A famous moment in the ballet Giselle occurs towards the beginning of Act II. In the first act of the ballet, Giselle – a peasant girl – has fallen in love with Albrecht, a nobleman who is disguised as a … Continue reading →
Here’s a comment by “Rufus T. Firefly”: “[Kamala Harris] seems like the kid playing right-field in baseball, who just stands out there daydreaming, hoping the ball doesn’t come her way.” Also a great line.* (*from a kid who played right … Continue reading →
There are some stories that are simply inspiring, and testaments to the human will. The life of Canadian violinist Adrian Anantawan is one such story. He was born with no right hand; you can find a lot of information and … Continue reading →
[NOTE: I originally wrote this post in 2005, nearly twenty years ago. I was reminded of the subject matter last night when commenter “Jeff Z” wrote, on the Holocaust inversion thread, “I don’t know if you’ve ever read ‘Reading Lolita … Continue reading →
Commenter “Brian E” suggested I would like this, and of course I do: Haters will say this is AI ?? pic.twitter.com/vqWVxiYXeD — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 14, 2024 It’s especially apropos because of Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt. Note, … Continue reading →
The other day I was watching a video about Margot Fonteyn, the most famous British ballet dancer of the mid-twentieth century. The video featured a few seconds of her dancing in Fokine’s Les Sylphides. It was a role I immediately … Continue reading →
I read Aldous Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World shortly after I had read Orwell’s dystopian Nineteen-Eighty-Four. I was around thirteen years old at the time, and I didn’t quite get Brave New World although I did finish it. In my … Continue reading →
Such a funny guy, with his very own deadpan style. RIP Bob Newhart. Greatest last episode of all time:
Continue reading →Here he is, Fabrice Calmels, at over 6 feet 6 inches tall: Here’s a short article about him. He’s a fairly good dancer, too, although his feet are a bit scrunched in the toes rather than in the arch. A … Continue reading →
And that means I finally signed off on the proofs. Proof-reading is one of my least favorite occupations, and at a certain point you just have to say enough, because it seems it’s always possible to find mistakes. I still … Continue reading →
I finally turned in the PDF of Gerard’s book to the printing company. I had long been formatting and fixing things and proof-reading and fiddling with this and that. There are a nearly infinite number of decisions to make when … Continue reading →
For most of my blogging career, I’ve had the category “evil” on my right sidebar. As I write this, there are only 118 entries there. Ordinarily, I’ve kept the designation for things like the Holocaust or terrible crimes rather than … Continue reading →