Friday, July 02, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
I must demur ...
... Mr. Mimic.
Sammy was a good deal more than a mimic, as I think this clip demonstrates. His version of this song is the best by anyone ever. Period. What I think McWhorter overlooks is that Sammy simply had one of the greatest voices ever.
Here he is with another Newley song:
Sammy was a good deal more than a mimic, as I think this clip demonstrates. His version of this song is the best by anyone ever. Period. What I think McWhorter overlooks is that Sammy simply had one of the greatest voices ever.
Here he is with another Newley song:
Thought for the day ...
I write of the wish that comes true - for some reason, a terrifying concept.- James M. Cain, born on this date in 1892
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Hmm ...
... Science historian cracks "the Plato code". (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I was hoping Mark would comment on this. And he has: Interpreting the Plato code. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I also found what Mark calls the "hyperbolic language" odd.
(Bumped.)
I was hoping Mark would comment on this. And he has: Interpreting the Plato code. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I also found what Mark calls the "hyperbolic language" odd.
(Bumped.)
Thought for the day ...
It is impossible to communicate to people who have not experienced it the undefinable menace of total rationalism.- Czeslaw Milosz, born on this date 1911
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Lovely ....
... Dana Gioia recently sent me some recordings of Lauridsen's music. So I thought I would post something so that others could share in my pleasure.
Busy, busy, busy ...
I won't be blogging again until later today. I have an article to finish and some appointments to keep.
Thought for the day ...
A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born on this date in 1900(I posted this yesterday incorrectly. For some reason I thought yesterday was the 29th.)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thought for the day ...
When the characters are really alive before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.- Luigi Pirandello, born on this date in 1867
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Seasoned authors ...
... You're never too old to start writing. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
I'm beginning to hope you're never too old to stop.
I'm beginning to hope you're never too old to stop.
Wise words ...
... A dangerous seduction. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
All faiths may have something in common -- in fact, I'm sure they -- but that does not mean they are a common faith.
... the mistake is to collapse the diversity which springs from that desire into one undifferentiated whole. And there's at least two reasons for that. One is that human experiences are inevitably particular. My experiences are conditioned by my context. Yours by yours. The differences should not be minimised – consumed, say, by some high expression of benevolence. Rather, they should be maximised – sorted and sifted. This is because our growth as individuals lies in discerning our experiences, and that means keeping them sharp, not dissolving them in some soggy universal.
Not such a bad guy ...
... once you get to know him: In search of the real Philip Larkin. (Hat tip, Dave Lull)
The charges of misogyny ... are about to start looking a whole lot more flimsy. In the autumn, Faber will publish Larkin's correspondence to Monica Jones, a selection of the surviving 7,500 pages of letters and cards he wrote to her between 1946, when they first met, and 1985, the year of his death. (Monica lived in Leicester, where she taught English at the university; she only began sharing Larkin's home shortly before he died.) These letters, discovered after her death, are highly personal and, being so great in number, they chronicle Larkin's feelings more intimately than anything we have read before. Like the Selected Letters, they catch his wit, and his abiding sadness. But they also reveal Larkin's deep love and admiration for a woman who was clever, eccentric, loud, unusual, flamboyant, opinionated and strong. In my experience, misogynists tend not to go a bundle for women with minds of their own.
FYI ...
... 5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies).
Well, I once watched someone empty a mere .22 automatic with silencer attached into a woodpile in a living room (I will say no more). Trust me: Silent it ain't.
Well, I once watched someone empty a mere .22 automatic with silencer attached into a woodpile in a living room (I will say no more). Trust me: Silent it ain't.
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... Paul Davis reviews Janet Evanovich: Plum's on trail again, and cows run in Trenton.
... 'Contested Will' proves Shakespeare wrote it all.
... Dying and recalling a wartime girlhood.
... A murky critique of Darwin.
... and Katie reviews Justin Cronin: In 'The Passage,' a military killing machine pursues humankind.
... 'Contested Will' proves Shakespeare wrote it all.
... Dying and recalling a wartime girlhood.
... A murky critique of Darwin.
... and Katie reviews Justin Cronin: In 'The Passage,' a military killing machine pursues humankind.
Thought for the day ...
Anarchism is the great liberator of man from the phantoms that have held him captive; it is the arbiter and pacifier of the two forces for individual and social harmony.- Emma Goldman, born on this date in 1869
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hermetic exercises ...
... Too Complicated for Words. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I once spent three weeks listening again and again to Elliott Carter's complete string quartets (he has since, I think, written some more). I wanted to give a fair and thorough hearing. I will never bother listening to them again. I think they are utterly sterile. On the other hand, I love Bartok's quartets, some of which on first hearing sound difficult, but in a relatively short time become quite clear.
