Friday, August 28, 2009

Open Thread



I want to do more Food and Blogging posts, but I'm running low on recipes. If you send me a recipe by emaailing me at my profile email address, I'll print the recipe, and plug your blog. I eventually post every recipe, even if it takes two years as Mehmet Çagatay found out. I prefer recipes with simple ingredients, low cost, themed etc.

Taking Woodstock **1/2





A well acted, directed, and photographed trite movie. The times and the subject deserve more than a coming of age story. Liev Schreiber as a drag queen was the best part.

I finished reading Moby Dick. It took me forever to read through the dense middle. If only the plot was the book, it would be a thin well written book. If you read Moby Dick, what do you have to say about it?

One of my favorite UK blogs is Dave's Part. I'm not sure why he calls himself an ex-Trotskyist. I find his posts really well thought out and readable.

The East Dakota take on the recent Afghan elections is insightful.

American Left History deserves more readers. It has very well written posts on American history and culture, from a Trotskyist view. Markin loves history and good music, and it shows on his blog.

This is an open thread. Take advantage of it.
RENEGADE EYE

15 comments:

the spanish prisoner said...

I read Moby Dick when I was in high school. I don't remember much about it, except that I liked it. I had dreams about it. It's the only book I've ever dreamed about.

My taste in literature has changed a lot since those days. I'm afraid to reread the book, because I might find it disappointing.

thr said...

I've got a few recipes. Some of them are probably already well-known, but I've got a range of Italian, plus some French and Spanish. Some people from the sub-continent have passed on recipes for curries, and I also have a recipe for pho bo, the king of soups. I'm a little reluctant to publicise it as Vietnamese readers may pour scorn on my attempts. But if you or your readers have any requests, I'd be happy to send something in.

Anonymous said...

Now it's time to read White Jacket and Two Years before the Mast...

Frank Partisan said...

Spanish Prisoner: That sounds Jonah like. I'm told now in college courses, they tell you to skip some chapters, not connected to the plot. I'm glad I read everything.

THR: Pho bo would be great. You can make it clear you're not a member of the Vietnamese Nat'l Liberation Front.

FJ: Thank you for the heads up.

white rabbit said...

Moby Dick has one of the great opening lines (okay only three words but quality)

Call me Ishmael.

:D

Moby is also British rhyming slang for being sick. As in 'the baby's done a moby'.

But I digress...

SecondComingOfBast said...

I want to try my hand at Ulysses one of these days, but I doubt I'd make it all the way through.

I somehow doubt I'd like Moby DIck that much. The thoughts of it I find boring. There must be a lot of material in there where he is reminiscing about his past and dealing with other things besides this crazed obsession of his, which would explain the length of the novel.

I just can't see writing that huge a volume that concentrates on nothing but some fool dedicating his life to hunting down some whale.

I don't think it was actually very popular back when it was first written. Melville was all but forgotten for at least fifty years after his death. It was only much, much later that Moby Dick, for some reason, came to be considered a "classic".

He wrote a short story that was and is one of the all time greats, and damned if I can't remember the name of it right now. It's always been one of my favorites.

Just imagine some worker telling his boss, upon any request for the slightest deviation from his agreed upon work assignments "I would prefer not to".

The lack of ability to appreciate great novels, or for that matter even just kind of good ones, probably quite simply boils down to the lack of the ability to visualize what one reads.

Anonymous said...

I love Melville's diptych, "The Paradise of the Bachelors" and "The Tartarus of the Maids".

Now THERE was some social commentary worthy of the age. I made a YouTube video on the subject of the former. It is NOT social commentary.

The Sentinel said...

You have quite a talent for music video production there, FJ.

I particularly thought that "Yes- if only you knew" was very well done; as good as anything professionally produced that I have seen - some great images in there.

Frank Partisan said...

I will be online in the evening to respond.

SecondComingOfBast said...

And of course, Bartleby was the short story I was trying to think of. Strange I couldn't remember the name, as its probably my all-time favorite short story.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sentinel, you're too kind. They're fun to make.

Frank Partisan said...

White Rabbit: The first line of a book is important. When you browse books, it's a natural act to check the first paragraph.

FJ: Good work.

Pagan: Today writers are consciously hoping their novels will be movies, so they are often visual.

I don't usually read short stories.

Sentinel: Some come to FJ's blog to talk art. He does better tyhan he does on South America, his other favorite subject.

Ducky's here said...

I've rediscovered Moby Dick as a parable of a crazed teabagger destroying culture and science in a mad quest "perfect" the Republic ... and look what happens.

Thank the lord for friendship and Queequeg's coffin. A tip of the hat to Rousseau?

Nevin said...

Ren, I was forced to read Moby Dick in high school. I remember disliking it tremendously.... I found it cruel and dark at the time... Maybe if I read it today, I might have a different opinion.

Currently I am reading "The Family: The secret Fundamentalism at the heart of American power" written by Jeff Sharlet.....

It is a great read.... it almost feels like going into the secret world of the mafia family... except instead of the mafia, it is the men who walk around the corridors of the Congress....

Frank Partisan said...

Ducky: There is a blog that Beak goes to daily, where they call him socialist. That shows how poor they are analytically. To Teabaggers Beak and Obama are socialist.

Moby Dick had antiracist and anticolonial aspects. Melville was left for his time.

Nevin: I think the ruling class acts normal, defending its class interest. With or without that religious sect, it would still be reactionary.