Good Morning

Colourful Songs

The theme is colour -

Donovan - Mellow Yellow

Joni Mitchell - Blue

Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale

Kate Bush - The Red Shoes

Nina Simone - Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Jaffa Remix)

Enjoy.

Sunday Groovin' #2

Funky grooves fora Sunday -

Billie Holiday -- Don't Explain (dZihan & Kamien Remix)

The Young Rascals - Groovin' (Poolside Remix)

Detroit Spinners - Ghetto Child

MFSB - Mysteries Of The World

Dan Lacksman - Skylab

Enjoy.

Colours

A Radiolab radio prog on BBC Radio 4 -

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/episodes/211119-colors

Our world is saturated in colour, from soft hues to violent stains. How does something so intangible pack such a visceral punch? This hour, in the name of science and poetry, Jad and Robert tear the rainbow to pieces.

To what extent is colour a physical thing in the physical world, and to what extent is it created in our minds? We start with Sir Isaac Newton, who was so eager to solve this very mystery, he stuck a knife in his eye to pinpoint the answer. Then, we meet a sea creature that sees a rainbow way beyond anything humans can experience, and we track down a woman who we're pretty sure can see thousands (maybe even millions) more colours than the rest of us. And we end with an age-old question, that, it turns out, never even occurred to most humans until very recently: why is the sky blue?

Sunday Sermon

A strange day weatherwise. Started sunny but then midday it had cooled down, winded up, only be a lot warmer mid-afternoon. I did some sunbathing in the latter period.

And thus I have a nice tan already.

I have watched some box sets online - completed both Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. Watched a few episodes of Jonathan Creek as well.

Trying to stay positive through this unprecedented period as well. Listening to lots of music and reading but whilst the sun is out I am out in the garden.

Hope you are all safe and well.

Just Wondering

What are the five oldest songs on your iPod, computer, or phone (whatever device you store your music on)?

And the five newest songs?

What’s your favourite song to sing along to?

Book 29 - Jorge Luis Borges "Fictions"

Jorge Luis Borges "Fictions" (Penguin Modern Classics)




Borges is a writer who I find hard to describe. His stories are highly intellectual, full of allusions to history and literature and religion and philosophy, and the subjects often deal with the esoteric and philosophic matter. They defy being categorized in a particular genre. This book is a compilation of two collections of short stories. These tales are fantastical in nature, but not in a way that I usually associate as fantasy. The realm of the unnatural tends to occur in people's minds, or sometimes in complex societal structures that are unspoken and secret and seem to transcend time and place, and are subtle on the surface but extremely complex beneath.

For instance, one story tells of a man that is facing the death sentence during World War II. After experiencing various emotions about his impending death, he realizes that the one thing he wishes more than any other is to be able to complete the drama he was composing. He prays to God for enough time to finish the task, and God grants his wish, if not in the way anticipated. At the moment that the bullets are fired, all motion around him ceases. He is able to live in his mind for years and years until he has completed his masterpiece. At that moment, time resumes, and bullets cut him down. Or there is the story of a man that escapes to a forgotten temple ruin in the middle of the jungle, lays down, and dreams. His ambition is to dream another man into existence. He is successful but becomes consumed with fear that his child will realize he is not like other men, that he is, in fact, just another man's dream. This anxiety is forgotten, however, when he finds that fire can not touch him and learns that he himself is another man's dreamed creation.

Other stories transcend the individual level. Borges writes of the library of Babel, for instance, that is a never-ending structure of connecting hexagons, ascending and descending into infinity. More astounding, though, are the books, which contain every possible piece of the written text in all of time and history. Librarians work various sections of this institution and have developed theories about life-based on the library. Cults have been formed, pilgrimages were undertaken, extremists and heretics have arisen, and even such crimes as murder have been committed, all in the pursuit of understanding the library. Contrast this to the tongue-in-cheek story about the cult of the Phoenix, a society of believers that can be found in all countries, all ethnicities, all periods of time, built solely around a simple secret tradition that some are too superstitious to even practice. Borges slyly neglects to describe what this secret is.

His short fiction is intelligent, inventive, and entirely his own. The closest comparison I can make to other writers is to those that write magical realism, because of the way Borges writes grandiose philosophical impossibilities and fantasies with such normality as if he finds them not surprising at all, and neither should we. This is the type of literature that truly benefits from a close analytical study, which I did not do, but read straight through them instead. I still appreciated their artistry and was engaged with the plots as well as the themes that I did glean, but I'm sure that I missed a great deal.

The power of language and writing is a theme Borges explores consistently. Also repeatedly evoked were the ideas of who we are in connection to our mental capacities, our philosophy and religion, and how what we create can take life beyond us. Borges likes to play with the vagaries of the mind. I am certain that there are many more metaphors and messages that others have discovered in these writings.

For this particular book, I would have liked a volume that had footnotes. Borges has so many references in his stories that I know I missed some of the meaning of the various works by not catching them all. I read one of the stories from this book - "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" - in an anthology of short fiction, which was heavily annotated, and was able to understand a lot more of his obscure allusions, some of which did indeed pertain to the meaning of the story. I imagine I will have to make an exception and reread this collection at some point with more time and resources devoted to it, to do the writing justice. As it is, I consider this high-quality writing, very complex, and a worthy author to read for those wishing to expand their literary frontiers.

Good Night