A doll named Chevrolet is just awesome. Even better that her hair is in horrific shape because “It’s sort of green because I gave her a blue rinse.” Then it was washed with “Lots of things,” […] “Soap, shampoo, detergent, bubble bath. I tried Dutch Cleanser once, but it didn’t work.”
“It is said that during their training, the Druids learn by heart a great many verses, so many that some people spend 20 years studying the doctrine. The do not think it right to commit their teachings to writing. I suppose this practice began originally for two reasons: they did not want their doctrines to be accessible to the ordinary people, and they did not want their pupils to rely on the written word and so neglect to train their memories.”
–Julius Caesar, De Bello Gallico 6.14
An interesting statement about memory and cultural traditions.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
There is something about committing mythic–or any other–stories to physical form that changes them, because such an act codifies them, freezes-frames them and renders them less organic.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
… the San of southern Africa and the Aboriginal peoples of Australia to name just two, chose and still choose to commit their myths to rock-art. Change still occurs, for it is possible to paint over previous art and to add picture-panels.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
Shape-shifters are common protagonists in Celtic myths.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
Another striking custom in the Welsh stories in the way that tenses change, in order to enhance dramatic effect.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
For it usually does happen that if people have the help of written documents, they do not pay as much attention to learning by heart, and so let their memories become less efficient.
Another snippet on memory
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
Late Iron Age bronze figurine of a man holding an egg-like object, perhaps a Druid’s egg, an opject used in prophecy, from Neuvy-en-Suillias, in France.
Or an early rugby ball?
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
Indeed, it was not until the 17th century, under the relentless onslaught of the English government against the old Irish order and the filidh [teachers, kingly advisers, poets, satirists, and keepers of tradition] disappeared.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
The Welsh and Irish stories are very different from each other both in content and in timbre. […] It is highly likely that storytellers travelled freely between the courts of Ireland and Wales, and the sharing of storylines between the two countries is not hard to explain.
Added on Monday, January 1, 2018 night
Yellow–general highlights and highlights which don’t fit under another category below
Orange–Vocabulary word; interesting and/or rare word
Green–Reference to read
Blue–Interesting Quote
Gray–Typography Problem
Red–Example to work through
Directed by Peter Yates. With William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, James Woods. Eccentric Vietnam War vet turned janitor claims to have witnessed a murder of a man tied to international political underground in order to get the attention of a TV reporter he has a huge crush on. The cops suspect his loser best friend.
The relationship between the two leads was awkward and unrealistic beyond words. The first act was modestly engaging and the third act was great, but there was absolutely no logic, sense, or reasonable motivation in the second act to tie any of it together. I would get into plot holes and lack of motivations, but it’s just too painful to contemplate.
It was somewhat entertaining to see the cultural portion of the early 80’s and particularly a portrayal of evening news post Network, but before the rise of A Current Affair and the mantra of “If it bleeds, it leads.”
Watched on Netflix
Rating:
I hate New Year’s resolutions. Not because I don’t believe in goals, or working on myself, or the new year as a time to reflect and adjust… but because I’m tired of focusing on the ways that I am inadequate and need to do better. I hate seeing my friends worry about what they need to do better — especially right now, when the world is selling so many of us short. So for 2018 I made a different list, and I asked a bunch of friends to do the same. This is the list of things I’m freeing myself from in 2018. My #2018Liberation list. Join us? I want to read yours, too.
Yesterday morning I tweeted about letting go in 2018. Then Cate Huston and Jean Hsu told me about this project on 2018 liberation. And I agreed to join and wrote this post. It’s less well-formulated than I’d like, but it’s really how I’m feeling and thinking about all the things I want to let go of in 2018.
Thanks to Cate Huston for starting us off with her New Year’s Liberations. We need to be explicit about what we say no to, to make time and room and mental energy for what it is we want.
In lieu of resolutions this year, Cate Huston wrote a set of liberations, starting a movement. My friend Jean Hsu also wrote a liberating, personal list, which is where I discovered it, and Ellen K. Pao has a characteristically thoughtful entry. I like the framing a lot: rather than creating a set of requirements for my new year, which is what a resolution does, I’m freeing myself from a set. So here’s my list of things I’m liberating myself from in 2018:
