Clark Kent

Annotations and comments

Clark Kent has posted 47 annotations/comments since 4 August 2014.

The most recent first…

Comments

Second Reading

About Monday 7 December 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

I didn't pick up on the image of "a slightly shabby TV repair shop," but I was relieved that Sam didn't pull a Zhivago and have a heart attack when he saw Deb from his coach.

About Friday 20 November 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

"If you've ever lived in a village..."--there ain't generally much to see in a small town, but you make up for it with what you hear. One wonders if Tiger Woods had had as loyal a factotum as Will Hewer if he'd still be a champ...in golf and otherwise.

About Friday 13 November 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

Sam's confession to having the hots for Deb brings to mind Mark Twain's comment that "we all have thoughts that would shame the Devil," not to mention Charles Bukowski's perspective on the issue that "it's not like soap--you don't use it up."

About Wednesday 11 November 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

Great winds and rain at night, but "the moon shining so bright that it was light." I had until now wondered why Lytton Strachey had felt it necessary to clarify that the stormy night was in fact dark.

About Tuesday 27 October 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

On the subject of the relations of employers and employees today, somebody has to bring up Bill and Monica, and his response to her complaint that she was not getting sufficient access to our busy President: "Every day can't be sunshine, Sweetheart." These sorts of behavior continue and, one suspects, are often a two-way street. Perhaps his words would make a suitable epitaph for that healthy Southern boy when the time comes.

About Saturday 26 September 1668

Clark Kent  •  Link

Lusty Beggars, Dissolute Women, Sorners. Gypsies and Vagabonds for Virginia... "Sorner," for those of us unfamiliar with the term, is "one who obtrudes himself on another for room and board." (And no, the article is not a sequel to "Yes, There Is a Santa Claus, Virginia." And a big thumbs up to Jesse for the "Rounding Third" video--signifying my approbation and not "you're out!"

About Wednesday 18 September 1667

Clark Kent  •  Link

Sam was right to be perturbed with Penn's misappropriation of corporate opportunity. Penn should have asked "Captain, may I" first, and would undoubtedly would be sued for this breach of fiduciary duty were this to have occurred in our litigious age.

About Wednesday 22 May 1667

Clark Kent  •  Link

About that "lifts up the whites of his eyes" entry: I speculate that it is related to John 4:35. "Say not ye, There are yet four months till harvest, yet behold I say unto you,Lift up your eyes, and look upon the fields, for they are white, ready to harvest." The Duke may have been saying that he would regard any office-holder who took immediate (over) advantage of his position to line his pockets (harvest the spoils of office prematurely) to be untrustworthy. (So watch yourself, Sam.)

About Thursday 13 June 1667

Clark Kent  •  Link

Had our boy paid more attention to the preachers rather than ogling the pretty young things in church, he might have recalled Matthew 24.6 and taken some comfort therefrom: "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet."

About Thursday 18 October 1666

Clark Kent  •  Link

Mark Twain on the power of good clothes and dress: "Clothes make a man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.'

About Tuesday 10 July 1666

Clark Kent  •  Link

Speaking of venison pasties, the January 26-27, 2019, edition of the Wall Street Journal, p. D-6, had an article about the renaissance of savory pies in Great Britain. According to the article, "Ambitious pie recipes appear in the earliest British cookbooks, going all the way back to the 14th century . . . when a cook for King Richard II recorded over-the-top preparations like a Chastelet, which had a pastry casing shaped like a castle and was often served doused in flaming brandy so that the 'castle' burned as if under siege." The article gives props to the pies of the Holborn Dining Room in the Rosewood Hotel, the St. John, the Marksman, the Rochelle Canteen, the Wigmore in the Langham hotel, and the Windmill in Mayfair. It'll a full week the if I get back to the old sod.

About Sunday 23 July 1665

Clark Kent  •  Link

The Stranger, by Leonard Cohen

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers
who said they were through with dealing
Every time you gave them shelter
I know that kind of man
It's hard to hold the hand of anyone
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender,
who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind
you find he did not leave you very much
not even laughter
Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger

And then leaning on your window sill
he'll say one day you caused his will
to weaken with your love and warmth and shelter
And then taking from his wallet
an old schedule of trains, he'll say
I told you when I came I was a stranger
I told you when I came I was a stranger.

But now another stranger seems
to want you to ignore his dreams
as though they were the burden of some other
O you've seen that man before
his golden arm dispatching cards
but now it's rusted from the elbows to the finger
And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter
Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter.

Ah you hate to see another tired man
lay down his hand
like he was giving up the holy game of poker
And while he talks his dreams to sleep
you notice there's a highway
that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder.
It is curling just like smoke above his shoulder.

You tell him to come in sit down
but something makes you turn around
The door is open you can't close your shelter
You try the handle of the road
It opens do not be afraid
It's you my love, you who are the stranger
It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

Well, I've been waiting, I was sure
we'd meet between the trains we're waiting for
I think it's time to board another
Please understand, I never had a secret chart
to get me to the heart of this
or any other matter
When he talks like this
you don't know what he's after
When he speaks like this,
you don't know what he's after.

Let's meet tomorrow if you choose
upon the shore, beneath the bridge
that they are building on some endless river
Then he leaves the platform
for the sleeping car that's warm
You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter
And it comes to you, he never was a stranger
And you say ok the bridge or someplace later.

And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind ...

And leaning on your window sill ...

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

About Thursday 13 April 1665

Clark Kent  •  Link

As Cicero so accurately observed, "Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit."

(Almost nobody dances sober unless, of course, he is insane.)

About Saturday 1 April 1665

Clark Kent  •  Link

Perhaps Pepys was made president of the Royal Society for the same reason a certain lawyer in my jurisdiction was made president of the local bar association, to wit: nobody else wanted the job.

About Monday 15 August 1664

Clark Kent  •  Link

Another colorful euphemism used in the U.S. to describe what I gather the British call "being up the spout" is "looking for pups." Occasionally, jests referencing the ingestion of watermelon seeds are to be heard.

About Tuesday 12 July 1664

Clark Kent  •  Link

Poor Sam, not knowing how to dine alone. Pity he didn't have access to Bruce Jay Friedman's "Lonely Guy's Guide to Life."

About Saturday 19 March 1663/64

Clark Kent  •  Link

RE the chicken egg dish, Paul Simon has said that his song Mother Child Reunion was inspired by a dish on the menu at a Chinese restaurant.