tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.comments2023-08-03T10:39:35.671-04:00Anti-ClimacusNicholashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comBlogger541125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-23638819120527862222015-04-06T12:55:42.555-04:002015-04-06T12:55:42.555-04:00I have found, as I have gotten older, that "n...I have found, as I have gotten older, that "new" enthusiasms are quite the tonic. I recently fell in love with TCM and all those B&W movies I so easily dismissed previously. It was a wonderful way to pass an otherwise grueling winter.<br /><br />The world is a rich and varied place and, if you're bored, you're just not paying attention.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-64369432413669066402015-03-05T10:25:15.529-05:002015-03-05T10:25:15.529-05:00Have you read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys?Have you read Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys?Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-62588638203963296752015-02-20T11:41:50.274-05:002015-02-20T11:41:50.274-05:00Oh, come on now, it was the sight of the guy fishi...Oh, come on now, it was the sight of the guy fishing his drugs out of the toilet that created your aversion. That scene made--and still makes--my skin crawl!Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-4794506959476126492015-01-27T14:17:16.071-05:002015-01-27T14:17:16.071-05:00Another thought I took from F & Z--and all the...Another thought I took from F & Z--and all the Glass family stories-- is the notion of giftedness and one's responsibility to society and the gift itself. I still ponder this one, as I sit here, squandering my gifts. (Maybe passing them to my children was enough?)Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-51156222363254382932015-01-07T20:04:26.074-05:002015-01-07T20:04:26.074-05:00That's a good question; I'm working on an ...That's a good question; I'm working on an answer.Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-45013606105393731792015-01-07T04:35:34.000-05:002015-01-07T04:35:34.000-05:00Someone somewhere linked me to your blog recently ...Someone somewhere linked me to your blog recently but I cannot remember who or where. I'm thankful for the link, though--I appreciate your insights especially regarding culture and literature. Do you have any practical advice for how to develop into a more sophisticated reader? You mention practice and I was wondering if you meant a high volume of reading or something more?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686244781590540027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-40375753139522198892014-12-16T13:33:46.882-05:002014-12-16T13:33:46.882-05:00"... if you happen to have the right premises..."... if you happen to have the right premises."<br /><br />I think you hit the nail on the head, but I would amend it by adding "especially the right cooktop."<br />At times I cannot get the heat on our gas burners low enough; luckily, there's a gadget for that.<br /><br />I'd be happy to send you one.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-52098441177470800122014-12-12T18:08:41.444-05:002014-12-12T18:08:41.444-05:00Ohh... Well, in any case, I took it down, since I ...Ohh... Well, in any case, I took it down, since I like to err on the side of not upsetting anyone, plus a post responding to one that's no longer up is confusing. But for the record, I didn't get anything sinister from your post at all! Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-30396815042701498412014-12-12T09:46:29.189-05:002014-12-12T09:46:29.189-05:00Phoebe, I in fact quite liked your post, which sai...Phoebe, I in fact quite liked your post, which said a number of the things I did not quite manage to articulate as well as I'd liked (the comment previous to yours came before the update), and given a few of the other mentions it got, I had some concern that it came across as an attack on journalism-written-by-people-other-than-white-men rather than what I had intended, or more incoherent Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-15236884721609910742014-12-12T09:42:38.563-05:002014-12-12T09:42:38.563-05:00I second the What?!? - should I take my post down,...I second the What?!? - should I take my post down, since the post it responds to is gone? What misfired? I'm confused...Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-15064861045715110112014-12-12T01:09:39.030-05:002014-12-12T01:09:39.030-05:00What?!?What?!?Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-66499030565486773602014-12-11T13:24:26.456-05:002014-12-11T13:24:26.456-05:00I think Maradona got his rep as the "best eve...I think Maradona got his rep as the "best ever," or at least someone in that conversation, in large part because he played in a period when arguably there were no other players of equal caliber in world football. He was so much better than what everyone else was putting out that inevitably he looked more awesome than he perhaps really was.Chris Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09883587751218471785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-75397101321146890952014-08-05T16:22:21.739-04:002014-08-05T16:22:21.739-04:00Link added. Whoops!Link added. Whoops!Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-15491592379993592082014-08-05T15:20:43.837-04:002014-08-05T15:20:43.837-04:00Interesting, but what is this a quote from?Interesting, but what is this a quote from?Chris Lawrencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09883587751218471785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-37559126643454935422014-06-09T19:37:20.588-04:002014-06-09T19:37:20.588-04:00Well said.Well said.