Comments on: Open thread 5/1/23 https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/ A blog about political change, among other things Tue, 02 May 2023 05:57:06 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: huxley https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678101 Tue, 02 May 2023 05:57:06 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678101 Speaking of French (aren’t we always?), I ran into a killer ending to a Reverdy poem:
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…il pêchait dans la flaque de boue qu’avait laissé la pluie. Cette eau, venue du ciel, e’tait pleine d’étoiles.

…he was fishing in a mud puddle the rain had left. The water, from the sky, was full of stars.

–Pierre Reverdy, “Chacun sa part — To each his own”
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It’s great plain-spoke, surreal English. But in French, if you put on your beret and breathe out the words seductively, it’s a Whole ‘Nother Thing.

]]> By: huxley https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678093 Tue, 02 May 2023 03:31:11 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678093 I think of a French science-fiction story, “The First Days of May,” by Claude Veillot — a shorter, more graphic redo of “The War of the Worlds” in which an unstoppable alien insect-like race conquers the planet, then cocoons captive humans and lays eggs within them.

Predating the “Aliens” movie by almost 20 years.

I read it in 8th grade and never forgot it.

]]> By: Shadow https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678079 Tue, 02 May 2023 00:22:50 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678079 Oh. I had another song called “First of May” in mind… much less classy (don’t ban me xD) but it makes me laugh every time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1GD_T-3oLU

It’s actually a bit in the spirit of “The Lusty Month of May,” I enjoyed that too.

]]> By: miguel cervantes https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678078 Tue, 02 May 2023 00:14:24 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678078 https://twitter.com/paulsperry_/status/1653188207524151296?cxt=HHwWgIC8hc76pvEtAAAA

]]> By: PA+Cat https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678068 Mon, 01 May 2023 23:10:50 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678068 May 1 is also International Workers’ Day, traditionally celebrated in the former USSR with a big parade through Red Square in Moscow (not to be confused with Victory Day parades, which are held on May 9). Here’s an ironic blast-from-the-past: Marshal Timoshenko greeting and shaking hands with the German generals who were present on May Day, 1941– less than eight weeks before the start of Operation Barbarossa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra8phtzS2jA&ab_channel=HistoricStuff

]]> By: Ruth https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678065 Mon, 01 May 2023 22:48:45 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678065 John Guilfoyle…your kind thoughts and prayer are much appreciated. My husband had an exploratory procedure which we hoped would turn out to be a minor thing…and apparently it was! Some pending lab work, but the surgeon was pleased and confident.
With so much negativity swirling around the world today, I’d like to report that we had a very positive outpatient experience. Great staff: cheerful, energetic, and most of all, competent. And so many of them. Six or seven nurses, four or five anesthesia techs/nurses/docs. And assorted others. All really focused on our comfort and well-being.
A long tiring day but as commenter John Guilfoyle wished me: all’s well in the end.

]]> By: John Guilfoyle https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678058 Mon, 01 May 2023 21:25:39 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678058 Ruth… whoever you are waiting for or whatever you are waiting on… praying all is well at the end of the day.

]]> By: M J R https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678045 Mon, 01 May 2023 19:00:41 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678045 “First of May” and “Holiday” are my two favorite Bee Gees songs*. Bravo!

* I never got “into” their disco songs or, for that matter, their disco phase.

]]> By: PA+Cat https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678034 Mon, 01 May 2023 17:38:35 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678034 Nine years earlier: Julie Andrews sings “The Lusty Month of May” from the original Broadway production of Camelot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pljyjiIMH9o&ab_channel=C%C3%A1tiaAd%C3%A3o

]]> By: Ruth https://thenewneo.com/2023/05/01/open-thread-5-1-23/#comment-2678031 Mon, 01 May 2023 17:11:21 +0000 https://www.thenewneo.com/?p=125616#comment-2678031 Sitting in a crowded surgical waiting room so I can’t turn on the sound. Happily, watching The Bee Gees is almost as good as listening to them! (Especially Barry)! Thanks, Neo.

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