The Hollow Men

A Few Good Hours

Ned — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:24:11 +0000

Over the last few weeks, I viewed the films Persepolis and Sweetland. I would highly recommend them both. They are very different films but both excellently conceived and executed lower budget projects. Both films are also slightly and refreshingly understated by today’s standards. I also just finished Rebecca Solnit’s “River of Shadows: Eadward Mubridge and the Technological Wild West” which is a tremendous whirlwind of a cultural/political/art history narrative. I’m also still hoping that J.E. will post some of those sketches he was doing.

Beckett Masen Aspengren Shotts

Shotts — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:38:40 +0000

Thanks to all of you for the messages of good words and congratulations on the arrival of our new son! He is a dozen days old now, and is doing well, gaining his birth weight back and charming us completely. I look forward to introducing him to the Hollow Men. Beckett was born punctually on his due date, August 1, at 11:32 pm. He weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and measured 19 and 3/4 inches.

Jen and I are really happy, and Jen is recovering well after what was a long labor. After the weekend at the hospital, we had a great few days here at home with Beckett and my parents, who were a terrific help. Then we went to the Aspengren lake house for five restful days, to recuperate a bit, bid my parents farewell, watch some Olympics, and get some fresh air off the water. We’re now back at home and happy to be here, the three of us.

ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN 1919 - 2008

Ned — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:49:45 +0000

Alexander Solzhenitsyn died last week passing quietly with less recognition in the news than Paris Hilton’s campaign ad. Having read two of his works, Day in the Life of…, The First Circle, as well as some essays, in particular A World Split Apart, which was an address given at Harvard, it is my opinion he is one of the wisest and most prophetic voices of the last and current century.

Having fallen from being a “fire-breathing Communist” he turned to belief in a Capitalist society, but later turned to God believing Capitalism too had its flaws. In his Harvard address, he criticized what he said Americans promoted as “family morality” saying that, “The family is an ethical dead end.” What he meant by this is what I believe Jesus meant when he said, “What reward should you get for loving those who love you? Do not even the tax collectors and pagans do this?” and what Robert Wright intends to draw our attention to when he quotes Graham Greene’s whiskey priest in the Power and the Glory at the beginning of the Moral Animal, ” ‘This was the love he should have felt for every soul in the world: all the fear and the wish to save concentrated unjustly on one child. He began to weep; it was as if he had to watch her from the shore drown slowly because he had forgotten how to swim. He thought: this is what I should feel all the time for everyone…’ ” or what Darwin means when he says: “As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.”

And though I do not agree with all of his sentiments, especially on Vietnam, Solzhenitsyn also addressed, in his Harvard speach entitled “A World Split Apart”, what he referred to as the west’s “persisting blindness of superiority” and their “incomprehension of the essence of other worlds”. This address given in 1978 could not be more prophetic in a post 9/11 world. He states that haste and superficiality are the psychological diseases of modern western man. Is this not prophetic too?

He goes on to say this, “We cannot avoid reassessing the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man’s life and society’s activities should be ruled by material expansion above all else? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual life?” Harvard attendees took his remarks as an attack on the western way of life, but that cannot change what Solzhenitsyn summed up in his most famous comment made at his Nobel address. “One word shall fell the world…truth.” He had encouraged Russians to speak the truth about Stalin Russia and he continued to speak the truth as he saw it until he died. Apparently the Harvard critics in the crowd were not comfortable with their own motto, “veritas”.

This is also a segment directly quoted:
If humanism were right in declaring that man is born only to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot be unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one’s life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President’s performance be reduced to the question how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline. Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism.

And he ends with this:
If the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge: We shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era.

This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but — upward.

38 Weeks Plus

Shotts — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:08:41 +0000

Just a brief update from Minneapolis: The baby is now over 38 weeks, which means we are at full term, and could really go anytime! It’s exciting, as you can imagine, having the bags packed, the car seat installed, and more or less trying to be at the ready. As some of you know, the baby was in breech position for a while, and Jen and I had to try all kinds of things–tilting Jen on an ironing board, playing music, singing, Chinese medicine, seeing a chiropractor….–to try to coax the baby to go head down. Last Thursday, we went in to the hospital, and our OB and another doctor performed an external cephalic version (ECV) to manually move the baby into the correct head down position. It was really uncomfortable for Jen, but she was hugely courageous and strong through the procedure. Everything went so well, and now the baby is in the right position and remaining there, as far as we can know. It was a stressful week, but really joyous in the outcome, and we’re grateful for all the good vibes and energy we have from our friends, family, and our care providers! So it’s not long now, and we continue to appreciate that support from all of you!

