quotes | dual personalities

April 29, 2016

“Heroic, is it? Bedad, it’s epic! Ye begin to perceive the breadth and depth of my genius.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of author Rafael Sabatini (April 29, 1875 – February 13, 1950). He was born in Italy, the son of an English mother and an Italian father–both opera singers, which explains a lot.

Sabatini wrote in English, and all in all, he produced 31 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and a play. I think I read Scaramouche way back when, but he is best known these days because of two great movies and a bunch of other not-so-great movies, which were inspired by his novels. I’m thinking, of course, of Captain Blood (1935)

and The Sea Hawk (1940)

both starring Errol Flynn and directed by Michael Curtiz.

But we mustn’t forget Scaramouche (1952) which starred Stewart Granger

and The Black Swan (1942) with Tyrone Power–

both not as good despite being filmed in flaming technicolor. (There are also quite a few old silent movies based on his adventure novels.)

Anyway, I suggest we all watch movies this weekend inspired by the stories of Rafael Sabatini. We could do a lot worse. I vote for Captain Blood which is full of action and good dialogue:

Arabella Bishop: Oh, forgive me for not recognizing you, Dr. Blood. You’re so changed… and for the better.

Dr. Peter Blood: The Governor tells me I have you to thank for that.

Arabella Bishop: You don’t sound very grateful, Dr. Blood.

Dr. Peter Blood: Do you suppose I’d be grateful for an easy life, when my friends are treated like animals? Faith, it’s they deserve your favors, not I. They’re all honest rebels. I was snoring in my bed while they were trying to free England from an unclean tyrant [King James].

Arabella Bishop: I believe you’re talking treason.

Dr. Peter Blood: I hope I’m not obscure.

Have a great weekend!

*Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini

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April 20, 2016

It’s my birthday and I’ll wear a crown if I want to

by chuckofish

“Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life – it has given me me . It has provided time and experience and failures and triumphs and time-tested friends who have helped me step into the shape that was waiting for me. I fit into me now. I have an organic life, finally, not necessarily the one people imagined for me, or tried to get me to have. I have the life I longed for. I have become the woman I hardly dared imagine I would be.”

–Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

Daughter #2 arrives this evening and daughter #1 tomorrow morning. My brother and sister are coming to town on Friday!

Safe, smooth travels to all. Margaritas all around!

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April 18, 2016

With hearts aflame*

by chuckofish

It was a lovely flyover weekend with temperatures here near 80 degrees on Sunday.

I worked hard outside on Saturday spreading mulch and my back hurt on Sunday so I slowed down some. I planted geraniums in pots.

The boy came over on Saturday night because he was “batching it”–we watched our all-time favorite episodes of Miami Vice:

“Out Where the Buses Don’t Run” (season 2, episode 3)

with Bruce McGill as Hank Weldon

and “El Viejo” (season 3, episode 7)

with Willie Nelson as Jake Pierson

They never disappoint. We are huge nerds, I know, but we amuse ourselves.

In church we sang one of my favorite hymns which always makes me cry.

And it did.

I leave you with the third verse:

The sure provisions of my God attend me all my days;

oh, may thy house be mine abode and all my work be praise.

There would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;

no more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.

(Isaac Watts)

Have a good week.

*Hymn #478, Jesus, our mighty Lord, our strength in sadness

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April 14, 2016

Happy birthday, Susiebelle

by chuckofish

Darling daughter #2 turns 26 today! I will toast her tonight and miss her all day, but we’ll celebrate together next week when she comes home to celebrate my birthday. My cup runneth over with love.

“She was beautiful, but not like those girls in the magazines. She was beautiful, for the way she thought. She was beautiful, for the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about something she loved. She was beautiful, for her ability to make other people smile, even if she was sad. No, she wasn’t beautiful for something as temporary as her looks. She was beautiful, deep down to her soul. She is beautiful.”

–F. Scott Fitzgerald

And a birthday shout-out to Sarah Michelle Gellar, who turns 39 (!) today. Some birthday Buffy might be in order…

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April 13, 2016

Let me just say this about that

by chuckofish

So we all know that the Cardinals got off to a slow start. They lost their first three games to the Pirates. Immediately the nay-sayers were all, Oh no! And it’s going to be a terrible season! Mike Matheny doesn’t know what he’s doing, yada yada yada.

The Skipper calmly replied that we’re not hitting. We’ll figure it out and fix it.

St. Louis Post Dispatch photo

In the next four games the Cardinals scored 41 runs. Forty-one! Runs! In one game they hit three pinch-hit homeruns–a MLB-record.

The nay-sayers say, So are the Cardinals good? Or are the Braves and Brewers just bad?

Please. The Cardinals will be just fine.

The nay-sayers can sit on a tack.

And here’s a little pep talk for Wednesday:

“Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away.”

–Douglas MacArthur

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April 6, 2016

“Speak, thou vast and venerable head”*

by chuckofish

I wrote myself a note last week about April 5th being Gregory Peck’s 100th birthday–blogpost idea!–but, of course, I got sidetracked. Anyway, April 6th is as good a day as any to toast the divine GP.

I mean really, he was just the best. Not only was he one of the handsomest actors of all time, he had one of the all-time great voices.

