The suspense did not last long

In answer to the question what will I screw up format-wise this time? Today the blog mistake (blogomistake?) will be posting the same entry more than once. Sorry, no bets accepted--I'd go broke paying them off! Lynne

Books to remember, and not...

Let me see if I can avoid screwing up the word wrap feature, or some other vital formatting function this time. Sigh.

June 18 to June 23, 1976 I read:

SF Author's Choice, Harrison, Ed.

David Meyer Is a Mother, Gail Parent

I don't remember this book. Even reading a short description of it didn't bring anything back, except a vague memory of also having read Parent's Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York, and I understand this author has written for television and movies, including 2004's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. It's always good to hear that someone who 30 years ago was writing comic novels (and evidently proto-typical chick lit--who knew?) is alive, writing and evidently thriving--I tend to assume that people who write movies are thriving, call it jealousy if you will, because that would be accurate.

Laughing all the Way, Barbara Howar

Milton Berle, an Autobiography, Milton Berle with Hashell Frankel
My note in '76 was: engagingly honest.

The book made enough of an impact on me with its vaudeville reminiscences and candid personal revelations that I remember many of the anecdotes to this day--particularly the more graphic ones--with an odd kind of affection. I think that's the larger-than-life charm that Berle was able to put across in his performances as well.

By contrast the Barbara Howar autobiography above was much more zipped and buttoned up, and I can't remember any part of it. Of course, the double standard flourished a lot more 30 years ago and unabashed candor was an even more risky action for females then.

Rhythms of Vision: Changing Patterns of Belief, Lawrence Blair
My note was: dense as hell. Someone called it "lyrical" on the jacket--unintelligible would be more apt.

Interestingly, I did quite enjoy the PBS-broadcast documentary Ring of Fire, following Lawrence and his brother Lorne Blair's 10 years of exploration in Indonesia. There's a book of that entitled Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey. I'd be interested in reading that book.

I might be just as impatient with mystical speculation now as I was 30 years ago, but I had an instant, visceral reaction when I thought, "should I perhaps re-read Rhythms of Vision? That reaction was--"No!" Perhaps the Ring of Fire book appeals because there's a story instead of metaphysical speculation (urk!)


Universe 6, Carr


June 18 to 24, 2006 I read:

The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett

This is the first large-sized, illustrated Pratchett I've read. Paul Kidby's color illustrations have their own wit, notably the sepia-toned Da Vinci notebook style invention notes and sketches and "Mona Lisa" of Leonard of Quirm, and portraits of Cohen, the Barbarian and his geriatric Silver Horde, on one final rampage with the mission of returning fire to the gods (thereby ending the world). Hot on their trail, in Leonard's brilliant, if unpredictable, dragon-powered rocket is a contingent from Ankh-Morpork's City Watch and Unseen University's wizards trying to save to save Discworld.

This is an unusually short Discworld book--160 pages--a great many of which are the illustrations. At 40,000 words it's called a "Discworld Fable" rather than a full novel

Even though it was shorter than the usual Pratchett books, and I'm not the most visually inclined audience for the graphic enrichment, I enjoyed it. And the review on Amazon.com was by Donald E. Westlake--wow! I admire Westlake a lot and it was good to know that he's a Pratchett enthusiast.


