Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 30, 2008

The word of the day for January 30, 2008 is "discontinuous" — adjective — 1 a (1): not continuous [a discontinuous series of events]. (2): not continued : discrete [discontinuous features of terrain]. b: lacking sequence or coherence. 2: having one or more mathematical discontinuities — used of a variable or a function.

We watched a trio of rather quiet movies this weekend. Sometimes it's nice to see something besides America's Funniest Videos.

1. The Grass Harp with Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Nell Carter. Also, Jack Lemmon, Mary Steenburgen, Joe Don Baker, Charles Durning, Roddy McDowell. "After his mother's death, Collin Fenwick goes to live with his father's cousins, the wealthy, avaricious, and controlling Verena Talbo, and her compliant, earthy sister Dolly." Set in the early 1930s, this is a charming movie with plenty of acting talent, but not the sort of movie that attracts Oscar nominations

2. The Good Witch with Chris Potter as Jake Russell, Catherine Bell as Cassandra Nightingale. "A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or 'The Grey Lady'." This one was memorable only in that it was really pushing tolerance for Wiccans.

3. Mansfield Park with Billie Piper as Fanny Price, Blake Ritson as Edmund Bertram (yes, he played Collin Diggory in HP: Goblet of Fire. "At age 10, Fanny Price is sent by her destitute mother to live with her aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram." This version downplayed Henry Crawford quite a bit. Still Miss Austen's famous wit showed through.

Other than the low-key stories and that all three movies had children who had lost one or both parents as part of the plot, there was no connection. Still they made for a quiet weekend.

Our quote for the day is from Susan Sontag (b. 1933), U.S. author. “Theatre and Film,” (1966):

     If an irreducible distinction between theatre and cinema does exist, it may be
     this: Theatre is confined to a logical orcontinuous use of space. Cinema ... has
     access to an alogical or discontinuous use of space.

—

Partial cast lists and synopses are from The Internet Movie Database.

Tags: discontinuous

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 27, 2008

The word of the day for January 27, 2008 is "cleanliness" — adjective — 1 : careful to keep cleanclean : fastidious. 2 : habitually kept clean.

I took Bubbles with me to the car wash after church. I had thought to wash the car on the way home, but the stalls were all full. I would have thought it was people wanting clean cars for the church parking lot, but most of them were in extremely casual dress. I went home and changed to a sweat suit, got Bubbles settled in his little seat, and off we went.

These photos were taken last week in Lloyd's car. Bubbles sits so quietly while we're driving. He didn't even seem to mind going to the veterinarian for his shots. He's six months old now and has all his permanent teeth. He may even get the hang of potty training soon. He woke me up around 4:30 this morning to let me know he had to go out. So far today, he's not gone once in the house. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Our quote for today is from John Wesley (1703–1791) Sermon xciii. On Dress:

Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. “Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.”

;^) Jan

Tags: cleanliness

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 25, 2008

The word of the day for January 25, 2008 is "harmonious" — adjective — 1 : musically concordant. 2 : having the parts agreeably related : congruous [blended into a harmonious whole]. 3 : marked by accord in sentiment or action.

Since the discussion of themes for the photo contests this week, I thought I might as well enter a black and white photo in the J-Land competition. I wanted to find a photo that would translate well to b&w. This one leapt out of the pile.

                     — Harmonious Contrast —

This photo was taken during our October 2005 vacation on Seacliff Beach, California, USA.

Our quote for the day is from Rebecca West (1892–1983), British author. The Strange Necessity, ch. 6 (1928), of Jane Austen (1775-1817), the great British novelist whose work has sometimes been criticized as limited:

     To believe her limited in range because she was harmonious in method is
     as sensible as to imagine that when the Atlantic Ocean is as smooth as a
     mill-pond it shrinks to the size of a mill-pond.

;^) Jan

Tags: harmonious

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_4

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 24, 2008

The word of the day for January 24, 2008 is "misapprehend" — transitive verb — : to apprehend wrongly : misunderstand.

Once Cybil was trying to explain why a conversation went wrong. "You misunderheard me," she said. Such a succinct way to put it. As I remember I was multi-tasking at the time: a good way to lose track of a train of thought.

Sybil (no relation) commented that she thought my photo submission was to have been in black and white. Think of what a waste of gorgeous color that would have been. Fortunately, I entered the sunset in AOL Community Photo Challenge for amateurs; this week's theme is "Home Town". The J-Land contest for this week is to be in black and white, so I may have to find something suitable for that before the deadline.

