Saturday, 30 March 2024
Every faith in the world is based on fabrication.
That is the definition of faith―
acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.
Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school.
Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible.
The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors.
The merest accident of microgeography had meant that the first man to hear the voice of Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd.
They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different.
For sheep are stupid, and have to be driven.
But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.
Friday, 29 March 2024
sing Hey diddle diddle
The cat and the fiddle
the pigs in the middle
are what a fine riddle
and haven't you heard
That the cockatoo bird
Would repeat a rude word
Til the panther demurred
and threatened to plaster
it's peco disaster
come let us sing faster and faster and faster
Then Jack and Jill stumbled
And down the hill tumbled
my Cookie quite crumbled
the elephant mumbled
with weeping and wailing
it jumped off the railing
and found it was sailing
along and a-paling
then cried The Mad hatter
pay heed to my chatter
come take this white platter
and fry it in batter
my song is all sung
to untangle your tongue
take the refrain
and sing it again
Hannibal Lector
We first meet the Hopkins version of Dr Lector in Silence with Clarice
This is of course the third film based on the first book, so is that version of Will going to see him in the cell
At this point Lector has been locked in the dungeon cell, away from the world and the sun, tormented for several years - if someone was not insane before anyone would be after that
This is the Hopkins version, what he calls a cross between a Tarantula and a Crocodile
With Mads in Hannibal we see him while he was still in society - this version is the sophisticated respected Doctor going round society who fits in and can disguise who he is
This version of Hannibal turns into the Hopkins version after many years in the cell
The Cox version is interesting as this was at the time only the first book was out and this was the first time Lector had been portrayed - as in the book there is this main intro scene and then there are a couple of others, Lector does not get much book or screen time
The Cox Lector appears normal, which is what people note a psychopath is like in real life, which is why you can't tell them apart from a normal person
Saturday, 23 March 2024
Monday, 18 March 2024
Casey at the Bat
The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, "If only Casey could but get a whack at that—
We'd put up even money now, with Casey at the bat."
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despisèd, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile lit Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt;
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped—
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one!" the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore;
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew;
But Casey still ignored it and the umpire said, "Strike two!"
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered "Fraud!"
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate,
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate;
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
The poem itself acts as an extended metaphor for
the conflict between desire and obligation.
The speaker stopped by the woods to observe the natural beauty and snowfall in the
woods. He wanted to enjoy the calmness of the dark,
deep, lovely woods.
The poem is often interpreted as conveying an attraction toward death,
indicated in the final lines: 'The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have
promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I
sleep. ' Here, the woods and the 'sleep' to which the speaker refers represent
death.
' taps on several themes such as life, death,
commitment, pessimism vs optimism, and darkness. The main theme of this piece
is the journey of life.
It is present throughout the poem and highlighted in the last few lines.
The text of the poem reflects the thoughts of a lone wagon driver (the narrator),
pausing at dusk in his travel to watch snow falling in the woods.
It ends with him reminding himself that, despite the loveliness of the view,
"I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."
The speaker is stopping by some woods on a snowy
evening. He or she takes in the lovely scene in near-silence, is tempted to
stay longer, but acknowledges
the pull of obligations and the considerable distance yet to be traveled before
he or she can rest for the night.
The horse thinks it is "queer" or odd to stop in the
middle of the woods because it seems his
owner never does this. We know this because the speaker tells us that his
"little" horse is used to stopping near farmhouses.
Hence, the phrase "miles to go before I
sleep" means that the poet has a lot to achieve in life before death descends on him
Woods represent sensuous enjoyment (lovely), the darkness of
ignorance (dark) as well as the dark inner self of man (deep).
The last two lines mean that the poet Robert Frost has to fulfill his promises
and has to travel a lot of distance before he can rest.
The speaker's thoughts and reflections on this
"darkest evening" reflect his sense of isolation and contemplation in the midst of nature
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Saturday, 16 March 2024
A wolf that takes a peasant to supper probably won’t need any breakfast.
A truly wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn.
It’s harder for the spider to catch the fly, than for the fly to catch the horse.”
Only someone with nothing to be sorry about smiles at the rear of an elephant.”
“When the wolf is chasing your sleigh, toss him a raisin cookie but don’t stop to see if he eats it.”
If the butterfly has teeth like the tiger, he’d never make it out of the hangar.”
- “Though the hippopotamus has no stinger in his tail, the wise man would rather be sat on by the bee.”
- “When an owl comes to a mouse picnic, it’s not there for the sack races.”
- “No matter how warm the smile on the face of the sun, the cat still has her kittens under the porch.”
- “The chicken that clucks the loudest is the one most likely to go to the Steamfitter’s Picnic.”
- “A duck with three wings and a loaf of bread is brother to the turkey.
- If your socks are not in your shoes, don’t look for them in Heaven.
Saturday, 9 March 2024
The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage.
We are the custodians of life's meaning.
We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes.
But knowledge is preferable to ignorance.
Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable.
If we crave some cosmic purpose,
then let us find ourselves a worthy goal
Saint Anthony said, in his solitude, he sometimes encountered devils who looked like angels, and other times he found angels who looked like devils.
When asked how he could tell the difference, the saint said that you can only tell which is which by the way you feel after the creature has left your company.
if a god created the universe,
the question itself makes no sense.
Time didn’t exist before the big bang,
so there is no time for god to make the universe in.
It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth;
The Earth is a sphere;
it doesn’t have an edge;
so looking for it is a futile exercise.
We are each free to believe what we want,
the simplest explanation is; there is no god.
No one created our universe,and no one directs our fate.
There is probably no heaven,
and no afterlife either.
We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe,
extremely grateful
All gods who receive homage are cruel
All gods dispense suffering without reason.
Otherwise they would not be worshipped.
Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear and fear is the most divine emotion.
It is the stones for altars and the beginning of wisdom.
Half gods are worshipped in wine and flowers.
Real gods require blood.
Wednesday, 6 March 2024
the reason we sometimes have the sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him
We have kept him at a distance,
and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is.
He is exactly where we left him
To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird, as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other, spanning nine centuries
Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts.
And the other half contends that they are not facts at all.
As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts,
and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies
Monday, 4 March 2024
LDN
'Cause the filth took away my license
It doesn't get me down and I feel okay
'Cause the sights that I'm seeing are priceless
Everything seems to look as it should
But I wonder what goes on behind doors
A fella looking dapper, and he's sitting with a slapper
Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore
She was struggling with bags from Tesco
There were people from the city having lunch in the park
I believe that it's called al fresco
When a kid came along to offer a hand
But before she had time to accept it
Hits her over the head, doesn't care if she's dead
'Cause he's got all her jewelry and wallet
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
When you look with your eyes
Everything seems nice
But if you look twice
You can see it's all lies
Yeah, that's city life (Clapton, Soho, Ladbroke Grove)
Yeah, that's city life
Life, yeah, that's city life (Camden, Brixton, Putney)
Yeah, that's city life (Tottenham, Chiswick, Old Kent Road)
Yeah, that's city life
London
I wandered thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice; in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appals,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
William Blake
Let me take you by the hand
And lead you through the streets of London
Ralph MacTell
Sun is in the sky
Why Oh Why
Would I wanna be anywhere else?
Lilly Allen














