quotes | dual personalities

October 13, 2014

“I can’t look at everything hard enough.”*

by chuckofish

“Field of Lilies”, Louis Comfort Tiffany

Last week I watched The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) and cried through much of it. Then this weekend I watched Our Town (1940) and wept through the entire third act. I must say that much of this was due to the great musical scores of both films, by Bernard Hermann and Aaron Copland, respectively, but still. They even changed the end of Our Town! (Spoiler alert) Emily doesn’t die! They softened up the hard ending of the play, but it was still effective.

Then I finished Jan Karon’s Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good and got a little weepy. It is not a sad book at all, but it reminds us all to rejoice and be glad and you know that that can make me tear up.

Then we sang hymn #624 in church–“Jerusalem the Golden”–and I was done (or undone as the case may be).

Well, you know what Frederick Buechner says about tears:

You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you’ve never seen before. A pair of somebody’s old shoes can do it. Almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay close attention.

They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go next.

(Whistling in the Dark)

So keep your eyes and your heart open as you go forth into the world this week. Thanks be to God.

*Emily in “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder

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October 7, 2014

The Era of the Wild Apple

by chuckofish

“In the Orchard” by Winslow Homer

“To appreciate the wild and sharp flavors of these October fruits, it is necessary that you be breathing the sharp October or November air. What is sour in the house a bracing walk makes sweet. Some of these apples might be labeled, “To be eaten in the wind.” It takes a savage or wild taste to appreciate a wild fruit. . . The era of the Wild Apple will soon be past. It is a fruit which will probably become extinct in New England. I fear that he who walks over these fields a century hence will not know the pleasure of knocking off wild apples. Ah, poor soul, there are many pleasures which you will not know! . . . the end of it all will be that we shall be compelled to look for our apples in a barrel.”

– Henry David Thoreau

How right you are, Henry!

Claude Monet, 1878 “Apple Trees in Bloom at Vetheuil”

Winslow Homer “Green Apples”

Well, it is apple season and, although I can’t pick them wild off a tree, I do buy some pretty good ones at my local Dierberg’s. And you know what they say about an apple a day, right?

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October 2, 2014

Words of wisdom

by chuckofish

“I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”

–Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By and About Groucho Marx

Today is the birthday of Julius Henry Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977)–American comedian and film and television star.

An early photo of the Marx brothers with their parents in New York City, 1915. From left to right: Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo, Frenchie (father), Chico, and Harpo.

So stop taking yourself so seriously, at least for today! A toast to Groucho and his brothers–L’chaim!

Please note that it is also the birthday of Graham Greene–but it was much too depressing looking for a quote from him! I am not a great fan of his novels, but some of the movies based on his novels or for which he wrote the screenplays–such as The Third Man (1949) and This Gun For Hire (1942)–are pretty darn good. So another toast, barkeep–for Graham Greene!

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September 26, 2014

“You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life I swear.”*

by chuckofish

I received my Williams College Alumni magazine yesterday. I love reading the class notes of the really old classes. Thurston So-N-So, class secretary for the class of 1940-something, had polled his classmates on the question “What is your favorite song?” Then he wrote about the answers. Several of the guys said “The Star Spangled Banner”. Others mentioned songs from the Big Band era that had been personally important to them. Still others said that Williams songs such as “The Mountains” and “Yard By Yard” were their favorites. Thurston promised to continue this conversation in the next issue.

Anyway, it brings up a good question. Do you have a favorite song? I could not possibly name ONE. There are so many categories! There are so many great songs! The mind reels.

We grew up listening to such a wide range of music–from classical to folk to show tunes–and now it is all a big jumble in my poor over-burdened mind. I mean, I remember spending countless recess periods in third grade walking hand-in-hand with my best friend Nancy singing “Edelweiss” out loud. We just loved it. And, no, I do not remember anyone making fun of us for doing this. But I can’t say it is my favorite song anymore.

Likewise I remember loving “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” by Johnny Cash when I heard it on television as an impressionable 4-year old. I’m sure I listened to the 45 my mother bought incessantly. But, again, it is not my favorite song of all time.

What is it about a song that makes it your favorite? Is it a song you can hear over and over and never tire of? Do you hear the first note and think, “Ah. Yes.”? Does it evoke an emotional response? Does it express perfectly how you feel?

Well, here are a few songs that qualify for me:

1. “Moon River” by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini

2. “Positively 4th Street” by Bob Dylan (unfortunately this video is not Bob D. singing, but it is the best one I could find. You get the idea)

3. “Mack the Knife” by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht

4. “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” by Hank Williams

5. “Man In Black” by John R. Cash

Do you have a favorite song?

Of course, this leads to my Friday Movie Pick. How about one of these movies with ‘song’ in the title? Song of the South (1946), Brian’s Song (1971), Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Torch Song (1953). I’m sure there are lots more, right?

Have a great weekend!

*Sam in Garden State (2004) talking about the Shins.

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September 23, 2014

“Shake your business up and pour it. I don’t have all day.”

by chuckofish

This past weekend I finished a mystery that was recommended to me by someone at work whose opinion I respect. The book was okay. I mean I read the whole thing and that is saying something. It was well-written and engaging enough, but as mysteries go, it just wasn’t Raymond Chandler.