Our quotes for the day are from Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

     It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people
     understood each other, they would never agree.

and also from John Lennon (1940 - 1980), Strawberry Fields:

     Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.

;^) Jan

Tags: misapprehend

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 23, 2008

The word of the day for January 23, 2008 is "entry" — noun — 1: the right or privilege of entering : ENTRÉE. 2: the act of entering : ENTRANCE. 3: a place of entrance: as a: VESTIBULE PASSAGE. b: DOOR GATE. 4 a: the act of making or entering a record b: something entered: as (1): a record or notation of an occurrence, transaction, or proceeding. (2): a descriptive record (as in a card catalog or an index). (3): HEADWORD. (4): a headword with its definition or identification. (5): VOCABULARY ENTRY 5: a person, thing, or group entered into something (as a contest or market) [the latest entries in the computer market] [judge the entries in the writing contest].

                             — WINTER SUNSET —

AOL Community Photo Challenge gives us a chance to show off our photos in a weekly contest. I found this site in Jeannette's Jottings. I thought I might like to enter this sunset taken across the Arkansas River in Wichita, KS, USA on Dec. 28, 2005. We had fed the Canadian geese that winter over and were on our way home.

Our quote for the day is from Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), Russian-born U.S. novelist, poet. Invitation to a Beheading, foreword (1959):

     If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head
     them, a cherished entry will be “To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or
     cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one’s own writings
     in translation.”

;^) Jan

Tags: entry

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Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 21, 2008

The word of the day for January 21, 2008 is "deforestation" — noun — : the action or process of clearing of forests. also: the state of having been cleared of forests.

It was difficult to make the decision to cut down the elm tree in the back. Living in Kansas, it seems a sin to cut down a tree. So many of the trees here were planted during the 1930s to help put a stop to the Dust Bowl drought. Plus the shade has been great for the air conditioner bills. The tree in back was a volunteer (in the bed between the porch and the walk.) When Lloyd pulled it up, he said, "You've had such bad luck with the dead sticks you planted in the back, you might as well put this one in." Nearly 25 years later, the dadgum thing was 25 foot high, nearly three feet in diameter and encroaching on both the sewer line and the house foundation. Also, I think it had Dutch elm disease.

On Friday when Bubbles and I went out for our walk, we found the tree surgeons taking out some brush and trees on a neighbor's property. The boss came over and gave us a reasonable estimate. Plus he said they could get it done Saturday. "Have at it," I cried. They came at 8:30 next morning. It took about five hours, what with not dropping any limbs over the cables and wires around the house, trimming the maple in the front (included) and cutting the smaller bits to size for Claudia's fireplace. I may have them back in come August to trim the blue spruce before the utility company decides to do it for me.

The quote for the day is from Glen Raphael:

      Most people believe that if you go in and try to micromanage a forest, it is
     possible to destroy the very thing that makes it a unique and special place.
     That's just as true of the Net.

;^) Jan

Tags: deforestation

Gryphon's Word of the Day, January 19, 2008

The word of the day for January 19, 2008 is "wastrel" — noun — 1 : vagabond: waif. 2 : one who expends resources foolishly and self-indulgently : profligate,

Rae suggested today's word. We get a cartoon strip in our newspaper called The Born Loser. One of the recurring characters is a neer-do-well named Wastrel P. Gravesite. He is the sort of character that gives "chutzpah" a bad name.

I think it is a good thing for many of us that we haven't won the big lottery prize. So many of us have no idea what we would do with more money than what we have. Come to think, few of us know what we should be doing with the money we have. Our ideas of thrift and waste sometimes seems odd to others. For instance, I have spent over $400 on a formal dress for my daughter, not considering it a waste, but I will scrimp on the cost of underwear for myself every time. The theory behind this is that my daughter's high school graduation and wedding were once-in-a-lifetime events where everyone was looking at her, but nobody — barring my husband — will ever see my underwear.

Our quote for the day is from Karl Kraus (1874–1936), Austrian satirist. Sprüche und Widersprüche, ch. 4 (1909), trans. in Half-Truths and One-And-A Half-Truths, “Lord, Forgive Them ...,” ed. Harry Zohn (1976):

     Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside. Wisdom is an inheritance
     which a wastrel cannot exhaust.

;^) Jan

Tags: wastrel