A Quote for Thursday

This is one of those statements that rewards consideration, whether you end up agreeing with it or not. It's from the writer Susan Sontag (1933-2004):

"The past itself, as historical change
continues to accelerate, has become
the most surreal of subjects - making
it possible... to see a new beauty in
what is vanishing."

Great Song

This is one of my all-time favorite solo Beatle numbers, courtesy of Paul off his Run Devil Run album. I only just saw the video when I stumbled across it on Youtube today, and thought it was nearly as good as the song, so I had to share...

Four Pictures: Hauser Lake

This past Saturday I drove up to the Helena area for the day, and spent part of it out on the upper Missouri taking pictures around Hauser Lake (a wide section of the river created by a dam).

As you can see, it was a crystal clear morning in the sky and on the water, and there were just a few boats with fishermen on the lake (see below).

Of course, there were some other "fishers" watching for the tell tale splash of a potential lunch as well.

Today's Quote

I really like this quote from the noted art critic John Berger-- it makes me want to go and visit a museum right now...

“I can't tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten. Art, when it functions like this, becomes a meeting-place of the invisible, the irreducible, the enduring, guts, and honor.”

Great Song

As long as I mentioned this in the previous post, let's all give a listen to this Nick Lowe classic:

The Last Movie I Saw

I'm into that season when my movie-going options are kind of limited. First of all, I have to drive for a couple of hours just to get to a place where there are more than two screens to choose from; then, the selection is further whittled down because I saw most of the summer releases of interest back east, and they are only now showing up out here. So I'm stuck, when I have the urge to see something, with unattractive options like Columbiana and Our Idiot Brother. But at least in the case of the latter, my low expectations probably worked to the advantage of the film, which turned out to be somewhat more interesting and thoughtful than I expected. The titular character isn't really so much an idiot as someone who has decided to live his life giving everyone else the benefit of the doubt, always assuming their intentions are basically good and giving them support whether they deserve it or not. This inevitably leads him to do idiotic things, since very few people (including his three sisters to varying degrees) view things with the same sunny perspective. So what we get is a simple little morality play as the brother's chosen path of open acceptance begins to positively influence and reshape the more selfish aspects of his siblings' lives. It's certainly not great, but entertaining largely because of the performances of charming actors like Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Rashida Jones, and Adam Scott. In a way, it kind of restores my faith in the hippy ethic-- or as Nick Lowe put it "what's so funny 'bout peace, love, and understanding?" One answer is this movie, but it's a nice, reassuring kind of funny.

Tuesday's Thought

Something to think about from the pen of the great Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776):

“When men are most sure and arrogant
they are commonly most mistaken, giving
views to passion without that proper
deliberation which alone can secure
them from the grossest absurdities.”

A Favorite Tune

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers was a launching pad for a whole bunch of careers in jazz-- it's almost impossible to find a hot young player between the fifties and seventies who didn't put in a little time in that group. Here's one of the classic line-ups, featuring Bobby Timmons on piano, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Jymie Merritt on bass, and Benny Golson on tenor sax. Truly cool stuff from way back in 1958:

Pictures of Bannack

I recently got a news fixed focal length lens for my camera and wanted to try it out. So this evening after school I went over to the local "ghost town" of Bannack to see how it would work in the evening light. Here are four pictures that I think turned out pretty good.

The lens seems to take pretty sharp images, and has nice depth of field (keeping things in focus both near and far in the same picture).

It also seems like the colors are a bit more brilliant, though I don't know if that's the lens or the low light of the setting sun. Anyway, I'm happy with the early returns, and look forward to experimenting some more with the new addition to my kit.

A Monday Quote

This line comes from the noted humanitarian Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965):

"I can do no other than be reverent before
everything that is called life. I can do no
other than to have compassion for all
that is called life. That is the beginning
and the foundation of all ethics."

