Of Mice And Men (1937©) — book review | |
Continuing my efforts to die an educated man, over the weekend I finished one of the many “classics” I eluded in high school English class, “Of Mice And Men” by John Steinbeck. The novel is the story of two friends who share a dream of owning a small farm of their own and “live offa the fatta the lan“. The dream escapes them – and everyone else in the book too. | |
Written during the middle years of the Great Depression, the book is an ode to loneliness, the weakness of innocence, and the ultimate futility of tempting Fate by trying to make plans for the future. The book “seems” full of characters who represent symbols of generalized Man in all of our various (yet very specific) facets: the competent and understanding “Slim”, the injured by work and beaten by age “Candy”, the broken, isolated, yet still proud “Crooks”, the un-named and objectified young beauty of Mrs. “Curley”, the foolish bullying of the Napoleonic “Curley”, and of course the simple, innocent strength of Lennie Small and the lost plan of George Milton. I suppose it is too much to believe Steinbeck sat and created a “lion” (Leonard / Lennie) of a man with the intellect of a toddler (“small” child) and his best friend George (Greek for farmer) Milton (the author of “Paradise Lost“). I suppose… | |
As I’ve stated in some of my other posts, there is a saying in the martial arts: “when the student is ready, the master will appear.” I believe I am fortunate not to have read this book in high school. Without the extra forty odd years of experience, this would have simply been a predictable story of accidental death and Karmic retribution. It is that. It is also a fine wine of subtle hope and deep friendship in the face of depressing reality and personal loneliness. It is a man viewing a homeless mouse facing the coming of winter… Coming for both of them. | |
Final recommendation: a “classic”. Mildly to extremely depressing (be warned), but still highly recommended – if for nothing else, then so you’ll understand other people referencing the title. | |
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On This Day In (Leap Year): | |
2012 | Stingray – TV Series Review (This is my most popular post since starting my blog – hands down! It still draws hits almost every week. The hits seem to come mostly from Central Europe. I guess the show must be in syndication there.) |
A Single Thread | |
Archive for February, 2016
Circles Within Circles
Posted in 2016 Book Review, Book Review, Reviews, tagged 2016 Book Review, Classic Literature, George Milton, Highly Recommended Book, John Milton, John Steinbeck, Lennie Small, live offa the fatta the lan, Of Mice And Men -- book review, Paradise Lost, The Great Depression on February 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Or Try To, Anyway…
Posted in Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Leap Year, On Learning, On Teaching, On Thinking, Quotes, Socrates on February 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think. | |
― Socrates | |
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On This Day In (Leap Year): | |
2012 | Stingray – TV Series Review (This is my most popular post since starting my blog – hands down! It still draws hits almost every week. The hits seem to come mostly from Central Europe. I guess the show must be in syndication there.) |
A Single Thread | |
A Little Lost
Posted in Quotes, Reading, tagged Books, Paul Sweeney, Quotes, Reading on February 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »
You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend. | |
–– Paul Sweeney | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | This High Place |
2014 | Elected Madness |
2013 | Well Written |
2012 | Related Parts |
2011 | The King Is Oscar |
Better Reputation? | |
And Songs Too…
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Books, Ezra Pound, Life's Experiences, Philosophy, Quotes, Song Lyrics on February 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Men do not understand books until they have a certain amount of life, or at any rate no man understands a deep book, until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents. | |
–– Ezra Pound | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | On The Road To Failure |
2014 | Each Moment |
2013 | Conversation |
2012 | 4 Down, 11 Done (At Last) |
I’m Not Afraid | |
2011 | Who’s Risk Is It, Anyway? |
Resolute Will
Posted in Faith, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Determination, Faith, Hermann Hesse, Philosophy, Quotes, The Journey To The East on February 25, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Whatever happens, I have decided to exercise my will. Even if I have to re-commence my difficult story ten times, a hundred times, and always arrive at the same cul-de-sac, just the same I will begin again a hundred times. If I cannot assemble the pictures into a significant whole again, I will present each single fragment as faithfully as possible. And as far as it is now still possible, I will be mindful of the first principle of our great period, never to rely on and let myself be disconcerted by reason, always to know that faith is stronger than so-called reality. | |
— Hermann Hesse | |
From his book: “The Journey To The East“ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Absorbed And Civilized |
2014 | Relax And Lead |
2013 | Location, Location, Location |
2012 | Are You Really Good? |
2011 | Relatively Objective, Anyway |
Reflections
Posted in Quotes, tagged Books, Fools, Genius, J.K. Rowling, Mirrors, Quotes on February 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out. | |
― J. K. Rowling | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Is It Time Yet? |
2014 | Ask Any Follower |
2013 | Cornered Or Surrounded? |
2012 | Escape |
2011 | Achievement |
Not Unreasonable Enough | |
Just Spicy
Posted in Movies, Politics, tagged Best Of Enemies -- movie review, Conservatism, Democratic Party, Gore Vidal, Gov. George Wallace, Hubert H. Humphrey Jr., Liberalism, Netflix, Politics, President Richard M. Nixon, Republican Party, William F. Buckley Jr. on February 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Best Of Enemies (2015) — movie review | |
