Oooh Pretty Award!

Thank you, thank you Cynthia at Muse Swings for sharing this beautiful award with Blicky Kitty. This is a beautiful one to post. It was created by Lavinia Ladyslipper over at the Birdbath Chronicles, where you can find a treasure trove of beautiful imagery.

It was the perfect moment to log on and see it because we were tromping around Boston, crunching leaves and drinking Chianti in celebration our nine year anniversary.

Here's the little Rhode Island church where we got married. The artist totally sucks and she made the church crooked (idiot) but she was free. I think she used a bamboo pen and ink, which she probably stole from a baby panda knowing her.

Sonnet 104

To me, fair friend, you never can be old, 
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold 
Have from the forests shook three summers' pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'd 
In process of the seasons have I seen, 
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.

William Shakespeare

An Exaltation of Blicky: BK Scores an Interview with James Lipton

I have long wanted to do a post on a lovely little book that I've pored over keenly for years. Every time I've told people about An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton, I've always scoffed at the suggestion that it's the ten questions dude from the Actor's studio. "No this is an academic book," I derided with a snort. Um, so imagine my surprise when I googled his name and found that the handsome young academic pictured on the jacket was actually a clean-shaven version of the ten questions dude.

The book is subtitled The Venereal Game, but lest you think it's a drinking pursuit for infectious frat boys, read on. The root of the word comes from Venus, and while we usually associate it with physical love, it may also be defined "to desire (and therefore) to pursue." The words venery and venereal were used to describe all things associated with the hunt.

Lipton's Exaltation of Larks is really a celebration of the English language with all it's rich shades of meaning, confluence of sources, and playful expressiveness. He traces the origins of traditional hunting terms known as "nouns of multitude." Lipton describes his thesis simply: "when a group of ravens flaps by, you should, if you want to refer to their presence, say, 'There goes an unkindness of ravens.' Anything else would be wrong."

His sources for the book were social manuals or books of courtesy that codified the terms. From the Middle Ages, the hunt was traditionally the exclusive realm of the aristocracy. These books were created to provide gentlemen a "means of social acceptability," or to prevent awkward conversational blunders when in polite society.

Some of my favorites include:

• a murmuration of starlings,
• a bouquet of pheasants,
• a richness of martens,
• a murder of crows,
• a dissimulation of birds,
• a siege of herons,
• an ostentation of peacocks
• and, of course, a clowder of cats

In hopes that "a charm of poetry will have quietly slipped into our lives," Lipton included a chapter of terms that were created later as pure fun and play and threw in some of his own. In this spirit, we should create some terms with contemporary relevance:

• a parsimony of lenders,
• a ribaldry of teenage pop stars,
• an intemperance of halloween candy,
• a this-is-the-big-one of Elisabeths
• a cupidity of consumers,
• a cuchi-cuchi of 70's tv icons,
• a rapacity of investment bankers,
• a salaciousness of Giraldo Riveras,
• a potence of voters,
• a deliciousness of toddlers' thighs,
• a babbling of news anchors.

Feel free to add your own...

Unfortunately, Blicky's interview withy James Lipton was cut short:

Blicky Kitty: Meow, What is favorite word?

James Lipton: Those are my questions.

BK: Meow, OK, is it true, meow worked as a maquereau in post-WWII Paris translating for prositutes and taking American tourists to sex shows?

JL: Damn you, Blicky Kitty! I knew I should have done the Giraldo Rivera interview instead.

Blicky Bipartisanship

Now I realize that many of you, gentle readers, don't love this man the way I do. So perhaps you're not sharing in my feelings of pride, jubilation and hope today. I decided to do a post in the spirit of bipartisanship because some of you need to be cheered up and frankly who isn't sick of divisive, vituperative attacks in our national conversation? Here's what each candidate has to teach us about bipartisanship:

Barack Obama:"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

John McCain: "Senator Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. 

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."

Now as you know we here at Blicky Kitty live in a bipartisan household. The humans are all quite liberal and our cat is a neo-con. 

But we have come together in the true spirit of bipartisanship to create a list of basic truths that all Americans can agree on:

Angelina Jolie is hotter than I am.

Death is bad.

Cleaning the toilet is not a fun job.

Those rich wall street guys suck.

Hitler was a bad man.

Children are our future.

It would be funner to sleep with Brad Pitt than Ruth Buzzi.

Teasing French people is tres amusant, n'est pas?

Good stuff is usually better than bad stuff.

We should generally strive to avoid nuclear holocausts.

The macarena is no longer hip but still fun.

Madonna should maybe think about wearing more clothes even though her body is totally rocking.

Rupert Murdoch tortures small, furry animals.

