Blowhard, Esq. writes:
Everyone else is doing end-of-the-year recaps, so I thought I’d join the chorus of noise and share mine. I included all of the Teaching Company stuff I listened to even though they’re not technically books because hey, it’s my list and I’ll do what I want.
Fenster writes:
Back when CD burning came in, I would often make up mixtapes complete with liner notes to give as gifts. Then one day I thought to make up a package. The music consisted of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and the Strauss song At Twilight, which references it in a closing passage. Then I added to the package an excellent discussion of the main work by Robert Greenberg, available from The Teaching Company.
The liner notes are below, followed by YouTubes of the music, though listening on a real sound system is preferable. I’d like to include the Greenberg lecture, and if I can lay my hands on it, I will post.
Fenster writes:
Umami:
No umami:
Eddie Pensier writes:
Leonardo da Vinci’s original, in the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan.
The Sesame Street version (click image to enlarge):
The Star Wars version (click image to enlarge):
The Sopranos version (click image to enlarge):
The Big Lebowski version (click image to enlarge):
All (and dozens more) via PoppedCulture.
Blowhard, Esq. writes:
Click on the image to enlarge.
Academy Theater in Inglewood, CA, 1940. Photograph by Julius Shulman.
Fenster writes:
Progress:
Prog”ress n. [L. progressus, from progredi, p. p. progressus, to go forth or forward]
1. A moving or going forward; a proceeding onward; an advance; specifically: (a) In actual space, as the progress of a ship, carriage, etc. (b) In the growth of an animal or plant; increase. (c) In business of any kind; as, the progress of a negotiation; the progress of art. (d) In knowledge; in proficiency; as, the progress of a child at school. (e) Toward ideal completeness or perfection in respect of quality or condition; — applied to individuals, communities, or the race; as, social, moral, religious, or political progress.
2. The valuable by-product of the slow accretion of predominantly incorrect ideas.
Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:
Each one singly is called man;
‘t is twain if they are two;
three are a thorp;
four are a group;
a band is five men;
if there are six, it is a squad;
seven complete a crew;
eight men make a panel;
nine are ‘good fellows;’
ten are a gang;
eleven form an embassy;
it is a dozen if twelve go together;
thirteen are a crowd;
fourteen are an expedition;
it is a gathering, when fifteen meet;
sixteen make a garrison;
seventeen are a congregation;
to him who meets eighteen, they seem enemies enough.
He who has nineteen men has a company;
twenty men are a posse;
thirty are a squadron;
forty, a community;
fifty are a shire;
sixty are an assembly;
seventy are a line;
eighty are a people;
one hundred is a host.
— Snorri Sturluson
Related
Blowhard, Esq. writes:
Click on the image to enlarge.
“Phryne Revealed before the Areopagus” (1861) by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Eddie Pensier writes:
Melbourne has a justified reputation as one of Australia’s most cosmopolitan cities. The dining, drinking, shopping, and culture scenes can hold their own among any in the world. It’s frequently rated amongst the “most livable” cities, whatever you make of such things.
However, there’s a plague on Melbourne: really, really ugly architecture. I may not be an architecture connoisseur like my fellow Uncouth bloggers, but I know hideous when it bangs me over the head and grinds my nose into the sidewalk.
Photos after the break. Neither I nor the management of Uncouth Reflections will be held liable for retinal damage inflicted by the following horrors.
Paleo Retiree writes:
The vogue for everything pumpkin-flavored has now officially gone too far.
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
