How about those opening ceremonies?
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Let's hit some thoughts on current Olympic culture:
Golden calf
Really?
Of course they did
And how about that pale horse?
Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.
Galatians 6:7-8
It's a spiritual war, even if you're not religious.
Meanwhile, in The Bronx:
Back in Paris, courtesy of a friend:
And his connection to Olympic sports is????
to put it bluntly, he's a dope ambassador. So the Olympics is now about lbgt etc. and potheads. The left ruins. . . everything.
Who is watching the sporting events?
WEEKEND
Nice short video on good intentions vs. incentives with that C.S. Lewis quote on moral busybodies at the end.
When you have a little time, read this great post and the links from Sgt. Mom:
Revenge, as the old saying has it, is a dish best served cold. And revenge may not be the only – or the most dangerous – platter best dished up chilled. That would be the dish of anger – that ice-cold, sullen reservoir of fury in the hearts of every right-of-center, non-elite, law-abiding flyover-country middle American with Tea Partyish inclinations … a dish of anger ready to serve up in the wake of a just-barely unsuccessful political assassination attempt this last weekend.
You see, there is a considerable difference between hot fury and cold. . .
The linked story about Old San Francisco is especially interesting.
Quotes
A republic was a type of govt where majority rule was checked by sacred tenets derived from God or civilization embodied in a constitution. "Our democracy" is a type of government without sacred tenets where you make the right choice once and never again.
The operational difference is that a republic is always limited in principle, by something external, even if that external power is vague. "Our democracy" by contrast is limited only by what the vanguard can get away with.
Music
It's part of the Moonlight Sonata, 3rd Movement. Piano Sonata No.14 "Moonlight" in C sharp minor, Op.27-2 III Movement : Presto Agitato.
Nice performance of the 3rd movement at the link above, especially toward the end, which doesn't seem as "agitato" to me as the very beginning of the movement.
Such was the furor of the Moonlight’s finale that several of the piano strings snapped and became entangled in the hammers during the work’s premiere. Indeed, in the declining years of his hearing, Beethoven was known to play with a heavy hand, likely so that he could better hear the music.
And here's the entire Sonata. Of course, the first movement is the one that most people learn if they start to play Beethoven, and the one that evokes moonlight:
admired particularly for its mysterious, gently arpeggiated, and seemingly improvised first movement. The piece was completed in 1801, published the following year, and premiered by the composer himself, whose hearing was still adequate but already deteriorating at the time. The nickname Moonlight Sonata traces to the 1830s, when German Romantic poet Ludwig Rellstab published a review in which he likened the first movement of the piece to a boat floating in the moonlight on Switzerland�s Lake Lucerne. Beethoven dedicated the work to Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a 16-year-old aristocrat who was his student for a short time.
The Moonlight Sonata was structurally and stylistically remarkable in its day. . .
Without the fancy graphics, or much facial expression
Here's a photo of a hotel on Lake Lucerne. Those little windows in the roof are typical of Switzerland. Often opened during the day, at least in the summertime. This photo was taken during the cold season, hence the lack of window boxes.
Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.
This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.
Last week's thread, July 20, Poor Joy Reid had to diversify her conspiracy theories because of the assassination attempt
Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.