Antiques

I missed or skipped or forgot something about the New Poems (1907, 1908) of Rainer Maria Rilke during my last attempt on them. They demonstrate that Rilke is an extraordinary story-teller. On the one hand, this is a minor element in Rilke’s work; on the other he is surprisingly good at it. Reading about Rilke, about the New Poems, I do not remember seeing anyone emphasize it. So I will.The New Poems are sometimes described as “thing poems,” since many or perhaps all of the poems are about isolated objects, something outside of the poet, a statue or a flower or – this broadens the concept of a thing – a story. Classical Greek stories like Orpheus and Eurydice, or Biblical stories like the death of Moses or the Prodigal Son, or in one case Shakespeare, The Tempest. I am actually wandering away from the New Poems, into other books and “uncollected” and “unpublished” poems, all of which I read in Edward Snow’s The Poetry of Rilke (2009).Orpheus, Eurydice, HermesThis was the souls’ strange mine.Like silent silver ore they wanderedthrough its dark like veins. Between rootsthe blood welled up that makes its way to men,and it looked hard as porphyry in the dark.Nothing else was red.The New Poems are typically short, formal, and rhymed. The story poems are long (two pages, even three) and irregular in stanza and meter. So after another stanza about the rocks, and the “unreal forest,” and “the pale stripe of a single path,” the characters in the title appear: “And up this single path they came.”If it was not clear before it is now - the word “up” does so much work – that the strange mine is the path to and from the underworld. The blood that is pumped through the rock up to mankind is Rilke’s invention, as far as I know. These strange original touches are Rilke’s claim to the stories, although it is exactly the familiarity of the tales that make them objective “things.”Orpheus is in front, “His stride devour[ing] the path in huge mouthfuls \ without slowing to chew,” yet desperate for some sign that the Eurydice is following – “his hearing, like an odor, lagged behind.” It for some reason seems logical to me that the center of the story should be Orpheus’s fatal impatience, the reason he looked back. Rilke is not logical and not me; he understands how Eurydice, guided up the path at the side of Hermes, is more interesting.Eurydice, after all, died, and is being led back from the dead. She was in herself. And her having diedfilled her like abundance.Like a fruit ripe with sweetness and nightshe was filled with her great death,which was so new that she understood nothing.I suppose we have all read enough mythical stories to know that Orpheus was mistaken to want to seek Eurydice after death. She has is merging with the world spirit of Lucretius or the Will of Schopenhauer. She was already root.And then without warningthe god stopped her and with pain in his voiceuttered the words: He has turned around-,she didn’t understand, and answered softly: Who?And of course now the point of view returns to Orpheus as he watches Eurydice turn and descend. Eurydice’s single word reply seems sublime to me. The line about Hermes, the sole fragment of characterization he gets, is also surprising – he was rooting for Orpheus, apparently.Who knows if I captured the effect here. I will try another Rilke story tomorrow.

Up for bid on eBay is this fun patch, which resemebles the sign that hung at 9114 South Central, Los Angeles--the adresss of Fred Sanford's TV Junkyard. The seller says, "So many memories lay in our television hearts from this show. From Fred's 'Comin' to join you Elizabeth' heart attacks to Esther's Fish Eye'd Foolin to Grady's Good Goobilee Goop! The seller contiues, "Patch is a faded pea green with white border. Just like the sign on the show, minus the rust stains... You can add them yourself with a lil brown paint if you wish. Patch would look awesome on a hat, shirt, or any garment to show your a proud Sanford and Son Fan!" To own the patch, click the link provided and place your winning bid.

