Reading Althouse, I came across the following line from Horace's Odes which I looked up:
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country.
According to the folks at Wikipedia, it was turned into a toast by English students in the 19th century:
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, sed dulcius pro patria vivere, et dulcissimum pro patria bibere. Ergo, bibamus pro salute patriae.
It is sweet to die for the homeland, but it is sweeter to live for the homeland, and the sweetest to drink for it. Therefore, let us drink to the health of the homeland.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Power of Productivity
David Brooks just referenced William W. Lewis' unbelievable study in his latest op-ed piece about the rise of Lou Dobbs-style populism. Lewis spent the last ten years of his career at McKinsey studying ten different countries and what contributes to their economic power. With clear writing and amazing statistics, he demonstrates the fundamental strength of the U.S. economy. While a few other countries have one or two cutting edge industries, only the U.S. has a wide foundation of productivity across almost all industries.
That is why the average income in Mississippi is higher than Sweeden. Americans certainly aren't the smartest people in the world. And our primary public education is an embarrassment. But when it comes to allowing free markets to work across industries, America still manages to lead the world.
That is why the average income in Mississippi is higher than Sweeden. Americans certainly aren't the smartest people in the world. And our primary public education is an embarrassment. But when it comes to allowing free markets to work across industries, America still manages to lead the world.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Darjeeling Limited
What better topic for post number two than to comment on Wes Anderson's latest film, The Darjeeling Limited. After an ultra-stylized offering with The Life Aquatic that was little enjoyed by any but die-hard Anderson fans, he has responded with an incredibly enjoyable film. And as you would expect with Anderson, it has all the same elements of joy mixed with melancholy, family struggles, alienation, and searching for love.
Schwartzmen is the best that I've seen him since Rushmore, which is not setting the bar terribly high, of course. (Hopefully he will get that monkey off his back and start kicking out some of the great performances that everyone was hoping for from such a talented young actor.) I thought he played his role almost pitch perfect - a self-centered, prep-school dilettante, he is involved in an unhealthy relationship with Natalie Portman in the short, Hotel Chevalier - both characters manipulating each other, but Portman clearly has hand in the relationship. After meeting up with his older brothers in India, he remains the self-centered manipulator. But he accurately fills the youngest brother role and his character wanes behind the clashing personalities of Wilson and Brody.
Brody gives the best performance of the movie, in my opinion. The middle brother everyman who is suffocating in his life at home and wants to run away from wife and expected child, but is paralyzed by fear. It is great to see his personality slowly get forced back to life by the dynamic of reuniting with his brothers and their journey together.
Owen Wilson plays Owen Wilson again, which is exactly what I want. As others have already commented, there is plenty of life-meets-art irony as Wilson's character, Francis, is trying to put his life back together after a thwarted suicide attempt. The movie opened a month or two after Wilson's own suicide attempt.
Anjelica Huston delivers an incredible performance in five minutes of screen time. She reminded me exactly of a hard-driving matriarch from a wealthy Texas family that I know. While Texas probably had nothing to do with the character in the move, that is where Wes Anderson comes from, and he seems to have written my friend's mother into the role.
Bill Murray is incredible in a 30 second cameo. How happy am I that Murray and Anderson met.
The movie remains a standard Anderson flick, of course. If you enjoy his quirky, character based movies with great soundtracks and the standard set-scenes - long close-ups of lead characters staring into the screen, slow-motion action sequences set to '60s British rock, and loaded with endearing and maddening dialogue, then you will enjoy Darjeeling.
Schwartzmen is the best that I've seen him since Rushmore, which is not setting the bar terribly high, of course. (Hopefully he will get that monkey off his back and start kicking out some of the great performances that everyone was hoping for from such a talented young actor.) I thought he played his role almost pitch perfect - a self-centered, prep-school dilettante, he is involved in an unhealthy relationship with Natalie Portman in the short, Hotel Chevalier - both characters manipulating each other, but Portman clearly has hand in the relationship. After meeting up with his older brothers in India, he remains the self-centered manipulator. But he accurately fills the youngest brother role and his character wanes behind the clashing personalities of Wilson and Brody.
Brody gives the best performance of the movie, in my opinion. The middle brother everyman who is suffocating in his life at home and wants to run away from wife and expected child, but is paralyzed by fear. It is great to see his personality slowly get forced back to life by the dynamic of reuniting with his brothers and their journey together.
Owen Wilson plays Owen Wilson again, which is exactly what I want. As others have already commented, there is plenty of life-meets-art irony as Wilson's character, Francis, is trying to put his life back together after a thwarted suicide attempt. The movie opened a month or two after Wilson's own suicide attempt.
