Like the first lines on a celebrated beauty's face, a leaf here and there begins to lose its color amidst the green, signaling the inevitable transition from vibrant summer to melancholy autumn. Technically, it is still summer, but you can feel the change as Nature slips off the vibrant prime of summer for the wise maturity of fall.
As I've said before, autumn is my favorite season, and partly it is because of this. There's something strangely beautiful in decay and melancholy, like scenic ruins from some forgotten kingdom. It's very Romantic. But there's a stateliness, a certain elegance, too. Summer is roaring and rutting, a big belly laugh; Fall is quiet and thoughtful, a secret smile.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query autumn. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query autumn. Sort by date Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Monday, October 27, 2008
Melancholy
As I've said any number of times, autumn is my favorite time of year. Partly it is because of where I live; we have our best weather, IMHO, during the fall, with lots of sunshine, clear blue skies, warm sun, and cool air. Partly it is because fall is so pretty, with the colors of the leaves shining in the sunshine and earthy in the rain. Partly it is because it's when my birthday falls. But it is also partly because there is a melancholy aspect to autumn that speaks to me. The falling leaves, the animals preparing for winter, the chilling air, the shortening days, the chirping of straggler frogs and toads and crickets in the chilly night, all lend an air of wistfulness to this time of year. I don't think of myself as a sad or morose person -- I'm far too neurotic -- but a bit of melancholy does appeal. I think it's the Irish in me. You know, drunken poets and all that.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Fall Has Fallen
Fall's here and it's gorgeous. The sky is blue, the sun is warm, and the air is cool. Perfectly delightful.
On a related note, I'm not the only devotee of autumn out there. It's funny, I, too, still associate Fall with school bulletin boards, too. I also always think of colonial America in perpetual autumn; I guess that's because November was always all about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Interesting explication of the Persephone myth, too, BTW. I'm ashamed to admit that, even though I'm a mythology buff, I never questioned the old "and this is why there's winter" explanation.
On a related note, I'm not the only devotee of autumn out there. It's funny, I, too, still associate Fall with school bulletin boards, too. I also always think of colonial America in perpetual autumn; I guess that's because November was always all about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Interesting explication of the Persephone myth, too, BTW. I'm ashamed to admit that, even though I'm a mythology buff, I never questioned the old "and this is why there's winter" explanation.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Autumn Showers
There's something strangely sensual (for me, at least) in taking a hot shower while a chilly autumn-evening breeze wafts through the bathroom window. The combination of hot and cold, shivering and soothing, is almost erotic. I'm just a big ol' weirdo, ain't I.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Bourgeois Art Gallery
As I noticed that Google Art has added several collections since the last edition of Bourgeois Art Gallery, I decided to browse the galleries and add to my "collection."
End of the Year by Higashiyama Kaii
This is the "soft darkness" of winter that I love so much. Makes me want to curl up by the fire and drink hot chocolate.
Oirase Ravine (Autumn) by Okuda Genso
It's hard not to look at this picture. It is on fire! But in it I see a melding of Eastern and Western landscape painting, with less of the abstraction and austerity of traditional Japanese landscape that sometimes leaves me cold.
Pervasive Verdure by Higashiyama Kaii
From the fire to mist. Just yesterday, during my dog-walk, I had the experience this painting suggests: when you're walking on a cool, gray spring day, and the green is almost overwhelming.
Himeji Castle by Okumura Togyu
There's just something about the white that appeals. It's a painting of negative space.
Last Evening of the Year by Oscar Bluemner
This is the exact opposite of Kaii's "End of the Year." Instead of softness and coziness, there's something sinister and apocalyptic about this winter scene. That red sky isominous. This isn't the last evening of the year, it is the last evening period. Very disturbing.
Old Canal Port by Oscar Bluemner
I just like the bold blocks of color.
