Small pleasures

I rarely watch the TV screen during commercials. Thus the first seconds of music in this Disaronno commercial tricked me into thinking that I was stepping into an episode of Golden Girls. I count two pleasures here: 1. the trick, and 2. my relief that I wasn’t in fact watching Golden Girls.

[No. 2 in a series. Here’s no. 1.]

Monocle, fluttering

Here comes Robert de Saint-Loup.

Marcel Proust, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, trans. James Grieve (New York: Penguin, 2002).

Readers of Swann’s Way will remember the narrator’s interminable lengthy descriptions of individual monocles and their wearers, as seen by Charles Swann.

Related reading
All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

Keeping it local

From the Queens Daily Eagle, “Queens man impeached — again:

A Queens-born real estate developer made history Wednesday when he became the first U.S. president ever impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

The newspaper did a fine job with Trump**’s first impeachment:

He is the third president to be impeached in United States history — and the first from Queens.

Styling the name

On my blog he’s Trump*.

When he’s impeached a second time, he’ll be Trump**.

If he resigns, he’ll be          **. Self-erasure.

If removed, he’ll be Trump**.

If only the damage he’s done could be so easily erased or struck out.

Living, breathing

“Donald Trump is a living, breathing impeachable offense. It is what it is”: Hakeem Jeffries (D, New York-8), addressing the House minutes ago.

Outside and inside the Capitol

Here’s a photograph from Lauren Boebert’s Instagram account, said to have been posted on January 5. That’s Boebert (R, Colorado-3) front and center. Notice the four circled figures: I don’t need to explain their hand signal. See also this Washington Post article about what Mikie Sherrill (D, New Jersey-11) saw on January 5.

*

The Boebert photograph is not from January 5 and not from Washington. But it is a picture of Boebert with supporters, at least some of whom identify themselves as white supremacists. I trusted that Aaron Rupar’s (now-deleted) retweet of the photograph was evidence for its authenticity.

Evolution

A little context: The Princess of Luxembourg has come to spend a few weeks in Balbec. She’s a friend of the Marquise de Villeparisis, who herself is an old friend of the narrator‘s grandmother. When Mme de Villeparisis introduces grandmother and narrator to the Princess, the Princess looks at them with “loving sweetness.” The narrator feels as if he and his grandmother are about to be patted, like “a brace of docile animals poking our heads through the railings at the Zoo in the Bois de Boulogne.” The Princess buys candy and a loaf of rye bread, “the sort you feed to the ducks,” from the hawkers on the esplanade to give to her new acquaintances. And then the Princess offers her hand, to show she still has the common touch, and her expression is aimed “at not quite so lowly a level in the hierarchy of creatures.”

Marcel Proust, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, trans. James Grieve (New York: Penguin, 2002).

Related reading
All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

Mystery actor

[Click for a larger view.]

Leave your best guess in a comment. I’ll drop a hint if needed.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ?

Laurel and Proust

In the dining-room of the Grand-Hôtel at Balbec. The narrator’s grandmother wants to make sure that he has plenty of fresh air for his health. And for a moment, Proust’s novel turns into a Laurel and Hardy short.

Marcel Proust, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, trans. James Grieve (New York: Penguin, 2002).

Related reading
All OCA Proust posts (Pinboard)

[Translator’s note for Saint Blandine: “one of the first Christian martyrs in Gaul, put to death in Lyon in 177, remembered for her serenity under torture.”]

Yes, a coup

Fiona Hill explains that “Yes, It Was a Coup” (Politico):

There’s a standard coup “checklist” analysts use to evaluate coups. We can evaluate Trump’s moves to prevent the peaceful transfer of executive power against it. To successfully usurp or hold power, you need to control the military and paramilitary units, communications, the judiciary, government institutions, and the legislature; and mobilize popular support.

Let’s see how well this applies to what Trump has done.