<br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Gail+Parent" rel="tag">Gail Parent</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Paul+Kidby" rel="tag">Paul Kidby</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Terry+Pratchett" rel="tag">Terry Pratchett</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lawrence+Blair" rel="tag">Lawrence Blair</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lorne+Blair" rel="tag">Lorne Blair</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Indonesia" rel="tag">Indonesia</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Ring+of+Fire" rel="tag">Ring of Fire</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Discworld" rel="tag">Discworld</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Hashell+Frankel" rel="tag">Hashell Frankel</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Barbara+Howar" rel="tag">Barbara Howar</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Westlake" rel="tag">Westlake</a><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Milton Berle" rel="tag">Milton Berle</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne Murray</a><br /><noembed> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Lynne Murray</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/books-to-remember-and-not_24.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/books-to-remember-and-not_24.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2006-06-24T18:05:00-07:00'>6:05 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment/fullpage/post/11797573/115119757406447694' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-action'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115119757406447694' title='Email Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1217197588'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115119757406447694&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='11797573' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='115119735015067526' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='115119735015067526'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/books-to-remember-and-not.html'>Books to remember, and not...</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-115119735015067526' itemprop='description articleBody'> Let me see if I can avoid screwing up the word wrap feature, or some other vital formatting function this time. Sigh.<br /><br />June 18 to June 23, 1976 I read:<br /><br /><i>SF Author's Choice</i>, Harrison, Ed.<br /><br /><i>David Meyer Is a Mother</i>, Gail Parent<br /><br />I don't remember this book. Even reading a short description of it didn't bring anything back, except a vague memory of also having read Parent's <i>Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York</i>, and I understand this author has written for television and movies, including 2004's <i>Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen</i>. It's always good to hear that someone who 30 years ago was writing comic novels (and evidently proto-typical chick lit--who knew?) is alive, writing and evidently thriving--I tend to assume that people who write movies are thriving, call it jealousy if you will, because that would be accurate.<br /><br /><i>Laughing all the Way</i>, Barbara Howar<br /><br /><i>Milton Berle, an Autobiography</i>, Milton Berle with Hashell Frankel<br />My note in '76 was: engagingly honest.<br /><br />The book made enough of an impact on me with its vaudeville reminiscences and candid personal revelations that I remember many of the anecdotes to this day--particularly the more graphic ones--with an odd kind of affection. I think that's the larger-than-life charm that Berle was able to put across in his performances as well. <br /><br />By contrast the Barbara Howar autobiography above was much more zipped and buttoned up, and I can't remember any part of it. Of course, the double standard flourished a lot more 30 years ago and unabashed candor was an even more risky action for females then.<br /><br /><i>Rhythms of Vision: Changing Patterns of Belief</i>, Lawrence Blair<br />My note was: dense as hell. Someone called it "lyrical" on the jacket--unintelligible would be more apt.<br /><br />Interestingly, I did quite enjoy the PBS-broadcast documentary <i>Ring of Fire</i>, following Lawrence and his brother Lorne Blair's 10 years of exploration in Indonesia. There's a book of that entitled <i>Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey</i>. I'd be interested in reading that book.<br /><br />I might be just as impatient with mystical speculation now as I was 30 years ago, but I had an instant, visceral reaction when I thought, "should I perhaps re-read <i>Rhythms of Vision</i>? That reaction was--"No!" Perhaps the <i>Ring of Fire</i> book appeals because there's a story instead of metaphysical speculation (urk!)<br /><br /><br /><i>Universe 6</i>, Carr<br /><br /><br />June 18 to 24, 2006 I read:<br /><br /><i>The Last Hero</i>, Terry Pratchett<br /><br />This is the first large-sized, illustrated Pratchett I've read. Paul Kidby's color illustrations have their own wit, notably the sepia-toned Da Vinci notebook style invention notes and sketches and "Mona Lisa" of Leonard of Quirm, and portraits of Cohen, the Barbarian and his geriatric Silver Horde, on one final rampage with the mission of returning fire to the gods (thereby ending the world). Hot on their trail, in Leonard's brilliant, if unpredictable, dragon-powered rocket is a contingent from Ankh-Morpork's City Watch and Unseen University's wizards trying to save to save Discworld.<br /><br />This is an unusually short Discworld book--160 pages--a great many of which are the illustrations. At 40,000 words it's called a "Discworld Fable" rather than a full novel <br /><br />Even though it was shorter than the usual Pratchett books, and I'm not the most visually inclined audience for the graphic enrichment, I enjoyed it. And the review on Amazon.com was by Donald E. Westlake--wow! I admire Westlake a lot and it was good to know that he's a Pratchett enthusiast.<br /><br /><br /><noembed><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Gail+Parent" rel="tag">Gail Parent</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Paul+Kidby" rel="tag">Paul Kidby</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Terry+Pratchett" rel="tag">Terry Pratchett</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lawrence+Blair" rel="tag">Lawrence Blair</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lorne+Blair" rel="tag">Lorne Blair</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Indonesia" rel="tag">Indonesia</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Ring+of+Fire" rel="tag">Ring of Fire</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Discworld" rel="tag">Discworld</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Hashell+Frankel" rel="tag">Hashell Frankel</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Barbara+Howar" rel="tag">Barbara Howar</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Westlake" rel="tag">Westlake</a><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Milton Berle" rel="tag">Milton Berle</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne Murray</a><br /><noembed> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Lynne Murray</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/books-to-remember-and-not.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/books-to-remember-and-not.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2006-06-24T17:28:00-07:00'>5:28 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment/fullpage/post/11797573/115119735015067526' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-action'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115119735015067526' title='Email Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1217197588'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115119735015067526&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, June 17, 2006</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='11797573' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='115058485440809414' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='115058485440809414'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/sorry-my-inner-pit-bull-requires.html'>sorry, my "inner pit bull" requires completing this</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-115058485440809414' itemprop='description articleBody'> Okay, so this post got lost and then truncated. Here's the last bit. (on the subject of seeing the documentary <i>Don't Look Back</i> five times and still totally missing Dylan's unkind treatment of Baez:<br /><br />My reaction to the relevant portions was along the lines of, "Look it's Joan Baez. What a beautiful voice. <i>Love is Just a Four-Letter Word</i>. Cool song."<br /><br />Of course, I was 16 and paying attention to the poetry, the James Dean-ish, hyper-cool edge that Dylan was presenting, and the spectacle. I had to have that whole interaction explained to me 40 years later. <br /><br />There may be others who have not forgiven Bob Dylan for other transgressions of the 60s. As a Buddhist, of course, I would wish Dylan (and everyone really) to make the best possible karmic choices. And maybe it's the chip of ice in my writer's heart speaking here. Although I can't imagine what it would be like to be gifted with a talent such as Dylan's, I've always thought that his first loyalty was to his creative genius, and I would have regretted it if he'd been nicer and written less. <br /><br />Bob Dylan has a <a href= "http://bobdylan.com/index.html">web site</a>, who knew? http://bobdylan.com/index.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><noembed><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Fort+Apache" rel="tag">Fort Apache</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Tom+Walker" rel="tag">Tom Walker</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bob+Dylan" rel="tag">Bob Dylan</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Joan+Baez" rel="tag">Joan Baez</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Martin+Scorsese" rel="tag">Martin Scorsese</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pennebaker" rel="tag">Pennebaker</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/<br />Terry+Pratchett" rel="tag"><br />Terry Pratchett</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Frederik+Pohl" rel="tag">Frederik Pohl</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Kornbluth" rel="tag">Kornbluth</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne Murray</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/orangenotebookoflynnemurray" rel="tag">orangenotebookoflynnemurray</a><br /><br />

