Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

Ni pintado.

La Ribera. Ni pintado. La luz cae y se levanta una ligera brisa. Solo se escucha el sonido de la corriente y el alboroto de las ranas. This goes out to those tadpoles in your pond, Alba. “Luz, brisa, sonido, … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary | 1 Comment

Vuelta a ellas.

Arbusto en flor. Vuelta a ellas. Las flores o árboles siempre son una buena opción cuando no tienes oportunidad de fotografíar otras cosas. Besides being a lovely photo by Carmac, this caption merits your attention for the Spanish conversations we’re … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary | Leave a comment

What It Means

The so-called ‘ethical dative’ or ‘dative of interest’, where the use of an indirect object pronoun expresses the involvement of the subject in the action of the verb, intensifies such feelings as sadness, happiness and mockery. Ten cuidado, y no … Continue reading

Posted in Anthology, Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Rock Pile

Dwight Garner’s review of a new biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings* evokes a foible-wracked genius: It’s a pleasure to meet this cursing, hard-drinking, brilliant, self-destructive, car-wrecking, fun-loving, chain-smoking, alligator-hunting, moonshine-making, food-obsessed woman again on the page. The passage that hits … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘A Beautiful, Pathetic Object’

It’s a pleasure to meet William T. Wiley, who moved and shook in a West Coast “funk art” scene while steering clear of wealth and fame. It’s no surprise that agreement on what exactly defined the funk art movement was … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Messing With Space

Like a pig rooting for truffles I harvest luscious phrases from Roberta Smith’s art critiques. After “he jumped on the Color Field painting bandwagon,” Jules Olitski (1922 – 2007) created works that “mess with space and scale in a visceral, … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

‘Gloopy Glory’

The paintings of 90-year-old Frank Auerbach, “last surviving member of a pathfinding generation of postwar British figurative painters,” are up my alley. Auerbach’s iterative pigment attacks are savage and astonishing, and Jason Farago is always good for a blue-streak of … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

How Are Posh Men Educated?

…The vanities of posh men… centre on an ancient system that trains a narrow caste of people to run our affairs…. Ever questing to penetrate British lingo, I wobble over “public” versus “private” education in the kingdom’s parlance. In my … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Wrath of Divines

Like cartooning, the act of translation has proven dangerous at times. For his role in putting Christian scriptures into English, John Wycliffe’s long-dead bones were dug up, burnt, and chucked into the river by order of churchmen. … The act … Continue reading

Posted in Commentary, Quotations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Word of Thanks

This gallery contains 1 photo.

A glance tells me this blog started in April 2018. This is April 2021. An anniversary month invites breaking the fourth wall for a moment. Brokenly, the endeavor here is twofold: (1) to practice writing; (2) to practice translating. I … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments