Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Truly a master …

… The Paris Review - The Fourth Rhyme: On Stephen Sondheim - The Paris Review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Wordplay is never just a pyrotechnic aftereffect in Sondheim’s shows—it’s foundational, crucial to the plot and the characters’ emotional development. And his work continually reminds you that playfulness (in poetry, in music, in lyrics, in visual art) can be most essential when the subject is deadly serious. Sondheim includes a multiple-choice quiz in a love song—“Now/Later/Soon” from A Little Night Music: “(A) I could ravish her / (B) I could nap”—and likewise in a paean to the uses of a gun, sung from the rotating points of view of the actual and would-be assassins of U.S. presidents: “Remove a scoundrel / Unite a party / Preserve the Union / Promote the sales of my book.”

Of course, as Sondheim often pointed out,  he studied under the wondrously kind Oscar Hammerstein II, whose son was his best friend at the George School. Hammerstein was to all intents and purposes Sondheim’s surrogate father.

A mystifying disaster …

Red Lightning by John Varley — 2006 Review Revisited.

For Twain’s birthday …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Mark Twain's Satirical Crime Story, 'The Stolen White Elephant'.

Good news …

Alumni Withhold Donations, Demand Colleges Enforce Free Speech - WSJ.

“This is a battle for our culture and, in many ways, for Western civilization,” said John Craig, who heads a similar organization at Davidson College in North Carolina called Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse. “Open and free expression is what makes our country great, and if we lose this, our country is in deep trouble.”

I want to be able say what I think, whether anybody else likes it or not. And I didn't study history in order to censor it. 

Indeed …

 Paul Davis On Crime: Happy Birthday To The Late, Great American Humorist And Novelist Mark Twain.

Man of letters …

‘The Collected Prose of T.S. Eliot’ Review: Keeper of the Flame. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

As he views politics as being too serious to be left to the politicians, the man of letters feels education is hopeless without a clear ideal of the educated individual. “I hope,” Eliot wrote in “Notes Towards the Definition of Culture,” “that we shall not consciously or unconsciously drift towards the view that it is better for everyone to have a second-rate education than for only a small minority to have the best.” Which is, of course, where we are today.

Books of 2021...

 ...From the NYT

How odd …

… Nearly 20,000 homes spend FOURTH night without power after Storm Arwen damage | Daily Mail Online.

According to the London Independent, on March 20, 2000, "Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past."

For the season …

 Sunday was the first day of Advent. As usual, here is my Advent villanelle.



Advent



The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear

(Though winter’s scheduling an arctic flight).

The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.


Some say a telling sign will soon appear,

Though evidence this may be so is slight:

The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.


Pale skeptics may be perfectly sincere

To postulate no ground for hope, despite

The rumor that a rendezvous draws near.


More enterprising souls may shed a tear

And, looking up, behold a striking light:

The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.


The king, his courtiers, and priests, all fear

Arrival of a challenge to their might:

The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.


The wise in search of something all can cheer

May not rely on ordinary sight:

The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.


Within a common place may rest one dear

To all who yearn to see the world made right.

The leaves are fallen, but the sky is clear.

The rumor is a rendezvous draws near.

Harry ponders the bomb …

POTUS prepared to use atomic weapons in Korea.


Vintage appreciation …

 From the NS archive: Fit to Kill - New Statesman. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Kingsley Amis: Why Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall is not satire.

I love Decline and Fall, but I continue that Brideshead Revisited is his greatest. I get the impression from this that Amis thought that Waugh’s conversion to Catholicism adversely affected his art. I cannot agree. 

Happy birthday, Sam …

Mark Twain begins his life in Florida

Great art …

… zmkc: Velasquez in Dublin.

I was on assignment in Dublin some years ago, but never got around to go to the National Gallery. Too bad.

The value of staying active …

… The ‘active grandparent hypothesis’: New research explores how we’ve evolved to move more and live longer



(Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Much in what he says …

… Woke Culture: Archbishop José Gomez Shows the Way Out | National Review.

It’s worth noting that Archbishop Gomez, who is currently president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was born in Mexico. He leads the biggest and most diverse archdiocese in the United States, ministering in 40 languages. He’s not speaking from an ivory tower, oblivious to the human suffering of which he speaks. A constant voice for the unborn and immigrants, he did not deliver a screed against left-wing causes, as some have suggested on the Interwebs. He’s a pastor thinking through what is going on in the world today and how to engage it.

