Saturday, May 29, 2010
Stanley Kubrick on Society and Man
"I think that when Rousseau transferred the concept of original sin from man to society, he was responsible for a lot of misguided social thinking which followed. I don't think that man is what he is because of an imperfectly structured society, but rather that society is imperfectly structured because of the nature of man. No philosophy based on an incorrect view of the nature of man is likely to produce social good." —Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment
Stanley Kubrick on Film Music
"Unless you want a pop score, I don't see any reason not to avail yourself of the great orchestral music of the past and present. This music may be used in its correct form or synthesized, as was done with the Beethoven for some scenes in A Clockwork Orange. But there doesn't seem to be much point in hiring a composer who, however good he may be, is not a Mozart or a Beethoven, when you have such a vast choice of existing orchestral music which includes contemporary and avant-garde work. Doing it this way gives you the opportunity to experiment with the music early in the editing phase, and in some instances to cut the scene to the music. This is not something you can easily do in the normal sequence of events."
—Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment
—Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment
Stanley Kubrick on Modern Art & Movies
"I think modern art's almost total pre-occupation with subjectivism has led to anarchy and sterility in the arts. The notion that reality exists only in the artist's mind, and that the thing which simpler souls had for so long believed to be reality is only an illusion, was initially an invigorating force, but it eventually led to a lot of highly original, very personal and extremely uninteresting work. In Cocteau's film Orpheé, the poet asks what he should do. 'Astonish me,' he is told. Very little of modern art does that—certainly not in the sense that a great work of art can make you wonder how its creation was accomplished by a mere mortal. Be that as it may, films, unfortunately, don't have this problem at all. From the start, they have played it as safe as possible, and no one can blame the generally dull state of the movies on too much originality and subjectivism." —Stanley Kubrick in an interview with Michel Ciment
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Some More Playing with Poetry
Long the lines like veins entwining
Splay across the leafs of time.
Some enlivening, some refining
Long since past their scripted prime.
Flows the metre of the heartbeat
Pulse the syntax of the sage.
Courageous love and mercy meet
On some inked or printed page.
Quick the rhythm of inward breath
Marks the sound, the sign of life.
Wisdom stands ‘gainst folly’s death
Speaking peace through pain and strife.
So too the poetry of sages lends their substance in our time.
There we reap the depth of ages, coursing through a verse of rhyme.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The Liver Long Day
It has been a very fun, eventful, and prosperous day. From The Liver Life Walk early this morning to dinner just a few minutes ago and every diverse thing in between, I certainly feel both a sense of accomplishment and a pleasant little weariness. Here is my lovely day in pictures:
Dad, Jenny, and I volunteering at the Liver Life Walk
Jenny and I got to walk the 5k at Percy Warner
Afterwards I went to run errands, one of which was picking up gel packs at REI
Then I planted some new additions...
...and replaced all the handles, broken or not, on my dresser...
...and cleaned out the bottom of my closet...
...and started a filing system for myself...
...and washed dishes...
...and cleaned off my table, and made french toast with sausage...
THE END (of a very lovely day!)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Spring Time Planting
There are a few plants I've babied from infancy to toddler-hood and a few I have just picked up at my local plant store. My avocado and oak trees are the ones I've babied. They've been anticipating spring for a while now and have been antsy for a bigger pot to grow up in. The avocado tree was an experiment that Joanna and I tinkered with last spring by simply buying an avocado from Kroger, taking out the seed, helping it sprout, and then planting it. Talk about fascinating! I had no idea it was that simple. Now, if it ever lives to bear fruit that'll be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process even if it doesn't. The oak tree came from a small newly sprouted acorn in the Wilbur's back yard about two years ago. It was all but dead several months ago yet I couldn't bear to get rid of it. Then one day I looked down to discover the smallest speck of green that was ever visible to the naked eye--not even the beginnings of a leaf mind you, just a speck--and I said, "Ha, I knew you'd make it!" And so it has. Whether or not it will ever grow grand and stately enough to be considered as a candidate to replace an oaken beam in some parish church or school of learning, well, that too would be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process.
