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Noted author Case Hope Long was executed by lethal injection this morning for a crime neither he nor anyone else could remember. Beforehand, he announced that his last words would be, “These are my last words.” Considered a master of the arcane form of recursive historical writing, Long’s last and possibly greatest work was a novel titled . . . → Read More: Case Hope Long Executed Cover of Chronicles, Volume 1 Contrary to implications from the title, and also to the customary method of presenting biography, Bob Dylan’s book Chronicles: Volume 1 is not a traditional “Born on a mountaintop in …” chronologically-told tale. We learn bits of the back story throughout the book, enough to be satisfied that Dylan, famous for . . . → Read More: Chronicles: Volume 1 — Bob Dylan To quote a famous old Alka-Seltzer commercial, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” That was a long song. If you are searching for an intelligent review of the James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, look elsewhere. The book has been out for a few years. Plenty of literati of all sorts, including hyper-, semi-, and il-, the . . . → Read More: Ulysses by James Joyce — a Reaction As of July 25, 2011, I have migrated over 130 articles from my Neologistics blog, where since August 2005 I have posted many unsorted articles, including items unrelated to editing, writing, or literature. The articles copied from the old site have all been labeled with the category LEGACY. It has been a longstanding shortcoming of Google’s otherwise . . . → Read More: About Legacy Posts  Comments are closed  Arts, Baseball, Editing, Film, Humor, Language, Legacy, Literature, Music, Opinions, Quotes and Quips, Re: Views, Running, Sports, Squibblings, Stories, Technology, Thoughts, Usage, Writing Image via Wikipedia I had a dream last night about Queen Elizabeth II. Lovely woman, that one. She came to our locality for a visit, accompanied only by a male attendant, whom I presumed to be a personal secretary. She spoke at a function I was at, of undefined purpose. I walked a few steps behind her as she . . . → Read More: My Visit with Queen Elizabeth II Cover via Amazon Cover via Amazon In January 2011 I read Life by Keith Richards. In April I followed that with Eric Clapton’s earlier book: Clapton: The Autobiography. It was inevitable that readers who read both will see comparisons between these two icons of rock and roll. I doubt I’m the first to do so. I’ve never . . . → Read More: Keith Richards and Eric Clapton Autobiographies Comments are closed Arts, Music, Re: Views  CharlieWatts, Eric Clapton, KeithRichards, Mick Jagger, Rolling Stone On Saturday night we had the pleasure of attending a concert by the Fry Street String Quartet at the Southern Theater in downtown Columbus, which we had not yet visited in our three-plus years of living in Ohio. The Southern Theater, built originally in 1896, has a distinguished history of presenting theater productions featuring world-renowned performers. After . . . → Read More: Fry Street Quartet, Southern Theater Image via Wikipedia Once I used the phrase soft pedal in e-mail to an erudite friend, in a form like this: “I intend to soft pedal my idea so as not to stir up controversy and resistance.” The friend corrected me, claiming that the preferred phrase is soft peddle. A bit of Google research indicates that . . . → Read More: Soft Pedal vs. Soft Peddle Cover of Right Ho, Jeeves Among P.G. Wodehouse’s most popular novels is the 1934 work Right Ho, Jeeves!, featuring recurring luminaries, the young English gentleman Bertie Wooster and his ingenious and far-cleverer-than-his-boss valet Reginald Jeeves (whose first name is not given in this novel). One measure of this book’s popularity may be seen from the page of . . . → Read More: Right Ho, Jeeves! Comments are closed Arts, Language, Literature, Re: Views Bertie Wooster, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Jeeves, p g wodehouse, Right Ho Jeeves Cover of Paris / London: Testament Music reviews are typically descriptive, but because words never adequately describe music, I rarely review music recordings. Nonetheless, for Keith Jarrett’s 2008 album Paris / London: Testament I’ve made this exception. But first some background … People who know me are aware that I have long regarded Keith Jarrett to be my . . . → Read More: Keith Jarrett — Paris / London: Testament Note: This post is a duplicate of the article by the same title on my Neologistics Blog, but here is where I originally intended to put it. I decided that rather than moving it, I would just allow the duplication to exist. Image via WikipediaOne dismal February morning in 1962, near the beginning of the second semester . . . → Read More: Taking Remedial English What do authors Stephen King and David Foster Wallace have in common? As authors, other than having been successful — very little. Their work emanates from about as far from opposite sides of the universe as can be. Their commonality from the perspective of this neologistician is that they are two writers about whom I know far more personally than I do of their written works. . . . → Read More: Stephen King and David Foster Wallace Compared Comments are closed Arts, Editing, Language, Literature davidfosterwallace, Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Stephen