My, but it's been a while, hasn't it? A combination, I think, of the work I've been subjected to in addition to the slow rise of other online gewgaws for my attention (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) means I'm on Livejournal less. The gratification is less instant here, the edge less cutting, and while that's not in itself necessarily a bad thing, it's ( Read more... )

I have to admit, it's disconcerting. As a Northerner, used to the wintry climes of New England or the upper Midwest, this Southern weather has me stymied. All the elements are in place: the varicolored leaves, the Halloween and Thanksgiving and now even Christmas store displays, the melancholy light in the early evenings---but it's so warm!
At this ( Read more... )

"But here's the thing. Horace didn't say that. 'Carpe diem' doesn't mean seize the day---it means something gentler and more sensible. 'Carpe diem' means pluck the day. Carpe, pluck. Seize the day would be 'cape diem,' if my school Latin serves. No R. Very different piece of advice ( Read more... )

Wow, am I busy. No sooner do I show up in NC and start to get settled in when people start hurling chunks of Isocrates and Symmachus at me.

I saw Inglourious Basterds yesterday, nevertheless, and I can safely pronounce it the best new film I've seen this year. I really want to see it again---and to find someone to discuss it in depth with. Sadly, ( Read more... )

So, Robert McNamara has died. Although he served as Secretary of Defense long before my time, he was so maligned by so many people that I was surprised to find myself feeling sympathy for him after seeing Errol Morris' brilliant 2003 documentary The Fog of WarMorris' point, of course, was to contrast the early days of Vietnam with the early days of ( Read more... )

I really don't know what to think of this book. I really don't ( Read more... )

If you're in New York and you have the time to get the tickets, go see Twelfth Night in Central Park. There's literally not a false note in the production. Anne Hathaway is luminous, Raul Esparza actually does something with Orsino, Jay O. Sanders runs away with the show as Sir Toby (and frankly seems born to be Falstaff, a role I don't think he's ( Read more... )

So this morning the long-awaited event: my Jeopardy! audition. I can't say I was in top form for it, since I haven't been sleeping well at all and last night a combination of nerves and iPhone-induced stress (I die a little inside just typing those words) kept me up later than I had wanted. Still, this morning I dutifully got up at 7, showered, ate ( Read more... )

I have absolutely nothing to say here, other than "Oh my God, oh my God, I'm typing on my iPhone."

Expect something about something soon.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Going through some of my books recently, I came across a slightly battered red volume with bent covers, entitled The America Quiz-and-Answer Book, written by Frederic J. Haskin. (I apparently stole it from a certain summer camp's library---some of you know which one I mean) It is, in a word, delightful. It consists of a great number of incredibly ( Read more... )