Inaugural thoughts

Jan 20, 2009 17:35

Air and Simple Gifts: very nice. Star Wars had a Williams soundtrack, too, though; so best not to get too excited ( Read more... )

politics and opinion

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Comments 13

quandry January 21 2009, 18:40:11 UTC
J thought it was funny that I was so obsessed with what Michelle O was wearing, but for me, the fashion was the only material thing that happened. His policy on the FISA bill, he won't close Gitmo (hell, he's actually suspended trials for 120 days, which is um, the opposite of what we wanted, right? I mean... aren't we trying to get them trials rather than just sticking them in the oubliette forever?) he spends too much money, he's determined to not give gay people the rights of every citizen... isn't he, basically, Bush, but less annoying to look at?

What's funny is that yes, I even like him better than Bush... I just don't have the irrational hatred of Bush that feeds an irrational love of Obama.

This is priceless:

http://tzeca.livejournal.com/285134.html

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mumpish January 22 2009, 00:49:53 UTC
That was awesome, thanks :)

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quandry January 23 2009, 07:12:32 UTC
Oh, and I take back the other thing I said about the 120 day suspension - it appears that he's making a genuine effort to close Gitmo and get them trials, which is a good thing.

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Your post title is driving me insane. caligineux January 21 2009, 21:24:03 UTC

One of my favourite bloggers takes the poem apart stanza by stanza. It's even more fascinatingly bad when it's dissected so you can clearly see all the rotten bits.

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Re: Your post title is driving me insane. mumpish January 21 2009, 23:58:29 UTC
What's making you insane? I didn't even think it was particularly creative ... or is that your point? ;)

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Re: Your post title is driving me insane. mumpish January 22 2009, 00:52:33 UTC
Ah! I get it. Yikes! Fixed.

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Re: Your post title is driving me insane. mumpish January 22 2009, 00:46:15 UTC
The analysis was great, by the way. Thanks for sharing.

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pointedview January 21 2009, 22:59:35 UTC
I wasn't impressed with yesterday's poem, but I quite like "On the Pulse of Morning." I own the audiobook in which she explains the symbolism. "Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow / And when you yet knew you still knew nothing," is one of my favorite lines from it, so much so that it's part of the quote list on my LJ profile. I believe it's now out of print, but if you'd like to borrow it to give it a second look sometime, I'd be glad to see if I can locate it.

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mumpish January 22 2009, 00:34:31 UTC
I don't like poetry. I especially don't like recitations from unctuous poets in love with questionable meter uttered in their own voice. I can't recall a single example of the medium that convinces me it isn't all wanking.

Shelley told us poets were the unacknowledged legislators of the world; in this, we are in complete agreement, to the extent that those who aren't legislators are rarely acknowledged as such :)

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pointedview January 22 2009, 01:24:47 UTC
I don't seek out basketball, but if for some reason we had a Basketball Laureate of the United States (I'm being silly, of course) and it was typical to have said exemplar perform a brief demonstration of dribbling, I doubt seriously that I'd comment because, well, I know diddlysquat about basketball. I wouldn't say, "This dribbling was better than the dribbling in 1993," because I'm not informed or interested enough to comment.

You don't like wine, either. That doesn't make those of us who drink it wankers. :)

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mumpish January 22 2009, 01:46:10 UTC
I don't like wine but I understand completely why others do. I've tried enough of it to know that there are many flavors and those flavors interact with food in different ways. It still pretty much all tastes like rancid grape juice to me, but I understand that if your palate accepts it, it's a complex topic offering a lot of variety and interest. I get expensive, complicated hobbies. No trouble there.

Poetry appreciation is subjective, of course, and you could argue I simply haven't acquired the taste. But I've put more time into studying poetry than I have wine, however, and no analysis I've read, and no single poem, has convinced me it's a better form of expression than prose. Yesterday's example did nothing to push me off that position. But don't take my word for it - here's a poetry scholar who agrees with me.

Incidentally, did you choose the gerund 'dribbling' randomly or was it a brilliant pun? I went back and read the dribbling from 1993, and I take it back - Angelou's piece is better, for all that it is pretty much ( ... )

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