Blog MeridianBlog MeridianArranging, deepening, enchanting the atmosphere. Commentary on art, books, film, music, and the ideas they inspire. Articles
Films about film
2008-01-19 20:30:00 Usually blissfully unaware of his surroundings, it perhaps begins to dawn on Marcello Mastroianni that he's being followed. Federico Fellini is at left (Click to enlarge; image originally found here). This semester, as in the fall, I'll be teaching seven classes (a full load for full-time faculty is five, just so you know). Also, I'll be tutoring on Friday mornings. But as I began to survey More About: Film , Films
The Edge of the American West
2008-01-18 07:54:00 I want to both thank and draw your attention to a newish history blog, The Edge of the American West . Eric Rauchway and Ari Kelman, both of the University of California at Davis, offer up commentary on contemporary events in this country by providing historical context for those events, along with This Day In History-type entries and the occasional oh-by-the-way entries we all have on our blogs.
A stretch of river XLIV: Scruffy as Ishmael
2008-01-16 17:15:00 Scruffy longs for ice. "Call him Scruffy--I do. On several occasions this winter--never mind how many; I've lost count--having no money whatsoever in his purse, and nothing particular (aside from his leash) to interest him in staying on the banks of the Little Arkansas, he thinks on occasion he will suddenly lunge forth when there is ice on the river and visit our small watery-but-frozen part More About: River , Stretch
". . . when the menstrual sings a song . . . "
2008-01-15 13:12:00 The title for this post, taken from an actual sentence in a paper on the Odyssey that I received, reminds me that one of the (unintentional, I'm sure) effects of spell-checks is that they can produce unexpected but often delightful moments of humor for instructors as they read student papers. In that vein, I point you in the direction of Taylor Mali's "The Impotence of Proofreading," with thanks More About: Song , Sings
The electronic lever and fulcrum
2008-01-13 20:51:00 Archimedes rocks your world. My colleague Larry the movie guy has noted odd things in the answers on tests he gives in his physics class, in which students are allowed to use calculators (Larry keeps a slide-rule around to show his students how things used to be done): students who get the more complicated math right but who end up getting the wrong answers because of mistakes in simple More About: Electronic
Thanks, Randall
2008-01-13 08:04:00 Yesterday, my good friend Randall of Musings from the Hinterland bestowed an award on me (the origins of this award can be found here). It's always humbling to be praised, especially when the praise comes from someone whose blog you admire yourself. Thank you, Randall. Said award is to be bestowed on blogs which, and I quote, "we love, can't live without, where we think the writing is good and
Don't be shy . . .
2008-01-11 23:17:00 (Image found here) I have just learned via my long-time bloggy friend Belle Lettre that at some recent point in the past began National De-Lurking Week. I don't know just how official this designation is--not quite as official as, say, Flag Day, I suspect. But somebody has seen fit to set aside a time to beckon in the direction of the legions of readers who visit but don't comment and say to
"Consider the source": The idea of the Universe as a virtual reality
2008-01-09 14:34:00 From Boing Boing (via Clusterflock) comes this speculative paper (pdf file) on the idea of the universe as comprised of information. From the abstract: This paper explores the idea that the universe is a virtual reality created by information processing, and relates this strange idea to the findings of modern physics about the physical world. The virtual reality concept is familiar to us from More About: Reality , Universe , Virtual Reality , Source , The Source
Elvis and reading
2008-01-08 16:15:00 I cannot improve on this caption, from here: "Of all the requests made each year to the National Archives for reproductions of photographs and documents, one item has been requested more than any other. That item, more requested than the Bill of Rights or even the Constitution of the United States, is the photograph of Elvis Presley and Richard M. Nixon shaking hands on the occasion of Presley's More About: Reading
"I could tell you some stories . . . ": Barton Fink, narrative, and listeni
