Open thread 6/11/22
I found these two videos in an old post of mine. They both feature the same well-known pas de deux from the second act of “Swan Lake.” The first video is of Natalia Makarova and Ivan Nagy in 1976, a couple I was fortunate enough to see dance this in person many times. Their rendition has an emotional connection that is rare. And Makarova really does seem to me to be both woman and swan at the same time, yearning to be freed from a tragic spell.
The second clip is of Svetlana Zakharova and Andrei Uranov of the Bolshoi in 2011. They fail to move me or convince me that they care much about each other, although I can’t fault them technically.
Makarova was remarkable.
The illustration shows a different kind of male dancers.
https://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/
Thursday, June 09, 2022
I Guess we Need a “Bad Ukraine Takes” Series
“About the only institution I hold is more contempt than the UN in so far as its inability to do anything well related to its core mission is probably the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).”
Sublime this is the beauty and grace they want to stamp out. For reasons
Long thread
https://mobile.twitter.com/JominiW/status/1535446538687856640?cxt=HHwWgIC-4byfgM8qAAAA
Forty-one days have now passed since May 2 last when Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward published in Politico this first in history leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion, and in that one act destroying trust within the Court among its every element, whether agonist or antagonist, whether high or low.
Outside the Court our land has become roiled in vicious contention, with the very lives of the Justices and their families blasted with hatred and physical assault, even unto threat of death.
Forty-one days.
Who betrayed the Court? We do not know.
We do know who received and took personal advantage of that betrayal: Gerstein and Ward.
Have they been questioned to reveal the source(s) of the leak? Have their communications devices been seized, searched, inspected for signs of the betrayer? Have their online histories been combed for relevant information?
Forty-one days. And nothing revealed to the public.
Ours is a risibly unserious nation.
No of course not that only happens to judith miller or robert novak
sdferr:
In the Federalist Radio Hour interview from 6/10/2022 with Senator Mike Lee (UT), Lee opined that the SCOTUS probably already know who the leaker is but won’t act until after the decision on Dobbs is released.
https://ricochet.com/podcast/federalist-radio-hour/amid-dobbs-drama-sen-mike-lee-is-sounding-the-alarm-scotus-needs-saving/
Olim Lacus Colueram [Once I lived on the lakes]
Cignus ustus cantat: [The roasted swan sings:]
Olim lacus colueram, [Once I lived on the lakes,]
olim pulcher exstiteram, [once I looked beautiful,]
dum cygnus ego fueram. [when I was a swan.]
Miser, miser [Misery me!]
modo niger [Now black]
et ustus fortiter! [and roasting fiercely!]
Girat, regirat garcifer; [The servant is turning me on the spit;]
me rogus urit fortiter; [I am burning fiercely on the pyre;]
propinat me nunc dapifer. [the servant now serves me up.]
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
Nunc in scutella iaceo, [Now I lie on a plate,]
et volitare nequeo; [and cannot fly anymore,]
dentes frendentes video. [I see bared teeth.]
Miser, miser!
modo niger
et ustus fortiter!
This is a fantastic thread on the problems of downtown San Francisco but could be about many other major cities. Really breaks down the problems and how they spiral and offers some obvious fixes.
https://twitter.com/michelletandler/status/1535616439473905665
This is a fantastic thread on the problems of downtown San Francisco but could be about many other major cities. Really breaks down the problems and how they spiral and offers some obvious fixes.
That’s a concise summary of the decline of San Francisco. I spent a hippie dropout Eco-activist year in the Bay Area, and lived in San Francisco for part of it. My brother’s children live in the Bay Area- one in San Francisco. One set of photos of a visit my brother and his wife took to the Bay Area includes one of a yard that has a lot of signs indicating the owner’s Republican/conservative tendencies. My brother and his family thought the signs were hilarious – “reactionary”- as they further ignored the decline of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
(Some cousins in LA, whose parents moved there in the 1930s are ardent Republicans. They are much more aware of the long-term decline of California under Democrat Party control than my brother’s children, who have spent only 5-10 years in California.)
This article features one of the most nonsensical paragraphs you will ever see thanks to woke pronoun garbage.
‘The order would bar Miller from ‘contacting or harassing’ the 18 year old or their parents, and also would force them to stay 100 yards away from the family residence prior to a July 12 hearing.’
Who are the their and them in that paragraph?
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/court-unable-to-locate-ezra-miller-cannot-serve-papers
So for tonight’s movie I’ve gone from Steve Martin’s “L.A. Story” to Kenneth Brannagh’s Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (1996).
I did see the film when it came out. An arduous, but worthwhile, four hours. Tonight I’m inspired by the recent discussion here of Shakespeare’s cancellation at the elite level. Plus the Bard is on my Bucket List and I care not who knows it.
Geez. This is a brilliant film, not to mention script. Shakespeare’s language is a minor impediment, which after a while disappears as much as an excellent subtitled foreign film works after one’s brain rewires itself for the new input.
However, Shakespeare’s work is so rich. I like being able to take breaks in a personal DVD viewing, especially when four hours is the run time.
Each scene is so fraught and Shakespeare doesn’t hold your hand but expects you to be swept up and get it.
Really, who competes in this arena? “Hamlet” plunges from an unsettling ghost story in the opening to the marriage of a murderous brother to Hamlet’s mother in the next scene.
How is this Great Author cancellable?
Boy, the 90s were a Golden Age of Film.
