Pay attention, people!

This word is pronounced "ca-SHAY". It's spelled cachet. As a noun it refers to prestige.

This word is pronounced "cash". It's spelled cache. As a noun it refers to a hiding place or storage place.

These two words are not the same. Somewhere in the US this morning, a copy editor should be hanging her head for missing this distinction twice on a single page.

Oops.

Having seen this happen, long, long ago...

An excerpt from Jen Lancaster's new book Pretty in Plaid. This passage occurs in the chapter in which she describes wearing her early `80s Jordache jeans:

...When I take them off, my thighs are deeply indented where the seams hit and sometimes I need to punch my legs to regain feeling in them. I'm often forced to lie on the floor and use a rat-tail comb to properly zip them. (They're so tight around the crotch region that I technically may not be a virgin anymore.) ...


Ahem. Some of us used a coathanger. Good times...

The more deceived

Thought for today, courtesy of Adam and the Ants (!)...

"I'm the dandy highwayman so sick of easy fashion
The clumsy boots, peek-a-boo roots that people think so dashing
So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?
It's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making..."

Rampant with Memory

Just watched an excellent adaptation of Laurence's _The Stone Angel_. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth your time — if you can find it. (In the Edmonton area, it's available on DVD from the public library.) One of the reviewers said Ellen Burstyn deserved an Academy award for her performance, and it was indeed admirable. But maybe I'm more apt to respond to a film about mothers and sons. Amazing, though, that one instance of a naked male bottom got it an R rating!

It's been a weekend for movies, actually. Saw the new Harry Potter yesterday — very dense story-telling and painting-like cinematography, I think; I'll have to see it again soon. Maybe it will still be in theatres by the time we're back from France, although that seems unlikely. Apparently the final book will require two films to adapt. Good: more to look forward to!

Also watched _Away from Her_ on Friday afternoon. Hard to believe that was a directorial debut: impressive! I really must look for the short story on which it was based. I know I have lots of Munro packed away somewhere... should unpack it...

Terrible weather right now, after a mild early morning; looks like it could storm at any minute. Last night's storm was electric, wild. But "This is what the world is for / Making electricity."

Adieu.

High praise

"No one ever understood better the art of having grace without affectation, raillery without malice, gaiety without folly, propriety without constraint, and virtue without severity." — a description of a fictional character, Princesse Clarinte, who represents the historical salon hostess Madame de Sévigné, now memorialized by a street in le Marais, Paris

Hope: Leslie Romantic

From a song rather jauntily covered by U2, "Everlasting Love":

Where life's river flows
No-one really knows
'Til someone's there to
Show the way to
Everlasting love
Like the sun it shines
Endlessly it shines
You always will be mine
Eternal love
Whenever love went wrong
Ours will be strong
We have our own
Everlasting love...

(In case you're interested, there are many, many versions of these lyrics on the Net. If you don't agree with my interpretation, look around and you'll probably find a version that suits your hearing.)

Belated happy solstice!

L

And they call it democracy

What does it say about us as citizens — what does it say about the quality of our democracy in Canada — when both our prime minister and the leader of the opposition use an election as a bogeyman? When did our right to vote become something with which to threaten the populace?

This morning CBC quotes Stephen Harper saying, “I don’t want an election. I don’t think anybody wants an election.” Obviously the leader of a minority government, the prime minister only by default, doesn't want to lose his power. But Stephen Harper doesn't speak for me.

Popular wisdom says we get the government we deserve. What have we done to deserve Stephen Harper?

Courtesy of Alberto Manguel

From his delightful and meandering book A Reading Diary: A Year of Favourite Books:

"Instead of saying, 'I seek the meaning of the world,' i.e., the superlative of all superlatives (and the very minute I pronounce the word, I have it, I achieve my purpose merely by having pronounced it), human philosophy has acted like the fool who would run through the streets in tears, looking for his own head on every street corner." — Ladislav Klima

"The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade all the other people how good they are. ... Every one of the great revolutionists, from Isaiah to Shelley, have been optimists. They have been indignant, not about the badness of existence, but about the slowness of men in realizing its goodness." — Chesterton

Red rover or the black dog?

