tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post6910084142906506524..comments2024-03-29T05:24:12.453+00:00Comments on call me ishmael: SHOCK AS MORE FAMOUS PEOPLE DIE OF OLD AGE.call me ishmaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14369028864168461729noreply@blogger.comBlogger200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-73663134091540161092020-01-28T08:17:34.140+00:002020-01-28T08:17:34.140+00:00I'm very sorry he's no longer with us. His...I'm very sorry he's no longer with us. His postings as Stanislav were superb and I still use his wonderful term 'sofa cunts' to describe the likes of Andrew Marr and his pathetic fully domesticated 'guests'. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17312384017274791037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-51444141803648033352020-01-27T02:27:56.887+00:002020-01-27T02:27:56.887+00:00Evensong for Mr Ishmael: from back up the road, Se...Evensong for Mr Ishmael: from back up the road, Segovia plays Bach<br /><br />https://youtu.be/CyPvr8AKVJQmongoosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-24579194838099961952020-01-27T01:59:16.897+00:002020-01-27T01:59:16.897+00:00Good idea Mr mongoose. Stan was the reason many of...Good idea Mr mongoose. Stan was the reason many of us went the Fawkes' site, and he owes a debt to Stan.<br /><br />So long as this blog remains up we have the Mr I canon, but the Stanislav work needs to be preserved for history, as well as literature. Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-6591854529958704262020-01-27T01:26:24.007+00:002020-01-27T01:26:24.007+00:00I think, folks, that most of stanislav appeared on...I think, folks, that most of stanislav appeared on the Fawkes House of Ruin, and very possibly before the comments were migrated to disqus. It might be possible to search disqus - indeed, I am pretty sure that it would be - but we (probably) need to know the commenting engine used before the change if the task is to be properly addressed. Alas, I do not recall very clearly but I am pretty sure that it went 'stanislav, a young polish plumber [-] said'. And this indicates the normal blogspot engine that we use here (but don't hold my feet to the fire on that). I am happy to look into it; it won;t take but a minute or two to know where we are.<br /><br />It might even be possible to ask Mr Fawkes to help. The otherwise useless bastard should made to be good for something.mongoosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-64615167235321167172020-01-26T23:24:36.690+00:002020-01-26T23:24:36.690+00:00Mr Verge, it is probably there, somewhere in the s...Mr Verge, it is probably there, somewhere in the sub-structure, to be exhumed by digital archeologists in the distant future. God knows what they will make of us and our time...SGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-90563287661323339562020-01-26T17:46:13.398+00:002020-01-26T17:46:13.398+00:00Amongst many things, I owe Mr Ishmael for his acco...Amongst many things, I owe Mr Ishmael for his account of The Visit of the Piano Tuner. Mr Raft was rolling on the floor, weeping with laughter, assuring me that yes, piano tuners all turn up and more or less accuse the householder of being tone-deaf piano abusers. And then they charge for it. <br /><br />I do think that his writing - and he was always experimenting with odd voices in other platforms - is a unique and complex body which could only emerge in the electrical cabaret of the internet.Woman on a Rafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08897415591130901416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-28040693075760381752020-01-26T12:03:28.085+00:002020-01-26T12:03:28.085+00:00Actually we are on the same page, Mr Mike, torn be...Actually we are on the same page, Mr Mike, torn between respect for Mr Ishmael's reluctance and archivist enthusiasm. All I can find at present, Mr SG, is an old meta-blog someone pulled together ("Stanislav's Rants" on a blogspot called aplumberslogic) which seems to collect an array of posts from order-order between 2007 and 2009, roughly. Nothing else. I hedged against webloss about 10 years ago and printed out what ended up as 2 crammed ring-binders' worth, hundreds of pages, so I can only assume the plumberslogic selection is a small percentage of what was available. I dipped in last night and laughed indecently hard at a couple of random pages (Gordon Brown's visit to the Vatican, and the visit to Schloss Stanislav of old friends with a camper van.) Speaking of Gordon Bruin, just the phrase "drywank jawdrop" is enough to set me off.<br /><br />And thank you, Mrs WOAR, for agreeing to help keep this circle unclosed.