Theme title: A-FRAMES (39A. Houses with sharply angled roofs, and what this puzzle's four longest answers literally have in common) - Letter A bookends/frames each theme answer. (Update: Martin noticed all the theme answers end in place names.)
17A. 49th state's largest city: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. The Iditarod starts at ANCHORAGE and ends in Nome.
27A. E.M. Forster classic set in fictional Chandrapore: A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Have heard of the book/movie. Not the author. Chandrapore is a fictional Indian city.
47A. Classic Italian "farewell" song: ARRIVEDERCI ROMA. Ah, I've linked this song or some other version a few times when ROMA appeared as a fill. Arrivederci (ahr-ree-ve-DER-chee) = Au revoir.
63A. Two-part drama that won two Best Play Tonys and a Best Miniseries Emmy: ANGELS IN AMERICA. Was unaware of the specific awards it garnered.
A-FRAME is a house shaped like letter A, or inverted V. I learned this term last time when Argyle linked an A-FRAME coop picture. He said it helps protect those chickens in the nighttime. Very clever unifying answer.
Smooth sailing. Was familiar with all the four 15-letter theme answers. Rare for me.
Across:
8. Check signers: PAYERS. You don't find a checkbook in a common Chinese household. We jumped from cash transactions directly to debit/credit card.
14. 1950 Edmond O'Brien suspense classic: DOA. Got the answer from crossings. Looks scary.
15. Sliding __: DOOR. Kind of related to the A-FRAME theme.
16. Hide out: LIE LOW. That's exactly what Kanye West has been doing, lying low, after the Taylor Swift incident.
21. Sly: FOXY
25. "Was __ hard on him?"I TOO
36. Washroom, briefly: LAV (Lavatory). WC in China.
42. Point to pick: NIT. Wait for Jazzbumpa to comment.
43. Sam of "The Piano": NEILL. Wanted O'NEIL. Sam NEILL is a Kiwi.
45. Dapper guy?: DAN. John Gotti's nickname is "The Dapper Don".
46. __ about: approximately: ON OR
53. Loud crowd noise: ROAR. Did you hear the roar at the Metrodom? What an unbelievable game! Twins seem to suffer an Inferiority Complex when facing the Yankees though. In Lemonade's words, they are "choke artists destined to fade away into Yankee oblivion".
56. Community service org.: YMCA. Founded in 1844.
59. Popeye's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). No idea. Obtained his name from crosses again. Had S?GAR, then I thought of SUGAR first.
66. Freezing period: ICE AGE
68. Acne spot: ZIT
69. Clinton press secretary Myers: DEE DEE. The first woman to serve as White House Press Secretary.
Down:
3. Diplomat's forte: TACT. Well, obviously John Bolton does not have this attribute.
4. Has a crush on: ADORES
5. NYC's Bronx, e.g.: BOR (Borough)
7. Thus, to a logician: ERGO. Latin for "therefore", as in "Cogito, ERGO sum" (I think, therefore I am).
8. __ win: go all out: PLAY TO
9. Afflict: AIL. What had been ailing the Tigers? Unprecedented collapse! My husband really likes Miguel Cabrera.
10. Beginning of time, figuratively: YEAR ONE. "Figuratively" confused me a bit.
11. Film lioness: ELSA. From"Born Free".
12. Korean soldiers: ROKS. The soldiers in the ROK (Republic of Korea/South Korea)
13. Trade: SWAP. And PLIER (28D. One with a trade). Nice "trade" clue echo.
18. "Steppenwolf" writer Hermann: HESSE. Nobel Literature winner (1946).
19. Way off the turnpike: EXIT
27. Health Net rival: AETNA. Not familiar with Health Net. We have UnitedHealthcare here.
29. Moving about: ASTIR
30. Needle-toothed fish: GAR
31. Give the slip: EVADE. Just learned the idiom "Give the slip" a few months ago.
32. "Hawaii Five-O" nickname: DANNO. "Book 'em, DANNO!"
33. Figure of speech: IDIOM. They are not interchangeable to me. TROPE, yes.
34. Stars, in Latin: ASTRA. Have not seen the French star étoile for a while.
39. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. An A-FRAME word too.
