raven72d's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Are Clouds, But An Excuse For The Sky? Warm today-- into the mid-80s. I think we've had our last cool days until next October. I'll have yet one more Deepest South summer to get through. Well, I'm told that summers are worse in Tokyo or Seoul, and maybe in Melbourne, too. Or even Dax on the river Adour in southwest France. Well, I'll still go walking in the evenings. My iPhone fitness app tells me that I've made my daily goal for the past several days. I'll be trying to keep that up. Last night I watched Episode 10 of "Shogun"-- the series finale. I'd read the book of course, so I knew how it would end. Still, though, it was very restrained and quiet. There were commenters all over YouTube who were baffled and angry. They'd been waiting for something dramatic and exciting. They wanted to see some vast climactic battle, and they didn't get it. Well...you didn't get that in the novel, either. The novel ends prior to the great battle of Sekigahara, and you only get a brief mention in the epilogue of the battle and of the victory of Toranaga / Tokugawa. So I knew that a battle scene wasn't coming. Which was fine. This was a story about politics rather than war. It ends with Toranaga's plans coming together-- it's in some ways a rather elegant ending. Bittersweet, too, since Blackthorne / Anjin-san realizes that he's going to be in Japan for the rest of his life. I do have to get this on DVD as soon as I can. It is something I'll be going back to watch again. Now as a historian, I would like to know more about the battle of Sekigahara in 1603 and the siege of Osaka in 1615. Let's not think I wouldn't. There is a Japanese film called "Sekigahara" that came out in 2017, and I'll have to find that online somewhere. I'm sure that there must be an Osprey volume on the battle, and the little Osprey books are always good, quick introductions to historical battles. I'll make a quick run by Amazon and see about that. The hilltop deli is going to introduce a new Cuban sandwich this week. That's something I'll have to look into come Saturday. No cheese, mind you, but I'm a great fan of Cuban sandwiches. I don't know anything about the keto diet, but one of the secretaries at work tells me that it's easy and does work. My own dim understanding is that you eat almost no carbs at all and focus on protein and fats. I'm wondering if that means I could live on hamburgers with no buns or on small rib-eyes. Okay, no more fries, but I could live with that. Chinese might be a problem, and I do have a serious and lifelong pork-fried rice (PFR) addiction. I've had pork-fried rice on three continents, and I've damn' well had it for breakfast. But maybe life will be more protein-focused for a while. Do protein drinks figure into the keto diet? Are there keto protein bars? We'll just have to see. I did have drinks the other afternoon with the lovely girl who told me about being intersex. She's fun, leggy, and we agree that Romanesque architecture doesn't get the love it deserves. The Romanesque has always been overshadowed by the Gothic, and more's the pity. Anyway...she's a great partner for Campari-sodas, and she does things that I like-- such as whipping out a Moleskine from her backpack and sketching buildings or room plans to make a point. I probably shouldn't develop a crush on someone, however lovely, just because she does architectural lettering, but... Now I watched John Malkovich in "Ripley's Game" the other day. It's a role Malkovich could do in his sleep. He's very, very different from Anthony Scott's Ripley, mind you. Scott's Ripley was a disturbing, creepy presence. Malkovich is intense and predatory, yet detached-- he aways has that air of a waiting hawk. I may have to go back and read all the novels. I've always had a weakness for stories where art forgery and art theft are plot drivers. I'm listening right now to a music project called Goldmund. Ambient electronica with a medieval subtext? Piano-based electronica? Either way, I do like Goldmund. The little Last FM blurb says that the music has been used on a number of documentaries and films, and there's a bit of Ludovico Einaudi and Roger Eno to it. It's good music for a solitary night. Today in Ms. Avery's Dorset: Would you like some toast before bed? asked Old Fox. Yes, please, said Pine Marten. Old Fox buttered several rounds & brewed a pot of lemon balm tea & they sat out in the garden under the lilac, watching the dark clouds over Pooksdown Hill. Storm's coming, said Old Fox, not long now. There were dark clouds around 17h00 today, but no rain. I like late-afternoon thunderstorms in the summer. Back in the Long Ago, they seemed more frequent. I've no clue if this is related to climate change. What I do know is that I like sitting on my balcony and watching the skies darken to the west while the wind rises. And I do agree with this: The Broker had gone to write at Miss Rabbit's tea rooms. He sat outside, under the roses & pondered what Wolf had said the other day about Emily Dickinson - she wrote on scraps, chocolate wrappers, telegram slips, torn old scrumples. Words are heavier on the slights, see. Anyway...I haven't spent nearly enough time with the I Ching, and I have to work with reading the hexagrams. That'll be a project for the coming weekend. I like the ritual of it all. Meanwhile, time to go to YouTube and look at videos by Lady Dakota Warren and Hannah Lee Duggan, by Eva zu Beck and Victoria Rose. I've become a devoted follower of all three channels. Excellent videos, and I have learned a lot from their videos. I'm hoping that The Falcon Reads will have a new book review posted for the weekend as well. 10:40 p.m. - 2024-04-24 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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