The Star by Kitano Tsunetomi
What struck me about this is the title, because the star I saw at first wasn't the literal starlight of a summer's evening, but a movie star. Painted in 1939, I see a screen idol glowing the way silver nitrate film glows. This is Jean Harlow, not Sirius, to me.
Incense Container in the Form of a Puppy
Awwwwwwwwww.
Dogs by Hashimoto Kansetsu
While the incense container is a cuddly puppy, this is a nobler beast. Look at his dignity, his regalness. This is a dog of breeding and refinement.
Lidded Jewelery Box
I love boxes. Something about containing, setting aside, hiding away something special that connects to me. I especially enjoy boxes like this, a treasure box that is itself a treasure.
Tea Set
I'm not one much for tea, but I am one much for Deco. The geometry of it pleases me. And the brightness of silver seems to be the ideal medium for it.
End of the Year by Higashiyama Kaii
This is the "soft darkness" of winter that I love so much. Makes me want to curl up by the fire and drink hot chocolate.
Oirase Ravine (Autumn) by Okuda Genso
It's hard not to look at this picture. It is on fire! But in it I see a melding of Eastern and Western landscape painting, with less of the abstraction and austerity of traditional Japanese landscape that sometimes leaves me cold.
Pervasive Verdure by Higashiyama Kaii
From the fire to mist. Just yesterday, during my dog-walk, I had the experience this painting suggests: when you're walking on a cool, gray spring day, and the green is almost overwhelming.
Himeji Castle by Okumura Togyu
There's just something about the white that appeals. It's a painting of negative space.
Last Evening of the Year by Oscar Bluemner
This is the exact opposite of Kaii's "End of the Year." Instead of softness and coziness, there's something sinister and apocalyptic about this winter scene. That red sky isominous. This isn't the last evening of the year, it is the last evening period. Very disturbing.
Old Canal Port by Oscar Bluemner
I just like the bold blocks of color.
The Star by Kitano Tsunetomi
What struck me about this is the title, because the star I saw at first wasn't the literal starlight of a summer's evening, but a movie star. Painted in 1939, I see a screen idol glowing the way silver nitrate film glows. This is Jean Harlow, not Sirius, to me.
Incense Container in the Form of a Puppy
Awwwwwwwwww.
Dogs by Hashimoto Kansetsu
While the incense container is a cuddly puppy, this is a nobler beast. Look at his dignity, his regalness. This is a dog of breeding and refinement.
Lidded Jewelery Box
I love boxes. Something about containing, setting aside, hiding away something special that connects to me. I especially enjoy boxes like this, a treasure box that is itself a treasure.
Tea Set
I'm not one much for tea, but I am one much for Deco. The geometry of it pleases me. And the brightness of silver seems to be the ideal medium for it.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Bourgeois Book Club
Three Princes
by Ramona Wheeler
Three Princes is the sort of novel I should love. An intriguing alternate history where the empire founded by Caesar and Cleopatra and the empire of Incas are the world's superpowers, Christianity never really got off the ground, and solar power and air travel were invented centuries before they were in our world. With a dash of James Bondian spy thriller/intrigue, complete with Blofeld, and prominent gay and female characters, it is a story that should hit all the right notes.
And, yet, a little over halfway through I realized I simply didn't care, and stopped reading. The worldbuilding is immersive and intriguing, but for a history nerd like me, terribly implausible. The main character, Lord Oken, is meant to be charming, but seems a bit lifeless to me. He's a little too much of a superficial James Bond clone. But all the characters, really, seem less than they should be. They're not really interesting, even if piled with "interesting" backstories, personalities, etc. It's all terribly, terribly disappointing.
I feel a traitor for not liking a story that involves so much diversity, written by a woman, and well within my genre interests, but one can't enjoy something for its politics, or at least I can't.