Something to think on …

Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred.
— Jacques Barzun, born on this date in 1907

Twain on the road update …

Mark Twain begins his life in Florida.

Word of the Day …

… Ciceronian | Word Genius.

Monday, November 29, 2021

Fascinating …

Rhyme with Sondheim | Dramatists Guild. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

STEPHEN SCHWARTZ: I’m older than you so I had other experiences before that, but if you’re talking about Steve rhyming “tranquil” with “drank will…” [that’s when] I suddenly became aware of those sort of trick rhymes that were very exciting to me. I remember now that my parents had a record of Ella Fitzgerald singing Rodgers and Hart and how thrilled I was when I first heard “To Keep My Love Alive” and Hart rhyming “possibilities” with “kill at ease” or “horse’s neck to me” with “appendectomy.”

Good Lord …

… Eye Roll: Merriam-Webster Announces Word of the Year.

Appreciation …

… Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull..)

Mr. Sondheim’s shows were deeply rooted in the traditional craftsmanship of his trade, but their songs and subject matter were radically different from anything that had hitherto been heard on a Broadway stage. The pastel harmonies and complex wordplay of his score for “Company” (“It’s sharing little winks together, / Drinks together, / Kinks together, / That makes marriage a joy”) were as unusual as its ironic, ambivalent tone. Throughout his career, his best songs would more often than not be written from the point of view of an inhibited man unable to open himself up to the prospect of romantic love. Ambivalence, he said, was his “favorite thing to write about, because it’s the way I feel, and I think the way most people feel.”

Eulogy …

 R.I.P. Mr. Frishberg | Ben Yagoda's blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Frishberg was very kind and generous to me when I contacted him for an interview for my book The B Side. He met me in a bar downtown Portland, Oregon (we both had coffee), and gave me great stuff, including a word-for-word memory of the advice Frank Loesser had given him about lyric writing, sixty years previously:

Those were the days …

Coffee joins list of items rationed in U.S.

Quite a tale …

… Story of the Week: How I Escaped Being Killed in a Duel. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)

Appreciation …

 Brideshead recelebrated: 40 years on, write salutes one of television’s landmark dramas. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

“[. . .] a script commissioned at no small cost from John Mortimer was bravely binned. Granger and team returned to the novel, mining it wholesale – 95% of all the dialogue in the drama is by Evelyn Waugh. Yet Mortimer kept the fee, the screen-credit, and was even nominated for an Emmy.”

Something to think on …

When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.
—C.S. Lewis, born on this date 1898

He sounds very interesting

 The forgotten poetry of John Martin Finlay - The Spectator World. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

His interests were ancient cultures and modern life in the South, which makes him sound like a late Walker Alexander Percy, full of Stoicism and high-minded pronouncement. He wasn’t. His language is direct and restrained, which gives his poems both simplicity and power. He was a traditionalist who had a keen interest in Flaubert and Arthur Rimbaud, who loved the South but despised its moral failings.

Hmm …

 Dave Chappelle, Reinhold Niebuhr, And The Gospel.

The Christian gospel itself is not humorous. Indeed, it deals with the most serious of matters. Its ultimate aim is not laughter, but nor is it applause. The power of the gospel took the first-century Roman Empire by storm—not because it met the expectations of Rome’s cultures and subcultures but because it was perceived as thoroughly strange.

Word of the Day …

… Recondite | Word Genius.

Friday, November 26, 2021

Wondrous …

… Jackie & Roy: Musical Joie de vivre - by Robert Gilbert - Listening Sessions. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I turned 20 that year. I was then — and may still be — a wannabe Beat — not a beatnik.

Not this year …

Gasoline rationing will begin in the U.S. on December.

Cause for concern …

… Heart attack warning.

Hmm …

… Salvation Army's Donors Withdraw Support in Response to Racial 'Wokeness' Initiative.

Something to think on …

If we wish to serve God and love our neighbor well, we must manifest our joy in the service we render to Him and them. Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.
— Katharine Drexel, born on this in 1858

Appreciation …

… Cool Ghost. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Together at last …

Charles Dickens, Lionel Barrymore, and savings bonds.

