At the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles: Leonard Bernstein at 100, an exhibition of artifacts — desks, batons, manuscripts, an Olympia typewriter, and much more. What made me flip: five pencil stubs from the 1970s, two Eberhard Faber Blackwings, three Alpheus Music Writers. Try as I might (eight times), I could not get a satisfactory photograph: the lighting and reflections and shadows were against me. This photograph from the Skirball website gives some idea of the difficulty.
But here’s a photograph from the Bernstein Facebook page of some Bernstein pencil stubs, his “soldiers” or “little soldiers.” Look for the distinctive ferrules of the Blackwing (gold) and the Alpheus Music Writer (silver).
Sean Malone has written extensively about the Blackwing at Blackwing Pages. He has also tracked the history of the Alpheus Music Writer and a successor, the Judy Green Music Writer. His post on the Music Writers includes a photograph of Bernstein at the piano, a glass of pencils at hand, with several Alpheus pencils visible.
Related reading
All OCA pencil posts (Pinboard)
[I loved seeing Bernstein’s pencils, but it was The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited that made me tear up — a reaction I did not see coming. Kermit! He’s right here!]
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Leonard Bernstein’s pencils
Monday, July 23, 2018
“DEMENTED WORDS”
Our president, engaged in statecraft, tweeting at the president of Iran: “WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH.”
I look forward to the day when we are no longer a country that will stand for Donald Trump’s demented words of violence and death. Also his demented words of racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and vilification of all who oppose him.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Jonathan Gold (1960–2018)
Jonathan Gold, Los Angeles food writer, has died at the age of fifty-seven. The Los Angeles Times has an obituary, an appreciation, and a sampler of his reviews.
Jonathan Gold was the subject of City of Gold (dir. Laura Gabbert, 2016), a terrific documentary.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
From the Saturday Stumper
Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Brad Wilber, is very tough. I missed by one letter, a mistake I just didn’t see. Must proofread better, dammit.
Two clues that I especially liked, side by side: 9-Down, five letters: “Order blank.” And 11-Down, four letters: ”Applications for Kansas City, St. Louis, etc.”
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
Hi and reLois
[Zippy, July 21, 2018.]
Zippy would like to relocate the Flagstons to the Sculptured House.
Related reading
All OCA Hi and Lois posts : Hi and Lois and Zippy posts : Zippy posts (Pinboard)
Friday, July 20, 2018
More negatives
“I can’t believe Michael would do this to me”: Donald Trump, as reported by CNN a few minutes ago.
Or did Trump mean to say, “I can’t believe Michael wouldn’t do this to me"?
[Michael is Michael Cohen. I think that the wheels are finally coming off this sorry sham of a presidency. Fox News doesn’t even sound like Fox News today. It’s the beginning of the beginning of the beginning of the end.]
Not unaware
About that alleged double negative earlier this week: I’m not unaware of it. But there’s nothing (for me, anyway) to say about it. It’s a false claim meant to tie up attention. As I’m typing, I realize that I do have one thing to say: that whoever read the transcript and invented the double-negative explanation will pay a heavy price in grammar karma.
Zen wind
Wait — what?
MASTERFrom the translator’s note (1975): “Taking into account the traditional loyalty of the Japanese to their teachers and masters, it is no wonder that scholars of Zen in Japan and the West were led to believe that there existed no written records of the koans and their answers. The present book must have created a scandalous sensation when first published nearly sixty years ago.”
What is the color of wind?
ANSWER
Taking his kimono, the pupil describes it, saying, “The front is black cotton cloth, the inside is lined in the color of rust.”
The Sound of One Hand: 281 Zen Koans with Answers, ed. and trans. Yoel Hoffman (New York: New York Review Books, 2016).
Domestic comedy
[With friends.]
“I said Caribbean.”
“I thought you said Peruvian.”
“I heard Yanny.”
Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)
