#waldo says about laura in the book.

[whoslaurapalmer]

laura (1944) / laura by vera caspary -- waldo and laura meet

bonus deleted scene from the movie script, with a third interpretation of their meeting --

[forthegothicheroine]

How Other Great Detectives Would Solve the “Murder” of Laura Hunt

A series I do sometimes. Spoilers for both the book and the movie Laura, and I’ll try to keep this canon-friendly to both!

Sherlock Holmes: After being asked for help by the police, Holmes and Watson spend an uncomfortable afternoon listening to Waldo Lydecker, and Waston comments “Just like his walking stick? That’s how he speaks of a dead woman? That man has no feeling in him!” “On the contrary,” says Holmes. “I believe he was very much in love with her.” Holmes already starts thinking about whether the dead woman was really Laura, since bodies you can’t identify are always suspicious (this is either foreshadowing or a callback to his own faked death, depending on where this sits in an anachronistic timeline.) When he meets the living Laura Hunt, Holmes gets sentimental about her in that not-canonically-romantic-but-wistful way he sometimes does. When Lydecker attempts to kill her again, he finds that Holmes has sabotaged his gun, and that Watson’s gun very much still works.

Sam Spade: I figure the Vincent Price character hired him to solve Laura’s murder since he’s afraid he’s being framed for it. Spade listens patiently to Lydecker in the same way he did to Gutman, and comes to the conclusion that whatever this guy’s deal is, he’s a consummate liar. When Laura shows up alive, she takes an immediate dislike to him, but he’s intrigued by her. He tries to bully her into paying him to do bodyguard duty, but she’s a canny negotiator and he sort of respects that. The two have belligerent banter and sexual tension that never turns into anything solid, for the best. Spade manages to cold-clock and restrain Lydecker for the police when he tries to kill her again. “What do you know, he really was crazy about you” he says. “Here I thought he was a gunsel.” “What’s a gunsel- no, nevermind, don’t answer that,” says Laura.

Columbo: As soon as Columbo meets Waldo Lydecker, he mentally sees a giant flashing neon sign saying THIS GUY DID IT. He needles him with “My wife loves your column!” and “What I don’t get about this is, why make the murder so obvious if it was pre-planned?” When Laura shows up alive, Columbo’s surprise is genuine, but it starts to throw certain pieces into place. He likes Laura a lot in a fatherly sort of way, and once she gets over her shock and annoyance over the whole thing, she comes to trust him. Lydecker comes to the house to kill Laura for real and Columbo catches him “coincidentally”, then reveals he knows where the gun was stashed and puts him under arrest.

Philip Marlowe: Marlowe, like Spade, was hired to prove the innocence of Laura’s fiancé, but doesn’t like the guy. Turns out he doesn’t like Lydecker either, but he engages in long conversation with elevated diction with him, and his descriptions of Laura really catch his interest. He stares at her portrait and has feelings- she looks glamorous alright, but there’s an honest intensity to her face that puts him in mind of a clever girl next door. When she shows up alive, he compares her to the ghost of Banquo. He’s suspicious of her because so many of his villains turn out to be sexy ladies, but eventually figures out her innocence after lots of combatative conversation. He catches Lydecker attempting to kill her again, and reflects on how men are determined to kill what they can’t have. Marlowe is more than a little in love with Laura but never sees her again.

Dale Cooper: Woohoo, getting recursive here! Since Twin Peaks was in many ways inspired by Laura, the major beats are hit but in weirder ways. Cooper is halfway in love with Laura as he investigates her murder, and falls the rest of the way in love with her when she turns up alive. Laura starts to fall for him as well, but is greatly confused by his methods, especially when he determines her innocence by flipping through the pages of all her books and finding that the first letter on each page spells PRIESTESS, reminding him of the High Priestess in the tarot deck, symbol of wisdom and virtue. Lydecker expresses anger over Cooper and Laura’s developing relationship, and Cooper realizes he was the killer when Lydecker fixes his tie in a way that looks like a bird making a threat display (Cooper does not like birds!) He ends up killing Lydecker when he makes another attempt to kill Laura, and tells him “I pray that in your next life you will learn how to love generously.” He and Laura might get together if the universe will allow them to be happy.

Hercule Poirot: Poirot meets Lydecker and Vincent Price (whose character name I refuse to look up) at a party, and takes immense offense when Hastings says of Lydecker, “You know, that chap reminded me a bit of you!” When Laura’s body is seemingly found, he inserts himself into the investigation because he feels offended that Lydecker’s column about her death seems to be mostly bragging about how great his relationship had been with her. He studies Laura’s portrait, and the more he studies it, the more he suspects that body the police found wasn’t really hers. He’s proven right, of course, and when Laura shows up, he talks to her about a plan. He arranges for all the suspects to gather, then throws them all for a loop when he has Laura walk in, very much alive. He reveals where Lydecker hid the murder weapon, and Hastings grabs it to hold the man at bay. “So it was all for love,” Hastings reflects after the fact. “Heaven protect women from such love!” Poirot responds.

Sam Vimes: Vimes takes a liking to the dead Laura, because in between the lines of Lydecker’s testimony, he hears the story of a girl suddenly shoved into a higher social class where she can’t meet everyone’s demands of her even though she’s smarter and kinder than all of them. When she turns up alive, he annoys her with tests to see whether she’s a ghost or a zombie or a vampire, but is relieve to find that she is actually alive after all. Lydecker gets mean about what he believes to be a relationship between Vimes and Laura even though there’s nothing romantic about it, and that’s what settles Vimes that he’s the killer. He manages to catch Lydecker before he can kill Laura, but then Lydecker has a heart attack when the ghost of the woman he really murdered steps out beside Laura and points an accusing finger at him. The ghost of Lydecker continues to write a really mean society column, and Vimes is mad that he’s legally allowed to do that, but at least he can’t kill anyone else.

Phryne Fisher: Phryne starts poking around the case when her former lover, Vincent Price’s Character, is accused to the murder of his fiancé. She doesn’t think much of him, but doesn’t think he’s capable of murder. She alternates between charming Lydecker and annoying him with little comments like “Well, surely Laura was entitled to a social life of her own, wouldn’t you agree?” She was starting to wonder if Laura had faked her own death to get out from under his control, when Laura walks back in and proves she wasn’t deliberately faking anything. When Lydecker tries to kill Laura again, Phryne jumps at and disarms him though she nearly catches a bullet herself. “I must remember to get my own portrait painted in case I’m killed,” she says to Jack. Laura shows up periodically on the show when Phryne needs an American contact for a case.

Miss Marple: Miss Marple has some amiable chats with the police about Laura’s murder, and when one of them says “In cases like these, the lover usually did it,” she opens their eyes by saying “Yes, but which one?” When Laura shows up alive, Miss Marple shows up with cookies and sherry as a “congratulations for still being alive” present. She relates to Laura as an independent woman who fought all her life to be able to live on her own terms. She gathers all the suspects together and lays out what she believes must have happened, and when Lydecker dashes for the hidden gun she reveals she already found and disarmed it. “I know you must be terribly sad,” she comforts Laura, “but remember that you are who you are because of what you’ve achieved, not because he tried to turn you into his dream.”

[thefilmsimps]

Laura (dir. Otto Preminger)

-Jere Pilapil- I think the last time I saw Laura was probably 2009, a year after graduating college, as download on a laptop. Maybe it was even one of those tiny netbooks that were nice travel laptops before our phones effectively replaced them. Eventually that computer died, and I believe the movie was either out of print or just hard to find. But It’s been over 10 years, and when I saw that it was showing as part of my local theater’s Noirvember programming, it became a must-see.

As with many noirs of this era, I don’t remember the specifics of the plot but mostly remember loving the movie. Couldn’t even tell you why. All I knew going into this screen was just that, yes, I have seen Laura, and it is excellent. This is kind of a platonic ideal for a movie; it makes them easy to rewatch. Every viewing is like a first one. Spoilers are overrated. I will forget who did the murder in 3 weeks (and I had guessed wrong deep into act 3 this time).

“They couldn’t make this movie today!” is a rallying cry for edgelord types who think risqué humor makes old comedies unpalatable. I think that they truly couldn’t make Laura today, but not in that sense. Social media would meme the ever-living fuck out of its protagonist. The movie concerns a detective solving a murder. He lets suspects tag along, hangs out at the scene of the crime drinking the victim’s liquor, takes someone into custody without booking them, etc. Our brains have been spoiled; a section of the audience would say “This is not how it’s done!” As though watching enough CSI and Law and Order reruns makes them an expert.

But this is a movie about performances, and they are excellent. Dana Andrews, and Vincent Price play it straight, excellently. Gene Tierney makes it pretty believable that nearly everyone in this movie falls in love with the titular character. Clifton Webb, though, is the movie’s secret weapon, as a campy one-liner dispenser. I suspect this movie may be mid-level without him; you can kind of forgive how confusing and twist-filled this movie can get when you know another hilarious barb is coming up as long as Webb’s Waldo is involved.

