Saturday, March 14, 2020
Today’s media …
… Inky's Fired 'Token Conservative' Says Paper Was Clueless | Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog.
(Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
(Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Of course, they will continue to inflict on their readers the moronic rantings of Will Bunch, who, if he ever has another idea besides the two or three currently lodged in what passes for his mind, will probably reach for an Excedrin,
Something to think on …
Don't listen to the person who has the answers; listen to the person who has the questions.
— Albert Einstein, born on this date in 1879
On the other hand …
… this young bears watching — and listening to: A Girl Makes Music Without Irony or Ugliness - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
RIP …
… Charles Wuorinen, modernist composer without compromise, dies at 81. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I don’t remember thinking much of his music, but I’ll give it another listen.
Friday, March 13, 2020
Richard Hughes
In general, I don't tend to gravitate to novels about children: there's something about those books which feels out of reach or distant. This was the case, again, with A High Wind in Jamaica, Richard Hughes's curious novel about a group of children captured -- and later released -- by pirates off the coast of Cuba.
This really is an odd novel: there's brutality and crime, but at the same time, there's tenderness and naivety. I suspect that was Hughes's goal: to contrast youth with age, innocence with corruption. For me, these contrasts did not necessarily warrant pirates or rum. In fact, some of this novel -- which has been celebrated since its publication in 1929 -- seemed almost nonsensical: these captive children would never have survived as they did if it weren't for their, well, credulity.
And again, maybe this was Hughes's point: that innocence is a surprisingly powerful force, and that children can accommodate almost any circumstance. I acknowledge this argument, and concede there are moments in the novel which effectively highlight that unexpected power. But in the end, this seemed more an idea than the basis for an extended work of fiction. For me, the divergence between youth and age was too jarring to be believable: and the result were interactions between toddlers and pirates which didn't fully fit.
And the winners are …
… The National Book Critics Circle Award – National Book Critics Circle. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In brief …
… Where Have All the Great Aphorists Gone? | The American Conservative. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Auden and Kronenberger close their foreword by noting that their field of selection was restricted to “writers belonging to what, for lack of a better term, is called Western civilization.” Doubtless today some half-educated scold would wag a condescending finger at Auden for that last phrase, “Western civilization,” albeit with little sense of what it means. The concept, and even the words, are quickly coming under the ban.But Auden, who knew more and understood better than our contemporary doyens of labored and puerile outrage, has, along with his co-author, a word in season on this topic, too. We might note the qualification already given: “for lack of a better term.” Yes, the term is imprecise. Yes, it is open to misunderstanding. No, we do not have a better one.
Worth noting …
… Bruce Charlton's Notions: Birdemic bleg.
Bruce Charlton is a physician and has been a professor of medicine.
I would note that, according to the CDC, between October 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020, there have been between 22,000 – 55,000 flu deaths in this country. Please take note of the range. Hardly what I would call precise. When Will Rogers said that "All I know is what I read in the newspapers," he was joking. Now, though, many people seem to have an evangelical faith in what the media tells them. To its credit, CNBC has reported that there are now two strains of COVID-19, the newer one being less aggressive than the first, whose frequency has decreased since January. But I haven't seen much made of this.
Anyway, color me skeptical (which is what journalists are supposed to be, though many of today's seem selectively credulous to me).
For your listening pleasure …
… Bruce Charlton's Notions: Vashti Bunyan sings.
She escaped me too at the time. Lovely voice. And lovely.
She escaped me too at the time. Lovely voice. And lovely.
Something to think on …
Happiness comes, I know, from some spring within a man — from some curious adjustment to life.
— Hugh Walpole, born on this date in 1884
Thursday, March 12, 2020
My sentiments exactly …
… Bruce Charlton's Notions: How dangerous are ravens? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… Corvid-19. (Also from Dave.)
We are So Extremely Far Away - a thousand fold? - from anything significant in terms of global deaths over this many weeks, that the international health crisis is revealed as fake. However, a fake crisis is better - from an Establishment perspective - than a real one; as it can be controlled. Indeed, from the mass media attitude; the decision to make the most of Corvid-19 seems only to have been made in the past couple of weeks, when it became clear that it was not a major global danger.
… Corvid-19. (Also from Dave.)
Appreciation …
… A look back at Sidney Lumet's great cop films - Washington Times.
The cop film quartet covered corrupt cops in New York City, and although I felt the films gave the unfair impression that all New York cops were corrupt, I enjoyed the gritty and otherwise realistic films, two of which — “Serpico” and “Prince of the City” — were based on true stories.
Hmm …
… Keep It Simple by Edward Feser | Articles | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Having spent a couple of years studying scholastic philosophy, which is grounded in Aquinas’s Summa, I found myself wondering while reading this how anyone who considers himself a theist would think as Craig does, because I am of course trained to think of God in terms of his simplicity. Mathematics is true because it reflects the mind of God, as is anything else that is true.
Something to think on …
The most ingenious men are now agreed, that [universities] are only nurseries of prejudice, corruption, barbarism, and pedantry.
— George Berkeley, born on this date in 1685
Blogging note …
I have to head into Center City early today, but should be back by early afternoon, when I will catch up with blogging.
FYI …
… 5 Facts About James McNeill Whistler, Who Believed in "Art for Art's Sake". (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Only the first was new to me, but they’re all interesting.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Blogging note …
I am in a hospital waiting room. Debbie is currently in recovery after a procedure. We had to be up at 5 a.m. and neither of us slept well last night. I’ll get around to blogging when we get back home.
Something to think on …
Courage is the antidote to danger.
— Erle Stanley Gardner, who died on this date in 1970
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Tracking the decline …
… Books About Next to Nothing | John Waters | First Things. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Here (again thanks to Dave) is my review of Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain: The intricacies of love ensnarled by loyalty, war.
The art of writing, too, has undergone a metamorphosis. Once a way to engage with reality, it has become primarily a status-seeking activity. The idea of “being a writer” nowadays seems more important than learning a craft, perfecting a talent, or honing a worldview. The wannabe writer now offers himself to the ideological architects of the media and academe, providing fodder for their deterministic interventions in a discourse increasingly more about remaking the world than investigating it.I’m not familiar with the work of Laszlo Krasznahorkai or George Saunders, but I have read Michel Houellebecq and I agree with what Waters says about him. I would also cite Tan Twan Eng’s novels as being as good as novels have ever been.
Here (again thanks to Dave) is my review of Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain: The intricacies of love ensnarled by loyalty, war.
Worth heeding …
… Dr. Drew says coronavirus panic is 'destroying' businesses — and he wants the media to be held accountable - TheBlaze.
Holding the media accountable alone is a good idea. Much of today's media sucks.
Something to think on …
Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals — with no cure, except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.
— Clare Booth Luce, born on this date in 1903
Interesting and comprehensive …
…Tips for the Depressed | Online Only | n 1. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The stupidest, most exasperating piece of advice commonly offered to suffering people is also the truest and most comforting.
Mark thy calendar — again …
… 89th Annual Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Book Sale will be the largest ever - Planet Princeton. (Hat tip, Virginia Kerr.)
The organizers have decided o move it up one day because of potential school closings related to Covid-19.
The new schedule will be as follows:
Thursday, Mar. 12 — opening day, $25 admission
Friday, March 13 — Day 2 Open to public
Saturday, March 14— Day 3 Open to public
Sunday, March 15 — half-price day
Monday, March 16 — box day
Post bumped.
Hmm …
… SCIENCE AND FAITH: This Pioneer Of Neurosurgery Concluded Mind Isn’t Mere Matter. Why It Matters To All Of Us – HillFaith.
“He started his career as a materialist. He thought the whole mind came from the brain and he was just going to study it. And at the end of his career, 30 years later, he was a passionate dualist. He said that there is a part of the mind that is not from the brain. He had several lines of reasoning that convinced him of that.”
Listen in …
… Episode 365 – Ben Katchor – The Virtual Memories Show.
“A dairy restaurant feels to me like an urban, walled Garden of Eden, but it’s in this world, so it gets trapped in the doings of this world.”
Q&A …
… Word crimes? 'Weird Al Seriously' takes academic look at beloved parody musician | Music | bakersfield.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
He is a very nice guy. When I've interviewed other people, they seem distracted, they'll look at their cellphones and make calls. But (Yankovic) was fully engaged. He had never met me but he invited me to his home. He was wonderfully nice and really helpful with no strings. His band has been the same group since the beginning, which is really unusual and it's because they like to work with him.
Monday, March 09, 2020
Hmm …
… Why Modern Feminism Wants To Get Rid Of The Family — Evie Magazine.
“All will have to work.” Gee, where have I heard this recently? Oh yeah, a feminist who advocated that it should be illegal for women to be stay-at-home moms. Time and time again, women are shamed for choosing to excuse themselves from the workforce because they are financially supported by their husbands. Notice how the same shame isn’t inflicted on women who are financially dependent on the government or on sugar daddies.
How sweet
… Conservative Hispanic college student — daughter of former GOP congressman — threatened with violence after blasting socialism - TheBlaze.
Like it or not, today's self-styled progressives bear a striking resemblance to fascists. Of course, devout readers of the New York Times may well see things differently.
Something to think on …
I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.
— Mickey Spillane, born on this date in 1918
Sunday, March 08, 2020
Listen in …
… Sarah Ruden: Getting Inside the Head of Paul & Jesus - Pete Enns. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
A lost dimension …
… Regaining our spiritual commons – Mark Vernon.
