Stephen Miller

Bill Sienkiewicz & The New Mutants War Children

Short Version: Don't buy Marvel's The New Mutants: War Children #1.

Long Version: I've been a Bill Sienkiewicz fan for a long time. At least since Moon Knight #1 in November 1980. I have followed most of his comic book work since then. I even have a limited edition collection of Stray Toasters. And a dvd biography thingie. So...Big Fan. And when I read (in Previews, of course) that he was going to be returning to The New Mutants, I was pretty excited about it. Other than covers, there hasn't been a whole lot of Bill Sienkiewicz comic book art for some time, and I wanted it.

Bought a copy yesterday. Read it today.

Well.

It IS Bill Sienkiewicz, for sure. And Chris Claremont, too. It should have been A Thing, at the very least. But for me it was just 32 pages's worth of disappointment.

The story was very thin. No sub-plots, just a narrow story: problem, fight, resolution. And the resolution was so anti-climactic that you hardly even notice it. There's also very little dialogue, just lots of narration. That rarely makes for a good story unless you have a writer like Alan Moore or Don McGregor.

And the art? For one thing, about 1/3 of those 32 pages were full page spreads. A full page spread can be really effective in a comic book story if it's used properly. Having so many of them is like trying to have a conversation with someone who shouts every couple of minutes. And so many panels seemed familiar...as in they were just variations of old Sienkiewicz art. It's hard not to conclude that Bill just didn't have his heart in this project, that it was just a pay the bills kind of thing. Which is understandable. But really disappointing.

So if you haven't taken the plunge, you might want to hold off on this one. Buy Vault Comics Relics of Youth #1 instead. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck. (Plus it's a buck cheaper...and only slightly shorter at 28 pages.)

Alas.

Jesus is back!

Jacqueline was watching a video about The Resurrection. When a picture of the angel in the empty tomb came up, she said...

Again, Vault Comics

I picked up Relics of Youth #1 from The Great Escape yesterday. I wasn't particularly interested in its contents, but I thought the cover looked cool:

The clean lines reminded me of Jamie Hernandez and / or Adrian Tomine...both of whom I love immensely. This is also one of Vault Comics's Homage Covers, and even though I didn't recognize the source for this one, I like the idea of the homage covers very much. (More on this at https://songsofinnocenceampexperience.blogspot.com/2019/08/vault-comics_31.html if you want it.) 

The cover being homaged here, by the way, is the Rick Remender / 
Wesley Craig / Lee Loughridge Deadly Class #1...which just so happens to be on sale at Comixology for 99$ right now, so I might have to take a look at that. The cover looks like this:

And the Comixology blurb and preview of it makes it look worth my and your while. Also, I've been impressed with Rick Remender's writing in the past. Especially Black Science and The Last Days of American Crime. And Low. Hmmm. Now I want to read more Black Science. I wonder if the library has any of that on tap? 

ANYway. Relics of Youth #1 was a good comic book. Good enough that I find myself thinking that I might have to check out the next issue, and that really doesn't happen all that often these days. The art was just kind of okay, to be honest. Functional, serviceable, but not flashy or particularly noteworthy. Which does sound like a left-handed compliment, I know, but in these days when so much comic book art is ugly and / or stupid, this really doesn't mean "mediocre" to me. Let's put it this way: the art tells the story, and that's what it's supposed to do. I wouldn't buy the book if I didn't like the story, though.

Ahem. As for the story. Well, I was impressed. Neither Matt Nicholas nor Chad Rebmann have a lot of writing credits to their name, but they did a good job here. They created some good, unique characters. They have a good sense of humor. And they know how to tell a story. In this case, an adventure into the Bermuda Triange with some mystical overtones and weird tattoos. Pretty much something for everyone, I'd say.

Also, Vault Comics seems determined to give you as much for your money as they can. This issue is 28 pages long (plus a one page teaser for the next issue)...and no ads whatsoever. That's particularly exciting for me, having just finished reading a DC comic in which I was momentarily convinced that Batman was having a psychotic episode in which he went after Catwoman for some violation involving a Snickers bar.

(This ad appears after the fifth story page, without so much as a CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE FOLLOWING! or any other kind of BY YOUR LEAVE.)

