Olympic pride: Thank you, Kobe, and Michael

Crossposted at http://faustasblog.com, where this blog is now

With the exception of the men's swimming relay (for which I stayed up last night in spite of not getting much sleep the night before), I haven't been watching the Olympics, so I missed this:

Kobe Bryant Schools Liberal NBC Announcer On Patriotism (my bold print)

Chris Collinsworth: Tell the story when you first got your USA uniform.

Kobe Bryant: Well I had goosebumps and I actually just looked at it for awhile. I just held it there and I laid it across my bed and I just stared at it for a few minutes; just because as a kid growing up this is the ultimate, ultimate in basketball.

Collinsworth: Where does the patriotism come from inside of you? Historically, what is it?

Kobe: Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s... we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say "You know what? Our country is the best!"

Collinsworth: Is that a ‘cool’ thing to say, in this day and age? That you love your country, and that you’re fighting for the red, white and blue? It seems sort of like a day gone by(?)

Kobe: No, it’s a cool thing for me to say. I feel great about it, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I mean, this is a tremendous honor.

Video at Ms Underestimated has the video, which is also on YouTube, editorial bubbles and all:



However, Q&O sees Collingworth's differently,

To me it seemed like Collinsworth was simply trying to set Kobe up to say how awesome patriotism is, and how much he loves America. If you've watched any Olympics coverage ever, then this is exactly the kind of saccharine backstory pablum fed to the viewers, regardless of who the interviewer is, or which network is providing the coverage. It's a part of the basic formula: controversy, hard luck, sick/dead relative, USA! USA! USA! So I don't think the question was Collinsworth's opinion, but instead a softball for Kobe to tee off on.

Either way, thank you Kobe.

And Chris.
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The WSJ has a terrific slideshow of Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal.

All of us middle aged and older remember being excited when Mark Spitz won his seven golds.
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This week's WSJ's Five Best books on historical conquest, selected by David Day:

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This week's shoes:
Merrell Encore

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"WWBCD?", Olympic version

Remeber that this is my back-up blog. Please go to Fausta's blog for regular posts
Blue Star Chronicles is keeping an Olympic eye on things, and sent this:
Pres. Bush declines to slap Misty May-Treanor's bikinied butt

Today, as the busy crowd over at our Olympics blog notes, after an hour's brisk bit of mountain-biking himself, Bush paid another visit to the American athletes, watching the women warm up for softball, regretting the disappearance of that sport from the next Olympics ("It's good for the world to have girls playing softball and these women are going to show young girls how to win") and trying his hand, so to speak, at volleyball.

Bush knuckled off a couple of lobs, but defending gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh gave the chief executive some pointers. Then after a good play, in the tradition of female volleyballers, May-Treanor turned, bent over slightly and offered her bikinied rear-end for the 43rd president to slap.

"Mr. President," she said, "want to?"

Want to has nothing to do with it in public life.

As the son of a president, a husband of nearly 37 years, the father of two daughters, the subject of some attempted tabloid exposes and a seasoned political veteran, who is not a female athlete but knows that every camera for a half-mile is trained on him, Bush wisely chose instead to brush his hand across the small of May-Treanor's back. (See photo.)

Darn!

Reuters had to redo their captions.

Now ask yourselves, "What would Bill Clinton do?"

Fortunately for everybody, George W Bush is not Bill Clinton.

And Laura Bush is not Hillary.
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In the Olympic spirit, today's books and shoes:

First, the books:
The WSJ's Five Best Books on the Olympics, selected by ESPN's Jeremy Schaap:

And now the shoes,
Puma Espera, in silver/white/blue.

My experience with the Puma brand is that they run slightly small, so order a 1/2 size larger.

Crossposted

Dr Andrew Boston on CSpan2 right now

As previously announced, Dr Andrew Bostom is appearing on Book TV right now and Monday, July 14, at 1:00 AM Eastern to talk about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History.

Dr. Bostom was my podcast guest last May, when we also talked about his book.

The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History is an anthology of unaltered and complete historical accounts on the subject from primary sources, and a must-read.

