Last night I didn’t sleep well, for whatever reason I’m not sure. But after working on my web site for ninety minutes after the late news and watching The Daily Show with John Stewart, I retired to bed with Baldo taking up half the bed.  (He’s a large, handsome Siamese seal point that I took in as a stray six years ago this November, the story of which I will tell at some point.)

Three hours after going to sleep I awoke.  I lay in bed for another hour, my brain working overtime thinking about things I needed and want to do.  I eventually resolved to just get up and DO something.

So I’ve been tired all day and have napped off and on between going to the dentist to have one of the temporary crowns reseated after it came off for the second time (only to have it break a couple of hours later while eating), going to the grocery store twice, and doing assorted computer stuff. Continue reading →

I’ve watched some of the first two episodes of Ken Burns’ most recent attempt to capture the “authentic” American historical, cultural, and political experience for viewers of public television.  (Those bourgeois consumers who pony up with contributions to view something more civilized like British sitcoms or Masterpiece Theatre since the federal government gave up any notion of a general public good except as it serves and is defined by the pursuit of commercial, private profit.)

I’ve never been much of a fan, frankly, of Mr. Burns.  (Here I go without even summarizing what I’ve seen because I assume, perhaps incorrectly, anyone who reads this might be familiar with his corpus of documentary beguilement.)

I was reminded why I become intellectually queasy with him and his work with my brief, unplanned, and impatient viewings of parts of the first two episodes (of six): 1) “The Scripture of Nature” and 2) “The Last Refuge.” Continue reading →