So...give it a try. It's a good little adventure story. 

And I, for one, am going to be keeping an eye on the Vault Comics release schedule from here on out. (This week's, btw, goes like this:

I'm particularly interested in Plot #1 Cover B, which goes here:

If you don't recognize the source for that one, it's the Great Bernie Wrightson's House of Secrets (1956-1978) #92...coming soon to an overpriced Facsimile Edition near you.

Alas, it wasn't on the stands when I got there, but maybe next week? News as it happens.)

Привет

Well...this is kind of curious. Check out these stats:

That's the Top Ten for the All Time Views list for songS oF innocencE & experiencE.  A total of 616,223...of a grand total of 649,869...which means it is almost 95% of the total views over the course of almost 13 years. What can I say...the French have always liked me. I would've liked a little more love from Ukraine and Portugal, though. And Ireland? Come on, I've visited you THREE times, and I've hardly been ANYwhere else. Where's the love?

Anyway...I was checking out the stats this morning. I don't know what those numbers really mean...good, bad, mediocre. It does make me happy when I see that I've gotten more than a couple of hits in a day. But I noticed that I'd had more than the "usual" number of hits yesterday, so I thought I'd check out all of the stats. Here's the past month:

Hmmm. Nice to see some "new" faces...actually just faces that were buried in the lower 5%, I suppose...but what's up with this Unknown Region? And why is Russia pumping up the volume? And then I looked at the stats for the past week:

Hmmm. Russia is definitely on the rise here, isn't it? And the past day's stats?

Okay. That's not normal. And look how green that Russia on the map has gotten. 

Clearly something is going on. But what? I have no idea. So...here's a little message for my Русские друзья:

добро пожаловать

рад, что ты здесь, но

в чем дело

Gee, I sure hope that Google translate thingie works properly. 

News as it happens.

P.S. This isn't about those Moscow Mitch quips, is it? 

The Pursuit of Nappyness

My ex-wife2 made me a Nappy Roots tie (iron on decal) which I used to wear in my classroom on September 16--which is (as declared by Governor Paul E. Patton (1995 – 2003) the official Nappy Roots Day in Kentucky.

My students would always see it and ask me, "Do you listen to Nappy Roots?" Incredulous, laughing. I would respond by saying, "Well, all I can say is that all my life been po'  but it really don't matter no mo',  and they wonder why we act this way, Nappy Boys gon' be okay. Okaaaaay." And the kids would ho-owl. It was fun at my expense, but I had enough in my account to cover it in those days.

And I really did love Nappy Roots. Those first two albums--Watermelon, Chicken, and Grits and Wooden Leather were in regular rotation in my CD player.

But then I lost track of them. I don't know why I didn't know about 2008's The Humdinger, 2010's The Pursuit of Nappyness, 2011's Nappy Dot Org, or 2015's 40Akerz Project...but I didn't. Until I walked into the beautiful new Northeast Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library a couple of weeks ago.

My #1🌞 had recently watched the Hulu series on The Wu-Tang Clan, Wu-Tang: An American Saga, and it had made him anxious to know more about rap and hip-hop. So he did what Millennials do: posted a request for recommendations on Facebook. So I responded with "Paris's Sonic Jihad is my favorite rap album of all time." And then I thought about it a little more, and posted again: "And if you want to get Louisville about it, there's Nappy Roots." Because even though I hadn't paid much attention to Nappy Roots for the past eleven years, they still sprang to mind.

And then I went to the NE / LFPL and as I was looking around, I thought: Nappy Roots. And went to look in the CD section, and was surprised to see five of their albums there, only one of which (the first) I possessed. I considered getting all four of the others, thought, "But then I won't listen to any of them," and just picked one. The cover made the choice for me:

I mean...if that's not funny, I don't know what is.

Alas, as usual the CD sat gathering dust for three weeks, and when I saw that it was due and I could only renew it one more time, into the CD player that disc went. I guess I'm just the kind of guy who needs a hard deadline.

So I've been listening to the album this morning.

