The Rat | |
Thursday, January 29, 2004
( 10:22 PM ) The Rat ITS PREMIERE RUN in New Haven is nearly over, but for the record, this production is really good. You can also read the short story on which it was based, here. # Posted by The Rat @ 10:22 PM Sunday, January 25, 2004 ( 11:23 PM ) The Rat "DEATH GETS A CALL FROM HIS MOTHER," and other scenes. Via Eve. # Posted by The Rat @ 11:23 PM ( 9:29 PM ) The Rat GIANT TRUFFLE OMELETTE. # Posted by The Rat @ 9:29 PM ( 4:53 AM ) The Rat BATHOS. # Posted by The Rat @ 4:53 AM ( 2:31 AM ) The Rat PANTS IN THE NEWS. # Posted by The Rat @ 2:31 AM ( 2:15 AM ) The Rat YOU KNOW HOW Humphrey Bogart said, "The whole world is about three drinks behind"? The Rat is like that, but with papers instead of drinks. # Posted by The Rat @ 2:15 AM ( 1:24 AM ) The Rat THE NEW HAVEN ADVOCATE has a cover story this week on "I'm Not Sorry"—a new campaign, complete with "I had an abortion" T-shirts, encouraging women to "come out" about the abortions they've had. Here's a typical gem: About a year later, Sally felt the need to talk to someone about her experience. Sally and her mother shared an interest in art and would often meet at a museum to take in an exhibit. One day at the Guggenheim, Sally told her the truth. "I said to her, 'Mother, I've had an abortion.' And she said, 'Well dear, I've had two. Let's go look at the paintings.'" Jennifer Baumgardner, who has renamed the Roe anniversary "I'm Not Sorry Day," is working on a documentary of women telling their abortion stories. The Advocate notes that "Baumgardner's writing partner, activist Amy Richards who co-founded Third Wave, the only national organization for young feminists, is pictured on the cover wearing the campaign's T-shirt." One of the creepy things about this article is that after a point it sounds like having an abortion is a prerequisite to being a self-respecting woman. Another creepy thing is those T-shirts; the Rat can't wait till they start rolling out corresponding "My girlfriend/wife/one-night stand had an abortion!" T-shirts (and hey, how about baseball caps?) so men can celebrate everything they've gained from Roe too. # Posted by The Rat @ 1:24 AM Friday, January 23, 2004 ( 11:09 PM ) The Rat LOTS OF PEOPLE who are fun to read about would be dull or annoying in person, but here's a random sampling of characters from literature (not counting Shakespeare) whom the Rat would like to meet. Men —Tied for first: The White Knight in Through the Looking-Glass and Thomas Mann's Felix Krull —Cellini in the Autobiography —Pechorin in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time (or Ian Fleming's James Bond, whom he inspired) —Goncharov's Oblomov —Ulysses in Dante's Inferno —Svidrigailov in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment —Shrike, from Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts —Mr. Toad in Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows —the Professor in Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent Women —Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders —Proust's Albertine —Clytemnestra from Aeschylus's Agamemnon —Natasya Filipovna in Dostoevsky's The Idiot —Agatha Christie's Mrs. Dane Calthrop and/or Ariadne Oliver To have as a pet —Dab-Dab from Hugo Lofting's Doctor Dolittle stories —Lily in Tanizaki's A Cat, a Man, and Two Women Authors —Thomas Mann —Junichiro Tanizaki Favorite criminal modus operandi —"Story of the Physician Douban" in The Arabian Nights —Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse The fictional characters I most loathe —Sue Whitehead, Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure (No contest. GRR!) —Isabel Archer, Henry James's Portrait of a Lady —Olga Sergeyevna, Goncharov's Oblomov (actually she's not that bad, but I've had to think about her lately) # Posted by The Rat @ 11:09 PM ( 11:08 PM ) The Rat SPEAKING OF WHICH, the Rat forgot to post this a few months back—a very good Arabian Nights site. # Posted by The Rat @ 11:08 PM ( 11:07 PM ) The Rat THE POWERPOINT ANTHOLOGY OF LITERATURE, via Eve. # Posted by The Rat @ 11:07 PM ( 11:06 PM ) The Rat 'I can see nothing,' said I, handing it back to my friend. 'On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.' 'Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?' He picked it up, and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion which was characteristic of him. 'It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have been,' he remarked, 'and yet there are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him.' —"The Blue Carbuncle" # Posted by The Rat @ 11:06 PM Monday, January 19, 2004 ( 11:19 AM ) The Rat He spoke in a hurried aside to Mr. Tomlinson. "The man in spectacles is Mr. Vyse—the producer, you know." The retired Indian judge was looking at Mr. Vyse with a good deal of dislike. "What does he produce?" he asked. "Children?" —The Mysterious Mr. Quin # Posted by The Rat @ 11:19 AM Friday, January 09, 2004 ( 4:31 PM ) The Rat IS THE RAT the only person wondering if the pranksters in this story also encased the aluminum foil in aluminum foil? # Posted by The Rat @ 4:31 PM ( 10:58 AM ) The Rat HEH. # Posted by The Rat @ 10:58 AM Thursday, January 08, 2004 ( 12:57 PM ) The Rat THE RAT wishes this could be said about her. From Janko Lavrin's Goncharov: The tense relations and rows between Tolstoy and Turgenev are well known. So are the misunderstandings between Turgenev and Dostoevsky. We are less acquainted, though, with the quarrels between Goncharov and Turgenev... # Posted by The Rat @ 12:57 PM Tuesday, January 06, 2004 ( 9:31 PM ) The Rat HEH. # Posted by The Rat @ 9:31 PM Sunday, January 04, 2004 ( 8:21 AM ) The Rat HOW SATISFIED ARE WE WITH LIFE? A poll of USA Today readers, no doubt. # Posted by The Rat @ 8:21 AM |