2008-01-06 01:11:00 "What's in the box?" indeed. Image found here. Barton Fink (1991; dir. Joel Coen) [Spoiler alert: I do talk explicitly about certain important scenes in the film, especially below the fold, but my sense, given the nature of this film, is that it's unspoilable. Knowing what's coming will make it no less mysterious.] Last night, I decided I needed some weirdness in my life, so I watched Barton More About: Stories
In which the Meridian goes bargain-hunting
2008-01-05 03:48:00 Charlie Meadows offers to show us the life of the mind. Coolio! Where do we sign up?? (Click on the image to enlarge it; originally found here.) Today I decided to visit Barnes & Noble for a little book-browsing and, well, didn't leave with any books. Indeed, that little notion flew out the window when I saw that they are having (until the 31st) a buy-any-two-DVDs-and-get-a-third-free sale. More About: Bargain , Meridian , Hunting
Wow
2008-01-04 11:45:00 "Sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this." I respect the opinions of my readers who have different politics, but I'd like them to consider that this is bigger than politics. This is not just (political) history; this is affirmation of our deepest values as a people--something I had come to fear we might have started down the darkening, descending way to losing. I can't tell
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is: A ramble through "the na
2008-01-02 19:10:00 Pooh and Piglet, "tracking something." Also titled, "How the Meridian comes to write some of his blog posts." (Originally found here) By way of beginning, here's an excerpt from the chapter from which this illustration comes: One fine winter's day when Piglet was brushing away the snow in front of his house, he happened to look up, and there was Winnie-the-Pooh. Pooh was walking round and More About: Ramble
Not quite "Auld Lang Syne" . . .
2008-01-01 05:47:00 . . . but this will do nicely by way of wishing my reader(s) peace and blessings for a happy 2008: Son Volt, "Windfall," from Trace. We'll see you around.
RIAA-rant, and the Best of 2007
2008-01-01 01:04:00 Tinariwen (who look like they'd be more than happy to kick some RIAA butt), on the cover of Aman Iman ("Water Is Life"), one of my picks for best album of 2007. This morning, I was listening to a downloaded copy of Little Feat's "All that You Dream," from their incomparable live album, Waiting for Columbus, as I read this--and, in particular, the passage quoted below. The little factoid about More About: Rant , Riaa
In the bleak mid-winter: A round-up of recent posts
2007-12-29 20:56:00 Cesar Boëtius van Everdingen, A young woman warming her hands over a brazier (c. 1650). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, courtesy of the Rijkswidget The Rijksmuseum's commentary for this beautiful painting says that Everdingen isn't painting a person so much as an idea: the idea of Winter itself--its coldness and darkness, yes, but also, in the midst of that, warmth and intimacy arising from huddling More About: Round Up , Recent , Posts , Round
Going to Hell: Some speculation regarding Huck Finn and slave-holding cultu
2007-12-29 15:27:00 Edwin Hergesheimer’s map of Southern slavery, September 1861, found here. Visit the link to see and explore an enlargeable image. Found via Matthew Yglesias. (EDIT: Now, I hope, a bit more precise in wording.) Whenever I teach or otherwise talk about Huckleberry Finn, I am quick to note the centrality of the Mississippi River to that novel--not just as its setting but how the basic fact of More About: Hell , Holding , Slave
The ousia of whales
2007-12-29 06:01:00 I learn stuff whenever I visit Hank's site, A Lake County Point of View, and today was no different. It was there that I read a fairly recent post of his, "The Ousia of Snow I." It's a ho-hum sort of post for Hank, which is to say, as I've said many times previously, that there's no one else out there (that I'm aware of) writing posts with such energy and wit and love of learning. Hank doesn't More About: Whales , Hale
". . . though of real knowledge there be little, of blog posts there be a p
2007-12-28 18:00:00 Once upon a time, a blogger strayed into waters he shouldn't have . . . (Image originally found here) This was going to be a silly little post about Melvil (born "Melville") Dewey and the fact that he was born on December 10, 1851, one month after the American publication of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. I was going to make a little hay of what I'd hope would be an entertaining if not humorous More About: Blog , Knowledge , Real , Posts
Post-Christmas post