The 4m-high effigy is centrepiece of Yanyu pub, Chinese for ‘have a fling’ It features a female Buddha sitting on lap of a male Buddha in lotus position It is in Lijiang city, famed as romantic heartland where tourists flock for love Owner says it is called ‘Happy Buddha’ and has origins in Tibetan Buddhism But critics say it blasphemes religion’s deities and insults Chinese heritage By Matt Blake A bar owner in China who erected a statue of two Buddhas locked in a passionate embrace has been ordered to take it down after local officials deemed it too sexy for public display. The four-metre high effigy is the centrepiece of Yanyu pub - meaning ‘to have a fling’ in Chinese - in Lijiang city and features a female Buddha sitting on the lap of a male Buddha in the lotus position. Lijiang, in southwestern Yunnan Province, is one of the most popular tourist cities in China and is famed as the region’s romantic heartland where thousands flock each year in the hope of finding love. But the sculpture has come under fire from local officials and internet trolls who claim it blasphemes the religion’s deities and insults Chinese heritage. Offensive? The four-metre high effigy is the centrepiece of Yanyu pub - meaning ‘to have a fling’ in Chinese - in the tourist city of Lijiang and features a female Buddha sitting on the lap of a male Buddha in the lotus position The owner of the bar, who identified himself only as Mr Lin, defended the multi-million-Yuan sculpture, claiming it is a wholesome expression of Tibetan Buddhism and should not be viewed in any other context. ‘The name of the Buddha is Happy Buddha originating from Tibetan Buddhism,’ he said. ‘The male Buddha represents law, the female Buddha represents intelligence. ‘It is inappropriate to look at the statue in a worldly way.’ Wholesome? The owner of the bar, who identified himself only as Mr Lin, defended the multi-million-Yuan sculpture, claiming it is a wholesome expression of Tibetan Buddhism Controversy: It has come under fire from local officials and internet trolls who claim it blasphemes the religion’s deities And Mr Lin says the Buddha is in keeping with the city’s public persona and will bring good luck in love and romance. He bought the statue from an Indian manufacturer and had it shipped to the Yanyu in April this year. But it proved controversial from the outset, with criticism taking root on social networking sites. One user wrote: ‘It is blaspheming deities. The boss will invite nemesis and it is only a matter of time.’ Another added: ‘They will be punished in the end for destroying Chinese traditional beliefs to such an extent.’

A Cambodian composer has revealed the sound of an ancient harp which has gone unheard for more than eight centuries. The pin harp is shown being played by maidens in the stone reliefs on the walls of the Angkor Wat temple complex. It lends its name to pinpeat orchestras, which perform ceremonial music of the royal courts and temples in Cambodia. Archaeology lecturer Preap Chanmara says unlike the other orchestra instruments - cymbals, xylophones, flutes and drums - the pin harp has been lost. “We know that there are many music instruments on the sculptures - some even dating back to the time before Angkor Era: the 7th century to the 13th century,” he said. “There were many temples and sculptures back then, so there were also many different kinds of music instruments. “Some are still being used today, whereas some others were lost.” Audio: Cambodian researchers, musicians revive ancient harp (ABC News) Composer Him Sophy says the puzzle of Cambodia’s missing harp had always haunted him. “I [want] enthusiastically to know what and why it disappeared,” he said. “[On] the other side, as a composer, I love harp very much - all of my compositions I use harp, even for my symphony.” Using the carvings and other harps as a blueprint, Him Sophy joined a French researcher and musician Keo Sonan Kavei in recreating the small boat-like instrument using animal hide and silk string. Keo Sonan Kavei says making the harp left him with “two types of happiness”. “I was worried as to whether or not it could be played,” he said. “Secondly, I was worried as to whether or not somebody before me has made it before. The only person to play the harp so far has been Keo Sonan Kavei’s 13-year-old daughter, Sereyroth. “When she started to learn it, I could see that she was talented,” he said. “There are five generations of musicians in my family - when it was my turn, I had to rediscover something that was once lost and update it so that the world can see Cambodia’s ancient music instruments. “We’re just putting it back out in the world.” With arts, music and dance almost destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime, the effort to revive Cambodia’s traditional music has been embraced by international arts bodies, culminating in the festival Season of Cambodia this month in New York. Him Sophy says while no one knows how exactly to play the pin harp or what it should sound like, its value lies in what it represents - and the future compositions it will inspire. “Now we not only revive music during the Khmer Rouge, we revive since the Angkor period,” he said. “For 300 years that [empire] controlled the whole of South-East Asia and now we are building our culture also, that is the pride of Cambodia and the pride of the world. “That is the value of what we are creating.”

