THE WORLD IS MY CLOISTER

John Runciman's King Lear in the Storm

Stuck in the block room all day, which has the sole but happy benefit of allowing me to enjoy Arkangel's King Lear. (That serie's is fantastic btw. Their production of Julius Caesar in particular.)  Thoughts, if such they is or were or are to be:

When I finally produce my silent visual Lear-inspired masterwork, it's going to either started with a sort of atonal trumpet piece (kind of this sad whimpery drawn out demented regal flourish), or just with the first thirty-five-ish second section of Beethoven's String Trio in C minor. Or maybe even just the first four notes. The rest is silence. I would use Rostropovich's version though, but the recording on YouTube's lousy.

Also totally forgot that Gilead's final line "I'll pray, and then I'll sleep" is from Lear, which is bizarre since it's one of my favorite lines from the play. It's fitting, too: in King Lear, which consists entirely of moving lines, one of the most beautiful and moving and haunting is quiet and tucked away in the middle of the storm/play. I'll pray, and then I'll sleep. Gilead elevates those little quiet things tucked away in the middle of the storm/life, and then puts the quietest bit of Shakespeare in the position of greatest honor: last.

Still processing if there's any more significance to choosing Lear of all plays. Lear : : Ames? There's the duh quality of coming-to-terms-w/-mortality-at-rather-late-notice -- or perhaps Robinson's suggesting that Ames himself only began to cherish the things he writes about and cherishes after he learned about his heart condition (though the book itself doesn't seem to suggest this (though it was written by Ames)) a la Lear's sort of death-catharsis/catharsis-death. Probs all that and more. Really, it's just another case of I am he as you are me as we are all LearAmesHereComesEverybody together.


Hearing the play also really brings home the amount of times the word "nothing" gets used in the first half. The only thing more terrible than hearing the word used like a drum-beat for the second-half too is hearing its echo. And of course there's "never, never, never, never, never."

LOONESSEY II: THE BOOZE HANGS HIGH (1930)

Bosko stars once more in short #2 (The Booze Hangs High) of our chronological Odyssey through the topsy-turvy ocean of Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons. This time around underage drinking figures prominently – so hot button issues are still the order of the day. If possible, this short has even less of a plot and is even more absurd than Congo Jazz: there are several indistinguishable dance numbers featuring Bosko plus cow and Bosko plus horse as well as a duck family troup and a father-pig plus piglets trio. The dance numbers of the first act morph into an alcohol-fueled vocal concert in the second/third, featuring a basement-low bass daddypig who belches nonsense words and his duo of xylophone-voiced piglets. Said piglets, really, are more the stars of the show than Bosko himself. They’re also fond of their moonshine. (N.B. this was released in 1930, three years prior to the repeal of Prohibition.) Black and white suits cartoons in a weird sort of way.

Also features a scene in which papapig coughs up a corn-cob, opens a hatch in his stomach, and reinserts it... according to Wikipedia Nickolodeon excised this when they aired it...

i. TAKING A GANDER AT ALEXANDER, ii. LINKS, AND iii. SANTA SIMIA (WITH KITTEN)

| i. |

Just finished Book IV of Landmark's Arrian: The Campaigns of Alexander (Ἀλεξάνδρου ἀνάβασις). The account is terse and succinct except when it isn't, and Arrian goes soaring off into a flight of rhetoric and fancy, rather like my image of a business-like, no-nonsense Alexander occasionally succumbing to a wild storm of irrationality. Perhaps Alexander was a bottler of emotions as well as a drinker. Arrian may've more/less thought this as well, although he takes pains early on to emphasis Alexander's virtue.

Favorite moment #1. The Siege of Tyre was spellbinding.

Favorite moment(s) #2. Alexander's favorite seer Aristandros pops up almost at random through Book IV to prophecy and interpret omens. The sudden, offhand way he just interjects Aristrandros adds an almost comedic element to the narrative, "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"-style.

| ii. |

Because who needs an excuse to post a link of vintage travel posters.

Fantastic interview with Gérard Diffloth (the god-, grand- and allfather of Austroasiatic language studies).

Also, thesis from a student at the Uni of Birmingham I may speed read at some pt. Because dreams.

| iii. |

And, last but not least, Discarding Images posted the (16th century) illumination below. Gotta love the beatific expression on the monkey's face.

Santa Simia

LOONESSEY I: CONGO JAZZ (1930)

Inflatable tiger left, Bosko right.

First up in our Looney Tunes feature series: Congo Jazz from Sept. 1930. Surprising the number of interesting things a cartoon could bring up in the space of six minutes and 20 seconds. It features the wincingly-outdated-because-borderline-racist main character Bosko who seems to take his cue from the vaudeville/blackface performers of the earlier twentieth century, not to mention a burlesque palm tree, assorted jungle-creatures-cum-jazz-performers and what appears to be an inflatable tiger.

Gum-strumming. There's a word.

Probs the most interesting thing about the short (besides the insane, absurdist jokes) is how established the animation principles were by that time. Guess the rudiments never change. There's one gag where Bosko's bullet/musketball falls onto the ground, and seems to be an almost textbook demonstration of how to animate a bouncing ball (complete with dashed-line motion trail). Another thing is that Bosko ends the short with "That's all folks!" which phrase I'd always assumed was of a later date.

No comment

Besides that there's the absurdist gags, most of which rely on the basic conceit of jungle animals as jazz musicians and/or instruments. The bit where Bosko and a grumpy gorilla bond over strumming pieces of gum is oddly charming in spite of and/or because of how offthewall it is.

I suspect Bosko may've been an at least subconsciounce influence on Bungalow Bill (rhythm, falsetto voice, etc.). Here's a link to the whole short. Dunno how long it'll stay on YouTube.

N.B. The only rule of the Loonessey is there are no rules. This is the Calvinball of watching-old-cartoons-then-riffing-off them. This one turned out fairly straight-laced. Others may not. I have upwards of 350 to go anyway.

And finally, a NYT piece on Marilynne Robinson.

NO NEWS IS GOSPEL

Bugs, the Rabbit of Many Wiles

Considering going through the Looney Tunes Golden Collection chronologically, then writing whatever comes to mind after each short and posting it. Sort of a multi-year freeassociative intellectual Odyssey. Hence:

Coming soon: The Loonessey.

WHAT'S IN A NAME PART II

Finished Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, as translated by Aaron Thompson/ed. by Giles. As indicated in previous post, the text's a treasure-trove of evocative names. The episodes with Arthur were interesting, though not as startlingly familiar as the Leir section. At a certain point he managed to kill 470 Saxons ("effeminate wretches" he calls them). That's about as subtle and developed as his character gets, though there are references to a Merlin prophecy, Avallon [sic], the sword Caliburn, lance Ron, shield Perwin, etc. Otherwise, he's a sort of Briton superwarrior.

Part II of (partial) Census:

  ✣ King Allectus
  ✣ Parthaloim
  ✣ Gombert
  ✣ Dianotus
  ✣ Caradoc
  ✣ Katigern
  ✣ (castle of) Dimilioc
  ✣ Ricaradoch
  ✣ Verulam  
  ✣ Sulpitius Subuculus
  ✣ Gillamor
  ✣ Gistafel
  ✣ Wortiporius