Hottie of the Month: John Milton Friday, Nov 21 2008 

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November’s hottie of the month is John Milton, the seventeenth-century Puritan poet, polemicist, and civil servant who wrote one of the great epic poems of all time, Paradise Lost (1667).

Milton was born in 1608 in London. He studied to become an Anglican priest at Cambridge University, where he earned an M.A. in 1632. As the English nation seemed poised for civil war, Milton began writing tracts in favor of the Puritan and Parliamentary cause. In return for his support, Milton was appointed the Secretary for Foreign Tongues, a position in which he translated the government’s correspondence in Latin. Throughout the Commonwealth period, Milton used his writing to support the government and articulate Puritan positions on important issues of the day.

After the Restoration, Milton was arrested for his beliefs, but his friends in Parliament, most notably Andrew Marvell, intervened on his behalf, and he soon released. The last decade of his life was lived in relative quiet in London.

His waning years were, of course, most notable for the publication of Paradise Lost in 1667 and its expansion and revision in 1674, the year of Milton’s death.

I selected Milton for this month’s hottie because this week marks the end of OU’s fall quarter, which began for me with Paradise Lost. This is the second time this year that I’ve taught this poem; I also taught it in my graduate class this past winter. This quarter I taught a new honors tutorial, which was designed to introduce our first-year students to the methods and theories of reading critically at the college level. The course’s content was largely put together by a committee earlier this year, and one of the things we wanted this tutorial to cover is a narrative poem. For me, this instantly suggested Paradise Lost as one of the core texts in the class.

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Diva (1981): A Review Sunday, Nov 9 2008 

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Last night, PJ and I went out to dinner and a movie with friends. We decided to see Diva, a 1981 French movie that was playing in our art house theater. None of us really knew what to expect, but we knew that the film had been well reviewed, so we decided to give it a try.

Diva is about Jules, played by Frédéric Andréi. Jules is a delivery man in Paris who loves soprano Cynthia Hawkins, played by Wilhelmenia Fernandez, who refuses to make a recording of her performances. Jules, however, creates an illicit recording of each of her concerts for his own private enjoyment. In the opening sequence, he also steals her dress, also for his private, though not so alone, enjoyment. While dealing with the ramifications of his piracy, he also accidentally becomes embroiled in an international prostitution/drug ring when a prostitute slips a taped confession/accusation into his mailbag. While Taiwanese “businessmen” and the international crime lord begin pursuing Jules, he is befriended by a pair of bohemian artists who may hold the solution to all of his problems, if they don’t sell him and his tapes to the highest bidder. In between chase sequences, Jules has time to court his favorite diva, who becomes intrigued by his obsession with her.

Here’s the trailer:

While our two friends and Paul were less than impressed by Diva, I loved it. (I temporarily took back that statement, but after thinking more about the film, I’ve decided that I’m back to loving it.)

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Election ’08 Part 2 Saturday, Nov 8 2008 

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What a week it’s been! It’s taken me a few days to process it all. First, Barack Obama became our president-elect, earning more than 65 million votes, the largest for a Democratic candidate since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Second, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both houses of Congress. And finally, three states — most notably California — voted to enshrine discrimination and prejudice against gays and lesbians into their state constitutions. The first two were certainly occasions for celebration. For me, the third almost takes away all of the joy from the first two victories.

I spent most of the day on Tuesday in Portsmouth visiting Shawnee State University. I got home around 5:30. After the past two presidential elections, I was afraid to get my hopes up. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want John McCain to become president after the terrible campaign he had waged, but you never know what’s going to happen on election day.

It was with both great hope and great fear, therefore, that PJ and I started watching the election coverage. It was especially frustrating that the media wouldn’t call any important states — Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida — for Obama. We were relieved when Pennsylvania was called. That meant that McCain’s chances were greatly diminished. Then the results for Ohio came in and everyone knew that it was basically over. I can’t even begin to explain how joyous that realization was! We had won!

I haven’t always been a Barack Obama supporter. In the primaries I supported Hillary. I liked the Clinton years, and I thought that she would make a great president. When the campaign first started, though, I had hoped that Obama would run. While I like Hillary, I worried that America didn’t really want to return to the past. I feared that the Republican Party had effectively tarnished the country’s memories of the Clinton years and reduced them to a blow job in the Oval Office. I thought that Obama’s effort to turn the page on the past and make a new beginning would be a better platform for winning back the White House.

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Election ’08 Part 1 Tuesday, Nov 4 2008 

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Perhaps Walt Whitman sums today up best:

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,

‘Twould not be you, Niagara – nor you, ye limitless prairies – nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,

Nor you, Yosemite – nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic geyserloops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,

Nor Oregon’s white cones – nor Huron’s belt of mighty lakes – nor Mississippi’s stream:

This seething hemisphere’s humanity, as now, I’d name – the still small voice vibrating -America’s choosing day…

(Borrowed from Dailykos.)

