Snippet: Damon Runyon

I figure they are playing tag in the water, or some such, and while this may be all right for guys who are full of liquor, and a light-headed doll, I do not consider it a proper amusement at such an hour for guys in their right senses, like Dave the Dude and me.

Film: Proteus 2004

A friend showed me the stunning "radiolaria" organisms and their great recorder, Ernst Haeckel.
(I bet there is more good watching in this "Proteus" series)

Review: The Proper Way to Beat a Dead Horse :: Minnesota Fringe 2011 :: August 4 - August 14 :: Minneapolis + St. Paul

The Proper Way to Beat a Dead Horse :: Minnesota Fringe 2011 :: August 4 - August 14 :: Minneapolis + St. Paul

Five young folks carry off an impressive improv exercise with a number of touching and funny moments. Collin Knopp-Schwyn touches on the directionlessness that so many of us feel these days, even long past college, in an early exchange that I thought was insightful. Maren Knep carries huge stage presence, and in her early exchanges with Jonas Newhouse, they come up with some material on what art does that really impressed me. Jonas shines as the most naturalistic and convincing actor in the crew.

The whole show sort of peters out in the last 20 minutes, or at least it did on Aug 6, when I saw it. There's some kind of energy to the beats, the returns, that is necessary and which just decreased towards the end. Maren Knep's "I'm dying!" didn't seem stir up the rest of the cast towards any interesting lines.

Still, this is what Fringe is all about. Young and inexperienced players step up and create an engaging and often funny exercise in hypermodernist drama. Would we could all do the same!

Snippet: Tse Tsan Tai

1. cf. paradise lust
   The study of Tse Tsan Tai (1872-1938) = 謝纘泰硏究

   hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/40413 - Cached

   by P Cheung - 1997
   Item Metadata (Short). Title, The study of Tse Tsan Tai (1872-1938) = 謝纘泰硏究. Authors, Cheung, Pui-ching, Isis · 張佩貞. Issue Date, 1997 ...
2. ►
3. Grafton to Guangzhou: The Revolutionary Journey of Tse Tsan Tai

   www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cjis/2006/00000027/.../art0000...

   by R Noonan - Related articles
   Jan 1, 2006 – This essay explores the political evolution, activities and legacy of Tse Tsan Tai. Following a childhood in Grafton, Australia, ...
4. A prehistoric city / Tse Tsan Tai | National Library of Australia

   catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2259736 - Cached

   Available in the National Library of Australia collection. Author: Tai, Tse Tsan; Format: Book; 1 p.

Chinese: The Contents of 醒世恒言

The courtesan Meiniang, "Queen of the Flowers," as played in the Peking Opera version by the female impersonator Zhu Mingyue (From the Baidu page for the tale of the oil peddlar)

I'm just looking very quickly at the Baidu.com entry for the collection of tales 醒世恒言, which describes the work as richer in vocabulary and range of description than the earlier stories of the Song and Yuan dynasties, but lesser than its predecessors in character development and "the sharpness of the struggle between contradictions" (矛盾斗争的尖锐性; no doubt a term from Marxist criticism).

There are forty stories in the collection; the "Tale of the Oil Peddlar and the Queen of the Flowers"卖油郎独占花魁 is the third in the collection. I also found the text and ported it to .mobi from the (blasted ad-ridden) millionbook.net.

UPDATE: If you want to read the Chinese tale on your Kindle, you can download a Kindle-ready .mobi file at this link (hosted by my free Google docs account). (Leave a note if you found that useful!)

Biography: The Work of Michael Holroyd

Last week the New York Times reviewed A Book of Secrets, about Vita Sackville West's love affair with Violet Trefusis, and waxed fulsome on Michael Holroyd's skills as a biographer:

From the first page “A Book of Secrets” casts the spell of a time long gone, of loves endured and lost, expectations dashed on the rocks of reality, of inner desires forever stilled, casting their shadows into history. It is written with the kind of elegance, ease and simplicity possible only from a master craftsman who has flown far beyond any learning curve and is relishing his free fall. He carries us as if on a magic carpet from one character to the next, and one time period to the next, with consummate grace. Holroyd is a kind of Fred Astaire on the page, his many steps becoming one grand, profound design.

There's an excerpt to read here. I also saw a brief clip from British TV in which Holroyd tells us how he got the idea for the story. Also see the August 5 NYT Book Review Podcast for more comments from Toni Bentley.

Food: Foundational Salad

The "design-it-yourself salsa disguised as a salad" from Fast, Fresh and Green by Susie Middleton:
Dressing:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp orange juice
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp honey
• salt

Whisk!
For salad, cut into small dice:

• 10 oz tomatoes
• 8 oz cucumber or summer squash
• 10 oz peaches, nectarines, plums, mango, cantaloupe or honeydew
• 10 oz avocado
• 1 oz radish

Toss with 1/2 tsp salt and 3 Tbsp chopped green herbs. Dress to taste. Last night I served this with fish and grilled vegetables, and vowed always to make it or a variation when I grill. Awesome!