Thought for the day ...
I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.- Pearl Buck, born on this date in 1892
Friday, June 25, 2010
Behind-the-scenes ...
... Conversation: Archive Offers Revealing Look at John Updike. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Time to stop pretending ...
... What 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Isn't. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Judging by the comments, Allen's is minority view. I have no dog in this fight. Never read the book. Never saw the movie.
Judging by the comments, Allen's is minority view. I have no dog in this fight. Never read the book. Never saw the movie.
The trouble with experts (cont'd.) ...
... The Openness Elixir.
Tell that to those scientists who insist that "the science is settled."
As Robert Boyle, one of the founding fathers of modern science, recognized, experimental error is part of the slow advance toward any scientific truth; you can't have trial without error.
Tell that to those scientists who insist that "the science is settled."
Thought for the day ...
There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them.- George Orwell, born on this date in 1903
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A fool for Christ ....
... Manute Bol's Radical Christianity.
Bol reportedly gave most of his fortune, estimated at $6 million, to aid Sudanese refugees. As one twitter feed aptly put it: "Most NBA cats go broke on cars, jewelry & groupies. Manute Bol went broke building hospitals."
Very strange ...
... The Anosognosic’s Dilemma: Something’s Wrong but You’ll Never Know What It Is (Part 4). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Trying to make sense ...
... of the chaos of life: Conan Doyle and the creeping man. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
On the other hand ...
... The Naked Novelist and the Dead Reputation. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Until he is forgotten, Mailer should be remembered not only in a fool’s cap and bells but also in a scoundrel’s midnight black. For in an age crawling with intellectual folly, he was one of the reigning dunces, even his best works were shot through with adolescent fatuities, while the worst of his words and deeds were stupid and vicious without bottom. One is torn between wishing that his memory would disappear immediately and wanting his remains to hang at the crossroads as a lasting reminder to others.
Hmm ...
... Jim Thompson was no genius. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
He may not have been a genius, but he does seem to have been pretty good.
He may not have been a genius, but he does seem to have been pretty good.
Thought for the day ...
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.- John Ciardi, born on this date in 1916
Thought for the day ...
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in the students.- John Ciardi, born on this date in 1916
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Filling in the gaps ...
... Lisa reads: Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes.
Hawthorne is another those writers whose stories, I think, are better than his novels. Lisa should take another look at "Young GoodmanBrown," "The Great Stone Face," or "The Maypole of Merrymount." She may find herself less of a Hawthorne-hater.
Scolding the scolds ...
... Nestle Barge to Ply the Amazon, Bringing Ice Cream and Rage.
Yeah, which reminds me of Mencken's definition of puritanism: "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere is having a good time." As McArdle notes, " 'subsisting' in they key word in that quote. People want more than subsistence--they want variety, and pleasure, and novelty."If there are people out there so backwards to still be subsisting on food found in nature, Big Food will find them, by land or by sea, and set them straight.
Thought for the day ...
To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death.- Jean Anouilh, born on this date in 1910
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Feel free to join in ...
... Updike at Work: A Conversation. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Dave also sends:
John Updike’s Archive: A Great Writer at Work.
Literary Ore of Updike, Do-It-Yourself Man of Letters.
The Roommates: Updike and Christopher Lasch
And this: Writing is Rewriting.
Dave also sends:
John Updike’s Archive: A Great Writer at Work.
Literary Ore of Updike, Do-It-Yourself Man of Letters.
The Roommates: Updike and Christopher Lasch
And this: Writing is Rewriting.
Thought for the day ...
Truly the universe is full of ghosts, not sheeted churchyard spectres, but the inextinguishable elements of individual life, which having once been, can never die, though they blend and change, and change again for ever.- H. Rider Haggard, born on this date in 1856
Monday, June 21, 2010
More Ray Davies ...
... have I mentioned that I think the Kinks are the great rock band? Also Muswell Hillbillies is one of the best albums.
Light blogging continues ...
Blogging was light and spotty for the past week because I had quite a few odds and ends to deal with, such as arranging a shipment of books from The Inquirer to the Philadelphia Prison system. This week the books go Family Court.
Today blogging will be light because Debbie just took off to visit her sister down the shore, as we say in these parts, and I am feeling indolent. So I plan to mostly lie about, listen to music, maybe watch a flick. There's also a little something I want to write that is, for me, rather off the beaten track
Today blogging will be light because Debbie just took off to visit her sister down the shore, as we say in these parts, and I am feeling indolent. So I plan to mostly lie about, listen to music, maybe watch a flick. There's also a little something I want to write that is, for me, rather off the beaten track
In Praise of Older Women
Penguin's recent reissuing of Stephen Vizinczey's classic In Praise of Older Women (1965) has generated a number of interesting - and largely positive - reviews. I've just finished the book and found it, well, I found it fun. Vizinczey writes in a clear, refreshing style, addressing sexuality via short, insightful sketches. And while the novel is not in the same league as Tropic, for instance, or Durrell's Black Book, it does offer a distinct vision of the erotic, casting it as the product of lust, deception, and, at last, regret. For more on this wonderful (and wonderfully short) novel, check out a piece in The Globe and Mail.