Word of the Day …

… Twee | Word Genius.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

RIP …

… Dave Hickey, influential critic who saw art as inseparable from everyday life, has died aged 82. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Armed with humour, a deep intellect and an alchemical ability to mix high and low, Hickey was unafraid of integrating talk of sports and food into his discussion of fine art, concocting a sort of intentional bathos that was all his own. He saw art not as a highbrow disruption of our lives but as an everyday occurrence, a view that gave shape to prophetic assertions such as “the title of artist has to be earned” and “all we do by ignoring the live effects of art is suppress the fact that these experiences, in one way or another, inform our every waking hour”.

Something to think on …

The rare moment is not the moment when there is something worth looking at, but the moment when we are capable of seeing.
— Joseph Wood Krutch, born on this date in 1893

A lot like today …

… Thanksgiving ... 1950 | The Saturday Evening Post. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The poem is by Edna St. Vincent Millay, who died in October 1950.


Hmm …

… Study finds possible editorial bias, 'nepotistic behavior' in subset of science journals - UPI.com.

In 2016, for example, a study showed the sugar industry meddled in medical research by Harvard researchers to downplay sugar's role in increased risk of heart disease.

Strange change …

… Do you have the 50p coin with Sherlock Holmes on it?

Word of the Day …

… Soupçon | Word Genius.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

War up-close and personal …

Driving through Minnesota During the Hanoi Bombings. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Robert Bly died on Sunday. I spent a very pleasant day with him many years ago.

Mark thy calendar …

… Author Events - Free Library.

Holiday treat …

This John Adams favorite can be yours on Thanksgiving.

Well worth considering …

… The Vaccine Moment, part one - by Paul Kingsnorth - The Abbey of Misrule. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Amongst the vast flock of contested facts that wheel around this virus like a murmuration of starlings, darkening the skies and addling the mind, one stands out. It is the single fact that blows a cathedral-shaped hole in the strategy being pursued by governments at present, and which offers a glimpse into the crypt. It is the fact that these vaccines, whatever their efficacy in other areas, do not prevent transmission of the virus.

And the winners are …

IBPC: Winning Poems for October 2021.


(Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Anniversary …

“Hollywood 10” charged with contempt on this day in 1947.

Something to think on …

Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.
— Wiliam F. Buckley, Jr., born on this date in 1925

Word of the Day …

… Pensile | Word Genius.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Monday, November 22, 2021

Maverick …

… Tucker Carlson, Class Traitor | Wilfred M. McClay | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… these no-doubt-formidable analysts are on to something. Tucker Carlson is indeed a figure of real significance in the culture of today’s journalism. But not for the reasons they think. They might get further in their ruminations if they were willing to entertain the thought that it is not Carlson, but their own industry, that has changed almost beyond recognition; and that he is a brave outlier standing against a smug profession that routinely confers plaudits and prizes on itself for demonstrably false reporting and naked political advocacy.

This veteran journalist finds most contemporary journalism and journalists appalling.  

Remembering …

… CS Lewis: A Sonnet | Malcolm Guite. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hmm …

Tom Sawyer caused unsafe classroom environment.

Apparently, Ms.Stroud has problems with reading comprehension. Jim is the real father to Huck, not Huck”s biological father.

Just so you know …

… If you like heart problems, you'll love the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines - by Alex Berenson - Unreported Truths. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

But of course some people just by the party line. I, however, happen to be in the top 1 percent of those likely to die of a heart attack (my father died of one). At 80, I don’t much care, but why take an unnecessary risk? And we’re two years into this, and Test negative for Covid.

Something to think on …

It's never too late to be who you were meant to be.
— George Eliot, born on this date in 1819

Miss Abby …

13 Fascinating Facts About Abigail Adams.

Word of the Day …

… Germinal | Word Genius.

Sunday, November 21, 2021

The need for prayer …

… Evelyn Waugh in the Light of Eternity| National Catholic Register. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… we need to be very precise about the provenance of such ailments as boredom, sloth or ennui,because it is deeply and inescapably theological. Sloth, for example, is among the Seven Deadly Sins, sometimes called Capital Sins, because they have the capacity to beget still other sins. Just as, for example, anger can lead to acts of brutishness and murder, so too can sloth lead to despair and suicide. It is the sin against the Holy Spirit, the taxonomists of sin tell us, which cannot be forgiven so long as one remains in that forlorn state. Not until, that is, one is actually moved to ask God for forgiveness can one overcome its particular malice.

The language of the soul …

‘The Music of Christendom’: Why the World Should Thank the Church for ‘Classical’ Compositions.

