The Greatness of America

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 1

Hoping we still have this ability!

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire

Cinderella at the Kitchen Fire, Thomas Sully, 1843

Tthis lovely, gentle painting is in the Dallas Museum of Art and was brought to my attention when sweet Hannah gave me a print of it after a visit there. I love the glimpse of the stepsisters primping in the background.

Well Said: Absolute Government

A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate for the contempt he feels for those around him.

Alexis de Toqueville

The Carp Streamers Bless Children

Calligraphy and View, The Carp Streamers Bless Children

 I love the way these carp streamers look as if they are swimming in the blue sky as if it is the sea. The blogger tells us:

In the Far East, the carp is an auspicious fish.
They had continued swimming the festival history more than 1000 years.

Now, I am seeing wind.
The carp streamers ( Koinobori ) are swimming in the deep blue firmament.

Time, Space, Existence, 　 Eternally.. 　Stream of Universe...

Kingfisher

Remo Savisaar, Kingfisher

This looks like a beautiful painting.

Couldn't Put It Down — West of Eden by Harry Harrison

But what if history had happened differently? What if the dinosaurs had survived to evolve intelligent life?

In West of Eden, bestselling author Harry Harrison has created a rich, dramatic saga of a world where the descendants of the dinosaurs struggled with a clan of humans in a battle for survival.

Here is the story of Kerrick, a young hunter who grows to manhood among the dinosaurs, escaping at last to rejoin his own kind. His knowledge of their strange customs makes him the humans' leader ... and the dinosaurs' greatest enemy.

Ah 1984. The year I got married. The year I read West of Eden. So many good things happened that year!

I loved this book from the beginning and reread it a lot but I haven't picked it up for a long time. When it was selected for an upcoming podcast episode, I was curious if it would hold up. It is 400 pages long and I read 300 of them last night. Plus I've been sneaking a few pages here and there as I have gaps in my morning routine. I guess that means I like it as much as ever!

The worldbuilding is simply wonderful. The contrast between the two ways of innovation, adaptation, and tradition are also interesting. Kerrick as the person bridging the two worlds of intelligent dinosaur and nomadic humans brings just the whole story into focus.

Plus it's a darned good adventure.

With a friendly welcome, as if the soul had been in pain and imprisoned, [Jesus] says sweetly ...

Then we hope that God has forgiven us our sins, and that it is true. Then our courteous Lord shows himself to the soul most merrily and with a glad expression. With a friendly welcome, as if the soul had been in pain and imprisoned, he says sweetly, “My darling, I am glad you have come to me. In all this misery I have ever been with you. Now you see my loving and we are made one in bliss.”

Julian of Norwich

This really says it all, doesn't it?

The Little Owl

Albrecht Durer, 1506, The Little Owl
via WikiPaintings

Albrecht Durer is probably most famous for his painting of a hare, but I couldn't resist this little fellow.

An Invitation From Someone You Have Longed to Meet

Just imagine if one fine day an invitation arrived that you have been waiting for for a very long time, from someone you have been waiting to meet. A person with whom you have longed to stay, to spend a long time talking together. On the day that invitation arrived, how great would be your joy?

Death is God’s invitation, and it is with this joy in my heart that I await it. I know well how good and beautiful God is and how tenderly He takes care of me. For this reason, when I finally receive His invitation, I will be very happy to accept it.

[…]

The fact that He holds in store His greatest gift, death, until the last moment, is precisely the loving gesture of a Father. In fact, I think, as a parent, I too would do the same if I had something beautiful to give as a gift to my children. I would keep it hidden until the last moment, to bring it out as a surprise, when they least expect it. I could then enjoy the sudden amazement and joy painted on their faces. In the same way, God will rejoice when he sees my surprise when I accept death’s invitation.

Takashi Nagai, Thoughts from Nyokodo

I love this so much.

Dodo Head

Dodo head (detail)
via Biblipeacay

This detail comes from a much more thorough post at BibliOdyssey containing Zoological Atlas pages that are a treat for the eyes. I'm sad there's no chance of ever seeing a Dodo in real life but grateful for the images.

What was the first temptation?

We know what the first sin was: Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit. But do you know what the first temptation was? "You will be like gods" (Genesis 3:5). This is the first temptation that has always plagued humanity.

Word Among Us, Feb. 26, 2023

Holy moly. Yes.

