“The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.” — George Santayana
My thanks to Phil Grisé and Gregg Kemp
Archive for February, 2008
The Light
Posted in Commentary, Literature on February 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Bridge
Posted in Commentary, Film on February 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When I was in the Air Force, stationed at the Presidio of Monterey, I began reading the San Francisco Chronicle. I was especially drawn to the columns of Herb Caen, the surreal world of the society pages, the short pieces about odd incidents (“Worker Felled by Dead Tuna”), and especially the suicides off the Golden [...]
Sage Advice
Posted in Literature on February 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) in The Hobbit
More with Less
Posted in Art, Photography on February 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Pinhole photographer Gregg Kemp has alerted me to the National Krappy Kamera Competition, an annual juried show of photos made with cheap cameras, i.e., those with a plastic lens or no lens at all. I am fascinated by art that starts with limits, like writing a haiku or making a picture with a bag [...]
Walking with Helen Hayes
Posted in Walking on February 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“I feel sorry now for members of the companies with which I used to tour. In those days when I was really famous I didn’t have the nerve to walk around the streets alone for fear of being bothered and robbed of the relaxation I was seeking. So friends would escort me on my wanderings. [...]
Laugh and the World Laughs with You
Posted in Commentary on February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Seventh Heaven
Posted in Film, Photography on February 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I used to watch “My Little Margie” with my grandmother and cousins, and Grandma would say, “Oh, Charles Farrell” every time Gale Storm’s TV father appeared on the screen. I had no clue as to why, until last week when I came across this photo of Janet Gaynor and a young Charles Farrell in [...]
Now I Understand
Posted in Film, Photography on February 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As much as I love watching The Maltese Falcon (1941), I could never see how we were supposed to find Mary Astor’s Brigid O’Shaughnessy to be attractive, much less irresistible, or how Bogart’s Sam Spade was supposed to fall for her, if only for a day or two. I always found her character to [...]
Sage Advice
Posted in Commentary, tagged rowing on February 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“If you have the misfortune to be caught out in a bit of rough weather, do not be flurried. If your destination lies to windward — the direction from which the wind blows — pull hard, feather high, and try to get the protection of the nearest land that keeps the wind off the water. [...]
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