Wednesday, January 25, 2006

On Literary Pleasure

'Learning tends to be, in various ways and for various reasons, pleasurable, and for many of us learning from poems (or novels or movies or pop songs) tends to be doubly pleasurable, to flesh and spirit equally, to mind and heart simultaneously--that harmony, that interdependence of our faculties seems to me of the essence for this enjoyment, for these literary pleasures. But as [Roland] Barthes insists and Aristotle, were he not something of a prude, would agree, without the sensual urge for the satisfaction of the senses, the mind's and the spirit's pleasures, unsummoned by the sensual imagination, would not exist. Delighted cognition would no more exist than would the pleasure of solace or diversion, and so it is the carnal pleasure in reading poems aloud, the heard voice's evoking images and sounds and meanings, that I emphasize. And this pleasure has much less to do with that cunning honey smeared on the rim of the medicinal cup (but what child was ever twice fooled by that ruse?) than it does with the slow and imperceptible nurture that Valery assures us we forget that we ingest, so intent we are on sucking the sweetness from the orange.'

W.R. Johnson, 'The Death of Pleasure: Literary Critics in Technological Societies' (from The Interpretation of Roman Poetry: Empiricism or Hermeneutics?, Karl Galinksy, ed., p.202)

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Monday, January 23, 2006

Monte Cristo

The wiffle and I watched The Count of Monte Cristo the other night. I'd seen it once before, but had forgotten a lot of it. Man, that movie is SWEET. The narrative is so compelling. I started reading (an abridged) version of the book several years ago, but didn't finish it. I'm going to have to move that one back to the list in the uncut form.

In other news, sorry for the lack of posts around here lately. I'm sure our 1-3 readers are very disappointed.

In still other news, somebody from church gave me NBA Live 2005 a few weeks ago for the computer. I've never been much of a video game guy except for Mario Kart, NHL '95, and Tecmo and Super Tecmo Bowl. But this game is cool. Pistons simulation, narrated by Marv Albert and the czar Mike Fratello.

Peace to you and your extended kin networks.

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Monday, January 09, 2006

On George Clooney and 'Print the Legend'

Here.

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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

More on the iPod Nation

I should have mentioned the names of the Dave Van Ronk songs I’ve been digging on lately. One is called ‘Jesus Met the Woman at the Well’, which is basically John 4:16-19 and 39. It has some nice ring-composition, beginning with v.39, going back to v.16, and ending again at 39. The other is called ‘Michigan Water Blues’, and both are available for free download at Amazon.

The other track I’ve been liking is 'Reconstruction Site' by the Weakerthans from the album of the same name, also available free at Amazon.

Finally, I’ve found the joy of podcasts. One I’ve subscribed to is this indie rock thing that just gives you one track a week with a little bit of talking before and after–-one of the backlogged songs from November is a sweet tune by Rocky Votolato. I also subscribed to one from Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Its most recent offering is a very good Christmas sermon by Philip Ryken on John 3:17.

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Tuesday, January 03, 2006

iPod Nation

First of all, Happy New Year!

Second of all, because of a couple of very generous Christmas gifts, I've officially joined the iPod nation. Some things I've enjoyed listening to lately:

Braid.
Hey Mercedes.
The wonderfully tongue-in-cheek (at least, I hope it's tongue-in-cheek) song 'Art is Hard', off of Cursive's The Ugly Organ.
'Why Bother at All', Koufax.
Lead Belly.
Dave Van Ronk.
Small Brown Bike; I just discovered that out of their ashes some members have formed a band called LaSalle. I've heard one track, and it was sweet. Michigan rock.
The Magnetic Fields' hilarious cover of 'If I Were a Rich Man' from Fiddler on the Roof.
'Then It Won't Hurt No More', The New Lost City Ramblers.
Finally, somehow a song called 'One Moment' by Jon Dee Graham ended up on our computer, though I don't remember downloading it. Some of the lyrics seem vaguely appropriate for the Christmas season, so here they are (these are from the Patty Smyth cover, since in my quick search I couldn't find a page with an entry for Graham):

In the name of the fifty-three saints
I will go searching says
Seek out the hurt he says
Where comes this pain
Could it be a whirlwind spinning in the dark
An animal in your heart he says
I will find the same in time
One moment to another
One moment to another
One moment to another
With the baby that went before
There will be no suffering says
There will be no hurt he says
For either or the one
He will into this world
He's an easy thing he says
No mishappenings he says
The innocent will come in time
One moment to another
One moment to another
One moment to another
There will be no suffering
There will be no hurt

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