Although there are some similarities to doctrinal development, musical development does not offer an exact parallel, as seen in The Music of Christendom. When the Catholic Church was rent by the multifaceted rejection of the faith in the 1500s known collectively as the Protestant Reformation, secular music began to develop separately from Catholic music. While faithful Catholics worshipped according to one set of musical standards, Treacy points out, the cultural listening material of the day was often pulling them in another direction. 

History and memory — revised …

… My obsession with American history began when I was a friendly Indian among the hungry Pilgrims in the 4th grade.

Birthday boy …

Celebrating Francois-Marie Arouet’s birthday.

Something to think on …

Life is God's novel. Let him write it.
— Isaac Bashevis Singer, born on this date in 1903

Word of the Day …

… Curvet | Word Genius.

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Home in Connecticut …

Experience Victorian high style at the Mark Twain House.

A man within …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: Head Within An Aureole (Odilon Redon), Sonnet #590.

Frida Kahlo...

 ...Self-portrait nets over $34M

A happy memory …

… I Once Met... Stevie Smith - Patric Dickinson - The Oldie. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In this exalted company, a schoolboy in his early teens was doubtless an unwelcome presence. But Stevie Smith was very sweet to me, sat me down and with penetrating eyes asked me about myself – what I was studying at school, what I enjoyed doing and other such questions but not (as far as I can remember) what poetry I liked. In the photograph I took, she is clutching a cigarette and wearing (as she often did) the collar of a white blouse over the top of her dress. But for some reason it is her knitted stockings of which I retain the most vivid memory.

Something to think on …

The ways of Providence cannot be reasoned out by the finite mind ... I cannot fathom them, yet seeking to know them is the most satisfying thing in all the world.
— Selma Lagerlöf, born on this date in 1858

I remember it well …

… Snapshot: Tony Bennett sings “If I Ruled the World”.

Aspirations …

… zmkc: Rules for a Traditionalist Contemplating Contemporary Life: No. 3.

Word of the Day …

… Excursus | Word Genius.

Friday, November 19, 2021

RIP …

… Dave Frishberg, a legendary songwriter who called Portland home, dies at 88 - oregonlive.com.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

People magazine never did get around to profiling him (though it did briefly review one of his albums in the 1980s). But his niche in the niche-songwriting world of the cabaret smart set, when such a breed still existed, was lofty. Superb saloon singers came to be identified with the Frishberg tunes they sang. One of those singers was Blossom Dearie, whose rendition of his “Peel Me a Grape”was, in Mr. Frishberg’s view, definitive.

Well, why not …

Happy birthday to famous father’s spendthrift playboy son.

Sounds good …


The idyllic hamlet of Sweet Haven; populated by ex-military men, caring women, and their children; affects the protagonist and the reader like the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Present combined. Klavan, being one of the best living American novelists as well as a classicist (he has a book on the Romantic poets coming out next year), knows what the Dickens he’s doing. He makes the town’s insular traditionalism more than a theme, in fact a crucial plot point, full of clues. He also drives three parallel narratives to a thrilling divergence.https://spectator.org/christmas-comes-early-with-andrew-klavans-new-mystery/

Fiction for these days …

BCCC professor releases new fiction collection based on real-life Covid experiences (and beyond) - Times Publishing Newspapers, Inc.

True to its title, there are “mostly good things” detailed within these pages, a riveting style and character development that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat.

Seems so …

 Milton Friedman Is More Relevant Than Ever - Bloomberg. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Friedman also stressed that discretionary monetary and fiscal policy would lead to errors, as policymakers were unlikely to prove omniscient. He has been proven correct on that yet again.

Another anniversary …

19 November 1985 — US and USSR summit conference.

Boozers bombarded …

Booze and boozers face fierce opposition in 1874.

Jobs in the arts...

 ...A challenging stretch

Something to think on …

It is not man who pursues truth, but truth man.
— Lev Shestov, who died on this date in 1938

By Elizabeth Bishop …

 … Insomnia. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Tellurian | Word Genius.

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Hmm …

… Silenced but Unquiet: a Faithful Jesuit’s Witness.

A talented Jesuit, disciplined for defending the integrity of the faith: The situation was manifestly unfair, but it did not surprise the victim. Father Mankowski was vocal (when he could be) about both his love for the Jesuit vocation and his recognition that the order had become thoroughly corrupt. Among friends, he likened his situation to that of a husband who knew his wife was unfaithful, but was determined to honor his own vows.

I am myself Jesuit trained. What seems to have happed to the order appalls me. 