More exciting blogging news later today. Stay tuned!



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Upcoming: Dr Andrew Bostom on Book TV

Dr Andrew Bostom is going to appear on Book TV next Sunday July 13, at 7:00 AM and Monday, July 14, at 1:00 AM Eastern to talk about his new book, The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History.

Dr. Bostom was my podcast guest last May, when we also talked about his book.

The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History is an anthology of unaltered and complete historical accounts on the subject from primary sources, and a must-read.



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Sunday books and shoes

This week's WSJ's Five best books on Afghanistan, selected by Ann Marlowe:



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This week's shoes, Lifestride's Spree peep-toe pummps in tan fabric and black trim.

I just bought a pair yesterday.

The Pope doesn't wear Prada...

... says The Manolo, who found it at Times on Line:

According to Vatican sources the Pope's shoes are made by a cobbler from Novara called Adriano Stefanelli, who makes them from calf or kid for the winter and nappa leather for the summer. Papal shoe repairs are carried out by Antonio Arellano, a Peruvian shoemaker in the Borgo, the medieval quarter next to St Peter's. The article, on "Ratzinger's Liturgical Vestments", was written by Juan Manuel de Prada, the noted Spanish writer and author of The Tempest, who is not related to the fashion company. De Prada said that the image of the German-born Pope as concerned with "frivolity" was at odds with the truth, which was that he was a "simple and sober" man. Suggestions to the contrary were "stupid and banal".

And here I thought Shakespeare wrote The Tempest.

In one of life's coincidences, Novara is the town I was referring to when I wrote this post four years ago.
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I'm still on vacation so instead of the WSj's 5 best books links, please buy Steve's cookbook:

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Not Prada, and definitely not Papal, today's shoes, perfect for the beach:

Things I probably shouldn't be reading early on Sunday morning

Last night I went with some friends to see Mongol, which turned out to be excellent. "The untold story of Genghis Kahn", as the title tells us, is a Hollywood-type epic spoken entirely in Mongolian (or at least I assume it's Mongolian - it was some language I don't recognize at all) with English subtitles. It borrows at times from Lord of the Rings for the battle scenes, and from Kurasawa for the central character's development. Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano gives an extraordinary performance as the man who brought the thundering hordes to half the world. Asano has been compared to Toshiro Mifume, for good reason.

Please be warned that there's a lot of violence (as you can expect), and blood spurts wildly as if Sam Peckinpah himself had been doing the battle scene choreography.

Here's the trailer,


After the movie we had something to eat outdoors at Panera. It was a lovely summer night with an indigo blue sky, and lots of people were walking about. Unfortunately if I have dinner late in the evening I don't sleep well, so this morning I was totally awake by 6AM.

So I got up and checked Memeorandum, where the top story,
Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation, tells us that the NYT has revealed the full name of the CIA man who managed to get Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to talk. Funny how the Times and other media were full of outrage when Valerie Plame, who used to drive into the CIA parking lot every morning with the top down of her Mercedes, was "outed", but they have no problem in outing anyone else employed by the CIA.

I agree with Macsmind,

The identity of CIA employee is classified, and although illegal under the Intelligence Identities Protections ACT, the CIA did ask that his name not be published. Therefore the Ny Times is in legal jeopardy for publishing his name.

The CIA should immidately ask the DOJ to look into it.

By the way, I wonder if these clowns who rallied in defense of Plame will speak up now?

More at Pirates' Cove

After that one needs something lighter, so of course I went to Denny's, who always has wonderful music, and came across (language probably NSFW) Mashuk-Akva Term spa story:

Hey honey, let's go to the spa and have a few enemas. What a vacation!

Denny managed to beat Charles to an enema.

I checked my email and found that Maria, who spent many years in Russia, had sent me pictures of toilet signs from around the world. I like this one:


This is the second day in a row that I have posted on scatological items. I blame the lack of sleep.

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The WSJ's Five Best Books on sailing, selected by Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, the first person to sail solo and nonstop around the world:




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Today's shoes: Coach Josie Signature Ballet Flat Shoes in black.



