The Frogs Have More Fun...

Flowers



"All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, Fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames.
- These must all be Fairy names !"

(from Child's Garden of Verses
by R.L. Stevenson)


"Anyone can write a short-story.
A bad one, I mean."

(R.L. Stevenson)
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"Science without conscience is the Soul's perdition."
- Francois Rabelais, Pantagruel
- Acc to/above is citated from: Medical Apartheid. The dark history of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet A. Washington (Doubleday ; 2006 ; p. 1.)

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"In the high society of the first half of the century, marriage, despite it's bestowal status upon the wife, was the most absurdity. Marriage, conferring instanteous rank or money, ... lost most of its prestige and moment right after the wedding. ...By the end of the century, spurred by Rousseau's moralistic Nouvelle Hèloíse, a contrary cult, that of virtue, arose. After 1770 conjugal and maternal love became not merely admissible, but, for some, moral imperatives. ...

[...]
...Rousseau, who sought for himself the crown of morality in ostensibly defending marriage, presents in his Nouvelle Hèloíse the most enticing and extended defense of illicit love ever penned. The root of the problem is that as the century progressed sensibility became confused with morality: passionate feeling, if expressed in a highly civilized mode with grace and nuance, makes us forgive the Rousseau of The Confessions, for example, his pettiness, his jealousies, his betrayals. This moral-amoral byplay, present already in the novels of Richardson, was to be more intense as the century unfolded."
-
Madelyn Gutwirth : Madame De Staèl, Novelist. The emergence of the Artist as Woman (10,15.)

;
"...As the social contract seems tame in comparison with war, so fucking and sucking come to seem merely nice, and therefore unexciting. ... To be 'nice', as to be civilized, means being alienated from this savage experience - which is entirely staged. [...] The rituals of domination and enslavement being more and more practiced, the art that is more and more devoted to rendering their themes, are perhaps only a logical extension of an affluent society's tendency to turn every part of people's lives into a taste, a choice; to invite them to regard their very lives as a (life) style." - Susan Sontag , on 'Fascinating Fascism' (-74; p 103;104-5 at Under the sign of Saturn)
; "Anyone who cannot give an account to oneself of the past three thousand years remains in darkness, without experience, living from day to day." (Goethe) - as cited by Sontag (on same compile; p. 137.)

;
"It is widely accepted that we are now living in the 'Anthropocene', a new geological epoch in which the Earth's ecosystems and climate are being fundamentally altered by the activities of humans. I loathe the term, but I can't deny that it's appropriate."
; (Goulson), Silent Earth : Averting the Insect Apocalypse (2021; p 47.)
;
"It is sometimes said that humanity is at war with nature, but the word 'war' implies a two-way conflict. Our chemical onslaught on nature is more akin to genocide. It is small wonder that our wildlife is in decline."
; (Goulson, 2021 ; 118.)
;
----------------
"If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities." (Voltaire)
- Citated from; (Joy, Melanie), Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows : An Introduction to Carnism(2010; p. 95.)
;

"In the presence of the monster, you have eyes and ears for nothing else."
; (Flora Tristan) : London Journal of Flora Tristan: the Aristocracy and the Working Class of England ; 1842-edit. (tr: 1982. ; p. 71.)

;
"Every minority invokes justice, and justice is liberty.
A party can be judged of only by the doctrine which
it professes when it is the strongest."
Mdme de Staêl
(on) 'Consideration sur le Révolution de la Francaise' [1818]


12/2/16

MSW Book Recommendation #51 ; '...You don't even hear the groans of the wounded and dying.'


Or; '...hallowed by thy name...' 


