Monthly Archives: May 2025

“Its hour come round at last” 1

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged liberty on by

My mind keeps coming back to Yeats’ 1919 poem, “The Second Coming.” He wrote it shortly after World War I, knowing that nothing had really been resolved. In retrospect, we know the answer to his question, “What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

We also know the answer to that question today in America. We see again that “the best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.” There’s plenty of noise opposing Trump, yet too little broad-based opposition. Congress is, with a handful of exceptions, divided between the Minion Party and the Coward Party. Outrage should be building to the point of besieging the White House, but as far as I can tell, it’s declining. People’s idea of opposing Trump is to put “#Resist” into a social media hashtag.
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Accompanying Buster Keaton films 1

This entry was posted in Movies and tagged music silent movies on by

This post is for the Buster Keaton Blogathon run from the Silent-ology blog.

I accompany silent movies. Four times a year, I accompany one for a live audience at the Plaistow, NH Library. In addition, I post public domain silent films with my accompaniment on YouTube. In just a few days I’ll accompany One Week as part of the library’s 25th anniversary in its present building. In July I’ll be accompanying The General at the library. In 2023 I accompanied Steamboat Bill, Jr.
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A library tour on the NH seacoast 1

This entry was posted in Personal and tagged libraries New Hampshire on by

Thursday was a rainy day, chilly for late May, and I needed to do something to improve my mood, so I set out on an afternoon’s tour of libraries near the New Hampshire coastline. The towns in this region mostly have small land areas, and each other has its own library, so I could cover a lot without too much travel. The ones I put on my list were South Hampton, Seabrook, Hampton, Rye, and Stratham. On the way home I passed right by the East Kingston library, so I dropped in there, as well as the Plaistow library.
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Spohr’s string quartets 31-36

This entry was posted in Music and tagged music spohr on by

After a long gap, Spohr wrote six final string quartets. The numbering gets confusing because he withdrew the last two, having rewritten one of them in a different key. There’s a detailed discussion by Keith Warsop of these quartets on the Spohr Society’s website.

Important composers are generally expected to produce some of their best work, or at least their most adventurous, toward the end of their lives. Spohr had done his best writing long before. He even lost confidence in his own writing, withdrawing or abandoning several pieces, including the Requiem and the Tenth Symphony. He may have seen himself as a relic. When he died in 1859, Brahms wrote that he was “probably the last of those who still belonged to an artistic period more satisfying than the one through which we now suffer.”

But he wasn’t completely finished! These quartets explore new directions and are less exhibitionistic, and some are rewarding to listen to.
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Balticon 1

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged conventions fandom science fiction on by

With Balticon coming around again, I took another look at their code of conduct. It still has some disturbing features, and I’m not going, although it’s within a day’s driving distance and will likely have a good filk program.

There is a blanket prohibition on “Slurs and derogatory comments about a person, group, or category of people.” That presumably includes, just to come up with some examples, the Chengdu con chair, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Russian army, billionaires, Neil Gaiman, and the new Pope. It will be one dull convention if no one can say anything bad about any of those people! When attendees can be accused without eyewitness testimony, it’s even worse. This isn’t just hypothetical; in 2022 Balticon used this provision to make life miserable for one of its program participants.
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