It is very different from the other two Nappy Roots albums I've heard. It is very different from every other rap album I've heard.
For one thing, it has some spoken words / no music interludes...one of which opens the album. That's kind of bold, isn't it? It made the whole thing seem more intimate...like you were hanging out with the band or sitting in the recording studio with them. I liked that. 

And the lyrics weren't all the "I'm the biggest badass in the world and I've fucked ten thousand women" kind of thing. They were more real life. And there was a touch of humor here and there, such as when one of the rappers proclaims the band's success by saying,  
"We international now, like the House of Pancakes." 

And the music.... Sometimes it sounded pretty much like normal rap music. But other times it actually seemed very close to being ambient music. That's not normal, is it?

So. I'm going to go listen to this album again. Take an hour of solace before I turn on the news again. That news...sheesh. Hard core gangsta shit there. I need to get a little nappy before I dive back into that.

Shhhh.

So...some time ago...at least a year, maybe two...maybe even more...I saw an omnibus of Steven T. Seagle and Teddy H. Kristiansen's House of Secrets. A 752 page tome which included all 25 issues of the Vertigo series. I think it was $25. And I wanted it. I had it in my hands. But money was tight, so I put it back on the shelf. Thought about it for a couple of days. Decided that I really wanted it. Went back...it was gone.

I've looked for it every time I've gone to Half-Price Books since then. It's never returned.

I've looked for it on ComiXology, too, but even though the single issues were discounted to $1.99, that still made the whole series $50, which was more than hefty por moi. And no collection at a discount, as is usual. So...alas, no.

But tonight the thought of it crossed my mind again, and, since hope springs eternal within the human breast, I checked the price on Amazon...11 Used from $83.41, 8 New from $99.99. Nope. So I went to look at ComiXology and...oh. What? OH! It's FREE if you are a member of ComiXology unlimited? All 25 issues?

Did I mention that I have recently joined ComiXology Unlimited once again?

Just finished reading the first issue. Ahhh. The art reminds me a little bit of Dave McKean. If you know Dave McKean, then you know that that's just about as high as praise can be when it comes to comic book art. And the story is...well, it's rough at times. Discomfiting rough.  But it's also subtle. And clever. Clever in the smart sense, not in the "clever" sense. Even kind of funny at times. Like this:

Sorry about that, Portland. I know it's very mean and politically incorrect...but...well...snicker snicker.

But most of all, it's just thought provoking.

So, yeah, ComiXology. 30 day free trial.  $5.99 plus tax per month after that...and membership also gets you 10 - 15% off on purchases from a bunch of the big comic book companies.

Hell of a deal.

Okay. I have to go read issue #2 now.

Jennifer Rubin Says

"The president, whatever Republicans think of him, is mortally wounded as a candidate for reelection."

Jennifer Rubin

The Washington Post

Representative Mike Turner

And he's a Republican!

Must be hard to walk through the narrow halls of Congress with those big balls.

Transcript Time!

Well, the shit is hitting the fan for Mr. Trump. He has a pretty big umbrella, though, so who knows what will come of it. 

But there does seem to be a lot of shit...and a large fan.

I've heard quite a few of the liberal talking heads expressing their sadness that it has Come To This. I think that's disingenuous...but maybe I'm just cynical. For the record, though, I will admit that I am absolutely First Kiss Giddy at the prospect that that evil son of a bitch who stole The White House with help from a hostile foreign power is going to be dumped on his ass...and hoping that he will then be tried for all of the crimes he has committed and spend the rest of his wretched life in prison.

Just to be clear.

I'm sure that there are going to be lots of things that I don't understand in the coming days. Here's the first one:

I'm sure more bafflement will follow. 

And maybe it will all fall apart and Trump will emerge unscathed and go on to win a second term. And if he does, I'll be very very sad. 

But for now?

I am happy.

László Krasznahorkai

László Krasznahorkai's "new"  book--Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming--came out today. Money is too tight to mention for me in my post-work life, so instead of buying it, I went to the Louisville Free Public Library website to see if they'd gotten a copy of it yet...and saw that it was "On Order." So, with a reluctant heart, I clicked on the Place Request button, thinking that I had missed the boat on this one and that I would be number 25 of 25 or something like that at best. And?

Yep. 

