In which famed aqua-documentary man Steve Zissou (Bill Murry) goes to find the “jaguar-shark” that ate his friend; joining him is his possible son (neither of them is sure either way it seems) Ned Plimptom (Own Wilson), amongst many notable others. Steve Zissou: I was hopin’ to go out in a flash of blazes, but I’ll probably just end up goin’ home. Whilst...
I hadn’t intended to review this book – Men and Cartoons: Stories by Jonathan Lethem – but then, like with so many other things, I got thinking. This was the first thing I’d ever read by Lethem – surely there must be something unique about a person’s first introduction to an author? Surely there must be something unique about my introduction to Lethem? But...
Editorial notes: This is Shai’s first dedicated write-up relating to Jorge Luis Borges. Borges is referenced in two earlier essays and between Jan 2010 and Nov 2017 is referenced by Shai 17 times. The Writing of the God (Spanish: La Escritura del Dios; also sometimes entitled The God’s Script) is a short story by Jorge Luis Borges. It first appeared in Borges’ short story...
Three books collide in my mind and make me reflect on the human condition. Please excuse me. 1. T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruellest month because it reminds us of renewal; once, long ago, a woman asked the gods for immortality but forgot to ask for eternal youth. She begs to die and the renewal of spring in April taunts her. 2. Jorge Luis Borges, who was undoubtedly intimately familiar...
This is a box which has the ability to transform the nature of a book placed within it, in such a way that the audience (what may be considered the direction to which the author intends their ideas) is changed to a new, specific, target. The box only changes the one book which has been placed inside it, and all other similar books – including those books with otherwise identical text...
Editorial notes: The Evernote journal entry written on this day contains material (see the second paragraph in the post below) that is fundamental and pivotal to understanding Shai’s life philosophy. I decided to deviate from one of my editorial principles and highlighted it for ease of reading. While the point has been raised in the ‘Editorial notes’ elsewhere, the core of...
Editorial notes: The article begins with a comparison between the ‘self’ and the ‘soul’. The ‘self’ is a term usually used in psychological dissertations and is the subject of several developmental theories. The ‘soul’, however, is a theological/philosophical term that is not subjected to the same pattern of developmental changes. As far as the ‘positivist identifier” and ‘legalistic in its...
Editorial notes: Early in August 2013, Shai joins a site called “750 Words” which encourages members to submit a daily post consisting of roughly 750 words, approximately three pages. The site explains its purpose as: “The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day.” If you are in a...
Before I conjure the writings that this “place” deems cut off by the delineations (as if there were such a thing) of time, let me pause. First to orient myself (here and not there) and then to suggest some directions. All that really has purpose from “there” (a label and mode of description that could be translated by reference {wait: you want to hear something funny [cf...
Editorial notes: On this day Shai publishes his first post dedicated specifically to Judaism. This is significant as it is the beginning of the fourth phase in Shai’s intellectual journey. After having first devoted a substantial body of writing to scientific inquiry and to the study of ancient and classical Western philosophers, and having recently commenced his study of Eastern Wisdom, Shai...