Cool Song

Here's one of those groups that I think deserved a great deal more success than they apparently enjoyed. They're called American Ambulance, and they nicely straddle the rock/alt-country line. Here's one of their songs that I enjoy listening to:

Soup Diary 110911

Well, what do you know-- it is possible to get a great cup of soup in Montana without going to some swanky expensive restaurant. At a fairly nondescript, out-of-the-way place called Steve's Diner in Helena yesterday I had a cup that rivaled the best of Fables in its heyday. What made it especially surprising is that it was a variation on one of the most boringly ubiquitous varieties that I typically avoid. But given no choice, I went with the Chunky Cream of Tomato and it was outstanding. This was a subtly sweet and creamy concoction with plentiful chunks of tomato, celery and onion, all stewed to a perfect texture: not mushy and not crunchy, but just right. It actually restores my faith in the idea that one can make a great tomato soup, something I'd long since figured must be impossible. To find it in a place I've driven by a hundred times without stopping fills me with regret at the missed opportunities, but you can bet I'll be going back the next time I'm in the capital city. I sure hope this wasn't a fluke.

Sunday Funnies

What with school starting this past week, I thought it might be time for a visit to the classroom and students of Miss Peach. Created by the cartoonist Mell Lazarus, I remember the color version of this strip as a mainstay of the Saturday afternoon edition of the Buffalo Evening News back when I was kid in the sixties, which is the period when these first appeared. Enjoy.

A Thought for Sunday

Today's pearls of wisdom come to us from the famous American poet James Russell Lowell (1819-1891):

"There is no good arguing with the inevitable.
The only argument available with an east
wind is to put on your overcoat."

Cool Video

This was not one of the big hits recorded by the Lovin' Spoonful, but a really nice cut from the soundtrack to You're a Big Boy Now (Francis Ford Coppola's "first" film as director). I'm thinking that maybe some of the younger readers of this blog will get a kick out of the swingin' sixties fashions on display:

Saturday Morning Cartoon

If anyone reading this is looking to launch a new career, here's Huckleberry Hound to provide some instruction in a fairly glamorous occupation:

Quote of the Day

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement by the noted composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990):

"So long as the human spirit thrives on
this planet, music in some living form will
accompany and sustain it and give it
expressive meaning."

Helen's Theme Song

This song, a rockabilly classic form the late fifties, reminds me of my niece Helen, whose birthday was yesterday. So in honor of her, here's Ronnie Dawkins, and "Action Packed" (key lyric: "I do everything in double time"):

Friday Family Blogging Quiz

I don't know if this is going to be easy or hard, but the challenge this week is to name the five youngsters sitting around the table above (the picture has been processed to somewhat hide their identities). Put your guesses in the comments section.

Last week, I asked who Emma was photographing, and as you can see below, it could have been either Nik or Ben. Mom guessed the latter, so she takes the "prize" this week.

The Last Movie I Saw

Colombiana, directed by a guy named Olivier Megaton, is in the running to be the stupidist movie I've ever seen. The plot is riddled with holes so large that it is virtually impossible to understand any of the characters' motives, except maybe for those of the protagonist played by Zoe Saldana. In her case, the motivation is made abundantly clear in a nonsensically over-the-top prologue, but her reaction to that set-up borders on the idiotic: after supplying authorities with the evidence necessary to nail the man who murdered her parents, she undertakes to become an assassin so that she can someday kill him. Why she imagines that will be necessary (or possible) given his likely capture is just the first of many laughable plot points. Despite all that, or maybe because of such silliness, I pretty quickly realized that this was a comedy in thriller's clothes, and on that basis enjoyed watching it unfold. I laughed heartily and often (I think to the point of annoying some of the others in the audience who for some reason thought it was worth taking seriously), which didn't make it any better of a movie, but certainly made it more bearable. Saldana is lovely to look at, and that helped too. But in the end, junk is junk and I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

More Friday Family Blogging

Here's a somewhat older photo of birthday girl Helen which I happen to like-- I don't often capture her in such a pensive mood.

