The Fred Rogers Memorial Koan
What song does the blackbird sing in the dead of night?
For the answer, see this touching tribute to Mister Rogers.
See also my Feb. 26, 2003, entry, "Blackbirds, Bye-Bye," and the Feb.
2…
Blackbirds, Bye-Bye On this date in 1986,
Robert Penn Warren was appointed the first Poet Laureate of the United
States of America.
Two readings:
The Rainbow Bird, by C. K. Latham
(linked as "Into the Dark Woods" …
He Ain't Heavy
Songwriter Tom Glazer, 88, died Friday, February 21, 2003. From his New
York Times obituary:
"Tom Glazer occasionally speculated about meeting St. Peter at the
Pearly Gates and being asked what he accom…
The Eight Revisited
"...search for thirty-three and three..." -- The Black Queen in The
Eight, by Katherine Neville, Ballantine Books, January 1989, page 140
Samuel Beckett on Dante and Joyce: "Another point of co…
For Mark Rothko
Plagued in life by depression -- what Styron, quoting Milton, called
"darkness visible" -- Rothko took his own life on this date in 1970. As
a sequel to the previous note, "Song of Not-Self," here are t…
Song of Not-Self
A critic on the abstract expressionists:
"...they painted that reality -- that song of self -- with a passion,
bravura, and decisiveness unequaled in modern art."
Painter Mark Rothko:
"I don't ex…
Dustin in Wonderland
A review of last night's Grammy awards:
"...the overall mood was a bit subdued (was deadpan host Dustin Hoffman
reprising his "Rain Man" role?)...." Actually, no, it was Sam
Peckinpah's "Straw Do…
Moulins Rouges
Today is the birthday of composer Michel Legrand ("The Windmills of
Your Mind") and of philologist Wilhelm Grimm (Grimms' Fairy Tales).
RedWindmill RedMill Rode Molen
See the foll…
Grammy Night
Today's musical birthday: bassist Steven Priest of Sweet. Today's
back-to-the-future trip: See the article "Sweet Tunes...." on Chuck
Berry at the top of today's New York Times website.
"Her wallet's f…
Straw Dogs See alsoQuotations forChairman
George
Shabbos Kodesh
Sabbath readings, music, video, etc.:
ThePhoenix.com club listing for The Station, West Warwick, Rhode
Island, night of February 21-22, 2003: "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Awake,
Gov't Cheese"
Sabbath …
ART WARS:All About Lilith
Today's birthdays:
Sam Peckinpah (Feb. 21, 1925)The New Yorker Magazine (Feb. 21,
1925)Alan Rickman, 57Kelsey Grammer, 48Mary Chapin Carpenter,
45Jennifer Love Hewitt, 24Charlo…
Winteler's Tale
According to Dennis Overbye:
Einstein's parents "sent him off to a prep school [in Aarau,
Switzerland, near Zurich] for a year, for a season [1895-1896]. He
lived with a family, the Wintelers, a big, …
Fat Man and Dancing Girl
Dance ofShiva and Kali Paul Newman asGeneral Groves
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, portrayed in the film "Fat Man and
Little Boy," died on this date in 1967.
He is sometime…
Midnight Flame
Fever isn't such a new thing;Fever started long ago.
— Miss Peggy Lee
And most of the show is concealed from view.
— Suzanne Vega, "Fat Man and Dancing Girl," 99.9° F. album See the
entries of Jan. 5…
Saint Faggot's Day
"During the European Inquisitions, faggot referred to the sticks used
to set fires for burning heretics, or people who opposed the teachings
of the Catholic Church. Heretics were required to gather bu…
Center of Time
Am I....
your fantasy girlof puzzling parts?
Machine ballerina?
— Suzanne Vega
Fermata
From the Saint Matthew Passion (1729), by Johann Sebastian Bach
"The old man of 'Sailing to Byzanti…
Ideal of Hell:The Burning of Columbia
On February 17, 1865, United States troops entered Columbia, SC.
"By midnight the whole town (except the outskirts) was wrapped in one
huge blaze.... My God! what a scene! .... Suc…
The Recruit, Part Deux
Walter L. Pforzheimer, one of the founding fathers of the Central
Intelligence Agency, and its "institutional memory," died on Monday,
February 10, 2003.