Charo could still say "Cucchi Cucchi, but it wouldn't have the same effect on Captain Merryl.

Either candidate would have been better than the last guy.

Feel free to add you own...

Have You Voted Yet?

I just had to share this, in case you want to spend a little time with John Cleese on Election Day. We'll make him proud today.

Whoa! Blicky Was Ready to Settle for Miss Congeniality!

Thank you so much to the talented Poetikat over at Poetikat's Blasts from the Past for the honor of the Superior Scribbler award. It means a lot to me --especially when I think about an over-privileged New England professor told me that my writing was sub-par and good writing was a lot like truck driving. Hmmm, soooo, it's hard work with long hours? No way lady, writing is playful and joyful and rolicking good fun -- at least in the Blickosphere! Thank you Kat for being more encouraging. It's an honor coming from you. I look forward to all your new posts. OK I'll pass along the rules:

1) Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to their most-deserving Blogger Friends. 
2) Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award. 
3) Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award. 
4) Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor! 
5) Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog. 

hehee I literally have a small 3-yeaz old gnome-type person scaling my shoulders as I type, so I'll think about how to pass it along and update this post anon...

***

OK all gnome-type humans are all asleep so I can name Blicky's picks for the Superior Scribbler Award. I am excited to have my first shot at passing out awards. All the blogs I follow are really amazing in different ways, so at some point Blicky might have to devise his own award for the blogs that make him laugh until he disgorges a furball (you know who you are...yes I mean you and you). Many are smart and funny, many are exquisitely beautiful and these are my favorites for the Superior Scribbling:

Muse Swings: I am consistently amazed by how Cynthia is able to move so deftly from being hysterically funny to amazingly profound while maintaining a consistent, beautifully expressed voice throughout. She's a fun person to have in the Blickosphere!

whatmamasaysgoes: I will link to Mama's post about gratitude because I think it's absolutely beautiful. I think she is a great and brilliant person and a truly gifted writer.

Skillful Means: I always love to learn from Dharma over at Skillful Means. Her posts range widely -- from travel, music, politics to Second Life and technology -- and her thoughtful prose has a way of sticking in my mind.

Willow Manor: Few blogs utilize the medium quite so beautifully as Willow Manor. She narrates stories beautifully and like a 15th century MS, she uses images and prose together in such a beautiful way. She also plays with words and their meanings with a real sense of fun.

Meanwhile in Fifteenth-Century Italy...Part 2

Click here for a link to Part 1

The Este Dynasty

So who is this Borso d’Este? Let’s briefly look at the Este dynasty of marchesi that had ruled Ferrara since the late Middle Ages just because they’re such a fun and colorful bunch. From the late 1100’s on the Estensi already powerful landholders began to take an interest in Ferrara,[1] eventually establishing the Este lordship.[2]

Borso’s father, Niccolò III, reigned from 1393 to 1441. Niccolò had three wives, and fathered between twenty and thirty acknowledged illegitimate children. That works out to between eight to 18 more than Bob Marley and from 13 to 23 more than Mick Jagger. That's him looking very confident on the mount.... The Este women, on the other hand will have the macabre distinction of perishing in very unfortunate and sometimes dramatic circumstances as you’ll remember from Browning’s My Last Duchess. His first of three wives, Gigluola da Carrara died of the plague. Niccolò then married Parisina Malatesta, who was beheaded along with Niccolò’s first born son (for their sakes I will forebear mentioning the reason but it has to do with his *ahem* and her *cough*) and legitimized heir Ugo in 1424. This reads like a renaissance soap opera: Niccolò’s favorite mistress, Stella dell’Assassino, bore him many children, Leonello (b. 1407), and Borso (b. 1413).[3] While Niccolò had Leonello declared legitimate by Papal bull in 1429, our friend Borso was never legitimized.[4]

In 1429, Niccolò summoned Guarino da Verona, one of the most famous and influential humanists of the fifteenth century, to Ferrara to tutor his heir Leonello.[5] From all accounts, Leonello d’Este was an ardent and gifted student of ancient literature and unfortunately for Borso, both contemporary and modern accounts depict him at the golden child.

Now meanwhile, our Borso received a markedly different education than that of his elder brother. From a young age, Borso was taught chivalric values and traditional noble skills such as jousting and hunting and was never schooled in Latin. Borso d’Este's military career lasted for ten years and met with limited success (and some gloriously stunning defeats).

When Niccolò III died in 1441, Borso returned to Ferrara with his troops to honor and support the succession of his brother. Throughout Leonello d’Este’s reign, he undertook ambassadorial duties at the Visconti and Aragon courts. Borso’s position within his brother’s court was so secure that when Leonello died in 1450 he became the uncontested successor.