Happy Birthday Helen! (Friday Family Blogging)

Yesterday was my niece Helen's birthday, and I certainly hope she had a great day. At the age of six, she's already competing for the title of best athlete in the family. I hope to someday be watching her in the World Cup. Happy Birthday Helen!

Friday Philosophy

Here's something to mull over from the pen of Austrian writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924):

"The truth is always an abyss. One must — as in a swimming pool — dare to dive from the quivering springboard of trivial everyday experience and sink into the depths, in order to later rise again — laughing and fighting for breath — to the now doubly illuminated surface of things."

Sleater-Kinney!

This was my favorite rock and roll band back in the late nineties/early oughts, and I sure wish they were still around making great music like this:

Toonerville Thursday

Ahh... that Skipper! You never know what he's going to get himself into next.

Thursday's Quote

Today's thought comes from the eminent literary critic Edmund Wilson (1895-1972):

"If I could only remember that the days were,
not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built
into a solid house, where one might dwell
in safety and peace, but only food for the
fires of the heart."

A Video Classic

As long as I'm posting pictures of Berlin, I thought it would be appropriate to put up a video by a German artist (for whom we saw a concert poster while in that city): Nena.  This goes back a few yearsw, and I bet some of you will remember when this was in heavy MTV rotation:

Berlin in Black and White

I've been going back over the shots I took last year in Germany, looking for details that I might have missed the first time around. All of these are portions of much larger images, cropped and expanded to hone in on some component that was somewhat buried in the original picture. I also converted them to black and white because... well, Berlin just seems like it should be in black and white for some reason (maybe because I grew up in the Cold War era).

The guys in uniform are professional models representing the old days of the divided city, but more people were interested in taking pictures of a guy dressed up as a giant Teddy Bear. This was right by the Brandenburg Gate.

A snack shop on the Mall a few blocks east of the Brandenburg Gate.

This hansom driver was waiting for a fare, but from what we were told, it was the first nice day of the Spring and so everybody was happy to walk.

And last a shot of the edge of the Tiergarten (if memory serves me).

Wednesday's Quote

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was an English author, who was on the mark (I think) with this line:

"The whole secret of life is to be interested 

in one thing profoundly and in a thousand 

things well."

A Favorite Song

Here's a wonderful live version of "The Clock" originally done by the Go-Betweens on their excellent comeback album The Friends of Rachel Worth. Sadly, Grant McLennan (the singer here) has since passed away, so the comeback was way too brief. But the music lives on!

Return of the Top Five List

Dr. John's Record Shelf returned to the KDWG airwaves this past Sunday (see the partial playlist in the left margin), and along with the program came the return of the weekly Top Five List. I should warn you that co-host Art Vandalay arrived at the studio in a particularly gregarious mood, so don't let any non sequiturs in this clip throw you:

A Tuesday Quote

I'm guessing that ten or fifteen years ago this would not have made much sense to me, but now I totally get it. It comes from the British novelist Anthony Trollope (1815-1882):

"It may almost be a question whether such
wisdom as many of us have in our mature
years has not come from the dying out of the
power of temptation, rather than as the
results of thought and resolution."

Great Joni Mitchell

It's been awhile since I posted something by Joni Mitchell, so here's one of her earliest "hits," from all the way back in 1969:

Soup Diary 110905

It's always a bit of a letdown when I get back to Montana and no longer have the wide array of soup options I inevitably encounter when traveling. I mean, there's nothing wrong with the tried and true, and if I'm in the mood for soup, then most any of the old stand-bys will generally answer that craving. So it's particularly irritating when I order something as straightforward as Chicken Noodle and its not very good, which was the case a couple days ago at a place in Idaho Falls (I won't mention the name of the place, since this is the first time they let me down). When I say it wasn't very good, I don't just mean it was bland and ordinary-- it actually tasted sour, as if it had been flavored with vinegar. I suspect it was because it had been sitting in the pot longer than was good for it, but who knows? Maybe the chef thought some vinegar would give it a little pizzaz. Anyway, I'll just ratchet my expectations down for awhile, at least until I get back to someplace where it's more than just an afterthought on the menu.