40. Scuff or scratch: MAR. Alliteration.
44. Interpret via mouth movements: LIPREAD. "Read my lip: no new taxes", coined by Peggy Noonan.
46. Neatness: ORDER
48. Paris palace: ELYSEE. ELYSEE Palace is the French "White House".
50. Maps within maps: INSETS
53. Vice squad action: RAID
55. "The African Queen" co-screenwriter: AGEE (James). Co-written with John Houston.
57. "The Suze Orman Show" channel: CNBC. Suze Orman looks very intimidating.
58. 50-and-over org.: AARP
60. City near the Sphinx: GIZA. Near the Great Pyramids too. On the Nile.
61. Word before rain or rock: ACID
65. Goat's cry: MAA. Ah, missed an opportunity to weave with CALF (24D: Young cow). CALF maa too.
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A. 49th state's largest city: ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. The Iditarod starts at ANCHORAGE and ends in Nome.
27A. E.M. Forster classic set in fictional Chandrapore: A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Have heard of the book/movie. Not the author. Chandrapore is a fictional Indian city.
47A. Classic Italian "farewell" song: ARRIVEDERCI ROMA. Ah, I've linked this song or some other version a few times when ROMA appeared as a fill. Arrivederci (ahr-ree-ve-DER-chee) = Au revoir.
63A. Two-part drama that won two Best Play Tonys and a Best Miniseries Emmy: ANGELS IN AMERICA. Was unaware of the specific awards it garnered.
A-FRAME is a house shaped like letter A, or inverted V. I learned this term last time when Argyle linked an A-FRAME coop picture. He said it helps protect those chickens in the nighttime. Very clever unifying answer.
Smooth sailing. Was familiar with all the four 15-letter theme answers. Rare for me.
Across:
8. Check signers: PAYERS. You don't find a checkbook in a common Chinese household. We jumped from cash transactions directly to debit/credit card.
14. 1950 Edmond O'Brien suspense classic: DOA. Got the answer from crossings. Looks scary.
15. Sliding __: DOOR. Kind of related to the A-FRAME theme.
16. Hide out: LIE LOW. That's exactly what Kanye West has been doing, lying low, after the Taylor Swift incident.
21. Sly: FOXY
25. "Was __ hard on him?"I TOO
36. Washroom, briefly: LAV (Lavatory). WC in China.
42. Point to pick: NIT. Wait for Jazzbumpa to comment.
43. Sam of "The Piano": NEILL. Wanted O'NEIL. Sam NEILL is a Kiwi.
45. Dapper guy?: DAN. John Gotti's nickname is "The Dapper Don".
46. __ about: approximately: ON OR
53. Loud crowd noise: ROAR. Did you hear the roar at the Metrodom? What an unbelievable game! Twins seem to suffer an Inferiority Complex when facing the Yankees though. In Lemonade's words, they are "choke artists destined to fade away into Yankee oblivion".
56. Community service org.: YMCA. Founded in 1844.
59. Popeye's creator: SEGAR (E. C.). No idea. Obtained his name from crosses again. Had S?GAR, then I thought of SUGAR first.
66. Freezing period: ICE AGE
68. Acne spot: ZIT
69. Clinton press secretary Myers: DEE DEE. The first woman to serve as White House Press Secretary.
Down:
3. Diplomat's forte: TACT. Well, obviously John Bolton does not have this attribute.
4. Has a crush on: ADORES
5. NYC's Bronx, e.g.: BOR (Borough)
7. Thus, to a logician: ERGO. Latin for "therefore", as in "Cogito, ERGO sum" (I think, therefore I am).
8. __ win: go all out: PLAY TO
9. Afflict: AIL. What had been ailing the Tigers? Unprecedented collapse! My husband really likes Miguel Cabrera.
10. Beginning of time, figuratively: YEAR ONE. "Figuratively" confused me a bit.
11. Film lioness: ELSA. From"Born Free".
12. Korean soldiers: ROKS. The soldiers in the ROK (Republic of Korea/South Korea)
13. Trade: SWAP. And PLIER (28D. One with a trade). Nice "trade" clue echo.
18. "Steppenwolf" writer Hermann: HESSE. Nobel Literature winner (1946).