Nobody else in Louisville wants this ♨ off the press book. Sigh.

Why don't you guys 🧡 Lászlo? He is so fucking awesome. 

Give him a try at least!

P.S. Seiobo There Below / Seiobo járt odalent is my favorite so far. It is also one of my five favorite books of all time...and I've read a whole fucking lot of books. Like at least 7,000. So you should at least give me the benefit of the doubt on this guy, right?

¿Por favor?

Investment Answers Seems to Have a Problem With YouTube

Got this in the mail today from #InvestmentAnswers (https://investmentanswers.net):

I wonder what they have against #YouTube?

WaPo

I've been thinking about it for a long time. I've subscribed to magazines, newsletters, wine, and book clubs  before...but I've never subscribed to a newspaper. 

But the shit has been flying so fast and furious since Trump entered upon the world stage...and the tv news is usually so superficial...and, besides, it seems like for the most part all they do is read from The New York Times or The Washington Post or interview reporters from those newspapers...and hey, that Tom Hanks movie was fanTAStic, you know?

So this morning I finally got down to it and clicked the subscription button for The Washington Post.

Much to my surprise, not only was it a lot less expensive than I'd anticipated...$5.99/month plus tax...but since I'm an Amazon Prime member, they also gave me four weeks of free trial to get me going. (That low monthly price might also be part of the Amazon Prime deal, come to think of it.)

I immediately read four articles...all about the Trump / Ukraine / Phone Call Thing.

I think I've already gotten about $6.35's worth.

For free.

Not bad. I wonder why I didn't do this a long time ago? Maybe I was just waiting for somebody to tell me about it.

Trump / Hitler

I was never a big fan of Trump / Hitler comparisons. For one thing, as bad as Trump is...and, to me, he is a horrible, evil man and by far the worst president in the history of the U.S. of A....he hasn't (yet) come close to the unimaginable horror of The Holocaust. In fact, to call Trump "Hitler" seems to insult the memory of The Holocaust by making it equivalent to Trump's actions...and that just isn't right.

That said, however, when I look at Trump it makes me look at Hitler in a different way. Hitler always seemed to me a very fearsome creature...an intimidating, violent man...a scary person. Trump, on the other hand, always seems like a big pussy to me. He simpers, he minces, he sniffs. I have never thought that I would be afraid of him if I met him. But when you watch him firing up his followers, that certainly is scary...and certainly does look a lot like Hitler and his devotees. (It's just a matter of time before Trump's people start Sieg Heiling, isn't it? Of course, they'll probably go for some variation of it so that it's not Obvious obvious. I'm kind of surprised that they haven't already started on this, actually.)

So now I'm wondering about Hitler: "Were there Germans in the 30s and 40s who were looking at you and thinking, 'This stupid man is just crazy pussy. No need to worry about him."

Which is a long way of saying maybe I was wrong in thinking that Trump / Hitler comparisons were immoderate.

I am hoping that time doesn't tell.

Those damn immigrants....

Found this on Twitter a minute ago:

Adrian Martinez

@canoncity7

Replying to

@jennycohn1

How do you like them 🍎🍎🍎?

Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume III

Day 222: September 22, 2019

Well, brahs and tahs, this is it--the last volume of Buckle writings available on this plane of existence.  There are 645 pages of text, then another 61 pages of Index...which means that if I stick to my plan, it should take me 65 days to get to the end of Volume III. So it looks like November 25th is D-Day. Which (1) isn't all that far in the future and (2) makes me a little sad. Oh, and (3) means I'm going to have to decide what my next Daily Devotional Reading will be right quick, as I would very much like to continue this ongoing project.

News as it happens.

Meanwhile...hmmpf. Alexander the Great's dead body was massaged with honey? Wouldn't have guessed that.

10

Day 223: September 23, 2019

20

As for this Next Book / Daily Devotional Reading...

Here are some of the things I'm thinking about:

Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century:
vol. 1: The Structures of Everyday Life 
vol. 2: The Wheels of Commerce 
vol. 3: The Perspective of the World
This is a trilogy which Neal Stephenson used in the writing of his Baroque Cycle, and Neal praised it highly...which is a pretty damned good recommendation. I found the first two volumes at Goodwill, but would have to buy the third. 

Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil by Thomas Hobbes
I've read very little of this, and I suspect that it is one of the most important books ever written.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
This would be a most natural follow-up on my Buckle readings, since Buckle said several times that this was one of the most important books ever written.

I was also thinking about putting Don Quixote onto the docket, as it doesn't look like I'm going to get around to finishing it otherwise, but part of me feels resistant to the idea of using fiction as my Daily Devotional. I read So Much fiction....

64 more days to make a decision.



Day 224: September 24, 2019

Some mierda muy interesante:

Uno: "1488. JAPANESE WOMEN WHEN MARRIED BLACKEN  THEIR TEETH."

And so do the women of Java. The reason? "...because monkeys have white [teeth]." Well, hell, bring on the shoeshine!

Dos: "1494. IN JAPAN THE MARRIED WOMEN PULL THE HAIRS FROM THEIR EYEBROWS."

I've got to say...this does not make me love Japanese culture more.

Tres: There were several references in today's reading...and yesterday's as well, I think...to Thunberg's Voyage to Japan in his Travels. I thought that was kind of interesting in that for the past several days the news has been full of stories about young Greta Thunberg as she speaks out at the U.N. on the imminent climate disaster.

30

Day 225: September 25, 2019

Well, this is interesting:

BTW, I feel compelled to say that the words preceding the number 3 refer to an elephant TUSK. So get your mind out of the gutter.

40

Day 226: September 26, 2019

50

Day 227: September 27, 2019

60

Day 228: September 28, 2019

Some interesting stuff in today's ten pages...from weird Innocence Tests (ingest poison...if you die, you were guilty, if you vomit, you are innocent)...to Africans thinking the Devil is white...to the fruit of the manghas tree...

...which is put forth as the possible "real" apple of 

Garden of Eden notoriety...and is said (though I couldn't see it in any of the pictures I perused of Cerbera manghas) to have an indentation on one side which is thought to be a physical reminder of the bite Eve took out of said GoE 🍎. (And Adam's bite? Hmmm.) 

There was also a line which I liked a lot:

I thought it would make a great title for a short story. I started writing on it, but probably won't go back unless I feel compelled to do so.

70

Day 229: September 29, 2019

80

Day 230: September 30, 2019

90

Also, this

arrived in the mail today courtesy of Thrift Books (highly recommended!), so I'm beginning to incline towards that Fernand Braudel trilogy for What Comes Next.



Day 231: October 1, 2019

100

Day 232: October 2, 2019

A lot about Cabool in today's ten pages. That's

 , by the way, 

not 

.

And what did I learn? Well...that Cabool (as of 1872, anyway) is:

6,000 years old 

60,000 people strong

the place the Devil landed when he was thrown out of heaven

named after Cain

(who ended up there)

has FABulous rhubarb

has such an abundant grape crop that they feed grapes to cattle three months of the year.

Well.

That was all news to me.

110

Day 233: October 3, 2019

Some references to Alexander the Great...which made me think of these lines from Hamlet:

HAMLET Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i'
the earth?
HORATIO E'en so.
HAMLET And smelt so? pah!
HORATIO E'en so, my lord.
HAMLET To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may
not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping a bung-hole?
HORATIO 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.
HAMLET No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with
modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: as thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he

was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?

It's pretty humbling to think that even a person like Alexander the Great, who is remembered by history as being of great significance, essentially becomes nothing more than a three word answer to a Jeopardy! question. This isn't making me feel significant.

120

Day 234: October 4, 2019

130

Day 235: October 5, 2019

I am stunned to discover that the word

was around back in the 1870s.

And furthermore, I really want to try me some tree butter:

 Looks like it's primarily used as a topical agent nowadays, though. Hmmm. "And...you can EAT nads." Right? How much you wanna bet that Nads is shea butter? Let's see. 