Labor Day Quote

Below is a great quote from the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). It's as true today as when he said it:

“Labor is prior to, and independent of,
capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor,
and could never have existed if labor had
not first existed. Labor is the superior of
capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration."

Great Song

Although Dire Straits (and Mark Knopfler) went on to have a long and I assume very prosperous career, I don't think they ever matched, let alone surpassed, their very first hit. But this song is so good, it's hard to imagine virtually anyone topping it. That's my opinion anyway, see what you think:

Sunday Funnies

I remember taking family summer vacations in the car, and this is pretty close to how I remember them (though with a few more players in the act in our case).

Sunday's Thought

Paul Strand (1890-1976) was one of the premier photographers in the world during his lifetime, no doubt in part because he subscribed to this idea:

"The artist's world is limitless. It can be found
anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet
away. It is always on his doorstep."

Good Song

I doubt I'll live long enough to hear all the versions of "Hey Joe" that have been recorded over the years. But I do discover new and interesting takes all the time. Here's a Latin-tinged rendition by Willy DeVille:

Saturday Morning Cartoon

This is one of my favorite Warner Brothers cartoons that does not feature one of their big stars (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, etc.). Then again, maybe Ralph Phillips deserves to be mentioned in such august company:

A Quote for Saturday

Thucydides (460 BC-395 BC) was a Greek historian, often linked to Herodotus as one of the key western developers of the discipline. Here's an example of his analysis, which may explain why he remains relevant today:

"If it had not been for the pernicious power of envy, men would not so have exalted vengeance above innocence and profit above justice... in these acts of revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress."

Classic Comedy

This was, I believe, Steve Martin's first film role: a short that came out a little before his feature debut in The Jerk. It's both silly and conceptual at the same time, a mark of his stand-up as well. I saw Martin on Conan O'Brien a couple days ago, and he's still got it (though it's rare to see his unique talent on display in the recent big-screen roles he's taken in recent years). Enjoy:

Friday Family Blogging Quiz

This week's question: who was Emma (budding photog) sizing up for a picture in the above image (subject cropped out)? Put your guesses in the comments section.

Last week, I asked who was sitting alongside Theresa in another cropped photo, and Sally correctly guessed that it was Tom (see below). Thanks to everyone who played!

Comic Strip Genius

This classic Peanuts strip from the 1960s is ample proof of the genius of Charles Schulz, something that he demonstrated day after day for years and years. I'm glad that I can still see his work every day; even in reprints (most of which I read at some point in one or another of the many paperbacks that collected his stuff) they make me laugh just about every day.

More Friday Family Blogging

One doesn't often think of a sculpture garden as being captivating in this sense, but Natalie experienced that word's double meaning at the Griffiss Sculpture Garden this past summer.

Friday Family Blogging

This shot of Helen was taken at the Genesee County Village in Mumford. She looks so excited she's actually levitating off the ground!

Friday Philosophy

The other day I posted a quote from Franz Boas. Now, here's one I like from his protege, Ruth Benedict (1887-1948):

"If we justify war, it is because all peoples always
justify the traits of which they find themselves
possessed, not because war will bear an objective
examination of its merits."

Another Favorite Tune

This clip is a live version of the Michael Hurley classic "Sweet Lucy," which appeared on his great album Have Moicy, a collaboration with the Unholy Modal Rounders, Jeffrey Fredericks and the Clamtones way back in 1975. Enjoy:

Toonerville Thursday

I guess that, like most communities, there are a few people who just can't get along, even in the otherwise idyllic Toonerville.

Thursday's Quote

Here's some great advice from the noted anthropologist Franz Boas (1858-1942):

"Remember that in every single case in
history the process of adaptation has been
one of exceeding slowness. Do not look for
the impossible, but do not let your path
deviate from the quiet and steadfast
insistence on full opportunities for
your powers."