19. Way off the turnpike: EXIT
27. Health Net rival: AETNA. Not familiar with Health Net. We have UnitedHealthcare here.
29. Moving about: ASTIR
30. Needle-toothed fish: GAR
31. Give the slip: EVADE. Just learned the idiom "Give the slip" a few months ago.
32. "Hawaii Five-O" nickname: DANNO. "Book 'em, DANNO!"
33. Figure of speech: IDIOM. They are not interchangeable to me. TROPE, yes.
34. Stars, in Latin: ASTRA. Have not seen the French star étoile for a while.
39. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. An A-FRAME word too.
40. Scuff or scratch: MAR. Alliteration.
44. Interpret via mouth movements: LIPREAD. "Read my lip: no new taxes", coined by Peggy Noonan.
46. Neatness: ORDER
48. Paris palace: ELYSEE. ELYSEE Palace is the French "White House".
50. Maps within maps: INSETS
53. Vice squad action: RAID
55. "The African Queen" co-screenwriter: AGEE (James). Co-written with John Houston.
57. "The Suze Orman Show" channel: CNBC. Suze Orman looks very intimidating.
58. 50-and-over org.: AARP
60. City near the Sphinx: GIZA. Near the Great Pyramids too. On the Nile.
61. Word before rain or rock: ACID
65. Goat's cry: MAA. Ah, missed an opportunity to weave with CALF (24D: Young cow). CALF maa too.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteLoved SAM NEILL in the JURRASIC PARK movies.
Congratulations to all the Twins fans, and Detroit, sorry, but yoiu are not alone Collapse .
Puzzle was too easy and had little to titillate. Go for it Lois.
As an added bonus (and a slight misdirection), the theme fills also end with the names of places.
ReplyDeleteMorning, C.C. Another very easy puzzle. I had a wee bit of trouble in the NE corner, as I took a long time to think of PAYEE. Also, I wanted LOO in lieu of LAV (36D), but that situation quickly rectified itself. Not much else to say about the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteAnother SERIOUSLY MUGGY day again here. It was already 80F before 6:00 a.m.!
QOD: The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization ~ Sigmund Freud.
Linda,
ReplyDeleteNobody but you yourself can remove your profile. Go to Blogger.com and click on "Edit Profile" link.
Jeannie,
Do you have any seafood recipes?
Carol2,
Email me your digital photo as an attachment.
Good morning CC and gang,
ReplyDeleteI did not sail through this puzzle. Did not know Popeye's creator and had Baa instead of Maa. Only recognized two theme fills.
Go Phillies as they open their series with Colorado. Many unhappy fans in Phila because the first two games are in the afternoon.
CC - excuse my ignorance - attach the picture to what? I've only ever attached to an email.
Good Morning CC and All,
ReplyDeletePerps kept me alive in this one. Angels in America and Arrivederci Roma were unknowns. I put in Gaza instead of Giza which led to more of a struggle to get Angels. I needed some red letter help there. An average quality for me on a blah and rainy morning.
Don't have a whole lot of time today. The youngest stayed home from school so the wife and I will swap at noon so she can get to work. He just got over a cold so I wonder what this is about??
A boater went missing in the bay last night which required a search and rescue operation. It was weird to see all of the search boats lights just north of a completely lit up cruise ship that was approaching its Anchorage on the way in this morning. Adding to the aura was the predawn sky was a deep, dark red.
Hope everyone has a good one.
Carol2,
ReplyDeleteThere should be an "Attach a File" button on your email. Click on it, pick up the correct picture from your computer file, and attach it to your email to me.
Carol2: I think C.C. is asking you to send a regular email to crosswordc@gmail.com
ReplyDeletewith your photo attached to the email, not posting the photo here through the blog. Then she'll post it for everyone to see.
Kazie: Thanks for the squash recipe last night!
ReplyDeleteGood morning all:
ReplyDelete3 theme A-Braces and also 3 non-theme down A-Braces: AetnA, AstrA, and as CC mentioned AlvA
I sure that Lois is too Foxy to lie low with these words and clues!
See Ya in the Funnies
WoW - just noticed that the center line containing the A-Frame was inclosed by a T-Frame. LoL
ReplyDelete27A: E. M. Forester classic set in fictional Chandrapore: A PASSAGE TO INDIA. Also a movie from 1984.
