book club
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Tommy Martyn
- Mile High Club
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gemütlichkeit
tommy -- gemütlichkeit is often enough bit of a joke, a germanic version of what you would see in the US when old-timers make themselves martoonies and get all comfortable on their barcaloungers.
the definition: "gemütlich, adj. from gemütlich "cosy, comfortable, easy-going, good-natured": congenial, agreeable".
gemütlichkeit as a style usually encompasses dark lighting, lots of oak wood, good beer, tasty heavy food, and all that kitsch stuff. in the best case your grammy is gemütlich because she knows just what to cook when you pay her a visit and her house is all clean and cozy. or a rural tavern where you get pampered and well-fed at a price so low you feel they are mistaking you for family. about the worst cases, where you have a unique combination of cozyness and emotional fascism, i prefer to say nothing right now.
the definition: "gemütlich, adj. from gemütlich "cosy, comfortable, easy-going, good-natured": congenial, agreeable".
gemütlichkeit as a style usually encompasses dark lighting, lots of oak wood, good beer, tasty heavy food, and all that kitsch stuff. in the best case your grammy is gemütlich because she knows just what to cook when you pay her a visit and her house is all clean and cozy. or a rural tavern where you get pampered and well-fed at a price so low you feel they are mistaking you for family. about the worst cases, where you have a unique combination of cozyness and emotional fascism, i prefer to say nothing right now.
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sara
it's kitsch according to Odd Nerdrum -- what a name, and bless his heart. (i'm not sure if it's od or odd?)
Odd or Od explained when he broke with the modernist tradition that kitsch is for the individual, art is for the room -- that's not a direct quote, just my recollection of it.
Happy Saturday -- the leaves are beautiful!
Odd or Od explained when he broke with the modernist tradition that kitsch is for the individual, art is for the room -- that's not a direct quote, just my recollection of it.
Happy Saturday -- the leaves are beautiful!
i read it and liked it
martino here (why does it never say "guest" when i post here? i feel disadvantaged.)
november is turning into my month of malaise. maybe it is because my ex's birthday is during this month? last year i got into that face-altering brawl. this year i am moping and moaning about my leg which, an hour after my vespa crash, looked like i had swallowed a bag of walnuts which subsequently and oddly went straight down into my thigh. now the shape is less lumpy but the color is blue from buttock almost down to the knee. it burns during the nighttime and kills my sleep. my pal doc val said i probably tore a small-to-midsize artery or vein and that spilt 1.5 liters of blood into the surrounding membranes. i feel my pain; my leg is fucking fat now and i have to walk on crutches. and, to top it up, i have to give myself a daily anti-thrombosis shot right into the belly. how low can you go?
be there light where there are shadows. i spend most of the day lying down and therefore have plenty time to read, which sure beats doing a phil daniels and driving over the cliffs of dover (with greetings to all quadropheniacs, if you get the message).
so, i finished reading clinton, all 950 pages of it: my book of this summer. call me perverse but i enjoyed it -- i felt i was re-living the glorious 90s where politics was merely a matter of upholding peace and prosperity, and fighting the reactionaries.
and i read "the captain and the enemy". my sincere and fond gratitude to mc for recommending this book -- i liked it very much. here are some random thoughts about it.
basically, the book is about how, when you have not experienced love as a child, you are not able to identify love later on in life, with dire consequences. thus, it is a tragedy. but it is a tragedy full of humor and full of suspense, so it is a comfortable read.
the main character -- jim is his name -- gets semi-kidnapped / semi-adopted by the captain and his girlfriend early in life. he lives with them for years but he misunderstands them so much and he lacks the ability to feel their love so completely, that this leads to betrayal, and to the downfall of all involved.
it is a story told in a precise but laid-back fashion. you get no feeling of foreboding, of the immanent catastrophy, until rather late in the book. i find this way of telling the story crafty and convincing. suspense is created on the one hand by the interesting characters and the well-painted scenery: the captain, jim, his school scene, the english lifestyle; and on the other hand by greene's fine sense of humor -- he makes the absurdity of jim's situation both somehow realistic and funny.
the only negative i can think of is that i was surprised that the book was first published in 1988: it has a more old-fashioned feel to it. i was thinking that the first scenes took place in the late-1940s or 1950s, instead of in the 60s. but this is a minor quibble when a book is as original and as convincing as this one is.
november is turning into my month of malaise. maybe it is because my ex's birthday is during this month? last year i got into that face-altering brawl. this year i am moping and moaning about my leg which, an hour after my vespa crash, looked like i had swallowed a bag of walnuts which subsequently and oddly went straight down into my thigh. now the shape is less lumpy but the color is blue from buttock almost down to the knee. it burns during the nighttime and kills my sleep. my pal doc val said i probably tore a small-to-midsize artery or vein and that spilt 1.5 liters of blood into the surrounding membranes. i feel my pain; my leg is fucking fat now and i have to walk on crutches. and, to top it up, i have to give myself a daily anti-thrombosis shot right into the belly. how low can you go?
be there light where there are shadows. i spend most of the day lying down and therefore have plenty time to read, which sure beats doing a phil daniels and driving over the cliffs of dover (with greetings to all quadropheniacs, if you get the message).
so, i finished reading clinton, all 950 pages of it: my book of this summer. call me perverse but i enjoyed it -- i felt i was re-living the glorious 90s where politics was merely a matter of upholding peace and prosperity, and fighting the reactionaries.
and i read "the captain and the enemy". my sincere and fond gratitude to mc for recommending this book -- i liked it very much. here are some random thoughts about it.
basically, the book is about how, when you have not experienced love as a child, you are not able to identify love later on in life, with dire consequences. thus, it is a tragedy. but it is a tragedy full of humor and full of suspense, so it is a comfortable read.
the main character -- jim is his name -- gets semi-kidnapped / semi-adopted by the captain and his girlfriend early in life. he lives with them for years but he misunderstands them so much and he lacks the ability to feel their love so completely, that this leads to betrayal, and to the downfall of all involved.
it is a story told in a precise but laid-back fashion. you get no feeling of foreboding, of the immanent catastrophy, until rather late in the book. i find this way of telling the story crafty and convincing. suspense is created on the one hand by the interesting characters and the well-painted scenery: the captain, jim, his school scene, the english lifestyle; and on the other hand by greene's fine sense of humor -- he makes the absurdity of jim's situation both somehow realistic and funny.
the only negative i can think of is that i was surprised that the book was first published in 1988: it has a more old-fashioned feel to it. i was thinking that the first scenes took place in the late-1940s or 1950s, instead of in the 60s. but this is a minor quibble when a book is as original and as convincing as this one is.
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Tommy Martyn
- Mile High Club
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- Joined: Mon May 19, 2003 8:01 am
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sara
I couldn't either.
So, I read Sloth's story, which reminded me of the body ritual of the nacirema, which is really great if you've never read it:
http://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html
So, I read Sloth's story, which reminded me of the body ritual of the nacirema, which is really great if you've never read it:
http://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html
oh man
i do not like to be insulting on this bb because i feel it is better to leave it to tommy, who is usually much wittier and therefore effective with mean words. so i will not comment on anybody's inability to find what has been mentioned about, well, thirteen times.
the book is "the captain and the enemy", by graham greene. it was suggested as a good read by mc who will probably take a look at it too when he has gotten over his hangover.
the book is "the captain and the enemy", by graham greene. it was suggested as a good read by mc who will probably take a look at it too when he has gotten over his hangover.
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Tommy Martyn
- Mile High Club
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- Joined: Mon May 19, 2003 8:01 am
- Location: a desk
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mccutcheon
- New York Scribbler
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