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Happy Father's Day!

A Happy Father's Day to all my readers, but especially to all the dads. Here's a history of Father's Day.

Last year I had the pleasure of talking to Tony Woodlief, author of Raising Wild Boys Into Men, a wonderful pamphlet about being a father.
You can listen to the podcast here.

Raising Wild Boys Into Men is available for download - I highly recommend it.

UPDATE
I Aleays Walked to Shul With My Dad - A Father's Day story
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This week's WSJ;s Five Best Books, on cities, selected by Pete Hamill:




I read Invisible Cities years ago and really enjoyed it.
The best thing about listing the WSJ's 5 Best is that one can remember, and re-read, some very fine books.
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Today's shoes: Charles David's Tantalize wedge sandals: For that 6' tall look.

The ankle strap brings attention to thin ankles.



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Fuel for the political fire? and other Sunday items

Fred Barnes argues that

Republicans finally have a winning argument on a big issue, and they'd better make the most of it. It starts with high gasoline prices--the single most infuriating issue to voters these days--but doesn't end there.

Democrats are not being blamed for causing the price of gasoline to reach $4 a gallon, at least by the public and at least for now. Where Democrats have stumbled embarrassingly is in their campaign to persuade the public that the American oil industry is the chief culprit. A Gallup national poll in May found only 20 percent blame the oil companies for gouging, down from 34 percent a year ago.

Where Republicans have succeeded is in selling their solution to soaring gas prices: drilling for oil offshore and on federal lands, areas now off limits. In the Gallup survey, support for drilling in precisely these areas jumped from 41 percent in 2007 to 57 percent in May.

So Republicans have an issue to exploit. And it's one on which Democrats are especially vulnerable because they promised in the 2006 campaign to offer a "common sense" plan to curb gas prices. They have yet to produce one, and the price per gallon of gas has risen by more than $1.60 since Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007.

Democrats have also insisted--unwisely, it turns out--on pushing to enact a global warming bill that would further boost the price of gas and rake in trillions of dollars in new revenue. This might have made sense a few years ago,
but not in the days of public anger over $4 a gallon gasoline.

As a result, an amazing role reversal occurred on Capitol Hill last week. Republicans, once fearful of the climate change issue, suddenly demanded more debate in Congress on global warming legislation. Democrats, who had earlier promoted the legislation as a top priority, turned squeamish and quickly dropped the issue before it could do serious political harm.

Both House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid have cast global warming as the greatest threat facing America today. In fact, Pelosi was so concerned about this grave threat that, shortly after taking charge of the House, she vowed to bring a global warming bill to the floor by July 4, 2007. Now, though a bill is ready, she's unlikely to schedule it for debate and a vote in 2008.

Let's hope Barnes is right. The moment the US Congress authorizes drilling for oil offshore and on federal lands, in addition to new nuclear plants and refineries, three things will happen:
1. the price of gas will decrease
2. the value of the dollar will go up
3. oil revenue-dependent tyrannies across the world will take notice.

Let's hope it happens sooner rather than later.
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The WSJ's Five Best books on superb opinion journalism, selected by George Will,



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Today's shoes, perfect for the heatwave, Adidas thongs:

I like the black and white, but it comes in four colors.



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The Soros-McClellan Connection

At LGF: The Soros-McClellan Connection

While Scott McClelland's doing great business with his new book and getting payback for getting fired, his publisher, Public Affairs Books, is owned by Perseus Book Group, which in turn is owned by ... you guessed it. Go read it.

UPDATE
More at Media Mythbusters.



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The ears have it!

Drudge says that a movie from Kazahstan won a prize at Cannes:

A first feature-length film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, the film is about a young man returning to the steppe after military service in the hope of becoming a shepherd.

But Asa must first marry and his potential bride apparently thinks his ears are too big.

A light-hearted comedy that features camels as well as sheep, Asa's friend tries to convince the bride's parents his ears are normal-sized by showing them a picture of Britain's Prince Charles.