 

Anniversary …

Touch-Tone phone finally available after years of testing.

Something to think on …

Let us not go faster than God. It is our emptiness and our thirst that He needs, not our plentitude.
— Jacques Maritain, born on this date in 1882

Dream poem …

Dream in Which My Body Is a Snow Storm. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Beautiful …

… West Coast Photographer Captures Stunning Vistas and Starry Skies. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Parley | Word Genius.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Good news …

… David McCullough on the Wright brothers.

Something to think on …

At dramatic rehearsals, the only author that's better than an absent one is a dead one.
— George S. Kaufman, born on this date in 1889

Blogging note …

 I have to spend today getting things together for Debbie. Her son and his wife are coming by here tomorrow to pick them up and then they are to pick Debbie up at the rehab and drive her to Connecticut, where they live. They have arranged for her to live for a while an assisted living facility. This will give Debbie a chance to connect with her grandchildren. It’s a bummer for me, but one must do what is best for  her. 

Anyway, I won’t be blogging much today.

Word of the Day …

… Anadromous | Word Genius.

Monday, November 15, 2021

Happy birthday …

.… This is my song.

Petula Clark turned 89 today. I feel chilly and grown old.

Something to think on …

Surrender to a logic more powerful than reason.
— J. G. Ballard, born on this date in 1930

The new puritanism…

… William Hogarth's Paintings Now Come With A Trigger Warning | Blog Posts | VDARE.com.

Poetry and prayer …

… She Walks in Beauty Like a Prayer | Christianity Today. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The poets examined in this book reflect shifts in forms of religious devotion. Stokes argues that the theology of prayer reflected in this age and its poets parallels the growing importance of individual practices in religious life, when devotion became as much about doing as believing. Poetry, likewise, was increasingly becoming a personal practice, not merely an objective art.

Reappraisal …

… ‘A Splendid Intelligence’ Review: The Incisive, Elusive Elizabeth Hardwick. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Hardwick’s famous marriage to the poet Robert Lowell, in all its ups and downs, has threatened to overshadow her own literary achievement to such an extent that Cathy Curtis takes care to warn us that “A Splendid Intelligence: The Life of Elizabeth Hardwick” includes “only as much information about her famous husband . . . as is necessary to tell the story of her life.” The author of three studies of somewhat critically neglected women artists, Ms. Curtis is aware that her subject is in danger of subordination to Lowell, an especially glamorous figure who has been treated in more than one biography.

November Poetry + Holiday Reading Recommendations 2021 …

 … Welsh Coast by Robert Nisbet.

… When it Rains on K Street by Henry Crawford.

… Two Poems by Jonel Abellanosa.

… Peace by Charles Rammelkamp.

… Holiday Reading Recommendations 2021.


From the Editors: 

Thunder, Lightning and Urban Cowboys by g emil reutter.

… Covid 19 2020 – A Poetic Journal by Diane Sahms-Guarnieri.

Mark thy calendar …

… Paul Davis On Crime: TCM Offers A Look Back At Dean Martin, 'The King Of Cool'.

Word of the Day …

… Sthenic | Word Genius.

Saturday, November 13, 2021

Worth remembering …

Belated celebration of the “Plymouth Combination”,

RIP …

… Paul Davis On Crime: John Pearson, Biographer Of Ian Fleming, Has Died.

Lovely …

… Michael Septimus Waugh: Eulogy | The Evelyn Waugh Society. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

 ‘I was a very devout little Catholic when I was at school because it was the air I breathed’ he said ‘and as I’m grown older I find it less easy to believe in any fixed faith though I will still, in times of anxiety, pray.’ He received last rites shortly before his death and requested a Catholic mass to be said at his funeral.

It’s that time again …

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (again already).

Fleeing disaster …

… Zealotry of Guerin: Poetry and Fiction by Christopher Guerin: The Last Day of Pompeii (Karl Bryullov), Sonnet #589.

Word of the Day …

… Overegg | Word Genius.

Something to think on …

There is nothing but God's grace. We walk upon it; we breathe it; we live and die by it; it makes the nails and axles of the universe.
— Robert Louis Stevenson, born on this date in 1850

Friday, November 12, 2021

Latter-day censors …

…  And the book-banning beat goes on and on in 2021.

Poet in exile …

“A Home in the Neon Heat of Nature”: A New Biography of Czesław Miłosz.

