Tuesday, August 28, 2001
"...a place apart, separate from the world and yet marvelously within it, that is impartial, utterly fair, calm and which fills us with the faith that, against all odds, there is value in our lives, is what many seek in the reality we call 'God.'"
� Karen Armstrong, Buddha
10:00 AM CDT (GMT -5)
Monday, August 27, 2001
After the distaff member of this household bumped me from the WWW last night, I read a bit for my classes, but soon began to surf aimlessly through the TV choices. I wound up on PBS, where Richard Eyre's Changing Stages: A View of the Theater of the Twentieth Century was in progress.
Wow!
Two hours last night, and four remaining (on successive Sunday evenings, I think). Well worth a look.
The segment on G.B. Shaw reminded me of a barbed exchange between Shaw and Winston Churchill that might be apocryphal, but which I'll recount here (and thereby over time and with repetition it shall become fact):
Shaw wrote to Churchill offering him two tickets to the opening night of a new play, closing with the gibe, "Bring a friend, if you have one."
Thanking Shaw for his offer, but unable (unwilling) to attend the first night's performance, Churchill wrote back to return the tickets, and ended his note with the remark that "I might be able to attend the second night, if you have one."
8:15 AM CDT (GMT -5)
Sunday, August 26, 2001
For folks who don't get enough of Minneapolis from their daily reading of James Lileks, Chris Gregerson has provided a wonderful phototour of Minneapolis with over one thousand photos organized both by the area of town and by theme.
Gregerson must be single and childless � just a hunch. Or I'm a bigger slug than I am comfortable admitting.
Experts from out of town have once again descended on Manhattan (Kansas) to assist us in planning the future look and feel of our fair town, helping us decide, for instance, where to put the next super Wal-Mart. The record of our folly will be maintained at the Manhattan Urban Area Comprehensive Plan Update Center.
8:00 AM CDT (GMT -5)
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
"ISBW (IShouldBeWorking.com) is dedicated to slackers, goof-offs, procrastinators, loafers, 'long lunchers', and web addicted employees worldwide."
They said it so I didn't have to.
8:00 AM CDT (GMT -5)
Saturday, August 11, 2001
Quote of the week from the site of Wally Amos: "Children are the living messages we send to a time we do not know."
9:00 AM CDT (GMT -5)
Sunday, August 5, 2001
Owen went to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City yesterday, the guest of his friend Daniel. While Owen was away last night, Taylor and I went to the driving range at Stagg Hill. This was a first visit for Taylor. Although the outing wasn't a particularly auspicious start for Taylor, he did manage to loft the ball seventy-five yards using the shorter clubs from the child's set we have, and considering his height and weight, that's not bad. He enjoyed himself well enough, I think, but the shot that will bring him back to the course occurred afterward on the putting green, where he drained a putt from sixty-six feet.
A copy of Pollock has been in a VCR here since Saturday afternoon. I have watched this biographical film about Jackson Pollock in snippets throughout the weekend. Drifting from household chores to the Web, from the Web to grading student papers, and thence to kid stuff and eventually back to the movie, I have allowed the film to remain nearly as incomprehensible to me as many of Pollock's canvases are. Of course, to Pollock, comprehending the painting might have been less important than apprehending it, and that � for left-brained me � is often a real trial.
The most interesting reading I came across this week was in the August 6th New Yorker. Joan Acocella's review ("Good and Evil") of several books dealing with the Cathars and Catholics in the Languedoc and with the resulting Albigensian Crusade reignited my interest in the period.
7:00 PM CDT (GMT -5)
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Copyright � 2001 by R.C. Patterson. All rights reserved. Act like it matters.
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