COFFEE

a thought for the day...

I discovered this morning, this fascinating little essay on Coffee by Honore de Balzac:
(translated from the French by Robert Onopa).

For those who don't know Balzac was a French Author of middle 1800s, know for his more saucy dishes as opposed to his contemporary Maupassant who was far more Dicken's-like.

The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee

Coffee is a great power in my life; I have observed its effects on an epic scale...

Coffee affects the diaphragm and the plexus of the stomach, from which it reaches the brain by barely perceptible radiations that escape complete analysis; that aside, we may surmise that our primary nervous flux conducts an electricity emitted by coffee when we drink it. Coffee's power changes over time. Rossini has personally experienced some of these effects as, of course, have I. "Coffee," Rossini told me, "is an affair of fifteen or twenty days; just the right amount of time, fortunately, to write an opera." This is true. But the length of time during which one can enjoy the benefits of coffee can be extended.
For a while - for a week or two at most - you can obtain the right amount of stimulation with one, then two cups of coffee brewed from beans that have been crushed with gradually increasing force and infused with hot water.
For another week, by decreasing the amount of water used, by pulverizing the coffee even more finely, and by infusing the grounds with cold water, you can continue to obtain the same cerebral power.
When you have produced the finest grind with the least water possible, you double the dose by drinking two cups at a time; particularly vigorous constitutions can tolerate three cups. In this manner one can continue working for several more days.

I suggest you read the whole little essay (1 page or so) at:
http://www.jaybabcock.com/balzac.html
It is quite entertaining.

Regards,
Basil

The Art of Writing

The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe
- Gustave Flaubert

I ran across the above as one of my "quotes for the day" and I find it has a strong ring of truth.

I would venture to say it is probably the same with all the arts. When you work at expressing yourself you discover what you believe. And, I believe, when you are a Christian, and live for the experience of God's love, then when you participate in the creative act you are constantly discovering God.

After all, we believe He is "everywhere and fills all things." Then, as a Christian, you should be able to learn to see God everywhere: even in the darkest of places, for even there the absense of His Glory proclaims his presence.

Thus for the artist who is also a Christian, more than discovering what you believe as you write, you are also discovering the point at which your belief system intersects with the Ultimate Truth. And as a creator of fiction, you discover as you write the ways in which God interacts with the world that you hadn't even dreamed of. You discover other people's perception of the Divine (or lack thereof) and it enhances your own appreciation of the work and wonder of God.

Regards,
Basil

The Eternal Order of the Onion

For those who haven't discovered it, my fictional blog "Dream Dreamer" is now underway. Check it out here! Today's topic: The Eternal Order of the Onion.

Regards,

Basil

An obvious saying

I get these quotes of the day, and you have to guess who said them. Often they are very obvious, and you don't even have to have known in advance who said them.

Today's quote was:

"It's about time law enforcement got as organized as organized crime."
- Rudolph Giuliani

I was wondering what RG was doing these days, and discovered that NYC has an archive of all their mayors (here's RGs). He is apparently writing books on leadership.

I'm going to write a book on non sequitur thought processes some day. I'm going to have to - being an expert in that category.

What does this have to do with anything? I really don't know.

Regards,
Basil

Unholy Dreams

I've had one of those dreams again...

(This is a work of fiction... an absurdity... nightmare...)

Or is it a lovely iridescent chimera?

I was inspired my my absurd poem of earlier today to embark on a journey that I knew was inevitable, but was afraid to start. Mind you, I love to write things that seem absurd. They seem absurd until you get beneath the surface and decipher what it is all about.

I began this blog here as a work of fiction. It is staged as a Dream Blog. I noted that numerous people at blogger have what they call "Dream Blogs" and they log all of their dreams.

Well, I shall be logging all of my dreams in a dream blog also. Only, it's fiction. There will be a story that arises out of the characters that present themselves in my dream blog. I cannot say that it will seem to be a coherent story. But I hope it will be somewhat captivating. I hope it will be meaningful. And, although it has all the makings of a journey through hell, I hope that it will point toward heaven.

For those of you who know me here, never mind the author's name. I try on different author's names like clothing. I protect myself against theft of intellectual property by making sure that I own those names as a business. My writing business doesn't make much money, but it does makes some (that is, I do have published works under a variety of nomes de guerre.) But the point for me right now isn't making money, it is saying something. My head is full of this stuff and I have to find an outlet for it. So here is a new, experimental approach: a fictitious blog. I'm not doing anything completely new. Stephen King has done similar things.

Well, here is one that I am sharing with you my friends. Proceed at your own risk.

~ Basil ~
a.k.a.A.K.

A Found Poem

by Basil Bug

(Okay, I didn't really write this poem, I found it, right?)

(Isn't that what found poetry is?)

Okay, I lied. This is partially found and partially written. It is written, rather the way a bird makes a nest.

Blessings and Creeds, A Menagerie

I held up the knife,
"slave to my wife"
the Welts pic post
funny Johnny Cochran sayings
with interesting words
right into my twilight.

Then they sing the
Lutheran hosptial creed
(who are the Welts any way?)
(and how can we unravel their
Protestant appreciation of theosis?)

He enters and bows
takes his gnostic wedding vows
St Ephraim blessing sex?
No this is a bad dream.

Go back, I say, go back to Thy monastery
Enter into the abode of darkness and flee from
the romanian girls singing the Philokalia on MTV

serbian bikers
anatoilan hitch hikers,

"THE ANCHOR HOLDS" and "sheet"
I say... and rather abstain from sweet-meats
I say...
As st. raphael patron saint of prayers for unrequited love
begins his latest hit song

The poet laughts, sings aloud the sayings
funny & prophetic
of a wandering traveler throug the vast void
of infospace, searches,
searches, searches for
Sick Comments And Bumper Sticker Sayings
so that he can take more delight in
free demonic bitmaps

Amen.

I ran across this today:

If I knew God, I would be God.

- Medieval Jewish proverb


It reminds me of the Orthodox Theology of Theosis. Clearly the intent of the Jewish proverb is to point out how distant we are from God. Little do they know...

Regards,
Basil