Otherworldly Wordiness

Henry Miller was born on this day in 1891. I looked in my copy of The Air-Conditioned Nightmare and saw this excerpt marked. 

"As I was undressing I got the idea of going up to the roof and having a last look at Jupiter. It was a warm night and I had on nothing but my carpet slippers. To get up to the roof I had to climb a vertical iron ladder to the balcony of the studio. Well, to make it short, I had my fill of Jupiter. I was ready to hit the hay. The lights were out but the moonlight came through the long window above the balcony. I walked in a trance to the iron ladder, put my foot out instinctively, missed it and fell through the glass door below. In falling I remember distinctly how delicious it felt to fall backwards into space. I picked myself up and began hopping around like a bird to see if any bones had been broken. I could hop all right but I was gasping, as though some one had stuck a knife in my back. I reached around with one hand and felt a big piece of glass sticking in my back, which I promptly pulled out. I felt another piece in my backside and pulled that out too, and then another in my instep. Then I began to laugh. I laughed because evidently I was not killed and I could still hop about like a bird. The floor was getting rather bloody and no matter where I stepped there was more glass."

As far as I'm concerned, that's the height of literature.

December 26, 2021

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Henry Miller's birthday is today, probably the only person in history who I could listen to for an hour, as they talk about their bathroom. (I'm not kidding either, look for it on YouTube.) I used to read his books and underline every word that I had to look up in the dictionary. I just looked back through one and to my surprise about a third of them now seem simple, but that's where I learned them. One I didn't know- cosmococcic- and I just discovered that it doesn't even exist on the internet. The only thing I did find on it was a guy talking about how Miller apparently invented it, haha. Some quotes:

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."

"The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things."

"I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive."

December 26, 2020

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I just read that someone described William F. Buckley's vocabulary as "sesquipedalian." Now that is a sesquipedalian word if there ever was one! Strangely enough, my favorite sesquipedalian word comes from Buckley himself, "hobgoblinization."

December 26, 2018

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There's a War on 2017 in this country. From now on whenever you hear "Happy New Year", it's proof that I won the war.

But seriously folks, let's give credit where credit is due... it takes a very special kind of narcissist to make the phrase Merry Christmas all about them. Some might even call it blasphemy.

December 25, 2017

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It's what would have been Henry Miller's 125th birthday.

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience."

"Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning."

December 26, 2016

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After her fourth try tonight Gretel finally pooped on the potty. But that's not the story here. As I was showing her how to wipe her butt she hugged me and said, "You are my best friend." Haha.

December 26, 2016

Postscript- I just relayed this story to Gretel, who adamantly refuses to believe it ever happened.

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The World Rock Scissors Paper Player’s Responsibility Code:

1. Safety First! Always ensure that all players have removed sharp jewellery and watches.

2. Ensure agreement, before the first round, on priming conventions (we recommend the standard 3 prime shoot).

3. Always establish what is to be decided or whether the match is to be played for honour.

4. Pre-determine the number of rounds required to win the match (remember odd numbers only).

5. Encourage novice development by explaining blunders in judgement with a mind towards being helpful. Don’t berate.

6. Think twice before using RPS for life-threatening decisions.

7. Always respect foreign cultures. When abroad consider yourself an ambassador of the World RPS Society.

http://worldrps.com/game-basics/

December 26, 2016

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A couple months ago I bought a new pair of cargo pants and I just happened to wear them for the first time today... and now I look like one of those jerks who wears their new Christmas clothes the day after Christmas.

December 26, 2014

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If I was Johnny Cash I would have tried to make my last words, "Good bye, I was Johnny Cash."

December 26, 2011

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I'm leaving this wretched hive of scum and villiany for the foreseeable future...

December 26, 2008

Postscript- Facebook broadcast that I bought a vacuum off overstock.com and I was out, haha. 

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The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place on this day in 1862, in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.

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Babe Ruth was sold from the Red Sox to the Yankees on this day in 1919, establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

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Harold Lloyd's Number, Please? was released on this day in 1920. It starred Mildred Davis who he was married to from 1923 until her death in 1969. It has the bleakest final line of any comedy in the history of film!

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"I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" were released in the United States on this day in 1963, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

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Kwanzaa was invented on this day in 1966.

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On this day in 1980, witnesses reported the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

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On this day 2004 an earthquake in Indian Ocean caused one of the largest observed tsunamis, killing approximately 227,000 through Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

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Early computer pioneer, Charles Babbage, joined us on this day and 1791.

"On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

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One of my favorites, David Sedaris, joined us on this day in 1956, on Henry Miller's 75th birthday.

"If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary."

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Jared Leto was born on this day in 1971.

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Other notable birthdays- Mao Zedong (1893), Elisha Cook, Jr. (1903), Richard Widmark (1914), Steve Allen (1921), Phil Spector (1939)

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John Wilkes, the radical journalist, politician, magistrate, essayist and soldier, left us on this day in 1797. He was responsible for what might have been the best zinger in the history of recorded zingers.

John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, once said to him, “Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox." Wilkes replied, “That will depend, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress.”

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This day in 1913 marked the final communication from Ambrose Bierce before he disappeared forever. At 71 years old, he had left Washington D.C. to tour some Civil War battlefields where he had fought 50 years prior, and somehow ended up as an observer to Pancho Villa's Battle of Tierra Blanca. 