Laura is every bit the classic I remember it being. It’s kind of on the nutty side, the way it twists and turns right up to its end. Characters seem to act in increasingly suspicious ways against all logic, dialogue papers over logic gaps that were invented as red herrings. So much of this movie just shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. You couldn’t make it like this today, but I’m thankful that they made it when they did. 10/10

[surejaya]

Henry David Thoreau: A Life

Henry David Thoreau: A Life by Laura Dassow Walls

“Walden. Yesterday I came here to live.” That entry from the journal of Henry David Thoreau, and the intellectual journey it began, would by themselves be enough to place Thoreau in the American pantheon. His attempt to “live deliberately” in a small woods at the edge of his hometown of Concord has been a touchstone for individualists and seekers since the publication of Walden in 1854.   But there was much more to Thoreau than his brief experiment in living at Walden Pond. A member of the vibrant intellectual circle centered on his neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was also an ardent naturalist, a manual laborer and inventor, a radical political activist, and more. Many books have taken up various aspects of Thoreau’s character and achievements, but, as Laura Dassow Walls writes, “Thoreau has never been captured between covers; he was too quixotic, mischievous, many-sided.” Two hundred years after his birth, and two generations after the last full-scale biography, Walls restores Henry David Thoreau to us in all his profound, inspiring complexity.   Walls traces the full arc of Thoreau’s life, from his early days in the intellectual hothouse of Concord, when the American experiment still felt fresh and precarious, and “America was a family affair, earned by one generation and about to pass to the next.” By the time he died in 1862, at only forty-four years of age, Thoreau had witnessed the transformation of his world from a community of farmers and artisans into a bustling, interconnected commercial nation. What did that portend for the contemplative individual and abundant, wild nature that Thoreau celebrated?   Drawing on Thoreau’s copious writings, published and unpublished, Walls presents a Thoreau vigorously alive in all his quirks and contradictions: the young man shattered by the sudden death of his brother; the ambitious Harvard College student; the ecstatic visionary who closed Walden with an account of the regenerative power of the Cosmos. We meet the man whose belief in human freedom and the value of labor made him an uncompromising abolitionist; the solitary walker who found society in nature, but also found his own nature in the society of which he was a deeply interwoven part. And, running through it all, Thoreau the passionate naturalist, who, long before the age of environmentalism, saw tragedy for future generations in the human heedlessness around him.   “The Thoreau I sought was not in any book, so I wrote this one,” says Walls. The result is a Thoreau unlike any seen since he walked the streets of Concord, a Thoreau for our time and all time.  

Download : Henry David Thoreau: A Life Henry David Thoreau: A Life More Book at: Zaqist Book

[awkrecommends]

Henry David Thoreau: A Life

Laura Dassow Walls

“Walden. Yesterday I came here to live.” That entry from the journal of Henry David Thoreau, and the intellectual journey it began, would by themselves be enough to place Thoreau in the American pantheon. His attempt to “live deliberately” in a small woods at the edge of his hometown of Concord has been a touchstone for individualists and seekers since the publication of Walden in 1854.   But there was much more to Thoreau than his brief experiment in living at Walden Pond. A member of the vibrant intellectual circle centered on his neighbor Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was also an ardent naturalist, a manual laborer and inventor, a radical political activist, and more. Many books have taken up various aspects of Thoreau’s character and achievements, but, as Laura Dassow Walls writes, “Thoreau has never been captured between covers; he was too quixotic, mischievous, many-sided.” Two hundred years after his birth, and two generations after the last full-scale biography, Walls restores Henry David Thoreau to us in all his profound, inspiring complexity.   Walls traces the full arc of Thoreau’s life, from his early days in the intellectual hothouse of Concord, when the American experiment still felt fresh and precarious, and “America was a family affair, earned by one generation and about to pass to the next.” By the time he died in 1862, at only forty-four years of age, Thoreau had witnessed the transformation of his world from a community of farmers and artisans into a bustling, interconnected commercial nation. What did that portend for the contemplative individual and abundant, wild nature that Thoreau celebrated?   Drawing on Thoreau’s copious writings, published and unpublished, Walls presents a Thoreau vigorously alive in all his quirks and contradictions: the young man shattered by the sudden death of his brother; the ambitious Harvard College student; the ecstatic visionary who closed Walden with an account of the regenerative power of the Cosmos. We meet the man whose belief in human freedom and the value of labor made him an uncompromising abolitionist; the solitary walker who found society in nature, but also found his own nature in the society of which he was a deeply interwoven part. And, running through it all, Thoreau the passionate naturalist, who, long before the age of environmentalism, saw tragedy for future generations in the human heedlessness around him.   “The Thoreau I sought was not in any book, so I wrote this one,” says Walls. The result is a Thoreau unlike any seen since he walked the streets of Concord, a Thoreau for our time and all time.  

[the-record-columns]

Dec. 26, 2018: Columns

Christmas cards don't always come in envelopes...

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

In 2015, the folks who produce the program NASCAR Race Hub came by the offices of The Record and Thursday Printing to interview me about the 50th Anniversary Special they were doing on Tom Wolfe's 1965 story about Junior Johnson, "The Last American Hero." 

They were well prepared and very tolerant of the fact that I wasn't at all happy that NASCAR had gotten greedy and taken away our race at the North Wilkesboro Speedway.

In the process of the interview, I was asked to speak to Tom Wolfe's comment that he had found the folks in Wilkes County to be  "...standoffish." 

I quickly replied that he could "...take his happy ass back up to New York where he was from, hang around there for a while, and then to call me about ‘standoffish’ folks.”

I then told the interviewer that if a person in Traphill answered the door at midnight with a shotgun in hand, that wasn't being standoffish—just cautious. That is one of the few comments I made during the 45-minute interview which they actually used.

To that end, I also assured the film crew that, if their van broke down in Wilkes, in less than five minutes, someone would stop and offer to help them.

And that brings me to this past Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

I drive an old Chevy S-10 pickup, like 25 years old.  It once belonged to the late Richie Feimster, a good worker, a great musician, and just an all-around decent guy who worked here at The Record and died suddenly—way too soon—at only 38 years old.

So this pickup is not just any an old S-10 pickup, it is a very special pickup, a truck with good karma, if you will.  But, just like me and all things old, it does malfunction sometimes—like this past Friday afternoon. 

It was a simple problem—the battery is old, and I must have left the switch on, because when I came out of the Pencare office supply store in Midtown Plaza, it wouldn't start.  I stepped back into the store and asked if one of them could jump me off.  Of course, they were glad to oblige and I went outside to raise the hood of my truck and get my jumper cables ready.  In less than 30 seconds a car with a young couple inside pulled up and offered to help me start my truck.  I assured them I had help coming around the corner and thanked them.  After wishing me a cheery "Merry Christmas" the strangers drove away, having unwittingly validated my theory about Wilkes County people.

And then—on Saturday morning, the heater in the old S-10 quit working.  This, too, had happened before.  I had learned from Bucky Luttrell that I have some kind of water leak, and, by filling up the radiator, the heater works like new again.  So, I pulled the pickup next to my building and raised the hood. 

Now get this.  BEFORE I could even turn on the faucet to fetch a pail of water (as the rhyme goes), a man driving down the alley stops to inquire what my breakdown might be, and how could he help me.  Again, I was able to assure the Good Samaritan that this was a small, ongoing problem that I had the solution to, but I truly thanked him for his willingness to help.

Tom Wolfe died in May of this year, so I can't send him an email about the willingness of Wilkes County people to help someone else, even someone they don't know from Adam's house cat.  I do, however, proudly use this space today to remind the readers of The Record that Christmas cards don't always come in envelopes, sometimes they come as good-hearted strangers.

(And, please, please forgive me, but while we are at it, I'll toss in a reminder that 4-Way Stop signs are an abomination of Satan himself, and do not belong in the South.)

Merry Christmas to all.

New Year changes

By LAURA WELBORN

Record Columnist

This time of year I always think of what I want to do differently the next year.

Last year I wanted to focus on being “mindful” and more intentional.  Well I learned a lot and found some success and of course a lot of not so successful. Here are a few of my redefined goals: (with some help from Marc and ANgel Hack Life blog)

Warren Buffett once said, “What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact.”  Be willing to be wrong in 2019.  Be willing to learn in 2019.  Be mindful, humble and teachable every step of the way.

When you focus your heart and mind upon a purpose, and commit yourself to fulfill that purpose through small daily steps, positive energy floods into your life.  

When things go wrong, learn what you can and then push the heartbreak aside by refocusing your energy on the present step. Remember that life’s best lessons are often learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.  

When in doubt choose positive. If you want life to be happier, you need to be mindful of your present response.  It’s how you deal with stress in each little moment that determines how well you achieve happiness in the end.

I consistently focus on troublesome thoughts but who would I be, and what else would I see, if I removed those thoughts? I hope to be intentional about spending more quality time with people who help me love myself more and let go of the paranoid failure thoughts.

I always want to exercise more, and since both of my dogs died last year I find I don’t even walk anymore.  But I know if you don’t have your physical energy tuned up, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected. Depression showed that consistent exercise combined with a healthy diet raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?

One of the things I have worked on is just not saying anything when I feel my words will just incite a negative response.  Thus say less when less means more seems to be a better reaction. Sometimes, you are as wise as the silence you leave behind, because sometimes the right words aren’t words.  If you cannot speak a kind word, say nothing at all.  And if they cannot speak a kind word, say nothing at all. But just be kind!

