tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67410492025-08-08T22:03:56.862-04:00tributary<center>*where*content*is*just*another*vagarie*</center>Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.comBlogger3018125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-45234503879256046912023-10-02T07:14:00.005-04:002023-10-02T07:14:36.148-04:00Scarlet Letter And Ethan Frome Scarlet Letter and Ethan FromeI read both The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome in high school, under that obligation. Both have New England as a setting in a dire way. SL’s setting seems primordial, a long distant past. EH sits later in time but far from contemporary. SL was a tester for me because the lengthy Custom House section hardly makes clear what the story is Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-72350062432267865012023-03-16T06:23:00.003-04:002023-03-16T06:23:23.016-04:00One Route And there was the time crossing the I-states Beth and I taking Erin to visit his father in a summer exchange. Highway tide rushing thru nondescript Illinois skirting the big Windy City which had a gravitational pull even as we passed then dun-coloured Indiana where rest stops were something crushing and barely relief and excited nearing a bridge over the Mississippi was that ever a Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-48041691600144962112023-02-13T14:11:00.002-05:002023-02-13T14:11:30.332-05:00The Grungy Henry Miller The extended philosophical passages in Henry Miller’s work have little resonance for me. It’s just argle-bargle, written in glib confidence. His use of slurs also exhibits glibness. He sounds enclosed when using slurs. Rather than showing rugged power, as profanity can, his usage deflects towards emptiness and cold hell. I acknowledge that he wrote at a time when profanity and obscenity Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-89804226952313450142023-02-11T06:12:00.001-05:002023-02-11T06:12:19.172-05:00Kerouac Note Neither On The Road or The Dharma Bums give much picture of him as a writer. Both give passing mention to his modest success as a writer, and he speaks of his notebooks here and there. No sense of him banging away at a typewriter. Given his peregrinations, filling notebooks would maybe not be a practical priority. The record of these books falls outside ‘pure facts’.Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-8656349803615107632023-02-06T21:09:00.001-05:002023-02-06T21:09:14.844-05:00Miller and Kerouac Henry Miller seems like a writer who would resonate with the Beats. Anyway, I have started Tropic of Capricorn for the sake of perspective. I read Tropic of Cancer a couple years ago in a bold attempt to figure things out. Both writers write self-reflectively, in a torrential way. What are the shining rocks in that stream?
Miller is worth reading, thanks for asking, but he is crass and Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-13234496451693362942023-01-29T16:19:00.000-05:002023-01-29T16:19:04.433-05:00On The Road and Dharma Bums Jack Kerouac’s recklessness or carelessness interests me. This attitude manifests in two ways: in his writing, and in his actions and life choices. Both cases lead to a cloudy charisma, simultaneously inspired and loutish.I am unsure what I knew of Kerouac when I was a teenager, I surely hadn’t read him. I can see the attraction for young minds, the sense of freedom. As a writer, words Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-27475375697166653582022-12-26T15:17:00.001-05:002022-12-26T15:17:56.609-05:00When The Mahabharata Becomes BoringThe Mahabharata goes slightly less a-pace. I slipped off reading other things. The war is over for the Pandava’s, they have their kingdom again. Yudhisthira now feels the weight of kingly responsibility. He goes to his uncle Bhishma for advice. Bhishma fought for the Kaurava’s out of a sense of duty that doesn’t add up for me. Well there you are. His lessons for Yudhisthira bring Confucius to Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-53734487962612462242022-12-10T09:57:00.001-05:002022-12-10T09:57:24.879-05:00More MahabharataMore MahabharataThe battlefield action in the Mahabharata strains belief. Not its fantastical nature, I expect supernatural exploits in mythological tales, but just the difficulty of imagining the events. When we read that thousands died at Arjuna’s hand as he plunges into a fray, we can shrink that figure down to tens or a lot. if we are thinking of historical events. I don’t know what Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-32092754566841258942022-12-05T14:23:00.000-05:002022-12-05T14:23:01.991-05:00The