 

Keane’s Perfect Symmetry Thursday, Oct 30 2008 

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Last week I was browsing iTunes looking for new music, as is my wont, and I came across Keane‘s new album, Perfect Symmetry. Three things immediately interested me about the album. First, my general musical tastes lately have run toward British music — Annie, Adele, Amy, Duffy, and Paulo. Second, I had recently noticed a couple of reviews of the album, which stated that it has an 80’s sound. Generally speaking, I love 80’s music. And finally, more than one reviewer has noted that this album suddenly sounds a bit like a British version of The Killers. Since The Killers is one of my favorite bands, I appreciate that comparison.

So, I thought I’d give it a try. So, I went to YouTube to see the video for the first single, “Spiralling.” Here it is:

I immediately loved the sound and look of this video. This definitely isn’t the Keane that I remember ad nauseum on Vh1 singing “Somewhere Only We Know,” a song I didn’t really care for. I like the 80’s style video, and the music is definitely to my taste.

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Visiting the Henry Ford Museum Sunday, Oct 26 2008 

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Last week while we were in Michigan, PJ and I also visited the Henry Ford Museum. I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly thrilled when PJ picked it for a stop on our way back home. I wasn’t really excited by the thought of looking at a bunch of cars. It turns out that the museum has a lot more to offer than just cars — but even they are worth a visit. I ended up really enjoying the museum.

One of the first exhibits you see in the museum is this one:

This is the car in which President Kennedy was sitting when he was assassinated in 1963. It’s kind of startling to see it — especially after PJ and I had been to Dallas and the Sixth Floor Museum last year. What’s even more startling is to learn that the government kept using the car as a presidential limousine for several years after the assassination.

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Visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts Tuesday, Oct 21 2008 

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Late last week, PJ and I drove up to Rochester, Michigan. I gave a paper at the International Conference on Romanticism, which seemed to go well. I certainly accomplished what I had hoped to accomplish with the paper. And I’m looking forward to completing work on the article-length version of the paper and submitting it for publication soon. Since PJ lived up there during the year before he joined me in Ohio, he was also interested in seeing his former home and colleagues.

While we were there, we also visited the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is a great museum in downtown Detroit near the Wayne State University campus. The first thing we saw at the museum was the Monet to Dali special exhibit. It took PJ only a few minutes to recognize that the works in this collection seemed familiar and why: they are from the Cleveland Museum of Art, which has loaned out the exhibit while it completes its remodelling.

Despite our having already seen this collection, we nevertheless enjoyed seeing them again. I especially like Édouard Vuillard‘s painting “Cafe Wepler:”

I can especially relate to this painting now that I’ve been to Paris. This work reminds me of the lazy hustle and bustle (if that’s not too paradoxical a concept) of a Parisian cafe in the late afternoon. I also love the color contrasts in this painting, the golden yellows of the walls and ceiling with the reds, whites, and blacks, of the interior and floor. It probably goes without saying, though I’ll say it anyway, but the painting looks even more alive and vibrant in person.

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Cat Tuesday: What They’re Really Saying Tuesday, Oct 14 2008 

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I came across this set of YouTube videos a couple of weeks ago. The first one is the “real” video; the second one translates what the two cats are saying.

And now the translation ….

 

Dead Until Dark: A Review Sunday, Oct 12 2008 

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Today I finished reading Charlaine Harris‘s Dead Until Dark, the novel on which the HBO series True Blood is based. I love the series, so I thought that I would read the book. It turns out that I love the book too!

My experience with reading vampire fiction is rather limited. I think I’ve only read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a few Anne Rice novels, and Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories. I’ve been wanting to read some didn’t know what to start with. I’d also like to find some good gay vampire fiction, but I’m worried that it all just be too cheesy. What I like best about Dead Until Dark is that it’s dark, sexy, and fun without being cheesy (or at least when it is a little cheesy, it admits it!).

Dead Until Dark introduces us to Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a small Louisiana town who happens to be able to hear other people’s thoughts. When a vampire named Bill walks into the bar in which she works, Sookie is immediately fascinated by him. In the world of Dead Until Dark, vampires have “come out of the coffin” and mingle openly among humans. This has been made possible by a Japanese drink of synthetic blood that keeps vampires alive without the need for human blood.

When Sookie saves Bill from being drained by two local dealers (vampire blood is  an aphrodisiac and stimulant for humans), she and Bill embark on an unusual and sometimes difficult relationship. Making this relationship all the more complicated is the suspicion that Bill may be involved in the brutal murders of local women, each of whom have had sex with a vampire recently.

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Donna Brazile Is Amazing Wednesday, Oct 8 2008 

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This video of Donna Brazile speaking recently about race in American politics today. She is simply amazing.

I too want the best. I too want the brightest. I too want somebody to take us where we’ve never been as a country. I agree that we’ve been too stuck in the past, but I’m really hopeful that we can move forward. I hope that the next month is about ideas, about inspiration and strength of character, because if they are then Barack Obama will be our next president.

I can barely imagine how proud and excited I will be if our country does move forward and elects Obama on November 4th. Like most Democrats I know, the more hopeful I get that we’re going to win this election, the more nervous I become that it will all be taken away. We are living in a historical moment. I really hope that we as a nation reach forward and grasp that history. (And I hope that in eight years we elect the first female president — if not Hillary, then some other Democratic woman.) I’m so excited that inside I’m screeching like Howard Dean after the Iowa caucases in 2004!

Let’s go forward!

 

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