Bille August: Night Train to Lisbon (2013)

Bille August's Night Train to Lisbon (2013) takes on the difficult task of translating Pascal Mercier's densely packed novel Nachtzug nach Lissabon into a 111-minute movie. The result is good, if not great: good enough for me, at any rate. From this film, I learned something about modern Portuguese history, particularly about the effects of the Estado Novo, or de facto dictatorship under António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970) and Marcello José das Neves Alves Caetano (1906-1980), an oppressive status quo that was dismantled by the Revolução dos Cravos or Carnation Revolution beginning on April 25, 1974 (Freedom Day in Portugal).

The catalyst for the film's plot arrives quickly when a woman looks about to jump from a bridge in Switzerland; soon the Jeremy Irons character, who "saves" her, walks out of the middle of a class he's teaching and, before you know it, takes the night train to Lisbon. An exhilarating idea for many people, no doubt -- in that way, not unlike John Updike's 1960 novel Rabbit, Run.  

The strong international cast of Night Train to Lisbon ranges from Jeremy Irons as a sort of Mr. Chips professor to Christopher Lee as a hoary priest; from Mélanie Laurent as a tough resistance coordinator to Charlotte Rampling as Amadeu do Prado's slightly barmy sister; from Jack Huston as Dr. Amadeu do Prado to Bruno Ganz as his grizzled friend looking back; from Martina Gedeck as a sharply observant and sympatico eye doctor to Lena Olin as Estefânia in the present. Flashback is utilized as a connecting thread, so many characters have double actors playing them.

Finally, Lisbon provides a colorful, light-suffused backdrop for much of the film. 

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: Round Two (Clothes)

Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing translated by Cathy Hirano (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014)  / Magic Cleaning: Wie richtiges Aufräumen Ihr Leben verändert [lit. "How real tidying changed your life"], (2013).

KonMari categorical method – clothes. All in one go. “Does it spark joy?”  “Express appreciation.”  I gathered all my clothes -- everything except what I was wearing -- and coats -- and piled them on a blanket on the floor. Then I handled every single item and decided one of three ways to go: keep, donate or discard. Everything. What I hauled away:

Sports jackets/suit tops
Donate = 3 (1 tweed)

Sweaters
Donate=1

Button shirts:

Discard = 1

Donate = 5

Sweat tops

Donate = 2

Trousers

Donate = 1

Sweat pants

Donate = 1

T-shirts

Discard = 6

Donate = 26

Gloves

Donate = 1 pair

Knit hat

Donate = 1

Pairs of socks

Discard = 14

Hangers

Mix of donate and discard (broken ones)

Total = 1 sack of discards, 3 sacks of donations

Marie Kondo's Magic Cleaning: Wie Wohnung und Seele aufgeräumt bleiben [lit. "how apartment and soul remain tidy"], (2014).

Closet reorganized -- heavy on left to light on right “like an archer’s aim.” Chest drawers reorganized and folded for optimal display and utility. Storage cabinet ditto. Room for everything, in a civilized fashion. Spare buttons, etc., donated to tailor/seamstress next to dry cleaner. Two ties to dry cleaner. One coat in for repair.

Elapsed time: three hours.

Success: total!

Next category: Books. 

Today's Rune: Gateway. 

Albert Camus: Algerian Chronicles (1958, 2013)

Given the recent release by the US Senate of "The Torture Report" (detailing American torture and general abuse of prisoners during the Bush-Cheney administration for several years after 9/11/2001), reading the new English translation of Albert Camus' Algerian Chronicles becomes more timely than ever. Why? Because Camus, writing of Algerian realities, and most sharply about La guerre d’Algérie / The Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) -- during which the majority of Algerians broke away from France and formed an independent nation -- spends a lot of thought and energy trying to figure out practical ways to safeguard the lives of civilians (especially women and children); guaranteeing the civilized treatment of prisoners; and seeking to minimize both terrorist attacks and revenge repression. 

This was a big deal for an Algerian Frenchman, but he died in a car accident at age 46 in 1960, two years before Algeria became independent, which he had hoped would not have happened with such abruptness.  

Camus' observations sound very contemporary. Apply them to just about anywhere in 2014, substituting "France/French" and "Algeria/Algerian" with any place or people you like. 