Most people don’t deserve forgiveness- including ourselves but I find that with distance I can find forgiveness.  Distance yourself, but don’t forget them; forgive them. Forgetting about the people who hurt you is your gift to them; forgiving the people who hurt you is your gift to yourself.  You need to forgive others not because they deserve forgiveness at the moment, but because you deserve peace of mind going forward.

 I have learned to trust the journey, even when I do not understand it.  When people and circumstances close their doors on you, it’s a hint that your personal growth requires someone different and something more.  Life is simply making room.  So embrace your goodbyes, because every “goodbye” you receive in life sets you up for an important “hello.”

Start over again, and again.  There’s a big difference between giving up and starting over in the right direction. And there are three little words that can release you from your past mistakes and regrets, and get you back on track in the year ahead.  These words are: “From now on…”

While I don’t have a long list of successes this past year, I hope to focus on being in the moment and remember how I have touched lives with positive act and loving kindness.

The Road Less Traveled

By HEATHER DEAN

Record Reporter

You say it’s time to write about my new years resolutions??? So, yeah, about that...

           Confession: I have an addiction to witty coffee mugs, the coffee that goes in them, intelligent conversation and books. Real books made of paper and glue. Everywhere I go in my travels I take at least one, and plan to come back with more. Some people take pictures as a reminder of the trip; I bring back a book about the region.  Among my favorites are those in the transcendentalist movement- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, “Uncle Walt” Whitman, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth- as well as Tennyson, and Byron, and Oscar Wilde to name a few.

           One major tenet of transcendentalism is that “man shall go against the main-stream choice, if the other is more pleasing to him.” The writers reflect ideals, intuition, and our ability to connect with untainted nature.  

                       One of my oldest coffee mugs is extra large sized and holds three regular cups of coffee, it also has an excerpt from “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost.    “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—. I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”  

           This idea of a sporadic venture into the wilderness, and the societal realization that he undergoes while there, the whole “choose your own path” was something that   spoke to me, even as a youngling.

           I’ve always wondered what I would be when I grew up (still working on that), what kind of person I would become in later life, what life experiences would mold me, which memories will be the fleeting images I will see on my death bed and how people would remember me. (Sidebar: I do not plan on having any regrets while lying there, even though this past year has been the most trying and heartbreaking yet, complete with a brush against death.)

           So, yeah, about that... It’s that time of year again: Everyone that follows the Roman calendar has made New Years resolutions, promises (they don’t intend to keep) to themselves to do better, be better, change bad habits, etc. etc. etc. So here’s the thing- “To thine own self be true” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have the guts to take an honest look, and stand your ground against yourself. Just because you do good deeds at certain times of the year, does not make you a good person.

           The only resolution I have ever cared to make, and keep, is “always take the road less traveled.” It gives me pause to reflect and therefore, perspective in the human condition, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and to learn from it. “And that my friend, makes all the difference.”

           So go ahead, take a step in the direction of the transcendentalists.  

Chose your own path, don’t go the same way as everyone else.  

           Just remember, that when people want to walk along side you- and many will- let them; regardless of whether they stay with you or not. However, make them carry their own baggage, no matter how fond you are of them. Because you, my darling human, are not responsible for anyone else’s resolutions, regrets, or life lessons, ever.  

Headed for destruction?

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

As Israel’s Ambassador of Goodwill to Christians and Jews internationally, a distinction bestowed upon the Chief Rabbi of Effrat, Shlomo Riskin, and me several years ago by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I have the opportunity to meet many high profile people from prime ministers and other heads of state to store owners and people on the street.  What I often hear expressed is a deep concern over the spread of terrorism and how this evil has changed life for us all by forcing the installation of extra security measures at airports, in schools, in hospitals and even in places of worship. 

We are being challenged by those who do not embrace democracy, freedom of religion, human rights or the basic rule of law.  Indeed, the world has changed dramatically since 9/11. Islamic ideology has infiltrated our communities and our university campuses.  Its goal is to destroy the very fabric of freedom loving countries around the world and it’s doing its work from without as well as from within. 

Every person who values freedom and democracy has a duty to stand against those sponsors of terror whose objective is to rid the world of infidels which means anyone who is not Muslim.  Iran, for example, is the largest state sponsor of terror on the planet.  Their militancy knows no bounds and their tentacles reach far beyond the Middle East.  While most know that the terror organizations known as Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran, few are aware that agents for this rogue nation are also actively engaged in various capacities right here in the United States.  They have planted “students” on our college and university campuses to influence the hearts and minds of our youth with their insidious ideology and they have established nonprofit organizations in our communities giving out free medical care and other gifts of charity along with a healthy dose of Islamic teaching and influence.  

While the future will always be uncertain, we can and must make fertile ground for freedom and democracy to flourish and we must bravely speak out in the face of all perpetrators of evil.

Nuclear weapons, cyber threats and domestic terrorism are not simply going to go away. These threats to freedom and democracy must be dealt with immediately.  The longer we wait the deeper the roots. Positive change will only take place when civilized people recognize what is happening and take strong stands.  Those we elect to public office must embrace the rule of law and the freedoms upon which this country was founded.  We must use the media to send out truthful, fact-based messages concerning  the dangers of Islam and we must be alert to what is happening across this country and around the world. 

Silence is not an option in standing against terrorism.  The only effective weapons are education and the ballot box.  We must arm people with the truth and make certain those we elect to office know the truth. Those of us who value freedom and democracy can make a difference simply by using our voices to confront lies with the truth.  Therefore we must make it our business to know fact from fiction and recognize attempts to manipulate in order to influence our understanding and opinions.  

We have many tools at our disposal to share the truth when we encounter a lie.  Media opportunities are unlimited such as writing commentaries for radio, television and print and social media which reaches millions of people. Billboards are another avenue to consider as is volunteering to speak to civic clubs and other organizations.  

For over 20 years I have been writing for newspapers and magazines and broadcasting commentaries attempting to expose those who are set on destroying our democracy and freedoms.  We all have an obligation to speak out against terrorism.  To find the right platform requires only a little imagination. 

Finally, I share a lesson I learned many years ago. There are those who complain about the world’s problems but do nothing to help make a difference.  Then there are those who simply don’t care preferring to accept whatever happens.  But then there are those who refuse to sit idly by.  No matter the opposition they will get involved and fight for truth.  They will speak out and do whatever it takes to make positive things happen.  These are the people who are willing to stand on the front lines against terrorism and in defense of freedom and democracy to a world that has almost forgotten the meaning of these precious values. 

As a Christian who believes in the God of Abraham Issac and Jacob, I am confident we still have a chance to save a world which seems headed for destruction.

Christmas in Greenwood

By CARL WHITE Life in the Carolina

When it comes to the Christmas and the Holiday Season in the Carolinas, we have an abundance of opportunities to join in the celebrations and traditions.

On a trip to Greenwood, S.C., I found myself amid the perfect time to officially launch the Christmas season. It was the first weekend of December and all things Christmas were coming alive.

I arrived Thursday evening after the sun had already gone down. As I made my way to the Inn on the Square, I traveled down Main  Street that is lined with more than 50 Darlington Oaks that were planted along the path of the train tracks of yesteryear. For the Christmas Season, the tree trunks are meticulously wrapped with more than the 100,000 white lights. I later witnessed the excitement of a young child as he exclaimed “That feel like traveling through a magical light forest.”

Upon checking in at The Inn On The Square, I was greeted by a happy front desk clerk and a 15-foot nicely decorated traditional Christmas Tree. This giant tree was by no means lonely, as the Inn features nine additional unique trees decorated in grand holiday fashion.  

If you are like me and enjoy the Christmas Season you are smiling now and will do so as this story progresses, however, if you are more of a Charles Dickens “Scrooge” type person, this story will give you many opportunities to say, “Bah Humbug!” That’s just fine with me, we all know what happens to you in the morning.

After a good night’s rest, Friday started off with a tasty breakfast and enjoyable visits throughout the day, I was very excited about the evening as it would start off with a grilled fish at the Carriage House and then a production of Miracle on 34th Street at the award-winning Greenwood Community Theatre.

I was especially excited to see the performance as Richard Whiting in the lead role as Kris Kringle. Over the years Richard has appeared in several roles, and he is an avid supporter of community theatre, and during most days he spends his hours as the Executive Editor of the Index-Journal.

The promotional photos of Richard in costume for the role set the hopes for a great performance. I’ve been a fan of the movie version from childhood, I watch it every year, and it’s become a tradition.

Richard’s performance was solid; his delivery as Kris Kringle and Santa Clause was entertaining and on script. Along with the entire cast they guided the audience on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. It was all I hoped it would be and I would have watched again if time had allowed.

Greenwoods official Christmas tree was set aglow Saturday evening. It was a well-attended festive event with hot chocolate, carriage rides, Santa and Mrs. Clause and the countdown to light the city tree.

I had a surprise treat during Sunday morning breakfast at the Inn. Santa and his wife were fellow diners. We had a delightful conversation about the holiday season and their enjoyment in visiting Greenwood. It seems as if the ration of good list vs. bad list leans heavily toward the good.

