Goya

El sueño de la razón produce monstruos
(The sleep of reason produces monsters)

Poem Time

As much as you can

Even if you cannot shape your life as you want it,
at least try this
as much as you can; do not debase it
in excessive contact with the world,
in the excessive movements and talk.

Do not debase it by taking it,
dragging it often and exposing it
to the daily folly
of relationships and associations,
until it becomes burdensome as an alien life.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1913)

Sesame Seeds of Similarity

I was a bit disturbed to find that Lindy McDowell and I have similar ideas.

On this post, I wrote:

Watching the characters interact on screen, would I have been able to identify
with a Celtic-supporting Bert as opposed to a Rangers-supporting Ernie?

The other day, she wrote:

With the addition of Celtic and Rangers shirts it would, of course, be fairly
easy to portray two of the show’s characters (say, Elmo and Grover) as
representative of different sides of the community.

I wrote:

How would I have reacted to a sash-wearing Big Bird sitting down to discuss his
need to march up and down the street with grouchy Oscar who stores petrol bombs
at the bottom of his trashcan?

She wrote:

But Oscar the Grouch would have to move out of his dustbin. Bearing in mind that
the action may indeed take place on the interface, the bin will be needed for
storage of petrol bombs, golf balls, paving stones and other assorted missiles
during the traditional bout of recreational rioting.

The point, of course, is not that I suspect Lindy McDowell has used my ideas. The point is that my ideas were so pedestrian, even Lindy ‘Bobby Sands Was a Suicide Bomber’ McDowell could have thunk them up.