Camus in 1945: "French colonial doctrine in Algeria since the conquest has not been notable for its coherence . . . No historical situation is ever permanent. If you are unwilling to change quickly enough, you lose control of the situation . . . Because French policy in Algeria ignored these elementary truths, it was always 20 years behind the actual situation . . ." (pages 102-103).

In 1955: "The inexcusable massacres of French civilians will lead to equally stupid attacks on Arabs and Arab property. It is as if madmen inflamed by rage found themselves locked in a forced marriage from which no exit was possible and therefore decided on mutual suicide" (page 115). 

Camus' stance was  unequivocally against the use of torture by anyone for whatever stated reason. (Let me state here that I, Erik Donald France, agree with Camus 100% against any justification for the use of torture).

". . . how can one be outraged by the massacres of French prisoners if one tolerates the execution of Arabs without trials?  Each side uses the crimes of the other to justify its own. By this logic, the only possible outcome is interminable destruction" ("A Truce for Civilians," page 142).

It's all a fascinating and still urgent existential response to the "actualities" of the world. 

For more, here's a fuller citation: Albert Camus, Algerian Chronicles. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer with an introduction by Alice Kaplan. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: The Belknap Press of Haravrd University Press, 2013. Originally published by Gallimard as Chroniques algériennes, 1939-1958 (1958 and 2002). 

Clare K. Levison: Frugal Isn't Cheap

Unless you're serving a lengthy prison term or living in extreme poverty, Clare K. Levison's Frugal Isn't Cheap: Spend Less, Save More, and Live BETTER (Career Press, 2013) will have something for you, some idea or angle that will deliver. 

I've gotten to the point where I enjoy these kinds of books, and this one is part of the new wave. In addition to pragmatic advice specific to living in the USA, some ideas are of international pertinence. And then there are the vignettes: little examples drawn from the financial lives of such characters as Rembrandt, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, M.C. Hammer and Mike Tyson, plus financial lessons learned directly by Levison (such as raising chickens in Virginia). 

Philosophy-for-living crops up from time to time, too, with little statements to live by that are sort of like Kong Fuzi (Confucius) aphorisms. All of these elements work together.

Levison's biggest challenge for most readers is savings. She wants people to aim for a savings rate of 20%. However, she has plenty of ideas for how to move in that direction, even when starting from 0. Keep in mind, she notes, that Americans on average save about 4% between paychecks, so anything above 4% is better than average, and a lot better than being in the red. Starting from scratch, the first thing to do is to accumulate $1,000 in savings. Next, aim for a regular 5% savings rate, and so on, until you can boost it to the full Monty.

Levison has a little game idea: each day, divert one typical expenditure into a savings jar or piggy bank, and eventually dump that all into savings (page 89). Also, "pay yourself" at the beginning of the month, not at the end of the month. "Pay yourself" really means: dump a percentage of money into savings immediately and then don't touch it.

A couple of other points. Emergencies: "if you can plan for an event, it's not an emergency" (page 93). Windfalls: divert 80% of such events as tax refunds into savings and spend the rest.

Easy savings: don't order soda or other junk drinks when eating out. (I concur: drink water for free and spend only on good stuff like coffee and booze).  Don't overdo coupons or you'll be buying too much crap just because it's "discounted." Avoid malls if you can. 

Online banking: do it, and check it regularly. Same for any credit cards or other financial type accounts. 

Decline overdraft protection (this is especially important for students and anyone else living from paycheck to paycheck). 

In the philosophy of life department, Levison encourages people to write letters, notes and cards. I concur. She also has a lot of ideas for charity giving (a mixed approach).  Also: network, use social media, have a business card, and so on. No one is an island!

By the way, from Levison's point of view, automobiles are basically worthless except for function: "a car is not an investment . . . a car is an expense . . ." (page 126).

And here are some good existential zingers: "You are your greatest asset. You are your greatest liability" (page 147). "The thing holding you back is you" (page 149). And finally: "The money isn't the variable; the person controlling the money is. . ." (page 174).

Oh, there's a whole lot more to be found in Frugal Isn't Cheap: Spend Less, Save More, and Live BETTER  - these are just some of the things that I found particularly interesting. No matter what you think, "if you have the cash, you have the power."