From my notes of February 10, 2003:
"...…
The Recruit
From an obituary of Walt W. Rostow, advisor to presidents and Vietnam
hardliner:
"During World War II, he served in the Office of Strategic Services,
the predecessor agency to the Central Intelligence Agen…
Movie Date
For John and Klara von Neumann,because they gave good parties: "We
gotta hurry or it's gonna be dark'fore we get home!" Home Before Dark
A song by Judy Collins:
I won't be longDon't worry about me I'l…
Toy Soldiers
From a website biography of John von Neumann:
It is noteworthy that he was uninhibited by ethical considerations in
weaponry. I was surprised, therefore, when he died a Roman Catholic. To
be sure, his firs…
Matrix Theory
"At the heart of The Matrix, buried under layers of cinema craft, is a
meditation on the difference between essence and appearance. It's a
trip into Plato's cave."
— McKenzie Wark, author of A Hacker Mani…
From Plato's Cave(Von Neumann's Song, Part
III)
In this entry we return to the classic words of the Hollywood Argyles
as they sing a paean of praise to St. John von Neumann:
He's the king of the jungle jive.Look at t…
Diamond Life(Von Neumann's Song, Part II)
A reader of yesterday's entry "St. John von Neumann's Song" suggested
the relevance of little Dougie Hofstadter's book Gödel, Escher,
Bach:
An Eternal Golden Braid. While the t…
St. John von Neumann's Song
The mathematician John von Neumann, a heavy drinker and party animal,
advocated a nuclear first strike on Moscow.* Confined to a wheelchair
before his death, he was, some say, the inspiratio…
Singing-Masters
Come from the holy fire, perne in a gyre,And be the singing-masters of
my soul.— William Butler Yeats
Durante
Shari Lewis
One wonders whether Yeats will spend at least some small part …
Rainbow's End
For Ernst Kitzinger, professor of Byzantine art at Harvard, who died at
90 on January 22, 2003. In "Sailing to Byzantium," the poet W. B. Yeats
wrote of Ireland, That is no country for old men........C…
Messe
Yesterday's entry, "Requiem for a Queen," suggested a certain
resemblance between the Jedburgh death mask of Mary Queen of Scots and
the face of actress Vivien Leigh. The following links are related to
this res…
Requiem for a Queen
On February 8, 1587, Mary Queen of Scots was executed.
Jedburgh Death Mask
"En ma Fin gît mon Commencement..." "In my End is my
Beginning..." "This is the saying which Mary embroidered on her c…
Saint's Day
Today is the birthday of Thomas More, an alleged Catholic saint, and
the date of death of Dale Evans, Protestant saint.
As yesterday's note implies, we should not look to saints, or indeed to
religion gener…
Happy Waitangi Day
Today is Waitangi Day in New Zealand; 2:00 AM EST Feb. 6 in the USA is
8:00 PM Feb. 6 in New Zealand.
Today is also the birthday of Gigi Perreau, star of "Journey to the
Center of Time," which at lea…
Release Date
From Dr. Mac's Cultural Calendar —
Novelist William S. Burroughs [of the Burroughs adding machine family],
author of Naked Lunch, was born on this day in 1914. The Charlie
Chaplin film "Modern Times" w…
Feast of Saint Marianne
On this date in 1972, poet and Presbyterian saint Marianne Moore died
in New York City.
For why she was a saint, see the excellent article by Samuel Terrien,
"Marianne Moore: Poet of Secular H…
Mark Hopkins Award
From Dr. Mac's Cultural Calendar:
"Mark Hopkins, U.S. educator, was born on this day in 1802. He taught
at Williams College.... President Garfield, one of his students, said
that all that was nee…
Good News and Bad News
If all time is eternally presentAll time is unredeemable.
— T. S. Eliot, beginning of Four Quartets
Groundhog Dayis over.
Today is American Pie Day.
And there we were a…
Steering a Space-Plane
Head White House speechwriter Michael Gerson:
"In the last two weeks, I've been returning to Hopkins. Even in the
'world's wildfire,' he asserts that 'this Jack, joke, poor potsherd,
patch, matc…
Time and Eternity Kali figure
Shiva figure Windmill
Victory
Yesterday's meditation on St. Bridget suggests the above graphic
summary of two rather important philosophical concepts. Representing
Ka…