Quote du Jour: Viva la Difference

"A movie moves and a book talks, and that’s the difference, you see. A book has to do with words and a movie has to do with events."

XXXX~ Philip K. Dick, discussing Blade Runner, the screen adaptation of his novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

X

Readings: in Eretz Israel

X
I am currently reading the novel Wandering Star by recent Nobel laureate, J. M. G. Le Clézio. Below is a beautiful passage from that book—the thoughts of a young, French-Jewish WWII-era refugee girl—sandwiched between two photographs made during my travels.

"But when my father spoke of Jerusalem in the days of King David, he told extraordinary tales. I thought it must be the biggest and most beautiful city in the world, not like Paris in any case, because there surely weren’t dark streets over there, or dilapidated buildings, or broken drainpipes, or smelly stairwells, or gutters in which armies of rats ran free. When you say Paris, some people think you’re lucky—such a beautiful city! But in Jerusalem it was certainly different. What was it like? I had a hard time imagining it, a city like a cloud, with domes and steeples and minarets (my father said there were a lot of minarets), surrounded by hills planted with orange and olive trees, a city that floated over the desert like a mirage, a city in which there was nothing commonplace, nothing dirty, nothing dangerous. A city in which everyone spent his time praying and dreaming."


X

Quote(s) du Jour: Hipster you say?

X
...I don't think so. The following quote appears at this moment on the front page of the online New York Times:

Bowling is a growth industry in the city, but these aren’t the beer-belly bowling alleys of yesteryear; they’re souped-up, hipster alleys with lounges and sports bars.

There you have it: proof positive that the word "hipster" has been co-opted, devalued, and rendered meaningless by the corporate mindset of Generation X.

Oh, where is Confucius when you need him?:

From The Analects of Confucius, Book 13, Verse 3 (James R. Ware, translated in 1980.)

Tsze-lu said, “The ruler of Wei has been waiting for you, in order with you to administer the government. What will you consider the first thing to be done?”

The Master replied, “What is necessary is to rectify names.” “So! indeed!” said Tsze-lu. “You are wide of the mark! Why must there be such rectification?”

The Master said, “How uncultivated you are, Yu! A superior man, in regard to what he does not know, shows a cautious reserve.

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.

“When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music do not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will not be properly awarded. When punishments are not properly awarded, the people do not know how to move hand or foot.

“Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect.”

Yeah. What he said.
X

Rodak's Drawings: Who Are They?

X
Here is a small cast of characters in search of a story:

Although this one isn't dated, I assume that it was drawn in response to my short-lived enthusiasm for fanatasy fiction, during the Lord of the Rings fad in the psychedelic '60s. It seems probable that I had intended to write a tale to accommodate these folk and never got around to it. As I said, my enthusiasm for fantasy was brief.

They are kinda cute, though. Don't you think?

X

Rants: The Fire This Time

X
As for the scoffers and the global warming deniers, JC had them pegged already, back in the first century:

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was in the days of Lot -- they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all -- so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. ~ Luke 17: 26-30

Consider: fire, though it be low and slow, is fire just the same:

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ~ Luke 21: 25-26


Will you ignore the abundant signs?
X

Rodak's Drawings: the Process Revealed

X

It was noted in the comments section of my previous post that the sketch of an upraised fist resembled a "Power to the People" symbol. Actually, however, that drawing was abstracted from this one:


This drawing, in turn, was my interpretation of a detail from the photograph below (or one very similar to it):

Am I the only one, btw, who has noticed that if LHO had lived to middle-age, he would have looked exactly like Howard Dean?


X

Rant: Worth a Thousand Words

X
X