Today's Rune:  Breakthrough. 

Harlem Nocturne

Farah Jasmine Griffin's Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists of Progressive Politics During World War II (New York: Basic Civitas, 2013) focuses on three artists in the context of 1940s Harlem: dancer Pearl Primus (1919-1994), writer Ann Petry (1908-1997) and musician Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981).  

Context: the World War II years "provided African Americans a perfect opportunity to challenge every aspect of segregation. Jim Crow laws and practices were seen as the primary challenge to American democracy. . ." (Harlem Nocturne, page 98). The Double V or Double Victory campaign was one of many, this one aiming for Victory over Fascism abroad and over Jim Crowism at home. The US military was still segregated during the course of the war, and in August of 1943 an incident involving white police and a returning black soldier (not unlike the incident that would later spark the 1967 Detroit Riot) began the "Harlem Riot of 1943." Has it ever fully recovered?

Here, individual agents of cultural entertainment -- and change. Mary Lou Williams is flanked by musician-comic actor Imogene Coca and singer Ann Hathaway ("Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"), in the 1940s. (Photo by William P. Gottlieb, Library of Congress). 

Activism in the 1940s came in many forms, and in all art forms certainly. 

While dancing, Pearl Primus (pictured here) could leap five feet in the air! Though born in Trinidad, she moved to New York City with her family when she was only two years old. She graduated from Hunter College in 1940 and began graduate school there the next year, then received a scholarship to the integrated, politically progressive New Dance Group program. She began her dance career in earnest in 1943 and almost immediately began performing at Barney Josephson's Café Society Downtown. By then, she was fully launched. 

As Griffin notes, after its 1938 opening in Greenwich Village," Café Society quickly became a gathering place for liberal and leftist socialites, intellectuals, artists and political activists." It was eventually squeezed shut thanks in large part to J. Edgar Hoover's "obsession with [rooting] out Communists" (Harlem Nocturne, pages 44-45), but in the meantime, Josephson opened a second venue, Café Society Uptown. (The fancy name was a bit of a jape or joke, sort of like "Country Bluegrass and Blues" -- CBGB -- down the pike of space and time).         

Mary Lou Williams built on her early talent as a pianist, eventually traveling (such as to the Kansas City scene), performing, composing, and developing a base of operations in Harlem, where she also served as godmother of bebop. All sorts of cool cats congregated in her pad, playing music and regrouping -- anyone from "Miles Davis, [Thelonius] Monk, Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie all found their way to 63 Hamilton Terrace" (Harlem Nocturne, page 160). She completed a first version of The Zodiac Suite by 1945, and near the end of her life, taught at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where she died in 1981. 

Ann Petry lived in Harlem during the war years, writing and absorbing the milieu. The Street (1946), her first novel, sold over one million copies!  But she hated the subsequent limelight and fled to New England for the rest of her life.

In Harlem Nocturne, Griffin notes how the World War II years were productive and in many ways progressive in parts of Harlem, New York City and the USA in general. With the war's end, however, things would backslide to a harsher status quo in terms of liberty, equality and "race relations." Jim Crow persisted, anti-fascism became out of fashion and anti-Communism was in -- including the demented machinations of powerful men of influence such as J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joe McCarthy. Until the next cycle, and the next after that. In the meantime, a salute to the artists -- and to Harlem Nocturne!

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune. 

Kevin O'Leary: Cold Hard Truth On Men, Women and Money

Knocked off Kevin O'Leary's Cold Hard Truth On Men, Women & Money: 50 Common Money Mistakes and How to Fix Them (2013, 2014) in less than twenty-four hours. It's an entertaining, compelling book that has something pragmatic to relate to just about anyone (at least in North America). Useful for brushing up on one's approach to money and finances in a holistic manner, regardless of age or socioeconomic status. On first read (there will be a second, taking notes), I found it refreshingly direct and no-nonsense, with interesting background details about the author's family and upbringing (Canadian with Lebanese and Irish ancestry -- cool grandmother, mother, stepfather and wife, among others).

