Sherry Chandler

Shamash is looking for an author. I can’t help her with that but maybe one of my readers can. At any rate, every woman should read a piece that begins:

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE…

A set of screwdrivers,
a cordless drill, and
a black lace bra…

Rachel Dacus on Reading Emerson:

It’s funny that his lectures and essays are more poetic than his poems. It’s as if he had a formal standard to write to in poetry that didn’t at all suit his mentality. He seems stiff and self-conscious in the poems, relaxed and exuberantly expressive in the essays. Too bad free verse didn’t come along earlier so he could take advantage of its expressive vehicle.

Poesy Galore gives us The Nietzche Family Circus Generator, which pairs random quotes from Neitzche with random Family Circus cartoons. Though, says Emily, “A Gertrude Stein Family Circus might make me even happier.”

It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.

Harry Rutherford has been to see Bergman’s The Seventh Seal:

I was disappointed to discover there were no seals in it, although there was quite a cute squirrel.

Really though, it was, as promised, a very good film. Two fairly random thoughts: if you’re going to plunder Europe’s medieval past for material, it’s so much better to end up with The Seventh Seal than Lord of the Rings. And although it did live up to Bergman’s reputation for being a bit grim, it didn’t feel gratuitously or affectedly grim.

Pocahontas County Fair on Harry Potter:

This week, the Pocahontas Times features a large print ad headlined “Would Jesus Read Harry Potter?” I was immediately intrigued, and read the ~500 word “question and answer” essay. I was disappointed to find that it never answers the titular question about Our Lord’s reading habits. With quotes from Deuteronomy and Leviticus the author makes a strong case that God’s Chosen People ought not to practice sorcery, but there is no advice about reading fiction. In fact, the author of this advertisement clearly has read the Bible, and demonstrates that the Good Book describes many acts of sorcery. From this, one might infer that it is OK to read books that describe sorcery.

The Greenbrier Better Living Center in Ronceverte doesn’t give a clear answer to “Would Jesus read Harry Potter?” nor do they answer the more practical question they infer, “Should I (or my kids) read Harry Potter?” They don’ even say what the Harry Potter books have to do with sorcery as described in the Bible. (You would have to read a Harry Potter book to find out.)

Sour Duck has news of a remastering of Ringo Starr’s Octopus’s Garden, like she says, everybody’s favorite.

During recording of The White Album, The Beatles were experiencing a tumultuous time as a band, with arguments in the recording studio. Ringo became increasingly frustrated with the bickering, and felt his creative input was marginalized. He walked out and spent a couple of weeks with Peter Sellers on his yacht.

I wonder if the escapist vision of an underwater utopia held immense appeal at that time of crisis? The simplicity of the self-contained world must’ve been like an antidote to the conflict within the group.