Author: Don

Quote of the day: The Great Wall of Pastel

Abstract Truth:

It is truly baffling why men have gasped in horror at American fiction in much the same manner they would at the announcement of a Streisand-Cher double bill. I finally walked through the fiction section of Barnes & Noble some time ago and decided that I would rather be waterboarded than spend another minute there.

Crazy in the right kind of way

Literary notes:

Ted Gioia recommends seven novels by Philip K. Dick. It’s a good list, though I would have included Martian Timeslip and added a collection of his short stories.

*****

JMSmith seeks to enlarge your vocabulary:

“Unctuously rectitudinous” means “too damn nice.” It means what Sam Francis meant when he called the ineffectual gentlemen of American conservatism “beautiful losers.”

*****

Question and answer with Clayton Barnett:

Q. If you could have lunch with any deceased writer who would it be, what would you eat and what would you talk about?

A. I would invite Descartes, Locke, Voltaire, and Kant. I would be late as I am calling in a tactical nuclear strike on these morons who pulled the so-called Enlightenment out of their nether-regions.

Tune of the day #365

The first Beethoven recording I ever bought was Arrau’s album of the last four sonatas. The second movement, “Arietta,” of the final one was the most wide-ranging, futuristic music I’d ever heard, anticipating everything from boogie piano to space music, and it remains a particular favorite of mine.

… and this is Tune #365, completing a year of music. No matter what your taste in music is, I’m sure there was something to annoy you. I hope you also heard something worth listening to and perhaps worth investigating further. From here on out I’ll post when the spirit moves me, which is not all that often any more.

Survivors

Zinnia grandiflora

A few plants flourished despite this year’s brutal summer. These include Zinnia grandiflora, above. It’s a low, spreading plant two or three inches tall with profuse yellow flowers all summer. Unlike the familiar garden zinnias, it’s a hardy perennial. It’s easy from seed and blooms the first year. Triple-digit temperatures don’t bother it, and it can tolerate considerable dryness, though it does bloom better with regular watering. It would make a good ground cover for dry places.

Continue reading “Survivors”