Ingredients Nad's for Men Hair Removal Cream

Aqua (Water), Potassium Thioglycolate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Urea, Ceteareth 20, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glyceryl Stearate, Potassium Hydroxide, Glycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Calcium Hydroxide, Sodium Thioglycolate, Acrylates Copolymer, Sodium Magnesium Silicate, Calendula Officinalis Flower Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Magnesium Trisilicate, Tocopherol Acetate, d-Panthenol, Parfum (Fragrance), Sodium Gluconate, Titanium Dioxide, BHT.

Mmm-hmmm.

140

Day 236: October 6, 2019

There have been a lot of references to Burce's Travels throughout this book...and maybe even the previous volume, but I didn't take any note of it. But I guess I reached the tipping point today, as I stopped and thought, "Who the hell was Bruce?" So I looked around a bit.

And? Bruce is James Bruce of Kinnaird, and he lived from 14 December 1730 until 27 April 1794. He looked like this--

--and the Big Deal of his life was spending 12+ years in Africa seeking the source of the Nile. He wrote about it in 

which you can purchase on Amazon thusly:

Kindle $7.95 *

Leather Bound from $2,750.00

Paperback $19.57

But here's his map for free:

By James Bruce - https://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/BlueNileSource-bruce-1790, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64639641

* BTW, I wouldn't trust that Kindle version. The preview of it had a table of contents...for Volume 6. **

** As I was casting about to see if all six volumes of Bruce's book were available online ***, I ran across this rather interesting title: "What the Abyssinian Liar Can Tell us about True Stories: Knowledge, Skepticism, and James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile." Apparently Bruce's travel writings were respected initially, but then it was gradually revealed that he was a bit fuckin' liar. Hmpf. You'd think Buckle would have known that. But I can't imagine him taking Bruce at his word if there was reason to think that he was making shit up. I'd kind of like to know more about this. Just what I needed: another mission. But I'll probably get over it.

150

Day 237: October 7, 2019

So...turns out that Mr. Bruce found that people were doubting the stories he told and mocking him...so he put it down on paper to prove that what he was saying was true. So I guess that puts another light on it.

160

Day 238: October 8, 2019

170

Day 239: October 9, 2019

180

Day 240: October 10, 2019

190

Day 241: October 11, 2019

200

Day 242: October 12, 2019

210

Day 243: October 13, 2019

220

Day 244: October 14, 2019

230

Day 245: October 15, 2019

240

Day 246: October 16, 2019

250

Day 247: October 17, 2018

260

Day 248: October 18, 2019

Here's an interesting bit:

And today:

And just to put that into perspective:

...and this was a pretty light day, as my 🧡 was not cooperative and time was tight. But I still walked 1/9th of the way from London to Oxford.

270

Day 249: October 19, 2019

280

Day 250: October 20, 2019

290

Day 251: October 21, 2019

300

Day 252: October 22, 2019

310

Day 253: October 23, 2019

Had an interesting textual aberration on page 312. The page was printed like this:

The gulley looks like it's at least three characters deep, but I found that I had no trouble reading it...except for the two French words. So I looked up the Google Books version of the text, and sure enough...

...most of the gap is only one character wide...and the last five lines are complete. Just displaced. Weird, huh? Just thought I'd share.

320

BTW...the text of this volume ends on Page 645 (whence beginith INDEX TO THE COMMON PLACE BOOK), which means that as of THIS MOMENT, I have only 325 Buckle Pages left to me. These Posthumous books have not been nearly as much fun as History of Civilization in England, for sure, but it still makes me sad to think that it in a little more than one month there will be no new Buckle in all of the universe for me to find. I hope that library in Heaven is well stocked, man.

Day 254: October 24, 2019

As for this Jet...this so-called Jet...

330

Day 255: October 25, 2019

340

Day 256: October 26, 2019

Amongst other odd subjects (such as cannibalism, eating dog meat, the predictive power of dreams, and the proper time for dinner), a story about a woman who had an injury which exposed a part of her brain to view was told. According to said story, when the woman had vivid dreams her brain would swell out of her skull and pulse. Um...yuck?

350

Day 257: October 27, 2019

I miss Roi. (Jacqueline always called her Roister.)

360

Day 258: October 28, 2019

370

Day 259: October 29, 2019

380

Day 260: October 30, 2019

390

Day 261: October 🎃31🎃, 2019

400

Day 262: November 1, 2019

The first day of the last month of my Complete Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Reading Project. 😭 Hard to believe that you can read a man's life work in less than nine months, isn't it?

