In My World

A new poll

Here is a poll you might like to contribute to. [polldaddy poll=4429995]

Forgot I had this!!!

Nice blog. I think I'll revise it to focus on television. Let's see it I can do that.

Martin Sheen - The West Wing - Cathedral Speech

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FScv89J6rro&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1] President Bartlet (Martin Sheen): You’re a son of a bitch you know that? She bought her first new car and you hit her with a drunk driver. What, is that supposed to be funny? “You can’t conceive nor can I the strangeness of the mercy of God,” says Graham Greene. I think I know who’s ass he was kissing there, ’cause I think your’re just vindictive. What was Josh Lyman, the warning shot? That was my son, what did I ever do to yours but praise his glory and praise his name? There’s a tropical storm that’s gaining speed and power. They say we haven’t had a storm this bad since you took out that Tender ship of mine in the North Atlantic last year, sixty-eight crew. You know what a Tender ship does? It fixes the other ships, and, delivers the mail, that’s all it can do. Gracias Tibiago Domine. Yes, I lied. It was a sin, I’ve committed many sins. Have I displeased you, you feckless thug? Three point eight billion new jobs that wasn’t good? Bailed out Mexico, Increased foreign trade, 30 million new acres of land for conservation, put Mendoza on the bench, we’re not fighting a war, I’ve raised 3 children. That’s not enough to buy me out of the doghouse? Hace credam a deo pio? A deo iusto, a deo scico? Cruciatus in crucem. Tuus in terra sertvus, nuntius fui. Officium perfecti. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem. (Translation: Am I really to believe that these are the acts of a loving God? A just God? A wise God? To hell with your punishments. I was your servant here on Earth. And I spread your word and I did your work. To hell with your punishments. To hell with you.)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

A bomb in her bosom: Emily Dickinson ' s secret life

This will be a must-buy. I have every biography of Dickinson, and thought I knew everything about her life. Some of her poetry I am still trying to understand. The Guardian: A bomb in her bosom: Emily Dickinson's secret life

Beneath the still surface of the poet's life lay a fiercely passionate nature and a closely guarded secret, argues her lastest biographer

New Poll

How often do you surf the web each day? (polls)

Thanks to The Writer ' s Almanac

From The Writer's Almanac - For Valentine's Day Zelda Fitzgerald, née Sayre, was F. Scott Fitzgerald's (books by this author) great muse and more. He modeled many of his characters after her, and he even included lines in his books that were from letters that Zelda had written him. The two went on their first date on her 18th birthday. Her family was wary of him, and she wouldn't marry him until his first novel was actually published. Zelda was still 18 when she wrote this letter to Scott in the spring of 1919: "Sweetheart, Please, please don't be so depressed — We'll be married soon, and then these lonesome nights will be over forever — Maybe you won't understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it's hardest to write — and you always know when I make myself — Just the ache of it all — and I can't tell you. How can you think deliberately of life without me — If you should die — O Darling — darling Scott — It'd be like going blind. I know I would, too, — I'd have no purpose in life — just a pretty — decoration. Don't you think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered — and I was delivered to you — to be worn — I want you to wear me, like a watch-charm or a buttonhole bouquet — to the world. And then, when we're alone, I want to help — to know that you can't do anything without me. One week after This Side of Paradise appeared in print, Zelda and Scott got married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. They became known as the quintessential Jazz Age couple: beautiful, flashy, with money, and often drunk in public. The year they married, Zelda wrote to Scott: "I look down the tracks and see you coming — and out of every haze & mist your darling rumpled trouser are hurrying to me — Without you, dearest dearest, I couldn't see or hear or feel or think — or live — I love you so and I'm never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night. It's like begging for mercy of a storm or killing Beauty or growing old, without you. Lover, Lover, Darling — Your Wife"

My computer desktop

Here is the picture I downloaded for my desktop  - From a great site for classic images, Dr Macra's Movie Scans [caption id="attachment_423" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="James Dean in Giant"][/caption]

I remember J D Salinger - dead at 91

A personal note:

I was in college at St John's University in 1951 when Catcher in the Rye was first published. It was the freshest, most original work I had ever read. I don't remember if our professors used it in class, but I know for sure that most of us of college age read it, quoted it, and relished every word of dialogue. Later, when I read Franny and Zooey , Franny's use of the Jesus prayer led me to the wandering Russian monks, and to the study of meditation. I still try to meditate each day, and I credit Ms. Glass with starting me on that journey.

The New Yorker this week (2/2/2010) on Salinger Lillian Ross - The New Yorker - My long friendship with J.D. Salinger NY Times: Cornish Journal: A recluse? Well, not to J.D. Salinger's neighbors The NY Times obit The Guardian: Salinger's new-look oeuvre

The Guardian: From 2002 by Anne Roiphe: The dawning of mourning -- He introduced us to phoneys - but teaching us about loss was Salinger's main aim, says Anne Roiphe

The NY Times: Of Teen Angst and an Author’s Alienation - An appraisal By MICHIKO KAKUTANI About.com: The Catcher in the Rye vocabulary The original review in the NY Times Salinger at The New Yorker And, of course, his perfect book of short stories - Nine Stories - It includes what many consider his finest work, For Esme With Love and Squalor.

Taking a Walk Through J.D. Salinger ’s New York

The NY Times: Taking a Walk Through J.D. Salinger’s New York