Mahabharata Halfway into The Mahabharata we come to the part that often stands alone, The Bhagavad Gita. This represents a sea change for the epic. Up till now, the work has been mostly narrative with moral and spiritual matters occasionally interpolated. Now we have Krishna explaining duty to the unexpectedly quailing Arjuna. Krishna has always been understood as a god, but in human aspect. In this Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-43670877156637507112022-11-27T14:09:00.003-05:002022-11-27T14:16:27.728-05:00Broken Theory by Alan Sondheim Alan Sondheim has just published a new book, *Broken Theory*. Internet denizens with literary interests may know Sondheim’s name. He posts to numerous lists daily, I mean daily. This work comes in all shapes and sizes. It represents an unbelievably vast effort to mine the maelstrom of experience. *Broken Theory* seems like both a culmination of that effort, tho without a sense of Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-37501365162410781152022-10-28T09:51:00.003-04:002022-10-28T09:51:59.303-04:00Hyperion by Dan Simmons Finished Hyperion by Dan Simmons. I have mixed feelings about it. He presents a wonderfully troubling vision of the future, with humanity clearly having screwed the pooch. The intertwined narratives move a-pace but I’m pretty sure a good portion of Simmons’ intention dashed precipitously past my register. Rereading would be worthwhile if I had the energy.Six main characters tell, Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-77323525008599398102022-09-18T19:22:00.005-04:002022-09-18T19:22:50.627-04:00“The Call of Cthuhlu” I just read The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft. I’ve read a number of his stories, and find them compelling. This is my first meeting with Cthulhu. I’m a bit dissatisfied.Of course I have absorbed some understanding of Cthulhu because the, er, character has cultural currency. The name resonates. Lovecraft’s mythos seems rather mushy when you look but carries weight for some. I Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-79651712361811340552022-05-01T09:37:00.002-04:002022-05-01T09:37:20.159-04:00The Fu Manchu of Our Lives I am reading The Insidious Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer. I have read several Fu Manchu stories over the years. I think. Rohmer wrote many books about this nefarious Oriental’s clash against Sir Denis Nayland Smith and all that is good. It doesn’t matter what title you select, tho, the books are all the same.Racism shows thick in these stories. They express a solid, nay Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-10129665420589399392021-05-15T10:08:00.003-04:002023-10-03T02:17:33.179-04:00Some Flann O’Brien I’ve read three novels by Flann O’Brien, each multiple times. At Swim Two Birds shows an extravagant imagination, as well as the influence of James Joyce. I shall read it once again. It is a power of writing but almost too much so.The Dalkey Archives nearly seems ordinary compared to its mates. It is fun and silly and surely shows O’Brien’s gift. Maybe he has tempered his Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-90546092153862418392021-03-14T10:50:00.003-04:002021-03-14T10:50:33.320-04:00The Idiot by F. Dostoevsky I am reading *The Idiot* by Dostoevsky. Doing so on a tablet, I didn’t grasp how long it is. That I remain vague about the book’s length disconcerts me. That the pagination changes according to the orientation of the tablet leaves me a trifle wobbly. That the novel is part of a collection of D’s work leaves me unsure where I am. However, read I do.I have read and appreciated *Crime and Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-75714356528972589322020-11-26T08:55:00.002-05:002020-11-26T08:55:35.266-05:00Clash of the Titans, the Movie and the reproach This past summer I watched both versions of the movie Clash of the Titans. The movies follow the adventures of Perseus, famous Greek hero. Unsurprisingly, the plot is the same with both movies, save the city, save the girl. A considerable difference in storytelling stands between the two efforts. One notes the dramatic technological change in movie making between the one made in 1981 Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-70065482046713856002020-10-23T08:52:00.001-04:002020-10-23T08:52:11.613-04:00Beyond the Pandemic a Bit A customer wished to redeem a handful of cans. I told him we cannot accept those of his that we don’t sell. He asked with dismay, “When will things be normal again?” I replied perhaps too vigouroudly: “Normal doesn’t exist anymore.” Seven months into the pandemic and we