Both contemporary and modern literature on Leonello and Borso employ the divergent proclivities of the two brothers to illustrate the respective merits of Ars and Mars in the education of princes.[6] While Leonello was encouraged in the pursuit of letters, Niccolò III secured a more traditional, chivalric education for his younger son.

But has Borso been labeled unfairly? Although contemporary writers were less critical, modern scholars assume that Borso’s illiteracy in Latin reflects a lack of interest or ability.[7] Scholars often describe the rule of Borso d'Este (1450 - 1471) as an epoch of cultural decline.[8]. An overwhelming majority of scholars interpret his patronage of illuminated manuscripts like the Bibbia as the result of an ignorant love for splendor conditioned more by vanity than erudition.

But because Niccolò took actions to ensure Leonello’s succession,[9] Borso’s education was probably not intended to prepare him to rule. His propensities for letters were considered only in retrospect, after his ascent to power. Let’s look at the courtly culture established by Leonello to place Borso as a patron in his proper context.

The Culture of Learning During the Reign of Leonello d’Este (1441-1450)

Although scholars tend to cast Leonello as the model of the enlightened Renaissance prince, many aspects of his court patronage reflect the medieval, chivalric ideals that are so pervasive in the art commissioned by Borso. Even his patronage of letters bears some resemblance to the courtly pastimes of his ancestors.

One of the most important pieces of evidence that scholars use to study Leonello d’Este’s court, his patronage of literature and the marchesanal library is the work De politia letteraria by the Milanese humanist Angelo Camillo Decembrio. The work is constructed in the form of a contrived dialogue where Leonello and members of his entourage conduct a search for normative standards in various fields of learning and how that relates to good governance.In much the same way that the characters in Castiglione’s The Courtier construct an idealized archetype of a what a courtier should be, the protagonists in De politia seek a paradigmatic vision of the perfect intellectual culture.

In some ways, the beguiled fascination with ancient learning demonstrated in De politia reflects what scholars describe as the driving force behind the Renaissance: the revival of ancient Greek and Roman culture. Scholars of the Este family during the Quattrocento treat variations in styles of patronage as exhibiting either progressive or traditional tendencies in relation to a static definition of "Renaissance humanism". Unfortunately history is seldom so tidy or so linear.

One of the ostensible objectives in the work is the construction of an intellectual Arcadia ruled by a Platonic Philosopher-King where characters were permitted to temporarily abandon their particular role within the complicated hierarchy of social codes in order to participate more candidly in the dialogue, but this is not a true reflection of the power structure of the court which was still essentially medieval and chivalric in nature. In this light, De politia seems as much an anachronistic fantasy for the delight of courtiers as the Arthurian legends.

But while the political importance of the humanist in Leonello’s is overstated court we must not underplay their importance in the formation of courtly culture. The humanist coterie surrounding Leonello valued books more for their practical usefulness to the ruler and the enrichment of courtly discourse and the illuminated manuscript functioned as a tool. The courtly culture that took shape under Borso shows a markedly different relationship to the written word.

Guest Blogger: The Big Cat Weighs In

The single estrogen-challenged, human inhabitant of the Blicky homestead has been getting more hits in a single day writing comments on the NYT Web site than I've gotten ...ever. Aside from being a stud, he's very wise and knowledgeable about American history. Here's his latest post. It's a response to op-ed writer Frank Rich's latest piece Guess Who's Coming to Dinner:

Barring an unprecedented reversal over the next three days, Barack Obama will be elected as the next President of the United States.

McCain’s apologists and allies will decry a so-called “media bias” toward Obama. If they look honestly at the last three months, however, they will place the blame squarely on McCain and his handlers. Conceding that McCain is a good man and would have made an adequate president, he ran a campaign so tone deaf to the needs of the country that he blew his big chance when it finally came to him.

Americans have been worn out by divisive, sleazy, low-blow campaigning, and yearn for an articulation of common purpose that has been absent in the last eight years. George Bush missed an opportunity to provide this kind of leadership after his disputed election in 2000 and again after 9/11. He was either too small-minded or insecure or overwhelmed by ideologues to recognize it. The majority of people in the country apparently see that a McCain presidency would provide more of the same.

Obama played rough in this campaign, to be sure, but he also consistently staked out the higher ground when compared to his Republican opponents. It will now be his opportunity and responsibility to lead the country in a moment of crisis. What the United States needs right now is what it has received from great leaders like Lincoln and Roosevelt in other times of difficulty: a recognition of the need to inspire hope in all Americans – not just those who helped elect them – and to deal decisively with the nation’s problems in ways that foster the greater good.