ReplyDelete47A: Classic Italian "farewell" song: ARRIVEDERCI, ROMA. Also a movie from 1958.
63A: Two-part drama that won two Best Play Tonys and a Best Miniseries Emmy: ANGELS IN AMERICA. I believe it was an HBO miniseries.
14A: 1950 Edmond O'Brien suspense classic: DOA. Dead on Arrival. Not to be confused with the 2006 movie DOA: Dead or Alive.
21A: Sly: FOXY. Calling someone a fox is good. Calling someone a pig, wolf, snake, cow or dog is not. Go figure.
36A Washroom, briefly: LAV. I wanted LOO.
31D: Give the slip: EVADE. I wanted ELUDE.
61D: Word before rain or rock: ACID. ACID rain and ACID rock. Also HARD as in Hard Rain and hard rock would have worked.
Martin
Easy for me except the SE--couldn't get AMERICA because I too had BAA and GAZA. Of course should have known better on GIZA, but in haste the mind doesn't work as well. I don't think I'd describe the goat sound as MAA, it's more like bleeh.
ReplyDeleteThe top half seemed tame and unchallenging so it was disheartening to be done in at the bottom. The A-frame connection didn't dawn on me until the third one down. I was wondering where the frames were until then.
Thanks Annette - got it now. Didn't know CC's email address.
ReplyDeleteCC - appreciate your help also.
Morning all,
ReplyDeleteNever thought I would say this, but the puzzles have become too easy. Was totally frustrated by the Friday and Saturday puzzles when they were so difficult. Now they are so much easier. So difficult to please the masses. We are a picky bunch.
Had so many problems with my old laptop had to finally cave in and buy a new one. More gigs than I will ever need, DVD writer, HDMI outlet (can download Netflix movies and watch them on our flat screen TV, built in webcam, very fast wireless internet, and it is shiny!! Can you tell I’m loving it. Have to go back and look at the blog pictures since most days I couldn’t even log on to my old laptop.
@Carol2, I live about 50 miles NW of Philly, so I will be in front of the TV this afternoon hopefully to watch the Phillies win. Feeling a little uneasy with their relief pitching but hopeful. Congrats to all the Twins fans.
Have a great day all.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteKazie, I had the same two errors you mentioned. Finally figured it out since aberaca didn't make any sense. But I still doubted maa for a goat sound.
Clever of Martin to figure out the ending A's and of 3 of four to notice Aetna, astra, and Elva.
Cheers
good morning c.c. and all,
ReplyDeletevery quick today, but a clever theme. bonus matching fills AETNA and ASTRA flanking AFRAMES on the sides. MAA and AARP have double a's also. wagged the SEGAR/GIZA crossing.
lemonade, you did it, first!
al, great job yesterday.
I got through this one with minimal outside help. I had to hit the g-spot for Chandrapore – A passage to India clue. I only got ROK from the perp help. I have a deaf friend that can lipread and it is an impressive talent.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the rosemary chicken recipe, if you can’t find Old Bay Seasoning use sweet paprika.
C.C. what kind of seafood do you like?
Good Morning!
ReplyDeleteA good puzzle with few unknowns.
ARRIVEDERCI ROMA intersected with ORDER and DANNO and I had problem with that. Also had problem getting ON OR (sat with --OR) for a time.
Never thought of Goat's cry as MAA..always though of it as BAA
Nursery Rhyme BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP)
But knew ANGELS IN AMERICA as I had watched the Emmys when Al Pacino and Meryl Streep both won.
Have a great Wednesday, everyone!
Good Morning All, If it weren't for the theme answers I would have been disappointed with the other fills "Monday" simplicity. With ADAM, CONE, LOAF and ELSA (haven't seen her for a while) showing up in the first set of Downs, I was thinking, "Oh, phooey!". But the four 15 letter theme fills were very enjoyable, for both the "A" brackets and for the place names.
ReplyDeleteI was particularly pleased to see A PASSAGE TO INDIA and ANGELS IN AMERICA. Although "PASSAGE" takes place in 1920's India and "ANGELS" is a more modern 1980's American story, they both teem with politics, sex and prejudice. The book is great and the movie follows the plot to a tee. If you haven't seen A PASSAGE TO INDIA, I recommend a Netflix night. ANGELS IN AMERICA is, as far as I'm concerned, THE reason why television can be the best entertainment/education medium. Six hours of Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson, among others, it is also available on Netflix.
