Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
loose change
someone gave me this old coin in my change
i suppose it might signify a time when the germans were still hungry long after the war had ended
the late tom smallridge told me how british servicemen occupying germany had to guard coal-trains in the depths of a terrible winter
the locals would send their children to unbolt the wagons' sides if the trains stopped near their homes
knowing this might happen, the soldiers were given orders to shoot them on sight, but never did as far he knew ... tom said those who gave the orders "were typical of their class"
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
don't miss your chance ...
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
editorial skullduggery in the TLS
For those half-educated truck drivers who enjoy a good read but whose delicate sensibilities are sometimes easily offended ... there is an extremely readable and illuminating essay by A. S. Byatt in the Times Literary Supplement dated November 30, 2007
The header to the article on page 16 reads, "Novel thoughts ... A way out of narcissism ?"
She lays out some careful and very interesting arguments about the evolving scope of the novel and it's subject matter.
But the flyer on the cover simply reads "No more sex in novels, please" , which was unfair to both the author and this reader, I think.
My advice is to ignore the flyer and enjoy the writer.
And then, in the same issue, if you have all day, Gabriel Josipovici's extended gallop around the subject of Modernism is also very useful. This time he looks at many kinds of writing, partly through the prism of Kierkegaard's ideas about existence.
I don't have the time or the talent to go to university and study all those books, so i'm grateful for these informative "tutorials" because they offer stimulus and perspective, navigational beacons in the jungle of ideas ... for those who must creep along the forest floor rather than go swinging through the treetops.
Paula's House of Toast
One of my favourite blogs is called Paula's House Of Toast ... I approach her blog reverentially, she's a wonderful photographer and seems to have a heart of jewelled gold, so i never ever thought I'd even slightly disagree with her about anything until today.
Her blog, titled Kindertotenlied, begins ...
"The Feast of the Holy Innocents reminds us that there is a physics of Good and Evil. In nature, every action has its equal and opposite reaction. The moral calculus may not be exactly the same, but the vectors are identical."
Well yes, sort of. In mechanics, it is useful to think of actions and re-actions. But our Universe isn't simply mechanical and so those naughty physicists have long since introduced the difficult concept of entropy to alarm and confuse us. No, I can't explain entropy easily ... so you'll have to go away and do some work on the subject ... if only out of respect for Paula.
My point, ( Ok, you can't really make clear points whilst foundering in my "fuzzy kind of logic" ) ... where Paula & I might differ, perhaps ... is that I sense that if we did exist in a "moral universe", (and I'm not at all religious), then we'd all be happily dedicated to resisting "moral entropy" ... analytical sociologists want to quantify human conduct but know that individuals can't and don't simply act as vectors, it's only a tendency not a rule ... I really do love the way that our planet's "evolution" seems to be achieving it's complexities as if in opposition to entropy ... but at this point my weary argument drifts off for breakfast ...
Later ...
on reflection, our perspectives don't diverge that much ...
on reflection, they seem almost convergent ...
I'd better take another pill and lie down now. See you later.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
one hundred and twenty years ago ... Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa drew this lyrical portrait of Vincent van Gogh
Vincent was born in 1853, so he would have been aged about 34.
Henri was born in 1864, so must have been only about 23.
We sometimes hear that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but I don't think Henri flattered Vincent here, instead i think he brilliantly captured Vincent's delicate agitation, and it is almost as if he used Vincent's palette to do the job ... so I think this pastel is one of the greatest compliments that one great colourist can ever have paid to another.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
if you think education is expensive, then try ignorance ...
the loved one and i were talking about paris, which i hardly know ... and i remembered how i once told some jazz-loving friends that i'd been lost one night many years ago, on my first visit to the city, in the seemingly endless curved corridors of the meridien hotel in the north of paris
i was on the wrong floor & instead of finding a lift, took a wrong turn to a balcony looking down in to an atrium where, far below me, an excellent jazz trio were playing to a very well-dressed ( glittering, indeed ) audience ... in a style very like that of oscar peterson ... but i was extremely tired and only watched a couple of numbers before resuming the search for my room
my very sweet & good-natured friends reacted to this remark with stony-faced contempt ...
"you fool, tristan ! that WAS oscar peterson"
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Friday, December 21, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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