Art, music, literature and thespianism
Reader Jeff W. sends me this article, which suggests that the BVM was, in fact, a ginger:
I had no idea that she was Scottish. Was “Mhairi” her real name, I wonder?
Anyway, never mind all that. The blog wherein such is to be found looks very interesting, so excuse me for a day or two while I examine it closely.
In an otherwise-unmemorable piece on woke-scolds ending Comedy As We Know It, NRO mouthpiece Jay Nordlinger says this:
I received a note from my old friend Larry Shackley, a longtime NR reader and a great admirer of P. G. Wodehouse. In fact, Larry is reading through the complete Wodehouse — complete — right now.
…as though this were somehow unusual. Maybe it is, for Murkins who — for shame — don’t know who Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was.
To call P.G. Wodehouse one of the most-read humorist writers of the 20th century is to understate the thing — he is quite possibly the greatest humorist writer, ever. Here’s a personal indicator.
When I left South Africa in 1986, I brought with me three suitcases of clothes, my cameras and a few other things I couldn’t bear to part with. I brought only two books with me (from a library of well over a thousand), and those were The World of Psmith (a compendium of three books) and The Jeeves Omnibus (another compendium). Both were written by P.G. Wodehouse. I reasoned — correctly as it turned out, in those pre-Amazon times — that I wouldn’t be able to find them here.
And there was just no way I was going to live in a house without Wodehouse.
Now, a lot of people don’t “get” Wodehouse because most of his situations are concerned with utterly trivial concerns — trivial maybe to us, nowadays, and certainly only non-trivial to the English upper classes circa 1928. (One story involves the “theft” of a wonderful cook by one titled twerp from another titled household.) But that doesn’t stop the brilliant writing from making one burst out with uncontrollable laughter occasionally.
And it should be said that Wodehouse himself was very much a fervent socialist — his take on the peccadilloes of the English upper classes is almost invariably satirical — yet his satire is not the bitter waspishness of Private Eye magazine, but gentle and almost indulgent. Look at these idiots, he seems to say, see how foolish and inconsequential they are. One of my favorite lines from the Bertie Wooster stories comes when Bertie is beset with looming trouble and catastrophe, and says to his long-suffering “gentleman’s gentleman” Jeeves as he is being dressed for dinner:
“At a time like this, Jeeves, I wonder whether the length of one’s trousers actually matters,” and receives the gentle rebuke:
“There is never a time, sir, when the length of one’s trousers doesn’t matter.”
Wodehouse left England for a career as a Hollywood scriptwriter, only to become embroiled in the Cold War-McCarthyism of the Fifties. How ironic, then, that he, the one-time socialist, should write of that time:
“Humorists have been scared out of the business by the touchiness now prevailing in every section of the community. Wherever you look, on every shoulder there is a chip, in every eye a cold glitter warning you, if you know what is good for you, not to start anything.”
What was practiced on the socialists of that era is being repeated with even more venom and coldness by the P.C. (and mostly socialist) tribe of today.
Anyway, enough of that. I think I’ll marmalade a slice of toast, and go and read A Pelican At Blandings, featuring the wonderfully-named Galahad Threepwood of whom it was said (and I paraphrase) that he was so ardent a party animal that he hadn’t slept till age fifty. And if anyone should think that I resemble Galahad’s elder brother Clarence, the Earl of Emsworth, who looks with utter bewilderment on the modern world and prefers to retreat to his library and read — well, you’d be absolutely correct.
According to some organization, Vienna is the most “liveable” city in the world. I can see why, and I could live there in a heartbeat. I’ve often commented on my love for Vienna — to this day, it’s the only city that is so beautiful that the first time I went there, I walked the streets with tears running down my cheeks.
I don’t know what criteria the EIU set to decide livability, but here are mine:
1) It must be beautiful. Vienna has that, in spades.
2) There must be lots of culture: art, music and all the rest. Feel free to tell me Vienna doesn’t have that covered. Here’s the Kunsthistoriches (Art History) museum, see also beauty (above)
…and as for music? Even their street musicians are a cut above the rest (he was playing Mozart tunes, FFS):
3) The people must be well-mannered, well-dressed and classy. Vienna: check, check and check. The Viennese are terribly formal, which suits me down to the ground.
4) A relaxed lifestyle. Vienna = café culture, maybe even more so than Paris. And oooh the coffee…
5) Good food, and restaurants. Here’s Vienna’s equivalent of Whole Foods, or maybe M&S Food Court. Let me tell you: I know grocery stores, and Julius Meinl is the best in the world.
Let’s not forget the street markets:
So yeah: if somebody stuck a gun to my head and said, “You have to go and live in Vienna!”, I’d snatch the gun away and shoot him before he could change his mind.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t list a couple of negatives about Vienna. (A German I met once said, “Vienna would be beautiful, except for the Viennese”, and my only qualification of his opinion is that of the language.)
I speak German reasonably well, and can get around most of Germany without too much hassle (once I’ve been there a few days and have caught up — you don’t use it, you lose it, and I’ve pretty much lost it). That’s not true in Vienna, where the local patois is incomprehensible, even to a lot of Germans. (In the early days in Munich, Hitler had to take a few elocution lessons because people couldn’t understand his Austrian-accented speeches.)
Also: in winter, it’s witch’s tit cold. Holy balls. Even coming from Chicago as I did, Viennese winters are cold, Bubba. The only good thing about winter there is that it keeps most of the tourists away — which brings me to my last quibble: in summer, Vienna has more tourists per square yard than the average day at DisneyWorld.