Hmm. Here's something for ya:


Tried flipping through my file of coloured days but couldn't find it. Life swallowing beauty without even chewing. Naming it does not make it go away. Linens, lindens. Roses grow sore from their beauty, and tales are the least one can steal. Breathe deep a wreath of joy, of roses of sweetpeas of gardenias of lilies of holly of rosemary of rue. Meadows of joy where one runs in white linen. The span of his arms the height of me. Prone, supine, lupine. Pining. Liminal and subliminal, the threshold to walk over, the doorway to a new life. Crossed and crossing. Her feet too delicate to touch earth. World of undoing and the undone. Milk vetch. Again and again and again. Inky blue of inconsolable longing, of missing, of loss. Red to die, blue to bring back. Wearing white silk shirts and chambray skirts. Taffeta and crinolines. A hope inside a hoop. A man to walk alongside, the pepper for your salt, the sun for your moon. Fresh-mown grass. Again. Falling and befallen. How does it happen? There was a white haze over the city. Merry, my lord. Do not adjust your set. Do not set your judgement against me. Don't stand so close, so close. Eat the peach, hand extended, fingers quivering. Cherries apples plums roses white never red. The glaring yellow of an angry eye. Lost and lost. I can sense the end. Almost never at a loss for words in my head but cannot make my lips form them. Lies slip so blithely.

A-Plus for Nerdiness

Just got 90 percent on an ABBA trivia quiz. Sigh. To celebrate, iTunes spontaneously found "The Name of the Game" just as I finished the quiz. Apparently computers have a sense of humour after all.

Back to the books!
L

Thursday

She said, A good day ain't got no rain.
She said, A bad day's when I lie in bed
and think of things that might have been.

— Paul Simon, "Slip Slidin' Away"

Whoops!

Forgot the Sarah Slean concert last night at Myer Horowitz. Oops!

Am looking forward to hearing the new Tori Amos. So far, others' reviews are really mixed. Also just received the new Joan Baez (and an old JB as well); looking forward to hearing it, too.

And a kind friend has just sent me a copy of his latest book. Wow! Inscribed and everything! How sweet! Looking forward to reading it ... as soon as I get through the pages and pages and pages of directed reading I still need to finish.

Do you think I can finish my diss in six months? This is the challenge I have set for myself. Well, that and passing my candidacy. The clock is ticking... go!

L

Not en vacances

Feeling comme un poulpe!

Walking in the Super Cities Walk on Sunday. Wish me luck -- and thanks to all who pledged.

L

PS: Happy birthday, Dave!

Maybe I should be tweeting?

Smoking with the ghosts. Back soon.

L

Can't fight the moonlight

Gone to the moon ... back soon!

Little bits

“Robur gregi in lupo, robur lupo in grege.” (The strength of the wolf is in the pack, the strength of the pack is in the wolf.)

Seems right, doesn't it?

In the same batch of e-mail I also learned about preterition (synonyms paralepsis and apophasis): the rhetorical tactic of omitting a topic to emphasize it.

Also very appropriate.

Must read now. Be well!

It's not in the cards

This was an important question that produced an important answer: pay attention.

Traditional Celtic Cross

Significator = Queen of Swords

1. The immediate situation: 4 of Swords: Standing guard: solitude, exile, repose

2. Obstacles: 8 of Cups: Desertion, turning away

3. Aspirations: Strength: The power or courage to act

4. Foundations: 8 of Swords: Bad news: crisis, sickness, conflict

5. The past: 3 of Swords: A pierced heart: absence, delay, division

6. The future: 9 of Wands: Preparation for attack: will, strength in conflict

7. Attitude of the questioner: The Empress: The hidden and unknown: long days, doubt, difficulty

8. Environmental influences: Ace of Wands: The source: origins, creation, invention

9. Hopes and fears: The Sun: Contentment

10. The outcome: The Hermit: Treason, deception, prudence and roguery


Hmm.

The value of poetry in the modern world

According to Publishers Lunch, "Carol Ann Duffy was named the UK's poet laureate, the first woman to hold the position in 341 years. Along with a small stipend, the honor comes with a "butt of sack" -- 600 bottles of sherry to stoke the muse." Avast! A pirate's life for her!

The house I want to buy

Next in my ongoing rant against realtors who insist on working without editors... the home fit for a pirate!

"[This home] is one of the largest at 1,242 sq.ft. has a downtown view with a 27 ft. balcony with duel access."

Whom shall I invite to duel? Jack Sparrow? Zorro? Captain Farrell? Oh, the possibilities are endless. I'll certainly enjoy my 27 ft. balcony. NOT.

And seriously, what's up with the insistence on an initial capital on "Realtor"? Even the spelling checker in my web browser wants the capital! I don't believe "Doctors", "Lawyers", or "Teachers" enjoy that privilege. Perhaps realtors, as para-professionals, have a self-esteem problem and need to compensate by breaking the conventions of English grammar?

Still marking,
L

April 29

Happy birthday, Bruce!

Here's hoping that your day is super-fantastic and that the year ahead brings you everything you want.

love,
Leslie and Zak