Monthly Archives: December 2008

GARFIELD AS AN EXISTENTIAL STATEMENT.

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Philip

GARFIELD AS AN EXISTENTIAL STATEMENT. Annalisa gave Nick a book for Christmas, GARFIELD MINUS GARFIELD, which is based on this website. The site publishes Garfield comics from which Garfield has been removed. Without the cynicism and avowed laziness provided by … Continue reading →

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PEANUTS AND THE NEW GENERATION.

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Philip

PEANUTS AND THE NEW GENERATION. The PEANUTS comic strip had a huge impact on my generation. I used to claim that while one could argue about different artists or writers, PEANUTS was one body of work that would survive for … Continue reading →

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ANOTHER YEAR WITHOUT BEING CHARGED BY AN ELEPHANT.

Posted on December 30, 2008 by Philip

ANOTHER YEAR WITHOUT BEING CHARGED BY AN ELEPHANT. This is a time for reviewing the past year. Dick and Chris Weisfelder sent us a holiday letter describing how their vehicle was charged by an enraged mother elephant who, fortunately, changed … Continue reading →

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PREDICTING BLACK SWANS AT THE BEGINNING OF 2008.

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Philip

PREDICTING BLACK SWANS AT THE BEGINNING OF 2008. I first posted on Nassim Taleb’s concept of black swans in September 2007 (Shakespeare was the subject of the post). The “Buttonwood” feature in the Economist for December 22, 2007 wrote about … Continue reading →

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A CHAMPION FAILS TO BREAK THE FRUITCAKE RECORD.

Posted on December 28, 2008 by Philip

A CHAMPION FAILS TO BREAK THE FRUITCAKE RECORD. I have posted previously about the champion eater Takeru Kobayashi. The New York Post reports that Kobayashi has failed at an attempt to break the world record for eating fruitcake. The record, … Continue reading →

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LOCATING THE CHAINS.

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Philip

LOCATING THE CHAINS. I have always thought that there is an arbitrariness to bringing out the chains at a football game to determine whether the team with the ball has picked up the ten yards necessary for the first down. … Continue reading →

Posted in Football, Sports | 3 Comments

NO LIVES ARE ORDINARY.

Posted on December 26, 2008 by Philip

NO LIVES ARE ORDINARY. The DVD for 49 UP has an interview by Roger Ebert with Michael Apted, the director of THE UP SERIES, in which Apted quotes the wife of one of the characters in THE UP SERIES. Apted … Continue reading →

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A SUDDEN STROKE OF KINDNESS.

Posted on December 25, 2008 by Philip

A SUDDEN STROKE OF KINDNESS. Two years ago at Christmas, I posted on how moved I am by the characters in Dickens who are generous and kind (and for that reason are sometimes dismissed by the critics as mere plot … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

WHO WANTS TO BE A CELEBRITY?

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Philip

WHO WANTS TO BE A CELEBRITY? By the end of 49 UP, the last episode so far in THE UP SERIES, most of the people on the program had expressed openly that being on the program had been painful. It … Continue reading →

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THE EXTRA CHARACTER IN THE UP SERIES.

Posted on December 24, 2008 by Philip

THE EXTRA CHARACTER IN THE UP SERIES. THE UP SERIES from the beginning, in 1963, was avowedly about the effects of the British class system. (There were only a couple middle-class children and only four girls chosen at the beginning—the … Continue reading →

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