Category: Insight
The Butterfly through the eyes of Zorba the Greek
The Butterfly I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the back of a tree just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to…
On the Edge of Seventeen: Stevie Nicks & Gabriella Cilmi
While posting the last couple of articles about young Gabriella Cilmi, this song intruded … “on the edge of seven teen”. Stevie Nicks, another young singer songwriter with a massive presence, though her fairy-like soulful countenance is nothing like Cilmi’s old soul, simmering sexuality.
Nothing Sweet About Me: Gabriella Cilmi’s enthralling presence
I’d watched this video a few dozen times before learning that Cilmi was just 17 when it was produced. Oh, my, God! A Nabokovian nymph leaving a wake of men so enthralled they hardly notice or care for their sad state of bondage. Uhhhhmmm…. Excuse me….. I seem to be at a loss for words……
Gatekeeper: My introduction to Feist
A while back I ran across the image below, The Gate Keeper, which made me think of a song of the same name, by Feist. It’s the first song of hers that I was able to put her name to, though I’m sure I’d heard her music before, and I already knew she often appeared…
Robert McNamara’s Fog of War
Among the best documentaries ever made, Errol Morris’ The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, compellingly examines Robert Strange McNamara’s disturbing look back at the 20th Century’s greatest global conflicts: World War II and the Cold War. The result is a chilling set of lessons he learned in his…
Secret Heart: Feist Covers Sexsmith LIVE
Some weeks ago I watched a documentary about a piano prodigy. In his young teens, the boy spoke about music with a profound wisdom. One thing he said, in particular, stayed with me. I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like: “The more you work with a piece of music, the more you find in it.…
My Muse, My Moon oh Man: Feist
This song’s been running around in my mind the last 24 hours. I’ve been thinking about the name for this site, thinking we’re not likely going to be able to keep Muse, since there’s already a magazine published under that name. So a variation’s been playing out in my thoughts, My Muse. And, as I…
Fugitive Peace
I watched the film adaptation of Anne Michaels’ novel, Fugitive Pieces today. One of the most achingly beautiful love scenes I’ve ever seen is followed, closely, by Michaela picking up Jakob’s journal, holding it, looking at it, quizzically, curiously. she seems to be asking of it, “what else might you reveal of the man I…
Beauty, Cathedrals, Purpose: The Pillars of the Earth
It wasn’t very far into Ken Follet’s, The Pillars of the Earth before I understood what might be enthralling the people who’ve been telling me I should read it. “Because it will be beautiful,” Tom the Builder answered Prior Philip. By beautiful Tom didn’t mean simply pretty, or artful. He meant that upon seeing it,…
