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featuring Dr. Omed's Patented Oil of Prosody and the dancing Elders of the Seventh Day Atheist Aztec Baptist Synod. Fair and Balanced since 8/14/03 00:12AM GMT
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Sunday, April 18, 2004

RIDE WITH THE NUN OF THE WEEK

B3TA CHALLENGE NUN-O-RAMA


11:28:58 PM    comment []

GRENDEL’S LAUNDRY LIST: THE BOOKS ON DR. OMED’S DESK

 

Mentioning the “40 or 50 books on my desk” in the post before last reminded me that Grendel had not posted a “Laundry List” in some time.  Not having a theme in mind, I give you—the books that happen to be on my desk this evening. There are 49 by my count.  Some titles have appeared on previous Laundry Lists; I list them as I find them in the desktop middens.

 

Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia

 

Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter

 

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

 

The Prophets: An Introduction by Abraham J. Herschel

 

The Universe Story by Brian Swimme & Thomas Berry

 

For the Time Being by Annie Dillard

 

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Sex by Drs. Willy, Vander, and Fisher (1950)

 

A Field Guide to Contemporary Poetry and Poetics edited by Stuart Friebert & David Young

 

Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard by William Lanouette

 

Discourse on Method & Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

 

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

 

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

 

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

 

The New Greek/English Interlinear New Testament

 

The Spectrum of Consciousness by Ken Wilbur

 

George Grosz by Hans Hess

 

The Story of Writing by Andrew Robinson

 

Zippy Annual 2002 by Bill Griffith

 

Storyville, New Orleans by Al Rose

 

Dirt Greed & Sex: Sexual Ethics in the New Testament by L. William Countryman

 

Jesus: An Historian’s Review of the Gospel by Micheal Grant

 

Jesus by A.N. Wilson

 

Christology in Context by Marinus de Jonge

 

The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan

 

A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus by John P. Meier

 

Quarantine by Jim Crace

 

Adam, Eve, and the Serpent by Elaine Pagels

 

The Poems of W.B. Yeats

 

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire

 

A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilbur

 

Stardreamer by Cordwainer Smith

 

The Divine Comedy: the Inferno by Dante Alighieri

 

Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader

 

The Book of Common Prayer

 

From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History by James Smith Pierce

 

Field Encounters: Poems by Jennifer Kidney

 

The Essential Jung edited by Anthony Storr

 

Fossil Collector’s Handbook by Gerhard Lichter

 

Little Mother: A Psalter: Poems by Dana Pattillo

 

An Army, with Banners: Poems to the Beloved by Dana Pattillo

 

Rawlinson’s Historical Evidences

 

The Apostle: A Life of Paul by John Pollock

 

Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative by Herbert Mason

 

The Haw Lantern by Seamus Heaney

 

The Temper of Our Time by Eric Hoffer

 

Poetry, Language, Thought by Martin Heidegger

 

An Uncommon Scold by Abby Adams

 

The Observer’s Book of Fossils by Rhona M. Black

 

At the Edge of the Body by Erica Jong

 

The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell

 

Selected Poems 1956-1968 by Leonard Cohen

 

Saint Joseph “Continuous” Sunday Missal (1958)

 

The Best of Cordwainer Smith edited by J.J. Pierce

 

The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict

 

The Complete Poems 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop


6:27:28 PM    comment []

THE FIFTH INSTRUCTION

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

5. Cut and paste the some or all of the fifth sentences into a collage poem, as far back as you care follow the chain.

6. Post text of fifth sentence poem to your blog, and cc Dr. Omed.

Example: Fifth Sentences

We can express the difference

by defining the romantic, nineteenth-century periodical

as essentially an organ of opinion,

exercising an avant-garde function

only insofar as it leads and precedes a vast corps of readers

in the labyrinth of ideas and issues;

but the avant-garde periodical functions

as an independent and isolated military unit,

completely and sharply detached from the public,

quick to act, not only to explore but also to battle,

conquer, and adventure on its own.

The stars he pastes up are colored

only to go with how he feels that day,

blue on up to golden.

It is not that the idea is attributed

to man's inordinate conceit

(though this is sometimes done by the unreflecting);

for, all said and done, a navvy who can walk

into a public-house and order a pot of beer

is an infinitely more wonderful thing

than is the biggest lump of cooling mud that ever swam in the skies.

And tell me whether any literary work whatsoever

is compatible with states of this kind.

Smilers, all who stand on promontories, slinkers,

whisperers, deliberate approaches, echoes, time,

promises of mercy, what dreams or goes masked,

embraces that fail, insufficient evidence,

touches of the old wound.

But it is quite natural that sensations so familiar

should be little noticed and that attention

should be drawn to them only under special circumstances

when they occur unexpectedly or with unusual strength.