A few basics include: if in debt, put all power into getting out of it as efficiently as possible; sock away at least ten percent in savings per payday or via other sources of income; budget five percent of out-flow for five worthy non-profits (some people tithe ten percent to religious or secular organizations, but O'Leary's approach is five). And: quality over quantity is a good rule of thumb. Prioritize, think, plan, review and do. He considers various types of "money pits" (such as automobiles), too. All interesting. If one took away even one or two points not previously considered (or forgotten along the way), this would be well worth a close gander. Good time to read it -- just before the holidays when many people tend to go overboard.

Today's Rune: Wholeness.      

Jem Cohen: Museum Hours (Take II)

In plainer English than the previous post, the set-up for Jem Cohen's Museum Hours is this: Anne (Mary Margaret O-Hara) borrows money to travel from Montreal, Canada, to Vienna, Austria, to hold vigil over her cousin, who is in a coma; there are apparently no other available relatives or friends who can fulfill this responsibility.

On a tight budget, Anne finds a tiny room to stay in, and she wanders into the Kunsthistorisches [Art History] Museum, where she is helped by Johann (Bobby Sommer), a compassionate museum guard. During her extended stay, they come to learn more about each other, sharing a connection as they explore the museum and various spots in Vienna.

That's the basic set-up. Simple idea, quiet unfolding, thoughtful movie. A keeper.

Today's Rune:  Flow. 

Jem Cohen: Museum Hours

Jem Cohen's Museum Hours (2012/2013), set in Vienna and starring the city and its environs, the Kunsthistorisches [i.e. Art] Museum, Bobby Sommer, Mary Margaret O'Hara and Ela Piplits, delivers a beautiful and gentle meditation on art, cities, people and birds -- among other things.

I want to publicly thank Gina Mandas for the recommendation. Museum Hours is a very impressive work, with elements that remind me of Werner Herzog and Jean-Luc Godard combined with Tom Ford's A Single Man (2009) in its dazzling yet down-to-earth observational qualities. You gotta live, you gotta see things before departure time -- yes!

By some act of synchronicity, a few days before Museum Hours arrived in the mail, I watched a short documentary about Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1525-1569) and his art, so was extra taken by the attention devoted in Jem Cohen's film to the Kunsthistorisches Museum's "Bruegel Room" and the precision of the Ela Piplits' character's musings about Bruegel's art and life. In the parlance of our day: Wow. Will watch again.

Today's Rune: Fertility. 

Reel to Reel is Living Rarity

Hypnogram created by Natasha K (2012) Wiki Commons

Before the next cycle of sleep or the moon goes down, another muse inspired by Penelope A. Lewis' The Secret World of Sleep: The Surprising Science of the Mind at Rest (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

One. She reinforces received wisdom that an ideal full cycle of sleep is about eight hours. This doesn't include naps, which are also good for those who enjoy them. Fall too far below the optimum and there will be problems in mental function, with various attendant horrors -- as one might imagine.

None of this seems new, for as long as I can remember. Personally, I know that if I fall below five hours of sleep per cycle, life is going to be substandard (aka crappy) during the next wake cycle. On the other hand, I also know that if I sleep more than ten hours in a cycle, that also leads to grogginess. I try to avoid both ends of the spectrum, but sometimes they happen, given the right alignment of bizarre circumstance.

Two. Every four hours of wake time -- in impact on cognitive functioning -- roughly equals a shot of alcohol. Do the math -- especially after, say, sixteen straight hours of wake time. Hello, long haul drivers wobbling down highways like lunatics. 

Three. About ten percent (10%) of people seem to be genuine "morning larks" and perhaps as many as thirty percent (30%) are -- or are when they can choose their own schedules -- "night owls." Fifty percent (50%) are in between. Another ten percent (10%) must be God knows what. All of these sleep tendencies are apparently genetic (Lewis, pages 150-151). Various drugs, foods, moods and circumstances tilt the game of sleep into wide variations of the above.

Finally for now, Where and how one goes to slumber are important. "As a rule of thumb . . . 61 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit . . . is an optimal room temperature for sleep." (Lewis, page 176). Yes, that's right, crawl under quilted covers and snooze and dream away. Perfect.  But how often do these conditions exist -- such beautiful cool room temperatures?  

O magic sleep! O comfortable bird,
That broodest o'er the troubled sea of the mind
Till it is hush'd and smooth! O unconfined
Restraint! imprisoned liberty! great key
To golden palaces.

