Month: August 2024

16AUG2024 – Quote of the Day

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Democratic and aristocratic states are not in their own nature free. Political liberty is to be found only in moderate governments; and even in these it is not always found. It is there only when there is no abuse of power. But constant experience shows us that every man who has power is inclined to abuse it; he goes until he finds limits. Is it not strange, though true, to say that virtue itself has need of limits?

Charles de Montesquieu

The ZMan Has an Excellent Post on What’s Ailing Baseball

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The ZMan says that the modern quantitative mode of managing a baseball team has robbed the soul out of our national pastime.  Well, that and players kneeling during the national anthem and all the other divisive crap they’ve allowed on field and off.

I like his solution, “The answer to fixing baseball and other sports is to open the windows of the skyboxes where the stat guys run the game and throw them out of those windows. Let the players play the fans enjoy the human drama.”

Baseball

2024 Summer Movie Talk – Part 14

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My All-Time Favorite Movies

I won’t make any claims other than these are my favorite movies of all time.  They are not in strict order because that would be impossible to achieve.  And in fact, this list is the most conflicted and unsatisfying.  Basically, this is the end of the world list.  If nuclear Armageddon was to strike and I had to pick the movies for my private collection that I would be able to watch (somehow) for the rest of my life, what would I have to have?  So, of course, this could only be my list.  Your list will differ radically because the list is as much about you as about the quality of the movies.  But for better or worse this is what I chose.  Multiple dates after the movie title signify multiple versions of the story I would take.

Well, as usual, have at it in the comments.

  1. IT’S A GIFT (1934)
  2. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
  3. MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE (1935)
  4. GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
  5. THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)
  6. OFFICE SPACE (1999)
  7. THEM! (1954)
  8. FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)
  9. INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)
  10. FIREFLY (2002 – 2003)
  11. SERENITY (2005)
  12. TOMBSTONE (1993)
  13. TRUE GRIT (1969, 2010)
  14. BABES IN TOYLAND (1934)
  15. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
  16. THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987)
  17. THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1989)
  18. THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001 – 2003) all three films in the extended version
  19. BATMAN BEGINS (2005)
  20. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
  21. IRON MAN (2008)
  22. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
  23. MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS (2012)
  24. DEADPOOL (2016)
  25. KING KONG (1933)
  26. DRACULA (1931)
  27. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
  28. ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932)
  29. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
  30. THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934)
  31. SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
  32. NOTORIOUS (1946)
  33. DIAL M FOR MURDER (1953)
  34. REAR WINDOW (1954)
  35. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
  36. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
  37. OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
  38. KEY LARGO (1948)
  39. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
  40. THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950)
  41. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
  42. BAND OF BROTHERS (2001)
  43. THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)
  44. MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (2003)
  45. GUNGA DIN (1939)
  46. TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)
  47. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
  48. TREASURE ISLAND (1934)
  49. SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)
  50. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)
  51. CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1950)
  52. SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
  53. THE NATURAL (1984)
  54. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
  55. A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1938, 1951, 1984)
  56. NINOTCHKA (1939)
  57. A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)
  58. CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (1945)
  59. THE BELLS OF SAINT MARY’S (1945)
  60. LIFE WITH FATHER (1947)
  61. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947)
  62. HAMLET (1948, 1990, 1996)
  63. A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949)
  64. THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)
  65. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
  66. ABSENCE OF MALICE (1981)
  67. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958)
  68. THE STING (1973)

 

Tom’s World – 14AUG2024 – Statues – 2

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

This is Jasper Smith, currently “residing” in Atlanta’s Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta, across I-20 from the Braves old stadium. I don’t have any history for him though there is a Jasper, Georgia, though I have no idea if there’s a connection.. But Jasper sits on top of his very own mausoleum, mulling things over in mild consternation. And who wouldn’t aspire to such a state?

SONY DSC

 

This is one of the shots I took at a museum display of 18th & 19th century French art.

SONY DSC

 

Trisdan De Luna y Arellano, Conquistador and the founder of a Spanish colony at what in now Pensacola in 1559. Funny thing, I did a quick google of him to make sure I had the dates right and the lead article on google was using one of my pictures from this shoot as the lead without permission or attribution. Theoretically, that’s illegal but, I’ve found, common.

SONY DSC

 

This is a near life sized resin casting of a female that I found in the Porch Creek Indian casino in Atmore Al. The Porch Indians are an offshoot of their brother tribe, the BMW Indians. I absolutely do not have the “gambling bug” but my wife does. On the occasion I take her there, I wander around with my camera shooting interesting stuff of which there is a bunch while she’s hypnotized by the slots. The casino staff gets pretty quirky about cameras in the casino until I assure them that I’m shooting the facility, not the people.

And with Strange Aeons Even Death May Die

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“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.

In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

 

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.”

 

After yesterday’s post I received several communications from readers outraged at the manner in which such a venerable and iconic entity as the First Selectman could be allowed to leave this continuum.  Many simply refused to believe the facts such as they are and hang onto hope that Cthulhu lives.  As the quotes above attest there is a tradition that Cthulhu can remain inert for literally billions of years and still reanimate and wreak a terrible vengeance on mankind when the stars align just right (or just wrong).

Well, I will not speculate at this point on the Great Old One’s chances of resuscitation.  As Hamlet very cleverly noted, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  And if we add to heaven and earth the depths of hell, then we begin to list the span of infinities where knowledge of the First Selectman can be hiding.  And since I already miss the old villain a little bit, I’ll keep an open mind as to his chances of reintegration.  Let’s leave it there for now.

I have finally completed the herculean task to which I was yoked.  My spirit, such as it is, has rebounded measurably and I look around me to see the state of life in the here and now.  I note the same stale prattle about polls and bickering with the names Trump, Harris, Vance and Walz attached.  Frankly all of this is too tedious to even consider.  Let all of that stew for a while.

The summer wanes and school children are already frozen with existential dread at the approach of Labor Day.  But, this time of year is not without its charms.  I was forced to rise hideously early Tuesday morning and so I was out and about before 4:00 am when I happened to look up at the sky and was struck by the brightness of the stars and planets and their inspiring beauty.  If I had not been on an unavoidable mission, I might have stood there for a quarter hour and marveled at this arresting vision.  At that moment I was reminded of this aspect of reality and how these incomprehensible phenomena we call stars can be both the source of our lives and these beautiful beacons that light up the night sky that we so rarely bother to view.  So out of the most tedious and soul-crushing activities it is possible to experience a moment of primal joy and wonder.

But now I’ll spend a day or two catching up with my various duties.  Bear with me as I take up again the reins of my daily routine and restore order to my life.  I must write and trim some posts and schedule them and I must read up on any “news” I might have missed and try to draw inspiration from my surroundings and the important things that need to be said and done.

So good morning!