Cat in a Window

Utagawa Hiroshige
One Hundred Famous Views of Edo #101, "Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival"
via Wikipedia

I was looking for cat art thanks to Pangur Ban and found it very difficult to locate. Then I came across this by Utagawa Hiroshige whose 100 Views of Edo are on my coffee table as I leisurely go through them. Perfect!

Turtles

Claude Aubriet (1665-1742) - Album de coquillages et poissons
via Biblipeacay

I'm a sucker for turtles. Real turtles that is. Old fashioned drawings of turtles are a close second. Aren't these simply fantastic in coloring and details?

A Movie You Might Have Missed #80 — Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan)

It's been 12 years since I began this series highlighting movies I wished more people knew about. I'm rerunning it from the beginning because I still think these are movies you might have missed.

Passion is about to find two unlikely partners.

A middle-aged Japanese businessman’s dull life takes an interesting turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class just to meet the beautiful instructor. But he keeps the lessons secret because in Japan ballroom dancing —where you hold a stranger closely in public — is considered perverted.

Meanwhile, his wife feels the changes in the behavior of her happier husband, and hires a private eye to investigate whether he is having an affair.

This charming and funny movie gives foreigners real insight into Japanese life in the city and suburbs and the cultural restraints that everyone must live with daily in modern life. It isn't really about dancing or romance so much as it is about social commentary on several levels, albeit with a light hand.

When you dance you’re exposing your inner self. You are out there for the world to see. This has so much potential for embarrassment. You have to ignore that if you want to enjoy what you’re attempting. You have to allow yourself to trust or you don’t get the full experience in living — to varying degrees everyone in the movie makes that connection.

I originally watched this in 1997 with an intern fresh from Japan who had seen it twice already. She was surprised at some of the places the American audience laughed and had to ask why some things were funny. Clearly the director had a good understanding of both Japanese and English speaking audiences to be able to hit both so accurately!

NOTE

Scott and I discussed this on episode 105 of A Good Story is Hard to Find.

Rembrandt's Elephants

I love this because (a) I love elephants, (b) I love Rembrandt, (c) Sam in Lord of the Rings loves oliphants, and (d) I really, really loved seeing an elephant in Eden. Check out the next drawing.

Be sure to go to lines and colors to see why Rembrandt's elephants were featured and for more of his olliphant drawings.

Water into Wine

If Christ could change water into wine, why could He not change wine into His own Blood?

St. Cyril, Catechetical Lecture XXII

Genius! I don't know why that never occurred to me.

Ideal Christianity

Ideal Christianity doesn't exist, because anything the human being touches, even Christian truth, he deforms slightly in his own image. Even the saints do this.

Flannery O'Connor, letter 1963

Depressing but true.

Sin and Evil

Sin is interesting but evil is not. Sin is the result of an individual's free choice, but evil is something else.

Flannery O'Connor, letter 1957

An interesting distinction isn't it?

Bull Dog

Antique Produce Crate Label

The Golden Age in the City of Lights: Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris

This review ran in 2011 when we originally saw the movie. This is part of our mini-festival showing my mother our favorite Woody Allen movies. So I thought I'd share the review again.

Owen Wilson plays a dreamer who has made a fortune writing screenplays but longs to find a sympathetic soul to read his first novel. His fiancee and her family seem wrong for him in every way but he doesn't notice because he's so busy longing for the Golden Age of 1920's Paris when the American writers and artists mingled. One evening, lost in a dark side street, sitting forlornly on the steps, he hears midnight chime and a very old yellow taxi pulls up. The merry group inside beckon him in and he joins them only to find himself literally swept away to meet his idols.

Midnight in Paris has a surprisingly straight-forward story and moral, albeit one told with a romantic eye to the artists in 1920s Paris and those who yearn nostalgically for the past. This is a love letter to Paris, a nod to comedy, a commentary on modern Americans in Paris, and above all a reminder that now is all the time we have and we may be living in a golden age in the present. Sweet, charming, and funny. A winner all 'round.

I give it four stars out of five because there were a few details which didn't work with the logic of the story quite right, and which we all noticed. They don't make that much of a difference but catching them would have gotten a bit closer to perfection.

UPDATE
My favorite people were Hemingway and Dali but I must also add that I've never understood people who say that Marion Cotillard is beautiful. Until now. She is luminous in this film. Kathy Bates was also perfectly cast as Gertrude Stein. All were just a joy to behold in this film.