John Keats, "Endymion" (1818)

Today's Rune: Journey. 

Tomlinson Hill: Take Three

Tomlinson Hill (2013), directed by Lisa Kaselak, who is also executive producer along with Chris Tomlinson; the latter's book of the same name will be published in July 2014. This is the third in a series of posts inspired by the documentary.

Agency, personal and social, now and in the future.

In the course of Tomlinson Hill, we are introduced to several people, and some of them are or have been making significant attempts to improve the small city of Marlin, Texas. 

Marlin, located just half an hour by roadway from Waco and Interstate 35 (I-35), has at latest count a population of just under 6,000 souls (down from a peak of 7,100 in 1980). It has diverse demographics. According to census records (and using today's parlance for census classifications), this parses out to approximately 45% black, 38% white, and 23% Hispanic, with some overlap. Most of the Latino population is of Mexican origin, but not all: 7% are of Puerto Rican and other descent. (See online US Census data for more details).

In the film, Chris Tomlinson meets Loreane Tomlinson. Both trace their roots through the area around Marlin, including Tomlinson Hill. Loreane, whose son LaDainian was a professional football player in the NFL, has adopted an uplifting and unifying vision for Marlin. Her first idea was to build a new community center. When that stalled out, her next idea was to create a shared community garden. The idea of building something to bring people together is optimistic and difficult to implement. Why?  

Indeed, what is effective in bringing people together, transcending social entropy and decay? How about sports? 

In general, a local team may draw locally; a college team may have a 250-mile diameter fan base. Professional teams, depending on the sport and gender, may draw from throughout an entire state. (For example, in terms of fans, the Texas Rangers dominate virtually all of Texas. See this link). But if you're a fan of the Texas Rangers, what does that mean for Marlin? 

How about something else to inspire, unify and transcend?  Mineral Wells, Texas -- thanks to those who voted for it -- may become revitalized by bringing its historically famous Baker Hotel back to life. This would be wonderful for Mineral Wells, which is about three times more populous than Marlin. 

Meanwhile, other efforts continue in Marlin. The Coach Carter Impact Academy, for example, featuring its own gardens, started up in 2012. From the school website:

'The Garden of the Coach Carter Impact Academy is the heart of the school. Acres of Spinach, Broccoli, Cabbage, Watermelons, Peas, Cucumbers, Greens, Okra, Peanuts, and other fruits and vegetables, all grown fresh for the students and the community, by the students. Coach Carter shares his love for healthy food and teaches the students how to grow food. The Garden feeds the school and community in countless ways.' 

Also, a former mayor has been trying a community cleanup detail, with mixed results. She reminds me a little of the character Carol Milford Kennicott in Sinclair Lewis' 1920 novel Main Street -- trying to better Marlin just as Carol tries to lift up Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. 

In Tomlinson Hill, it's noted that there are more than forty churches in Marlin. Do they work together in any way, or is Marlin "Balkanized" (fragmented and at odds) when it comes to religion and related social groups? How active are outreach programs between religious sects and other congregations? Do they work on projects together? How do, for example, Protestants and Catholics get along? How does the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints fare? And so on.

For more about Marlin, here's a link to the city government. City Hall will be closed for Juneteenth celebrations. The dinner theatre production of Nothing Like a Naughty Nun by Robert Brown has just run its course. 

For all those living in villages, towns or cities: what is being (or could be) done in your geographical "zone" to make things better across socio-economic lines? That is, what can be done to lift the whole community in some way?

Today's Rune: Flow. 

The Secret World of Sleep

We spend a third of our lives asleep -- why not study and muse more about sleeping, the weirdness of it? That's my strategy and I'm sticking to it. Hence, now I'm into Penelope A. Lewis' The Secret World of Sleep: The Surprising Science of the Mind at Rest (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), which works nicely with another tome I posted about recently, Kat Duff's The Secret Life of Sleep (Atria Books, Beyond Words, 2014).  

Earlier touched on: differences between deep slow wave sleep and more fitful rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, with dream cycles changing in form and sophistication over many hours of sleep-time. We dream, we rest, we take a break from walking or driving around and navigating social spaces during "wake" (as Lewis calls being awake time). 

