Saturday, February 9, 2013

Three SF films

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Warning:  I will discuss endings and significant plot elements.     These are three films that I have just recently viewed.  As you can se...
2 comments:
Saturday, January 5, 2013

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LXIX

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This is another quatrain that concerns itself with the grape, but in this one he wonders if perhaps he's made a mistake. First Editio...
6 comments:
Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Langston Hughes: Does it matter?

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New Year The years Fall like dry leaves From the top-less tree Of eternity. Does it matter That another leaf has fallen? -- Langsto...
Thursday, December 27, 2012

Loren Eiseley: Darwin's Century

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Actually, the full title of this book by Loren Eiseley is Darwin's Century:  Evolution and the Men Who Discovered It.  The most signific...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Thomas Hardy: Two Christmas poems

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Two Christmas poems by Hardy-- or rather I should say two very different Christmas poems by Hardy.  In spite of his reputation for gloom and...
4 comments:
Saturday, December 22, 2012

Emily Dickinson: "Slant of light"

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#258 There's a certain Slant of light, Winter Afternoons-- That oppresses, like the Heft Of Cathedral Tunes-- Heavenly Hurt, it g...
2 comments:
Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LXVIII

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This is the second of three linked quatrains that are related by his prophecy of his death and its aftermath.  The previous quatrain told of...
Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Robert Grudin: boredom's fast time and slow time

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II.23 "Our sense of the slowness or speediness of time often depends on the size of the time-frame we happen to be considering.   It...
Friday, December 14, 2012

Lin Yutang: Spirit and Flesh, concl.

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"A defense of the angels-without-bodies theory will be found to be most vague and unsatisfying.  Such a defender might say, 'Ah, ye...
Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Lin Yutang: Spirit and Flesh, Pt. 1

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III.   Spirit and Flesh "The most obvious fact which philosophers refuse to see is that we have a body.  Tired of seeing our mortal ...
4 comments:
Friday, December 7, 2012

Nietzsche: on prohibitions

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#48 "Prohibitions without reasons: A prohibition, the reason for which we do not understand or admit, is almost a command not only fo...
Monday, December 3, 2012

Loren Eiseley: Some short poems and a haiku by Roka

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Footnote to Autumn Old boulders in the autumn sun and wind, Settling a little, leaning toward the light As if to store its summer--these...
Thursday, November 29, 2012

Kenko: "In all things I yearn for the past"

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#22 "In all things I yearn for the past.  Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased.  I find that even among the ...
Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LXVII

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Having finished a linked series of quatrains focusing on the relationship between the Potter/Creator and the pots/creatures, we now move to ...
Saturday, November 24, 2012

Eric Hoffer: the central task of education

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#32 "The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people....
4 comments:
Monday, November 19, 2012

Carl Sandburg: Phizzog

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Carl Sandburg in one of his lighter moments--or perhaps rueful might be more appropriate? Phizzog This face you got, This here phizzo...
2 comments:
Friday, November 16, 2012

Prometheus: a prequel or a remake or both?

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When I settled down with the DVD of Prometheus , I didn't know what to expect.  I had heard or read a few vague comments that suggested ...
4 comments:
Monday, November 12, 2012

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain LXVI

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This is the last in a series of  linked quatrains that focus on the Creator/Potter relationship with comments by the pots or vessels express...

Simon J. Ortiz: Small Things Today

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Small Things Today  at my Hesperus Camp   Had a tortilla with some honey at midafternoon.  It was good. Wished I had some chili. Sm...
2 comments:
Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Eric Hoffer: desires and self-esteem

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# 5 "It is strange how the moment we have reason to be dissatisfied with ourselves we are set upon by a pack of insistent clamorous d...