David Mitchell — Cloud Atlas

I recalled my father-in-law's aphorism "To fool a judge, feign fascination, but to bamboozle the whole court, feign boredom . . . "

I notice he rarely proposes alternatives for the systems he ridicules. "Liberality? Timidity in the rich!" "Socialism? The younger brother of the decrepit despotism, which it wants to succeed" "Conservatives? Adventitious liars, whose doctrine of free will is their greatest deception." What sort of state does he want? "None! The better organized the state, the duller its humanity."

Modestly, he explained, "Wars do not combust without warning. They begin as little fires over the horizon. Wars approach. A wise man watches for the smoke, and prepares to vacate the neighborhood . . . My worry is that the next war will be so big, nowhere with a decent restaurant will be left untouched."

Was he so sure another war was coming?

"Another war is always coming, Robert. They are never properly extinguished. What sparks wars? The will to power, the backbone of human nature. The threat of violence, the fear of violence, or actual violence is the instrument of this dreadful will. You can see the will to power in bedrooms, kitchens, factories, unions, and the borders of states. Listen to this and remember it. The nation-state is merely human nature inflated to monstrous proportions. QED, nations are entities whose laws are written by violence. Thus it ever was, so ever shall it be. War, Robert, is one of humanity's two eternal companions."

So, I asked, what was the other?

"Diamonds."

At top, one of John Constable's cloud studies. I believe it was Constable who first decided the sky was worthy of being a painting's single focus.

Larissa's New Show

Larissa's new show opened tonight and she is killing it! I almost started tearing up she's grown so much as an artist from her old very very pretty work to now just gorgeous. That work this good is being quietly produced and exhibited while so much garbage is being forced on people drives me bananas. My photos kill dead the luminosity of the real things so please go see them before the show closes on the eighth! She's also organized a panel discussion on December 11th that I will be trying very hard to attend.

Boston Athenaeum

I just killed some time checking out the public galleries at the Athenaeum in Boston. It's one of the oldest and largest private libraries in the country and is gorgeous.



Among all the 18th and 19th century portraiture in their collection I came across this painting, Checkout Time at the Marlborough-Blenheim (1978) by Bradley Phillips. I was describing it to my Grandmother who used to work there and she remembered it well (although in her time it hung in the staff kitchen) and also loved it. She did not, however, ever notice that the subject is in the middle of relighting a roach!



Bonus: Among the the Athenaeum's 500,000+ collection includes a book bound in human skin!