The Life of Man

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Nine months in the stench: and then in swaddling bound.
Among the kisses, the milksops, and the bawling;
Then strapped into a basket, hauled around
With a stiff neck brace to keep the head from falling.

Then there begin the torments of the school,
The ABCs, the cold, the cane’s hard knocks,
Measles, the potty seat, the squeezed-out stool,
A touch of scarlet fever, chickenpox.

Then hunger comes, and weariness, a trade,
The rent, the jailhouse, and the government,
The hospitals, the debts, the getting laid;

The scorching summer and the winter’s snow . . .
Then, blessed be God’s name, when life is spent,
Comes death to finish it with hell below.

-- "The Life of Man" by G. G. Bell (1791-1863)

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"Nymphomaniac"

In my morning musings - that time when I am stirring myself awake to get up from bed - I think I understand the ending of Trier’s “Nymphomaniac”. For all of her self-debasing sexual adventures, she had never been raped before. Sex was always her choice. Rape was one thing she could not abide.

If this is true, it makes the movie stronger, I guess, running along with contemporary feminist, anti-rape movements. At least I can now see a meaningfulness about it. Nevertheless, for my money, the story still jumped the rails when our nympho-protagonist got involved with that criminal team of debt collectors. Though, I don’t regret seeing it, even at the cost of almost twenty dollars. It is too rare to see a serious movie use pornographic imagery. I wish it would become more of a trend, part of a new era in cinema.

Wednesday Afternoon

Pop left early for his rounds. I decided to make make baked barbecue chicken today, being assured of having the kitchen all to myself. Since I don’t have any new movies set up on our DVR, I went to my closet and pulled out a video cassette-tape and watched “Thursday”, that crazy, fun story about a bad boy having a hard time staying on the right side of the law - you never really leave your past behind you. Of course, the main attraction for me was Paula Porizcova’s portrayal of that “Cunt” character, a real pistol.

Gallows Humor

“Despite the fact that the Ukraine has been all over the news for the past few weeks, a survey found that 64 percent of U.S. students still couldn’t find Ukraine on a map. Said Vladimir Putin, ‘Soon nobody will.’ ”

-- Seth Meyers, comic

The Natural World

Araripe Manakin: It was discovered in 1996 and scientifically described in 1998. (Brazil)

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