Miłosz felt that the United States, specifically the American West, could provide that lofty vantage, that distance, that relative stability from the “demoniac doings of History.” He would live in the Golden State for 40 years, from 1960 to 2000, but according to Czeslaw Miłosz: A California Life, Cynthia Haven’s deeply considered new biography of the poet, Miłosz’s move to America was predicated on a fundamental error. “In immigrating to the United States, and specifically to California in 1960,” Haven writes, “he thought he was coming to the timeless world of nature. However, Berkeley was about to become a lightning rod for […] the world of change […] and he would be in the thick of it.”

Something to think on …

Man does not exist prior to language, either as a species or as an individual.
— Roland Barthes, born on this date in 1915

Maybe Eastwood’s last …

… Lumpily scripted and poorly plotted: Cry Macho reviewed | The Spectator. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Epiphenomenon | Word Genius.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Thank you for your service …

… Paul Davis On Crime: Sailors Hunting Sharks In Loch Fyne.

The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the world’s second largest shark, but despite its size and looks, the shark is quite docile and passive and eats plankton rather than people. The small-brained creatures are called basking sharks due to their swimming slowly and feeding near the surface, which makes them appear to be “basking” in the sun.

Maybe …

… Law is Hell - Econlib. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

My own experience is that if you don’t let some lawyer intimidate you, you’ll have no trouble and the lawyer will go home with his tail between his legs.

Hardly surprising …

… The nearest thing to Paul McCartney’s autobiography: his guide to the Beatles’ songbook. (Hat tip, Dave.)

The Lyrics, presented in two huge volumes in a slipcase, is at once engrossing and frustrating. It is the closest McCartney is likely to come to an autobiography: 154 song lyrics, ranging from a scrap from a fourteen-year-old hand in 1956 to songs from McCartney III at the end of last year. His comments on each song and the circumstances of its composition are drawn from edited interviews with Paul Muldoon that point towards his muses (his parents; Lennon; Linda.

Honoring the dead …

Something different for Veterans Day from Walt Whitman.

Something to think on …

To love another person is to see them as God intended them to be.
— Fyodor Dostoevsky, born on this date in 1821

Hmm …

… Should Kenny G Make a Record with a Software Reconstruction of Stan Getz? - by Ted Gioia - The Honest Broker. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

And the winners are …

Bird Photographer of the Year 2021 Winners. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Q&A …

… Guilt Is Fecund: The Millions Interviews Frank Bidart - The Millions. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Word of the Day …

… Quinquennial | Word Genius.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

As well they should …

“Working People” Resist.

The great divide in America today is between middle-class “working people” on the one hand and the educated elites and their pet “marginalized” peoples on the other. The elites are insulated from the consequences of the policies they espouse. The “marginalized” people are the beneficiaries (in theory) of the elites’ compassion. By contrast, the “working people” (of whatever race) are the ones who pay the price when neighborhoods become unsafe, when schools fail to teach, when taxes go up, when electric rates increase, when gasoline prices double, when hamburger costs $2 more per pound, and when their daughters get raped in high school bathrooms.



Wonderful …

 The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (Old Movie Stars Dance) - YouTube.

This — shall we call it a collage? — is simply a masterpiece. Matching the scenes to the song is wondrous. This is a new art form.

A meditation on death …

AS YE ARE NOW. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Of the three moments when I have come closest to death, two have been on the road, where you may be hurled into eternity with almost no warning, and one was on assignment in a chaotic place. What I remember about all these is the swift withdrawal into an inner silence and powerless immobility, once I realized how bad it was.

Four years ago, a physician came to me in the cubicle in the ER, where  I had spent the night, and told me I had a life-threatening condition and needed to be operated on immediately. I had no affect. He might as well have told me it was pretty cloudy and there could be rain that afternoon.


 

Don't we all …

Avuncular, almost cuddly Twain had his sharper edges.

About time …

THE BULL AGAINST LITURGISTS. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

*But not against “[. . .] those fine men and women, but mostly men, who, out of deep faith and abiding antiquarian interest, reach into papyri, codices, sacramentaries, missals, pontificals, breviaries, consuetudinaries, antiphoners, vesperales, nocturnales, diurnales, and other suchlike tomes, books, volumes, or collections, and therein find the most interesting tidbits and colorful rituals for the delectation of, for the most part, similarly minded young men, but even the whole world. To such people, We give Our heartiest Apostolical Approbation and Encouragement.”

Cold War days …

Chambers as witness — a singular man in singular times.