 
  1. (- note)

; “... Democracy is theorised by contemporary political scientists as a complicated interlinked process – one involving elections, institutions, law, the protection of minorities, 'a government which grants freedom of press and of speech to all', and so on – the kind of system that does obtain, though it functions imperfectly, in the industrialized West. ...the complexity of any democratic system worth the name makes it hard to take a quick look at a society and say 'Yes, we have a democracy here' : there is no easy test. Second, in a modern culture where news is disseminated visually, it is impossible to film the whole tedious process of democracy in a thirty-second report, and thereby prove in images that democracy is happening. As a consequence, television news adapts a kind of shorthand: the shot of people standing in line to vote has become the standard means of showing 'democracy'. The danger of such visual telescoping is that it will come to imply that voting is all there is to the concept, that democracy is nothing but elections.
Such a deliberate confusion of the part of the whole may have its propagandistic uses. ...“ 
 ; 
 “... It is perhaps more correct to say that capitalism doesn't care where the profits come from, and to remember that, in certain countries, the military industry accounts for no insignificant proportion of capitalism. In 1970, the US Department of Defense owned '10 per cent of the assets of the entire American economy'. In the second financial quarter of 2003, military spending accounted for 60 per cent of the growth rate of US gross domestic product. ...military spending can fuel short-hand growth, a phenomenon that economists have christened 'military Keynesianism': evidently, this worked for the Iraq invasion. …
...Capitalism is not inherently evil; nor is it inherently good. It is agnostic on matters of good and evil. It is not immoral, it as amoral. (Which is why, despite the rhetoric of 'free trade', western capitalist democracies protect themselves with vast edificies of law and regulation.) And once you are agnostic about the rights or wrongs of war, you may be intensely relaxed about the fact that war can be very good for business.”
; from Unspeak. Words are Weapons.. (p. 198-9 ; 216-7)
(by Steven Poole
Abacus, 2006

;
The Poem therefore (with the exception of the first canto, which is purely introductory) is narrative, not didactic. It is a succession of pictures illustrating the growth and progress of individual mind aspiring after excellence, and devoted to the love of mankind; … its impatience at 'all the oppressions which are done under the sun;' its tendency to awaken the public hope, and to englighten and improve mankind; the rapid effects of the application of that tendency; the awakening of an immense nation from their slavery and degradation to a true sense of moral dignity and freedom; the bloodless dethronement of their oppressors, and the unveiling of the religious frauds by which they had been deluded into submission; ...the universal toleration and benevolence of true philanthropy; the treachery and barbarity of the hired soldiers; ...the consequences of legitimate despotism, - civil war, famine, plague, superstition, and an utter extinction of the domestic affections; the judicial murder of the advocates of Liberty; the temporary triumph of oppression, that secure earnest of its final and inevitable fall; 

[…]But mankind appear to me to be emerging from their trance. I am aware, methinks of a slow, gradual, slient change. In that belief I have composed the following Poem.

I do not presume to enter into competition with our greatest contemporary Poets. Yet I am unwilling to tread in the footsteps of any who have preceded me. I have sought to avoid the imitation of any style of language or versification peculiar to the original minds of which it is the character; designing that, even if what I have produced be worthless, it should be properly my own. …

The Poem now presented to the Public occupied little more than six months in the composition. That period has been devoted to the task with unremitting ardour and enthusiasm. … And, although the mere composition occupied no more than six months, the thoughts thus arranged were slowly gathered in as many years.” 
; by Shelley, Percy Bysshe - of 'Author's Preface' to 'Revolt of Islam' (Or) 'The Daemon of the World' (poems) ; via The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Vol 1. (Collection f.p. 1839., preface by y. 1824)

“... The ancients believed that souls that had not received the honors of burial on earth wandered on the banks of death river for a long time; it seems to me that an almost identical fate is reserved for me. I shall be on the border between this life and the next, and reverie will help me gently while away long years filled with my memories alone.”
; from Delphine, a novel (; p. 399)
(by Madame de Stael ; p. 1802) 
  ------------------------ 
Recoms:  
 

DORI STORIES. The Complete Dori Seda.
(by Dori Seda, plus compilators...'comix biography'.)
197 p. ; Lasp Gasp (1999)
;

BLAZING COMBAT
(Orig. as US comics-magazine, published btw 1965-6.)
Stories: Archie Goodwin, w. various drawing artists.
p. 207 p.; Phantagraphics books, (reissue,) 2010.
 