Happy Independence Weekend

Ned — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:02:31 +0000

Sara and I took the kids to the MN Science Museum to see the Star Wars exhibit. They had a lot of models and costumes from all the films. Eliot loved it, but he was so excited still after two hours that he wouldn’t be quiet in the Omnitheater. We also went to see Kungfu Panda a few days ago which is pretty delightful. Here’s a few shots of the kids. Eliot has been into Narnia, Star Wars, and Peter Pan lately. I made the sword and shield for a party. Claire is usually, Princess Leia, Lucy, or Tinkerbell.

The Plight of the Bumblebee

Ned — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:30:48 +0000

There is an article about the Colony Collapse Disorder in the Times, here.

Jesus Week

Shotts — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:25:44 +0000

The baby is at thirty-three weeks!

ODE

Snow making morning of the darkness, that involuntary light.

Can’t you make today a praise of something more than worry,

More than indecision, more than just the sun showing up late

Again at the edges of the fallen snow, gray and purple, then finally

The sky follows blue and pink like an anxious pregnancy?

This poem may be all you will ever have control of, and even

It is a series of decisions you barely recognize as yours

Until you revise them. Look again. The sun pulses from inside

The ice. Look again. The evergreen stoops with the weight

Of the pulsing sun. Look again. Your life is without consequence.

Look again. Your life was once without consequence, and now

There are consequences. Praise them. The rushing aquatic

Beat they played for you out of a little box is beating inside

Your sleeping wife. That sound is not the rhythm wearing

Down a worry stone. Listen: it is the blood of your everlasting

Taking the shape of its vessel. The decisions you have made

And make now will outlast you. You are more alive in

The consequences you impart to your child than you are

Anywhere else. A poem is just practice.

Gol!!!

J.E. — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:58:02 +0000

So as the solstice approaches and with it the “official” beginning of summer it is time to reflect on summer goals. Since I have never left the educational schedule in my work life I still put a lot of emphasis on what I can accomplish during the summer that I wish I could do during the school year.

I’ll post my goals in the comments section — if you wish, please do the same.

Jim Janknegt

J.E. — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:31:40 +0000

I thought you artist types might enjoy this.

Here is a video of my friend Jim Janknegt that documents his progress while painting “The Rich Fool.” I have admired his work for a long time and I’m glad to see him get this kind of attention. Ned: perhaps Rejesus would be interested in your work?
You can see all the videos and photos of the finished painting at www.rejesus.uk.com.

Atonement (The Book) and Other Books and Movies, and Ideas, etc.

Ned — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:25:35 +0000

1) I have read Atonement now. The book is different than the movie, the latter part being significantly different. I feel that it is more baffling than the movie too. I’m not sure what to make of it.

I feel that McEwan is making a statement about how certain behaviors can not be made right in life. To that I agree, one can not go back and change the decisions one has made, for better or worse we are bound by time; and I think in the most catholic sense, we can not atone for such choices. But in a larger sense, I feel that we can change. We learn from our mistakes, and we are changed by regret. I think there is something in this, maybe not equal to atonement, but very valuable nonetheless.

The ending of the book (radically more complex than the movie) confused me. SPOIILER ALERT: Briony’s character does not seem to be aware that her exposing of the rape and shaming others will not, in fact, bring about any kind of resolution or “atonement” for her own earlier actions. This is sad if nothing else.

But then, with the references to an author being like God and that there can be no atonement for God or authors because they can bend reality however they want to, I sort of lost him and what he was trying to say about life or fiction or atonement. The book certainly leaves your thoughts running in circles as to what fiction is and what a story is.

2) I also recently finished John Berger’s new book of essays. The essays are more political than many of his past and there is less about art. I think I prefer his book Shape of a Pocket. But I am glad to have read these new essays, especially a couple of them.

