If, as I maintain, a prime reason why we should read is to strengthen the self, then both Whitman and Dickinson are essential poets.
-Harold Bloom
Category: Art
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I began to read just after I was four. The letters on the page suddenly gave in and admitted what they stood for.
– Penelope Fitzgerald
Some descriptions are well…FIRE. As read from Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life.
Lee, Hermione. Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life. United States, Alfred A. Knopf, 2014. pg 28
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"Now first we fence the garden through,
With this for me and that for you,"
Said Oliver. - "Divine!" said Oakes,
"And I, while I raise artichokes,
Will do what I was born to do."As read from Edwin Arlington’s poem Two Gardens in Linndale.
The great quest of life…find what you were born to do.
Robinson, Edwin Arlington. Robinson: Poems: Edited by Scott Donaldson. United Kingdom: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007. pg 106
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I cannot tell. The world is grown so bad
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch.
Since every jack became a gentleman,
There's many a gentle person made a jack.
- RichardThe best part of reading Shakespeare is when you read a passage and it dawns on you – THIS IS SHAKESPEARE!
As read from Richard III, the Pelican Edition
Shakespeare, William, et al. Richard III. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2017.
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“My assistant porter Fritz and I will be serving a small complimentary Christmas brunch, including chocolate flavored hot beverage with whipped topping, in the cafeteria section at the rear of the coach starting in twenty minutes.”
conductor Ralph
Sometimes short films are best. Wes Anderson’s Christmas Movie “Come Together” is short film perfection. It even has a Wikipedia page!
It’s still Christmas people!
Savor!
Savor!
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Before the Carol was published, Christmas Day was not a public holiday in Britain. By 1846 the newspapers were reporting that ‘Experienced salesmen at Leadenhall-market state that the demand for Christmas geese this year exceeded that of any previous season, and that the establishment of clubs has, within the last few days, brought upwards of 20,000 geese into the market. In some parts of the metropolis, “plum pudding clubs” have been established.’
Strange to think there was a time where Christmas was not a public holiday in Britain.
The power of Dickens.
Also Leadenhall Market still exists.
Wilson, A.N.. The Mystery of Charles Dickens. United States, HarperCollins, 2020. pg 158, 159
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Learn to overcome your fears and shepherd your project to completion, no matter what. It’s the essential moments of struggle over the decades that I have learnt from and which have brought me to this point. When I think back to my earliest years in this business, I see I am nothing today but a product of my defeats. When I was burnt I learnt about heat, and when I was belittled I learnt about power structures. Instead of going to film school, for me it became a process of trial and error, and for the first few years it was mostly error.
Werner Herzog
Applicable everywhere. Building toward the new year.
Also, Merry Christmas.
Cronin, Paul. Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Faber & Faber, 2020. pg244
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I’m the kind of person who is always early. I know a lot of people think it’s not very rock and roll to be punctual and courteous, but I disagree. I think manners are cool, and even revolutionary, and you won’t convince me otherwise. So fuck you.
As read from How to Write One Song.
Fight the power man. Be polite.
Tweedy, Jeff. How to Write One Song. United States, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020. pg 116,117
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Thank You
for all my hands can hold--
apples red,
and melons gold,
yellow corn
both ripe and sweet,
peas and beans
so good to eat!From the poem Thanksgiving, by Ivy O. Eastwick.
As read from the glorious Random House Book of Poetry for Children.
Let’s be thankful today too. Happy day-after-Thanksgiving everyone!
The Random House Book of Poetry for Children. United States, Random House Children’s Books, 1983. pg 47
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When the video game artist Peter Chan was young, he loved to draw, but he would crumple up his “bad” drawings in fists of frustration. His father convinced him that if he laid the “bad” drawings flat instead of crumpling them up, he could fit more of them in the wastebasket. After his father died, Chan found a folder labeled “Peter” in his father’s possessions. When he looked inside, it was full of his old, discarded drawings. His father had snuck into his room and plucked the drawings he thought were worth saving from the wastebasket.
Encouragement takes many forms. Sometimes it’s fishing out beauty from a wastebasket.
As read from Austin Kleon’s Keep Going.
Kleon, Austin. Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. United States, Workman Publishing Company, 2019. pg 33,34
Floodlights and Goalposts 