There are two types of Hula dance. just like there is two types of American Indian art. That would be Pre-Western world and Post-Western world.The Pre-Western world Hula was an integral tradition of a great cultural, spiritual and social significance. (Again…just like Pre-Western Native American Indian art.) The Post-Western Hula is a way for American women to discover their hips. Or to look coy. Or to ham it up for their hubby. Or, now that I think of it…a way to be slightly offensive to a culture which spread from Tahiti to New Zealand, with hula hotspots in Hawaii, Somoa, Tonga and other locales.The Post-Western world American Indian art was produced for sale, at slave wages, by people transitioned to reservations in need of a survival income.Okay…factual but unfortunate history lesson out of the way. No, wait. It gets worse.When Protestant missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian islands, they immediately found the traditional dance obscene. First step of learning the Hula? BAN it. By the time of our Civil War, the missionaries had managed to nearly stamp out the Hula on the islands, and believe it or not, LICENSED it so when it occurred in public, it was closely monitored. The missionaries didn't know about, or didn't believe in, or didn't enjoy women's hips. Especially women's hips which were apparently enjoying themselves. It is pretty hard not to smile when either watching or dancing the hula. The hula was hot. The hula was Shakira on a good day.(According to Wiki, the missionaries allowed the dance to continue in their OWN little Christian hovels, but denied it to the natives. That too is an old story. )Am I being too harsh? Nope. The church has a history of banning hip-dances. You want a little "Hippy, Hippy Shake?" Well…okay. But by those cute mop-top Beatles, not Chan Romero, the "ethnically outside" Spanish and Apache man who wrote it. The real, original, deeply rooted cultural dance known as the hula signifies nature, an ocean wave, a yearning, and a whole spectrum of deep, complex meanings… but the interlopers only saw the hips. I am not sure if the cocoanut breast covering now seen at vacation resorts was part of the original dance, but I don't have to look it up. I don't think so. Is there ANYTHING good to say about the history of the Hula? Yes. Hula Hoops. The recent fitness craze. The sound of the grass skirts and the brief glimpses hinting at what is within. And again…the smiles.I collected these vintage photographs of American women doing the hula "ham it up" just to tell this story. See how an image can be worth a thousand words? So can a video. Here is Chan rocking it. Chan wasn't afraid of hips, but Ed Sulllivan was. Look up Elvis. He liked Hawaii too.Maybe one day I'll tell the story of the slide guitar and what it meant in Hawaii.Group of Vintage Snapshots of Hula, American Style. All circa 1930 - 1945 Collection Jim LindermanBROWSE AND ORDER BOOKS BY JIM LINDERMAN HERE ON BLURB.COM EBOOKS ARE ALL $5.99 EACH. PAPERBACK AND HARDCOVERS ARE MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT AVAILABLE.

Up for bid on eBay is the very first SongShare--serial number 0001--which wil be hand signed by Crystal Bowersox. The seller says, "In February of this year, Crystal Bowersox made history by becoming the 3rd artist to ever list SongShares on the New York Rock Exchange. Now, one fan has the opportunity to own a very special piece of that history. Also included is the original hand drawn artwork and lyrics for 'Dead Weight' by Crystal Bowersox...this is the ORIGINAL artwork and lyrics hand drawn by Crystal Bowersox herself!" The seller continues, "As with every other Crystal Bowersox 'Dead Weight' SongShare, share number C006-P1-0001 also includes an unreleased acoustic track of the song 'Dead Weight' as well as a one time royalty check for $1.

A lovely guest photograph by Anne Riepma, who is not only a follower of Dull Tool Dim Bulb...she is a friend."Say what you will about Instagram, but it has gotten me looking at things in a new way and I'm having lots of fun with it. I guess I'm making my own little digital footprint! I'm into decay, abandonment and rust."Sent from my iPhone Untitled (Reed's Motel) courtesy Anne Riepma

An antique Buddha idol and a well with terracotta steps have been found by villagers while digging a pond at Badaanko village in Kendrapa district, an official said today. “The 30-cm Buddha idol and the 30-feet deep well believed to be of medieval period were located while villagers were working under MGNREGA programme in the area early this week,” Kendrapara Sub-Collector Pratap Mishra said. “The Buddha idol is considerably old and its discovery has re-established that Buddhism flourished in large areas of Kendrapara under Bhaumakar dynasty,” historian Harischandra Prusti said. The place from where the idol was found is not far away from the famous Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri Buddhist heritage sites protected by Archaeological Survey Of India (ASI).