… in the medieval period, estates and kingdoms were regarded fundamentally as entrusted patrimonies bestowed by heaven, not capital resources defined by law. It was a world “charged with the grandeur of God”, to quote Gerard Manley Hopkins, equally blessed and terrifying.
Something to think on …
Taking things from one source is plagiarism; taking things from several sources is research.
— John McPhee, who turns 89 today
Saturday, March 07, 2020
For your listening pleasure …
Maurice Ravel was born on this date in 1875. This is a wonderful work.
Seeing things clearly …
… On Poetry: Finding beauty, purity in feelings of bleakness | Lifestyles | record-eagle.com. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Here's the poem: Dover Beach.
It's a favorite of mine, too. The closing have always struck me as prophetic of what would happen in August 1914.
Here's the poem: Dover Beach.
It's a favorite of mine, too. The closing have always struck me as prophetic of what would happen in August 1914.
Hmm …
… On Loving Popes and Other Strangers, part 1 Maureen Mullarkey. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Emotions cannot be commanded. Injunctions to love our neighbor can only be directed to our will, not to our feelings. The will guides our choices, decisions, and our actions. We will ultimate good to all men: good in the next life, and in this one to the extent possible within circumstances. A moral disposition to invoke good to individuals in the here and now is burdened with contingencies, ensnared in dilemmas. The constraints of prudence and justice to which we are also commanded tug at responses to the divine dictate. Our single word love—a sweeping blob of a thing—is too indeterminate to justify the the range of human responses that make claims on it.
Perhaps this will help: Love (Theological Virtue). I was taught, starting in Catholic grade school, to distinguish between love and luv. And there's this: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Oh, and the Greek word for instinctual love is στοργή — storge, not sturge.
Oh, and the Greek word for instinctual love is στοργή — storge, not sturge.
Something to think on …
Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
— Thomas Aquinas, who died on this date in 1274
Friday, March 06, 2020
RIP …
… McCoy Tyner, Piano Legend and John Coltrane Collaborator, Dead at 81 - Rolling Stone. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Good Lord …
… Shocking Video: Group Stomps 15-Year-Old Girl On Brooklyn Sidewalk – CBS New York.
Looks like they’re all guys. Beating up a girl.
Blogging note …
I have a luncheon engagement with a former colleague. Blogging will resume when. I return.
RIP …
… Farewell to Ernesto Cardenal: Poet, Revolutionary, Innovator and Mystic - Havana Times. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Ernesto Cardenal’s poetry moves amid themes of love, erotic passion, religion and science; between the mystic and the scientific. Cardenal, who was also a priest, embarks on an interior voyage to sing about the origin of the universe, its evolution, and the scientific knowledge that illuminates it.
A tiny epic …
… The Enduring Grace of the Trivial: On “The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice” - Los Angeles Review of Books.
It takes real poetic skill to parody a master so subtly that the result becomes mistaken for the poetry of the master himself at play. And now, in A. E. Stallings translation of the Batrachomyomachia, we have what seems a comparably ambitious and convincing re-creation of that ancient recreation.
Something to think on …
It took me a long time to understand that God is not the enemy of my enemies. God is not even the enemy of God's enemies.
— Martin Niemöller, who died on this date in 1984
Thursday, March 05, 2020
James Cain
It's not often that a novella or short story packs the emotional punch of a complete novel, but in the case of The Postman Always Rings Twice, James Cain has done just that. Postman is an exceptional work.
To begin, Cain gets the language of his characters just right: their dialogue is realistic, their diction accurate. He doesn't reach for too much, and he certainly doesn't intrude with unnecessary narration. Dialogue carries Postman: all the other scaffolding fades away.
But of course when Cain does interject -- when he describes place or time -- he achieves a superb balance: there's nothing extraneous here, there's nothing which diverts from the noir.
And this applies, I think, to the plot as well: Cain's constructed the perfect crime, and the perfect set of circumstances to frustrate it. Every turn has its opposite, every decision its counterpoint. Cain's characters, of course, cannot anticipate these, but they are revealed, it's a wonder they could have been missed.
There's something transcendent in Postman. This is how a novella should be: a self-contained universe, a glimpse into a world. Cain did not cast a wide net, and the result is a story, strangely, with universal appeal. In Cain's precision are themes which stretch across populations and geographies. This is a great work of literature. This is how stories should be told.
An exhilarating book about graveyards …
… Nigeness: Silent Mansions. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The author, as attentive to the wildlife around her as to the human life and death, celebrates the graveyard’s modern function as a nature reserve, though she has some qualms about the current fashion of ‘natural’ burial, especially when no marker is involved. Burial grounds of this kind no longer serve as ‘repositories of individual stories, places of random discovery. You wouldn’t come to them to study the past; here the past is consigned to the earth, and the earth is allowed to forget.’ If this is to be the future of burial, we should cherish our older graveyards all the more, as precious spaces where the living and the dead can silently commune.