don't wear sandals, avoid 40-year old scandals (lost post?)

--Note on June 17, somehow this didn't get posted. Maybe because I wrestled so long with the formatting features that I forgot the essential posting part. Or for some other unknown reason. Apologies! more apologies if this is somehow going out but not showing up to me. This is the third and last time I'll try to post it. Lynne
Don't wear sandals, avoid the 40-year-old scandals


June 3 to June 9, 1976 I read:

Fort Apache, Life and Death in NY's Most Violent Precinct, Tom Walker

The Divine Comedy, Dante
(began,…) another book I still have and never finished

The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
I didn't say so, but I must have enjoyed reading Gladiator-At-Law a few days earlier or I wouldn't have sought this out.


June 3 to June 8, 2006 I read


The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett
I still jump into any Pratchett I can get my hands on. This one seemed to be written with a Harry Potter-age audience in mind, a bit less hard-edged than some of his Disc World books, although it is the same world--just a very rural edge of it.

Chronicle, Volume One, Bob Dylan

I enjoyed this a lot. Keeping in mind that Ben Hecht comment that songs are little houses where our hearts once lived, for me Dylan's songs were a whole fast spinning circus performances. This autobiographical exercise captures that bygone era, and gives fascinating background of the influences and processes that hatched into Dylan's songs.

I know of at least one person who has never forgiven Dylan for thoughtless treatment of Joan Baez (inviting her to come to England with the tour but not bringing her up on stage, as documented the 1965 D.A. Pennebaker documentary Don't Look Back). Roger Ebert, expresses the same opinion when he was interviewed in No Direction Home, the 2005 Martin Scorsese documentary.

I guess many people feel quite protective of Joan Baez, but I was amused to realize that Dylan's treatment of her didn't register with me at all. What I found funny was that I saw Don't Look Back about five times. My reaction to the relevant portions was along the lines of, "Look it's Joan Baez. What a

The "size acceptance" diet and other insanities--well, mostly that one

The subject line refers to Michael S. Berman's book (discussed below), which
I thought I would review for my web site. But once I read it, I
realized that it came very close to the sort of book I feel can cause
harm by pretending to offer help. I think that's why fat activists
are discarding the term "size acceptance" in favor of Health at Any
Size, "http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=320&Profile_ID
=41160">Love Your Body, and Fat Pride--the last one may scare some
people, but it's pretty hard to distort into a diet message!