Anjelica Huston delivers an incredible performance in five minutes of screen time. She reminded me exactly of a hard-driving matriarch from a wealthy Texas family that I know. While Texas probably had nothing to do with the character in the move, that is where Wes Anderson comes from, and he seems to have written my friend's mother into the role.
Bill Murray is incredible in a 30 second cameo. How happy am I that Murray and Anderson met.
The movie remains a standard Anderson flick, of course. If you enjoy his quirky, character based movies with great soundtracks and the standard set-scenes - long close-ups of lead characters staring into the screen, slow-motion action sequences set to '60s British rock, and loaded with endearing and maddening dialogue, then you will enjoy Darjeeling.
Seaching for Good Books
One of the purposes of firing up a blog is to broaden my conversation. One of the first things I would love to do is get the names of some new books to be reading. Following is a short list of recent books that I have loved, followed by some recent books I have read. As I build the blog, if anyone ever comes back to this first post, I would love to receive comments and suggestions on new books to pick up.
Recent Books I Loved:
Blue at the Mizzen, Patrick O'Brien - geek reading for 19th century enthusiasts, I already miss Aubrey and Maturin, the lead characters through O'Brien's long series
The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson - the three book series was long, but Stephenson keeps the story going and the journey is incredible; after reading Cryptonomicon, I had to tackle this series
Freddy and Fredericka, Mark Helprin - Helprin throws away better prose in his grocery lists than 90% of novels I have ever read; light story, amazing writing
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini - how could I resist a book that was making all my friends cry; a painful and beautiful book
Recent Books I Read and Enjoyed:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein - ten years of reading Instapundit and I finally started reading his science fiction recommendations; guilty pleasure, good story
Pastoralia, George Saunders - a book of short stories by a gifted writer, thoughtful and melancholy while maintaining a strain of humor
The Hidden Face of God, Gerald Schroeder - non-fiction, a brilliant professor who breaks down and explains the workings of everything from black holes to quark theory to mitosis, and all very easy to read and understand
Books on My Shelf Waiting for Me:
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky - a novel written by a concentration camp prisoner in France, Nemirovsky did not survive the camp and the suite is incomplete, but her work amazingly was discovered 60 years later; even if the book is no good, her life will eventually be an amazing story
Under the Banner of Heaven, John Krakauer - nonfiction by a skilled writer, it is surprisingly difficult to read the abuse of faith by the FLDS sect to enslave and abuse the women in their culture, half-way through, and slow going
Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI - pretty laborious reading, through a quarter of it, a lot of long, winding passages that neither illuminate mystery nor provide detail or knowledge on new material, I may not complete this one
If the above strike any chords with you and remind you of your reading, then by all means, make some suggestions.
Recent Books I Loved:
Blue at the Mizzen, Patrick O'Brien - geek reading for 19th century enthusiasts, I already miss Aubrey and Maturin, the lead characters through O'Brien's long series
The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson - the three book series was long, but Stephenson keeps the story going and the journey is incredible; after reading Cryptonomicon, I had to tackle this series
Freddy and Fredericka, Mark Helprin - Helprin throws away better prose in his grocery lists than 90% of novels I have ever read; light story, amazing writing
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini - how could I resist a book that was making all my friends cry; a painful and beautiful book
Recent Books I Read and Enjoyed:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein - ten years of reading Instapundit and I finally started reading his science fiction recommendations; guilty pleasure, good story
Pastoralia, George Saunders - a book of short stories by a gifted writer, thoughtful and melancholy while maintaining a strain of humor
The Hidden Face of God, Gerald Schroeder - non-fiction, a brilliant professor who breaks down and explains the workings of everything from black holes to quark theory to mitosis, and all very easy to read and understand
Books on My Shelf Waiting for Me:
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky - a novel written by a concentration camp prisoner in France, Nemirovsky did not survive the camp and the suite is incomplete, but her work amazingly was discovered 60 years later; even if the book is no good, her life will eventually be an amazing story
Under the Banner of Heaven, John Krakauer - nonfiction by a skilled writer, it is surprisingly difficult to read the abuse of faith by the FLDS sect to enslave and abuse the women in their culture, half-way through, and slow going
Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI - pretty laborious reading, through a quarter of it, a lot of long, winding passages that neither illuminate mystery nor provide detail or knowledge on new material, I may not complete this one
If the above strike any chords with you and remind you of your reading, then by all means, make some suggestions.
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