The Sunset Foot Clinic is leaving Silver Lake. And with it will go a famous happy foot/sad foot sign with a connection to David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King.
Thanks, Seth.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Feet on the move
A podcast recommendation
“John Green reviews facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale”: The Anthropocene Reviewed. Each episode is a pair of essays on seemingly unrelated topics. But only seemingly. See, for instance, “Lascaux Paintings and the Taco Bell Breakfast Menu.” Or for unexpected emotional resonance, “Googling Strangers and Kentucky Bluegrass.”
[The first person I heard use the word Anthropocene: Van Dyke Parks.]
“Here are horses!”
Count Leinsdorf’s horses:
Robert Musil, The Man Without Qualities. 1930–1943. Trans. Sophie Wilkins (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).
Related reading
All OCA Robert Musil posts (Pinboard)
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Todd
Chris Christie, on The Late Show just now: “Please, God, can we say goodbye to Chuck Todd?”
A plea that a person of any political persuasion can endorse.
[The next day: I had it as “get rid of.” Wrong.]
Language debate
Re: tonight’s Democratic debate: if candidates are going to speak in languages in addition to English, Pete Buttigieg will rule.
I’m not sure what I think about last night’s speaking in Spanish. With Julián Castro, it seemed a fitting expression of identity. With Beto O’Rourke, it seemed like show-offy pandering. With Cory Booker, it seemed like a way to one-up O’Rourke. The look on Booker’s face as O’Rourke began his first (non-)answer in Spanish: hilarious.
[The correct answer to the question of how many languages Pete Buttigieg can speak is the answer Sarah Palin gave to a question about how many magazines and newspapers she reads: “All of ’em, any of ’em.”]
“Youth and sardines”
Jean, a painter (Daniel Gélin), and Joséphine, a model (Simone Simon), are breaking for lunch — some nice fish. Big fish? Jean asks. Joséphine replies from inside the house.
Jean is disappointed.
Joséphine is pragmatic.
Jean is doubtful.
Joséphine is more cheerful.
As they prepare to eat, Jean is rhapsodic. He never tires of looking at Joséphine, he says. “There’s the most extraordinary grace in your every ordinary gesture,” he tells her. “Leaning toward me, getting into a carriage, raising your arm, reaching out to me, eating sardines.” And:
[Le Plaisir (dir. Max Ophüls, 1952). Click any image for a larger view.]
It must be love.
Related reading
All OCA sardine and sardines in film posts (Pinboard)
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Brief debate thoughts
In her closing statement tonight, Representative Tulsi Gabbard spoke of “ushering in a new century,” &c. It's 2019. What century is she talking about?
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren seemed to me the plausible candidates in tonight’s debate. But Warren needs to stop prefacing her responses to questions with So. As for Bill de Blasio's self-presentation as an advocate for working people: LOL, LOL.
Literal cream
“It’s going to be interesting to see how the cream of the crop rises to the top”: a voter interviewed on the PBS NewsHour, commenting on the approaching Democratic debate. I like thinking about the metaphorical cream of the crop turning back into literal cream. And rising.
Related reading
All OCA metaphor posts (Pinboard)
No mistakes
Thinking about the typewriters in a typewriter exhibit, I asked my mom, What did you do to correct mistakes? In the 1950s she was an executive secretary. I was hoping to hear some story of office supplies in pre-Wite-Out days.
“To tell you the truth,” my mom said, “I didn’t make mistakes.” Indeed, she was an ace at stenography and typing, leaving the secretarial pool for more rarefied surroundings early on. No mistakes! And, in case you’re wondering, no harassment.
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