In this corner ...
... Walking the tightrope between translation and interpretation. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day ...
After Proust, there are certain things that simply cannot be done again. He marks off for you the boundaries of your talent.- Françoise Sagan, born on this date in 1935
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Not so up-to-date ...
... 21st century enlightenment? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... I don't buy the notion that contemporary science is throwing up all kinds of new insights into what it is to be human. Some say, it's that we now realise that our capacity for reason also depends upon our emotions. Have they never read Plato or Aristotle, for whom that was taken as read? Others say, we now know that we're not very good at choosing what makes us happy. Now know? Isn't that the assumption of pretty much any and every pre-Enlightenment thinker of note, to saying nothing of many since, like Freud?
Today's Inquirer reviews ...
... yours truly reviews Marisa Silver's latest: Skillful stories would be better if they let a little sunshine in.
Also:
Confession of an Eagles addict.
School-reform lessons from Phila.
Looking at the senators for full look at the Senate.
Also:
Confession of an Eagles addict.
School-reform lessons from Phila.
Looking at the senators for full look at the Senate.
Thought for the day ...
Life inspires more dread than death - it is life which is the great unknown.- E. M. Cioran, who died on this date in 1995
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Forget the clock ...
... look at the clouds: Breaking Things Down to Particles Blinds Scientists to Big Picture. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Time and time again, an experimental gadget gets introduced — it doesn’t matter if it’s a supercollider or a gene chip or an fMRI machine — and we’re told it will allow us to glimpse the underlying logic of everything. But the tool always disappoints, doesn’t it? We soon realize that those pretty pictures are incomplete and that we can’t reduce our complex subject to a few colorful spots. So here’s a pitch: Scientists should learn to expect this cycle — to anticipate that the universe is always more networked and complicated than reductionist approaches can reveal.
Thought for the day ...
In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.- Blaise Pascal, born on this date in 1623
Friday, June 18, 2010
More goofy notions ...
... Feeling the Heat: The Brain Holds Clues for Journalism.
I think the relation between these two sentences is logically tenuous at best.
And let's not unnecessarily complicate matters, Jack. Those "revolutionary information technologies" simply made the range and number of choices vastly larger. Check out those bloody Jacobean dramas sometime. That was a pretty low-tech period. People were still writing with quills. Sophocles, Middleton, and "Monk" Lewis all knew what we all know: sex and violence sell. So what?
The fact is, given the wider range of choices, many are finding better sources of accurate information than what newspapers provide. For example.
"The challenge is to induce people to want what they need." I'll make up my own mind as to what I need.
Our ancestors became our ancestors by being able to spot danger and the opportunity to mate. So it was inevitable that as competition for attention exploded with the revolutionary information technologies of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, message senders raised the emotional volume.
I think the relation between these two sentences is logically tenuous at best.
And let's not unnecessarily complicate matters, Jack. Those "revolutionary information technologies" simply made the range and number of choices vastly larger. Check out those bloody Jacobean dramas sometime. That was a pretty low-tech period. People were still writing with quills. Sophocles, Middleton, and "Monk" Lewis all knew what we all know: sex and violence sell. So what?
The fact is, given the wider range of choices, many are finding better sources of accurate information than what newspapers provide. For example.
"The challenge is to induce people to want what they need." I'll make up my own mind as to what I need.
Bizarre ...
... Children believe that what they see on the screen has actually happened — to them?
I'm not in favor of letting kids see porn, either, but Dr. Cooper's assertion flies in the face of experience. Can anyone ever remember confusing what they saw in a movie with reality?
I'm not in favor of letting kids see porn, either, but Dr. Cooper's assertion flies in the face of experience. Can anyone ever remember confusing what they saw in a movie with reality?
Good idea ..
... NH professor pushes for return to slow reading. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I am a lifelong slow reader.
I am a lifelong slow reader.
Upping the ante ...
... Psychobabble and the Real Perps. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
It also has a good deal in common with Rousseau's "noble savage."
The psychology of the real me is surprisingly similar to belief in possession by evil spirits.
It also has a good deal in common with Rousseau's "noble savage."
Thought for the day ...
Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else and failing.- Raymond Radiguet, born on this date in 1903
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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