Dice, Women, Nonsense, I Love

And let not men, therefore, spend their time in barbers' shops and taverns, babbling nonsense; and let them give up hunting for the women who sit near, and ceaselessly talking slander against many to raise a laugh.

The game of dice is to be prohibited, and the pursuit of gain, especially by dicing, which many keenly follow. Such things the prodigality of luxury invents for the idle. For the cause is idleness, and a love for frivolities apart from the truth. For it is not possible otherwise to obtain enjoyment without injury; and each man's preference of a mode of life is a counterpart of his disposition.

- Clement of Alexandria

It is interesting that Clement speaks of frivolities apart from the truth, implying... What of "frivolities" contained in the truth?

Columbia Records PSA

Found on the sleeve holding my copy of At Folsom Prison…


Here’s How Records Give You More Of What You Want:

The Best For Less. Records give you top quality for less money than any other recorded form.

They Allow Selectivity Of Songs And Tracks. With records it’s easy to pick out the songs you want to play, or to play again a particular song or side. All you have to do is lift the tone arm and place it where you want it. You can’t do this as easily with anything but a phonograph record.

They’re The Top Quality In Sound. Long-playing phonograph records look the same now as when they were introduced in 1948, but there’s a world of difference. Countless refinements and developments have been made to perfect the long-playing record’s technical excellence and insure the best in sound reproduction and quality available in recorded form.

They’ll Give You Hours Of Continuous And Uninterrupted Listening Pleasure. Just stack them on your automatic changer and relax.

They’re Attractive, Informative And Easy To Store. Record albums are never out of place. Because of the aesthetic appeal of the jacket design, they’re beautifully at home in any living room or library. They’ve also got important information on the backs—about the artists, about the performances or about the program. And because they’re flat and not bulky, you can store hundreds in a minimum of space and still see every title.

It It’s In Recorded Form, You Know It’ll Be Available On Records. Everything’s on long-playing records these days… your favorite artists, shows, comedy, movie sound tracks, concerts, drama, documented history, educational material… you name it. This is not so with any other kind of recording.

They’re Your Best Entertainment Buy. Every album is a show in itself. And once you’ve paid the price of admission, you can hear it over and over.

They Make A Great Gift. Everybody you know loves music. And practically everyone owns a phonograph. Records are a gift that says a lot to the person you’re giving them to. And they keep on remembering.

And Remember…It Always Happens First On Records.


(My favorite is.. "If it's in recorded form, you know it'll be available on records." This has become appallingly untrue. Today, I begrudgingly purchased a copy of I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey on CD, becuase it is not being released on vinyl. I should write to Vanguard Records, letting them know how disgusted I am that a RECORD company with the word RECORDS in its very title has ceased to press new records. I should write to them, but I'll trust instead that they seek out my blog, read my griping, and change their policy according to my preference and in keeping with their long, reputable history of record-making. I'm done.)

Pose a Riddle

Pastor Jeff Meyers has posted some great, "random," thoughts on the parables spoken by Jesus:

Random Thoughts on Parables

Now, finally, Jesus appears “teaching them many things in parables” and what are we to conclude? The parable is the medium of judgment, the grammar of God’s wrath and curse against his obstinate people. The parable is propounded to a people that deserve his judicial blinding. Parables are uniquely suited to engage and challenge the hearers to judge their own situation. The parables by their very nature are wisdom devices, call for careful thought and spiritual discernment. Parable’s mask, they veil the truth. They hide as much as they illustrate. Only those who have ears to hear can understand them. Parables hide precisely what dull hearted, conscience seared people cannot find.

Je suis comme je suis

There are those who have always considered Prevert no more than a surrealist clown, with (as one American poet has said): “a tinpanalley ear for a cadence, and the cheapest mind this side of Hollywood, with the least integrity, and the most eagerness to fake and crib and puff himself up.” And he is finally put down by today’s poets and critics for committing the cardinal crime of too much clarity in a world whose very Absurdity Absurdly cries for an expression of that Absurdity in all its arts.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti on Jacques Prevert, from the Translator’s Note to Paroles

The Example of Brave Heart (II)

The castle of Dundee had been handed over to the English baron, Brian Fitz-Alan of Bedale, along with other strongholds in Angus and Fife. Fitz-Alan, by now a Guardian of the realm and also one of the three Justices of Scotland, placed the castle in the hands of a constable named Selby, 'a fierce man of war who had done much injury to the Scots, a man despiteful and outrageous in his dealings'. He had a son about twenty years of age who, with three or four companions, used to go into the town every day: 'a proud, overbearing young rascal, wanton in mischief'. One day in December 1291 young Selby caught sight of William Wallace, brightly clad in green and towering head and shoulders over the others in the street. Selby accosted him saying, 'Thou Scot, abide; what devil clothed thee in so gay a garment? An Irish mantle were the right apparel for thy kind; a Scottish knife under thy belt to carry; rough shoes upon thy boorish feet.' So saying, he demanded the handsome dirk at William's belt. Wallace's response was swift and dramatic; grabbing the Englishman by the collar, he drew his blade and thrust it through his assailant's heart.

- James Mackay, from William Wallace: Brave Heart

The Example of Brave Heart

Evidence of William'’s early religious education is provided by the psalter which he habitually carried on his campaigns, and his attachment to the Psalms of David was noted by the eyewitnesses of his execution.

- James Mackay, from William Wallace: Brave Heart

In the Shadow of a Baby Post

The absence of the urge to create is decadence

-David Mamet, from Writing in Restaurants