June 9 to June 17 1976 I read:


The Other Side of the Clock: Stories Out of Time, Out of Place,
Philip Van Doren, Ed., Stern, Comp.

Star Mother, Sydney J Van Scyoc

All the Colors of Darkness, Lloyd Biggle Jr.
my comment was "poorly done"

If You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade: An Essential Memoir of a Lunatic
Decade, Warren Hinckle
Maybe not so essential in that it's out of print now.

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin

Crazy Salad, Nora Ephron
This one made the most impact on me of the books I read that week


June 9 to June 17, 2006, I read:

The Amulet of Samarkand,(The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1),
Jonathan Stroud
This was fun

Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived, Peter Barton and Laurence
Shames

I borrowed this book to read because I wanted to know what it had in
common with another book Shames co-authored with the man whose life it
detailed--Michael S. Berman--entitled Living Large: A Big Man's
Ideas on Weight, Success, and Acceptance (discussed below).

I was curious why Berman selected Shames to help him write the story of his
life. I didn't find a website for Shames, who also writes mystery
fiction, but I found an interesting Shames quote: “Success and failure.
We think of them as opposites, but they're really not. They're
companions - the hero and the sidekick.”

After reading Not Fade Away, I can see how Peter Barton's story
meshed with Berman's view of his situation--or possibly the spin his
publisher wanted to put on it.

Not Fade Away - A wealthy, creative entrepreneur, cable TV
pioneer, who has everything he ever wanted deals with his impending
death from cancer in early middle age.

Living Large - well-known political activist and Washington
Lobbyist, despite a happy marriage and fulfilling life, deals with
prejudice against fat people and a life-long eating disorder.

In my opinion, this also describes a life-long dieting addiction. But
they say you can't see your own eyebrows, and Berman (and his doctors)
can't see the yo-yo diet reality being fostering here in
the name of "acceptance."


I'm not the only person who hoped that Living Large would be
that rare and interesting thing, a positive book by a fat man
about his experience. There was much spirited discussion at
"http://www.bigfatblog.com/archives/cat_fat_and_men.php">bigfatblog
I could discuss the co-opting of the size acceptance movement by the diet
industry. But I have a headache and I don't feel like any heavy ranting
today. I very much like Marilyn Wann's discussion of the spiral of
self-acceptance at the very bottom of the bigfatblog page referenced
above.

When I sat down to read Living Large, I found that the primary
"accepting" that Berman did about his body was to accept that he will
always be fat, and that he intends to fight it every day of his
life. Hence the parallel with Peter Barton's dying of cancer.
Berman's web site
lists his weight from birth till now, and the diet he was/is on from
then till now, including calorie counting and frequent fasts under medical supervision). The blurbs in the Praise section are mostly from people invested in the diet industry.


I feel for Michael S. Berman's very real suffering, and I am glad that
he has found some measure of peace. Who knows? Perhaps he is in one
stage of that spiral of self-acceptance. However, I hope his
conditional self-esteem view doesn't damage anyone who confuses
perpetual dieting with Health at Any Size.

I must stop now as I feel a primal scream coming on.

By the way, we're still waiting for that self-accepting book by a fat
man.