3) I am now in the middle of two books, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright, and The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. (winner of the 1978 National Book Award), which is a fantasy influneced by Chaucer, Milton, and other cultural fables and myths.

As far as the Wright book goes I still think, as I did with the Moral Animal, that he takes too long developing his arguments, but I am enjoying it. It is interesting that he brings up some ideas of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the somewhat nonconventional Catholic monk/paleontologist/anthropologist who I happened to be reading when I was reading the Moral Animal. He focuses especially on de Chardin’s idea of society as a brain or organism and the more we unite and connect, the more we resemble the evolution of a complex organism. Maybe this simply prooves deChardin’s famous concept that “everything that rises, must converge.” Of course, he dismisses de Chardin’s mystical aspects. I appreciate the breadth of Wright’s writing, all of the sources he brings in.

I should have time to read this week (as Sara is leaving for a weekend with her sisters) but not much, since I need to be painting my ass off.

4) Next on my list is River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit, just in case anybody actually reads this far into my post.

5) I also read an interesting article about Dark Energy and Dark Matter in the New York Times on Tuesday.

6) And it looks like it is shaping up to be Obama. Hope he picks a good running partner.

7) I saw the Golden Compass. The actress they chose for Lyra was great, but the movie actually felt lighter, less dark and less urgent than the book. It will be interesting to see if they make the next two.

I also managed to see Prince Caspian, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a scene where they attack Prince Miraz’s castle that is really visually rich and seems to spell out a subtle lesson of pre-emptive warfare that is relevant to our times. The movie is perhaps almost embarrassingly satisfying, but maybe I didn’t mind that so much in this instance. I was happy just having fun.

9) Of course, I felt a little guilty. Eliot and I are reading the Narnia series together, and he has been swinging a sword and shield I made for him for a costume party, pretending to be Peter the knight. So when he discovered I had seen the movie, he was full of questions about Peter… and about when he gets to see it…

10) Just thought this post was long enough to constitute ten items.

Protected: So much (for) gratitude….

Tobias — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:03:21 +0000

There will be Blood, part deux

Pete — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:17:17 +0000

OK, so I am a little late to weigh in on the old discussion, so I thought I might renew it as I have finally been able to take this great movie in. I have to admit that I enjoyed it thoroughly and that it has haunted my thoughts the last couple of days (and, perhaps most embarrassingly, my bad version of DDL’s charater’s accent has been haunting Amanda since I saw it. I think we may have to rename our dog, Ernie as “H.W.”. Anyway, some points of interest for me- Mandy pointed out that the preacher was played by the angst-ridden teen from Little Miss Sunshine. She also pointed out the quite obvious and symbolic notion that where did the minister (term used loosely) come to get big oil’s help at the end? He was in the gutter. Sure it was a more oplulant gutter, but a gutter nevertheless. Knowing what he was and whata he represented the preacher pulled Plainview from the gutter to get what he wanted. Interesting to me was the character of Daniel Plainview- almost as though he is birthed from a pit at the beginning of the movie, I think he was intriging. There are some hints in the film as to his background, but I don’t think that it is all that important. I think there are some traits of anti-social personality here as well as a complete lack of social understanding, almost to an Asperger’s degree. I think he was intentionally played with a relatively flat array of personality. He is almost more a thing, than a person. A crazy thing, made most apparant in scenes like the one where he tells the other oilman that he is going to “cut his throat”. I don’t think one must interpret this movie in the most general of ways- that all oil industry is bad or that all religion is fake or full of lies. I think this movie is about a lot of things, a social commentary and cautionary tale about the lies we tell others and ourselves to mask our greed from ourselves and others, to be wary of the actual cost of things, the way that complex issues vibrate Hud’s “Web of Life”. Sometimes the things we hold most near and dear to us are the things that blind us the most to their effect on the systems they are connected to. I feel as though the metamessage is more about taking a critical perspective about our involvement in things, whether that be our church’s politics, our government’s foriegn policies, our own interactions with others, etc. Mandy watched it the day after I saw it and I joined her about halfway through. I have to admit the music, the mood, etc - Brilliant; I couldn’t take my eyes off of the film.

Indiana Jones

Ned — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:41:22 +0000

There’s an endearing article on the Jones chronicles in the Times today, not as important as Rauschenberg perhaps as J.E. has helped make evident, but diverting.