That said...I've decided that my next Daily Devotional Reading is going to be 🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢🥁🛢

Fernand Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century Trilogy. Woo-hoo!

Meanwhile...

This bit

--which is from section 2181. The imaginary island of St. Brandan, west of the canaries.--seems pretty fuckin' perfect for my ...Then There Is No Mountain.... novel. I'm starting to think I should get back to writing on it.

410

Day 263: November 2, 2019 

And P fuckin' S...there's a whole lot of fools out there.

420

Day 264: November 3, 2019

Here's a bit (where Buckle is quoting somebody or other) which I particularly liked:

"The state of Massachusetts is a school; it may be said that all there are educated.  ...I consider Connecticut equal to Massachusetts; but as you leave those two states you find the education gradually diminishes. New York is in the next rank, and thus the scale descends until you arrive at absolute ignorance."

Burn!

430

Day 265: November 4, 2019

Here's a bit which I particularly liked. 

After discussing the Icelanders's affinity for eating the flesh of horses, Buckle makes this comment:

Hey, you've got to draw the line somewhere, right?

440

Day 266: November 5, 2019 

Lots of references to Thomas Robert Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population. Feel like I should drive like a demon from station to station.

450

Day 267: November 6, 2019

Check this out:

Holy shit!

There was also some information about how during the Elizabethan Age the English hated the Scots...which made me wonder why the hell William Shake-speare would write a play set primarily in Scotland and featuring lots of noble Scots. Hmmmm. It's almost like WS just didn't give a fuck about what anybody else thought...as if he were immune to criticism or sanction. 

460

Day 268: November 7, 2019

470

Day 269: November 8, 2019

480

Day 270: November 9, 2019

490

Day 271: November 10, 2019

Y'know...Buckle sure does refer to the works of Ben Jonson a lot. Which makes me think that I ought to get going on My Jonson Project. We'll see.

This is one of my favorite paragraphs in this series of posthumous writings:

It also makes me want to read that book by Dr. Arnold. (And due to the Living in the 21st Century context, I--and you--can do that courtesy of Google Books...or (even better because they give you the little book version whose pages you can flip) Internet Archive  (https://archive.org/details/b21440712_0001). 

500

Oh no...only 15 more Buckle days left in my life! (Though of course I could just go back and start all over again....)

Day 272: November 11, 2019

510

Day 273: November 12, 2019

Here's an interesting bit from page 512:

Is that amazing or what? I'd be interested in finding out what led to the revival of interest in Mr. Shake-speare.

520

Day 274: November 13, 2019

Um...what?

There were also some stories about smoking, including the "fact" that there were some people who could blow smoke out of their ears. Mmm-hmm.

530

Day 275: November 14, 2019

I was checking the online version of Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volume III to see if this gap on page 533

was just a printing error in my copy or Something Else. And?

Something Else, then.

Also, today's Daily Goal would have taken me to page 540, but since page 645 is the last page of text (before lots of index pages), I decided to even it out and read to page 545 today. So...only ten more days of Buckle left to me. 😦

And speaking of text...started a new section as of page 535--MANNERS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.--and the entries are very short...like a sentence or two. And a lot of the material is in French. So I might could pick up the pace a little bit. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, eh?

545

Day 276: November 15, 2019

Speaking of teeny tiny entries, check these out:

From page 547:

And from page 548: 

Now, that's brief, ennit?

555

Day 277: November 16, 2019

From page 563:

That was then. This is now:

Pretty amazing, hug?

565

Day 278: November 17, 2019

From page 568...surely there was a typo somewhere along the way?

575

Day 279: November 18, 2019

Bad day, but I still read my Buckle. Lots of De Foe references..and lots of Shake-speare quotes at the end.

585

Day 280: November 19, 2019

Lots of Shake-speare references:  to Troilus and Cressida, The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, The Winter's Tale, King Lear, and Macbeth. (17 plays in all.)