AYA. Love in Yop City
(by Marguerite Abouet, Clément Oubrerie)
328 p. ; (Gallimard Jeunesse, 2013)

; [ Recommendations V / 2016.]

; ...Series of view-points to Commonwealth, pt VIII. 
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...These recoms' offering,
Now exhibit the bits and strip
from the World of Comics,
All by all the apprehension,
and complimentions.


So, (dat here) a Jolly Good Polly,
By the tune not much of any Golly,
(neither often not, or rarely Molly),
Not plays for any Dolly,
(horns and hounds just some glamours,
she makes no favours)

Yet all the element so well in tune,
an' those stories accompanied
more can tell than this rune.


  ;



...On this (adjacent)
we need not from make so many verse,
ouf of the pic (they) seem bent,
not known by Whom, or What them sent,
on the foot is noted all else.

...dat for sure, anyone can ya tell,
War is hell.   2. (note)



  ;
 
...and, from the last in our line,
not so comprihensive, or so much have we read.


Yet, (that Aya) of lately seems made it very Populix,
...and got swingin' even the old Senilix,
Her words might've surprised
(some, maybe who like mead, or just maybe'd)
but dat rhytm,
oh, I even wished it fo' mine.

(And there even some advice for cooks,
; recipe from stock cubes, broil, soups.) ”
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  Note(s):

1. ; ...A few lines on the (mainly) silent-era film actresses, whose pics at this recoms begin. ; From the left, onwards;  Karen Morley, who played the pair for Paul Muni, at the time, on a hugely successfull gangster-film Scarface (...the original, Howard Hawks' filmatisation from 1932. The original ending also features fx the scene of the prison execution, by that time, a topic which was prohibited from depict in the realistic manner.). On Morley (is noted), she was 'picked' afterwards for few more films, but she then soon 'semi-retired' for family-life, 'after arguments about her roles and private life', only appearing on films occasionally later on. However, also, “In 1947, her career came to a halt when she testified before the House Committee on Un-American activities and refused to answer questions about possible enrollment in the Communist party. Afterward she continued promoting left-wing causes...” ; Then, Myrna Loy (1905-93) one among the few female stars that managed from '...make a succesfull transition into the sound era'. Early years she played often the exotic 'femme fatale', 'Theda Bara-types', and (also) anecdotes of the 1920s mention her been discovered 'one night' for the motion picture industry from local stage play (by Mrs Rudolph Valentino). ; Ann May Wong (d. 1961), was the '...first Chinese-American movie star' (who) “...managed to have a substantial acting career during a deeply racist time when the taboo against miscegenation meant that Caucasion actresses were cast as 'Oriental' women in lead parts opposite Caucasian leading men.” - So fx for the role of an opposite for male peasant 'hero' on The Good Earth (...that role played by Paul Muni, also. The film situates on chinese country-side, about that time.) she was rejected and likewise said that '...discrimination she faced in the domestic industry caused to go to Europe for work in English and German films'. (...Quite interestingly or even surprisingly, seems it said that she was able achieve in the Europe popularity not just among films industry, but was most favored actresses from the audiences too. (Where she hanged around Riefenstahl, Sternberg, ao of the eras filmatisations. Later featuring on some Paramount films her career continued, about, until ca late 1940s.) ; Then – Ann Dvorak, who also acted on that Scarface, above mentioned (Actually, she was the main tragic 'heroine' character at film.) Dvorak, some years/roles after, seem said from '...left for Britain unhappy w. films and commerce.' (In spite of that), she was featured to several films from later day, although not on any particularly novelty some. ; Nina Mae Mckinney (d. 1967), of whom it fx said that she was “...acknowledged as a great actress, singer and dancer by audiences in the US and Europe (while) ...today she is mostly forgotten. (Also by the era) ...Hollywood was scared to take a chance on an attractive black woman, to make her into a glamorous sex symbol... (and also, Hollywood,) ...could accept black character actresses...having a close relationship with white characters in a film, but would not allow a beautiful black actress the same...”
 However, 'she had much more success on stage' , and in the 1940s was featured on number from 'cheap flicks' filled from exotism. ; Finally, last from the right; Louise Brooks, perhaps best renown of the mentioned. After successful roles at several films, but disappointed for the industry, she left for the Europe having achived contract to play at few classic Pabst-films. (Which was still prior the 'talkies'-era, about 1929.) Later (after additional role on 'Prix de Beauté', 1930 a moderate successfull fashion-film.), she returned only to discover of been '...put on an unofficial black list on Hollywood.' Her filmography then represents a few (minor) films from 1931, and a few more films by -36, and -37 (, some western and alike). Later from around the war-are she then passed via 'a few professions' and less coherent period in life (characterized by various psychic conditions, various pills and the resulted drug-addiction on those), yet later did returning for her favored practices by writing and painting. The former hobby then provided also several articles, which were later on collected, at about 1970s, for her famous 'autobiography'. (Various characters by the era featured on her memoirs, etc, ao..) 
; ...Cites/brief quatations on this are via the ImDb-entries - and of a few other variable sources.



