Actual Size Abstraction
James Ensor
There’s a show at MOMA I’d like to see, of James Ensor’s proto-modernist paintings. I find my own aesthetic roots in the period of western art and literature that runs from the end of the 19th century through the First World War — the period of what is sometimes called High Modernism. The NY Times [...]
Poem
I hesitate to post this poem, written just this afternoon, fearing that it is insufficiently respectful; but whatever disrespect it exhibits is only an attempt to express a more profound respect. One never gets entirely outside the lecture room, of course; but one chafes. The seat is hard, the oscillating fan insufficient to ventilate the [...]
Odd Coincidence
Carole’s brother sent us a complete set of The Prisoner DVDs, mailing them on the day Partick McGoohan died, aged 80. Here is the obit from The Guardian. I remember being pleasantly mystified by the series back in the day & think they’re probably worth another look. I mean, as long as I’m on sabbatical [...]
Photograph of Jesus
Via Crooked Timber, Photograph of Jesus, a short film by Laurie Hill:
Two Collages
Dogwood
When I look raise my eyes above my computer monitor & look out the window of my study I can see the branches of a dogwood tree with upright clusters of dark blue berries. (This is the tree the warbler I mentioned a couple of days ago has been hanging out.) When the a shaft [...]
I Love Crows
I had read something previously about this research into the fact that crows can recognize individual humans, but this is a more extended account. A couple of months ago up at the Blue Mountain Center, I wrote three poems about crows — we had a noisy resident group who entertained me through the afternoons, congregating [...]
So Sumi
Rapture of the Nerds
Note: I began this post several weeks ago when I first ran across the linked article, then let it drop for some reason. I responded to it, I think, because of my visceral reaction against all forms of messianism & scientism. Ray Kurzweil has taken over from Marvin Minsky, but the computopians are still peddling [...]
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