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-47976356528755149612014-05-05T14:39:54.288-04:002014-05-05T14:39:54.288-04:00Interesting! My impression had just been, Dickens ...Interesting! My impression had just been, Dickens is Old and Important and thus society is divided between those who can learned-ly nod along when "Dickensian" is used, and those who can't. <br /><br />Do you think there's more "Dickensian" going on than, I don't know, "Kafkaesque"?Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-7866421771043577092014-04-20T10:36:54.568-04:002014-04-20T10:36:54.568-04:00Good points, Nick. I agree. Some stories are meant...Good points, Nick. I agree. Some stories are meant to be tragedies, but not all. It's frustrating to see people unsatisfied with anything that's insufficiently tragic. rosebriarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02229537505859471832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-71069078780742742002014-03-14T15:10:44.335-04:002014-03-14T15:10:44.335-04:00Let's face it: We have become a violent societ...Let's face it: We have become a violent society and violence (and tragedy) is cathartic for many. Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12787741582855466537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-8347147517822542542014-03-04T16:05:50.922-05:002014-03-04T16:05:50.922-05:00Also typical of X-Files, especially the first 2/3 ...Also typical of X-Files, especially the first 2/3 or so of the series - one-off 'story in a bottle' episodes (sometimes funny, sometimes topical, sometimes just random) helped fill out the season around the key 'mythology' episodes that built the show's underlying story arc. These latter episodes, if viewed without the one-offs, would seem heavyhanded, so the one-offs helped Lindsay Lennoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03444634935379976865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-29234118237527359662014-02-14T08:11:24.413-05:002014-02-14T08:11:24.413-05:00But I think it's important, as someone who was...But I think it's important, as someone who was once a CCOA and now is no longer, that the critique is difficult if not impossible to apply at the places most people get educated. And this is for approximately the reasons George Will outlined in that column Jacob Levy linked to on twitter: it spills over into a very odd kind of aristocratic concern for what happens to the elite that ignores Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-77250557625195664412014-02-13T20:51:45.064-05:002014-02-13T20:51:45.064-05:00As I think Miss Self-Important said in the thread ...As I think Miss Self-Important said in the thread at her blog, the focus is on the most elite schools (i.e. on Harvard) because of the our-future-leaders concerns. As for why liberal-arts colleges as well, I'd think mostly because that's where things get most hippie-dippie. If you want to write an outraged article about privilege-awareness workshops, that's your best bet.<br /><br />IPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-69851011291051226722014-02-03T18:50:14.439-05:002014-02-03T18:50:14.439-05:00I think I agree with you, but part of the reason I...I think I agree with you, but part of the reason I have trouble going into full boycott is it's not clear to me what it's supposed to accomplish, exactly. Nothing will make the rape have not happened; nothing I've read suggests he's likely to do the same thing again, or is still doing so. Polanski himself seems to have decided that his childhood and what happened to Sharon Tate Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-627538803196114242014-02-03T18:30:10.508-05:002014-02-03T18:30:10.508-05:00I mostly agree. But here's where I get stuck: ...I mostly agree. But here's where I get stuck: "But to enjoy pretty much any art is to accept the possibility that you're funding someone's unsavoriness." While that's true, with Polanski, there's more than the possibility, and it's something beyond run-of-the-mill unsavoriness. I don't think it's all that likely that most people, artists or otherwise, Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-55460909772988800622014-02-03T14:30:35.729-05:002014-02-03T14:30:35.729-05:00It's not a great answer: you can't. It see...It's not a great answer: you can't. It seems like there are three options:<br /><br />1. Boycott him entirely.<br />2. Do my half-measure, where you won't prevent yourself from seeing a movie, but you won't be an avid follower, or see the new ones, etc.<br />3. Go ahead and see them if they seem interesting. Polanski hardly needs anyone's margin of a dollar that he gets from Nicholashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05693481720368030657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3316810.post-70775032913807847392014-02-03T13:23:49.460-05:002014-02-03T13:23:49.460-05:00All of this is quite persuasive, but I'm still...All of this is quite persuasive, but I'm still left wondering how you deal with artists who are still alive, and who, if you support their art, also benefit as people. Let's just stick with the Polanski example. Yes, we've all done nice and not-so-nice things in our lives, but raping a 13-year-old is an unusually terrible thing to have done. I can understand, if you came to like his Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.com