To Sir Anthony Hopkinson His Birthday
From "The Wardrobe Wars," by Paul Willis:
"I was back at Wheaton for a conference just a couple of years ago.
During a period of announcements, a curator from the Wade Collection i…
To Aster, from Plato
Asteras eisathreis, Aster emos. Eithe genoimen ouranos, 'os pollois
ommasin eis se blepo.
You gaze at stars, my Star. Would that I were born the starry sky, that
I with many eyes might gaze at you.…
Three in One
This evening's earlier entry, "Homer," is meant in part as a tribute
to three goddess-figures from the world of film. But there
is one actress who combines the intelligence of Judy
Davis with the glamou…
Homer
"No matter how it's done, you won't like it."-- Robert Redford to
Robert M. Pirsig in Lila
"The evening before Harriet injures Roy, she asks him, in a restaurant
car, whether he has read Homer."-- Oxford website …
Solace from Hell's Kitchen
State of Grace
The Sting
This midnight's site music is "Solace: A Mexican Serenade," part of
which was used in the film "The Sting." George Roy Hill, the film's
director, died …
On This Date Kylie
In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel died.
Our site music for todayis Ravel's classic, "Bolero."
For "Bolero" purposes, some may prefer Kylie Minogue's rendition of
"Locomotion."
Zen me…
Another Opening of Another Show
"To die will be an awfully big adventure."— Peter Pan
in "An AwfullyBig Adventure"
On this date in 1904, "Peter Pan" opened to great applause at the Duke
of York's theatre i…
Least Popular Christmas Present Derrida From
the University of Chicago Press, Religion and Postmodernism Series: The
Gift of Death, by Jacques Derrida
Russell Berrie, toy maker, dies on Chr…
Saint Hoagy's Day
Today is the feast day of St. Hoagy Carmichael, who was born on the
feast day of Cecelia, patron saint of music. This midnight's site music
is "Stardust," by Carmichael (lyrics by Mitchell Parish). See…
Holly for Miss Quinn
Tonight's site music is for Stephen Dedalus and Miss Quinn, courtesy of
Eithne Ní Bhraonáin.
Miss Quinn
Holly
Eithne
State of Morelos
"Heaven is a state, a sort of metaphysical state."
— John O'Hara, Hope of Heaven, 1938
In memory of soldier-priest José Morelos, producer Darryl Zanuck
("Viva Zapata!"), and actress Helene Stanley ("H…
Hexagram 22: Grace Grace Line 4:
White HorseWingsAs if
A white horse comes as if on wings.
See also Plato, Pegasus, and the Evening Star.
For the Green Lady of Perelandra,from the
City of Angels
"The oral history of Los Angeles is written in piano bars." — Joan
Didion in Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Tonight's midnight music in the garden of good and evil …
To Ophelia at the Winter Solstice
Introduction
"There is one story and one story onlyThat will prove worth your
telling...
... is it of the Virgin's silver beauty,All fish below the thighs?She
in her left hand bears a…
Nightmare Alley
Tonight's site music in the garden of good and evil is "Hooray for
Hollywood," with lyrics by Johnny Mercer:
Hooray for Hollywood. You may be homely in your neighborhood,But if you
think you can be an…
Irish Lament
In keeping with Irish themes in the Mark Helprin novel Winter's Tale
(see yesterday's entry with that title) and in the new Martin Scorsese
film "Gangs of New York," as well as in observance of Maud Gonne's…
Winter's Tale
The title is that of a novel by Mark Helprin.
On this date in 1903, the Williamsburg Bridge between Brooklyn and
Manhattan was opened to traffic. From the opening of Helprin's 1983
novel:
"The horse...…
ART WARS:
Bach at Heaven's Gate
From a weblog entry of Friday, December 13, 2002:
Divine Comedy
Joan Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne(author of The Studio and
Monster) wrote the screenplays for t…
Plain Hunt Maximus
This midnight's site music is in honor of Sinatra's first recording
session for Reprise on December 19, 1960 (which included
"Ring-a-Ding-Ding").
See also The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy Sayers, and thi…
ART WARS: Birthdate of Paul Klee To
accompany today's site music, "Nica's Dream" —Klee's "Notte egiziana":
For the Dark Lady
On this midnight in the garden of good and evil, our new site music is
"Nica's Dream."
From a website on composer Horace Silver:
"Horace Silver apparently composed Nica's Dream (1956) for Baroness Pa…
Not Amusing Anymore
I need a photo-opportunity I want a shot at redemption Don't want to
end up a cartoon In a cartoon graveyard — Paul Simon
From The New York Times, Dec. 16, 2002
(See yesterday's notes) —
J…
Rebecca Goldstein at Heaven's Gate
This entry is in gratitude for Rebecca Goldstein's excellent essay in
The New York Times of December 16, 2002.
