Wednesday, November 23. 2005
The Sporting Chef Most of the guys I know do the game cooking in their houses. It's not only part of the ritual of hunting and fishing, but it's a way to treat the wild creatures with special respect. Here's a site for the hunters: check the recipes.
Tuesday, November 22. 2005
More Christmas Ideas: Books, etc. Frank McCourt's new book, Teacher Man. Review in CSM Christian scholarship: First Things Magazine
Monday, November 21. 2005
Prada, Firenze, last week. Guess who was outside, practicing taking night shots, and who was inside? (bought nothing, though) 
Yet another book to mention Must be getting close to Christmas. By John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: City of Falling Angels. From the interesting Amazon review: "I was not terribly surprised when he (the author) later told me, "Venetians never tell the truth. We mean precisely the opposite of what we say."
 Visiting NYC this season?
It seems as if a lot of bloggers have been visiting NYC lately. Good. New York does Christmastime well. Maggie's has been very clear that we enormously appreciate the Renaissance of NYC as it has occurred under the hands of Rudy Guiliani and Michael Bloomberg. We posted some NYC travel tips last April, and we have recently noted the Fra Angelico show at the Met. Another tip - Jersey Boys, on Broadway. The story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Fine music - better than The Four Seasons ever were, I am told. Don't forget to consider Fraunce's Tavern (since 1762) for dinner, way downtown, where Washington delivered his farewell address to his troops back when mid-town NYC was farms and woods. Consider Peter Luger Steak House (since 1887) too. Remember - dining in NYC means reservations. Image of Fraunce's Tavern.
Charity Season Send a Cow. One Maggie's favorite charities. Check it out.
Sunday, November 20. 2005
The moon over San Miniato's bell tower, one hard week ago. Remarkable Michelangelo, wearing his military engineer hat, ordered cannon emplaced up in that tower during the Siege of Florence. A famous graffito during that ten-month siege in 1529: "Poor but free." The armies of the Pope and his Spanish and French allies finally prevailed, marking the end of the free Republic of Florence and the installation of the Medici as autocratic rulers of Tuscany. Enjoy odd facts? Michelangelo died the year both Galileo and Shakespeare were born: 1564. The ancient seeds of the memory of Greek political freedom were germinating, back then. The pursuit of freedom, self-reliance, and dignity is an endless battle for mankind, is it not, against those who seek power and authority over us, and "responsibility" for us? Like we are weak, or children. Give me God's, or even nature's fate - not man's. I will deal with those. Like those Florentines, I do not trust human power, because it is always the wrong sorts of folks who seek it: people who want to be too big for their boots. Bush, however well-intentioned, and all the rest included. While the regular people just want to live life in God's amazing and scary world, or to figger out how to. But che bella vita, and to Hell with all of the power-seekers. Which circle? Dante knew. That's all I have to say, today, on a holy Sabbath. For those who had trouble posting to Friday's San Miniato post, try here. 
Saturday, November 19. 2005
San Dominico Fra Angelico (1387-1455), the early Renaissance painter, was a Dominican brother in the San Dominico monastery in the hamlet of San Domenico, on the #7 bus route between Firenze and Fiesole, where a Bird Dog daughter is dwelling at present. This is an alterpiece of his, still there performing its holy function, and not hanging under bright lights in an art cemetery. Dominicans - Domine canis - The Dogs of God, charged with rounding up the lost sheep. By coincidence (thanks Alert Reader - man, do we have good readers), Fra Angelico has a big show at the Met in NY right now. 
Friday, November 18. 2005
Help Desk: Technical Support Don't know where this came from: Dear Tech Support: Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition , Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, Beer and TV 3.0, and the now-antique but still functional Stay out Late and Get Drunk and Stupid with Pals and Then Drive Home Drunk 1.0. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but my uninstall doesn't seem to work on Wife 1.0. Please help. Thanks, Troubled User
Reply: Dear Troubled User: This is a very common problem that men complain about.
Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is
just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed to monitor everything. It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.
You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not
allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child
Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the
situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.
The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.
Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean, Dust and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5, Do Me Once a Month Maybe 3.2, Constructive Criticism 4.o, and Do Bills 4.2 .
However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !
WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Dumb Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.
Best of luck,
Your Friendly Helpdesk
The rear wall, behind the altar, of San Miniato, the Benedictine chapel which we posted yesterday. Note the painted timbers of the roof beams - my flash couldn't quite reach that high. How come only Catholics get to have this kind of stuff? (I know, I know.) 
The books some celebs, etc. loved most in college. In Slate.
Thursday, November 17. 2005
The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte One of the oldest buildings in Florence, construction of San Miniato was begun in 1013. It is now the chapel of an Olivetan Benedictine monastery. I was fortunate to hear the monks do Vespers in the crypt, in Gregorian chant, last Friday night. Michelangelo integrated the chapel in his rapidly-designed battlements in the 1500s, as he did with that entire part of Florence. Like DaVinci, a multi-talented fellow. Unlike the Duomo, the marble facade is old. Many consider San Miniato to be the finest Romanesque building it Italy. Did not know that Carlo Collodi was buried there. The hike from downtown Florence to the top of the hill is a good, scenic way to burn off lunch, and to get some looks at Michelangelo's defenses against the great siege on the Republic of Firenze by the Pope and the King of France, neither of whom liked the idea of an independent republic. Here's a nice timeline of those crazy 1500s. Has anything changed in Italian politics?