Some other A-framed: Alan AldA in his AC CobrA listening to AbbA.
ReplyDeleteHi C.C. & gang, a quick puzzle again for Wednesday, we only had one misspell 'payees' for 'payers'
ReplyDeleteJeannie: I hope you're recovering from H1N1
Here's the quote of the day
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
Gore Vidal (1925 - )
If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.
Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.
Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)
Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.
Dan Barker, "Losing Faith in Faith", 1992
Hi Gang -
ReplyDeleteThe day after physical labor, I'm always sore and a bit groggy. Didn't mind the easiness of today's puzzle.
I like the theme answers, and knowing the theme didn't give too much away. I can never remember how to spell Sam Kneel's name.
OK, we have tired old CPAS, ADS, and ZIT. But also the very cool ICE AGE, neat ORDER, and other great fills, including INSETS, YEAR ONE and LIP READ.
Not a lot of remarkable symmetries today. But as 3/4 pointed out, there is the central T-frame, which cannot go unmentioned. (This is lousy.) I like.
TITs., but not NITs.
I have a rather odd sonnet on my blog today. Feel free to critique.
Cheers!
JzB your bosom buddie tromonist
In Dennis's continued absence, here's some WOW:
ReplyDelete"Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom."
-- Terry Pratchett's anthropomorphic "Death" character in Hogfather
Fun Facts:
SCUBA divers cannot pass gas at depths of 33 feet or below.
Ghandi didn't allow his wife to take penicillin to save her life from pneumonia but took quinine to save himself from malaria.
Hi Jeanne - nice to know there are other Phillies fans closeby - I think Dennis is also. Yes, relief pitching could loose it for us, let's hope for the best and a good game from Lee today.
ReplyDeleteAnnette - it worked. CC now has my picture. Yea!
Carol2, you can go blue and create a blue profile.
ReplyDeleteYes, Melissa Bee, I made it to the top of the mountain.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was on a sea food diet once; everytime he would see food he would eat it. We need more exciting puzzles, it is not just they are easy, but they lack pizazz. Now there is a beginning to a puzzle, pizzazz, pizza, pizza face; oops too many zzzzs, now I am sleepy.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteDid the puzzle while sitting in the waiting room. Hubby's colonoscopy came out clear. Went to breakfast after. He's going back to work in about a half hour. Heaven forbid he take the day off.
Didn't have too much trouble. Wasn't sure of the spelling of arrivederci. Perps helped. Bombed on Angels in American. Oh well.
Creating this puzzle is way more complicated than it might seem.
ReplyDeleteFirst it was "framed" with an A in the front and one in the back. But you can't just throw out phrases that start and end with an A without having something that unifies the theme entries. What ties this theme together is all the entries end with a place name. That's not accidental. To top it off all theme answers are 15 letters long and the constructor places "AFRAMES" dead center in the grid. All in all, a marvelous feat.
I recently went to a Jamaican music festival with a former Vice-President in ANCHORAGE ALASKA. I overheard many people say,
"AHA, AL GORE CAN SKA!"
In fact, he had a monster of a time. Thus the comment,
"ERGO, GORE OGRE"
DEMI, I'M ED
SEGAR RAGES
Do cats SWAP PAWS?
In the movie, Ben, RATS STAR
Skoal!
Guday fellow puzzlemaniacs. Easy again today. Mr. Norris is doing well for those who complained things were too tough Friday and Saturday.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to c.c. and all the other Twin fans out there. A great finish to the end of the regular season. Unfortunately, the Twins are 0-7 against the Yanks this season.
Don't know much about Minnesota except that you have a Big-10 team up there called "The Golden Gophers". I guess people from Minnesota are called Mennonites. I assume there won't be many Twin fans in New York this afternoon. You can't get from Minnesota to New York City in one day in a one horse buggy. No T.V's nor radios either, so how will you know if you won or lost. I fact, how are you able to blog? I'm all confused about you folks.
Nurse Ratchet just told me that not ALL of you are REAL Mennonites and some of you cheat, and spread the word around about your sports teams. By the way, Bret Favre is your new quarterback for the Vikings.