Something to think on …

Ceremonies are different in every country, but true politeness is everywhere the same.
— Oliver Goldsmith, born on this date in 1728

Have a listen …

… Paul Davis On Crime: A Little Night Music: Sean Connery Reads Beatles' Lyrics To 'In My Life'.

Pleasant indeed …

… zmkc: Pleasant Surprise.

Word of the Day …

… Curtail | Word Genius.

Tuesday, November 09, 2021

Worrisime …

… Scammers impersonate guest editors to get sham papers published.

Lidsten in …

… Bob Dylan - Every Grain of Sand (Cleveland, OH) - NOV 5 2021 - YouTube. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

In case you wondered …

… How Sweden swerved Covid disaster - UnHerd.

During the year that followed, the virus continued to ravage the world and, one by one, the death tolls in countries that had locked down began to surpass Sweden’s. Britain, the US, France, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Argentina, Belgium — countries that had variously shut down playgrounds, forced their children to wear facemasks, closed schools, fined citizens for hanging out on the beach and guarded parks with drones — have all been hit worse than Sweden. At the time of writing, more than 50 countries have a higher death rate. If you measure excess mortality for the whole of 2020, Sweden (according to Eurostat) will end up in 21st place out of 31 European countries. If Sweden was a part of the US, its death rate would rank number 43 of the 50 states.

Promising debut …

Read Robert Frost’s first published poem, written when he was 18. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Epiphany …

… The 1952 novel that changed my life in a 1996 classroom.

Something to think on …

To desire and expect nothing for oneself and to have profound sympathy for others is genuine holiness.
— Ivan Turgenev, born on this date in 1818

Sounds good …

… University of Austin founded by writers and entrepreneurs.

Frustrated with how modern universities stifle free thought and academic diversity, a group of writers and entrepreneurs announced Monday that they are launching their own institute of higher learning: The University of Austin. Joe Lonsdale, a partner at 8VC and a founder of Palantir, Addepar, Resilience Bio, and other multi-billion dollar technology companies, is one of the founders. Here, in an exclusive for The Post, he outlines the school’s mission.

Word of the Day …

… Tinctorial | Word Genius.

A lovely remembrance …

 … Gerald Russello, R.I.P.  (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Monday, November 08, 2021

A poem …

 The Owl

Elusive you are, as if I've done wrong.

From madmen, there is a faraway din.

As deep in the forest comes your hooting song,

And then I feel naked, as though I have sinned.


When flying, you gesture to the wise old tree

That is the gateway to my mystical walk.

In a vision your face comes to me.

I want to befriend you, but to that you would balk. 


Later, as I am driving home, I see a shaft of sunlight

Connecting heaven and earth with a deity's nod.

I pray for the owl,perhaps he prays for me,

While my car sends up smoke signals to God.


Then the owl rends forth a heart-wrenching scream.

Right as rain. Here that? We're all right as rain.

— Jennifer Knox

Blogging note …

 I am not feeling well today. Took my morning walk, but knees were not cooperative.  Have spent much time since just lying down. Blogging may resume later should  I feel better. Otherwise, see you tomorrow, folks.

To the rescue …

… Bookmobile visits saved me from becoming a basket case.

Something to think on …

A garden isn't meant to be useful. It's for joy.
— Rumer Godden, who died on this date in 1998

Q&A …

… The Interview R.S. Gwynn by Luke Stromberg | Better Than Starbucks November 2021


(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Word of the Day …

… Arcuate | Word Genius.

Sunday, November 07, 2021

Good for them …

… MIT Caves to Wokeness | City Journal

We owe much to our alma mater and have donated to it regularly.

No more.

The current MIT administration has caved repeatedly to the demands of “wokeness,” treating its students unfairly, compromising the quality of its staff, and damaging the institution and academic freedom at large.

Very nice …

A Parisian Roof Garden in 1918 by Natalie Clifford Barney - Poems | Academy of American Poets. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Barney had a fifty-year relationship with Romaine Brooks, one of my favorite painters. 

Hmm …

Does Mark Zuckerberg know what Meta means in Hebrew? (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Sad news…

 R.I.P. Susan de Sola | Form in Formless Times. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Something to think on …

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live as if there isn't and to die to find out that there is.
— Albert Camus, born on this date in 1913

Interesting …

… The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Back in the day …

Hollywood teaches me about the persecution of Christians

Word of the Day …

… Cloven | Word Genius.

Saturday, November 06, 2021