We catch a glimpse at the importance of patterned sleeping cycles when they are denied due to lack of "enough" sleep:

". . . sleep deprivation distorts your emotions . . . often accompanied by decreases in willingness to think and act proactively, control impulses, feel positive about yourself, empathize with others, and generally use emotional intelligence. Sleep deprived people are more easily frustrated, intolerant, unforgiving, uncaring, and self-absorbed . . ."   (Lewis, The Secret World of Sleep, page 20). 

Lewis looks at sleep and dream states through the scrim of science and empirical evidence, whereas Duff takes a more holistic "humanities" approach, but together they both inspire consideration. Indeed, if our whole lives are worth something, certainly the third of our lives we devote to altered sleep states are worthy of some attention, yes?

Today's Rune: Gateway.     

American Civil War: Jenkins' Ferry 150

Battle site: Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas. Or more properly, the area where Union forces crossed the Saline River on a pontoon bridge, heading back to their main base in Little Rock. 

At Jenkins Ferry, two American armies went at each other viciously. The Confederates aimed to destroy most of the Union column before it could cross the river. Resulting casualties: approximately 700 Federals and 900 Rebels. Union tactical victory, in that the crossing was successfully made and the pontoon bridge destroyed to prevent easy pursuit. The battle was fought 150 years ago today: April 30, 1864.

Jenkins' Ferry was and is a water-logged part of the Saline River Bottoms. If you click on the image here, it may be easier to read the text. 150 years ago, the Jenkins' Ferry battle site was foggy, smoke-filled and soggy. 

At Jenkins' Ferry, the men of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment were fighting for their lives: west of the Mississippi in 1864, Confederate practice was typically to kill surrendering black troops (and more randomly, unarmed freedmen) on the spot, as had been done at Poison Springs and Marks' Mills. In response at Jenkins Ferry, this black regiment launched a bayonet charge that overran a Rebel battery of artillery; men of the regiment bayoneted perhaps dozens of surrendering Confederate artillerymen and their supports, reportedly cutting the throats of wounded mired in the mud. They then made their way across the Saline River. The 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was later reorganized as the 83rd Regiment, United States Colored Infantry. Here's a link  to their muster out roll. The first thing that becomes clear from this muster roll of soldiers is that they have full names, not single names such as designated by masters or owners -- the practice under slavery. These men fought in the war at least in part to expand and consolidate freedom, aiming for a more equal "place at the table" of American society.     

Today's Rune:  Initiation. 

American Civil War 150: Marks' Mills, Arkansas

Fighting between Americans in Arkansas in 1864 was vicious and brutal. At Marks' Mills, a Union supply column was attacked and, after a wild five hour gun battle in the swampy woods, overwhelmed. 

One of the Union regiments engaged, the 43rd Indiana, which had repulsed with heavy casualties some of the same Confederate units engaged at Marks' Mills that had attacked them at Helena, Arkansas, on July 4, 1863, was here cut to pieces on April 25, 1864 -- 150 years ago today.

Out of about 400 men engaged at Marks' Mills, the 43rd Indiana lost some 19 killed or mortally wounded and 185 taken prisoner (many of them wounded). Of the latter, another 18 died at the POW camp in Tyler, Texas (Camp Ford). 

The remaining members of the 43rd threaded their way through the back country to rejoin the main Union column at Camden, then fought their last big fight as part of "The Casual Detachment" at Jenkins Ferry, another messy, desperate battle, on April 30, 1864. 

Jeremiah C. France, my great great grand uncle and brother of Samuel France of the 31st Indiana Regiment (Company E), survived the entire Arkansas disaster serving with the 43rd Indiana (Company G), only to die of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in an Indianapolis hospital on January 17, 1865 -- just a few months before the war ended. He was felled, apparently, not by bullets or cannon shot, saber or bayonet, but rather by an infected tick or mosquito bite. He was 25. 

Another chilling aspect of Marks' Mills is cryptically noted in The Encyclopedia of Arkansas Culture & History: "The Confederates captured about 150 black freedmen and are believed to have killed more than 100 others." (Link here).

Today's Rune: Breakthrough. Note: click on each image to see entire photo. I took these on Saturday, April 6, 2013. 