The Greenwood Christmas parade took place at 2:30 in the afternoon and lasted for approximately one hour and 15 minutes. Charlie Barrineau told me that around 10,000 folks attended. It was a nice parade everyone I talked with had a great time. I love our Carolina parades; they bring everyone out for a celebration of community. It’s that time when we get to see a lot of people on display who are doing their part to make our Carolinas a better place.

It was an excellent weekend and a fantastic start to the Christmas Season and well worth a repeat.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its eighth year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte viewing market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday’s at 12:00 noon. For more on the show, visit  www.lifeinthecarolinas.com, You can email Carl White at Carl@lifeinthecarolinas.com.    

[greygamer]

TP Countdown Day 24: Realization

I’m a couple of days behind, but I’ll be watching two eps a day for today and tomorrow and that’ll get me caught up again.

That also means by the end of today I’ll have completed the first season. And after this episode, it sure feels like approaching something big. There are many balls in the air, and some shit is about to go down.

First, we’ve got those meddling kids -- Maddie, James, and Donna -- trying to find out if Dr. Jacoby killed Laura. To do this, they’ve lured the doctor out of his home by having Maddie pretend to be Laura on a video they sent to Jacoby. It’s a sneaky move, but you have wonder how smart it is to be pretending to be a dead girl. I mean, someone killed Laura. They might be willing to kill her again, right?

Watching these shenanigans is Bobby Briggs, who doesn’t seem to concerned about the apparent return of Laura, but is super concerned about hiding a bag of cocaine in the gas tank of James’ bike. Hey Bobby, remember, you were messing around with Shelly, so maybe don’t get super jealous that Laura was seeing someone else.

And while Bobby was checking out the meddling kids, someone was checking out Bobby checking out the meddling kids. Who? Well, we don’t know yet, but whoever it was, he did some creepy breathing, and something tells me it might not be someone friendly.

And then we get to the meddling adults, also known as the Bookhouse Boys, plus Agent Cooper, who decide to investigate this One Eyed Jack’s place they keep hearing about. Problem is, it’s in Canada, out of their jurisdiction, which is why the investigation is going to be off the books and on the Bookhouse. Boys, that is.

See what I did there?

I’m not sure utilizing the Bookhouse Boys is a great idea. I would think that any evidence gathered there wouldn’t be usable in court, as both Coop and Truman would have been there illegally. But maybe they’re not that concerned with evidence. As we’ve learned, Coop does things a little bit differently.

So Cooper and Big Ed slip into One Eyed Jacks undercover, posing as oral surgeons just visiting the pacific northwest. Ed loses $300 at the craps table, while Coop seems to be preternaturally good at blackjack. I’m not sure if his comment about how if you can count at ten then you can win at poker is a reference to card counting, but suspect yes.

So, what are the boys going to find at One Eyed Jacks? Well, so far they’ve found Jacques Renault, who steps in as dealer at Coop’s blackjack table in the final moments of this episode. A bigger question is whether they’ll find Audrey while they’re there, who, unbeknownst to anyone, has followed her own investigation to One Eyed Jack’s where she’s applied for work doing, well, whatever kind of work would benefit from an ability to tie a cherry stem into a knot with your tongue. And I think we all know what kind of work that would be.

This Week On Twin Peaks

What else is going on in town? Catherine has found out that maybe Ben Horne isn’t the best person to be conniving with -- turns out he’s planning to off her, and Catherine finds out courtesy of a previously unknown life insurance policy on her for a fat $1 million, paying out to Josie Packard. Ruh Roh!

Waldo the Myna wasn’t long for this world, I’m afraid. Just as Leo was about to put a hurt on Bobby, now that he knows Bobby’s been the one stepping into Shelly’s arms, Leo hears word on the police band that the cops had Waldo in custody, and that because Mynas can talk, they’re considering him a witness. Who might be able to say some incriminating stuff about Leo. So he races off to the station and turns his gun on the book bird, who, upon getting slaughtered, ruins a perfectly good set of donuts by bleeding out all over them. But not before he left some evidence on Cooper’s voice activated cassette recorder!

Also, Hank is around, being annoying and creepy.

[savetopnow]

2018-04-01 14 BUSINESS now

BUSINESS

Business Insider

Sister Jean got the Crying Jordan treatment after Loyola lost in the Final Four

Laura Ingraham is taking a 'preplanned vacation' as advertisers flee her show

THE DATA BREACHES REPORT: The strategies companies are using to protect their customers, and themselves, in the age of massive breaches

The missile defense system that the US and its allies rely on fails just about everywhere it's used

The 25 highest-paid coaches in college basketball

Harvard Business Review

Becoming More Conscientious

To Combat Physician Burnout and Improve Care, Fix the Electronic Health Record

The Most Common Type of Incompetent Leader

5 Things We Learned About Creating a Successful Workplace Diversity Program

Research: When Retail Workers Have Stable Schedules, Sales and Productivity Go Up

Inc

What Best Motivates You at Work? When 200,000 Employees Were Asked, This was Their No. 1 Response

5 Ways Putting Where's Waldo Into Google Maps Shows How Google Is Awesome

Want Your Marketing to be Extraordinary? Read These 4 Books

Here's Why You Care Too Much What Other People Think, Even When You Know You Shouldn't

How This Startup Wants to Fill Crypto Void Left by Biggest Financial Institutions

New York Times Business

Your Money Adviser: With New Tax Law, I.R.S. Urges Taxpayers to Review Withholdings

Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?

Fatal Tesla Crash Raises New Questions About Autopilot System

A Hong Kong Newspaper on a Mission to Promote China’s Soft Power

Peter Munk, 90, Dies; Built World’s Biggest Gold Mining Company

Reddit Business

Business at University

Uber is shutting down its on-demand delivery service in June

Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes

What do you people think of this redesign of the $20 bill?

FCC says it will block Chinese technology to protect national security

Reddit Startup

Need some feedback on pricing for a job/gig based startup

Paul Buchheit: If your product is Great, it doesn't need to be Good.

How to Price a New Service/Product

Indiegogo or another way? Hardware startup incoming.

Is it risky being on a startups board of directors?

The Economist Business and Finance

Wakandanomics

America’s trade strategy has many risks and few upsides

Technology has upended the world’s advertising giants

Mexico switches on its government-run wholesale mobile network

Uber makes a tactical retreat from South-East Asia

Wall Street Journal Business

How Apple, Amazon, Pandora and More Are Trying to Gain on Spotify

Tesla: Autopilot Was Engaged in Fatal Crash in California

Inside Nike, a Boys-Club Culture and Flawed HR

In the Battle for the American West, the Cowboys Are Losing

China's Huawei to Drive Design of 5G Despite U.S. Concerns

Yahoo Finance

Holy Week around the world

Kosovo PM orders probe into expulsion of Gulenists

Sacramento protesters demonstrate against police shooting of Stephon Clark

'The Female Persuasion' Is Another Mirror For Privileged White Women Like Me

I’ve Supported the Second Amendment My Whole Life. It’s Time for Reasonable Gun Control

[sickofbeingsuicidal]

1-50

What was your favorite food when you were a child?Spaghetti and it still is :)

What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod?The Grand Optimist by City and Colour (I don’t actually have an iPod but I always listen to that song)

What is one of your favorite quotes?I hope you like the stars I stole for you

What’s your favorite indoor/outdoor activity?Tumblr and camping 

What chore do you absolutely hate doing?Folding shirts

What is your favorite form of exercise?Sleep? Bro I’m not about that exercise life

What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year?Around 10pm, Tuesday and October

What’s your least favorite mode of transportation?Biking

What is your favorite body part?Earlobes

What sound do you love?Rain

If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?Netflix party where everyone comes in their pajamas and we cuddle and take turns watching everyones favorite movie/show

If you could paint a picture of any scenery you’ve seen before, what would you paint?An abandoned castle in Germany

If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would it be?22

Back when, If you knew the world was ending in 2012, what would you do differently?Travel more

If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?My old math teacher

If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?World Peace

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?Speak every language 

If you had to work on only one project for the next year, what would it be?To love myself

If you were immortal for a day, what would you do?Base jumping

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?Anything but Hannah tbh I hate my name

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?Andrew Garfield 

If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?Pay off my parents and siblings debts

If you were reincarnated as an animal/drink/ice cream flavor, what would it be?Sloth, Dr. Pepper and Vanilla 

If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?How to get over heartbreak?

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose?Hard to say... I’m not sure?

Which celebrity do you get mistaken for?People used to say I looked like Laura Prepon when I had my long black hair

What do you want to be when you grow up?Happy

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?Tumblr

What would you name the autobiography of your life?So this is a thing that happened

What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?Basically anything that comes on the “Skinny Love” Pandora station

Have you ever had something happen to you that you thought was bad but it turned out to be for the best?Not able to start College right out of High School

What was one of the best parties you’ve ever been to?I’ve only ever been to birthday parties and family functions?????

What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?I don’t know

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?Live my life for my sister

What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?Being dumped by the man I thought I was going to marry

What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?Lied to my parents

When was the last time you had an amazing meal?Probably my birthday

What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?Money to go to Europe, I don’t know???I gave my sister my first paycheck ever to help her with her debt

What do you miss most about being a kid?Not having a care in the world

What is your first memory of being really excited?My 4th birthday party

What was the first thing you bought with your own money?Other than candy, an iPod Shuffle

When was the last time you were nervous?It ends??????