So I decided to re-read, for the umpteenth time, The Big Sleep.

And, omg, on the first page you are greeted with

I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

And a few pages later, Philip Marlowe says, in reply to Mrs. Regan saying she doesn’t like his manners:

“I’m not crazy about yours,” I said. “I didn’t ask to see you. You sent for me. I don’t mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a Scotch bottle. I don’t mind your showing me your legs. They’re very swell legs and it’s a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don’t waste my time trying to cross-examine me.”

Nobody writes like Raymond Chandler. He is just the best. And as I’ve said before, Philip Marlowe is one of the great characters in fiction. Right up there with Hamlet and Holden Caulfield, if you ask me.

And R.C. was an Episcopalian. I know we would have been best friends.

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September 16, 2014

“You’re lucky if you get time to sneeze in this goddam phenomenal world.” *

by chuckofish

I am very grateful that daughter #1 came home for a whole nine days. She is one busy lady, as you know, and so for her to come home is a big deal.

But I guess in this “goddam phenomenal world” it is still a treat to sit on the couch and watch a lot of Buffy with your mother.

It is certainly a treat for me.

Besides celebrating her birthday,

we had beers at the Boathouse with the boy.

We watched our hometown parade.

KHS marching band–huzzah!

As usual, the Methodists were the coolest

We hung out with the church ladies

and we watched the hometown band perform at the hometown festival.

Andrew and Mark, we remember you when!

We went to church and afterwards we visited some old pals at Grant’s Farm.

We watched Rio Bravo (1959)

AND El Dorado (1966).

Yes, the apple does not fall far from this nerd tree. Thank goodness.

*Franny and Zooey

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September 4, 2014

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

“These days, Clarissa believes, you measure people first by their kindness and their capacity for devotion. You get tired, sometimes, of wit and intellect; everybody’s little display of genius.”

–Michael Cunningham, The Hours

This is so true, don’t you think? The Hours, which I read over the weekend, is full of such truth. I liked it very much.

I remember going to see the movie when it came out back in 2002 and liking it very much. There was some major mis-casting, but I liked Meryl Streep as Clarissa a lot.

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.”

Not surprisingly, I liked the book better.

Indeed, there are not many instances where the movie is an improvement over the book. Ben-Hur (1959) comes to mind.

Some movies actually measure up to the book: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) does. And although the author did not think so, I think Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) is as good as the book.

This would make an interesting blogpost topic no doubt, but…back to what I’m reading.

I picked up Malcolm Cowley’s And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade off a shelf at home–I think it was my father’s copy from 1977–and started that. I like reading about writers. Cowley is one of those guys who knew everybody and has a lot to say about them. He spent most of his career as a literary critic and editor and never really made it as a fiction writer himself. He did win a National Book Award for this book, writing about other writers.

I seem to remember thinking that he had a little chip on his shoulder, that he always managed to cast some aspersion on whomever he is writing about, that he makes himself more important than he probably was. But I have not found that to be the case reading this book now. Perhaps I am thinking of Exiles Return which he wrote in 1933 and then revised in 1951. Perhaps he had mellowed by 1977 when he wrote And I Worked at the Writer’s Trade. We do tend to do that, don’t we?

So what are you reading?

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September 3, 2014

A sonnet for Wednesday

by chuckofish

As if you didn’t already know, I’ll remind you that on this day in 1802 William Wordsworth composed the sonnet titled “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”.

Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762–1832) (after) John Bluck (fl. 1791–1819), Joseph Constantine Stadler (fl. 1780–1812), Thomas Sutherland (1785–1838)

Westminster Bridge as it appeared in 1808 by Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762–1832)

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Now you’ll have something to discuss at the water cooler! Do they still have water coolers?

Joseph Nicholls 1742

Daniel Turner

Henry Pether 1862

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September 2, 2014

Vocation

by chuckofish

In honor of Labor Day, some wisdom from Frederick Buechner:

IT COMES FROM the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-interest. By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

—Wishful Thinking

Discuss among yourselves.

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September 1, 2014

The days grow short when you reach September*

by chuckofish

Sigh. August is over and with it goes the summer. School starts and we begin that snowball slide to Christmas and the end of the year.

Well, I did meet some of my August goals.

I (almost) finished my rehab of an upstairs bathroom. The painting is done. It is nearly impossible to take a picture in a bathroom, but perhaps this gives you an idea. I am pleased.

I caught up with several old pals for a few meals and conversation this month. (Once school gets underway, lunch out is impossible.)

Not much to check off the list I suppose, but meanwhile work and home continue to run fairly smoothly. Meals are made (such as they are), sheets are changed and new rolls of toilet paper appear. Sometimes that is all we can aspire to I think.

It’s time to appreciate/enjoy the last blooms of summer before those oak leaves begin to fall in earnest. Oy.

Enjoy your day off if you have one today! Appropriate movies to watch might be: Norma Rae, How Green Was My Valley, The Molly Maguires, Silkwood, The Grapes of Wrath, On the Waterfront.

Well, appropriate maybe, but I can’t say I’m in the mood. Any suggestions?

* “September Song” by Maxwell Anderson/Kurt Weill

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