Loose Ends

A few loose ends for Dorian Gray.As is the case in many of the classic books this work is readable on different levels. In this case there a four themes.

#1) The Purpose of Art.
Oscar Wild believed Art had no purpose. This contradicts the Victorian view that art could be used for social education and enlightenment.Being in the Aestheticism movement he tried to free art from those standards.This work tries to jolt the middle class, attempting to convince them that art had no purpose other than being beautiful.

#2 The Supremacy of Youth And Beauty.
Although Youth and beauty are present throughout the entire story line, a main point is, there is a price to pay,mainly Dorain's Soul

#3The Superficial Nature of Society
I is important to most of the the characters of the book that a man is handsome . As Dorian descends into moral depravity he is never rejected because of his pure face.

#4 The Negative Consequences of Influence
The Painting , the character of Lord Henery (and the yellow book he suggests ) have an enormous influence on Dorian eventually leading to his downfall and death.

I will leave the motifs for another time as all of this is making me tired!

I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is a Gothic moral novel written by Oscar Wild in 1891.
The main Character, Dorian Gray is the subject of a portrait painted by his friend Basil Hallward . Dorian is a beautiful young man at the time when he is introduced by Basil to Lord Henry Wotton. Influenced by Lord Wotton Dorian, descends into a life of vice. He begins by praying to have the portrait absorb his sins if he can retain his astonishing youthful appearance. Through out the novel the portrait becomes more hideous(as a result of Dorian's sins) but he remains youthful and handsome . As he descends into darkness he eventually Kills his friend Basil and in the end attempts to destroy the painting only to kill himself instead. After Dorian's death his likeness in the portrait returns to its original condition.
This would have made a great Twilight Zone story.

One can never hear too much Coltrane

ah, Indianapolis in the winter!

Tuesday's snow scenes - More IndyStar Galleries

View this gallery at IndyStar: Tuesday's snow scenes

More Venice memories

The Prisoner: Patrick McGoohan Tribute 1928 - 2009

On the Estate

I 'm Not worthy!

Early Jazz Greats Continued

have we no shame

Love potion update

My Long Love Affair With Cats

Cars I regret selling!

Why we live here

Famous

Check this out. During the campaign my cousin Stacy had the honor of canvassing Northern Indiana with The new President.She had done much work in his organization and was selected to have this honor. She was able to meet the entire new first family and was even given the task of not letting things fall behind schedule as they worked a rope line.
In Stacy's typical witty manner she told (then senator) Obama she never thought she would be in a position to nag a potential president .
She told me she would still talk to me now that she is famous

Pub mat # 1

SliceofLife

from the archives (some things never change)

As you can see we took the Christ deco down today. As a kid I remember being really down removing the trim.It seemed so long until It rolled around again. Endless dreary days at School seemed to stretch out for an eternity. As an adult it seems to have changed to an uplifting time of simplification and reorganization .
It is much better this way.

Corporate Madness

When will all of this corporate madness end? It has permeated everything! I suppose it has been worsening over many years but now has gotten to a point that it is not even thought about. In sports(not to mention television or other media) at a professional or collegiate level, logos are everywhere . It doesn't matter which sports, either .Football, Baseball ,or Basketball, they are all infected. On facilities , uniforms , around the playing fields ,between the goal posts , even on blimps . Not only are there images, but there is audio too.You know, when the opening lineup is brought to you by someone , the security company presents a stolen base report or the phone company makes its call to the bullpen for a relief pitcher. We are drowning in Ads! While at Indiana University I loved going to Basketball games. Since that time I watch the Hoosiers periodically and a year ago was appalled when I found that they had installed a new immense hideous scoreboard suspended from the roof over center court. But that was not the worst . There are new brilliantly lighted logo scroller machines on the sidelines .To me, all of this seems pervert a basic principal that information should be presented for the benefit of the public rather than to line someones pocket. It should be presented honestly, not taken by a second party and then dispensed only after being used for their benefit. Some time soon I hope the public wakes up and sees what a detriment all of this is.