2. ; ...The history from publication of that mag (Blazin' Combat) seems a reason for it's inclusion on this recom, by itself. That so, since these anti-war and realistic stories originally appeared on a short-lived comics, intended sold on various shops and via retailers, already prior any general resistance against the Vietnam/foreign wars hadn't yet emerged in US. All the stories in the mag were wrote by Goodwin, drawn by various artist, And generally the quality of stories also is artistically rather high (if compared for the more typical stuff of the war-comics by the time, or even later from.) 
; Anyway, from the interviews of Goodwin and publisher at this compilation one can read about that US army confiscated practically all copies from magazine, early on or soon from it's begins. (Or, of some retailers them were perhaps bought and 'shelved' away from the readers.) As the result, the sales from it never really took off, and after only four issues it had to cease from published. All that in the society that claimed of to be democratic, which maybe worth a notice too. ; ...Generally all the stories perhaps not so skillfull , or succeedingly created, but the emphasize on vast waste and meaningless of war is apparent all the way. (One might only wonder how the underaged and other readers for these stories would've benefited of the views it meant for transmit originally. Anyway, seems it from said of having had quite good reception by the public, on what there was possible from them to acquire during that 1960s.)
 ; Pic aside (that) is from the cover for magazine's first issue It perhaps most definitely captures that madness of the war. A viewer can't avoid the impression from watching something very brutal and what can't end but badly. Them - the guys depicted - sure know they're going to the hell, and (posssibly) nothing could prevent that. They seem also of to believing that by themselves, from to be destined from going to that hell. (No alternative considerable, or even possible for them. They're already beyond life, seems of be that ultmate message on this unusual depiction.) And thats, of course, the very nature of all wars.
  ; The stories don't either leave aside sufferings of the civils on war fronts, albeit the main plots of the stories represent the battles, etc. scenes. (It also has fx several short-stories about the air pilots and air fights, etc. On that can fx be noticed how popular on the imagination of peoples the jet engine aircrafts still were by the decade - Some of those stories situated for Korea, possibly on some earlier wars too.) ; But, shortly, the mags history and (most stories) very quality make it almost unavoidable from to leave aside from this comics-compile. 
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; Pics: Hela ['norse goddess'] - From the story 'Whirlpool of Death' at Forbidden Worlds (US comics-mag., by the 1950s) ; Lulubelle ['french bar-maid', speak-bubble little modified] - from via Blueberry. (by Charlier - Giraud).

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