But in summer, the weather is glorious and the whole city seems to sing. The multitude of statues to Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Strauss (all of whom lived in Vienna) must have something to do with it…
Mein schönes Wien… I need to get back there, and soon.
As for the rest of the “ten most liveable” cities on that list? Ugh. As far as I’m concerned, it’s Snow White and the Nine Dwarfs.
And one wonders how anyone could put Vienna and Toronto (???!!!) on the same such list, with a straight face.
I have spoken before about my distaste for men hugging each other (other than family). Even Doc Russia, who despite his fearsome appearance is a hugger, only gets a brief one-armer from me, and even that only because he is one of my closest friends. Maybe I’m a closet Brit:
In today’s touchy-feely society, it may seem like everyone is hugging and planting kisses on each other.
But people are still only comfortable with a formal introductory handshake with a study finding British reserve is alive and well when meeting people for the first time.
A demonstrative hug or continental double kiss is unlikely to go down well, as we are really only comfortable with strangers touching just our hands.
Researchers asked people to mark, on a computer, the parts of their body, front and back, that those in their lives were allowed to touch.
British people had no problem with close relatives and friends touching their face or upper torso when giving them a hug, but did not want strangers to do the same.
No kidding. This is where, despite my French surname, I part ways with my heritage. Men doing the kissy-cheeks thing? Fuck that.
It amazes me that in a time when we seem to be drifting apart from each other, that this unwarranted intimacy is becoming more popular — or maybe the first is the cause of the second, I dunno.
I only hug women, and only women whom I’ve known for a long time or who are intimates (e.g. are themselves close friends, or are married to same), and there is considerable overlap between the two groups.
But men? Nu-uh… it just feels wrong. Some amateur/professional psychologists — once again, overlap — are doubtless going to ascribe this trait to either latent homosexuality or [gasp!] homophobia, but at the best of times I don’t care what other people think of me (and psycho-weenies least of all). Hugging men feels strange, and I don’t like strange.
A good, firm handshake is all we men need. Leave the huggy-kissy bullshit to the Frogs and fags [yes, again some overlap]. Hell, I’d even feel uncomfortable giving a hug to Carol Vorderman, and y’all know what I think of her.
Of course I’d hug her; but only if she asked me to. I have standards.
Over time, we’ve come to realize that A Pathway In Monet’s Garden is too big for the dining room. (It was originally intended for the living room, but plans changed and a better thing was found.)
So yesterday morning we decided to mothball the Monet, and put something else up in its place. So off we went to iCanvas, my favorite place to buy art online. Rather than getting just another Monet (there are four in the house currently), we decided to look instead at Impressionist paintings set in portrait format rather than landscape, with no regard to the artist. Hours passed by, paintings considered and then discarded (wrong color, wrong mood, wrong style, etc.) until we stumbled onto this:
5th Avenue New York, 1891, by Childe Hassam
Wait a moment. Who is this “Childe Hassam?” I’d never heard of him/her (him, actually), so I went to his page at iCanvas and looked at his works, which numbered over a hundred. I like almost all of them — which meant I had to look to see whose work I was enjoying so much… hello, Wikipedia.
Wait… an American Impressionist? And I had never heard of him before? And (wait for it) his paintings were all done during the late 19th- and early 20th century, which as any fule kno is my favorite period of history; and in all, he produced over three thousand works… BINGO!
What I like about Hassam is not just his technique, which is excellent, but also his choices of subject matter. Unlike many Impressionist painters (hello Monet and Cezanne), Hassam painted a dizzying variety of subjects: landscapes, cityscapes, models, you name it; he used both watercolors and oils (!) and over all that, he also covered a multitude of colors and moods. Here’s A Room Of Flowers :
…Gloucester Harbor :
…Cloud Front, Maine :
…and in one of many abrupt changes of both topic, color and mood, Taxi Rank on Rue Bonaparte (which I love but The New Wife doesn’t, alas): 
…and continues the theme with Rainy Day, Boston :
Yes indeed: our American painter didn’t restrict himself to the U.S.A. at all (although he painted the New England and Pacific Northwest seascapes, to name but two). Rather, his work also covers France, Italy, and all points in between. Wherever he found himself, he painted it. To our great advantage.
Because if you like Impressionism but can only see so many paintings of haystacks (ahem), I bet you’ll find a Hassam painting that will be right up your street. Maybe like this one, The Water Garden : 
…or even Church At Old Lyme, Massachusetts (of which, unusually, he painted several seasonal variations): 
…never mind his patriotic “Flag” series, like for example Fourth of July, 1916 : 
…or the sublime Watching The Boys March By, 1918 :
…which is also sometimes called The Flag Outside Her Window.
I like this artist. I like him a lot.
Self Portrait, 1914
Oh, and for people (like me) who loathe Modernism, allow me to quote his attitude thereon:
He denounced modern trends in art to the end of his life, and he termed “art boobys” all the painters, critics, collectors, and dealers who got on the bandwagon and promoted Cubism, Surrealism and other avant-garde movements.
“Art Booby”… I am so going to steal that for myself.
Only in the Diversity Hell that is modern academia can such a thing occur:
“Refusing Institutional Whiteness: Possibilities, Alternatives, and Beyond”
…with the kicker:
“Whiteness continues to be a crucial problem in our English department.”
Also English, but that’s no doubt the topic of next month’s seminar.
To put this into perspective, let’s just imagine a statement: “Blackness continues to be a crucial problem in our Blues Studies department.”
Or we don’t imagine anything, but instead just make the necessary preparations.