Time for my "shock treatment".
I must be off!
Good afternoon CC and all,
ReplyDeletePretty clever theme today but knowing it and filling in those 2 a's didn't help me with the last two. The perps always save me.Felt silly making sounds to fill in the m-maaaaaa!
I will definitely rent "Angels in America", as I only saw parts of it.
Here's some history:
1542- Catalina Island, off the CA coast, was discovered by Cabrillo.
1868- Cornell Univ. in Ithaca, NY was founded. It is Keith Olbermann's alma mater.
1955- Allen Ginsberg read his poem HOWL for the 1st time at a poetry reading in SF. Is this noteworthy???
1959- the far side of the moon was seen for the 1st time thru USSR's Luna 3
1971- Disney World opened in Orlando bringing y'all lots more traffic.
1982- CATS opened on Broadway and ran for 18 years!!
1998- Matthew Shepherd, a gay student at the U. of WY, was beaten to death.
2001- The US invaded Afghanistan.
2003-Gray Davis was recalled as CA's gov, and so we were gifted with Ahnold Schwarzenegger.
Anonymous - how do I go blue and create a profile?
ReplyDeleteCarol
Phillies won!! One way to eliminate the relief pitcher problem is not to use any!!
ReplyDelete@Carol2- Choose an Identity on the right-hand side of the page of comments. Create a Google Account if you don't have one.
9:21 today. I didn't find it as easy as apparently many of you did.
ReplyDeleteNo time to blog as we're just about out the door for dinner (eating extra-early tonight as my wife has an online meeting later).
C.C. This is off topic but at least it has to do with words. I discovered something today that surprised the heck out of me. I was cluing a puzzle and found that the word "Kowtow" is an old Chinese custom and the word has its roots in the Mandarin language. I'll be a son of a gun!
ReplyDeleteJerome,
ReplyDeleteAs a word master, I'm surprised you didn't know that! But of course, the day we stop learning or being surprised, it's time to curl up our toes and give up! You amaze me with your anagram skills and creativity though, so that makes up for it!
Greetings all -
ReplyDeleteI did the puzzle at breakfast, but am posting at dinner, as I had an early appt.
Overall, I liked this puzzle. I had to take a couple passes through to get many of the clues, and had to rely on the fills to get the theme answers. I did get A frame, and had Anchorage Alaska, so that helped me figure out the other answers, but they sure weren't gimmes. In the end, no outside help. Looking back at the answers, it seems easier than it felt at the time.
Time for dinner - pork stir fry with leftover pork roast from last night and coconut rice. No meal planning ideas from Jeannie today, so I had to wing it on my own... :)
Andrea
JD, Re: Howl.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is noteworthy. "Howl" is social commentary about mid-century America. From your profile, I guess that you and I graduated from high school about the same year, 1962, so we were adolescents through the decade of the fifties. It seemed, and still does in many ways, an idyllic time, at least in my small (pop. 350) Kentucky town. But remember A-bomb drills in school and fallout shelters at home? Remember segregation, lynching (you may not if you've always lived in the West), and a "closet" for every slight deviance from "normal"? All that sailed over our young heads.
But Ginsburg was nearly a generation ahead of us, and not bought into the convenient lies all societies tell themselves, about themselves. Howl was his statement about the hidden rot that kept America from living up to it's ideals.
Some people think Howl is a great poem. Some people don't. I think it is one one best poems of the 20th Century. I hope our poetry maven, your friend And drinking buddy CA, will have something to say about Howl.
I encourage everyone to follow your link and read the poem. Thanks for linking it.
It seems like I have all kinds of appointments in the next few days. I'll be dropping in here rather sporadically.
ReplyDeleteNo appointment today, I played cribbage and my team lost four games out of five...and I was the one who taught the other three ladies how to play. Sunday we are having a dinner party with the requisite shopping and next week, both my younger sisters are coming to visit for a few days. We don't see each other together very often, so it will be a treat to spend some time with them.
Sam NEILL starred in Dead Calm with Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. GAH really liked it, but it is an ultimate stalker movie, which I don't care for.
