We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
I consider the book to be equivalent to a college introduction to music. It is serious, but written in a friendly style.
I make a rough distinction between Folk music (including things like traditonal folk music from wherever, Country, Rock, Blues, Rap, Jazz, Hymns, Gospel, Broadway, etc), and music which demands more attention. Right or wrong, that's how I think but I love a lot of it.
There is a large grey zone between those rough categories. Copland's Appalchian Spring, for just one example. For another, Verdi's operas were what gondoliers and street-sweepers sung at work.
The only music that truly annoys me is Rap and Praise Music.
Hayek's socio-political classic The Road to Serfdom was one of the books that swayed me from youthful idealism to more mature realism. Human nature, really.
Same thing applies to tractors, lawn tractors, etc. I learned that idling does not recharge a battery. RMPs have to be at least over 1000. In other words, driving and the faster the better.
" In this highly acclaimed work of intellectual history, Andrew Delbanco argues that Americans, who once pictured their history as an epic struggle against the devil, have become indifferent to the reality of evil."
Between now and Labor Day weekend, I have tried to schedule to post a book each day while I am semi-vacationing. These are books that have made an impression on me and stuck with me, for whatever reason. All sorts of books.
For starters, Melville's Billy Budd.
Yes, his cosmic magnum opus Moby Dick is a grand and ever-interesting American tale (the Great American Novel, if there is one), but Billy Budd gets to the heart of human nature and civilization.
No, not to read each day. Sheesh. It's just a personal book list.
Boccaccio's Decameron (1352) was written partly as porn for women of the time, situated away from Florence in an idyllic, sybaritic setting away from the urban Black Death.
When women were commonly married off at 15 to older gents, naturally they sought romantic adventure and especially so when you might die any day from the plague.
This was a time when the clergy were not too holy, and not overly-respected except on Sundays.
Boccaccio worshipped Dante's works and was a pal of Petrarch. A canonical writer with whom it would have been fun to have some wine.
I've always been interested in the mysterious concept of ignition, but fire is of course of great fascination to humans. Controlled fire, of course, is what we prefer.
When I was fifteen years old I saw a movie called Hangover Square, another epiphany in my life. It was a moody, romantic, gothic thriller starring Laird Cregar, about a composer in London in 1900 who was ahead of his time. And whenever he heard a high note he went crazy and ran around murdering people. It had an absolutely brilliant score by Bernard Herrmann, centered around a one-movement piano concerto. I wanted to pay homage to him with this show, because I had realized that in order to scare people, which is what Sweeney Todd is about, the only way you can do it, considering that the horrors out on the street are so much greater than anything you can do on the stage, is to keep music going all the time. That’s the principle of suspense sequences in movies, and Bernard Herrmann was a master in that field. So Sweeney Todd not only has a lot of singing, it has a lot of underscoring. It’s infused with music to keep the audience in a state of tension, to make them forget they’re in a theater, and to prevent them from separating themselves from the action. I based a lot of the score on a specific chord that Herrmann uses in almost all his film work and spun it out from that. That and the “Dies Irae,” which is one of my favorite tunes and is full of menace.
They have big sales now. I just bought what I hope will not be my last Brooks blazer, but might be. Most useful wardrobe item ever, so I always have two.
Also bought a pair of their famous and classic tassel loafers. They will last me the rest of my life. They were once considered weekend shoes, but not anymore.
I've always been interested in the mysterious concept of ignition, but fire is of course of great fascination to humans. Controlled fire, of course, is what we prefer.
If nobody decides to buy them out of bankruptcy, it will be sad for me and for the many for whom they have been the go-to place since youth.