Coen Brothers: Inside Llewyn Davis

Seeing Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), it's 1961, okay? All across the USA . . . It's set mostly in NYC, Chicago and along the road in between. 

I really like this film, and it'll take a while to absorb. Kind of trippy, kind of existential, kind of like a mythical tale, with realism, magical. On the road between the cities in snow and at night -- these scenes were mesmerizing. And along came Dylan. Can you dig?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune. 
   

The Mosaic of the Search

Truly digging the writings of Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). He is like a conduit between the present and his time of some 400-500 years ago, and between his time to the classical writers of "antiquity" (notably Roman and Greek). Dig into Montaigne and you pick up a lot that is of enduring relevance.

"Put into his head an honest curiosity to inquire into all things; whatever is  unusual around him he will see: a building, a fountain, a man, the field of an ancient battle, the place where Caesar or Charlemagne passed . . . He will inquire into the conduct, the resources, and the alliances of this prince or that. These are very pleasant to learn and very useful to know."*

*Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters. Translated by Donald M. Frame (Everyman's Library 259. New York: Knopf, 2003), page 139 (from essay 26). 

Pictures from an exploration of New Orleans' French and Spanish quarter.

How to pronounce Montaigne? Here's a link.

Today's Rune: Breakthrough. 

Alexander Payne: Nebraska

Alexander Payne's Nebraska (2013) is a great film! I will revisit once it's made the rounds. Bruce Dern and the whole cast eat up their roles, heartily mixing humor (sometimes bracing) and family. "Have a beer with your old man. Be somebody!"

Gleefully depressing, Nebraska is in part a coming of age story for two of the male characters. Never too late -- one is Woody Grant (Bruce Dern, now 77) and the other is his youngest son, David (Will Forte, 43). Nailed it. The other thing that may jump out at audiences: Nebraska is shot in black and white, which suits it well. If it had to be graded, this film would deserve an A. 

Today's Rune:  Separation (Reversed).  

Jean-Marc Vallée: Dallas Buyers Club

Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club (2013) feels like a certain type of late 1960s or 1970s film, anywhere between Midnight Cowboy (1969), Mean Streets (1973) and Wise Blood (1979). It's compelling, with a mix of seedy backdrops and driven characters trying to find a cure, or at least ways to contain, AIDS and its deadly effects. This would make a good second film in a double feature with David France's 2012 documentary How to Survive a Plague. Starts in and around Dallas, Texas, in 1985. Excellent period details -- including a key library scene featuring a microfiche reader. R-rated due, no doubt, to glimpses of drug use, raw sex and colorful Texas-style language, with some violence. The actors: all in high form. 

Today's Rune: Defense.   

Converging Into Synchronicity

So about a year ago, I finished about half of Roger Ebert's Life Itself (2011). Then I left it at an auto mechanic's shop and someone walked off with it. Then I got another copy at Half Price Books and set it aside for completion. That was a few months ago.

This past weekend, a DVD copy of The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War (1984) arrived in the mail, but I figured it might be a bit depressing so laid it aside for "later." I did read the cover and noted that Studs Terkel was the narrator. 

On Sunday, word was out that Nobel Prize-winning writer Doris Lessing had died. In conversations that day, Lessing came up. Not surprising. Then Studs Terkel came up. The Spanish Civil War came up. And that evening, Ebert came up -- remembering that he died this year, too, back in April.

Okay, by that evening I had also decided to give The Good Fight a shot, depressing or not. (It isn't -- quite the opposite). Then, having recently finished a Béatrix Beck novel, I grabbed the nearest next book on a stack of them which turned out to be none other than Roger Ebert's Life Itself. Trying to figure out where exactly I'd left off, I looked at the table of contents and noticed the chapter 52 title header, "Studs."  Coincidence? Knowing that both Ebert and Studs Terkel were all things Chicago, it had to be the same Studs, right? Indeed, it was, and on the first page of the chapter (page 397 of my hardback copy), Ebert recounts being asked to drive Studs and a visitor around Chicago. And the visitor was . . . Doris Lessing. I got a shiver. That's just too strange, all the day's major people of discussion converging into synchronicity verbally and in Ebert's book on the very day we first learn of Doris Lessing's death. What are the chances they'd appear on the same page, together, on that same red letter date? 

Whatever it means, there it is.