Fight error with courage and kindness. Look around you and see the injustice that chains so many people. Take time for quiet prayer. Know your faith and let that knowledge burst into flame in your heart. (St. Anthony of Padua)
They say that knowledge born of experience is mechanical, but that knowledge born and consummated in the mind is scientific, while knowledge born of science and culminating in manual work is semi-mechanical. But to me it seems that all sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of experience, mother of all certainty, and that are not tested by experience, that is to say, that do not at their origin, middle, or end pass through any of the five senses. . . .(Leonardo Da Vinci)
This scene from the 1995 movie starring Ben Kingsley as Moses.
Cool post from screenwriter Scott W. Smith. Scott shares a piece by Maureen Doud about 50s-starlet-turned-nun Dolores Hart, the subject of award-winning documentary “God Is The Bigger Elvis.” What a great and profound title!
“When I met Elvis, I met a very sweet and very courteous young man who jumped to his feet and said ‘Hello,’ and ‘ How do you do, Miss Dolores?’ I was very touched by his courtesy and honesty, and I thought immediately I would like this fellow.”
Dolores Hart
A spiritual documentary about a 73-year-old nun living in a rural Benedictine monastery/farm in Bethlehem, Connecticut might not seem like the easiest route to take to the Oscars, but it worked for God Is the Bigger Elvis—the story of former a Hollywood actress who once kissed Elvis Presley in a movie.
I am huge Oasis fan and an even bigger fan of Noel Gallagher, creative force. He’s been great on American late night TV this year promoting Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, his first solo album since leaving Oasis amid great tumult in 2009.
While it’s true that Oasis never topped their first two albums critically or commercially in the US, there’s a lot to like in the catalog that came after (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, starting with the 1998 b-side album The Master Plan. Ten years, a handful of great singles and some okay albums later, 2008’s Dig Out Your Soul came forth as the best Oasis album since 10th-grade English. (That said, I remain an unabashed, un-ironic fan of 1997’s Be Here Now.)
Earlier today, my best friend and Oasis-loving partner in all manner of existential creativity for the past 20 years (let’s call him Ramon) sent me a new piece from CNN.com: Noel Gallagher: ‘If Obama loses, I’ll run for president myself’. As Noel himself might say, “bloody brilliant.”
When I was a kid, the honesty and swagger Oasis presented felt like inside information. “We’re great and we know it. That’s all the really matters.” One of the best things about that attitude in the early days was that it was totally untested and undefended. There would have been no point. It’s an existential conviction, an ontological statement that resonated with the entire youngish population of the UK and a good chunk of us here. It came to us in the wake of Nirvana, in direct, deliberate contrast to sentiments like “I Hate Myself and Want To Die.” When I spent a few weeks in England the summer before Oasis released Morning Glory Stateside, Oasis’ grip on British culture was as inescapable as it was brazen, and it was something to behold. That fall, it took root in bits and pieces here, never reaching monoculture status for reasons the piece above gets into.
Still, all these years later, I find myself watching recent Noel interviews on YouTube when I can’t sleep or when I need a special kind of affirmation. I can’t bear to watch the old ones…I’ll get too nostalgic. The thing about Noel in his 40s is that the pomp and confidence is tempered (never dampened) by the facts of his successes. The brazen upstart is now a winsome statesman of the same old plucky mettle. It’s wonderful to see.
Also, this:
The thumbnail looks like Paul McCartney, but it’s Roger Daltry. In any case, it isn’t Noel.
This is from March, 2012. I’m reposting it today because everyone seems to think Mitt Romney is going to save the world from Donald Trump. Or something.
I had the blissful opportunity of enjoying exceptional hot wings, conversation, and bro time in Wayne, PA this week. One of the insights that emerged from this time of fellowship is offered here for your consideration.
Mitt Romney is so unpalatable because there’s absolutely no reason for him to be running for president. It’s great that he’s not an ideologue, but it would be nice if he had some ideology. It’s not the incessant flip-flopping so much as what that says about his real motives for running. He has no great beliefs and hence no great motives. He’s running because he wants to be President, pure and simple. He’s running because he wants the Office of Ultimate Upward Mobility. He’s running for power or prestige or from some deep-seated need to leave no opportunity untapped.
We’ve been saying things like this for a long time, but it wasn’t until this week that we’ve been able to put it in the most precise terms possible:
Say want you want about the tenets of Obama’s socialism, dude, but at least it’s an ethos.
Does anyone really believe anything this man says?
Yesterday, I wished you all a Happy St. David’s Day. For more context, check out my St. David’s Day greeting from last year, here.
Oh, and also: Free Wales!
On Monday, we’ll observe Casimir Pulaski day with a short piece I read at an International Arts Movement event last year, an original photo of a Moravian grave here in the Lehigh Valley, and music by Sufjan Stevens.
NPR has a pretty cool piece up about Neutral Milk Hotel genius Jeff Mangum. He’s playing at Coachella this year along with acts like James, Mazzy Star, and Noel Gallagher (and little indie bands like Radiohead and some hip-hop up-and-comers called Dre and Snoop).
I am, however, going to a Beach Boys 50th Reunion Tour show in May and am beyond stoked. Brian Wilson will be there. That’s all that matters.
Chris Cocca 