Occasional Reader 12/26/2019 5:20:28 AM

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Occasional Reader 12/26/2019 5:23:00 AM

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Wow:

https://m.theepochtimes.com/hong-kong-police-aim-gun-at-protester-holding-epoch-times-poster_3184292.html

lucius septimius 12/26/2019 6:47:04 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 1:

I slept in as long as I could -- my dinner guest for Christmas didn't leave until midnight, after which I had to wash dishes and clean the kitchen.

PaladinPhil 12/26/2019 7:30:59 AM

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Boxing day, or day two of relaxation. Wife is feeling better today and is planning on spending time with her son. Was thinking of taking them out to shoot some rifles, but the days are short and he likes sleeping in when he can so that will probably be a pass for now. Besides it's cold and snowy out and he likes his comfort. Just got to get dressed and dig out the freedom seeds from the shed and I will be out to punch holes in paper.

buzzsawmonkey 12/26/2019 9:02:47 AM

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For those interested in contemplating literature, it is interesting to note that Lillian Hellman's "Watch on the Rhine" and "Little Foxes" are basically the same play, with the characters slightly reshuffled.

Both center around the Strong, Heroic Daughter, who is deeply attached to an ailing older man; her father in "Foxes," who dies; her husband in "Rhine," who goes off to almost-certain death.

Both have a Strong Mother---evil in "Foxes," noble in "Rhine."

Both have a weak, faded southern-belle family friend---married to the villain in "Rhine," mother of one of the villains in "Foxes," both of whom break into the Ailing Older Man's papers.

Both have a pair of Faithful Family Retainers: the maid Addie and the servant Cal, both black, in "Foxes"; the French maid/seamstress and the black butler in "Rhine."

Both plays end with the Strong, Heroic Daughter vowing to fight fascism: with the mother's approval and admiration in "Rhine," and to the mother's fear and consternation in "Foxes."

"Foxes" is less obviously agitprop than "Rhine," but it is interesting to see how the almost-identical elements are recombined in the two plays.

lucius septimius 12/26/2019 9:43:14 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 5:

Personally, I find Lilian Hellman insufferable.  That said, Watch on the Rhine is one of my mother's favorite movies.  The political aspects, naturally, completely went over her head.

buzzsawmonkey 12/26/2019 9:50:07 AM

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In #6 lucius septimius said: Watch on the Rhine is one of my mother's favorite movies.  The political aspects, naturally, completely went over her head.

How could the political aspects of that film "go over" anyone's head?  The film clubs you over the head with them constantly.

The thing I find striking about the film is that the Good Ill Man, Paul Lukas (Bette Davis's husband), when asked his profession, describes himself as an "anti-fascist."  This recalls an incident at the beginning of Orwell's novel "Coming Up For Air," where the narrator goes to a Left Book Club Lecture being given by "X, the well-known anti-fascist."  The narrator starts musing on the odd anomaly of describing one's profession as being an "anti-fascist," and goes into a discussion about how such a person's "job" is really stirring up hate.  Not that the narrator is sympathetic to fascists; he just can see the fraud of claiming such an occupation as a "profession."

buzzsawmonkey 12/26/2019 9:53:13 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 6:

As to Lillian Hellman being insufferable, I certainly can see that---but being myself a huge fan of her fellow-communist and companion Dashiell Hammett, I cut them both a little slack.  I prefer to be amused by studying the seams in her agitprop---just as I admire the book "Johnny Tremain" while recognizing with some amusement the late-Thirties communist agitprop running through it.

Alice in Dairyland 12/26/2019 11:17:37 AM

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lucius septimius 12/26/2019 11:25:15 AM

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In #7 buzzsawmonkey said: How could the political aspects of that film "go over" anyone's head?

Let's just say that Mom has a remarkable knack for seeing precisely what she wants to see in every situation.  In this case, she identifies with the Bette Davis character because she is a "strong woman" just like mom is a "strong woman."  And that's the only thing she sees -- characters as reflections of her own ego.

buzzsawmonkey 12/26/2019 2:27:48 PM

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The French are now saying that they "may not be able to save" Notre Dame.  Pretty pathetic when medieval masons and architects could build a cathedral with crude tools, but modern architects and masons can't save one.

Looks like saving Notre Dame is off the Chartres.

Kosh's Shadow 12/26/2019 2:56:01 PM

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In #11 buzzsawmonkey said: The French are now saying that they "may not be able to save" Notre Dame.  Pretty pathetic when medieval masons and architects could build a cathedral with crude tools, but modern architects and masons can't save one. Looks like saving Notre Dame is off the Chartres.

++++

As for the difficulty they are having, there is unstable damaged scaffolding that they have to remove, and if it collapses, it will damage the cathedral.

Occasional Reader 12/26/2019 4:42:36 PM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 11:

The cathedral represents white privilege anyway, so who cares?

/yes, that was actually a concept making the rounds on Twitter shortly after the fire, in case you were not aware

buzzsawmonkey 12/26/2019 4:57:41 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 13:

One more reason for me to never go on Twitter.

Kosh's Shadow 12/26/2019 4:59:50 PM

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In #13 Occasional Reader said: The cathedral represents white privilege anyway, so who cares? /yes, that was actually a concept making the rounds on Twitter shortly after the fire, in case you were not aware

I have suppressed making any comments on French Jew hatred, like how some Muslim beat an elderly Jewish woman and then threw her out her window to her death, but will not face a trial because he was insane because he smoked pot first, even though he had been openly abusive to her before.