"Is he an African prince?" they ask. "No, American," he replies.

Camels, sheep, and Prince Charles's American ears. All it's missing is the "swimsuit".
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Also via Drudge, Camille Paglia hits Hillary with the big stick

The next major female presidential candidate will be well advised to stuff any errant husband into a rucksack and chuck him down a laundry chute. If they are to be truly equal, women must fight their own fights and not rely on a borrowed spotlight.

Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.

Well, which is it? Are men convenient sugar daddies or condescending oppressors?

To the angry older dowdy woman who has sacrificed everything for her career and who thinks the world owes her something, the answer is, both.
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The WSJ's Summer Book Guide is up.

This week's Five Best Books, works of war poetry, selected by James Winn,



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Today's shoes: Franco Sarto's comedy espadrille, available in nine colors.

Not sure how they pick names for shoes, but at least it sounds better than "tragedy espadrille".



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What we can learn from Alice Walker's daughter

Alice Walker's daughter has learned many of life's lessons from experience, and there is much we can learn from her. This article speaks to me in more ways than I can explain in this blog because I too am surprised every day by what a blessing it is to be a mother. While some think Rebecca Walker is getting too much publicity saying thoroughly conventional things, those conventional things need to be said.

How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart.

You see, my mum taught me that children enslave women. I grew up believing that children are millstones around your neck, and the idea that motherhood can make you blissfully happy is a complete fairytale.

Motherhood can, and indeed does, make you blissfully happy. Every day I spend with my son is a day I am blessed.

Rebecca Walker continues:

In fact, having a child has been the most rewarding experience of my life. Far from 'enslaving' me, three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world. My only regret is that I discovered the joys of motherhood so late - I have been trying for a second child for two years, but so far with no luck.

I was raised to believe that women need men like a fish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel children need two parents and the thought of raising Tenzin without my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying.

As the child of divorced parents, I know only too well the painful consequences of being brought up in those circumstances. Feminism has much to answer for denigrating men and encouraging women to seek independence whatever the cost to their families.

Make no mistake: no matter how much you try to fool yourself, having a child means that is your top priority. Children need a mother and a father who are totally committed to their child(ren)'s well being. Rebecca Walker suffered because of her mother's misplaced priorities,

work, political integrity, self-fulfilment, friendships, spiritual life, fame and travel.

Narcissism, no matter how you brand it.

If you, gentle reader, think this would have a lesser effect on boys, you are grievously mistaken.

Like most teenage children of divorced parents, Rebecca looked for love by having sex, which makes the child less emotionally demanding of their parents while at the same time giving the illusion that the child in turn has become more independent, and after all, feminism is all about girls' independence, isn't it?

But here's reality: after she got pregnant at age 14 she had an abortion,

Although I believe that an abortion was the right decision for me then, the aftermath haunted me for decades. It ate away at my self-confidence and, until I had Tenzin, I was terrified that I'd never be able to have a baby because of what I had done to the child I had destroyed. For feminists to say that abortion carries no consequences is simply wrong.

Notice how Rebecca knows it was a child she destroyed, and she had to make that decision when she was fourteen years old.

Feminism has devastated the moral character of two generations and is leaving millions of profoundly wounded people in its wake. It's time we recognize that.

Having read Rebecca's article, I'm buying her book.



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Dick Morris on how McCain can win, and other Sunday items

Dick Morris, in today's Washington Post: Obama Has the Upper Hand. But McCain Can Still Take Him.

To sum it up: A candidate who cannot get elected is being nominated by a party that cannot be defeated, while a candidate who is eminently electable is running as the nominee of a party doomed to defeat.

In this environment, McCain can win by running to the center.

His base will be there for him; indeed, it will turn out in massive numbers. Wright has become the honorary chairman of McCain's get-out-the-vote efforts. It would be nice to think that race isn't a factor in American politics anymore, but it is. The growing fear of Obama, who remains something of an unknown, will drag every last white Republican male off the golf course to vote for McCain, and he will need no further laying-on of hands from either evangelical Christians or fiscal conservatives.