What is something you learned in the last week?The customer is NOT always right

What story does your family always tell about you?When I broke my front tooth

At what age did you become an adult?Adult has nothing to do with age and more to do with experience. I’ve been taking care of my brother since I was 12

Is a picture worth a thousand words? Elaborate.It takes them all away

Where’s Waldo?Disneyland

The best part of waking up is?Going tf back to bed

How now brown cow?Cow brown now how

Whasssssuuuuppppp?the sky xD

Thanks for asking! Sorry it took forever for me to answer this ;-; I had to wait until I had access to a computer..

[healthnotion]

21 Epigrams Every Man Should Live By

Editor’s note: This is a guest article from Ryan Holiday. 

As long as man has been alive, he has been collecting little sayings about how to live. We find them carved in the rock of the Temple of Apollo and etched as graffiti on the walls of Pompeii. They appear in the plays of Shakespeare, the commonplace book of H. P. Lovecraft, the collected proverbs of Erasmus, and the ceiling beams of Montaigne’s study. Today, they’re recorded on iPhones and in Evernote.

But whatever generation is doing it, whether they’re written by scribes in China or commoners in some European dungeon or simply passed along by a kindly grandfather, these little epigrams of life advice have taught essential lessons. How to respond to adversity. How to think about money. How to meditate on our mortality. How to have courage.

And they pack all this in in so few words. “What is an epigram?” Coleridge asked, “A dwarfish whole; Its body brevity, and wit its soul.” Epigrams are what Churchill was doing when he said: “To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.” Or Balzac: “All happiness depends on courage and work.” Ah yes, epigrams are often funny too. That’s how we remember them. Napoleon: “Never interrupt an enemy making a mistake.” François de La Rochefoucauld: “We hardly find any persons of good sense save those who agree with us.” Voltaire: “A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.”

Below are some wonderful epigrams that span some 21 centuries and 3 continents. Each one is worth remembering, having queued in your brain for one of life’s crossroads or to drop at the perfect moment in conversation. Each will change and evolve with you as you evolve (Heraclitus: “No man steps in the same river twice”) and yet each will remain strong and unyielding no matter how much you may one day try to wiggle out and away from them.

Fundamentally, each one will teach you how to be a better man. If you let them.

“We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. My choice is to wear out.” —Theodore Roosevelt

At the beginning of his life, few would have predicted that Theodore Roosevelt even had a choice in the matter. He was sickly and fragile, doted on by worried parents. Then, a conversation with his father sent him driven, almost maniacally in the other direction. “I will make my body,” he said, when told that he would not go far in this world with a brilliant mind in a frail body. What followed was a montage of boxing, hiking, horseback riding, hunting, fishing, swimming, boldly charging enemy fire, and then a grueling work pace as one of the most prolific and admired presidents in American history. Again, this epigram was prophetic for Roosevelt, because at only 54 years old, his body began to wear out. An assassination attempt left a bullet lodged in his body and it hastened his rheumatoid arthritis. On his famous “River of Doubt” expedition he developed a tropical fever and the toxins from an infection in his leg left him nearly dead. Back in America he contracted a severe throat infection and was later diagnosed with inflammatory rheumatism, which temporarily confined him to a wheelchair (saying famously, “All right! I can work that way too!”) and then he died at age 60. But there is not a person on the planet who would say that he had not made a fair trade, that he had not worn his life well and not lived a full one in those 60 years.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” —Epictetus

There is the story of the alcoholic father with two sons. One follows in his father’s footsteps and ends up struggling through life as a drunk, and the other becomes a successful, sober businessman. Each are asked: “Why are you the way you are?” The answer for both is the same: “Well, it’s because my father was an alcoholic.” The same event, the same childhood, two different outcomes. This is true for almost all situations—what happens to us is an objective reality, how we respond is a subjective choice. The Stoics—of which Epictetus was one—would say that we don’t control what happens to us, all we control are our thoughts and reactions to what happens to us. Remember that: You’re defined in this life not by your good luck or your bad luck, but your reaction to those strokes of fortune. Don’t let anyone tell you different. 

“The best revenge is not to be like that.” —Marcus Aurelius

There is a proverb about revenge: Before setting out for a journey of revenge, dig two graves. Because revenge is so costly, because the pursuit of it often wears on the one who covets it. Marcus’s advice is easier and truer: How much better it feels to let it go, to leave the wrongdoer to their wrongdoing. And from what we know, Marcus Aurelius lived this advice. When Avidius Cassius, one of his most trusted generals rebelled and declared himself emperor, Marcus did not seek vengeance. Instead, he saw this as an opportunity to teach the Roman people and the Roman Senate about how to deal with civil strife in a compassionate, forgiving way. Indeed, when assassins struck Cassius down, Marcus supposedly wept. This is very different than the idea of “Living well being the best revenge”—it’s not about showing someone up or rubbing your success in their face. It’s that the person who wronged you is not happy, is not enjoying their life. Do not become like them. Reward yourself by being the opposite of them. 

“There is good in everything, if only we look for it.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the classic series Little House, lived this, facing some of the toughest and unwelcoming elements on the planet: harsh and unyielding soil, Indian territory, Kansas prairies, and the humid backwoods of Florida. Not afraid, not jaded—because she saw it all as an adventure. Everywhere was a chance to do something new, to persevere with cheery pioneer spirit whatever fate befell her and her husband. That isn’t to say she saw the world through delusional rose-colored glasses. Instead, she simply chose to see each situation for what it could be—accompanied by hard work and a little upbeat spirit. Others make the opposite choice. Remember: There is no good or bad without us, there is only perception. There is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means.

“Character is fate.” —Heraclitus

In the hiring process, most employers look at where someone went to school, what jobs they’ve held in the past. This is because past success can be an indicator of future successes. But is it always? There are plenty of people who were successful because of luck. Maybe they got into Oxford or Harvard because of their parents. And what about a young person who hasn’t had time to build a track record? Are they worthless? Of course not. This is why character is a far better measure of a man or woman. Not just for jobs, but for friendships, relationships, for everything. When you seek to advance your own position in life, character is the best lever—perhaps not in the short term, but certainly over the long term. And the same goes for the people you invite into your life.

“If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.” —Nicholas Nassim Taleb

A man shows up for work at a company where he knows that management is doing something wrong, something unethical. How does he respond? Can he cash his checks in good conscience because he isn’t the one running up the stock price, falsifying reports or lying to his co-workers? No. One cannot, as Budd Schulberg says in one of his novels, deal in filth without becoming the thing he touches. We should look up to a young man at Theranos as an example here. After discovering numerous problems at the health care startup, he was dismissed by his seniors and eventually contacted the authorities. Afterwards, not only was this young man repeatedly threatened, bullied, and attacked by Theranos, but his family had to consider selling their house to pay for the legal bills. His relationship with his grandfather—who sits on the Theranos board—is strained and perhaps irreparable. As Marcus Aurelius reminded himself, and us: “Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.” It’s an important reminder. Doing the right thing isn’t free. Doing the right thing might even cost you everything.

“Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyone is better than you at something. This is a fact of life. Someone is better than you at making eye contact. Someone is better than you at quantum physics. Someone is better informed than you on geopolitics. Someone is better than you are at speaking kindly to someone they dislike. There are better gift-givers, name-rememberers, weight-lifters, temper-controllers, confidence-carriers, and friendship-makers. There is no one person who is the best at all these things, who doesn’t have room to improve in one or more of them. So if you can find the humility to accept this about yourself, what you will realize is that the world is one giant classroom. Go about your day with an openness and a joy about this fact. Look at every interaction as an opportunity to learn from and of the people you meet. You will be amazed at how quickly you grow, how much better you get.

“This is not your responsibility but it is your problem.” —Cheryl Strayed

It is not your responsibility to fill up a stranger’s gas tank, but when their car dies in front of you, blocking the road, it’s still your problem isn’t it? It is not your responsibility to negotiate peace treaties on behalf of your country, but when war breaks out and you’re drafted to fight in it? Guess whose problem it is? Yours. Life is like this. It has a way of dropping things into our lap—the consequences of an employee’s negligence, a spouse’s momentary lapse of judgement, a freak weather event—that were in no way our fault but by nature of being in our lap, our f*cking problem. So what are you going to do? Complain? Are you going to litigate this in a blogpost or an argument with God? Or are you just going to get to work solving it the best you can? Life is defined by how you answer that question. Cheryl Strayed is right. This thing might not be your responsibility but it is your problem. So accept it, deal with it, kick its ass.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” —Marcus Aurelius

In Rome just as America, in the forum just as on Facebook, there was the temptation to replace action with argument. To philosophize instead of living philosophically. Today, in a society obsessed with content, outrage, and drama, it’s even easier to get lost in the echo chamber of the debate of what’s “better.” We can have endless discussions about what’s right and wrong. What should we do in this hypothetical situation or that one? How can we encourage other people to be better? (We can even debate the meaning of the above line: “What’s a man? What’s the definition of good? Why doesn’t it mention women?”) Of course, this is all a distraction. If you want to try to make the world a slightly better place, there’s a lot you can do. But only one thing guarantees an impact. Step away from the argument. Dig yourself out of the rubble. Stop wasting time with how things should be, would be, could be. Be that thing. (Here’s a cool poster of this quote).

