Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Monday, February 1, 2016

"They think they can get away with anything!"

Little My, a feisty little creature from Moominland (Tove Jansson created the cartoon and later wrote a series of books that are not exactly all for children)declares this when she slips on an icy patch and rides down a snowy slope on her backside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin This report, on the other hand, comes from Bill Moyers: Playing dirty –> Ted Cruz’s campaign is drawing criticism for sending mailings to Iowa households that resemble official government forms with the words... Sign in to see full entry.

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Friday, January 29, 2016

I blame the Disney Effect.

So many Disney cartoon movies open with the death of a mother, the abandonment of a child. Our hearts are engaged, as human hearts so easily are, with sympathy for the lost and lonely, the helpless left alone in a hostile world. We attach these feelings to baby elephants and fawns, for instance, but they are our feelings, human feelings, and particularly our feelings and assumptions about death and loss. Disney has built an empire on painting animals even in film documentary style, as creatures... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 8:36 AM | add or view comments (3) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Some thoughts on wonder and ignorance

I've been looking at some articles about other animals besides human beings who routinely use tools to get what they want from the world around them. Some not only use sticks and stones to open nuts, for instance, or fish termites out of their homes, some actually alter the stick or rock to better do the job they want it to do, and that is tool-making. Used to be the commonly accepted truth, about a century ago, that tool use and tool making was one of those wondrous differences between humans... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 6:44 PM | add or view comments (2) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

CONFUSTICATION continued... to the end

PART FIVE Meanwhile, the Hobbit’s wife in this fable Had gone to the trouble of setting the table With china and candles, all the forks matching handles Then she sat and she watched the clock tick... His most favorite foods grew much over-done while she sat there and gnawed on a dried out bun. As the fine meal turned bad, she got worried, then sad And finally she started to simmer... She pulled off her apron and combed out her hair Then she went to the pub, for she knew they’d be there She... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 7:05 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

CONFUSTICATION continued... pt 4

PART FOUR It went very well, and they had a fine time Bamboozling the Shire--It was almost a crime But as the sun set, the two again met For a giggle and pint before bed... The "Wizard" --but really the Hobbit, in fact, Gave a toast with a cheer for their nice little act, And he cried, "What a life! Now, I’m off to my wife..." And that’s when their faces turned red... Now, who’s to sleep where, and with whom beside? Who gets the stable, and who gets the bride? "It’s over now, Mack! Now, you just... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 7:48 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, January 25, 2016

CONFUSTICATION continued...

PART THREE The wizard, now wearing the hobbit’s guise Went home to "his" hole-- what a big surprise He gave then to "his" wife, who’d not once in her life Seen him start up the stove with a shout! Meanwhile, the wizard... the "hobbit," I meant, He sought out his landlord who was raising the rent And he waved “his" great staff, with a threatening laugh And called him a greedy old trout! The landlord, alarmed he’d be changed to a fish, Begged of the "wizard" to demand what he wished, And he swore... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 8:26 PM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

CONFUSTICATION continued...

PART TWO The wizard awoke in the early dawn light And was instantly certain something was not right For the hobbit, it seemed, stole his hat as he dreamed A deed that hobbit quite soon would be ruing! He reached for his hat with his old gnarled hand-- but the hand was a hobbit’s--he could not understand-- Then the wizard hollered out a great wizardly shout And it came out like a hobbit’s, all squeaky! The other woke up then with a sudden start, And stared over the table, with his jaws far... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 7:24 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, January 24, 2016

From my middle-earthian writings...

confustication PART ONE A wizard and a hobbit met in a little pub in Bree And drank together for a while, though neither one, you see, Was in a very cheerful mood, as life had lately not been good For either nor the other, in fact! Between their complaints and their fair pints a-flowing, Trust and good fellowship fast were a-growing: The hobbit sighed, if thee was me--likewise if me was thee-- How differently the world would act! The wizard, by now quite far gone in his drinking, muttered some... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 9:50 PM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Preparing a Place in the Valhalla of Chariot-Makers

So, there are these industries--long established industries--that have supported the world as we knew it. But what we know about the world has changed. Everyone ate butter, lots of delicious butter, until it was realized that all that cholesterol was actually really bad for our health, that it contributed to causes of early death. Even doctors recommended smoking cigarettes, until understanding that smoking is really bad for us, and that smart people wouldn't smoke. Yes, that upset the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 8:04 AM | add or view comments (5) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Nimoy, Bowie, Rickman... et al

It begins to seem like a Thing... but could be it is just that at our ages, it's the icons of our lifetimes being lost to the normal attrition of time? We notice because we cared, admired, and loved how they made us feel... Especially in our times, the speed and frequency of hearing about events and celebrities is so great, these people whom we don't even really know, have been more 'with us' than the celebrities of previous generations were 'with' the people of those times, that it seems like a... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Ciel at 6:19 PM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

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