This should be read by everybody …
… HERETICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND SOCIETY | Edge.org.
As a scientist I do not have much faith in predictions. Science is organized unpredictability. The best scientists like to arrange things in an experiment to be as unpredictable as possible, and then they do the experiment to see what will happen. You might say that if something is predictable then it is not science. When I make predictions, I am not speaking as a scientist. I am speaking as a story-teller, and my predictions are science-fiction rather than science. The predictions of science-fiction writers are notoriously inaccurate. Their purpose is to imagine what might happen rather than to describe what will happen. I will be telling stories that challenge the prevailing dogmas of today. The prevailing dogmas may be right, but they still need to be challenged. I am proud to be a heretic. The world always needs heretics to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies. Since I am heretic, I am accustomed to being in the minority. If I could persuade everyone to agree with me, I would not be a heretic.I linked to this in an earlier, but it seems so important that I wanted to single it out for attention.
Q&A …
… A Conversation with Poet David Ferry on the Occasion of His 96th Birthday | Literary Hub. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Stevens, along with Frost, were my two biggest experiences, experiences for my listening ear at Amherst. I wrote my senior thesis about Stevens and I was elated about having done so. I wrote him a letter asking him about Whitman, even though I knew the answer, because I knew his lines about him. He wrote back and said something like, “Walt Whitman was the only writer back then whose writing wasn’t a book.” That is, he was what Stevens called “the latest freed man.” I wish I had the letter, but I lost it. I keep hearing all those lines of his that are entranced and entrancing: “Keep you, keep you, I am gone, O keep you as / My memory, is the mother of us all.”
May he rest in peace …
… Freeman Dyson: Humanist & Climate-Change Heretic | National Review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… HERETICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND SOCIETY.
“My first heresy says that all the fuss about global warming is grossly exaggerated. Here I am opposing the holy brotherhood of climate model experts and the crowd of deluded citizens who believe the numbers predicted by the computer models.” He went on, saying that the climate models “do not begin to describe the real world that we live in. The real world is muddy and messy and full of things that we do not yet understand.”Here is that Edge essay:
… HERETICAL THOUGHTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND SOCIETY.
As a scientist I do not have much faith in predictions. Science is organized unpredictability. The best scientists like to arrange things in an experiment to be as unpredictable as possible, and then they do the experiment to see what will happen. You might say that if something is predictable then it is not science. When I make predictions, I am not speaking as a scientist. I am speaking as a story-teller, and my predictions are science-fiction rather than science. The predictions of science-fiction writers are notoriously inaccurate. Their purpose is to imagine what might happen rather than to describe what will happen. I will be telling stories that challenge the prevailing dogmas of today. The prevailing dogmas may be right, but they still need to be challenged. I am proud to be a heretic. The world always needs heretics to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies. Since I am heretic, I am accustomed to being in the minority. If I could persuade everyone to agree with me, I would not be a heretic.Of course, if you place your faith in what you read in the MSM, you probably think you know better. Please tell us of your scientific accomplishments.
Something to think on …
Meditating on the nature and dignity of prayer can cause saying at least one thing to God: Lord, teach us to pray!
— Karl Rahner, born on this date in 1904
Wednesday, March 04, 2020
Complicated fellow …
… Beyond Eastrod : Hemingway (and yours truly) at the breaking point.
Sad that Tim may stop blogging, but personal matters can certainly trump blogging, as I have myself recently found.
Something to think on …
How much savage coarseness is concealed in refined, cultivated manners.
— Nikolai Gogol, who died on this date in 1852
Blogging note …
Debbie and I are at the hospital, but her procedure has been postponed. So we will be heading out to get some breakfast. Blogging will resume when we get home.
Tuesday, March 03, 2020
Cri de coeur
… Secret Histories – Indicative Mood. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I can assure Katie, who used to write a column for me when was the Inquirer's book editor, that she has no grounds for doubting herself or her talent.
To get to the bookshop Joe and I made the long, pleasant walk through our neighborhood to the one next to ours. Up hills and through the honest-to-goodness woods of the Wissahickon, a forest within the city of Philadelphia. Over a bridge on busy Henry Avenue that’s over 170 feet high, where you can stand and look at those woods below, bend over a bit and rest the side of your face on the stone barrier because it’s not high at all, which makes the bridge dangerous, tantalizing.This is not far from where I used to live in Germantown, though it is the nearby Walnust Lane Bridge that has racked up the suicides.
I can assure Katie, who used to write a column for me when was the Inquirer's book editor, that she has no grounds for doubting herself or her talent.
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