“You are only entitled to the action, never to its fruits.” —Bhagavad Gita

In life, it’s a fact that: You will be unappreciated. You will be sabotaged. You will experience surprising failures. Your expectations will not be met. You will lose. You will fail. How do you carry on then? How do you take pride in yourself and your work? John Wooden’s advice to his players says it: Change the definition of success. “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” “Ambition,” Marcus Aurelius reminded himself, “means tying your well-being to what other people say or do . . . Sanity means tying it to your own actions.” Do your work. Do it well. Then “let go and let God.” That’s all there needs to be. Recognition and rewards—those are just extra.

“Self-sufficiency is the greatest of all wealth.” —Epicurus

A lot has been said of so-called “F*ck You Money.” The idea being that if one can earn enough, become rich and powerful enough, that suddenly no one can touch them and they can do whatever they want. What a mirage this is! How often the target seems to mysteriously move right as we approach it. It calls to mind the observation of David “DHH” Heinemeier Hansson who said that “beyond a specific amount, f*ck-you money can be a state of mind. One that you can acquire well in advance of the corresponding bank account. One that’s founded mostly on a personal confidence that even if most of the material trappings went away, you’d still be happier for standing your ground.” The truth is being your own man, being self-contained, having fewer needs, and better, resilient skills that allow you to thrive in any and all situations. That is real wealth and freedom. That’s what Emerson was talking about in his famous essay on self-reliance and it’s what Epicurus meant too.

“Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.” —Jose Ortega y Gasset

It was one of the great Stoics who said that if you live with a lame man, soon enough you will walk with a limp. My father told me something similar as a kid: “You become like your friends.” It is true not just with social influences but informational ones too: If you are addicted to the chatter of the news, you will soon find yourself worried, resentful, and perpetually outraged. If you consume nothing but escapist entertainment, you will find the real world around you harder and harder to deal with. If all you do is watch the markets and obsess over every fluctuation, your worldview will become defined by money and gains and losses. But if you drink from deep, philosophical wisdom? If you have regularly in your mind role models of restraint, sobriety, courage, and honor? Well, you will start to become these things too. Tell me who you spend time with, Goethe said, and I will tell you who you are. Tell me what you pay attention to, Gasset was saying, and I can tell you the same thing. Remember that the next time you feel your finger itching to pull up your Facebook feed.

“Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue.” —Zeno

You can always get up after you fall, but remember, what has been said can never be unsaid. Especially cruel and hurtful things.

“Space I can recover. Time, never.” —Napoleon Bonaparte

Lands can be reconquered, indeed in the course of a battle, a hill or a certain plain might trade hands several times. But missed opportunities? These can never be regained. Moments in time, in culture? They can never be re-made. One can never go back in time to prepare for what they should have prepared for, no one can ever get back critical seconds that were wasted out of fear or ego. Napoleon was brilliant at trading space for time: Sure, you can make these moves, provided you are giving me the time I need to drill my troops, or move them to where I want them to be. Yet in life, most of us are terrible at this. We trade an hour of our life here or afternoon there like it can be bought back with the few dollars we were paid for it. And it is only much much later, as they are on their deathbeds or when they are looking back on what might have been, that many people realize the awful truth of this quote. Don’t do that. Embrace it now.

“You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.” —Warren Buffett

The problem with comparing yourself to other people is you really never know anyone else’s situation. The co-worker with a nice car? It could be a dangerous and unsafe salvage with 100,000 miles. The friend who always seems to be traveling to far off places? They could be up to their eyeballs in credit card debt and about to get fired by their boss. Your neighbors’ marriage which makes you so insecure about your own? It could be a nightmare, a complete lie. People do a very good job pretending at things, and their well-maintained fronts are often covers for incredible risk and irresponsibility. You never know, Warren Buffett was saying, until things get bad. If you’re living the life you know to be right, if you are making good, solid decisions, don’t be swayed by what others are doing—whether that is taking the form of irrational exuberance or panicked pessimism. See the high flying lives of others as a cautionary tale—like Icarus with his wings—and not as an inspiration or a source of insecurity. Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t be caught swimming naked! Because the tide will go out. Prepare for it! (Premeditatio Malorum)

“Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.” —Benjamin Franklin

Marcus Aurelius would say something similar: “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself.” Why? For starters because the only person you control is yourself. It’s a complete waste of time to go around projecting strict standards on other people—ones they never agreed to follow in the first place—and then being aghast or feel wronged when they fall short. The other reason is you have no idea what other people are going or have been through. That person who seemed to rudely decline the invitation you so kindly offered? What if they were working hard to recommit themselves to their family and as much as they’d like to have coffee with you, are doing their best to spend more time with their loved ones? The point is: You have no idea. So give people the benefit of the doubt. Look for good in them, assume good in them, and let that good inspire your own actions.

“The world was not big enough for Alexander the Great, but a coffin was.” —Juvenal

Ah, the way that a good one liner can humble even the world’s greatest conqueror. Remember: we are all equals in death. It makes quick work of all of us, big and small. I carry a coin in my pocket to remember this: Memento Mori. What Juvenal reminds us is the same thing that Shakespeare spoke about in Hamlet:

“Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away. O’ that that earth which kept the world in awe Should patch a wall t’ expel the winder’s flaw!”

It doesn’t matter how famous you are, how powerful you are, how much you think you have left to do on this planet, the same thing happens to all of us, and it can happen when we least expect it. And then we will be wormfood and that’s the end of it.

“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.” —Winston Churchill

While this is probably not a Churchill original (he most likely borrowed from Cardinal Newman: “In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often”), Churchill certainly abided this in his life. He’d even quip about his constant change of political affiliation: “I said a lot of stupid things when I worked with the Conservative Party, and I left it because I did not want to go on saying stupid things.” As Cicero would say when attacked that he was changing his opinion: “If something strikes me as probable, I say it; and that is how, unlike everyone else, I remain a free agent.” There is nothing more impressive—intellectually or otherwise—than to change long held beliefs, opinions, and habits. The more you’ve changed, the better you probably are.

“Judge not, lest you be judged.” —Jesus

Not only here would Jesus call us on one of our worst tendencies but immediately also ask: “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” This line is similar to what the Stoic philosopher Seneca, who historical sources suggest was born the same year as Jesus, would say: “You look at the pimples of others when you yourselves are covered with a mass of sores.” Waste no time judging and worrying about other people. You have plenty of problems to deal with in your own life. Chances are your own flaws are probably worse—and in any case, they are at least in your control. So do something about them.

“Time and patience are the strongest warriors.” —Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy puts the above words in the mouth of Field Marshall Mikhail Kutuzov in War and Peace. In real life, Kutuzov gave Napoleon a painful lesson in the truth of the epigram over a long winter in Russia in 1812. Tolstoy would also say, “Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait.” When it comes to accomplishing anything significant, you are required to exhibit patience and fortitude, so much patience, as much as you’d think you’d need boldness and courage.

“No one saves us but ourselves / No one can and no one may.” —Buddha

Will we wait for someone to save us, or will we listen to Marcus Aurelius’s empowering call to “get active in your own rescue—if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can.”

Because at some point, we must put articles like this one aside and take action. No one can blow our nose for us. Another blog post isn’t the answer. The right choices and decisions are. Who knows how much time you have left, or what awaits us tomorrow? So get to it.

_______________________________

Ryan Holiday is a bestselling author whose books like The Obstacle is the Way and The Daily Stoic have sold more than one million copies worldwide. For a handpicked list of life-changing but mostly unknown books, go here.

The post 21 Epigrams Every Man Should Live By appeared first on The Art of Manliness.

21 Epigrams Every Man Should Live By published first on https://mensproblem.tumblr.com

[whoslaurapalmer]

so I have Thoughts about mark mcpherson's little baseball fidget game in 44 laura

-it's one of those fun callbacks to the book that I really really like -- book!mark is a big baseball fan, and intended to go to a game the day he got assigned laura's case. and the only reason he DID get the case was because the commissioner was out and the deputy commissioner was the one assigning cases, and the deputy commissioner HATES mark and wanted to make sure he didn't see the game.

(-there’s a hilarious still from a deleted scene in the movie where mark still makes it to the game. he brings shelby and waldo.)

-book!laura is also a baseball fan!! she has an autographed dodgers ball on her desk, which mark is infinitely charmed by.

-mark says two important things about the fidget game -- that it "takes a lot of control" and, when waldo gets pissed off at mark for not 1) paying attention to the case 2) paying attention to waldo, "I know. but it keeps me calm."

