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The End of the World
John Martin [1789-1854] was an English Romantic painter. Very popular in his day, he specialized in apocalyptic scenes such as these (below), which showed an Old Testament feeling about mankind, God,...
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Article 1
The 2016 Presidential election is coming to an end, and it's clear that Donald Trump, while not winning the actual popular vote, has been elected to the office.The prognosticators have been telling us...
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The End of the Rainbow
Over the weekend, we had a lovely experience. We live in the East Bay Hills, facing the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge to the West. At sunrise, I awoke and looked out the bedroom window, and to my...
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The Tale of Dan De Lion - Part the First
Tom Disch [1940-2008] was a gifted poet, critic and science fiction writer. In a fit of depression, he shot himself in the head. 68 isn't young, but you'd have to believe he could have gone on to write...
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The Tale of Dan De Lion - Part the Second
[This is the second part of a blog about Tom Disch's poem The Tale of Dan De Lion.]Is this propaganda? You bet your life it is. Is it "saved" from being propaganda, framed as "innocent" clever rhymes?...
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Bottoms Up - Classic of the Genre
Oh my, another cocktail blog. This is surely going to ruin my reputation as a serious blogger, since no one in his or her right mind would consider drinking alcoholic beverages a sophisticated...
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Trump's New Transparency - Politics in the Age of Trivial Spin
As a child of the 1950's (I was born in 1947, near the beginning of the baby boom), the predominant "social media" device was the telephone. People then would stay in touch by phoning, or writing...
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RESOLVED IN 2017Not to use any of the following conversational phrases or constructions in speech:. . . any time soon . . .meaningless phrase that signifies no duration whatever. . . in regards to . ....
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Fellow-Travelers On the Road [Part One]
Why not.Barrett Watten's new book Questions of Poetics. Language Writing and Consequences has just appeared from University of Iowa Press [Iowa City: 2016]. Its overall intention, by my reading, is to...
View ArticleFellow-Travelers On the Road [Part Two]
[Continued]Watten: "Adams was an ideal photographer to represent the university's view of itself. As a world-renowned Modernist . . . he brought together in his work modern technology and sublime...
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DURATION Poems 1978-2015
I've always been interested in books, and when I took Harry Duncan's typography class at the University of Iowa in 1970, I became interested in how books were made, and especially in how the...
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Northern Exposure - A New Cocktail
I've noted before how under-rated aquavit is as a mixing spirit. You hardly ever see it mentioned in books of mixology, and I guess I understand why: It has an oddly bitter initial flavor (caraway),...
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Two on the Aisle
I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up my regimen of cocktail recipes. My endocrine system is sending me distant messages about my longevity, and we all know that isn't an argument any of...
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Mamet's Conversion [Part I]
David Mamet [1947-] is a renowned playwright and screen writer living in Santa Monica. He grew up in a middle class Jewish family in Chicago. He made his name early in his career as the author of a...
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Mamet's Conversion [Part II]
Theatre (and by extension, cinema) is perhaps the best example of a cooperative, collaborative artistic medium. Writers may collaborate, artists may collaborate with writers (or vice versa), musicians...
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Swimming in the Nude - a New Cocktail
Tender sensibilities! If we could all admit that the most enthralling physical sensations occur in our most vulnerable states, perhaps our over-mastering inhibitions wouldn't get the better of...
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Announcing Larry Eigner's Selected Poems: Calligraphy Typewriters
The University of Alabama Press has just published Calligraphy Typewriters: The Selected Poems of Larry Eigner, Edited by Curtis Faville and Robert Grenier [ISBN: 978-0-8173-5874-7, Quality Paper...
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Lily Sabine Dreaming
Lily Sabine, sleeping, so curled around her intent, dreaming no doubt of escapades and adventures, from the past, or soon to come. Do dreams serve some purpose in the riddle of survival and genetic...
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Announcing Imminent Publication of Photographs 1986-1996 by Curtis Faville
Regular readers of this blog--if indeed there are any such animals--know that I've had a profound interest in photography, as evidenced by my many blog-posts here about various well-known photographers...
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Polishing Mirrors: The Photographs of John Sexton
Let me begin this essay with a series of qualifications.Since the inception of photography in the 19th Century, there has seldom been any doubt about the inherent quality of photography's function,...
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