tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post8698216883428662878..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Villains of the yearDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-70145300086901534322014-01-15T08:04:02.578+00:002014-01-15T08:04:02.578+00:00Magee - a wise and lovely man, whom I've had t...Magee - a wise and lovely man, whom I've had the pleasure of meeting at lunch. He's a hero of mine for the lucidity and simplicity with which he can state the most complex philosophies. His first volume of autobiography, A Hoxton Childhood (I have yet to read the second), is one of the best of its kind too. <br /><br />So thank you for extracting those saws.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-33531995568173966302014-01-15T01:30:21.605+00:002014-01-15T01:30:21.605+00:00My ref is Bryan Magee's The Story of Philosoph...My ref is Bryan Magee's The Story of Philosophy where in the discussion on Socrates and Justice he says:<br /><br />"Provided your soul remains untouched, your misfortunes will be comparatively trivial. Real personal catastrophe consists in the corruption of the soul. That is why it does a person far, far less harm to suffer injustice than to commit it. We should pity the perpetrator of injustice, not the victim of injustice'.<br /><br />And on Plato he says:<br /><br />"Where Plato never parts company with Socrates is in his commitment to the view that the only real harm that can come to a person is harm to the soul, and therefore it is better to suffer wrong than to commit it;"<br /><br />I really have been meaning to get get back on this but what with one thing and another, Debbie no less, days have happily slipped by into weeks and now I can only offer apologies from a sun-kissed land in playtime.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-53882191991405874272014-01-06T11:38:52.577+00:002014-01-06T11:38:52.577+00:00Spike, Spike! Wit and wisdom personified.
Is ther...Spike, Spike! Wit and wisdom personified.<br /><br />Is there a specific source for that Greek apercu? <br /><br />Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday can also be read in an afternoon - but not speedily, because there's too much further wisdom in thereDavidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-14728930400508070722014-01-06T11:24:25.697+00:002014-01-06T11:24:25.697+00:00Of MIce and Men can be read in an afternoon.
If o...Of MIce and Men can be read in an afternoon.<br /><br />If only more heed were paid to the truth taught by the ancient Greeks that one doesn't hurt others, one only hurts oneself while others have been gifted the blessings of forgiveness.<br /><br />Speaking of epitaphs, that wonderful man from Woy Woy (sic), Spike Milligan, when asked what he wanted for same said it should read: I told you I was sick.wandererhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08196036534397389760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-2576016846256846172014-01-03T08:42:22.586+00:002014-01-03T08:42:22.586+00:00Not sure where that came from, but I'm sure I&...Not sure where that came from, but I'm sure I've been guilty of such derision. Which leads us back to another of my favourite saws, Paul Eddington's who, when he was dying, said he wished as his epitaph 'he did very little harm - because people do do a great deal of harm, often without realizing it'. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-42217999053323007262014-01-03T06:36:02.914+00:002014-01-03T06:36:02.914+00:00The question arises whether "thou shalt not d...The question arises whether "thou shalt not do harm to others" includes not hurting people by making cruel or comic comments on their deepest beliefs. If those beliefs lead to the hurting of yet others, handling the matter requires a high level of judgement and self controlDavid Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-61620479415896273042014-01-03T00:07:48.772+00:002014-01-03T00:07:48.772+00:00Still worth repeating the only sins in Nabokov'...Still worth repeating the only sins in Nabokov's Pale Fire: thou shalt not kill, and thou shalt not do harm to others (which surely embraces killing, so maybe there's only one).Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-51450765421456642612014-01-02T18:16:05.980+00:002014-01-02T18:16:05.980+00:00Well, the Church, even before Francis, argued agai...Well, the Church, even before Francis, argued against the sin, not the sinner. He may of course be changing the list of sins, but that is another matterHindringhamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-81566747581146667942014-01-02T18:05:58.399+00:002014-01-02T18:05:58.399+00:00Are you telling me, Sue, that J actually laboured ...Are you telling me, Sue, that J actually laboured over producing the pomegranate molasses? We buy ours in bottles from the local Iranian and Iraqi shops.<br /><br />Should point out that our hostess prepared the Boxing Day pork (fed on her husband's apple pomace - sp?) with a Moro recipe of chllli, fennel seeds and garlic. Sensational, and the smell as it cooked slowly for 24 hours was as good as the eventual eating. She is the doyenne of good cookery and the Moro Cookbook is, I think, her No. 1.