dual personalities

Month: November, 2011

November 7, 2011

F. Buechner: He da man

by chuckofish

“The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming. But again and again we avoid the long thoughts….We cling to the present out of wariness of the past. And why not, after all? We get confused. We need such escape as we can find. But there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need—not all the time, surely, but from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember—the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.”
― Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

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November 6, 2011

Lectionary for All Saints’ Sunday

by chuckofish

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

I John 3:1-3 (NRSV)

I am reminded of Steve Jobs whose last words were purportedly, “Oh, wow.”

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November 4, 2011

Take a hike

by chuckofish

Winter is closing in here and the only outdoor activity I’m likely to get is raking leaves. Today I was in the mood for a hike, but had to settle for looking at pictures of past glories. I love wide open spaces. It’s one of the things (besides thunder storms) I miss most about the Midwest. Here we have trees and mountains, which are nice enough, but I do like a vista. I don’t get home to Missouri as much as I’d like, but I have found solace (and wide open spaces) on Dartmoor in Devon.

A tor on Dartmoor

Dartmoor has very cool rock formations…

Here are my “men against the sky” who enjoy climbing around. I prefer to keep my feet on the ground (and take pictures).

Picture me huffing, puffing, and occasionally complaining on the way up. The view and fresh air are worth it though.

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November 4, 2011

“Waiter, will you serve the nuts?”

by chuckofish

“I mean, will you serve the guests the nuts?”

Ah, the divine Ms. Loy and wonderful William Powell. Have you heard that they are planning to do a re-make of The Thin Man with (no kidding) Johnny Depp? Now, I do have a soft spot for Johnny and even feel a sort of kinship with him, but, really, Nick Charles? Why can Hollywood never leave well enough alone? Re-make, shme-make, I hate re-makes!

Anyway, my Friday movie pick is any movie from the classic Thin Man series: After the Thin Man (1936), Another Thin Man (1939), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), and Song of the Thin Man (1947). All happily star William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora. The final film even features Dean Stockwell as Nick Charles Jr.

The original Thin Man was nominated for Best Picture and Oscar nominations were given out to William Powell, director W.S. Van Dyke, and screenwriters Goodrich and Hackett for adapting Dashiell Hammett’s original story. Unfortunately The Thin Man ran up against It Happened One Night and it won nothing. And really, why wasn’t Myrna Loy nominated? Please.

And who can forget…

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November 3, 2011

Let us give thanks

by chuckofish

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I’d like to express my thanks – I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. ~Irving Berlin

Finally the “Halloween season” is over and we move into November. It is a month to be consciously thankful. It is time to put away the witches and ghosts and get out the pilgrims!

and these guys…

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November 2, 2011

Zut alors! November already?

by chuckofish

The best thing about a new month is changing the picture on my Snow & Graham desk calendar. No kidding. I hope Santa brings me a refill for Christmas! (Which we all know is just around the corner.)

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November 1, 2011

Happy birthday, Stephen Crane

by chuckofish

Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. He wrote The Red Badge of Courage when he was 24 and died at 28.

It rained. The procession of weary soldiers became a bedraggled train, despondent and muttering, marching with churning effort in a trough of liquid brown mud under a low, wretched sky. Yet the youth smiled, for he saw that the world was a world for him, though many discovered it to be made of oaths and walking sticks. He had rid himself of the red sickness of battle. The sultry nightmare was in the past. He had been an animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war. He turned now with a lover’s thirst to images of tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks — an existence of soft and eternal peace.

Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden rain clouds.

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