So McCain doesn't have to spend a lot of time wooing his base. What he does need to do is reduce the size of the synapse over which independents and fearful Democrats need to pass in order to back his candidacy. If the synapse is wide, they will stay with Obama. But if they perceive McCain as an acceptable alternative, there is every chance that they will cross over to back him in November.

Who am I to disagree with Dick Morris, but the way I see it, McCain has an even bigger problem: many Republicans are assuming that McCain will win, and they are doing next to nothing to help him win, to get out the vote or even donating.

I've been discussing this with a friend who has been watching and participating in American politics for decades. Her appraisal is very somber when it comes to the cult of Obama and the upcoming Obamatopia (^TM).

She recognizes that McCain is against a mighty juggernaut (the Democrat party machinery, of course), but also against a cult-like following "that victimizes itself with politics of hatred", in which propaganda "worms/ingratiates/infiltrates and then stays like a stubborn virulent disease with no fact overrides" (her words). At the same time, McCain is not stirring the Republicans.

Dick Morris says that McCain can win by moving to the center.

The question is, can McCain mobilize the country to effectively win over what has turned into an article of faith?

Cross-posted at PoliGazette
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This week's WSJ's Five Best Books on the American West, selected by Alexandra Fuller:




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Today's shoes: Clark's Korbin, available in seven colors.

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The Carnival of the Insanities is up.

Isabella Rosellini does p*rn...

...of the insect kind:


As The Manolo asked, "who says there are no good roles for aging actresses?"

Expect the films to be featured at the MoMA soon.

UPDATE
Via No Pasaran, It gets worse.
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Karl Rove picks the WSJ's Five Best books on presidential campaigns:



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Today's shoes:
Clark's Hummingbird in yellow.

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Pat's Carnival is up.
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Wishing all my visitors a Happy Mothers Day!



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Saudi Arabia: He who pays the piper calls the tune

In today's Australian, Saudis' secret agenda doesn't reveal anything we haven't heard before, but it illustrates well how it's done:

It was a donation, a gift, a part payment to subsidise the construction of a building that would become Sydney's Muslim heartbeat: Lakemba mosque. More than 35 years after Sydney cleric Khalil Shami received the cheque, he insists it came with no strings attached. But while the cheque had no tangible conditions in the form of written instructions or binding contracts, the cleric received a message from his donors several months after depositing it.
"They said: 'Please, can you mention the tragedy of the Palestinian people and what's happened to them in your sermon?"' Shami tells Inquirer. "Which is really a very noble cause, a very noble cause, I couldn't see a negative in their request."

The message Shami received from Riyadh brings into question the influence petro-dollars can have on their recipients, whether the money is bankrolling a religious centre, a clerical allowance or Queensland's Griffith University, which was exposed by The Australian last month for seeking a $1.37million Saudi grant, of which $100,000 was received, and offering to keep elements of the deal a secret.

The Saudi Government - largely through its embassy - is believed to have funnelled at least $120 million into Australia since the 1970s to propagate hardline Islam, bankroll radical clerics and build mosques, schools and charitable orgnisations.

But the Saudi cash that has flowed into Australia, that also allegedly has paid the allowance of hardline Canberra cleric Mohammed Swaiti, who has publicly praised jihadists, is dwarfed by the $90 billion Riyadh is believed to have pumped into promoting Islamic fundamentalism internationally.

Of course all of this funding for their point of view doesn't allow a cultural interchange.: To paraphrase what Siggy said in last Friday's podcast: the reason the fundamentalists are supported by the regime is that they are a means for the regime to control society.

And then there's the mysogyny, which subjugates totally one half of the population:

While Saudi Arabia exports its Wahhabi version of Islam to the world, Saudi society groans under the weight of its internal contradictions. The first class of female law students will graduate from King Abdul Aziz University this year, but the Saudi Ministry of Justice prohibits female lawyers from practising. Judges consider women to be lacking in reason and faith, and have refused to allow them to speak in the courtroom because their voices are shameful

Think about that: women's voices are shameful to the Saudis.

