Monthly Archives: August 2014

On the Necessity of Being an Individual

“The boughs of no two trees ever have the same arrangement./Nature always produces individuals.”–Lydia Maria Child, Letters from New York–second series (1845) ‘Connection’ is a desirable aspect potentially achievable with the dead and living, and via the real, fictional, and … Continue reading

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The Desperate Hours

This 1955 suspense classic directed by the great William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives) stars Humphrey Bogart and Fredric March. (Today, of course, if remade, it would be drenched with swearing and sexual situations.) As suspenseful as a good Hitchcock … Continue reading

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Best Documentary 2013

The King in the Car Park, U.K. tv documentary. Humorous host Simon Farnaby joins Ricardian (Richard III society member) Philippa Langley on her quest to find/dig up long-lost body of Richard III in Leicester. Langley has a hunch about an … Continue reading

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Alienation, Within

“Follow your bliss.” ”Live from your own centre.’”–Joseph Campbell “Since in the world of time every man lives but one life, it is in himself that he must search for the secret of the Garden.”–Loren Eiseley Alienation is a word … Continue reading

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Robin Williams

“There are no rules. Just follow your heart.”

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A New Kind of Love

A strange screwball romantic comedy from 1963 with husband-wife team Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. (In real life they were married 50 years–the 2nd longest Hollywood actor marriage.) “Strange” is certainly the word for just about everything in this entertaining … Continue reading

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Prophetic Orwell

George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-four, forecast many things that have become truths and truisms today. Here are some quotes from that book and others by one of the most unappreciated authors of the twentieth century: The essence of being … Continue reading

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And They Call It Hockey

N.H.L. hockey, that is. The Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore lawsuit settled after 10 ridiculous, dragged-out years. (Bertuzzi sucker-punched Moore and ended the rookie’s career as the Vancouver fans howled for revenge and got more than they, Bertuzzi, and Moore all expected.) … Continue reading

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Our Double-Thinking Times

(heard on intercom at chain drugstore): “Feel the Freedom! Restrictions apply.” Same kind of psychological in tv drug ads–in which scenes of happy, healthy people are shown as the narrator quietly runs through serious and deadly side effects. There are … Continue reading

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On Freedom

Freedom is universally acknowledged to be a good, desirable thing. There are the large en masse freedoms for the many, such as the end of a war or a dictatorship. As seen on tv news, people are usually quite happy … Continue reading

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