She talks about the perennial conflict between two theories of truth
tha…
Beethoven's Birthday
"Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 132, is one of
the transcendent masterworks of the Western classical tradition. It is
built around its luminous third movement, titled 'Holy s…
Back to Bach
Our site music now moves from the romantic longing of "Skylark" to a
classical theme: what might be called "the spirit of eight," by Bach:
Canon 14
Fourteen Canons on the First Eight Notes of the Goldb…
ART WARS:Shall we read? — The sequel
Two stories related to my recent entries on the death of Stan Rice
(Sequel, 12/11/02) and the career of Jodie Foster (Rhyme Scheme,
12/13/02) — From BBC News World Edi…
Rhyme Scheme
"The introduction of Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) has dramatically
changed the methods astronomers use to view objects." — Santa Barbara
Instrument Group, Inc.
"They should have sent a poet." — Jodie Fo…
Dead Poets Society
Man's spirit will be flesh-bound, when found at best, But
úncúmberèd:
meadow-dówn is nót distréssed For a ráinbow
fóoting it nor hé for his
bónes rísen. — The Caged Skylark,Gerard Manley Hopkins…
Play It
From a Kol Nidre sermon:
"...in every generation 36 righteous greet the Shechinah, the Divine
Presence..." A scene at the Sands in Las Vegas,from Play It As It Lays,
by Joan Didion:
"What do you th…
Sequel
ART WARS
Stan Rice, Poet and Painter, Is Dead at 60...New York Times Wed Dec 11
06:27:00 EST 2002 "This world is not conclusion;A sequel stands
beyond...."
— Emily Dickinson (See yesterday's notes…
Culture Clash at Midnightin the Garden of
Good and Evil
From the Catholic Church:John V. ApczynskiDept. of TheologySt.
Bonaventure U. From Paris, Texas:Sam Shepard, playwright,actor, and
author of Great …
Point of No Return
From Dr. Mac's Cultural Calendar for December 10: On this day in 1864,
General William T. Sherman’s Union army reached Savannah and the 12-day
siege began. Sherman was able to present the city to…
Great Dream of Heaven
The title is that of Sam Shepard's new book of short stories. It is
relevant to several of my recent journal entries.
This author's own title also seems relevant. Here is an excerpt from a
web p…
Three Coins in the Fountain
Mars
Victory
Sol Invictus
The reverse of three bronze coins minted during Constantine’s early
years
"Constantine like many of his predecessors had worshipped the Greek…
ART WARS: A Metaphysical State
Diane Keaton
Frank Sinatra
"Heaven is a state, a sort of metaphysical state." — John O'Hara, Hope
of Heaven, 1938
"I've always been enthralled by the notion that Time…
Lucero From a Spanish-English dictionary:
lucero m. morning or evening star: any bright star.... 2. hole in a
window panel for the admission of light.... Sal a tu ventana,que mi
canto es para ti....Luce…
This space reserved for a glass slipper.
ART WARS:
Shall we read?
From Contact, by Carl Sagan: "You mean you could decode a picture
hiding in pi and it would be a mess of Hebrew letters?" "Sure. Big
black letters, carved in stone." He looked at her quiz…
Satori at Pearl Harbor
The following old weblog entry seems relevant both to the Zen concept
of satori, or "awakening," and to Pearl Harbor Day. Saturday, October
5, 2002... 11:30 PM
The Message from Vega
…
Great Simplicity
Frank Tall Iaido Daisetsu Today
is the day that Daisetsu Suzuki attained satori, according to the Zen
Calendar. "Daisetsu" is said to mean "Great Simplicity."
For …
St. Nicholas versus Mt. Doom
Today is the feast day of St. Nicholas, who is thought to have died on
December 6.
For some meditations on time, click here. For a perhaps more pleasant
meditation — on eternity — listen …
For Otto Preminger's birthday:
Lichtung!
Today's symbol-mongering (see my Sept. 7, 2002, note The Boys from
Uruguay) involves two illustrations from the website of the Deutsche
Schule Montevideo, in Uruguay. The first…
Key
Today is Joan Didion's birthday. It is also the date that the first Phi
Beta Kappa chapter was formed, at the College of William and Mary.
A reading for today, from a web page called Respect:
"In her book Slouchi…
Sacerdotal Jargon
From the website Abstracts and Preprints in Clifford Algebra [1996, Oct
8]:
Paper: clf-alg/good9601From: David M. GoodmansonAddress: 2725 68th
Avenue S.E., Mercer Island, Washington 98040Title: …
Symmetry and a Trinity
From a web page titled Spectra: "What we learn from our whole
discussion and what has indeed become a guiding principle in modern
mathematics is this lesson: Whenever you have to do with a str…
From the Erlangen Program to Category Theory
See the following, apparently all by Jean-Pierre Marquis,
Département de Philosophie, Université de
Montréal:
Introduction Chapter 1: Klein's Erlangen program Chapter …
Symmetry, Invariance, and Objectivity
The book Invariances: The Structure of the Objective World, by Harvard
philosopher Robert Nozick, was reviewed in the New York Review of Books
issue dated June 27, 2002.
On page 76…
Art isn't Easy
In honor of Georges Seurat, whose birthday is today, this site's music
is now "Putting It Together," by Stephen Sondheim.
For a relevant quote by Sondheim and some related material, see The
Diamond 1…
Milestones in Catholic History
From Dr. Mac's Cultural Calendar:
On this day in 1929, Bingo was invented by Edwin S. Lowe. The wording
of this masterpiece of ecclesiastical history, apparently written by a
Protestan…