In one of his final letters, he wrote to a friend- "Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah, that is euthanasia!"

He closed out his final letter to a friend by saying, "As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination."

As always with him, truer words were never spoken.

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Gerald Ford left us on this day in 2006. Here's a little-scene headline from Democracy Now:

President Gerald Ford Dies at 93; Supported Indonesian Invasion of East Timor that Killed 1/3 of Population

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254

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Notable deathdays- Harry S. Truman (1972), Howard Hawks (1977), Elsa Lanchester (1986), JonBenét Ramsey (1996), Desmond Tutu (2021), Edward O. Wilson (2021)

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Provocative article by Christopher Hitchens:

Vanity Fair- Why Women Aren’t Funny

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/01/hitchens200701

December 26, 2011

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God Debate II- Harris and Craig

"Is the worst possible misery for everyone really bad? Once again, we have hit philosophical bedrock with the shovel of a stupid question." Harris, presenting his argument that belief in God is unnecessary for a moral structure in one's life.

https://youtu.be/yqaHXKLRKzg

December 26, 2011

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When Ben Franklin was 20 years old he made a list of 13 virtues.

• Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

• Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

• Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

• Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

• Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

• Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

• Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

• Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

• Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

• Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

• Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

• Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

• Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

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Top 100 novels of the 20th century.

https://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

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Nixon's enemies list:

https://www.enemieslist.info/list1.php

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Scientific American- It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas: The Neuroscience of Our Nostalgia

"When it comes to smells, the olfactory information actually passes through the olfactory memory and processing parts of the brain first. That means that we are actually processing the content and memory of a smell before we are consciously aware of what the smell is."

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/frontiers-for-young-minds/it-s-beginning-to-smell-a-lot-like-christmas-the-neuroscience-of-our-nostalgia

December 26, 2018

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Vanity Fair- THE TERRIFYING PARADOX IN TRUMP’S WAR ON EVERYTHING

Should have Saddam Hussein remained in power in Iraq? I don't think so. Were Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld the right people to get rid of him? Someone who handled it competently might have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars. Similarly should we remain in Syria and Afghanistan indefinitely? I don't think so. Is Trump the right guy for the job? I could laugh or simply say no, but it might just be best to point out that he's shown no sign of understanding complex problems, much less how to solve them.

"His critics, most of the time, aren’t wrong. Trump does bollix up countless things. He inflames what he ought to calm. He offers remedies worse than the ailment. He gets rolled in negotiations. He changes his mind on matters midstream. He runs through competent aides as if they were Apprentice contestants. He is, in too many ways to count, the wrong man for the job. But the right people for the job didn’t show up.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/12/trumps-war-on-everything

December 26, 2018

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Henry Miller on half-dead people: https://youtu.be/owhsn0qmngU

Henry Miller's birthday, totally dead but still speaking to us. Real death is while you were still alive, not when you depart your body.

December 26, 2018

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The 10 best performances in PT Anderson films

A minor character, but Philip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights still haunts me.

I realized that I saw every one of PTA's films in the theater from Boogie Nights through The Master, and then never even bothered to see Inherent Vice or Phantom Thread. I think I'm going to go back to the theater for the first time to see Licorice Pizza.

https://www.nextbestpicture.com/latest/the-ten-best-performances-from-paul-thomas-andersons-films

December 26, 2021

Oops, link's broken.

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Studs Terkel- "I live in a community, and if the community isn't in good shape, neither am I."

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Anais Nin- “Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”

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Ezra Pound- "If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good."

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W.E.B. Dubois- “The most important thing to remember is this: to be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.”

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Hicks- "People often ask me where I stand politically. It's not that I disagree with Bush's economic policy or his foreign policy, it's that I believe he was a child of Satan sent here to destroy the planet Earth. Little to the left."

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Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End- "Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the nonexistence of Zeus or Thor, but they have few followers now."

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Anthony Jeselnick- "My neighbor is a 90 year old with Alzheimer's, I see him every morning and he asks me If I've seen his wife. Every day I have to tell this poor man that his wife died 20 years ago. I could have moved to another house or even ignore his question. But the look of joy in his eyes when I tell him this is worth a world."

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Hitchens- "My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass."

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Steven Wright- "My favorite book is anything by Kurt Vonnegut - he's my literary hero. I got to meet him several times, which was a great thrill for me. I don't really remember what we talked about."

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Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions- "Of course it is exhausting, having to reason all the time in a universe which wasn’t meant to be reasonable."

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Steinbeck, East of Eden- "But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’— that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.'"

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Immanuel Kant- “If the truth shall kill them, let them die.”

Addendum 

Myspace Blog 

December 26, 2005

Top movies of 2005

Agree? Disagree? Suggestions?

1. Revenge of the Sith

2. Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

3. Walk the Line

4. Grizzly Man

5. Munich

6. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

7. Crash

8. March of the Penguins

9. Me and You and Everyone We Know

10. Melinda and Melinda

11. King Kong

12. Good Night and Good Luck

13. Inside 911

14. Gunner Palace

15. Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Maybe to be added... Brokeback Mountain, Syriana, Goebbels Experiment, Match Point, The New World

Postscript- I'm really surprised that these movies aren't better. I used to watch an absolute ton of movies back then, and I can't believe each one of these represents about the best of the month. Muscle surprise to see that Revenge of the Sith was so high.