Raiders of the Nile
by Steven Saylor
My favorite mystery series returns with a novel-length follow-up to 2012's Seven Wonders, a short story collection of Gordianus's travels in the East (on a tour to see the Seven Wonders of the World) as a young man. The end of that book saw Gordianus ensconced in Alexandria, a city important to his future development. Raiders of the Nile details more of young Gordianus's adventures in Ptolemaic Egypt. This time, mistaken identity and kidnapping lead Gordianus into banditry, and he must use all his talents to extricate himself and Bethesda from a potentially fatal caper.
Though I liked the travelogue-cum-mystery The Seven Wonders very much, I've been less-than-enthused about the backwards turn Saylor has taken with Gordianus. I have a great deal of antipathy for prequels (and, no, not just those ones). I always find going backwards in a story to be just not that interesting. The imagined backstory and prior adventures are just always so much better than the ones you end up with in "canon" with prequels. And the backdating of characters and developments are, I think, a challenge that most authors can't really manage. You have to devolve things, and it never quite works; thus, the rejuvenated characters never quite ring true to my ears. We've followed Gordianus "forward" through his life, and it's disorienting now to leap back to just before we "knew" him. We already know who he is, and how his life develops.
Gordianus had traveled extensively throughout the series, but my favorite books are those that take place within, or at least spend a large amount of time in, Rome. I like Gordianus's Rome. Late-Ptolemaic Alexandria? Just isn't the same.
But it's still Saylor, and still Gordianus, so the humor and pace are as good as ever.
Europe In Autumn
by Dave Hutchinson
In a future Europe where borders multiply faster than E. coli in a petri dish, as every region, town, street, ethnicity, language enclave, park, and transcontinetnal railroad, might declare its independence and sovereignty at any moment, most of them at each others throats, even basic communication can be difficult. That's where the Coureurs, secret agents-cum-mailmen, come in. Rudi the Estonian chef finds himself recruited into this shadow world, and the deeper he goes, the closer he gets to a secret that transforms him from a minor agent to Europe's most wanted man.
For a majority of the book, the extent of the science fiction is nothing more than the setting of a future Europe and a few neat gadgets, until a twist ending that ups the science fiction quotient way up.
It's a thrilling read, and I'm eager to read the continuation, especially after the big reveal at the end. My main criticism would be that it's very male. There are not many women, and the story is not terribly interested in them. Its place at the intersection of Le Carrean spy thriller and science fiction, both traditionally very male-focused genres, explains it, maybe, but doesn't quite forgive it.
Still, a good read, and look forward to more.
by Ramona WheelerThree Princes is the sort of novel I should love. An intriguing alternate history where the empire founded by Caesar and Cleopatra and the empire of Incas are the world's superpowers, Christianity never really got off the ground, and solar power and air travel were invented centuries before they were in our world. With a dash of James Bondian spy thriller/intrigue, complete with Blofeld, and prominent gay and female characters, it is a story that should hit all the right notes.
And, yet, a little over halfway through I realized I simply didn't care, and stopped reading. The worldbuilding is immersive and intriguing, but for a history nerd like me, terribly implausible. The main character, Lord Oken, is meant to be charming, but seems a bit lifeless to me. He's a little too much of a superficial James Bond clone. But all the characters, really, seem less than they should be. They're not really interesting, even if piled with "interesting" backstories, personalities, etc. It's all terribly, terribly disappointing.
I feel a traitor for not liking a story that involves so much diversity, written by a woman, and well within my genre interests, but one can't enjoy something for its politics, or at least I can't.
Raiders of the Nile
by Steven SaylorMy favorite mystery series returns with a novel-length follow-up to 2012's Seven Wonders, a short story collection of Gordianus's travels in the East (on a tour to see the Seven Wonders of the World) as a young man. The end of that book saw Gordianus ensconced in Alexandria, a city important to his future development. Raiders of the Nile details more of young Gordianus's adventures in Ptolemaic Egypt. This time, mistaken identity and kidnapping lead Gordianus into banditry, and he must use all his talents to extricate himself and Bethesda from a potentially fatal caper.
