Friday Odds & Sods is In a Class of Its Own

Another week passes away into history, and with it the month of February in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Fifteen.  Speaking for myself, this has been rather a time of waiting, one of the sensations I find least enjoyable in life, removing as it does the sense of agency found in hope and replacing instead with an anxiousness that soon turns into boredom. Waiting for spring, waiting for a call, waiting for anything, turns time from a space of events into merely a succession of featureless days that await the division into  "before" and "after." But one thing I promise that you will never have to wait for, Dear Reader, is this week's Odds & Sods

• Some historical articles for this weekend, for how can we prepare for the future if we are ignorant of the past?  To begin, two looks at the decline and fall of great artists, Orson Wells and Truman Capote.
• Second, the relationship between geography and destiny: How Portland became and stayed nearly all white, and how Easter Island shows both mankinds resilience and stupidity.
• Finally, the interaction between art, history, and memory through the lens of American Sniper.

Mo' Moai Mo' Problems

Friday Odds & Sods Would Really Like It To Be Spring

Hello, amici mei!  I hope you are managing to keep warm on a very freezing Friday afternoon.  Your humble correspondent himself is wrapped under several layers of blankets and sweaters and is sipping hot chocolate like there is no tomorrow.  Nevertheless, like unto the ancient couriers of Persia, neither rain nor snow nor dead of night shall keep me from providing you with your Friday round-up, and that goes for incredibly cold weather as well. So without further ado, I present this week's Odds & Sods.

• A psychiatrist has a session booked to look into a case of writer's block, but instead becomes the one under examination. 
• Two perspectives on modern Scandinavia, the mutually reinforcing strands of extremism in Norway and the trade-offs between life in the American and Swedish dreams.
• The witches of southern Chile were not to be trifled with.  Although if they knew a spell to make the weather warmer, I think we could come to an understanding.
• Finally, a little concoction to make your winter nights go by just a little faster: The Whisky Sling - Heat 6 oz water, pour in a teaspoon sugar, add 2 oz Whisky (Preferably Scotch or Rye). Mix thoroughly and enjoy.  

The Winter of 1888 in New York

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

Hello once again, mes amis.  I hope that the recent spate of cold weather has not dampened your spirits on Fat Tuesday.   Although I myself am rather one to purse my indulgences with dispatch, there is something to be said for alternating between feast and famine, if only to have more respect for the later and thankfulness for the former.  I would love to continue, dear reader, in the prolix way that you no doubt have come to love, but alas, a mild case of mid-winter illness had made me unfit for both writing and enjoying a proper Mardi Gras alike.  I would ask therefore, gentle reader, when you are out tonight that celebrating you raise a glass to your poor invalid correspondent.  Lest you think I come empty handed, here are some songs to help make your Mardi Gras party complete.

Friday Odds & Sods is Very Superstitious

Happy Friday the 13th, faithful readers!  I trust that being the rational, intelligent, sensible people you are, you discount such a holiday as mere superstitious nonsense.  I must admit that I, however, have spent the day avoiding ladders, black cats, and graveyards and making sure that my John the Conqueror root is still fresh.  I'm not superstitious of course, but then one can never be to careful, can one?  In any event, I recommend staying safe, staying warm, and relaxing with this weeks Odds & Sods.

• First off, two articles that venture into the fraught question of the relationship between the artistic creator and his creation: An examination of the nature of artistic authenticity and the commingling of art and politics in Birth of a Nation
• Moving on, two stories proving once again the truth that from the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step, a report from the North Korean International Film Festival and the invention of a soul singer who never sang a note
• And finally, a sad story about the man who helped give birth to cybernetics but eventually ran into the limits of logic, Walter Pitts
• A song that needs no excuse to be posted, but one that is especially appropriate today

Happy St. Gregory II Day!

Why the Feast of Pope Gregory II should be the mid-February holiday of choice instead of Valentine's Day.

or 

Another attempt to conquer the internet with listicles

1) Unlike St. Valentine, St. Gregory II has the distinct advantage of being a real person.

Not that it ever hurt Santa Claus's career

2) While St. Valentine exists solely to boost chocolate sales in the doldrums between Christmas and Easter, Gregory II defended the Western Church against the iconoclasm of Emperor Leo III, thus marking an important new development in the relationship between pope and emperor.

Ain't no party like an iconoclast party, because an iconoclast party permits no graven images

3) Really, isn't it time Burt Reynold's birthday becomes a major holiday?

Happy Birthday, Burt!

Friday Odds & Sods is Not Just Another Pretty Face

One-twelfth of the way through another year, and although it might not look or feel like it, signs of rebirth are none the less trickling through the wintery air.  Take, for instance, the return of the name Bush to our politics, which rather like unto a Hammer Horror monster, refuses to stay dead for long.  Or on a slightly more optimistic note, the return of Harper Lee to the literary arena, no doubt heralding the revision of high school syllabi across the country, and about which more below.  In that same spirit, your humble correspondent has finally recovered from his doubt of the grippe, and is once again ready to provide you with the highest quality Odds & Sods.

• Continuing with our theme of literary maps from last year, Google provides a map of Middle-Earth, which although a tie-in to a mediocre movie, is nonetheless of interest.
• To return to the matter of Harper Lee, two articles paint a portrait of a reclusive artist in decline and those who would try to profit off the situation.
• In other notes from the Lost and Found files, the Tolstoy's wife's long-lost novel and the prayer notebook of Flannery O'Connor.
• Finally, to close out the week, some mellow music for a weekend spent warm indoors by the fire.  

  

I May Not Know Art, But I Know What I've Liked

...on Facebook, re-tweeted, put on Instagram, et cetera.

An anecdote, to begin: A friend and I were in the Impressionist wing of the Met the other day (don't worry, this isn't the start of an exercise for my writing workshop).  I must admit that generally I find art museums rather depressing.  Something about seeing those encircling lines of portraits and landscapes on the walls like a well-preserved collection of pinned butterflies puts me in a funereal state of mind.  Nevertheless, the liveliness of Monet, Manet, Gauguin, and Pissarro made up for their institutional surroundings and proved a fine way to spend an afternoon.

Some Pissarro for you

Of course, my companion and I were hardly alone in our idyll.  My years as a dazzling urbanite have made it second nature to ignore the crowd, yet on this occasion I was struck by an odd activity: Out of a crowd of say around 30 people in the room with us, I would estimate at least a half to three-quarters spent their time rushing up to each painting, taking out their phones, snapping a picture of the picture, and then hurrying onto the next canvas to repeat the process.