that, with the proliferation of cool-hunters, market research, and commoditized rebellion (think Urban Outfitters, H&M, or other "counterculture" retailers), the cycle from trendsetter to mass consumption is ever shorter and the high-low cultural divide ever narrower. Cool is more quickly copied and mainstreamed these days, which makes the task of being cutting-edge and truly exclusive ever more arduous.
The coolest guy I know is Elmore Leonard, and I doubt if he has ever spent a nanosecond of his life thinking about it.
Don't go to extremes ...
... “Fact” vs. “fancy”: Still an issue in the real world.
These little potential artists see art as something that comes out of talent, strictly. They believe that art just happens. If not provided with balanced guidance, they will grow up to not be “real people.” Everything is a dream to them. Worse, they don’t really think the arts are important, though they claim to have veins full of inspiration and a heart driven by thespian passion. They see the arts more as shortcut toward a Romanticized detachment that they can openly and theatrically bear like a personal cross
One of Ken Russell's less felicitous films is Savage Messiah, about the sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. The film is almost entirely devoted to his bohemian style of living, with glimpses of him occasionally at work. Gaudier-Brzeska was killed in World War I. He was only 23. The film concludes with a memorial exhibition of his work mounted by his friends. The camera pans across one striking piece after another, and you suddenly realize that this guy couldn't been partying anywhere near as much as the film suggests. He must have spent most of his waking hours working, which is what real artists do. Real artists know that Noël Coward was right: "Work is so much more fun than fun."
Calling his bluff ...
... Glenn Reynolds on Richard Dawkins.
This appears to be one more example of Dawkins' tendency to weigh in on something he knows nothing about and hasn't bothered to learn anything about. Also, as Glenn points out, he edits the evidence to strengthen his argument. Dawkins seems to know mostly what he believes to be the case.
Words and self ...
... Languaging. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
I would think so, given that the self is rather elusive to begin with.
Is it an exaggeration to say that a second language can provide us with a new self?
Art and life (cont'd.)
Last night I read Patricia Highsmith's story "Woodrow Wilson's Necktie." I think it does a better job of explaining Jared Loughner than anything else I've seen. (At the link, the story starts on the previous page.)
Richard Evans - Following Up
Readers of this blog may remember a few months ago when I posted a piece on Richard Evans and his (the word I used was 'scathing') review of Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands. I was pleased that bits of my commentary were later picked up on The Book Haven. Even more pleasing, though, was reading the exchange which ensued in the opening pages of the LRB. If you didn't have a chance to peruse the give-and-take, here's a link. Enjoy!
Thought for the day ...
The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned.- W. Somerset Maugham, born on this date in 1874
Monday, January 24, 2011
The virtue of simplicity ...
... Twelve superior actors.
Reginald Rose's popular jury-room drama ... was originally written for a CBS telecast in 1954 ....Yes, that was back when television was "a vast wasteland."
Worth remembering ,,,
... Battered Penguins I.
See also The Press: A Victory for Honor.
And this as well: Books: Farce of the Year.
See also The Press: A Victory for Honor.
And this as well: Books: Farce of the Year.
For tomorrow ...
... Dabbler Soup – What would Rabbie drink?
I could actually get some haggis tomorrow. My butcher, Sonny D'Angelo, makes it for the local Robert Burns Society.
I could actually get some haggis tomorrow. My butcher, Sonny D'Angelo, makes it for the local Robert Burns Society.
Grim ...
... Report on Daniel Pearl tells how his killers got off scot free.
This may be pertinent: Human Rights Watch for iPad.
This may be pertinent: Human Rights Watch for iPad.
Contra Dennett ...
... Intentionality in Locks and Keys?
"This lock-and-key variety of crude aboutness," Dennett says, "is the basic design element out of which nature has fashioned the fancier sorts of subsystems..." Design element? Fashioned? Do tell, Professor. It all sounds very purposeful to me.
"This lock-and-key variety of crude aboutness," Dennett says, "is the basic design element out of which nature has fashioned the fancier sorts of subsystems..." Design element? Fashioned? Do tell, Professor. It all sounds very purposeful to me.
Afterthought: The difficulty people have in discussing evolution without employing terms that imply intentionality strongly suggests that a sense of intentionality may be -- to use a favorite term of theirs -- hard-wired in us.
Post bumped.
Post bumped.
Interesting take ...
... and an interesting debate: Is it fair to pay bankers big bonuses? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I don't that banks that were bailed out should be paying large bonuses to anyone until the bailout money has been paid back, unless the bankers in question had nothing to do with the operations that required bailing out. If a given division did well, and did not need to be bailed out, those in charge of said division deserve to be rewarded accordingly.
Guess away ...
... A Riddle for Monday.
I got it immediately, which is unusual for me, since I'm not very good at that sort of thing.
I got it immediately, which is unusual for me, since I'm not very good at that sort of thing.
When less is less ...
... Our superficial scholars.
This is because they have been merely trained, and not really educated at all. See The Theory of Education in the United States.
... high-achieving students seem less able to grapple with issues that require them to think across disciplines or reflect on difficult questions about what matters and why.
Thr limits of "default" realsim ...
... How To Write a (Good) Sentence. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
There is also a limit to how consciously you should craft your sentences, for there is such a thing as labored, precious prose. Also, the flip side to omitting needless words is making sure you include all the ones you do need.
The consolation of imagination ...
... The New Atheists' Narrow Worldview. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
"... a rational God of natural laws..." That could be the problem right there. Catholicism has always has a certain animistic, pagan dimension to it. That's why it remains vital.
"... a rational God of natural laws..." That could be the problem right there. Catholicism has always has a certain animistic, pagan dimension to it. That's why it remains vital.
Thought for the day ...
I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the author's political views.
- Edith Wharton, born on this date in 1862
Sunday, January 23, 2011
He was a Catholic ...
... he probably preferred -- as I do -- the Douay-Rheims (the major influence on the King James): William Byrd and the King James Bible: He was agin’ it.
For the sabbath ...
... Dover Beach, Issa's Sunday Service, #87.
From the first time I read it in college, what has always struck me about "Dover Beach" is how prescient it proved, not so much regarding the ebb of faith as regarding the coming of war.
From the first time I read it in college, what has always struck me about "Dover Beach" is how prescient it proved, not so much regarding the ebb of faith as regarding the coming of war.
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