2007-12-27 15:13:00 I arrived back in Wichita last night, after a very quiet Christmas with my mother and a precious couple of hours yesterday spent with my children and their mother chasing Scruffy around Carrollton, Texas, and then eating lunch with them. Nothing like a few lungfuls of bedroom-community air running after a dog to work up an appetite, eh? During my time away, I was also fortunate enough to speak More About: Post
Holiday hiatus
2007-12-22 07:22:00 Nor is this the promised substantive post. Apparently, my dozing off on the couch this evening was the more important order of the day. Instead, this is to inform my reader(s) that I'll be heading to Austin later today (Saturday) to spend Christmas with my mother. I'll return to Wichita on the 26th. And then, something (I hope) worthy of your visit here. Merry Christmas, and peace and More About: Holiday , Hiatus
Between-semester reading #1
2007-12-20 18:09:00 This is not the promised substantive post. Tomorrow, most likely. As the fulfillment of a long-time promise to myself, I've begun reading--this time, with the intent to finish--Georges Perec's famous-in-some-circles novel, Life: A User's Manual. Recounting the various lives of the tenants of a small apartment building in Paris up to a point just after the death of one of the tenants, it is More About: Reading , Semester
Another semester done gone
2007-12-18 21:13:00 The semester has ended. I'll be spending the afternoon and evening wearing a saffron robe, sitting in a lotus position, sipping jasmine tea and pondering imponderables, with this as the delicate accompaniment to my thoughts. THE sentence of the semester: "Poetry is not just for the tree-hugging hippies in California." Posts of actual substance to appear in a day or two. UPDATE: I've literally More About: Semester
Christmas music
2007-12-17 02:15:00 Via Mary of Either/Or comes this public service, "Christmas music that doesn't make you groan." I hope you'll give a listen to the songs she's linked to over there, but I want in particular to draw your attention to this song, Sufjan Stevens' "That Was the Worst Christmas Ever." I hope you'll listen closely. Not that it in any way resembles my life--not even close, thankfully--but as Mary More About: Music , Christmas Music
Filomena Moretti
2007-12-15 19:01:00 Via a colleague comes this video of this elegant guitarist performing Paganini's "Teme con variazioni." More recital footage here. Enjoy. More About: Moretti
In which the Meridian confesses that the post for this video resists clever
2007-10-29 00:43:00 Not sure whether this will begin the healing process or just cause yet further strife among my readers that erupted here, but . . . div#main{overflow:visible;} (Hat-tip: Andrew Sullivan) More About: Video , Post , Clever , Meridian , Fess
"You could have taken one more online personality test . . . and you didn't
2007-10-28 17:40:00 Well--in case you happen to be feeling that way today, here you go: a chance to assuage the crushing moral guilt that has been haunting you. What Classic Movie Are You?personality tests by similarminds.com Altruist that I am, I can take no credit for your acting on this chance to amend your life. This is the man to whom you owe that. More About: Online , Test , Personality , Ality
Thoreau as critical thinker
2007-10-26 12:24:00 There are times, I think, when one could do away with a couple hundred pages of the standard texts on rhetoric foisted on college freshmen and, instead, have them read and think carefully about certain passages from Walden, like this one, from "Economy": One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a More About: Thoreau , Critical , Critic , Thinker
"Why read something made up . . . ?": On unknowableness in fiction
2007-10-21 14:47:00 "Write about dogs!" (from Cartoon Bank) I've been teaching long enough that, on the first day, at least, I'm not often caught up short by students' questions--they tend, after all, to be about housekeeping matters. But on Wednesday in my Intro. to Literature class, after we'd gone through the syllabus, made introductions, and I asked if they had any questions of me or of the class, an older More About: Fiction , Read , Made , Lene , Some
"Ha-uuuu!"
More articles from this author:2007-10-20 02:07:00 What your correspondent will feel like after teaching 4 3-hour classes every Wednesday for the next two months. I think I'll just ease back into this blogging thing. Don't want to overdo. The Mrs. and I watched 300 today, courtesy of my colleague Larry the movie guy. Short review: beautiful to look at, but as for the script, let's just say it wasn't quite "St. Crispen's Day". On that latter 1, 2, 3 |
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