King, Writing Cover via Amazon As a sometime composer and writer, I have always been fascinated by listening to creative people of all types discuss their work, especially how they go about doing it. Therefore, when I recently bumped up against the title The Creative Habit, a 2001 book by master choreographer Twyla Tharp, . . . → Read More: The Creative Habit — Twyla Tharp Comments are closed Arts, Legacy, Music, Re: Views The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, Twyla Tharp Placeholder for a review soon . . . → Read More: Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition Image via Wikipedia I’ve just finished reading a new book (2010) by David Lipsky, the title of this post. It’s about a five-day road trip author David Foster Wallace took in 1995 at the behest of Wallace’s publisher Little, Brown to promote his then new novel Infinite Jest, with Lipsky in tow, on assignment from Rolling Stone . . . → Read More: Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself Comments are closed Arts, Language, Literature, Re: Views, Squibblings, Thoughts David Lipsky, davidfosterwallace, infinitejest, Publishing, Writing Never read it. . . . → Read More: Moby Dick Comments are closed Literature, Quotes and Quips, Re: Views, Squibblings, Thoughts Literature, Moby-Dick Cover via Amazon We were present at the Columbus Museum of Art on October 7, 2010, for the members only opening of the exhibit “The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis.” If you are unfamiliar with the world of comic book and cartoon art, you may not know who Robert Crumb is, known professionally as . . . → Read More: The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis — Columbus Museum of Art Cover of Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov‘s 1963 novel Pale Fire appears on a number of lists purporting to identify the greatest novels of the twentieth century. I wouldn’t dare to attempt a literary analysis of Pale Fire. It’s been a staple of literature classes for over forty years, and countless reviews and scholarly . . . → Read More: Pale Fire — Vladimir Nabokov Comments are closed Arts, Language, Legacy, Literature, Writing Charles Kinbote, John Shade, Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov Image via Wikipedia Image via Wikipedia Have you ever noticed how some older people like to tell you their age? It seems I’ve reached that point in life where I’m anxious to tell people my age, sometimes looking for excuses to do so. It’s a pretty sorry state to be in — . . . → Read More: Can You Guess How Oold I Am? Cover via Amazon Last night we saw the recently restored version of Franz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece silent film Metropolis, the progenitor of almost every later science fiction action film. The venue was one of my favorite places in Columbus, the Wexner Center for the Arts on The Ohio State University campus, in the theater that holds . . . → Read More: Metropolis — 2010 Restoration Last night we watched Julie & Julia. Yes, we’re behind everyone else. All the movies we watch are borrowed from the library, so we have to wait until they are available. We haven’t rented a movie in nearly three years. The last time it was from Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. . . . → Read More: Julie & Julia Comments are closed Arts, Film, Legacy, Re: Views Julia Child, Julie & Julia, Julie Powell, Meryl Streep Image via Wikipedia Last night we watched the movie Bright Star, about the (short) life of John Keats — or at least about the last part of it. It’s a good movie. The dialog is captivating, particularly the snippy repartee between Keats’s romantic interest Fanny Brawne and his friend Charles Brown. Fanny and . . . → Read More: Bright Star Cover of Crown of Horns (Bone, Vol. 9) Cover of Crown of Horns (Bone, Vol. 9) Exactly one year ago today Suzy and I attended the world premiere of a documentary about comic book artist Jeff Smith, who is from Columbus area, and a graduate of The Ohio Statue University. Smith is famous in . . . → Read More: Bone — Jeff Smith Comments are closed Arts, Language, Legacy, Re: Views, Writing Bone, Columbus Metropolitan Library, JeffSmith, Out from Boneville Cover of House This morning I finished reading House, by literary non-fiction author Tracy Kidder, still most famous for his Pulitzer Prize winning book “The Soul of a New Machine,” written a couple of years before “House”. The book was published in 1985. I bought it around the time it was on the shelves in . . . → Read More: House — Tracy Kidder Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart A friend approached me one evening, an older (but not ancient) woman, wanting to know if she correctly understood what she had heard — that I had at one time been a professional photographer in New York City. Having no idea where she might have acquired such misinformation, I assured . . . → Read More: My Buddy Mozart Comments are closed Arts, Humor, Legacy, Music, Stories Bob Dylan, George Washington, Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cover of Elliott Carter On December 8, 2008 Elliott Carter celebrated his one-hundredth birthday, in good health and spirits. He still works several hours and goes for walks daily. This milestone was observed along with a flurry of accolades and honorary concerts, including a world premiere in New York performed by Daniel Barenboim . . . → Read More: Elliott Carter at One Hundred Dad On the morning my father died, he woke up and told my mother that he didn’t feel well and needed to get to the hospital right away. It did not take long to get him to where he could be made comfortable, but there was nothing that could be done. His life systems . . . → Read More: Famous Last Words Comments are closed Arts, Humor, Language, Legacy, Literature, Opinions, Quotes and Quips, Squibblings, Thoughts Humor, p g wodehouse Image via Wikipedia Sometimes I hear about neglected pianos, upon which I go on a bit of a rampage. As the owner of a Steinway model K, which I bought brand new from the dealer, an instrument I have always tuned and cared for myself, the idea of a piano sitting in a . . . → Read More: Neglected Pianos Cover of Barbra Streisand When Suzy and I have told people we went to hear Barbra Streisand in concert Thursday night (November 16th) the almost universal reaction has been a discreet, “Well, Barbra Streisand is not my cup of tea, but I’m glad you had fun.” Internally their reaction is roughly the same . . . → Read More: Streisand Does Phoenix Image via Wikipedia Saturday night we attended a Ballet Arizona performance that was billed as part of a George Balanchine festival. While the music, the dancing, and the choreography were all exquisite, the experience was not without eyebrow-raising issues. We bought tickets six months ago, when I learned that the program would be . . . → Read More: Balanchine Festival, Ballet Arizona Comments are closed Arts, Legacy, Music, Re: Views, Stories Ballet Arizona, George Balanchine, Igor Stravinsky Image via Wikipedia Last night was the first time in 62 years of musical life that I ever attended a live production of a Wagner opera. At that rate I’ll be 124 before I see my next one. I can wait. The event du jour was The Flying Dutchman, one of Wagner’s earliest works. The . . . → Read More: Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman — Arizona Opera Image via Wikipedia Music today has become like wallpaper — part of the ambience. Hardly anyone ever just listens to it any more, unless it’s to get up and dance. As a child I became accumstomed to simply listening to music, allowing it to take over my full attention. Even when I was . . . → Read More: Music As Wallpaper Cover of Georg Friedrich Händel On January 30th Suzy and I attended the Arizona Opera Company’s performance of Semele by Handel. Some musicologists classify it as a “secular oratorio” rather than an opera, but all presentations of it I’ve found listed by Google have been completely staged — by opera companies — so it . . . → Read More: Handel’s Semele — Arizona Opera Company Image via Wikipedia Friday night Suzy and I attended an all contemporary chamber music concert. (Contemporary if you count Ysaÿe.) It’s been a long time since I did that. The venue was a huge space in downtown Phoenix called The Ice House, which is exactly what it was built to be in 1910. . . . → Read More: Downtown Chamber Players Concert Review Cover of Sir Georg Solti Recently I have been looking for work once again, and in so doing have had to make myself available for job interviews, the humiliating grilling in which a person is expected to lay his life’s work experience on the line in the course of a few minutes. He . . . → Read More: Job Interviews Are Like Auditions Image by Getty Images via @daylife At this moment my wife is sitting in the living room watching Lord of the Rings. I tried watching it when it first came out, but fell asleep, and have had no further interest in watching the others. I also fell asleep watching the first Harry Potter movie, . . . → Read More: Fantastic Writing Cover of Béla Fleck You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Bela Fleck playing a Chopin Etude on the banjo. If you were to listen to it while falling over a cliff while running from a bear in Alaska, your life would be complete (and possibly over). You would never need to drink another . . . → Read More: Chopin on the Banjo Image via Wikipedia Some time ago I learned that Billy Joel has been busy composing “classical music.” What this term means to composers of popular music is generally something quite different from what it means to modern, mainstream, “serious” composers. To most pop composers it means putting on a suit and a . . . → Read More: Where’s the Beef? Comments are closed Arts, Legacy, Music, Re: Views Billy Joel, Frank Zappa, Paul McCartney, Randy Newman Image via Wikipedia Speaking of basic education (was I doing that?) … Certain skills are fundamental to life. The obvious ones include ability to care for oneself and to perform basic chores, reading, writing, basic arithmetic, to which I would add secondary skills such as riding a bicycle, swimming, for most persons driving . . . → Read More: Was That a Zebra or a Giraffe? Last year I read an article that began: The double Olympic champion didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after spotting Emma Fitch’s mis-spelt work of art [a tatoo] during a walkabout in Kent. I’ve seen tatoos justified as “art” before. ART?? Puhleeeze! Perhaps persons moved to become collectors of such AHHHRRRT ought to . . . → Read More: Tatoos As Art? |
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Copyright © 2012 Lynn David Newton - All Rights Reserved |
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