Yes, I know, this is not my typical Sunday post, but it had to be said.
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Speaking of last Friday's podcast, Pamela has a post on the latest glamorizing of institutionalized mysogyny on an American magazine: W Cultural Clitorectomy: CAIRO

Of course, why be bothered by things such when there's plant dignity to worry about?
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The Carnival of the Insanities is up. Go check it out.
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This week's WSJ's Five Best Books, on baseball, selected by Nicholas Dawidoff:



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Today's shoes, Aerosoles Women's Soul Mate Thong in silver:

Extra traffic

TCM was playing Captain Kidd and it's been a while since I did an old movie post so I thought I'd look the Captain on the Internet Movie Database and post on it.

I was reading the IMDB information when suddenly I read a sponsor link that filled me with dread: Wanted: Movie Extras in Princeton.

I've lived in Princeton since 1989 and during that time two movies have been filmed on location here in town: the dreadful IQ and the very good A Beautiful Mind. (No, House isn't.)

Both movies had open casting calls in town.

I didn't go to the IQ casting call since I'm not interested in becoming an extra, but it was held at the Westminster Conservatory. That was memeorable because the day of the casting call I didn't know that's what was happening and ended up spending a long time stuck in traffic gridlock less than a mile away from my own house.

After the movie started filming on locations all in or near Princeton traffic was backed up for days to no end. It didn't matter where I had to go, IQ was there to tie up traffic, or so it seemed.

Streets were blocked, traffic was detoured all over the place - sometimes without directing us which way to get back to where we wanted - and one time I ended up having to stop and change the baby on someone's lawn because traffic was stuck and the baby needed changing.

It was a disaster.

A friend insisted that I go with her to the casting call for A Beautiful Mind, which was on the Princeton University campus at McCosh Hall. We went on a very cold day, and traffic was backed up, of course. Hundreds of people were standing in line in the cold. Fortunately by the time we got there the line was moving and we went in right away.

The gentleman who was in charge of the casting that day (and whose name doesn't show in the IMDB credits) had the uncanny ability of picking out of a large crowd people who are the same types.

Much to my surprise, I ended up on the podium with five other women. We looked more alike to each other than what my sister and I look alike: same height (give or take two inches), same coloring, same build, probably the same age (give or take five years), and even the same type of clothing (and shoes!).

One of the ladies and I were wearing glasses and we had the same taste in eyeglass frames, too. All of us wore variations of the same hairstyle.

Anyone who harbors any fantasies about their own uniqueness should go stand on a casting call stage for five or ten minutes with five other strangers who not only look like you but even dress like you.

A week or so later I did get called for a job as an extra but turned them down.

By then I was fully prepared for any traffic delays that might come from the Beautiful Mind filming around town. Surprisingly, they managed to film everything on and around campus without having to block any streets. One time I was waiting for a traffic light in the Borough and watched the real-life John Nash cross the street from where Russel Crowe was playing the fictional John Nash. That was the longest I had to wait in traffic because of their filming on location.

But back to this morning's ad on the IMDB, I breathed easy when I saw that it was just an ad.

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Today's WSJ Five Best Books, on essential books to keep in mind for Holocaust Remembrance Day on May 2, selected by Robert Rozett,





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Today's shoes: Delman Women's Manda-P Ballet Flat in coral berry.

Nobody does flats like Delman's.


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It's Sunday, so Pat has the Carnival.



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The Puerto Rican Pre-Raphaelites, and other Sunday items

The Telegraph has an interesting article about how a lot of Victorian and Eduardian paintings made it to Puerto Rico:
Pre-Raphaelites from Puerto Rico

On the day before he died of a heart attack in 1898, the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones was busy at work on The Sleep of Arthur in Avalon, a massive oil painting inspired by Malory in which a mortally wounded King Arthur is laid out on a bier.

The artist had been working for 17 years on his unfinished magnum opus, which had been commissioned in 1881 by George Howard, later ninth Earl of Carlisle, for the library at Naworth Castle in Cumberland.