And then there are my new additions, not nurtured by my own hand until this point. I have no idea where they initially came from, but they have come to rest in my keeping. They have provided me with a bit of instant gratification, something I have not earned but nevertheless get to be the beneficiary of. These newcomers--Celosia, Verbena, Bacopa, Petunia, and Dusty Miller--will require just as much attention as those toddler trees that have been with me so long. But isn't that just like spring to be both a continual reminder of the old and yet be a provision of hope with all things new. Who knows what will become of this newness, but I certainly am enjoying the process.
And then there are my new additions, not nurtured by my own hand until this point. I have no idea where they initially came from, but they have come to rest in my keeping. They have provided me with a bit of instant gratification, something I have not earned but nevertheless get to be the beneficiary of. These newcomers--Celosia, Verbena, Bacopa, Petunia, and Dusty Miller--will require just as much attention as those toddler trees that have been with me so long. But isn't that just like spring to be both a continual reminder of the old and yet be a provision of hope with all things new. Who knows what will become of this newness, but I certainly am enjoying the process.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Quotes from The Mind of the Maker
"...if the M.C.C. (Marylebone Cricket Club) were to agree, in a thoughtless moment, that the ball must be hit by the batsman so that it should never come down to earth again, cricket would become an impossibility. A vivid sense of reality usually restrains sports committees from promulgating laws of this kind; other legislators occasionally lack this salutary realism."
" To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has no other yardstick."
"The poet is not obliged, as it were, to destroy the material of Hamlet in order to create a Falstaff, as a carpenter must destroy a tree-form to create a table-form."
"Our minds are not infinite; and as the volume of the world's knowledge increases, we tend more and more to confine ourselves, each to his special sphere of interest and to the specialized metaphor belonging to it. The analytic bias of the last three centuries has immensely encouraged this tendency, and it is now very difficult for the artist to speak the language of the theologian, or the scientist the language of either. But the attempt must be made; and there are signs everywhere that the human mind is once more beginning to move towards a synthesis of experience."
Dorothy Sayers
" To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has no other yardstick."
"The poet is not obliged, as it were, to destroy the material of Hamlet in order to create a Falstaff, as a carpenter must destroy a tree-form to create a table-form."
"Our minds are not infinite; and as the volume of the world's knowledge increases, we tend more and more to confine ourselves, each to his special sphere of interest and to the specialized metaphor belonging to it. The analytic bias of the last three centuries has immensely encouraged this tendency, and it is now very difficult for the artist to speak the language of the theologian, or the scientist the language of either. But the attempt must be made; and there are signs everywhere that the human mind is once more beginning to move towards a synthesis of experience."
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Reminiscing Over Spring Break: The Foodo-Journal
Top 11 Things I've Been Thinking About
1. How can I translate the concept of endurance from running to the rest of my life?
2. Why haven't I read Dorothy Sayers' Mind of the Maker before now?
3. As a teacher, how can I be more discerning of the times when I should point my students in the right direction as opposed to giving them a right answer?
4. What was the origen of the Old Testament school of the prophets, and did it cease to exist before or after the temple was built?
5. Why am I so good at justifying whatever I feel needs to be justified?
6. Does the fact that I'm a better starter than finisher affect the relationships and interactions with those around me?
7. What is it about food that makes a person less grouchy?
8. Will my fledgling avacado tree survive if I transfer it to a bigger pot?
9. If Al Gore had not invented the internet would we still be afftected by global warming?
10. "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." —Augustine. Why is it that I tend to do one or the other and seldom both at the same time?
11. Why do I love questions so much?
2. Why haven't I read Dorothy Sayers' Mind of the Maker before now?
3. As a teacher, how can I be more discerning of the times when I should point my students in the right direction as opposed to giving them a right answer?
4. What was the origen of the Old Testament school of the prophets, and did it cease to exist before or after the temple was built?
5. Why am I so good at justifying whatever I feel needs to be justified?
6. Does the fact that I'm a better starter than finisher affect the relationships and interactions with those around me?
7. What is it about food that makes a person less grouchy?
8. Will my fledgling avacado tree survive if I transfer it to a bigger pot?
9. If Al Gore had not invented the internet would we still be afftected by global warming?
10. "Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you." —Augustine. Why is it that I tend to do one or the other and seldom both at the same time?
11. Why do I love questions so much?