Though I liked the travelogue-cum-mystery The Seven Wonders very much, I've been less-than-enthused about the backwards turn Saylor has taken with Gordianus. I have a great deal of antipathy for prequels (and, no, not just those ones). I always find going backwards in a story to be just not that interesting. The imagined backstory and prior adventures are just always so much better than the ones you end up with in "canon" with prequels. And the backdating of characters and developments are, I think, a challenge that most authors can't really manage. You have to devolve things, and it never quite works; thus, the rejuvenated characters never quite ring true to my ears. We've followed Gordianus "forward" through his life, and it's disorienting now to leap back to just before we "knew" him. We already know who he is, and how his life develops.
Gordianus had traveled extensively throughout the series, but my favorite books are those that take place within, or at least spend a large amount of time in, Rome. I like Gordianus's Rome. Late-Ptolemaic Alexandria? Just isn't the same.
But it's still Saylor, and still Gordianus, so the humor and pace are as good as ever.
Europe In Autumn
by Dave Hutchinson In a future Europe where borders multiply faster than E. coli in a petri dish, as every region, town, street, ethnicity, language enclave, park, and transcontinetnal railroad, might declare its independence and sovereignty at any moment, most of them at each others throats, even basic communication can be difficult. That's where the Coureurs, secret agents-cum-mailmen, come in. Rudi the Estonian chef finds himself recruited into this shadow world, and the deeper he goes, the closer he gets to a secret that transforms him from a minor agent to Europe's most wanted man.
For a majority of the book, the extent of the science fiction is nothing more than the setting of a future Europe and a few neat gadgets, until a twist ending that ups the science fiction quotient way up.
It's a thrilling read, and I'm eager to read the continuation, especially after the big reveal at the end. My main criticism would be that it's very male. There are not many women, and the story is not terribly interested in them. Its place at the intersection of Le Carrean spy thriller and science fiction, both traditionally very male-focused genres, explains it, maybe, but doesn't quite forgive it.
Still, a good read, and look forward to more.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Bourgeois Birthday Bash
Yes, there was last year's anniversary meditation and another anniversary post, and still other anniversary posts, too. But this year it's the FIFTH anniversary of Bourgeois Nerd! Such a momentous event cannot go un-noted, so prepare yourself for FIVE YEARS LATER: A BOURGEOIS NERD EXTRAVAGANZA!
It all began with this first post on New Year's Eve 2004. From small seeds grow... small plants? Or something.
My greatest blogging triumph, perhaps, is the Cartoon Nostalgia series. Nostalgia's fun. And damn I watched a lot of cartoons!
Shocking for a blog called Bourgeois Nerd, I've talked a whole hell of a lot about Star Wars. I'm also prone to going meta about nerds and geeks and what it all means. It's all so self-reinforcing, not to mention cliche.
Glade Lady is my muse. My crazy, commercial character muse.
Pathetically enough, this is the last time I had almost-sex. *sigh* That was when I still had my lost youthful looks (before I got fat and ugly); now, I'm just thoughtful. This is one of the many reasons I'm not a very good Gay, except that I am. Makes me worry about love.
I'm nothing if not a bibliophile (I know, you're shocked), so there are more posts about books and libraries than is even possible to number! A few of the highlights: I like the smell of books; Bourgeois Book Club; I was in a book and then proceeded to shill it endlessly.
I was once briefly famous in the academic blogosphere. Fame, alas, is elusive on the blogosphere. I don't regret the conclusion not to go into academia, though.
Thi post that has perhaps gotten me the most traffic, due to its placement on Google Images. I've since gotten to see her in person, and let me tell you it's even more amazing!
I recently took a walk down Memory Lane to reminisce about Blogs That Aren't There Anymore.
I didn't think the new Star Trek movie would work at first, but then I changed my mind.
I'm obsessed with polar bear hybrids, as well as pugs, pandas, unusual white animals, gay birds, interspecies amity, and just about anything cute.
I can be amazingly thick sometimes.
