DAILY PHOTO: Rumi Darwaza, Lucknow
Image
Reply
BOOKS: “George Bernard Shaw: A Very Short Introduction” by Christopher Wixson
George Bernard Shaw: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher WixsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – OUP
This concise guide to George Bernard Shaw is an exploration of the works of the prolific playwright and how his philosophy and life experiences influenced the stories he created. The book is arranged by periods of Shaw’s own determining, including: Unpleasant, Pleasant, Puritan, Political, Extravagant, and Farfetched. The book does mention Shaw’s novels, literary criticism, and some of his major non-literary activities, but largely in the context of the comedies, tragedies, and histories he wrote for the stage.
If you are interested the works of George Bernard Shaw and how they came to be, I’d recommend this book. It’s a quick read and offers some fascinating insights.
View all my reviews
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
“Once there came a man” by Stephen Crane [w/ Audio]
Once there came a man
Who said:
"Range me all men of the world in rows."
And instantly
There was a terrific clamor among the
people
Against being ranged in rows.
There was a loud quarrel, world-wide.
It endured for ages;
And blood was shed
By those who would not stand in rows,
And by those who pined to stand in rows.
Eventually, the man went to death, weeping.
And those who stayed in the bloody scuffle
Knew not the great simplicity.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: COVID
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?
When someone unfamiliar enters my vicinity, I shout STRANGER DANGER! and form a cross of my outstretched index fingers that I point in their general direction.
But seriously, it’s just a vague memory at this point.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
Songbird [Haiku]
Five Wise Lines from George Carlin [April 2025]
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot,
and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
Isn’t making a smoking section in a restaurant
like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?
I don’t believe there’s any problem in this country,
no matter how tough it is,
that Americans,
when they roll up their sleeves,
can’t completely ignore.
Here’s all you have to know about men and women;
women are crazy,
men are stupid.
And the main reason that women are crazy
is that men are stupid.
I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete.
It’s so fuckin’ heroic.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Tomb of Mushir Zadi, Lucknow
“To the Muse” by William Blake [w/ Audio]
Whether on Ida's shady brow,
Or in the chambers of the East,
The chambers of the sun, that now
From antient melody have ceas'd;
Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair,
Or the green corners of the earth,
Or the blue regions of the air,
Where the melodious winds have birth;
Whether on chrystal rocks ye rove,
Beneath the bosom of the sea
Wand'ring in many a coral grove,
Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry!
How have you left the antient love
That bards of old enjoy'd in you!
The languid strings do scarely move!
The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
PROMPT: Morning
Daily writing prompt
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
I’m a morning person and am typically at fairly high energy levels first thing in the morning, So, that time is generally active, filled with exercise and / or physical activity of varied varieties (calisthenics, walking, running, and — of late — the occasional swim [which I normally do latter in the day.])
[Of course, there is the obligatory urinating, washing, toothbrushing, etc. (sequentially not concurrently,) but that seems like it would go without saying and would be strange to ask strangers about.]
Tiger Riding for Beginners 