Michael Chenchard > Recent Status Updates

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Is science of any value?
I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value.
Once in Hawaii I was taken to see a Buddhist temple. In the temple a man said, "I am going to tell you something that you will never forget."

"To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell."

I’m on the ninth and final story, “The Courter.” I like this one a lot so far. I could see it as a Wes Anderson film…

The Four Trances of Japanese spiritualism:
Muchu, that is, ecstasy or rapture;
Shissi, Konsui-Jotai, or a coma;
Saimin-Jotai, a hypnotic state;
Mugen no Kyo, in which the soul can leave the body behind and wander in the World of Mystery.

“Who knows what makes people friends? Something in the way they move. The way they sing off-key.” –Salman Rushdie, “The Harmony of the Sphères” from East, West

“This old world is too old and the new world is an unfound land.”

“We revere the ruby slippers because we believe they can make us invulnerable to witches (and there are so many sorcerers pursuing us nowadays)” –Salman Rushdie, “At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers”

“Time’s passing, and each of us passes the time in his own sweet way, whether by drumming of fingers, or in sleep, or courtship, or the consumption of strings of sausages…” (“Yorick”)

I notice so far in West there is far less description of the setting than in East.

“Why cats have nine lives? … All cats will look at kings; but to gaze upon a monarch is to place one’s life in their hands; and lives held in such hands do often slip through fingers and are spilled.” (“Yorick”)

“to explicate, annotate … and permanganate” (“Yorick”)

“The Prophet’s Hair” was heavy at parts but very captivating, until the end when it also became tragic and now I don’t like it.

“goblins of nostalgia” (“prophet’s hair”)

I love the way Rushdie portrays Hashim’s human side in one paragraph and humorously juxtaposes it with his greed in the next. He does this twice so far, on pages 41 and 43.

“Poor potato” (“good advice is”)
“Coldest fish (“good advice is”

First two stories were sad