Month: February 2006

  • Raiders of
    the Lost Matrix
    (continued)



    The Archaeologist
    with a Thousand Faces

    "From often humble beginnings, and often with a childhood fascination
    for antiquity, the archaeologist leaves familiar surroundings to
    undergo exacting professional training under a series of mentors and
    when armed, at last, with the intellectual weapons of the profession,
    sets off for unfamiliar or exotic realms, braving opposition and danger
    to solve an ancient mystery.  The lives of... real-life
    archaeologists... have lent themselves to this style of retelling... as
    have such fictional heroes as John Cullinane (Michener 1965) and
    Indiana Jones."

    -- From "Promised Lands and Chosen Peoples: The Politics and Poetics of
    Archaeological Narrative," by Neil Asher Silberman, pp. 249-262 in
    Nationalism, Politics, and the Practice of Archaeology, edited by
    Philip L. Kohl and Clare Fawcett, Cambridge University Press,
    paperback, published Feb. 8, 1996.

    From Today in History,
    by the Associated Press:

    Thought for Today:
    "Character consists of what you do
    on the third and
    fourth tries."

     -- James Michener,
    American author (1907-1997),
    attributed by
    Simpson's Contemporary Quotations
    to Chesapeake, Random House, 78.

    The Matrix:

    First try:
    On Linguistic Creation
     June 25, 1999

    Second try:
    Art Wars: Picasso's Birthday,
    Oct. 25, 2002

    Third try:
    Matrix of the Death God,
    May 25, 2003

    Fourth try:
    Happy Birthday,
    July 26, 2004

  • Washington Ballet

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       "At the still point..."

    Related material:

    Log 24, Sunday, January 29, 2006,

    and links in the previous entry--

    A Contrapuntal Theme and
    Good Will Writing.


    Beauty is momentary in the mind--

    The fitful tracing of a portal;

    But in the flesh it is immortal.

    The body dies; the body's beauty lives.

    So evenings die, in their green going,

    A wave, interminably flowing.

    So gardens die, their meek breath scenting

    The cowl of winter, done repenting.

    So maidens die, to the auroral

    Celebration of a maiden's choral.

    -- Wallace Stevens,
       "Peter Quince at the Clavier"


  • Our True Intent

    In memory of

    Christopher James Makins    ,
    2nd Baron Sherfield,
    Fellow of All Souls:

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    Related material:

    Good Will Writing,
    A Contrapuntal Theme,
    Ideas, Stories, Values,
    as well as
    Toot! Toot! Off we go!

  • Catholic Schools Week,
    continued

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    The Gospel According to
    Father Hardon:

    TELEPATHY. The direct communication of ideas from one mind to another
    without words, signs, gestures, or any other ordinary means of communicating
    thought. Extensive data and years of psychical research indicate that such manner
    of communicating knowledge does occur in exceptional cases or with exceptional
    people. When verified, the phenomenon is purely natural and the use of telepathic
    powers by one who possesses them cannot be called divination, nor does their
    use pose any special moral problems. It should be judged by the general principles
    applicable to any other human being's behavior.

    It is altogether another question whether in a given case of reputed telepathy
    any preternatural agency has been active. Instances of supposed communication
    of thought without verbal or other sensory means are reported in the lives of
    the saints. But the Church does not hold that such phenomena are positive signs
    of a person's sanctity. (Etym. Greek tēle, at a distance + pathein,
    to experience.)

    Related material:

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  • Catholic Schools Week

    On this date 10 years ago,
    Gene Kelly died.

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    "In time..."

  • A Great Fall

    From today's New York Times,
    "Frey Says Falsehoods Improved His Tale"--

    "Overall, his portrayal in A Million Little Pieces is of a person who
    'I created in my mind to help me cope' with drug addiction and
    recovery. He said most of the invented material 'portrayed me in ways
    that made me tougher and more daring and more aggressive than in
    reality I was, or I am.'"

    A not uncommon strategy.

    From Log24 last September:


    And
    Hennessey Tennessee
    tootles the flute,

    And the music
    is somethin' grand;

    A credit to old Ireland
    is McNamara's band.



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    Click on picture for details.

    Related material:

    James Joyce on
    Humpty Dumpty.

  • The Actor, 2005

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    See also

    Russell Crowe as Santa's helper,
    Communion, and the subsequent
    Playing God: The Color of Collateral.


    From "Collateral"-- 

     

    FELIX: Do you believe
      in Humpty Dumpty?

    MAX: No.

    FELIX: Do you believe
      in Santa Claus?

    MAX: No.

    FELIX: Neither do I.
     But my
    children do.
     They are still small.
    But do you know who they like
    even
    better than Santa Claus?
    His helper, Pedro Negro. Black Peter.
    There's
    an old Mexican tale that tells
     of how Santa Claus got so very busy
    looking out for the good children
    that he had to hire some help
    to look
    out for the bad children.
    So he hired Pedro.
    And Santa Claus gave him a
    list....

    And all that jazz....

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  • "Good Night and Good Luck"

    -- Morgan Freeman, closing remarks  
    at the Screen Actors Guild Awards
    on January 29, 2006

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    A History
    of Death
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    Review by Stephen Hunter  
    of "Good Night and Good Luck"--

    "The film, therefore, is like
    a child's view of these events,
    untroubled by complexity,
    hungry for myth and simplicity."

    "A larger poem for a larger audience....

    A mythological form, a festival sphere,

    A great bosom, beard and being,
    alive with age."

    -- Wallace Stevens, quoted in 
    Log24, January 29, 2006

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    Stephen Hunter on Senator McCarthy:

    He "forever
    tarnished
    by association the reputations
    of the security services
    charged with keeping us safe
    from the actual--
    yes, Virginia, there
    was
    such a thing-- Red menace."