-it's made explicit in the book that the "siege of babylon" took a greater toll on mark than the movie suggests -- he was laid up in the hospital for fourteen months, used crutches for a while, one of the other detectives who got shot in the lungs is still recovering upstate, mark walks very deliberately and carefully to try and disguise his limp and any stiffness but his leg still causes him discomfort, and, since then, he hasn't taken on another risky high-profile case, instead doing political crime or theft

-Local Traumatized Man Has To Put Up With A Real Fucking Cast Of Characters In A Murder Investigation On His Day Off Of All Things And Is Going To Fidget His Way Through It By God

[criticalotterstudies]

Who was this cold-eyed man who saw in loss of life only aesthetic gain, who identified not with the drowned or the bereaved but with the storm? This was Henry David Thoreau, that great partisan of the pond, describing his visit to Cohasset in “Cape Cod.” That book is not particularly well known today, but if Thoreau’s chilly tone in it seems surprising, it is because, in a curious way, “Walden” is not well known, either. Like many canonized works, it is more revered than read, so it exists for most people only as a dim impression retained from adolescence or as the source of a few famous lines [...] Henry David Thoreau was born David Henry Thoreau, in 1817, the third of four children of a pencil manufacturer in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1833, he went off to Harvard, which he did not particularly like and where he was not found particularly likable. (One classmate recalled his “look of smug satisfaction,” like a man “preparing to hold his future views with great setness and personal appreciation of their importance.”) After graduation, he worked as a schoolteacher, then helped run a school until its co-director, his older brother John, died of tetanus. That was the end of Thoreau’s experiments in pedagogy, except perhaps on the page. On and off from then until his own death (at forty-four, of tuberculosis), he worked as a surveyor and in the family pencil factory. Meanwhile, however, Thoreau had met Ralph Waldo Emerson, a fellow Concord resident fourteen years his senior. Intellectually as well as practically, Emerson’s influence on Thoreau was enormous. He introduced the younger man to transcendentalism, steered him toward writing, employed him as a jack-of-all-trades and live-in tutor to his children, and lent him the pond-side land where Thoreau went to live on July 4, 1845. Thoreau spent two years at Walden but nearly ten years writing “Walden,” which was published, in 1854, to middling critical and popular acclaim [...] Thoreau went to Walden, he tells us, “to learn what are the gross necessaries of life”: whatever is so essential to survival “that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it.” Put differently, he wanted to try what we would today call subsistence living, a condition attractive chiefly to those not obliged to endure it. It attracted Thoreau because he “wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life.” Tucked into that sentence is a strange distinction; apparently, some of the things we experience while alive count as life while others do not. In “Walden,” Thoreau made it his business to distinguish between them. [...] Food was bad, drink was bad, even shelter was suspect, and Thoreau advised keeping it to a minimum. “I used to see a large box by the railroad,” he wrote in “Walden,” “six feet long by three wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night”: drill a few airholes, he argued, and one of these would make a fine home. (“I am far from jesting,” he added, unnecessarily. Thoreau regarded humor as he regarded salt, and did without.) He chose to live in a somewhat larger box at Walden, but austerity prevailed there, too. He eschewed curtains and recoiled in dismay from the idea of a doormat: “As I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.” I am not aware of any theology which holds that the road to Hell is paved with doormats, but Thoreau, in fine Puritan fashion, saw the beginnings of evil everywhere. He contemplated gathering the wild herbs around Walden to sell in Concord but concluded that “I should probably be on my way to the devil.” He permitted himself to plant beans, but cautiously, calling it “a rare amusement, which, continued too long, might have become a dissipation.” Only those with no sense of balance must live in so much fear of the slippery slope. Robert Louis Stevenson, writing about Thoreau in 1880, pointed out that when a man must “abstain from nearly everything that his neighbours innocently and pleasurably use, and from the rubs and trials of human society itself into the bargain, we recognise that valetudinarian healthfulness which is more delicate than sickness itself.” To abstain, Stevenson understood, is not necessarily to simplify; restrictions and repudiations can just as easily complicate one’s life. (Try going out to dinner with a vegan who is avoiding gluten.) But worse than Thoreau’s radical self-denial is his denial of others. The most telling thing he purports to abstain from while at Walden is companionship, which he regards as at best a time-consuming annoyance, at worst a threat to his mortal soul. For Thoreau, in other words, his fellow-humans had the same moral status as doormats [...] Unsurprisingly, this thoroughgoing misanthrope did not care to help other people. “I confess that I have hitherto indulged very little in philanthropic enterprises,” Thoreau wrote in “Walden.” He had “tried it fairly” and was “satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.” Nor did spontaneous generosity: “I require of a visitor that he be not actually starving, though he may have the very best appetite in the world, however he got it. Objects of charity are not guests.” In what is by now a grand American tradition, Thoreau justified his own parsimony by impugning the needy. “Often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his taste, and not merely his misfortune. If you give him money, he will perhaps buy more rags with it.” Thinking of that state of affairs, Thoreau writes, “I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him.” The poor, the rich, his neighbors, his admirers, strangers: Thoreau’s antipathy toward humanity even encompassed the very idea of civilization. In his journals, he laments the archeological wealth of Great Britain and gives thanks that in New England “we have not to lay the foundation of our houses in the ashes of a former civilization.” That is patently untrue, but it is also telling: for Thoreau, civilization was a contaminant. “Deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city, whose materials are ruins, whose gardens cemeteries,” he wrote in “Walden.” “The soil is blanched and accursed there.” Seen by these lights, Thoreau’s retreat at Walden was a desperate compromise. What he really wanted was to be Adam, before Eve—to be the first human, unsullied, utterly alone in his Eden [...] The book is subtitled “Life in the Woods,” and, from those words onward, Thoreau insists that we read it as the story of a voluntary exile from society, an extended confrontation with wilderness and solitude. In reality, Walden Pond in 1845 was scarcely more off the grid, relative to contemporaneous society, than Prospect Park is today. The commuter train to Boston ran along its southwest side; in summer the place swarmed with picnickers and swimmers, while in winter it was frequented by ice cutters and skaters. Thoreau could stroll from his cabin to his family home, in Concord, in twenty minutes, about as long as it takes to walk the fifteen blocks from Carnegie Hall to Grand Central Terminal. He made that walk several times a week, lured by his mother’s cookies or the chance to dine with friends. These facts he glosses over in “Walden,” despite detailing with otherwise skinflint precision his eating habits and expenditures. He also fails to mention weekly visits from his mother and sisters (who brought along more undocumented food) and downplays the fact that he routinely hosted other guests as well—sometimes as many as thirty at a time. This is the situation Thoreau summed up by saying, “For the most part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as much Asia or Africa as New England. . . . At night there was never a traveller passed my house, or knocked at my door, more than if I were the first or last man.” Does this disingenuousness matter? Countless Thoreau fans have argued that it does not, quoting by way of defense his own claim that “solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.” But, as the science writer David Quammen pointed out in a 1988 essay on Thoreau (before going on to pardon him), many kinds of solitude are measured in miles. Only someone who had never experienced true remoteness could mistake Walden for the wilderness or compare life on the bustling pond to that on the mid-nineteenth-century prairies. Indeed, an excellent corrective to “Walden” is the work of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who grew up on those prairies, and in a genuine little house in the big woods. Wilder lived what Thoreau merely played at, and her books are not only more joyful and interesting than “Walden” but also, when reread, a thousand times more harrowing. Real isolation presents real risks, both emotional and mortal, and, had Thoreau truly lived at a remove from other people, he might have valued them more. Instead, his case against community rested on an ersatz experience of doing without it.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/woody-harrelsons-star-wars-garris-shrike-wilson/

Woody Harrelson's 'Star Wars' Garris Shrike and 'Wilson'

Woody Harrelson is certainly keeping busy having recently shot his truly live action film “Lost in London Live,” and on Monday, he confirmed that he’d be taking on the role of Garris Shrike in the stand-alone Hans Solo “Star Wars” movie. He did all this while promoting his latest film “Wilson” at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

He’s that busy shooting one film after another along with all the fun promoting that goes with it, but he really seems like he’s having a great time even though time is something he doesn’t have a lot of. He was a little hesitant about confirming the “Star Wars” news, but once he did, he let loose on his ability to lead. His character is Han Solo’s mentor.

The character is a part of Star Wars’ extended universe and was first introduced in A.C. Crispin’s The Paradise Snare, which was released in May 1997. The book was the first installment in The Han Solo trilogy and introduced Shrike as the man who swept Solo up and taught him how to be a criminal, essentially.

A quick description from the book on his character gives us this:

Han Solo was a child without a past, a Corellian street urchin, abandoned, foraging for scraps of food, when the cruel Garris Shrike whisked him away to a nomadic band of spacefaring criminals. Now, years later, Han fights his way free. His goal: to become an Imperial Navy pilot. But first he needs hand-on experience flying spacecraft, and for that he takes a job on the planet Ylesia—a steaming world of religious fanaticism, illicit drugs, and alluring sensuality…where dreams are destroyed and escape is impossible.

Shrike was a young bounty hunter, but his quick temper resulted in the deaths of many criminals he was supposed to capture. Following his failings as a hunter, he turned to a life of crime, “collecting a group of orphans whom he used in confidence tricks and thefts.” Although Shrike saved Solo from a life of homelessness, he was also a cruel man who would beat the young Solo when aggravated.

The film doesn’t have a title yet.

“I wouldn’t choose me,” the actor shrugged and then laughed at the premiere of “Wilson” at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

It will also star Aiden Ehrenreich as Han Solo. Donald Glover will play Lando Calrissian and Emilia Clarke has been cast as well but in an unknown role. The movie is scheduled to come out on May 25, 2018.

