Home
Dante - The Inferno - Robert Pinsky
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1276
Finally finished, not through any fault of the author or translator, but like a lot of good books it demands pause to process...
The rhyming - occasional, good, although I stumbled to find the rhythm, to satisfy the false rhymes, reading, on the left page, the original, and my Italian is near nonexistent but I know all the rhymes there are true. But that's not what it's about. It's about the images, the aspects and degrees of hell that he conjures up, the punishments he inflicts upon his enemies or those he considers worthyn- eternal and cruel in the extreme, not what you would imagine from someone so apparently enlightened. And the people - the population of hell, I miss most of them, the references often to people Dante knew himself, and so perhaps the work was as much a political satire, but this is speculation.
There's an essay there, in how our view of the world (and God) has changed, I'd always taken it for granted that like minded people with modest education thought pretty much the same, but this is not true, and we are as much a product of our times and culture as we are of ourselves.
Great book. And the translators notes are at the end, bonus, to try and puzzle what I didn't first understand.
Read a portion of it online here: http://www.purgatorio.com/divine_comedy/inferno1.html
The Monkey Waiters of Japan
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: WTF
- Hits: 1134
This is disturbing, and I somehow consider it abuse - despite having done the job myself. Although they only have to work for 2 hrs per day.
Think of the fun Karl Pilkington will have with this...(if he hasn't already).
{embed:youtube:nfYBuj49Hww}
I sent it off to the Bosses' Nephew, who might be looking for work soon (but 2 hours of work a day is more than he ever did. Just showing up isn't work.)
As if this wasn't absurd enough, they upped the ante by making them dress up - the stuff of nightmares - maybe the nephew can get a date!
Russia "Walking Softly..."
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 1351
And, while ongoing rumours swirl about Trump's alleged (and really, indisputable) ties with Russia, France faces it's own battle with the far right.
Two links that should make you think:
Link: http://time.com/4627780/russia-national-front-marine-le-pen-putin/
and the ongoing speculation over the French election: http://live.reuters.com/Event/French_Elections_2017
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but Russia seems to have had a big hand in subsidizing the far right in a lot of countries at the moment. Of course, Xenophobia is the natural result of allowing too much immigration/change too quickly, bound to fuel nationalist sentiments, but the Russians are capitalizing on that. They are - generally - "Walking softly and carrying a big stick", and like it or not we're mirroring their politics and oligarchy time and again through increasingly corrupt democracies, while they remain suspiciously in the shadows. Which makes me suspect that maybe America isn't the superpower it thinks it is, and if Russia is merely biding it's time in the wings until opportunity presents itself, what should we expect?
Western Skink
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Images
- Hits: 1124
Flipping a lot of boulders while landscaping the garden, my most modest of contributions, when I capture a skink...had to let it go when it tried to wriggle up my sleeve, but it sat still long enough for a photo...
Page 489 of 1021