<br /><br />v./<br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-33700973990950703642020-01-26T00:07:44.483+00:002020-01-26T00:07:44.483+00:00Agreed Mr Mike - much of his material is priceless...Agreed Mr Mike - much of his material is priceless - it has kept me going through some very dark times. That said, anything placed on the Web is, I suspect, there for all time...SGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-48432432648085954332020-01-26T00:03:41.940+00:002020-01-26T00:03:41.940+00:00It has been a pleasure, a privilege and an educati...It has been a pleasure, a privilege and an education to read Mr Ishmael. <br /><br />Thank you so much for sharing him so generously with us. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Woman on a Rafthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08897415591130901416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-49542227581119605172020-01-25T23:25:16.504+00:002020-01-25T23:25:16.504+00:00Mr Verge: yes we should respect the author's w...Mr Verge: yes we should respect the author's wishes. And the temporal nature of the internet and a lot of the material. But I still feel there is a body of work here which should not disappear down a hole. Its just too good.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-43583408009812863552020-01-25T21:43:34.543+00:002020-01-25T21:43:34.543+00:00In memoriam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoFE...In memoriam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoFEy1-fyucBungalow Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-41792902540907535362020-01-25T21:40:45.735+00:002020-01-25T21:40:45.735+00:00Thank you, Mrs Ishmael for telling us, at a time w...Thank you, Mrs Ishmael for telling us, at a time when you are suffering.<br /><br />Mr Ishmael was a lighthouse of sanity and humanity, he certainly changed the way I saw and thought about things and I am deeply grateful that I has his acquaintance. I shall visit this site as a spring of his decency, wrath and utterly original humour.<br /><br />The world is a poorer place tonight and am raising a glass to the old boy.yardarmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08700165830593026578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-38513583128233458782020-01-25T19:20:43.819+00:002020-01-25T19:20:43.819+00:00Dear Mrs Ishmael, I am truly sorry to hear this sa...Dear Mrs Ishmael, I am truly sorry to hear this sad news and to know that he endured so much pain and discomfort towards the end, albeit that I am sure that he bore it with great fortitude. I shall miss his company and, in many ways, he was a good friend and wise counsel to those of us who have travelled along this road with him over the years. I suspect that you have been steeling yourself for this moment for some time, but even so, that will not have mitigated the shock and pain of loss. In time it will subside and I think that you have a very rich hinterland from which to draw solace from. In the meantime, I have tried to find an epitaph that Mr Ishmael himself might have enjoyed - from Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’:<br /><br />“Don’t let yourself forget how many doctors have died, furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others’ ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal.<br /><br />How many whole cities have met their end: Helike, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and countless others.<br /><br />And all the ones you know yourself, one after another. One who laid out another for burial, and was buried himself, and then the man who buried him - all in the same short space of time.<br /><br />In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash.<br /><br />To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint.<br /><br />Like an olive that ripens and falls.<br /><br />Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.” <br /><br />My condolences and Best Wishes to you, Harris and your wider family.