Also, there is a reference to Romeo's line, "Why, then is my pump well flowered." There is no indication that Buckle thinks that he (or Mercutio) is talking about anything other than shoes. (His reference is actually a quotation from someone named Rann, though, so maybe it's his fault.) At any rate, the exchange reference pumps is clearly sexual in nature. Go back and read it if you don't believe me.

In other news, this isn't very nice:

595

Day 281: November 20, 2019

Hmmm. This description...

of the leader as a beat and his co-horts as cattle shoah do sound familiar.

And as for this bit...

...I can only say that I want to know more about this Ferrex and Porrex. It was written by  Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, neither of whom seem to have any relationship to Edward de Vere, so I guess I'm barking up the wrong tree...but I think I'm going to bark a little longer anyway, just to see if there are any nervous squirrels in the vicinity. News as it happens.

605

Day 282: November 21, 2019

615

Day 283: November 22, 2019

And now...the end is near...and as I face...the final pages...my friends...I have some tears but I'll still read...of that I'm certain. There'll be no more Buckle...and that is sad...but I shall move on...to Fernand...Fernand Braudel...in a new blog entry.

And today, I found this at Half-Price Books:

In fact, I found this book twice. First I saw it as a two volume thing of beauty...for a mere $15 for both volumes...and I was looking in the bargain section as I mulled over the wisdom of that purchase (though I was pretty sure that I was going to go for it) when I saw the one volume edition in said bargain section...for $2. Well first off...what are the odds on that? And second off...I had heard about this book some time ago and was interested in using it as a Daily Devotional book at some point in the future...but then I kind of forgot about it. So now it's definitely back in. But I think I'm still going to go for Fernand Braudel next. 

That said...

And...I found it interesting that there seems to have been so much enmity between the Scottish folks and the English right around the time Shake-speare supposedly wrote Macbeth. Case in point, "...the hatred between the Scottish and English was so great that they were constantly stabbing each other with short daggers...." (There were several other references to this enmity previous to this one, but you have to admit that the short daggers bit jumps out at you, eh?) Given that context, why on earth would Shake-speare write a play about a bunch of heroic Scots bringing down an out of control king? I think there's a lot to think about there...but I don't think I'm the guy to do it, so I'll hand it off to you.

625

Day 284: November 23, 2019

Speaking of...here's a bit from page 634 which rings some bells for me: 

"But Charles, though a thoroughly bad man, had a certain rude ability which compensated many of the defects of his understanding. His fate was soon decided. He had sown the wind, and he was now to reap the whirlwind. Within [ten] years after the sword was first drawn, he was a prisoner in his own castle; [two years later his head was taken off in front of his own palace."

Well, we can always hope, right?

635

Day 285: November 24, 2019

This bit...

...was so Trumperfect that I had to go ahead and Tweet it. And apparently it hit a chord with at least a few folks. It's been up for an hour now, and...

So there's that. And so a few minutes later when I read this bit...

"As soon as Charles once found himself on the throne, he and his wretched associates plunged into every description of vice. Never before had there been seen in modern Europe crime so gross and yet so open. Even Tiberius, as he lay at Caprae rotting in lust, did not blazon his vices. But Charles was as impudent as he was vicious. He was a man who had never known the feeling of shame, and who was not likely to learn it from his companions."

Henry Thomas Buckle

...I thought, "Well, why not?" and made another Tweet of it. It's only been up for about 25 minutes and has just over 100 hits, so probably not going to be as "popular," but what the hell, I'll take 100 readers any old day.

708

So there you have it. It took less that 78% of one year to read every word that Buckle wrote (at least so far as it's possible to tell) in his lifetime. And I'm grateful for the experience...but it's also pretty fucking sad, isn't it? Of course I can always go back (Jack) and do it again...and may well do that vis-à-vis History of Civilization in England. But not the Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works. I am not sorry to have read them...in fact, I would not want to have missed them...but having gotten to the end of all those pages, I have to admit that there's not a whole lot of stuff there that I really needed. In fact, I'd say that I've recorded every bit of it in the past 197 daily entries of this reading log. (So if you're tempted, read my entries, which you can do in a pretty short amount of time, and then you can decided if you want to spend the time to read another two thousand pages of Buckle's notebooks.) 

So that's it, then. Peace out.

 Vive la France!