I was as game as anyone. A secret thread runs through the novelist’s work; the critic fails to uncover it; another writer succeeds. Maybe I can succeed, too. Maybe the clues to the meaning of the fictional novelist’s imaginary texts are ingeniously concealed within the actual text of “The Figure in the Carpet.”For example, maybe the novelist’s secret is that he is homosexual. Anyone ever tried that one? Or am I the first to suggest it?A couple of other possibilities: the novelist was lying (or drunk) when he suggested that his books revealed a plain-sight “figure in the carpet” Is only anyone would see it. Perhaps the novelist is kissing up to the critic (and, later, the editor of a literary magazine). Or perhaps he is teasing them, playing a prank.Another possible hidden story: the editor, when he claims to have found the solution to the novelistic puzzle, is actually lying in order to trick a woman into marrying him. He succeeds – she marries him in order to learn the secret. This may sound absurd, but I am having trouble with some recurring fuss over exactly when the characters become engaged to marry, e.g. “I subsequently grew sure that at the time he went to India, at the time of his great news from Bombay, there was no engagement whatever” (598). This must mean something; it must be part of an interpretation of the story, this attention to what looks like a peripheral question.The clue that convinced me that I was getting “The Figure in the Carpet” more or less right was actually an absence, a dog that did not bark, so to speak. It would be possible to make a long list of characteristics of the “figure,” most of them straight from the novelist. But nowhere does the critic who narrates the story give a hint of what might be in the novelist’s texts. Neither description nor scene nor a single line, not even a title. No, there is one title, The Right of Way, but the title is of the novelist’s last book, released after the critic has given up on seeing the figure, after the editor claims to have seen it.A joke, it is all just a joke, even before we get to the absurd over-reactions of the characters who do see the figure. I mean, I myself have seen such figures in the carpets of other writers. It is not such a big deal.James has created a radically uninterpretable story. Thus the necessity of the vagueness and even absence of what should be essential detail; thus the details that are included pointing towards alternative, unresolvable, stories. Vladimir Nabokov, when writing a parable of the difficulties of literary interpretation, has to write an entire 999 line poem to make his case. In the James story, character’s insists that they are reading with a Kinbotean intensity, but it is all concealed from the actual reader – of course it never exists.At three o’clock in the morning, not sleeping, remembering moreover how indispensable he [the novelist] was to Lady Jane, I stole down to the library with a candle. There wasn’t, so far as I could discover, a line of his writing in the house. (583)Now there, that turns out to be a clue.

Nepal’s archaeologists have discovered artifacts dating from the Buddha era from an excavation site at Devdaha of Rupandehi district, which is located at a distance of 20km from Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini in western Nepal. A team of Nepal’s Department of Archeology (DoA) started excavation at the Devdaha area some two years ago after archeological evidences suggested that it was the maternal home of the Buddha. The excavation at Bhawanipur began three weeks back. Walls, bricks, silver and wooden bracelets, clay utensils, butter lamps and stones are among the things discovered. Prakash Darnal, officer at the archeological department, said that findings of relics such as a bust of the Buddha, a well and the ruins of the Siddhartha palace will help prove the area’s relation with the Buddha. “Additional study and excavation are necessary to find which part of the area is the maternal home of Gautam Buddha,” he said. Out of the 14 Buddha-related areas, he said, some parts only of Kanyamai, Bhawanipur and Panditpur were unearthed so far. “We have found remains dating back to 10th, 11th and 12th centuries,” he said. The Buddha was born in 623 BC in the sacred area of Lumbini, testified by the inscription on the Asoka Pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 249 BC. Though Lumbini proper is protected as the UNESCO World Heritage Site and as one of the holiest places of one of the world’s great religions, areas around the Buddha’s birthplace remain unexplored and unprotected despite high archeological and religious importance. The items discovered form Devhaha are said to have been sent to the department for study. They will later be returned through the Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), an official said. Himal Upreti, archeology officer at the LDT, said consultations on whether the discovered antiques will be displayed in the Lumbini International Museum or kept at Devdaha will be held with the local people. Meanwhile, locals complained that the excavation site is being encroached upon and the discovered items are being stolen due to the failure of the LDT to protect the site. The LDT has only fenced the site with barbed wires. Kathmandu Post/Asia News Network