Rich Strike, alas, doesn’t strike twice….
https://www.newsmax.com/us/belmont-stakes/2022/06/11/id/1074007/
File under: “…not to be…”
Sad news for all who are fond of The DiploMad blog, [ https://thediplomad.blogspot.com/ ], he reports this morning the sudden unexplained death of his eldest son.
Barry Meislin:
That’s too bad about Rich Strike. But he sure had a great great Derby day.
Indeed. NO ONE who saw it will forget that spectacular victory….
…And as long as we’re on the topic of “forgetting”, here’s Glenn Greenwald on a horse of a different color…
‘Greenwald Opines On Biden’s “Submissive – And Highly Revealing – Embrace Of Saudi Despots”‘—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/greenwald-opines-bidens-submissive-and-highly-revealing-embrace-saudi-despots
File under: The Hypocrisy Sweepstakes!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/06/beautiful-smart-former-governor-sarah-palin-wins-open-primary-advances-alaska-us-rep-race/
Qatar is whom malley defers to, they have been waging war against prince salman for reasons. So they has to pretend they are interested
Yes, Quatar is a tremendous problem…
But “Biden” is going to nonetheless beg the Saudis to pump, pump pump.
The Saudis will likely let “him” squirm a bit (or more than a bit).
In the end, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just laugh at “him”—with a straight face—and say something along the lines of…”Um, sorry. So sorry. Terribly sorry”.
(But that’s just speculation. They might just decide to agree; if they do, it’ll be because they’ll be able to “get”—with a big smile of course—some impressive “quid pro quo” from their “ally” in DC.
…Meanwhile, it looks like “Biden” is continuing to set records as “he” plows his way forward to complete the destruction of the country he purportedly was “elected” to lead. Kudos Mr. “President”!!! You have a ways to go, but no one can take this impressive achievement away from you!
“Average price of gas surpasses $5 a gallon for first time in U.S. history”—
https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/average-price-gas-surpasses-5-gallon-first-time-us-history
Qatar is a major supporter of the intercept who was greenwalds publication
Yes prince salman whose great grandfather was killed by the sauds has a sense of humor about things
Not a coincidence that general allen is a frontman for them. They fund all the groups the sauds used to from hamas to the taliban
“…greenwalds publication…”
…until they fired him last year (or so)…from the publication he co-founded.
Correction:
According to Wikipedia, he resigned on Oct. 2020; but he was essentially pushed out when an article of his—countering the left-wing “Narrative”—was refused publication and he objected to no avail, so he got the message and felt unable to continue in such an environment. IIRC.
Republicans “pounce”;
Democrats “scramble”…
“About-face: Democrats scramble to embrace law and order after police defunding backfires;
“Amid surging violent crime rates, Democratic leaders in progressive cities are seeking to bolster law enforcement’s ranks after pledging major cuts to police budgets.”—
https://justthenews.com/nation/crime/mugged-reality-local-dems-push-law-and-order-defund-police-hubs
…the poor, addled dears…
Qatar (continued).
Turns out that Gen. Allen worked at the Brookings Institution.
What a cesspit that place must be—Danchenko, Fiona Hill…other bright lights?
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/retired-general-resigns-head-of-brookings-institution
…pas de deux…
Which is French for “step of two” and reminds me of a tidbit from John McWhorter’s “Teaching Company” course on language.
“Pas” means “step” but through the peculiar alchemy of language it also morphed into an intensifier for “not” as in “Je ne sais pas” for “I don’t know.” Apparently it was common to say “I can’t walk a step” and the “pas” became generalized for all negative constructions. In fact in spoken French, as I understand it, one may drop the “ne” (“not”) and just say “Je sais pas” — literally “I know step.”
It’s strange what sticks in my mind. I don’t remember much else from the course, though I generally find McWhorter worthwhile.
Bill Barr delivers balm to Never Trumpers and NR readers alike. Peter Robinson at Hoover, who’s interview is occasioned by his new book, is like the daintiest UN diplomat’s massage-speak ever imagined. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1oeJwF5tG4
He almost never judges or opines. He’s never responsible because it’s just one damning thing after another. Disgusting and outrageous.
Lots of NR-style compliments are posted up at YT. Here’s my truncated, gentle bile at his bilge:
“Barr is a feckless Institutionalist. The Opposition demands young, hot headed leaders to shove these gerontocracts aside, and lead Americans longing to be free towards a vibrant New and bloody Liberty. I use that term advisedly — no fascist Ruling Class of Oligarchs (SEE the late Angelo Codevilla) gives up its prerogatives without a real and long fight. Valors are only won by the heroic, those who gladly risk their lives and honor (like The Founders)— not by mincing mewling mice like this….”
In addition to dramatically elevated rates of death after the Covid-19 Vax (Thanks CCP), here are some clinical confirmations of ‘clot shot’ over activity from pathologists and morticians:
https://www.wnd.com/2022/06/pathologist-covid-19-shots-causing-foot-long-blood-clots/
UGLY INFO — OUCH!
(I looked forward to my shot, but got ill only hours later – it lasted over three weeks. That was enough for me — and the NovaVax that I looked forward to as the best alternative took nine months longer to arrive (at least) thanks to US Fed “regulators” protecting the market share of the usual suspects to stuff the DNC oligarchs pockets. Where is Patrick Henry when you need him?)
Makarova is sublime. She makes this pas de deux limpid which is what the piece calls for. Not just her port de bras is infused with a sense of moving against water but even her turns — they begin with gradual velocity and slowly accelerate before tapering away. The whole effect is rapturous and dreamlike.
And of course who would not be transported in the arms of the wonderful Ivan Nagy?
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this. What a wonderful treat. Thank you, Neo!