Happy Birthday, Waldo!

Ralph Waldo Emerson
born May 25, 1803

"Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. […] Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."

Jimmy Stewart Meets Stanley Kubrick

"A thriller about transcendence." 5 stars ~Amazon reviewer

Even the Donald found nirvana reading THE ASSASSIN LOTUS--

Time Stopped

The warmth of my skin fades to cold,

Just like my father's did moments ago.

The sweet sound of his smooth-beating heart,

Was replaced with the tic and toc of his wristwatch.

The sound echoed through my mind and seemed to stop,

Along with the colorful thoughts that turned to rock.

My vision turned black and the last thing I saw was the purple and blue skin

Of my daddy's left and right arm.

I could not stop shaking and my lungs didn't work,

My eyes were filled with tears and my heart with hurt.

~Ashley Angsten

Male/Female - the Eternal Facts

Camille Paglia

"I have found the words masculine and feminine indispensable for my notations of appearance and behavior, but I apply them freely to both sexes, according to mood and situation. Here are my conclusions, after a lifetime of observation and reflection. Maleness at its hormonal extreme is an angry, ruthless density of self, motivated by a principle of ‘attack.’ Femaleness at its hormonal extreme is first an acute sensitivity of response, literally thin-skinned (a hormonal effect in women), and secondly a stability, composure, and self-containment, a slowness approaching the sultry. Biologically, the male is impelled toward restless movement; his moral danger is brutishness. Biologically, the female is impelled toward waiting, expectancy; her moral danger is stasis. Androgen agitates; estrogen tranquilizes—hence the drowsiness and ‘glow’ of pregnancy. Most of us inhabit not polar extremes but a constantly shifting great middle. However, a preponderance of gray does not disprove the existence of black and white. Sexual geography, our body image, alters our perception of the world. Man is contoured for invasion, while woman remains the hidden, a cave of archaic darkness. No legislation or grievance committee can change these eternal facts."

Black Narcissus (1947)

Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff

One of the most striking movie images ever. I just love it.

Silence Disturbed