As for “Wilson,” it’s adapted from a graphic novel of the same name about a curmudgeon, played by Harrelson, who reconnects with his long lost ex-wife, played by Laura Dern, and discovers they have a daughter he didn’t know about.

Craig Johnson, the director of “Wilson” talked about the film and working with the always busy Woody Harrelson.

For his third feature film, Craig Johnson opted to do something he’d never done before — direct a screenplay he didn’t write. Still, he didn’t step too far outside his wheelhouse, as the project he helmed is a film adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ widely admired graphic novel Wilson. Woody Harrelson takes on the title character, an unbridled dog-lover who endures a series of outrageous misadventures when he reunites with his estranged and very messy wife, Pippi (Laura Dern), and bonds with their daughter he never knew existed. As with his previous comedy The Skeleton Twins, Johnson paints a deeply felt portrait of a lonely misfit trying to navigate the strange world around him.

You seem like someone who’d be a fan of Daniel Clowes, but how did you become involved with Wilson?

Craig Johnson: It was being developed by Fox Searchlight with a different director. When that director stepped away, it was sent to me as an available script to direct. I was familiar with the graphic novel. I’m a big Dan Clowes fan and even had the graphic novel on my shelf. The second I got a script called Wilson, I thought, “Oh my gosh! Is this the Dan Clowes novel that I love?” I just dove into it, read it in about an hour, and immediately knew I wanted to do it. At the time, I was reading a bunch of scripts. It was right after my last film, The Skeleton Twins, had come out, and I was lucky enough to be getting sent a bunch of stuff. Frankly, nothing was that great. This just stood out. It was unlike any other script I read, with its sense of humor and sensibility. I just jumped on it. I said, “Who do I have to kill to direct this?”

Since you typically direct your own scripts, what specifically was so appealing about this one?

It started with Dan Clowes. I was a fan of how he sees the world. It’s a bit of a shared sensibility in that we both have a lot of the misfit and outsider and the weird prickly people you don’t usually see movies about. It’s true that up to this point I’d only directed things I’d written. That was never a hard and fast rule for me. If something comes across and my voice as a director merges with the writing, I’m happy to take it on.

How different is the directing process when you’re working from another writer’s script?

In some ways, for better or worse, there’s more distance. You’re seeing it slightly at arm’s length, which can be helpful. Sometimes there’s a danger when you direct your own stuff that you can become precious about it and cling on to things that don’t serve the movie as a whole just because you love them. If it’s not your material, you can have more objectivity that will result in a stronger version of the movie.

How did you get along with Daniel during your collaboration?

It was a fantastic collaboration. I adore that man. He is a real sweetheart, which may surprise some people since he’s associated with misanthropic characters. He doesn’t suffer fools easily, but he really has a tremendously big heart and is interested in [people] that are easy to dismiss. That’s actually every character in Wilson.

Many of the events in Wilson’s life are tragic, but you find the comedy in them. How do you achieve such a balance?

The real key to the whole piece is striking that balance between the hilarious and the heartbreaking. Yes, there are a lot of heartbreaking events in his life, but I think it has a lot to do with Wilson’s attitude toward them. He’s undaunted. He’s not going to let anything knock him down. He’s the perfect example of someone who gets back on the horse. He does pass through something in his journey, whether it be a bit more self-awareness or a better sense of how to interact with the world. Yet he doesn’t give up his essential Wilson-ness. I think it’s the character that allows you to take these tragic events and see the comedic value in them.

This was such a wonderful and expansive role for Woody Harrelson. Dating back to his time on Cheers, no matter the role he plays his persona is that of a very likable guy. What did you see in him that made him the right choice to play a misanthrope?

He has such an inherent likability, which is why he gets cast as villainous characters. You just can’t stay mad at Woody for long. You will accept him as a serial killer or psychopath or as Wilson. Certain actors just have this presence and this warmth to them. We knew that Wilson needed warmth to him. The character is rough. He’s a difficult guy, but he’s funny and says things that make your jaw drop. That’s great for a graphic novel you can read in 20 minutes, but for an hour-and-a-half movie you need to latch onto something a bit more human in the character. Woody brings that humanity naturally.

As Pippi, Wilson’s messy estranged wife, Laura Dern has added another wonderfully eccentric portrayal to her résumé. How did you decide to cast her?

We wanted a Pippi that had a little more spark to her. When we thought of a Laura Dern version of her, this whole new Pippi came to light. I like to think that when Wilson and Pippi were dating 17 years before the start of the movie, there was this youthful volatility to them. It would have been the late ’80s, early ’90s, and I imagined Pippi as this ex-Van Halen groupie, involved in drugs with this hot temper — explosively volatile person. It just felt like the right Pippi for the Woody version of Wilson. Nobody does unhinged like Laura Dern. She can break your heart too. It’s not just a crazy person losing her mind. It’s a real human being who’s got her heart on her sleeve as well as your anger on her other sleeve. You can see her shift within a frame. She’s probably got the most expressive face of any actress I’ve ever worked with — just the way her mouth will curl up if she’s pissed off or the way her eyes will melt if she’s moved by something. It’s the magic of a brilliant actor.

For your previous film, The Skeleton Twins, you won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. What effect did it have on your career?

I’m literally staring at the award right now in my living room. When you start out as a filmmaker you spend a bit of time feeling like a fraud, like you’re illegitimate on some level and you don’t really know what you’re doing. To win a screenwriting award functions as a way to legitimize myself — maybe I’m not just kidding myself and I have a knack for this. Certainly, career-wise, it’s helped me tremendously. People are aware of it and it’s helped me get writing and directing gigs.

Wilson has already been set for theatrical release by Fox Searchlight. How does this change your Sundance experience?

It removes a giant cloud of existential angst, that’s for sure. [Laughs] I’m just hoping I don’t try to fill up that space with angst about something else. My hope is to go into the Festival and look at it as a celebration of the film. I’m happy to present it to the world and share it with people. I’m going to enjoy that aspect without wondering if the cow is going to sell at the market. It’s a rarified position to be in, so I’m not taking it for granted for a second.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[whoslaurapalmer]

waldo saying that smoke gets in your eyes was basically his and laura's song in the book (it was a song they heard for the first time together, a song that made her share something personal with him, that she'd just been rejected by a man she liked, a song that represented to waldo the magnitude of feeling between the two of them, something no one else could possibly reach or match -- and it's the last song he intends her to hear, at the dinner they were supposed to have together, the pinnacle of their relationship, the representation of their relationship) vs in the movie, it's not really their song, it's not even the same song, it's just a different song that was laura's favorite, and it's "not exactly classical," but it's a song that's hers, ostensibly, until you find out there are lyrics and the lyrics are about laura. because it is a song that also exists in a movie and exists to describe the movie, to describe an image of laura. specifically an Image of laura, the portrait of laura, assumptions about laura and a man's relationship with laura, waldo's relationship with laura, mark's relationship. you get what i'm saying. i don't even know what i'm saying

[whoslaurapalmer]

there's this discussion of. bodies in laura? or not discussion but, the specific presence? physicality? what a type of body or look means or signifies, especially a "man"'s body? like. waldo thinking mark's injury as something that romanticizes his body, something waldo's body is not capable of because he doesn't have the dramatic intrigue of a gunshot wound to disguise himself in, waldo brings up that although he's tall he's also "obese" with soft skin and glasses and there's nothing "heroic" about his body compared to mark, that mark has the body of a "hero", waldo throwing mark's leg back in his face by the end of the book and derisively calling him a "limping hawkshaw," shelby being thought of as more of a "model" of a man or a "hero," because of his carelessness and childishness and sheer vapidity contrasted against his strong stature and ease, not just by waldo but by mark as well, laura pointing out that waldo constantly derides men he sees as more of a "man" than he is (shelby and mark), laura sitting alone in her room towards the end of the book in her nightgown and calling herself a slut as the strap slips down her arm, waldo constantly referring to laura as "fragile" (or a "wench") and physically timid, he says mark is practiced at "self-destruction" and says mark and laura being together would also be self-destructive, mark wrestling waldo away from laura and down a flight of stairs and struggling with the weight of him as they fight and eventually cracking waldo's head against the banister, waldo's final piece of writing declaring "there remains some truth that she made a man of him as fully as a man could be made of that stubborn clay. and when that frail manhood is threatened, when her own womanliness demands more than he can give, his malice seeks her destruction. but she is carved from adam's rib, indestructible as legend, and no man will ever aim his malice with sufficient accuracy to destroy her"

and also the thoughts with......waldo trying to sculpt laura into someone ideal and Better and more cultured than she was before she met waldo, which he also tries to do with mark

[whoslaurapalmer]

good laura content today so i’m flipping through the book again and still being consumed about them literally saying ‘the evil that men do’

laura’s aunt, during the investigation – “‘“the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft buried with their bones,”’ she misquoted, but giggling lightly, added, ‘although her poor bones aren’t buried yet. but we must be truthful, even about the dead. it wasn’t money principally with laura, it was people, if you know what I mean. she was always running around, doing favors, wasting her time and strength on people she scarcely knew.’”

mark, when waldo dies – “the malice had died with him and laura remembered that he had been kind. it is generosity, waldo said, not evil, that flourishes like the green bay tree.”