tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post7753094742083800967..comments2024-03-28T16:31:27.365+00:00Comments on call me ishmael: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES.call me ishmaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-6149880113376783362010-12-23T11:07:56.491+00:002010-12-23T11:07:56.491+00:00With you all the way there Ishmael. The cultural d...With you all the way there Ishmael. The cultural divide is sometimes a leap too wearisome for me too.<br /><br />Studied theology for a while, but there was a bit of .. irreconcilability (is that a word?) with my evening job as a nightclub doorman at the time.<br /><br />Proverbs 6 is one of my favourites - esp. v 16-19. Should be chiselled on the foreheads of many politicians.Caratacusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-17987401948525675092010-12-23T02:17:06.686+00:002010-12-23T02:17:06.686+00:00You know how they say white men can't sing the...You know how they say white men can't sing the blues, mr c, well, I feel there is a similar claim to be made about we occidentals dabbling in oriental belief systems. <br /><br /> I love Zen in the Art of Archery - in passing, its tenets are rehearsed, oddly, in Bernard Cornwell's Azincourt (Agincourt), being ascribed to the English Longbowman of the thirteenth century - and I must have, oh, maybe two metres of that stuff on the bookshelves, Alan Watts, Christmas Humphries, Sun Tzu in various forms, Camden Benares, Gary Zukov, but it doesn't matter how often I read it, however much it charms and delights me, stopping me, sometimes, in my tracks,I never quite understand it; the book of Proverbs, however, or the Gospel of Saint Matthew, every one of those words rings true and glows like burning coals.call me ishmaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-34178263339957340712010-12-22T18:50:41.381+00:002010-12-22T18:50:41.381+00:00You are absolutely right Ishmael. I've spent a...You are absolutely right Ishmael. I've spent a life in martial arts and that Shaolin/Taoist ideal is one I have often puzzled on. In the end it is something I aim towards rather than expect to attain - this means that I can swear my head off, feel angry as fuck (though often laughing at myself minutes later) and be tempted to biff the Ungodly.<br /><br />In the end I feel more comfortable with Sun Tzu than Fu-Xhi...Caratacusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-7046160094504983972010-12-22T11:40:24.927+00:002010-12-22T11:40:24.927+00:00I love all that stuff, mr c, but it does tend to i...I love all that stuff, mr c, but it does tend to immobilise one a bit, you would never say a word in anger or even wit if you led a Shaolin life and righteous anger, as St. Augustine said, is but the voice of God.<br /><br />My late brother legitimised, no, sanctified all sorts of apathy and indolence by referring to the I Ching. Yours, though, is a lovely quote, thanks - and I do try, between the lines, in all the things I don't write, to express a simlar view.call me ishmaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-38797493666500515722010-12-21T08:30:30.249+00:002010-12-21T08:30:30.249+00:00"Ah grasshopper - Not to understand a man'..."Ah grasshopper - Not to understand a man's purpose does not make HIM confused..."Caratacusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-31216607662776004992010-12-20T20:53:55.060+00:002010-12-20T20:53:55.060+00:00Perhaps all that homemade stuff is shit, Mr Ishmae...Perhaps all that homemade stuff is shit, Mr Ishmael. But on a scale of 0 to Barry Bucknell, I'd give it 5: for insurance purposes only, of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-84548006488974243882010-12-20T18:35:11.063+00:002010-12-20T18:35:11.063+00:00Fascinating post, Mr Ishmael.Fascinating post, Mr Ishmael.yardarmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08700165830593026578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-74363034599654724422010-12-20T18:09:00.261+00:002010-12-20T18:09:00.261+00:00Perhaps we should call you Dr Ishmael; cure autism...Perhaps we should call you Dr Ishmael; cure autism with repeated punches in the gob! It could be like aspirin - cures politicians, media whores, men who are arseholes to their mothers. Certainly worth a try.<br /><br /> Great post, many thanks.Dick the Pricknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-31213194592286143942010-12-20T13:41:58.556+00:002010-12-20T13:41:58.556+00:00I try not to buy furniture now. Beds, bookcases we...I try not to buy furniture now. Beds, bookcases we can make. tables we can make. Chairs we can't make yet and I don't think life is long enough for me to get there.<br /><br />I raided all my kit from my dad after he died. Took a tenth of it and that was twice as much as I could sensibly fit in. (Still have a lathe crated in my mum's garage.) Raided his Estate, as I say, for all except his wooden toolbox which he gave me the day before he went into hospital the last time. Took me out there on his own. "This is for you, son." Favourite tools, his best ones many of them, some just the ones that worked best for him. And all enclosed in this bastard yard-long wooden box, wee slidy trays at the top. Because that was the way they did it back in the day. Build a sawhorse, make a toolbox to haul your stuff about. But I don't haul mine about and so I have this mad, handmade box my dad made. Worth nothing in money; might get a few BTUs out of if I chuck it one the fire.mongoosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14173341928744479143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-47340195712938684472010-12-20T12:45:16.914+00:002010-12-20T12:45:16.914+00:00Great post.
With digital cameras I think people...Great post.<br />With digital cameras I think people's treasured photos will end up on rubbish tips inside rusty old hard drives or in a sweaty shop in Bangalore. Brought back to life by a sweaty little oik who will look for any good ones to wank over. <br />Put a sledgehammer through your hard drive and burn the photo albums. Or issue instructions from your death bed.Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-33251934609717315592010-12-20T11:05:36.147+00:002010-12-20T11:05:36.147+00:00"It doesn't go with my daycor" is th..."It doesn't go with my daycor" is the one that always collapses me. <br /><br />I would rather burn letters and photographs myself, mourning, then leave them to be discarded by someone else.mrs narcoleptnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-34676947824661301822010-12-20T10:14:41.589+00:002010-12-20T10:14:41.589+00:00That's some essay, Ishmael. Grossly crafted an...That's some essay, Ishmael. Grossly crafted and punchy at many levels. Whenever I read your posts I am left wondering where I would rate in your wandering and so varied takes on life, existence and philosophy. The partial answer is always one that highlights my inferior affliction!Oldrightiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03192587284458430556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-39378187105434392752010-12-20T02:57:45.125+00:002010-12-20T02:57:45.125+00:00Mr I, an interesting story.
My wife used to run a...Mr I, an interesting story.<br /><br />My wife used to run a small antiques shop in East Devon. Never made any real money - but that wasn't the point. We have accumulated a few kept pieces which we treasure. But far more interesting were the stories of the auctions, the auctioneers - all characters, and crooks to a degree, the people she visited with their stories of the blitz, and so on. She really was a social worker with all the various acts of charity and other deeds one inevitably get draw into. Thats life, as they say.Mikenoreply@blogger.com