Assorted threads

Colbourne (colby@online.net.pg)
Thu, 13 May 1999 20:36:15 +1000

Gdee,

RE: Identical houses

Patti wrote:
>> Zooey, in his younger days on It's a wise Child amuses the audience
by telling them he wished he lived in a neighborhood where all the homes
were identical and he could go into any one and have dinner every night
with a different family.  I believe it is related in Raise High The
Roofbeam Carpenters and it is in a letter from Boo Boo to Seymour that
Buddy is reading to himself.  Help me out some of you experts who those
of you who may have your books with you. <<

I've got my book handy but I can't help you with the expert part :)
The passage is actually from Seymour's diary, in Raise High The Roofbeam
Carpenters (pg 43 of the Penguin edition; the one with a yellow and
black spine, and the front cover divided into an upper yellow section
and a lower grey section, the grey can also be found on the back - it
has soft, blurred, almost illegible, text from The Catcher printed on
it). Buddy reads the diary sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

Boo Boo writes two pieces in the novel, the first one is to Buddy and it
mentions, among other things, Franny having 'dust on her fingers from
touching the lightbulbs'. The second piece is the brief 'Raise High the
Roofbeam, Carpenters' message that Franny left on the bathroom mirror,
for Seymour, scrawled in soap, which immediately precedes the scene of
Seymour's diary.


------------------------------------

RE: Teddy

I agree that the 'all-piercing, sustained scream - clearly coming from a
small, female child' did of course belong to Teddy's sister. Regardless,
I thought the following passage from "The Way of Zen" (Alan W. Watts.
Penguin Arkana, 1990. Pg 155), provides some interesting thoughts for
food,

>>  The story is told of a Zen monk who wept upon hearing of the death
of a close relative. When one of his fellow students objected that it
was most unseemly for a monk to show such personal attachment he
replied, 'Don't be stupid! I'm weeping because I want to weep.' The
great Hakuin was deeply disturbed in his early study of Zen when he came
across the story of the master Yent'ou, who was said to have screamed at
the top of his voice when murdered by a robber. Yet this doubt was
dissolved at the moment of his satori, and in Zen circles his own death
is felt to have been especially admirable for its display of human
emotion. On the other hand, the abbot Kwaisen and his monks allowed
themselves to be burned alive by the soldiers of Oda Nobunaga, sitting
calmly in the posture of meditation. Such contradictory 'naturalness'
seems most mysterious, but perhaps the clue lies in the saying of
Yun-men: 'In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't
wobble.' For the essential quality of naturalness is the sincerity of
the undivided mind which does not dither between alternatives. So when
Yen-t'ou screamed, it was such a scream that it was heard miles around.
<<


------------------------------------

RE: Salinger's Letters To Be Auctioned

>> Ms. Maynard said the decision to sell the letters, which will be
offered as a lot, was financial. They are expected to fetch up to
$80,000, Sotheby's officials said. <<

She gives me a Royal Pain in the Ass, if you want to know the truth. And
I haven't even read her goddam book.

And I wouldn't be suprised if she pulled in well over $80,000.


------------------------------------

RE: The Simpsons

Jason wrote:
>> I think you really expected too much out of Goering and clan.  The
man
knows one thing, American People.  He doesn't know Aussies and he's wise

not to try to lampoon a culture he has no intimate knowledge of.
   In short the Simpsons is so successful simply because it causes
Americans to laugh at themselves.  I'm really not sure why any other
culture would enjoy the show. <<

Goering? Horrible, drug-addicted Nazi chap who poisoned himself hours
before his scheduled hanging? :) I think the one you're looking for is
Groening. And I disagree that The Simpsons only appeals to Americans.
Sure, the show started out with a solid foundation of Uncle Sam satire
(the baseball, 7-11, beer and couch-potato gags) but it quickly evolved
into a huge, stunningly intelligent mockery/exploration of the human
species in general, while still retaining some distinctly American
elements. That's all I have to say about that.

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us
from the animals. Except the weasel."
Homer S.


------------------------------------

RE: The Project

Patti wrote:
>> For those of us whose talent lies in reading rather than writing I am
hoping that this compiliation will be for sale? <<

And for those of us whose talent lies in neither reading nor writing, I
am hoping that the compilation will a include a blank sheet of paper at
the back, by way of explanation.     :)


------------------------------------

RE: Paul's show

Friday night came and I was madly racing around downloading and
reloading and exploding RealPlayer in a grey shower of dialogue boxes
that told me to update to a newer version, forwarded me to the location
of this latest version and then informed me that I already had it. And I
was looped so for just enough time to miss the broadcast, I think, but
I'm unsure because I never fully decided which channel it was meant to
be on nor the exact time either. Anyway, I can't wait to hear it, have
been unable to find it archived on their site yet and would be grateful
if someone could mail it to me or point me in the right direction, when
it appears.

------------------------------------


Although I love the Glass family and all those touching them, for me at
the moment, and this may change as time passes, the Caulfields
(including Vincent) just feel a lot closer.



Brad Colbourne.
colby@online.net.pg

"The Smeg it is."