<br /><br />StuartMr SGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-63853748690121613812020-01-25T19:17:57.292+00:002020-01-25T19:17:57.292+00:00I've been thinking the same thing, Mr Mike. I...I've been thinking the same thing, Mr Mike. I think I tentatively mentioned the idea of a "Best of Stanislav" once, back down the road, and our host characteristically dismissed the very notion, but I wonder...suffice to say, for now, that writers are not always the best judges of their own work, and if Mr Ishmael thought his words ephemeral, we must respectfully demur. <br /><br /><br />v./Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-55664886459746416532020-01-25T18:52:08.159+00:002020-01-25T18:52:08.159+00:00Condolences to you Mrs Ishmael and your family and...Condolences to you Mrs Ishmael and your family and all Ishmaelites. Truly a sad day. I'll miss his writing which was always something to look forward to. Thanks for taking the time to tell us and I have an inkling that that would have a wish of Mr Ishmael that we should be informed, Doug Shouldersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-23022436298374431272020-01-25T17:53:44.129+00:002020-01-25T17:53:44.129+00:00Sincere condolences, Mrs I. It was one of the ple...Sincere condolences, Mrs I. It was one of the pleasures of the day to see a new blog post and to contribute to the ensuing lively discussion. He was indeed a great man who chronicled with acute insight the madness of the world. This will be greatly missed. If there is anyway to generate a "complete works of..." I would certainly value it. Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-42216942177338532642020-01-25T17:36:31.856+00:002020-01-25T17:36:31.856+00:00Mrs Ishmael, he was superb. It is extraordinarily ...Mrs Ishmael, he was superb. It is extraordinarily generous that you have taken time so soon to come on here. What a refuge this place was and will, I also hope, continue to be. I add my condolences to those above.<br />Bungalow Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-64610864723652970882020-01-25T17:07:55.033+00:002020-01-25T17:07:55.033+00:00Sad news indeed, Mrs I. My condolences to you all ...Sad news indeed, Mrs I. My condolences to you all - family and friends alikemongoosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-35132188497704320762020-01-25T14:07:01.659+00:002020-01-25T14:07:01.659+00:00Thank you, Mr inmate and Mr verge. Yes, the Stanis...Thank you, Mr inmate and Mr verge. Yes, the Stanislav papers were touched with genius - and incredibly funny.He did regret losing the Stanislav voice, but he poured himself into Ishmael.Mrs Ishmaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-73273935410358759202020-01-25T12:24:13.160+00:002020-01-25T12:24:13.160+00:00Thank you, Mrs Ishmael, for taking the time to sh...Thank you, Mrs Ishmael, for taking the time to share this heartbreaking news. The humility you mention was both admirable and misplaced. If his posts here were top-notch (and they were) the Stanislav papers are touched with genius. <br /><br />"Mourned by friends you've never met" - amen to that.<br /><br />v./Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-29385988389032820362020-01-25T12:22:05.286+00:002020-01-25T12:22:05.286+00:00Condolences Mrs Ishmael, indeed he was a great man...Condolences Mrs Ishmael, indeed he was a great man.inmatenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-30731890078648462612020-01-25T09:58:28.537+00:002020-01-25T09:58:28.537+00:00Thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes, Ishma...Thank you for your kind thoughts and wishes, Ishmaelites.<br /> It is my sad duty to inform you that Mr ishmael passed away on Thursday night at 10:00 p.m., at home in bed, holding my hand and with Harris close by, just as he wanted.At his specific instructions, there will be no funeral or service, just a simple cremation in Inverness.<br />It is a great comfort to know that despite dreadful illness and pain, his mind was as sharp and clear as ever and that he was still writing to you almost until the end. He was preparing a final post for you, which I will put on the blog when I am able.<br />I wish you well, Ishmaelites, and hope that you will continue to cluster here, telling tales of Ruin, under the good stewardship of Mrs woman on a raft.<br />We all know that it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have known that great man. He never thought he was a great man - he was far too humble for that.Mrs Ishmaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-82469218052058721832020-01-24T21:50:28.164+00:002020-01-24T21:50:28.164+00:00Gracious, of course, Mrs I. Wishing strength to yo...Gracious, of course, Mrs I. Wishing strength to you both.Bungalow Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-84813313439502873262020-01-24T05:08:26.595+00:002020-01-24T05:08:26.595+00:00Best wishes Mr I. Looking forward to a speedy rec...Best wishes Mr I. Looking forward to a speedy recovery. Thank you Mrs I for keeping us informed.Mikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6065998731267025499.post-51391988873843057122020-01-24T01:02:27.991+00:002020-01-24T01:02:27.991+00:00Thank-you, Mrs I. My best wishes to him, and to yo...Thank-you, Mrs I. My best wishes to him, and to you too.mongoosenoreply@blogger.com