Two Books Two books that I have heard people mentioning lately: 1. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, by Bernstein 2. The R. Crumb Handbook, by R. Crumb
 Things brought home from Italy, Part 3
1. Don't judge a church by its cover. You could walk past San Lorenzo or Santo Spirito, (photo) for just two examples, with their original, undecorated mortar or stucco surfaces, and hardly give them a glance. Wrong, as Jim Cramer would say. Them oysters contain magnificent pearls. 2. Those Eyewitness Travel Guides, like this one, are absolutely the best. For depth, you need to read something else but they are handy-dandy, full of basic info and good ideas. (DK Publishing also produces the Eyewitness series for young people on a variety of subjects, which are hugely informative and enjoyable, with tons of great pictures and good detail. I've read every one in our house at least once: they are good for adults, too. To call them picture books does not do them justice.)
Wednesday, November 16. 2005
Some things brought home from Italy, Part 2 1. Savonarola was an interesting dude. Worth a piece when I get the chance, if only for my own education. One of the precursors of Luther, among many others, in retrospect: voices crying in the wilderness and vox clematis in deserto too. 2. Art Museums are Art Cemeteries. 3. Botticelli's 1489 Annunciation is the most compelling painting I have ever seen - and I've seen my share of them. Even though it is in the Uffizi Art Cemetery. Will post it today. 4. Cosimo Vecchio's family line contained the "good Medicis". Cosimo l's line were the "bad Medicis". History made simple. 5. I am not fascinated by High Renaissance art and architecture.
Tuesday, November 15. 2005
Medieval Alley  Just one of
hundreds of these dark, narrow alleys in central Firenze. Most have colorful laundry hanging from windows, but this one unfortunately did not have much in the way of interesting laundry.
Some things brought home from Italy, Part 1 Hadn't been there in four years, and it is always a stimulating visit for us Yankees with our cold, northern European blood. 1. Art does not progress, or improve, or even evolve...it just changes, like fashion. 2. "Duomo" doesn't really translate as "dome" - it generally refers to the seat of the Bishop, as does cattedrale. Other large cities have their duomos. 3. The year a building was built means little: over hundreds of years, they are changed, so that any old building contains the accretions, remodelings and re-decoratings of history. Witness the "modern" facade of the endlessly-photographed Firenze Duomo, which I refuse to photograph: it's faux antique and over-done. 4. In 1400, Firenze was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world. Making fabric from English wool, leather, but especially banking. It was a seaport: the Arno was navigable up to Firenze until the "bad" Medicis dammed and blocked it for military purposes. 5. I need to find time to learn Italian.
Roberts on Business Responsibility An excerpt from Russell Roberts: "...She wanted to know if I thought the soft values should count, meaning, the virtue of keeping 100 families happy and intact or should you just go for the jugular and maximize profits. I gave her a few answers. One of them was one that I give in my book, The Invisible Heart. It's OK to be charitable with your own money. It's not so virtuous to be generous with other people's money. A publicly traded business should maximize profits and let shareholders be charitable with those returns if they so choose. I also gave the other answer I gave in the book—that there is no such thing as "enough" profit. The world is highly uncertain and sacrificing profits in the name of "soft values" may end up destroying the company and putting everyone out of work." Read entire at Cafe Hayek.
Heartwarming From AOL news: "He looked dirt poor," said his friend Jim McDermand. But the frugal old bachelor had an estate upward of $3 million when he died in 1997 at 88. And it turned out that the curmudgeon secretly had a benevolent side. The Great Falls farmer directed in his will that his money be used to buy up land and donate it to the state for use by hunters." Bless your heart, LeRoy.
The Quarter Million Dollar "Duh" Justin takes on Dr. Kass on the general subject of what women want, which Dr. Kass profoundly and perceptively concluded was a relationship with a man! What is really needed is an article by a woman on what men really want. Guess we can ask Dr. Bliss to do that one, but it won't be pretty.
The Baptistery of San Giovanni The ceiling of this 9th Century octagonal chapel, which stands as you know on the piazza in front of the wedding-cake-looking 19th Century facade of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Firenze's Duomo), is Byzantine in style. Those medieval Byzantine artistic conventions had staying power and remained influential through the early and mid-Renaissance and, to my mind, they remain powerful. (In his later years, even Botticelli returned to them, as I learned last week, due at least in part to the influence of the evangelical friar Girolamo Savonarola.) 
Monday, November 14. 2005
La Passegiata Every evening, the whole town comes out for la passegiata - the evening stroll - and puts on la bella figura, followed by a late supper. My theory is that the ladies lead the men down the shopping streets, where the shops remain open until 7 or 8. The main problem with the Italian economy, in my opinion, is not so much the lack of work ethic - although there is that minor issue - it's that everyone spends all of their money on cigarettes, wine, and fashion. How many shoes does a lady need? This photo in Firenze, this past Friday evening. Che bella vita.
Frankenstein Wines, Globalization, and the Wine "Industry": The War on Terroir California wine makers have learned to construct wines to meet popular tastes. Purists, for whom the idea of terroir is sacred, are fit to be tied. It's a great example of the effects of globalization. From Der Spiegel: For Löwenstein, there are real wines and there are Frankenstein wines, and it looks as though the Frankenstein camp is currently gaining ground. Löwenstein has old fashioned ideas, and he wants to return to the past. And he doesn't shy away from controversy.
And controversy is something he has had plenty of lately. Specifically, a controversy over what some -- especially those in North America -- call progress. It involves procedures like adding wood chips, tannin and water to the wine, breaking it down into its basic components with a machine called a spinning cone column, and then putting it back together as needed.
Read entire.
Go Dog, Go An automatic ball-thrower for the pooch. Sort of like a tennis ball machine. I disapprove, on principle, not on practicality. The thing is here.
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