[lit-ideas] Since Mike Geary Was Wondering...
- From: Thomas Hart <tehart@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:46:15 -0500
I saw that Mike Geary was wondering what I was up to.
I retired in 2007. I had bariatric surgery (lap-band) in April 2009, and have
lost 100 pounds. Before and after pictures available upon request.
As Mike mentioned, I do have a Facebook page, but I don't use it much, and I
find that I don't care for Facebook or its interface which I find suitable only
for horny, pimple-faced adolescent atheists, like Zuckerberg.
Lawrence mentioned that I'm involved in reading the stuff that I missed out on
when I was younger. That translates into reading stuff like Kant, Hegel, Ben
Jonson, Samuel Johnson, Ariosto, Machiavelli, parts of the Mahabharata and
Ramayana, and blogging about it. I'm also reading less pretentious stuff,
mostly science fiction.
One of my co-workers at my last job urged me to volunteer. In over 40 years of
work I hated most of my jobs and most of my bosses, and I saw no reason why I
should leave a job that paid a decent salary for one that paid no salary, so
I've kept to my promise, and I've never volunteered for any socially
responsible labor. I did say that I would spend my time watching Turner Classic
Movies and reading, and I've kept that promise to the tune of over 1,000 movies
(guesstimated). If a movie is interesting, I sometimes blog about it.
It's not just literature and movies that I'm interested in. I'm also doing
music, and have listened to the complete Mozart, in addition to several operas.
Recent favorites include Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutti, Capriccio, and Lulu.
Lawrence apparently thinks that I keep a monastic schedule. I tend to a fair
amount of regularity that includes a classic movie in the morning, exercise
while watching a class via iTunes U (including several from Berkeley, though
the ones from Yale are far better in many respects), an apres lunch nap,
reading, sometimes accompanied by music, swimming in the pool during the
summer, and then relaxing after dinner.
The main page for the web site is http://web.me.com/tehart though most of the
action takes place on the blog pages. I broke it up into four areas:
1. Books and Rants, for literature and politics;
2. Cinema, for movies;
3. Music, for music and DVDs of music, i.e., operas
4. Vino et Uisquebaugh, for wine, whiskey, and lifestyle stuff. Includes
grills, cameras, games, etc.
I am currently in the midst of several unrequited love affairs (Renee Fleming,
Kate Royal, Tine Thing Helseth, Alison Balsom, Jane Monheit, Diana Krall, Holly
Cole, among others).
I generally update the blog about once a month, and send out update notices to
people I know. If you wish to be notified, please send me a private e-mail, and
I'll add you to my list of contacts.
The blog is supposed to accept comments, but some people have difficulty using
the comment feature. If you wish to add a comment and have difficulty, send me
a message, and I'll add it. The sole proviso is that I will not add anything
that in my judgment is scurrilous, pornographic, blasphemous, or otherwise
objectionable.
Apple is closing down web hosting on June 30, 2012. Sometime before that I'll
start migrating pages to http://www.tehart.net, which will either be hosted on
my computer under Lion Server, or some provider.
I have no wish to argue politics anymore. If someone can correct or enlarge my
understanding of Kant, Hegel, Plato, or some other philosopher, or has
something to say about music of any period from any period up to say 1970 (the
break up of the Beatles), feel free to put comments on the blog.
If anyone is interested, here's a selection of recent posts:
************
Steve Jobs
Every time that Steve gave a keynote or spoke at an Apple event I would annoy
my wife by saying that he was coming down from the mountain top. So she gave me
the new bio of Steve for Christmas, and here is my take on it. It's not the
usual one that you read in the press, so be warned.
The End of Sparta
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite historians, and this is a novel about
Epamanondas, a Theban general of the generation or so right before Alexander
the Great. Hanson deals with the march against Sparta, and raises issues that
persist over 2000 years later.
Writers Gone Wild
This isn't Aubrey's Brief Lives, but anecdotes about various writers. Writers,
as those who have some acquaintance with me can attest, are a scurvy lot of
alcoholics, addicts, thieves, madmen and crazy people. Here are some of the
best stories about some of the best writers.
Seneca & Tragedy
I got a copy of Six Tragedies by Seneca. What distinguishes Seneca from Greek
tragedy? How would I stage Seneca? Does Seneca's Trojan Women take a stand
against empathy as the basis for moral action?
Kindle & eBooks
Comments on the Kindle. I read two thrillers, one by Steve Berry called The
Jefferson Key, and the latest from Tom Clancy called Locked On. Can eBooks be
inherited?
7 Lies
This one is for the Catholics on the list. A book of populist apologetics.
Books and Bookstores
Slight updates to a previous post.
Civilization V
This is an update to an older post in the lifestyles area. I downloaded a full
version of Civilization V from Amazon. This tells you why I'm not playing it.
************
Upcoming posts will include some sci-fi (A Beautiful Friendship, Extremis),
religion (The Seven Pillars of Creation), math (Symmetry and the Monster),
movies (5 noir films, Soviet films including Strike, and The Cigarette Girl of
Mosselprom, which is a very sweet romantic comedy), and opera (Cosi Fan Tutti,
Capriccio).
Thank you.
"One god I can understand, but one wife? It is not generous.... It is not
civilized." Sheik Ilderim, Ben-Hur, 1959
Thomas Hart
tehart@xxxxxxx
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