He was in some of my favorite movies: Twelve O’Clock High (1949) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and How the West Was Won (1962) foremost among them. And he was also great in Roman Holiday (1953), On the Beach (1959), The Big Country (1958), and as Ahab in Moby Dick (1956). He made some pretty bad movies watchable, such as Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) and Duel in the Sun (1946).

He was on the UC Berkeley crew team in 1936-38. Again awesome.

I DVR’d On the Beach yesterday, so I am going to watch it.

So a toast to Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003). Why not treat yourself to one of the above films? You deserve it.

And as this is Wednesday and time for a mid-week pep talk, I leave you with this:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

–Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

*Ahab in Moby Dick

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April 5, 2016

The sufferings of this present time*

by chuckofish

My Monday felt like the above…not that I actually got into a fight or anything. But it was a hectic one, complete with a funeral at 11:00 a.m. (the worst time possible) and a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis back at work in the afternoon. Throw in the usual A/V issues and that was my day.

Phew. But spring is here.

Life is good, as they say.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I did that.

*Romans 8: 18

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March 30, 2016

Mid-week pep talk

by chuckofish

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” –Exodus 14:13

These words contain God’s command to the believer when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do? The Master’s word to him is, “Stand still.” It will be well for him if at such times he listens only to his Master’s word, for other and evil advisers come with their suggestions. Despair whispers, “Lie down and die; give it all up.” But God would have us put on a cheerful courage, and even in our worst times, rejoice in his love and faithfulness. Cowardice says, “Retreat; go back to the worldling’s way of action; you cannot play the Christian’s part, it is too difficult. Relinquish your principles.” But, however much Satan may urge this course upon you, you cannot follow it if you are a child of God. His divine fiat has bid thee go from strength to strength, and so thou shalt, and neither death nor hell shall turn thee from thy course. What, if for a while thou art called to stand still, yet this is but to renew thy strength for some greater advance in due time. Precipitancy cries, “do something. Stir yourself; to stand still and wait, is sheer idleness.” We must be doing something at once–we must do it so we think–instead of looking to the Lord, who will not only do something but will do everything. Presumption boasts, “If the sea be before you, march into it and expect a miracle.” But Faith listens neither to Presumption, nor to Despair, nor to Cowardice, nor to Precipitancy, but it hears God say, “Stand still”, and immovable as a rock it stands. “Stand still;”–keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.”

–Charles Haddon Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 – January 31, 1892) was a British Baptist minister, known as the “Prince of Preachers”

The painting is Pine forest in the Tyrol, Bertha Wegmann, Danish artist (1847 – 1926).

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March 25, 2016

“The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.”

by chuckofish

“I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe. I know what torment this is, but I can only see it, in myself anyway, as the process by which faith is deepened. A faith that just accepts is a child’s faith and all right for children, but eventually you have to grow religiously as every other way, though some never do.

What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross. It is much harder to believe than not to believe. If you feel you can’t believe, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God. ”

―Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor

Easter is really early this year as you know, catching many of us semi-unawares. Where did Lent go? I have no excuses. But I “watched” for an hour last night in the darkened chapel as I do every year, keeping the vigil as the disciples did with our Lord in the garden. It is a meaningful exercise for me.

The OM went with me so I wouldn’t be alone. (He didn’t fall asleep, but he looked at his phone like a good disciple.)

Today is Good Friday.

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, College Station, PA

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, State College, PA

This has been a busy week at work and I have been distracted and inattentive to my spiritual routine. But the only path to the hope of Easter is through the struggle of Holy Week. We need to pay attention! Today I am hoping to leave work early and attend the Good Friday service at Noon. I frequently have good intentions of doing this, but then don’t. You know how that is.

Side note: daughter #2 was born on Easter Saturday and I remember sitting in the Good Friday service feeling weird and thinking something was going on. Sure enough, I went to the hospital that night and she was born the next morning.

Anyway, tonight we watch Ben Hur (1959) up to the intermission.

We’ll watch the rest, starting with the chariot race, on Saturday night. On Sunday we’ll have a quiet brunch with the boy and daughter # 3 after church. What do you have planned?

“And now brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him the only life?”

–Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat

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March 11, 2016

“We must away ere break of day Over the wood and mountain tall”*

by chuckofish

Today I am heading east to visit daughters #1 and #2 in College Park.

We will cheer on daughter #1 on as she runs in the Rock ‘n Roll half marathon in D.C. Then we are heading to the Brandywine Valley in Pennsylvania for some museum and garden-going.

We will get our fill of N.C. Wyeth et al…

If you are looking for a good movie to watch in the meantime, I recommend Alleghany Uprising (1939) with a young John Wayne and Claire Trevor. I watched it this past week and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a highly politically-incorrect telling of a little-known piece of American history–

wherein a group of settlers in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Valley struggle to try and persuade the British authorities to ban the trading of alcohol and arms with the marauding Indians.

Some of the character actors are priceless–such as Wilfred Lawson as the Scotsman MacDougall, who really steals the show. A very young George Sanders is appropriately uppity as the British captain who doesn’t have a clue. I would put this film in the they-don’t-make-’em-like-this-anymore category, i.e. good entertainment with an excellent story and characters.

So remember, I will be off the internet through next Thursday. Maybe my dual personality will check in. I hope so!

*J.R.R. Tolkien

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