February 12, 2011

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
Abraham Lincoln


Marcus Yam for The New York Times

Wrote about Mexican Singers on the NYC Subway in December. They are now the subject of a NYT Article.



This book was excellent. I enjoyed the many maxims of war throughout:
Kadavergehorsam - corpse like obedience, blind obedience;

Marshal Foch
Mon centre cède, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.
My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking;

Napoleon
On S'engage; Et Puis, On Voit
(you engage and then you see)
One attacks, then waits to see what happens;

schwerpunkt
MEANING: noun: The point of focus; an area of concentrated effort, especially in a military operation.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Schwerpunkt (center of gravity, focal point), from schwer (weighty) + Punkt (point).



Another phrase from the book: l'esprit de l'escalier
(idiomatic) The experience of thinking of a devastating rejoinder only after leaving the scene of the debate. AKA: Staircase wit.



Noel Coward was a friend and correspondent.
Noel Coward, who told the actor Peter O'Toole (who played Lawrence in the film Lawrence of Arabia) that "If you'd been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia."

At the time Lawrence was going under the name "Shaw", and signing himself, for example in the guest book at Philip Sassoon's Port Lympne estate, as "338171 A/C Shaw", Noel Coward in a letter to him asked "May I call you 338?"



Picked this one up at the Queens Library, part of my continuing exploration of popular culture. I enjoyed other Singer/Entertainer biographies of Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Bob Dylan. They all tapped into the Zeitgeist. Sinatra did too.