Today’s review is for the documentary “Best Of Enemies“. The documentary purports to show the start of today’s version of acrimonious televised pundit’s political analysis by referencing back to a series of ten debates between conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. and liberal commentator Gore Vidal which occurred during the 1968 Republican and Democratic conventions that summer. The operative word in this last sentence being “televised”. There should be no doubt that vitriolic personal animosity has always existed (to some lessor or greater degree) between the defenders of opposing sides in virtually every political debate – especially those which deal with “moral” issues. | |
First, as usual, full disclosure: as I’ve stated before on this blog, I am a life-long conservative Democrat. I grew up a BIG fan of Buckley (from TV) and have almost complete ignorance of Vidal. I have, of course, seen his image and probably seen him on TV, but I have never (to my recollection) read any of his books. When I saw this documentary was available on Netflix, it immediately went to the top of my “must watch” list because I anticipated a contest between intellectual giants casting Zeus-like bolts at each other in their arguments of liberalism versus conservatism. And this with the advantage of 50 years of history to underline which side prevailed (or at least was correct). | |
In the end, while fascinated and wildly entertained, I was sorely disappointed. There is no “there” there (or should I say “there” here). | |
Instead, what we are treated with is a documentary demonstrating the art of the personal attack as a means – not of winning a debate – but as a means of diminishing one’s opponent, so as to appear to “win” a debate by means of embarrassment. If this movie is to be believed, Vidal is the clear winner. If history is the final judge, the answer is less certain. | |
Vidal opens with the defining challenge: can a party whose sole standing policy is greed, continue to gather enough support from the masses of the public (who live with the failures of capitalism) to elect Republican politicians in general and a President in specific. Although, the conservative (Buckley) loses the debate, the answer is ‘yes’. Not as resounding a “YES” as one might think, but a ‘yes’ none the less. George Wallace splits the democratic vote in the South (with the Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey) and Richard Nixon goes on to win the Presidency. And beyond that, for twenty of the next twenty-four years, the Republicans control the White House and the Executive Branch. | |
From this time reference, one might judge Republican conservatism to have been successful and therefore correct as a political theory or somehow “better” than Democratic liberalism. Again, as I said earlier, the answer is less certain. The record of history over the last 120 years is that Conservative Republican policies lead to (“cause” is probably too strong a word) economic failure: the Great Depression, the Great Recession of the 80’s, the collapse of the Savings and Loans, the collapse of the American middle class and the recent recession and financial collapse (of 2007/08). The sad truth is that the “party of business” doesn’t know how to run an economy when it is in power. | |
But I digress. Final recommendation: strong, but qualified. This is a documentary about how business executives learned to turn political news into confrontational entertainment. And, similar to modern political punditry, it entertains without providing the foundation of the ideas upon which the two sides rest. Just because it’s spicy doesn’t mean it’s filling. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Positive Acts Of Creation |
2014 | One Thing Is Clear |
2013 | Corrections |
See Greatness | |
2012 | Gemutlichkeit |
2011 | Back On The Asphalt |
It Is Just Not The Same | |
A Missed Beat
Posted in Movies, tagged Amadeus - movie review, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, Not Recommended Movie on February 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Amadeus (the director’s cut) – movie review | |
Today’s movie review is for the music / biopic “Amadeus” (1984) about the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (full name: Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart). Actually, the movie is about a contemporary composer: Antonio Salieri. Before I go much further, I will state with full voice – I have little or no knowledge of classical music or composers and therefore practically no appreciation for either classical music or opera. Additionally, and I say this with shame and not with braggadocio – I play no instruments and cannot read music. I am clearly not in a position to critique the music in this film. (I thought it was okay.) | |
In it’s day, this movie garnered a total of eight Oscars, including best Actor, Director and Film. That means it should be pretty good. But, is it? No. Not really. I watched the director’s cut which has an added 20 minutes of movie, but in theory is supposed to more closely match the director’s concept of what the film might have been – if there were no constraints – like the audience’s need to use the restrooms. But I digress… | |
The movie is a period piece about genius and envy. As a period piece, the movie is outstanding. The costumes / clothes, hair and make-up are all outstanding. That is, they make you feel as if you are in the mid-1700’s. Or, at least what we, in this day, imagine them to have been. But all of this is only a shell without a story to go with them and I’m afraid the story was too long and uninteresting to be entertaining. It was at best, only mildly interesting. I kept waiting for this highly decorated film to take wing, but, unfortunately, it was more of a fluttering and flapping turkey than it was a soaring eagle. | |