<br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Jonathan+Stroud" rel="tag">Jonathan <br /><br />Stroud</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Peter+Barton" rel="tag">Peter <br /><br />Barton</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Laurence+Shames" rel="tag">Laurence <br /><br />Shames</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Michael+S.+Berman" <br /><br />rel="tag">Michael S. Berman</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/fat" rel="tag">fat</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/size+acceptance" rel="tag">size <br /><br />acceptance</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/health" rel="tag">health</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Health+at+Any+Size" <br /><br />rel="tag">Health at Any Size</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/bigfatblog" <br /><br />rel="tag">bigfatblog</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Warren+Hinckle" rel="tag">Warren <br /><br />Hinckle</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Nora+Ephron" rel="tag">Nora <br /><br />Ephron</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/fat+pride" rel="tag">fat pride</a><br /><a href= "http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne <br /><br />Murray</a><br /><noembed> <div style='clear: both;'></div> </div> <div class='post-footer'> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'> <span class='post-author vcard'> Posted by <span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'> <meta content='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' itemprop='url'/> <a class='g-profile' href='https://www.blogger.com/profile/12549765142750458479' rel='author' title='author profile'> <span itemprop='name'>Lynne Murray</span> </a> </span> </span> <span class='post-timestamp'> at <meta content='http://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/size-acceptance-diet-and-other.html' itemprop='url'/> <a class='timestamp-link' href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/size-acceptance-diet-and-other.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2006-06-17T15:03:00-07:00'>3:03 PM</abbr></a> </span> <span class='post-comment-link'> <a class='comment-link' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment/fullpage/post/11797573/115058365382372318' onclick=''> No comments: </a> </span> <span class='post-icons'> <span class='item-action'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115058365382372318' title='Email Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> <span class='item-control blog-admin pid-1217197588'> <a href='https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=11797573&postID=115058365382372318&from=pencil' title='Edit Post'> <img alt='' class='icon-action' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif' width='18'/> </a> </span> </span> <div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'> </div> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'> <span class='post-labels'> </span> </div> <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'> <span class='post-location'> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="date-outer"> <h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, June 09, 2006</span></h2> <div class="date-posts"> <div class='post-outer'> <div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'> <meta content='11797573' itemprop='blogId'/> <meta content='114991553616835911' itemprop='postId'/> <a name='114991553616835911'></a> <h3 class='post-title entry-title' itemprop='name'> <a href='https://orangenotebookoflynnemurray.blogspot.com/2006/06/dont-wear-sandals-avoid-40-year-old.html'>Don't wear sandals, avoid the 40-year-old scandals</a> </h3> <div class='post-header'> <div class='post-header-line-1'></div> </div> <div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-114991553616835911' itemprop='description articleBody'> --Note on June 17, somehow this didn't get posted. Maybe because I wrestled so long with the formatting features that I forgot the essential posting part. Or for some other unknown reason. Apologies! more apologies if this is somehow going out but not showing up to me. This is the third and last time I'll try to post it. Lynne<br />Don't wear sandals, avoid the 40-year-old scandals<br /><br /><br />June 3 to June 9, 1976 I read: <br /><br /><i>Fort Apache, Life and Death in NY's Most Violent Precinct</i>, Tom Walker<br /><br /><i>The Divine Comedy</i>, Dante <br />(began,&#8230;) another book I still have and never finished<br /><br /><i>The Space Merchants</i>, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth <br />I didn't say so, but I must have enjoyed reading Gladiator-At-Law a few days earlier or I wouldn't have sought this out.<br /><br /><br />June 3 to June 8, 2006 I read <br /><br /><br /><i>The Wee Free Men</i>, Terry Pratchett<br />I still jump into any Pratchett I can get my hands on. This one seemed to be written with a Harry Potter-age audience in mind, a bit less hard-edged than some of his Disc World books, although it is the same world--just a very rural edge of it.<br /><br /><i>Chronicle, Volume One</i>, Bob Dylan<br /><br />I enjoyed this a lot. Keeping in mind that Ben Hecht comment that songs are little houses where our hearts once lived, for me Dylan's songs were a whole fast spinning circus performances. This autobiographical exercise captures that bygone era, and gives fascinating background of the influences and processes that hatched into Dylan's songs.<br /><br />I know of at least one person who has never forgiven Dylan for thoughtless treatment of Joan Baez (inviting her to come to England with the tour but not bringing her up on stage, as documented the 1965 D.A. Pennebaker documentary <i>Don't Look Back</i>). Roger Ebert, expresses the same opinion when he was interviewed in <i>No Direction Home</i>, the 2005 Martin Scorsese documentary.<br /><br />I guess many people feel quite protective of Joan Baez, but I was amused to realize that Dylan's treatment of her didn't register with me at all. What I found funny was that I saw Don't Look Back about five times. My reaction to the relevant portions was along the lines of, "Look it's Joan Baez. What a beautiful voice. <i>Love is Just a Four-Letter Word</i>. Cool song."<br /><br />Of course, I was 16 and paying attention to the poetry, the James Dean-ish, hyper-cool edge that Dylan was presenting, and the spectacle. I had to have that whole interaction explained to me 40 years later. <br /><br />There may be others who have not forgiven Bob Dylan for other transgressions of the 60s. As a Buddhist, of course, I would wish Dylan (and everyone really) to make the best possible karmic choices. And maybe it's the chip of ice in my writer's heart speaking here. Although I can't imagine what it would be like to be gifted with a talent such as Dylan's, I've always thought that his first loyalty was to his creative genius, and I would have regretted it if he'd been nicer and written less. <br /><br />Bob Dylan has a <a href= "http://bobdylan.com/index.html">web site</a>, who knew? http://bobdylan.com/index.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><noembed><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Fort+Apache" rel="tag">Fort Apache</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Tom+Walker" rel="tag">Tom Walker</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bob+Dylan" rel="tag">Bob Dylan</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Joan+Baez" rel="tag">Joan Baez</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Martin+Scorsese" rel="tag">Martin Scorsese</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pennebaker" rel="tag">Pennebaker</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/<br />Terry+Pratchett" rel="tag"><br />Terry Pratchett</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Frederik+Pohl" rel="tag">Frederik Pohl</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Kornbluth" rel="tag">Kornbluth</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne Murray</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/orangenotebookoflynnemurray" rel="tag">orangenotebookoflynnemurray</a><br /><br />

Don't you just hate it when your cosmic egg gets cracked?