None of the pictures is very large,

which doesn't mean they aren't valuable.

My own experience of Thomas might be limited,

but Kate had written me quite detailed reports

of her acquaintance with him, and I think I can safely say

that 'exaggerating' is not a word

that either of us would ever use in connection with him.

Tami's bust probably measured fifty-five or sixty inches.

She was an explorer and a pioneer at the high art of terraforming,

and her techniques in building living worlds

were still the standard, and her name

didn't even need 'Chamberlain' attached to it.

They find cover among small patches

of natural vegetation, agricultural fields,

and tree plantations to the south, near the seacoast.

Wilde scuffed the surface of the canal-bank path—

it had changed from trodden dust to a strip of fused sand

which broadened and merged with the street ahead,

the permanent way made from the same material

as if the finger of a god had drawn the lines from space—

and waited for the machine to reply.

My protestations of friendship are not like other people's.

I love to. but i thought you knew everything about me.

When we look at input sizes large enough

to make only the order of growth of the running time relevant,

we are studying the asymptotic efficiency of algorithms.

He reached it.

Various families came to him

and showed him all the chairs he might sit in.

It is a temenos or ritual precinct,

a Greek word I adopt for the discussion of art.

I think I like Dave Harris' version better than my own:

That evening she danced merengues with us

We can express the difference
by defining the romantic,
nineteenth-century periodical
as essentially an organ of opinion,
exercising an avant-garde function
only insofar as it leads and precedes
a vast corps of readers
in the labyrinth of ideas and issues;
but the avant-garde periodical
functions as an independent and isolated
military unit,
completely and sharply detached
from the public, quick to act,
not only to explore but also
to battle, conquer, and adventure
on its own.

The stars he pastes up are colored
only to go with how he feels that day,
blue on up to golden.

It is not that the idea is attributed
to man's inordinate conceit
(though this is sometimes done by the unreflecting);
for, all said and done, a navvy who can walk
into a public-house and order a pot of beer
is an infinitely more wonderful thing
than is the biggest lump of cooling mud
that ever swam in the skies.

And tell me whether any literary work whatsoever
is compatible with states of this kind.

Smilers, all who stand on promontories,
slinkers, whisperers, deliberate approaches,
echoes, time, promises of mercy,
what dreams or goes masked, embraces that fail,
insufficient evidence,
touches of the old wound.

But it is quite natual that sensations
so familiar should be little noticed
and that attention should be drawn to them
only under special circumstances when
they occur unexpectedly or with
unusual strength.

None of the pictures is very large,
which doesn't mean they aren't
valuable.

My own experience of Thomas might be limited,
but Kate had written me quite detailed reports
of her acquaintance with him,
and I think I can safely say that
'exaggerating'
is not a word that either of us would ever use
in connection with him.

Tami's bust
probably measured
fifty-five
or
sixty
inches.

She was an explorer and a pioneer
at the high art of terraforming,
and her techniques in building
living worlds were still the standard,
and her name didn't even need
'Chamberlain'
attached to it.

They find cover among small patches of
natural vegetation, agricultural fields,
and tree plantations to the south,
near the seacoast.

Wilde scuffed the surface of the canal-bank path—
it had changed from trodden dust
to a strip of fused sand
which broadened and merged with the street ahead,
the permanent way made from the same material
as if the finger of a god
had drawn the lines from space—
and waited for the machine to reply.

My protestations of friendship
are not like other people's.

"Classy, virile, Teutonic,"
growls the Old Man.

i said, "i love to. but
i thought you knew everything
about me."

There are just as many differences
among followers of the Sacred King
system, except that none of them
had definite names for their
religion
as such.

...

"Classy,
virile,
Teutonic,"
growls
the
Old
Man.


4:57:17 PM    comment []

The latest viral meme passing from blog to blog is a set of instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

 I caught it from Mambrina, at The Forge, also from Dave Harris.  Catnmus, Neva, and Patia are also spreading the infection, according to Mambrina.  Dave has an entire list of carriers he has tracked down.

I have 40 or 50 books on my desk, but the one book within reach is Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson.  I read this book when it first came out in 1990, and enjoyed the manic brio with which Paglia attacked her case, and all comers.  In recent years her writing has become merely annoying.  She promised a volume II to Sexual Personae, but never delivered.  Camille has trivialized herself by embracing the role of a talking head and minor (very minor) celebrity.  The Fastest Mouth in the West.  I've been rereading her book bit by bit, mostly while on the toilet. 

The fifth sentence on the twenty-third page is:  "It is a temenos or ritual precinct, a Greek word I adopt for the discussion of art."


2:39:53 PM    comment []



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