<br /><br />Taruskin is a lot of folk's bete noir(e). Such panache and knowledge, but so many prejudices - which is why I rail against students taking his often admirable writings as gospel truth. His loss if he doesn't 'get' Adams.<br /><br />My camera ran out of juice from going to town on Binham Abbey so my J and our friend Jill tried on their iPads for the double rainbow - I think one of hers will do, though only a 360 degree film could take in the full bows, which of course the land- and seascape let us see so well.<br /><br />Sir David - admirable on all three points, the questions rightly raised as well as the wish with the right ring about it. I should tell the world that you really do practise what you preach with the motto 'all God's chillun got wings'. I have seen you expostulating vehemently at behaviour, but never known you to kvetch about the person.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-79604960848312939242014-01-02T16:45:38.186+00:002014-01-02T16:45:38.186+00:00It is indeed difficult to believe that "All G...It is indeed difficult to believe that "All God's Chillums got wings"<br /><br />And is " tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner" always true? <br /><br />"Hindringham" will make a wonderful title when Her Majesty finally gets round to my peerage. David Damantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-86026130913360210042014-01-02T16:39:37.626+00:002014-01-02T16:39:37.626+00:00I had very nearly written here that my villain of ...I had very nearly written here that my villain of the year was Taruskin, for his treatment of Adams in the Late 20th C volume of the Oxford History. I knew he was terrible about Klinghoffer, but in this book, in which he claims to try for even-handedness, he reached a new low. Thank goodness we have Adams' own book, and here Ross, too, offers a much-needed corrective. (I'm pleased to report that my correspondent has since listened to and enjoyed the String Quartet, which I'd recommended, and he went on from there to find two other pieces that he liked.) As for Dad, stories to tell worthy of Cannery Row. Hmm. I may need to add Steinbeck to the reading pile, after all. PS: J made us a brilliant dinner for New Year's Day from the Moro cookbook: duck breast and okra, each prepared with pomegranate molasses (the latter not quite made as the recipe indicated, but delicious). Now, there is a gift that keeps on giving, all thanks to your post noting it. Do hope you got a snap of the double rainbow!Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-41072287433675454402014-01-01T21:54:52.925+00:002014-01-01T21:54:52.925+00:00I know how you feel. Our Norfolk hosts over the Ne...I know how you feel. Our Norfolk hosts over the New Year were very much agin the first El Nino (though found my plea of information overload plausible) and think JA might be in it for the money and the showoffiness. But they haven't read Hallelujah Junction and as Susie (composer) has just completed a cantata called Magdalene I thought acquaintance with The Gospel According to the Other Mary might not be a bad idea now she's composed her own take on the subject.<br /><br />I remember you telling me about your intriguing dad's connections with Cannery Row. He sounds anything but a typical suburban father, or was that the male menopause?<br /><br />Happy New Year. We had a very wet but wonderful one in Hindringham, crowned by a double rainbow in a sunset yesterday afternoon, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-70239884566968290002013-12-30T20:55:06.504+00:002013-12-30T20:55:06.504+00:00David: I look forward even more to getting hold of...David: I look forward even more to getting hold of Il Divo on reading this. As for Steinbeck, I realize, as I read your post, that I think the only book by Steinbeck I ever read was The Grapes of Wrath. Shameful, I know, and all the more so as my father, though in a later period than Steinbeck, was a denizen of Cannery Row, among other things playing Tuxedo Junction in a bar after he finished cooking at one of the local tourist joints. (Dad, the typical suburban father whose cooking was limited to summer BBQ on the grill weekends, became a cook in a later incarnation . . . ) I cannot (she says) add another book to my stack right now, but looks like East of Eden would be the Steinbeck to try out. <br /><br />Loved the TAD year-end review of classical and opera, and, as I've been reading Powell's bio of Britten, was particularly interested in your comparison to Adams vis-vis "fertility and dangerous drive to cover new territory." I've been engaged in a bit of a discussion with one of my music class pals who doesn't like Adams and had occasion to make the point that one of the things I like so much is his continuing musical transformation. Our last guests have left, so now I can get back to listening to music of my own choosing after being on a very restricted musical diet for 3 weeks. Hard to know where to begin, but I suspect I'll find a way . . . Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com