From May 25 to June 2, 1976 I read:

Reeling, Film Writings 1972-1975, Pauline Kael

Exploring the Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Joseph Chilton Pearce
Don't ask me why I was reading this second book, instead of the first book this guy wrote: The Crack in the Cosmic Egg: New Constructs of Mind and Reality that has all the kudos from Alan Watts, etc. Probably my local library didn't have a copy of that one available. Maybe I would have liked that better, maybe not. But I did not like this book. I started by saying I was repelled by its obtuse arrogance. Then I got a little verbose myself on how verbose I thought it was concluding that it was "Just another spellbound-by-zen-koans driveler." Yikes.

Gladiator-at-Law, Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth

The Best of Cordwainer Smith, (J. I. Pearce, Ed., Intro.)
I really love this author and enjoyed the web page his daughter put up in his honor.


The Source, James Mitchener
I noted: began….
I still have this book and still have not finished it.


May 25 to June 2, 2006

Shooting Water: A Memoir of Second Chances, Family, and Filmmaking, Devyani Saltzman
This is a memoir of youth written by the Jewish/Indian daughter of two filmmakers, who is 19 when the book begins in 1999, when Saltzman is trying to reconnect with her mother, Deepa Mehta, during the filming of the final installment of her trilogy, Water (after Fire and Earth). The book evokes India, Oxford and Sri Lanka with a very lyrical quality.


The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell
This book is fascinating, and some of the insights can be immediately useful when you realize (I did anyway) how certain behavior patterns can be unconsciously triggered by settings. (e.g., whatever I do when I start the day, I notice that I continue to do for a few hours unless interrupted. So if I start writing, I'll write for a few hours. If I start reading email and surfing the web…oh, well.

I also couldn't help but consider Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiments in the 1970, which Gladwell cites. After scoring normally on psychological tests, students were randomly assigned to be "prison guards" wearing uniforms and dark glasses, or "prisoners" wearing uniforms with numbers. After six few days they had to close down what was meant to be a two-week experiment because of the sadistic behavior that had arisen spontaneously from the "guards" and the prison revolt that ensued.

The lesson, as Zimbardo concluded, is that "specific situations are so powerful that they can overwhelm our inherent predispositions." To me this is clearly shown in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisoner abuse scandals. I don't think it's useful to pretend that this dark nature does not exist. It's easier to trigger the behavior than it is to control it and we need to know what works. Gladwell has some interesting ideas about what does and does not work.


<br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Reeling" rel="tag">Reeling</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/film" rel="tag">film</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pauline+Kael" rel="tag">Pauline Kael</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/prisoner+abuse" rel="tag">prisoner abuse</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Guantanamo" rel="tag">Guantanamo</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Abu+Ghraib" rel="tag">Abu Ghraib</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Stanford" rel="tag">Stanford </a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Philip+Zimbardo" rel="tag">Philip Zimbardo</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Malcolm+Gladwell" rel="tag">Malcolm Gladwell</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Tipping+Point" rel="tag">Tipping Point</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Devyani+Saltzman" rel="tag">Devyani Saltzman</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/filmmaking" rel="tag">filmmaking</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Shooting+Water" rel="tag">Shooting Water</a><br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/James+Mitchener" rel="tag">James Mitchener</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Cordwainer+Smith" rel="tag">Cordwainer Smith</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Frederick+Pohl" rel="tag">Frederick Pohl</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Kornbluth" rel="tag">Kornbluth</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Cosmic+Egg" rel="tag">Cosmic Egg</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Joseph+Chilton+Pearce" rel="tag">Joseph Chilton Pearce</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gladiator+at+Law" rel="tag"> Gladiator-at-Law</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Lynne+Murray" rel="tag">Lynne Murray</a><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/orangenotebookoflynnemurray" rel="tag">orangenotebookoflynnemurray</a><br /><br />