But that was not where the painting ended up. For the past 45 years, the 21ft by 9ft canvas has hung in an obscure museum in the crumbling colonial town of Ponce on the south coast of the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

The last time I was in Ponce it wasn't crumbling, and this is what the Museo looks like. The museum is closed for repairs, which is why the paintings are on loan to the Tate in London.



The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon is a huge canvas, and when I lived in Puerto Rico I spent a lot of time enjoying its details. This (and The Avengers) was the start of my Anglophilia. After I had moved away from Puerto Rico, graduated from college and started working, one day I decided I would study one art movement in detail and chose the Pre-Raphaelites which - as far as art movements go - were a small group. I spent my first trip to England visiting the Tate, Lord Leighton's house and other locales related to the Pre-Raphaelites.

Of course some of their stuff is best described as "Victorian monstruosities", but that only adds to the fun.

I have forgotten most of what I studied then. Time flew while I was having fun, for sure.

While not a Pre-Raphaelite, Lord Leighton's masterpiece Flaming June was also exhibited in the same room at the Museo de Ponce. Unfortunately the drama of the painting is greatly reduced by photography and by not showing it framed. Frames are an important element in Victorian and Eduardian painting, especially in the case of the Pre-Raphaelites who included some of their poetry in the frame. They in turn inspired William Morris, the creator of the Arts and Crafts movement.

The Puerto Rican Pre-Raphaelites will be in loan to the Tate in London until February next year.
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The WSJ's Five Best Books, on New York society, selected by Frances Kiernan:




(As a side note, when entering "Washington Square" in the Amazon search, it yielded "Good In Bed", not quite what one expects.)
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Today's shoes:
Ralph Lauren Women's Nadine Wedge Pump in navy,

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Pat has the Carnival of the Insanities. Go check it out.

More blogging later.



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Charlton Heston 1923-2008, and a few Sunday items

We had a great time at last night's BlogFest, and I'll be posting a few photos later. For now, here are a few Sunday items:

Charlton Heston died yesterday. Few in Hollywood care to remember that at the height of his fame,

He was one of the major Hollywood stars who marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights era.

But then, few care to remember that the NRA helped many blacks in the South in the post Civil War era defend themselves.

Update
Belmont Club:

Not very many people will remember that Charlton Heston picketed a segregated theater premiering his own movie; or that he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr on the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. All at a time when no one in Hollywood was willing to speak out against racism. It's more likely that he'll be remembered as the six foot three inch tall actor, who played Moses and Ben Hur, and later became the president and spokesman for the National Rifle Association advocating the right to keep and bear arms; or recall that he opposed affirmative action. But Heston the marcher and Heston the NRA president come closer together if one recalls that in the actor's mind at least, racial segregation helped the cause of Communism. The fight for freedom took many forms, but underneath its varied guises it was always the same thing.

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Today's WSJ's 5 Best Books, on journalism, selected by Roger Mudd



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Today's shoes, Merrell Barrado. They tend to run small so you might want to order a half size larger.

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Pat has the Carnival, don't miss it.



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Adam's books

In yesterday's podcast Siggy and I had the pleasure of talking with Adam Bellow.

Adam is the author of In Praise of Nepotism


Adam's father, Saul Bellow, won the Nobel Prize for Literature.


Allan Bloom and Milton Friedman were influential in Adam's conservative thinking:


As an editor, Adam has published several remarkable books,


In addition to his work as an editor and writer, Adam is also a co-owner of The New Pamphleteers. Last June we did a podcast with Tony Woodlief where he talked about Raising Wild Boys Into Men: A Modern Dad's Survival Guide, his excellent pamphlet.

Talking to Adam is a real pleasure. I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to the podcast.



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Prof. Robert Fagles, 1933-2008

I just heard that professor Fagles died on Wednesday.
Here's the NY Times obituary, and the Daily Princetonian.

A memorial service will be held at the University in May.

He will be best remembered for his extraordinary translations and interpretations of the Illiad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid.





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