GAH is RASPY throated, I hope he isn't coming down with anything. We are spending a lot of time on opposite sides of the room. No cuddling until he feels better. Hope you are recuperating well, Jeannie.
JD, What Windhover said! Howl is a fascinating poem. It broke down barriers for free speech, in language that was shocking for its time. I have heard it spoken and it is much easier to listen to than to read. It was intended to be a performance piece, so reading it can be difficult. Ginsberg was influenced by the Modernist poetry of William Carlos Williams, who is one of my favorites. Howl is full of references to Ginsberg's own experiences and those of his friends and associates. If you don't know anything about the Beat poets, maybe Howl isn't the place to start. I'll look around and see if I can find a simpler (shorter?) example.
WH, thanks so much for your expertice on Ginsberg. I had heard his name, but knew not why. I did read some of his other poetry while finding Howl. I thought it must be important to be listed in the history section.
ReplyDeletePoetry, yummy. Personally, I believe crossword puzzles are like poetry, and the skill in constructing a puzzle, is like creating a poem. I also think HOWL is a very important work, and I think there are so many interesting stories about ALLEN GINSBURG and all his followers, like my favorite GREGORY CORSO and FERLINGHETTI . Ah memories, my first love bought me a book of Corso's poems....
ReplyDeleteJerome, you are the best.
favorite ginsberg cohort by far is alan watts. i have the recordings from 'the houseboat summit,' and many other watts lectures. so ahead of his time, and a riveting speaker.
ReplyDeleteLemonade, thanks for those links..am so enjoying Ginsberg poetry!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely many steps above the Rod McKuen poems that I thought were the thing while in college.
Sweated my way through the puzzle. Neighbor saw my lights on, called me, and brought over a homeopathic remedy for my cold-like feverish coughy self and some Laughing Cow cheese, and one or both of them had me better in an hour. Cool, huh?
ReplyDeleteTheme was the best part. Rest was a little more difficult.
Lots of foreign words in the puzzle. HESSE (German), ARRIVEDERCI (Italian), ERGO and ASTRA (Latin), ELYSÉE, (French) and SUZE ORMAN, (From another planet). I
always struggle with people named NEILL,
Neal, and Neil. MAA is new to me. Don't like to see ZIT at breakfast time. Or in the mirror!
C.C. I sent you a photo, if you didn't get it or it's too big/ugly/blurry, I can send a different one.
Time for another dose of Laughing Cow cheese.
Two quick comments for fellow insomniacs, movie lovers or poetry fiends. After this, I lapse into a cheese-induced coma.
ReplyDelete@Windhover/JD/ ClearAyes: Allen Ginsberg was visiting faculty at Naropa University in Boulder Colorado, my hometown for several years in the 80s. It was the first accredited US college with Buddhist roots. Uma Thurman's dad, Columbia U. prof, would occasionally drop by, as would Philip Glass and John Cage. Ginsberg et al dabbled in Buddhist philosophy, and would occasionally give readings, going off script and into improv more often than not, but great to watch. In addition to "Howl," his poem "Kaddish" that was written as a eulogy upon the passing of his mother (I think) is long, beautiful, and memorable. It looks messy on the page, but when read aloud it is scary good. I studied calligraphy there at Naropa, did a psych internship with a Naropa students and heard lots of first-hand stories of AG's antics in the hot hubs that were so popular in Colorado at that time.
My fellow trainees apparently were rowdier than squeaky-clean me! When we finished training, they gave me an official Naropa teeshirt, and I made shirts for them with a pretty-good-but-risky buddhist-ish slogan that they wore for years.
There is no answer, and I have it."
I wish I would have applied for a copyright on that. Melissa Bee may find that almost funny
Another Netflix pick. CA made reference to Emma Thompson (one of our finer living actors IMO) who starred in a small, quiet beautiful film, named "The Winter Guest" (1997) along with her mother, Scottish-born Phyllida Law. It features a frozen sea, a mom, a granddaughter, a daughter, fumbling teenagers and two boys skipping school. Critics loved it but it didn't get huge crowds in the US.
Be well, all.
PJB, is there anyway to make your posts smaller? They ramble on, yet make sense, and I don't know if you realize this or not...C.C. gets every post sent to her e-mail. I for one was chastised for my long posts. I am just giving you a "heads up" and likewise.
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