are still working on that.The customer assumed this change in our procedure owed to the pandemic, as so much has these Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-91147389823597281042020-10-05T06:42:00.001-04:002020-10-05T06:42:16.437-04:00Masque of the Red Death Lately I just read “Masque of the Red Death”. I haven’t bothered to read Pandemic-themed classics (The Plague, which I read in high school anyway, or The Decameron) during our travail. I’ve read “Masque” before but a Facebook friend posted a link to it yesterday so I partook. The story offers little plot. Poe just paints a formidable atmosphere. Like Hawthorne, Poe sets scenes as a stateSimple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-79558628701525138862020-09-28T09:02:00.000-04:002020-09-28T09:02:06.983-04:00A Rushed and Indelicate StatementThe gaseous contents of the Republican soul sees no value but in ‘values’. These values carry nothing but a plutonic weight. They pretend toward a fixity that does not exist. They feature no moral compass beyond the cunning of Old Testament restriction. No doctrinal Prince of Peace provides comfort to this mindset beyond the great and welcoming Hell they envision for others.The present Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-34860339626105561482020-08-30T18:49:00.001-04:002020-08-30T18:49:12.230-04:00The Pluck of Raspberries as Autumn Returns Today we made yet another trip to Autumn Hills Orchard in Groton. Google sends us North on Rt 3 till we reach the Dunstable exit. From there the trail is southeast thru still viable New England farmland. It is a pleasant ride. Beth wants more raspberries to freeze. Again, it’s just an excuse to feel the early autumn sunshine on our faces. Fluffy clouds and steely sunshine filled the Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-46455118809495217432020-08-20T09:47:00.000-04:002020-08-20T09:47:04.411-04:00The Calming Pandemic Response of Almond Butter Made a cup or two of almond butter. Roasting, blanching, and peeling the almonds took upwards of two hours. Nothing onerous in the task, it feels peaceful. Once blanched the almond skins mostly squirt off. They need reblanching when they cool. Sitting in boiled water for a minute constitutes blanching. I watched MST3K while I removed the skins.Processing in the Cuisinart took 12 Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-56246616830336970762020-08-13T21:13:00.000-04:002020-08-13T21:13:04.233-04:00Cooking Up A Pandemic Response I have been writing considerably about our Covid-19 Shit-Hits-The-Fan Food Gathering And Prep Initiative, ongoing. The intent is not to show that I remember hippies, Age of Aquarious, and all that righteous. I doremember all that, and feel a curious warmth towards it, tho I hardly breathed that air. More importantly, however, I just want to see the result of a little extra Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-12619316660342382732020-08-12T14:04:00.001-04:002020-08-12T14:05:00.480-04:00Don’t Let the River Beast Get You, the filmic experience This is an oddly satisfying, low-budget monster movie. Not to give anything away but this film offers the least scary monster ever. It also has a charming, goofy vibe. It is intentionally funny tho it looks like your average cheesy b-flick sloppy mess.Look at the title. Instead of Beware the River Beast or Revenge of the River Beast we have the scary words in Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-8237734693018640062020-08-10T11:08:00.002-04:002020-08-10T11:08:19.354-04:00Shopping the Pandemic I have a week off, which means a little less attention to Covid-19. Routines have developed over the past five months. Wash hands, wear mask. Work is just work now, albeit with the experience heightened.I continue messing around with sort of pandemic-related production of foodstuffs. Making food that I might otherwise buy. The supply chain has been rattled and will continue so. Get used to Simple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6741049.post-71631399747487553862020-08-09T08:39:00.001-04:002020-08-09T08:39:06.964-04:00Charles Olson, Thoreau, and the Distance to Mt. Wachusett The author Robert Sullivan, in The Thoreau You Didn’t Know, several times notes that Mt Wachusett is on the edge of Concord or vice versa. It’s probably more than an hour by car between the two. I think I am even under-estimating. In his research, Sullivan maybe didn’t haul out to Wachusett, it is not a significant place in the Thoreau annals. He probably looked at a map and judged theSimple Theorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03668925222933772694noreply@blogger.com0