the coffee philosopher

Posted on May 8, 2014May 8, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Farley Mowat Passed Away

When I was child, my mother read Never Cry Wolf to me as my bed time book (The Hobbit was also a memorable such book).

Its author, Farly Mowat, died.

After my mother read Never Cry Wolf, I went out and read Mowat’s A Whale for the Killing, about a whale trapped in a small bay.

Never Cry Wolf was a great freaking book and reading about the wolf ‘family’ he followed, tracked, and imitated was amazing.

I suppose one can’t be sad that Mowat passed. He was 92 and I imagine led a rich life. But I will be sad about some of the losses in Never Cry Wolf.

Posted on May 8, 2014May 6, 2014 by the coffee philosopher · 1 Comment

I was so excited: I had been wanting to visit the Providence Athenaeum for several years (I can’t remember how I heard about it, but it was so obviously cool, it was the first thing on my list of ‘must see things’ when we planned our trip to Providence).

First appearances were a little disappointing. Not much different than a decent library in a pleasant, if minor, Carnegie building.

But then I saw the bust of H.P. Lovecraft and went downstairs and saw the high backed reading chairs, nineteenth century looking settee, reading nooks in the windows, bookcases filled with poetry and plays reaching up and onward, racks of magazines, wooden spindles holding newspapers, tables marked ‘reserved for readers,’ and the whole thing done up like a classic English gentleman’s club (which is not, I repeat NOT, a synonym for strip club, in this particular case, but something more like the sitting where half the action in the old PBS Sherlock Holmes series took place – the one with Jeremy Brett that actually took place in Victorian England).

I sat in a table in the corner and read from the poetry of George Meredith and later from Bernard Berenson’s learned dilettante writings on Renaissance paintings. Later, I pulled down a book, Rudiments of Colours and Colouring by Fields, and opened up to the table of contents and there, on page seventy-one, was a chapter on chrome yellow – the very same color after which was named my favorite Aldous Huxley novel!

Posted on May 7, 2014May 5, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Midweek Staff Meeting – I Don’t Like Him Either

It’s true – it’s hard to like Cyclops.

You can deny workers raises and give that money to CEOs instead, but in Cali, that could cost you.

Fools! Children do not need to know poetry!

In case you had no idea what I did for a living, I worked on these two organizing campaigns.

Pretty cool, right?

Paper is still the best (for in depth comprehension, anyway).

Posted on May 6, 2014May 5, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Coffee Advertisement

Posted on May 5, 2014May 1, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Monday Morning Staff Meeting – Bummer

I visited this bookstore while wandering Philly. Mrs coffee philosopher was working at a festival on the waterfront and I was searching aimlessly for a bookstore and ambled upon Giovanni’s Room. Nice poetry section. Incidentally, I have started, but never finished, the Baldwin novel of the same name.

Let’s play a fun game – how little does it take to get Ross Douthat’s panties in a twist? Answer: not very much. Apparently the message of love and forgiveness and His Holiness’ emphasis on the longstanding principle of the preferential option for the poor is going to cause some kind of cataclysmic schism in the Catholic church. Oh no! I hope deeply reactionary Catholics like Mel Gibson don’t respond to all this love and forgiveness by doing something crazy! Oh wait… And thanks, Ross, for trying to gin up the impression at the His Holiness is driving people away from the Church, rather than drawing people in and causing them to rethink longstanding prejudices towards the church. In the spirit of Pope Francis I, I will forgive Douthat and the fine folks at the American Conservative and not call them wankers. With love.

What? What? Do my eyes deceive me? Is skyrocketing CEO pay not actually the result of the invisible hand of the free market making the world a better place for the poors? Is it actually a rigged game, played inside a good old boys club? Perish the thought, you gosh darm, commie pinko!

We forgot about a once famous female artist. Again.

Posted on May 4, 2014April 4, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

‘Finnegans Wake’ Was Published Seventy-Five Years Ago Today

Posted on May 3, 2014May 2, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

Just In Case You Forgot

The Pope and the Catholic Church are not cool with economic inequality and really aren’t comfortable with depending on an unregulated, wild west economy to fix it.

This is in no way aimed at Paul Ryan.

204. We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programmes, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality. I am far from proposing an irresponsible populism, but the economy can no longer turn to remedies that are a new poison, such as attempting to increase profits by reducing the work force and thereby adding to the ranks of the excluded.

From Evangelii Gaudium

Posted on May 2, 2014April 29, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

This Is Just An Excuse To Post An Awesome Picture

There’s an article in the Washington City Paper entitled ‘22 Questions for the Corcoran.’ It’s worth reading, but mostly, I love this sculpture and wanted to post a picture. Isn’t it amazing? You feel like you can actually see through the veil!

Posted on May 1, 2014April 29, 2014 by the coffee philosopher

It Sucks That Amazon Bought Comixology

I like Comixology. And I read comic books. Three to be precise (Aquaman, Action Comics, and Batman, to be precise). If you’re not familiar with Comixology, the are basically a great platform for reading comic books on a tablet or computer (but especially on tablet).

When I first went back to comics, I used Comixology to catch up on the first half dozen issues of what DC Comics has called the ‘New 52,’ essentially, a reboot of its universe, before buying new copies at the comic book store or book store, as they came out.

Even better, I went back and read some famous story arcs from back in the day (actually, not that far back; mostly from the 80s and 90s): X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War, and the first couple story arcs of Alan Moore’s time writing for Swamp Thing, to name a few (to name a few more, that story arc where Wolverine goes to Japan, which I still love).

But I won’t buy anything from them now that they are part of the Amazon evil empire. And it’ll probably mean that I’ll buy a lot fewer comic books. Especially since they’ve already started their evil empire thing, but closing up the eco-system and making it impossible to make in-app purchases (which is a fancy way of saying the ability, while reading a comic on my iPad Comixology app, to simply press a button and purchase the next issue after I’ve finished the previous issue).

For example, I was super excited when Marvel rebooted Moon Knight. I used to seek out his comics as a child and it seemed like a great opportunity to see a new take on him that would not require catching up on five years of back story. But the first issue sold out quickly and my local comic book stores haven’t been able to restock it. Before, I might have gotten it on Comixology and then bought the later issues at the comic book store. Ain’t gonna happen now.

Probably for the best. If I were only thirty-eight, it would be different, but I’m about to turn forty and I think that reading three monthly comic book titles is enough.

Addendum: Since writing the above, I bought a (traditional) copy of Moon Knight #1. It’s pretty cool. That is all.