NEW HOUSE FOR SIX IN STIX PIX

Excitement all around as we all begin to realize that the pile of lumber is actually turning into an abode. ...windows look small to me, but I guess it'll hold the heat better. It's all about convincing yourself that however it's turning out is ok, cause the only other option is to make changes that would cost a bundle, and that's out of the question...totally.





...for instance, this is the outdoor shower, which I thought would be set closer to ground level, but here it is at deck level and I, uh, ummm, guess it's ok.







...kinda looks like one of those post-war baby boom suburban development homes...maybe I'll go back to school on The G.I. Bill.






Ah nature, like the poets I wax
You’re my guide and I follow your tracks
Without you I am lost
So I’m paying the cost
Which is arm and a leg plus the tax


OMG! OMG! Slowly, first chapter by chapter, then paragraph by paragraph, until near the end it was line by line—did I finally reach the conclusion of the tale of The Whale. I’ve spoken enough already of it, but thought I’d mention a particular item. In chapter 132, I suddenly come across this:

"Oh, my Captain! my Captain! noble soul! grand old heart, after all! why should any one give chase to that hated fish! Away with me! let us fly these deadly waters! let us home! Wife and child, too, are Starbuck's--wife and child of his brotherly, sisterly, play-fellow youth; even as thine, sir, are the wife and child of thy loving, paternal old age! Away! let us away!”

Wait a minute!? Did he really say “…Oh my captain! my Captain”?
That’s Whitman! The famous poem about Lincoln…written after Lincoln’s assassination…which occurred 14 years after Melville published Moby Dick!
And Whitman named the poem Oh Captain, my Captain!
A poem that also includes these words: “But O heart! heart! heart!”…echos of Melville’s earlier "God! God! God!--crack my heart!” --no, not the same words, but the single word repeated three times with exclamation points after each and the centerpiece of a Heart. And Melville’s line occurs very close to the “Oh Captain” line….

So it’s off to the web I go to find out more…and thar she blows!
Whitman did indeed summon up the muse of Melville and echo his mighty words and rhythms in his famous poem. But none but the scholar and careful reader have noticed, I don’t remember any teachers giving Melville his due here, nor have I found anyone in my cursory Melville criticism readings who give credit where credit is due in this regard. Oh Herman, Oh Herman…!

Freakonomics and Obama Agonistes.

As you enter a movie theater, you realize you've lost your ticket. It’s gone, and the theater management isn’t buying your story and won’t let you in. Would you buy another $10 ticket?
Okay, now, rather than having lost your ticket, let’s say you lost a $10 bill on the way to the theater. Would you still go ahead and buy a $10 ticket?
In a famous economic behavior study under 50% said they would buy another ticket in the first scenario, and 90% said they would in the second.

But in both cases, the loss was $10. So obviously, perception and emotion trumps logic right? Duh. But i thought it was interesting to read how good policy trumped politics and then backfired on the administration when they instituted a middle class tax break that made economic sense, but backfired due to behavioral habits and perception--proving that even when you think you understand freakonomics, things can still get freakier.

if you're curious about the details...check out:

http://www.businessweek.com/printer/magazine/behavioral-economics-foils-an-obama-tax-cut-11102011.html

GREAT MUSIC ARTISTS IN MOVIES CONT.

This is obviously some kind of documentary, but of the kind where they feel they have to create atmosphere with added visual gimmicks and set-ups...but hey, it's Django and Stephane and for those of you who didn't know, Django had the use of only two fingers in his left hand--he lost the others in a fire when he was a child.