Plato

Ancient Athenians commemorated Plato with public monuments and celebrated his birth in verse, singing, “On this day the gods gave Plato to mankind.”

-- James Miller, “Examined Lives”

rolled up paper-balls

Getting some tissue to blow my nose, I see those old rolled up paper-balls that I used to toss basketball-like into a little trash can during my reading breaks, if I was not flinging darts at the dart board. Maybe I don't feel the need for such a diversion now because I have the Internet to take up these extra bits of time and restless energy.

pushing life like he is in his forties

Pop is loading up the car for the Shiner trip. He is still pushing life like he is in his forties. I think he turns seventy-one this month. One of these days it is going to stop, just like that. Then what?

American Demographics and the Republican Party

David Brooks has put on his sociologist's hat and offers some interesting comments about America's changing demographics and its significance for the Republican Party.

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Pics

Photo by Pam P via Cute Overload ~ Cute baby sloths hug it out

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what to do for lunch

Pop and Ms. Walker are not long gone, and I break out a couple of chikan videos and a few Kristen stories for an extended wank. And now I'm struggling about what to do for lunch. I mainly don't feel like going to a lot of trouble, but I am fed up with my TV Dinners. It's too bad that Tyson messed up their chicken-breast tenderloins.

Biscuits feel good, baked up and kind of fresh-like. But I neet an entree... I could go for a steak, and I would be happy to go to the trouble of cooking it, but I do not have one of those on hand.

the wound of my loneliness

I wish I could take a nap without opening up anew the wound of my loneliness, this friendlessness and lovelessness. It's not like it makes it better. Indeed, I find that the pain is only sharpening with age.

To feel this life passing away and wanting so desperately for something special to happen in it...

Marilyn Monroe's "Let's Make Love"

Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand, Let’s Make Love - directed by George Cukor (1960)

Let's Make Love is a 1960 musical comedy film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Jerry Wald from a screenplay by Norman Krasna, Hal Kanter and Arthur Miller. It starred Marilyn Monroe, Yves Montand and Tony Randall.

( Plot and videos )

John Updike's "Rabbit" novels

Surfing the Net, I came across a piece on John Updike's "Rabbit" novels, and I went to Amazon and took a good look. Maybe his style is fun enough that I can take those novels for my night reading. I want to give it a try. Since I am going to finish "Casino Royale" soon, I ordered a hardcover volume that contains all four of the Rabbit books - 1,500 pages of reading. If I am mistaken and Updike's novels prove a bit too demanding for my nightime reading, I can always take them for my daytime reading. I would love to beef up the nightime reading a little, feeling that life is short and getting shorter every day and it would be nice to get more meaningfulness for my time and efforts.

One little problem, I have also been building an appetite to take on "Middlemarch" for my daytime reading. However, it does seem like too much, to read the Rabbit books at night and "Middlemarch" by day, both being a little too much like kin. Maybe I should make a point of forgoing novels for the daytime reading while I am making a go at Updike at night.

Besides, I don't intend to read the four Rabbit novels straight through, but may read a trashy novel or two in between, more schoolgirls-in-distress, more James Bond, and so on.

Moreover, since I am laying down money for the Rabbit books, I should make a point of getting my non-fiction at the library. I don't have that much money to play with. Remember, I am also seriously looking to catch the new Bond flick this week.