Cllick here for the Jones Article.

Rauschenberg 1926 - 2008

Ned — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:31:41 +0000

Robert Rauschenberg is dead. There is a good article at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Unique perspective?

Pete — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:21:20 +0000

I was listening to a speech by Michelle Obama yesterday afternoon and had a couple of thoughts. I hadn’t really thought much about this until yesterday, but I think Barrack is what this country needs in this era because of the fact that he probably has the best perspective of how economic policies affect the world as his grandmother still lives in Africa. Maybe, this isn’t “american” (maybe also read “isolationist”) enough for the average American who perhaps believes in something other than America, a part of the global system. I think this brings us to an interesting crossroads in history, a chance to go on without much regard to how our politics affect others in the world, an arrogance and ignorance, or a chance to choose a new, different path that would recognize that this big, spinning rock has moved forward into a new reality.

Green

Ned — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:35:04 +0000

There’s a really good article about green movements and issues in the Sunday Times. I think some of the things mentioned in the article could be applied in other areas of the country and world, like Eau Claire, WI. Click to the link.

Protected: Remix Revenge

Tobias — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:50:02 +0000

YouToby YouTube

Tobias — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:06:55 +0000

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Find out more about this, here.

Ned is Right…

Tobias — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:43:57 +0000

…this new Devotchka album is fantastic, amongst many of Ned’s rightnesses. Here’s three tracks I enjoyed in the time I’ve had to listen.

01 Devotchka | The Clockwise Witness
02 Devotchka | Transliterator
03 Devotchka | New World

On with the Ned theme. Here’s another artist I heard this week and it totally sounded like an artist Ned would enjoy the most of all of us. I enjoy it quite a bit too, but Ned can surpass us and all of our enthusiasms….

04 Akron/Family | Ed Is A Portal
05 Akron/Family | Lake Song/New Ceremonial Music For Moms
06 Akron/Family | There’s So Many Colors

Remerge Music Thursday

Tobias — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:12:27 +0000

Good afternoon, gents (and ladies). Hope all is going well for everyone and that Spring is finally arriving. Maybe Summer for Texas? Work has been really busy for me in the month of March, and I anticipate it continuing through May. I think about you all often….

Here’s a few tunes that have accompanied me during the long hours the past week. As I was listening I thought about jumping back into Music Thursday and sharing these with everyone.

Next stop, Devotkcha. Which I haven’t grabbed yet — thanks for the heads-up, Ned!

Asps. Very Dangerous. You Go First.

Tobias — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:03:43 +0000

You guys might have heard, the first Indiana Jones movie in 19 years is coming out this Memorial Day weekend. So, Steph and I have devised an equation.

Memorial Day + Kansas City + HM and their wives + Indiana Jones + (optional beer & pipes) = a Memorable Weekend

Are you in or are you out? Let us know. Discuss below.

Crickets

Shotts — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 15:23:01 +0000

I have to say, it has been about as quiet as it has ever been on the HM site. J.E. and I seem to be keeping some nominal chatter, but I haven’t seen Toby or Peters here for quite a while. That seems surprising considering all that has been going on the last few weeks: the Democratic primaries and a seeming turn this last week for Hilary Clinton; John McCain clinching the Republican nomination and so quickly seeking Bush’s endorsement; the Academy Awards, with No Country for Old Men as Best Picture; a new trailer out for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; the intriguing basketball rivalry between Kansas and Kansas State and high hopes going into the NCAA tournament; Ned has a new painting posted; there’s a U2 movie out in 3D; a Graywolf poetry title (Mary Jo Bang’s Elegy) just won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry; Jen and I had a great experience with our first ultrasound this past week, with everything looking good and healthy so far; making some plans for the spring or summer; and just about anything and everything else that might be going on.In any case, I hope the silence means you’re all doing well.

New Painting

Ned — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:44:53 +0000

I have a new painting up on my website under “For Walls” called Reclamation about the connection of science to art through curiosity and play. I suppose it is also about scale and the imagination. Check it out www.nedgannon.com

Ch-Ch-Change

J.E. — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:22:56 +0000

Protected: There Will Be Blood

Shotts — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:20:17 +0000