For me, the whole of the movie was F. Murray Abraham’s performance as Antonio Salieri. Abraham deservedly won best actor for this role. He is excellent as both the elderly Salieri telling of his plotting against Mozart and as the young Salieri, expressing his hatred with the slight turn of a lip / sneer. You can feel Salieri’s love for the music and his anger at both God (for His slight) and against Mozart for his ill manners. As Salieri curses God: “why did you give me the ability to appreciate this music if you were not going to give me the ability to create it?” | |
The real question is: why did it take over three hours to ask this simple question (repeatedly)? The answer, I’m afraid is because this isn’t a very good movie. | |
Final recommendation: not recommended for an “average” movie goer like me. Maybe somebody with a lot more music background will appreciate it more, but I didn’t. As much as I tried to see this in one sitting, I couldn’t do it. I ended up watching it over two evenings of approximately 90 minutes each. Neither half moved me. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | We Are All Explorers |
2014 | Still Trying To Cope |
2013 | Dear Diary (A good chuckle!) |
2012 | Conveniently Sequential |
2011 | King’s Speech Number Four |
Rational Probability | |
Making It Up
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Adam Rogers, Lawrence Kasdan, Making A Living, Making It Up, Philosophy, Quotes, The Forever Franchise, Wired Magazine, Wired.com on February 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
“For you and me, we’re making it up. Here’s how I’m going to behave, here’s what I’m willing to do to make a living, here’s what I’m not willing to do. How we make up our lives as we go,” Kasdan says. “That’s such a powerful idea. It’s exciting. The biggest adventure you can have is making up your own life.” | |
— Lawrence Kasdan | |
As quoted by Adam Rogers in his article: “The Forever Franchise“ | |
Appearing in the Dec 2015 issue of Wired magazine | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | We Are All Explorers |
2014 | Still Trying To Cope |
2013 | Dear Diary (A good chuckle!) |
2012 | Conveniently Sequential |
2011 | King’s Speech Number Four |
Rational Probability | |
Lost Opportunity
Posted in 2016 Book Review, Book Review, Reading, Reviews, tagged 2016 Book Review, Anne Frank, Moderate Recommendation, Tales From The Secret Annex - book review on February 21, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Tales From The Secret Annex (1949©) — book review | |
Today’s book review is for the “other” Anne Frank book: “Tales From The Secret Annex“. To be honest, reading this book was a mistake. I picked it up because over the years I’d heard so much about Anne Frank’s Diary that I decided I wanted to finally get around to reading it. I had no idea she even had a second book. So, I saw the author and looked at the picture of the young girl on the cover and said, “Yup, this is it.” And, I bought it. | |
I asked my wife if she’d read it and she replied everyone read it back in school. We laughed a bit because I admitted I had not. She cautioned me that it was quite sad and in fact she found it depressing. (She knows what a cry-baby I can be.) To make a longer story shorter, I asked her when it starts to get sad because I was finding it just kind of “girlish”. She asked me to read her a few chapters and then said, “I don’t think you’re reading the right book“. It’s been years since she read it, but she was confident she’d never heard these stories before. So, the next day I looked up the book and lo and behold, this wasn’t the diary at all! I was, in fact, reading the wrong book. | |
Okay. Is this book any “good”? To be honest, only so-so. It’s a lovely little (150 pages) book, written by a teen-age girl, who makes some precocious observations about the world and about adults, but this is not a life-changing book. The chapters are individual stories with no discernible arc. Some of them are dreams and dream like. Some are just stories. They are pleasant enough, but there is not a lot there – for me anyway. In any case, a book which should have taken me a couple of hours to read ended up taking almost two months, because it failed to capture and hold my imagination. In the end, I was taking it to medical appointments to read while sitting in the waiting rooms. | |
Having said that, do I now recommend it? Yes, I think I do. I have already quoted the book in one of my postings on this blog and there are another five portions I’ve marked for posting later. So, yes, I think I do. | |
If anything, without reading the primary work, I already feel like the world has lost the opportunity of sharing the life and writing of a kind and interesting young lady. And her early passing is a lost opportunity for literature and for the world. | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Are You Listening Ladies? |
2014 | Practice, Practice, Practice |
2013 | A Fist Full Of Confusion |
2012 | Teaching Faith |
2011 | The Heart Of Terror |
The Proportion Of Gravity And Probability | |
Wiser But Less Cocksure
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Aldous Huxley, Philosophy, Quotes, The Doors Of Perception on February 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »
But the man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less cocksure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable Mystery which it tries, forever vainly to comprehend. | |
— Aldous Huxley | |
From his novel: “The Doors Of Perception“ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Not Today |
Wicked | |
2014 | …Am Too |
2013 | Credible? |
2012 | Both |
2011 | Risking Hidden Linkage |
Nor My Dogs
Posted in Humor, Quotes, tagged Humor, On Friends, On Heaven, Oscar Wilde, Quotes on February 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there. | |
–– Oscar Wilde | |
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On This Day In: | |
2022 | First, To Understand |
2021 | So How Should We Persuade The Dangerous? |
Can A Loser Ever Win? | |
2020 | Maybe More Than A Very Few |
2019 | Missing Failure |
2018 | Praise God |
2017 | Necessary Gaps |
2016 | Nor My Dogs |
2015 | Say What? |
I’m A Dog, Too! | |
Beginnings | |
2014 | Astonishing Choices |
2013 | Three Hard Tasks |
2012 | The Only Remains |
2011 | Personal Capability |
What Price Failure? | |
Both Of W’s Elections | |
Tea (Baggers) Anyone? | |