Christmas is over, but holiday nostalgia and The Spirit of Christmas lasts all year 'round at Bourgeois Nerd!
As hard as it is to believe, I can get even more pensive and existential than usual. Heck, I doubt I'm real sometimes!
I like fall, and like the turning of the leaves each year, I repeat this fact every autumn.
I find that confession is good for the soul, and blogs are the new confession booths, without all that pesky priest and the Hail Marys and such.
Spam is the artform of our age.
I was obsessed by the Beijing Summer Olympics (for the menz, natch)!
For a certain subset of readers, my main claim to fame is the GH TWoP FAQs.
Finally, I know why you all really come here: Skimpy Sundays. Pervs!
Five years and 2,694 posts later, here I am! It's all rather amazing. I've outlasted so many worthier and more popular blogs. It's humbling. And what's next? Well, hopefully at some point this year I'll be able to get the new look going. This place definitely needs a facelift. Otherwise, I just hope I can continue to grow and improve as a blogger, whatever that means.
But regardless of what the future brings, right now I want to thank all the fantastic bloggers whoI shamelessly rip off for content draw inspiration from and who have linked to me over the years. Thank you most of all, though, to all my readers. My readership isn't the biggest out there, but it's definitely one of the best! I love you all! Happy New Year!!!
It all began with this first post on New Year's Eve 2004. From small seeds grow... small plants? Or something.
My greatest blogging triumph, perhaps, is the Cartoon Nostalgia series. Nostalgia's fun. And damn I watched a lot of cartoons!
Shocking for a blog called Bourgeois Nerd, I've talked a whole hell of a lot about Star Wars. I'm also prone to going meta about nerds and geeks and what it all means. It's all so self-reinforcing, not to mention cliche.
Glade Lady is my muse. My crazy, commercial character muse.
Pathetically enough, this is the last time I had almost-sex. *sigh* That was when I still had my lost youthful looks (before I got fat and ugly); now, I'm just thoughtful. This is one of the many reasons I'm not a very good Gay, except that I am. Makes me worry about love.
I'm nothing if not a bibliophile (I know, you're shocked), so there are more posts about books and libraries than is even possible to number! A few of the highlights: I like the smell of books; Bourgeois Book Club; I was in a book and then proceeded to shill it endlessly.
I was once briefly famous in the academic blogosphere. Fame, alas, is elusive on the blogosphere. I don't regret the conclusion not to go into academia, though.
Thi post that has perhaps gotten me the most traffic, due to its placement on Google Images. I've since gotten to see her in person, and let me tell you it's even more amazing!
I recently took a walk down Memory Lane to reminisce about Blogs That Aren't There Anymore.
I didn't think the new Star Trek movie would work at first, but then I changed my mind.
I'm obsessed with polar bear hybrids, as well as pugs, pandas, unusual white animals, gay birds, interspecies amity, and just about anything cute.
I can be amazingly thick sometimes.
Christmas is over, but holiday nostalgia and The Spirit of Christmas lasts all year 'round at Bourgeois Nerd!
As hard as it is to believe, I can get even more pensive and existential than usual. Heck, I doubt I'm real sometimes!
I like fall, and like the turning of the leaves each year, I repeat this fact every autumn.
I find that confession is good for the soul, and blogs are the new confession booths, without all that pesky priest and the Hail Marys and such.
Spam is the artform of our age.
I was obsessed by the Beijing Summer Olympics (for the menz, natch)!
For a certain subset of readers, my main claim to fame is the GH TWoP FAQs.
Finally, I know why you all really come here: Skimpy Sundays. Pervs!
Five years and 2,694 posts later, here I am! It's all rather amazing. I've outlasted so many worthier and more popular blogs. It's humbling. And what's next? Well, hopefully at some point this year I'll be able to get the new look going. This place definitely needs a facelift. Otherwise, I just hope I can continue to grow and improve as a blogger, whatever that means.
But regardless of what the future brings, right now I want to thank all the fantastic bloggers who
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